This week's biggest Winners & Losers

We have a new acting secretary of the commonwealth. Gov. Tom Wolf named Leigh M. Chapman to serve as acting secretary starting Jan. 8, replacing Veronica Degraffenreid, who will be serving as a special advisor to the governor. Chapman, who previously served as policy director at the Department of State, is currently the executive director of Deliver My Vote, a nonpartisan organization focused on voting by mail.

For the first time in Luzerne County history, there are now as many women on the judiciary bench as there are men. Stefanie Salavantis and Tarah Toohil, a former District Attorney and state representative, respectively, were sworn in as judges this week in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas. A nice step toward “more equality on the bench,” Salavantis said.

State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie will chair the powerful House Government Oversight Committee in 2022, taking the reins from former state Rep. Tarah Toohil, who left the General Assembly for a seat on the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas. As chair of the panel, Mackenzie will oversee investigations recommended to the committee by House leaders, a role Mackenzie said he is “honored” to be trusted with.

There have been few candidates in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race that have received as much attention as Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician. Putting concerns about Oz’s residency aside, the GOP candidate made headlines this week after reportedly cursing out a reporter who was just trying to get in touch with Oz, who has proven pretty elusive to members of the press that don’t belong to cable news networks. Maybe it’s time to spend less time pushing raspberry ketones and more time answering questions.

The state Supreme Court approved its ethics board’s recommendation this week to suspend lawyer Brittany Yurchyk for one year for failing to adequately represent four clients and acting dishonestly. The court said Yurchyk was late and her explanations were not credible in responding to filing deadlines and court orders while representing family law-related clients. You could say she's temporarily barred from the association now.

Bad things are happening to this Philadelphian. Zach Rehl and other Proud Boy leaders had their arguments rejected that they were being prosecuted for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot because of their political beliefs. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled the First Amendment doesn’t protect the Pennsylvania Proud Boys head from criminal prosecution.