A big court ruling and a big poll drove the news. See who won the week and who lost.

Marcellus drillers. In a major ruling this week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court nixed the portion of Act 13 that created uniform practices across Pa. Now, instead of dealing with DEP, drilling companies must work with hundreds of the state’s more than 2,500 municipalities. The court’s decision was particularly biting: “The purpose of [Act 13] is to provide a maximally favorable environment for industry operators to exploit Pennsylvania’s oil and natural gas resources”.

LGBT Pennsylvanians. In a somewhat surprising move, Governor Corbett threw his support behind House and Senate bill 300, legislation that would put sexual orientation and gender identity protections from discrimination in employment and real estate practices.

John Hanger. Of Democrats in the latest Quinnipiac poll, Hanger had it worst. While the pollster did not test the Dems running for Governor against each other, they did test them against Corbett. Of 7 tested, only Hanger failed to outdo the Governor. He trailed Corbett by 5%.

Early Education. Pennsylvania was one of six states to receive major Race to the Top grants for early education this year. The grant awarded to the state is $51 million and can be used to establish culturally, linguistically and developmentally appropriate early learning and development standards across domains of school readiness for children. The program also ensures that the standards are applied to all of the early learning programs in the state.

Pat Toomey. The Republican Senator had the honor of delivering the weekly GOP Address on Sunday night. Toomey used the platform to talk about how his wife, Chris, tried and failed repeatedly to enroll on the health care exchange website last week. The junior senator also gets a down this week for being the only Pennsylvanian congressman to cast a vote against the 2-year budget deal which was lauded by many as a reasonable compromise that had immense bipartisan support.

Tom Corbett. Another poll, another set of bad numbers for the Governor. This week Quinnipiac found Corbett with his lowest approval rating yet. By 20 points, respondents said he does not deserve re-election. This is about the 10th poll in a row to paint such a bleak picture.

Brian Preski. John Perzel’s former Chief of Staff was released from prison in October after a stint following his charges for public corruption. Preski attended many of the receptions at PA Society last weekend where he was warmly welcomed back by members of both parties. He is working in government relations while he hopes to have law license restored.

Tweet of the week: State Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland), with a little show of Twitter sportsmanship.

Less excited, but wishing you well in our rousing contest of ideas! RT @bartoljs: I am very excited to announce my candidacy for the 199th!

— Stephen Bloom (@StephenLBloom) December 19, 2013