Criminal Justice

The Lehigh County Office of the Public Defender is set to host its fifth “Community Outreach Day” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the parking garage at Seventh and Walnut streets.

The juvenile charged appeared Thursday in juvenile court and admitted to the allegations involving the tampering of food products with sewing needles at the Lower Macungie Township Giant supermarket

In February, society members called a news conference to detail what they described as a campaign of threats and harassment by a rogue group of temple members. The 3 accused are part of that group, according to the temple leadership.

Lance Wheeler, an Easton community activist and former Easton City Council candidate, has been charged with harassing three students while driving a Wilson Area School District van in 2022.

Gavin Holihan, the Democratic and Republican nominee for Lehigh County district attorney, said he hopes to find resources to assist underserved families so at-risk kids today don't become victims or defendants a decade from now.

The pleas potentially set the stage for a trial in which Kohberger could face the death penalty.

Unofficial results in Lehigh and Northampton counties suggest voters rallied around candidates for Northampton County Council and Lehigh County district attorney, among others.

The changes, introduced at a county council committee meeting Wednesday, would eliminate some youth care worker positions at the county's juvenile justice center, and create new assistant supervisor roles.

Members of the Allentown Police Department gathered Wednesday to celebrate lifesaving efforts and actions of merit and heroism. The idea was to recognize those law enforcement officers who went above and beyond their call of duty.

A grand jury has indicted a man who was already charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, allowing prosecutors to skip a planned week-long preliminary hearing that was set for late June.

The Allentown Police Department secured $4.1 million in grants to buy 67 license-plate readers and several gunshot-detection devices.

Christopher Fitzgerald was shot and killed near the Temple University campus in Philadelphia while working as a university police officer in February 2023.

City officials say the technology will be "life-changing," while critics have called the system "reactionary" and an expansion of the "surveillance state."

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

18-year-old John Bradley was charged in September with killing a mother and daughter in North Catasauqua. On Thursday, he pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Joshua Nathaniel Colon, 22, of Bethlehem, is charged with first degree aggravated assault in the Aug. 2022 non-fatal shooting of Jathaniel Lopez at Musikfest in Bethlehem.

Marc Muffley, 41, of Lansford in Carbon County, had an entire row of family and friends supporting him at the federal courthouse in Allentown. He was arrested and charged last year.

The woman was missing after jumping into the Delaware River in Upper Bucks County, near the Northampton County border, state police said Tuesday.

Lehigh County announced a new service that allows 911 operators to request live video communication from callers

The shooting was at least the fourth in the past week in which people have been injured or killed.

Christopher Schweikert, 29, pleaded guilty to producing pornographic images of a student he engaged in sexual contact. He still faces related charges in Northampton County Court.

Gabriel Cartagena was "considered armed and dangerous," District Attorney Gavin Holihan said Thursday, two days after Allentown police said there was no ongoing danger to the public related to last weekend's shootings.