County News

The Northampton County Council voted Thursday to ask a judge to fill the body's open seat after 12 votes and hours of debate ended in deadlock.

In addition to two Lehigh County fatalities, three people have died in Northampton County crashes since Saturday, according to the Northampton County Coroner's Office.

Lawmakers announced the $40 million infusion that they said will support a new Northside Logistics and Cargo Complex. It will include a new dock facility and direct truck-to-aircraft loading apron at LVIA.

Gov. Josh Shapiro was in Bethlehem on Tuesday to announce the expansion of the state’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate program. Older, disabled residents can apply for rebates up to $1,000. State Rep. Steve Samuelson authored the legislation.

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure asked county council Thursday to repeal tax breaks for the developer of the planned River Pointe industrial park, less than a year after council voted to extend them.

The Pennsylvania Department of State is starting a new office to help train county election workers, Pa. Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said. It also plans to update its guidance for logic and accuracy testing that could have caught issues with the Northampton County voting machines.

Only some of the newest Northampton County elected officials are actually new to county government. The new slate of county elected leaders will take office Jan. 2.

The new position will appear on the ballot in 2025. The Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas had one of the higher caseloads for counties of its size.

If ultimately completed, the combined health care system would operate 30 hospitals and more than 700 outpatient sites, with more than 62,000 employees, according to LVHN and Jefferson Health.

Northampton County Council bid farewell to four members Thursday evening, including its first Black president, Kerry Myers.

A major Lehigh Valley race is still too close to call. As of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Republican challenger for the Lehigh County executive, Glenn Eckhart, barely trailed behind incumbent Phil Armstrong, a Democrat.

The Democrat defeated controversial Republican challenger Steve Lynch with 56 percent of the vote.

Democrat J. William Reynolds will be the next mayor of Bethlehem according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s election. He appears to have defeated Republican John Kachmar 63 to 36 percent.

At the Lehigh County Government Center, the hub for election results in Lehigh County, there wasn’t as much foot traffic inside the actual polling room on the main floor.

Some insects like mosquitos are thriving later in the season as temperatures reach well into the 70s.

A political action committee with ties to the Bethlehem Landfill is spending heavily in an effort to elect a Republican team of candidates.

The Republican candidate for Lehigh County executive, Glenn Eckhart, says there is no point in asking current Executive and Democratic candidate Phil Armstrong to resign right now over the recent federal lawsuit in which Armstrong is named.

Harsh words and pointed fingers are common during election season, but the barbs traded in the Northampton County Executive’s race might be a little sharper than most.

Roughly one in 10 people in the Valley rely on monthly food bank visits, the United Way says.

Steve Lynch, candidate for Northampton County executive, used the vaccine mandate issue at Gracedale to address a crowd on Oct. 25, 2021, one week before the election.

The Allentown man who placed the 911 call was among two people who died in a house fire in July 2020.

A recently filed federal lawsuit claims dispatchers at local 911 call centers drank alcohol, slept, and watched movies on the clock.