Business News

Pennsylvania's new $47.6 billion budget sets aside $500 million to improve old industrial sites so new businesses can expand or relocate to the properties.

A text scam is making its rounds again, according to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Recipients are urged to not click the link in the text.

Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to visit the Bethlehem Steel General Office Building on Tuesday to promote his $500 million shovel-ready development program. The program was funded in the recently approved $47.6 billion 2024-2025 state budget.

Gov. John Shapiro last month signed HB 1333 into law, which allows for recycled materials to be used in stuffed toys manufactured and sold statewide. In the Lehigh Valley, one toy manufacturer plans to launch a sustainable line.

For decades, the land that is now Green Knight Industrial Park in Wind Gap, Plainfield Twp. and Bushkill Twp. contained a pile of 2,000,000 tires. On Thursday, officials cut the ribbon on the park's first completed building, a 50,000-square-foot warehouse.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission issued 19 recommendations for PPL Electric to improve upon, including fixing its poor customer service and restoring power to customers faster following an outage.

The Lehigh County Redevelopment Authority approved a contract between Elias Property Group and Synergy Environmental Group for $67,000 for an environmental study at the former Lehigh Valley Dairy site.

The $208 million will also produce 295 new union jobs, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s announcement said, though it’s unclear what cut of the funding the Macungie facility is getting or the number of new jobs expected locally.

Northampton County officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for a new maintenance building for groundskeepers, replacing a more-than-century-old wooden barn the Parks Department currently uses.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh/Bucks, is looking to force his predecessor, now Secretary of Revenue Pat Browne, to release tax returns about Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone. Browne, who crafted the NIZ, has worked to keep the information confidential for five years.

The owners of Let's Play Books announced they would be consolidating all retail operations at The End: A Bookstore near the west end of Allentown, while growing their focus on engagement events.

The non-alcoholic cocktail trend has exceeded popularity beyond Dry January. More Lehigh Valley restaurants — and even mobile bartending services — are featuring mocktails on their menus as customers increasingly ask for them.

The 2024 Pennsylvania LGBTQ Health Needs Assessment is open now until August. It is a biannual survey that evaluates health needs and disparities among LGBTQ people in the state.

After a raging fire on Saturday night destroyed his Center Valley barn, tractors, trucks and equipment, Leroy C. Stahler Jr. vows to rebuild and continue the Stahler family legacy of farming, said his daughter, Tracy Beers.

Hellertown Borough Council on Monday voted in favor of preliminary plans for a Sheetz convenience store proposed for Kichline Avenue and Main Street.

North Whitehall Board of Supervisors on Monday voted to deny the preliminary plan for 55-plus residential community Strawberry Acres. The controversial housing development may now go to court.

JET Upholstery plans to open a workshop on Third Street to support its Bedminster showroom.

A Wawa proposed for MacArthur Road and Mickley Road received conditional approval from the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners on Monday night.

After two heart attacks, Wicked Sweet bakery owner Jessica Pelletier is speaking out to urge her fellow small business owners and others “to make sure that your days are actual days off. To be resting, to be refilling your cup, to be focusing on yourself."

Forty-five lawmakers have co-sponsored a bill that would protect workers who make prefabricated structures used in government contracts in better-paying communities.

The director that oversaw a revival of the community center and a variety of new events announced she will be stepping down after over two years in the position.

PennDOT officials have gone back and forth with the National Park Service as it seeks a special permit to begin repairs to Route 611 along the Monroe County-Northampton County border. A rockslide shut a 3-mile stretch in December 2022.