This week's biggest Winners & Losers

House Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton earned a long-sought victory this week when the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (of which she is a member) voted 3-2 to adopt a policy that will count most inmates at state prisons at their last known address for the purpose of drawing state legislative maps, as opposed to at the prison at which they’re being held. The policy reverses a long trend of counting incarcerated people at prisons, which McClinton said “makes no sense,” given that people in prisons have “no daily, or long term relationships in the community.”

State Sen. Cris Dush has the tendency to evoke some strong reactions on both sides of the aisle, but he undoubtedly had a good week. He was formally named chair of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, the first step in a process that will allow him to spearhead an audit of the state’s 2020 election results after state Sen. Doug Mastriano was unceremoniously stripped of his chairmanship and his staff. Regardless of where you stand on an election audit, Dush came away with a win this week, one that probably stings a bit for Mastriano.

A candidate in the race for Bucks County District Attorney just got a major boost to her campaign. Antonetta Stancu, a veteran prosecutor and defense attorney, received an endorsement from former Gov. Ed Rendell this week. Rendell applauded Stancu’s plans to “incorporate mental health mechanisms into every facet of the criminal justice system.” We’ll see if she can ride this momentum to the polls in November.

To disclose, or not to disclose: That is the question. Pittsburgh Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet, in the midst of a bus shortage, found himself in the news for another reason this week. A state ethics report released Thursday cited the superintendent for five ethics violations related to travel expenses, accepting money for appearances, and failing to disclose financial interests. Hamlet is now being forced to pay nearly $8,000 and forfeit 14 vacation days. Maybe next time, he’ll be more transparent about his plans.

Dr. David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department, got an earful from Acting Pennsylvania Health Secretary Alison Beam this week for the county’s COVID-19 school reopening guidance. The guidance, among other things, did not recommend that people with COVID-19 symptoms get tested, and allowed asymptomatic people who had close contact with a person with COVID-19 to remain in school settings. Beam called the guidance “inconsistent and alarming.” Alarming is right.

The saga involving the remains of MOVE victims isn’t quite over. The University of Pennsylvania released a report this week condemning two of its anthropologists for “extremely poor judgement and gross insensitivity” in the mishandling of the bomb victims’ remains after the 1985 fire. Retired professor Alan Mann was one of those chastised in the report for failing to return the remains the city gave him to examine. As the city’s investigation into the matter is slated to end this fall, more information is coming out on how many people neglected to care for the remains and the families involved.