-
Hayden Mitman/LehighValleyNews.comLehigh County prosecutors tried to avoid the standard procedures for criminal court by bypassing defendants' preliminary hearings. Instead, Lehigh County Judge Thomas Caffrey ruled the cases should proceed Friday morning as scheduled.
-
Forks Township Police Department via Facebook/Former Forks Township Police Chief Michael Friel announced his retirement in December. Township supervisors approved a separation agreement but refused to disclose it until a Right-to-Know request was filed.
-
State police say they clocked an underage, intoxicated driver in a vehicle traveling 109 mph on Route 378, and he had five underage, intoxicated passengers in the car who admitted coming from and consuming alcohol at Musikfest.
-
South Whitehall Police Department's K-9, Drax, is retiring from the force after seven years of service, and taking up the easy life with his longtime work partner and handler.
-
Students shared a text from the Villanova alert system that told them to lock and barricade doors and move to secure locations. A second alert from Villanova officials warned people to stay away from the law school.
-
Isiah Yeager, 25, is due to stand trial Oct. 20 — 28 months after he was charged with homicide in connection with a fatal stabbing at Synergy Hookah Lounge.
-
Ashton Jordan Thomas, 18, of Stewartsville, New Jersey, turned himself in to the Bethlehem Police Department this week, authorities said.
-
Allowing some residents to stay at the encampment for an extra month is “the safest and most humane course of action,” Mayor Matt Tuerk said. But no one else will be allowed to set up camp there before its closure.
-
ICE agents have agreed not to wear masks and to present ID and warrants when operating inside the Lehigh County Courthouse. But county officials declined to spell out specific procedures for ICE inside the courthouses.
-
The drowning death of a Hanover Township, Northampton County, child in July has been ruled accidental, the district attorney said.
-
On a narrow residential street, Etienne Theagene was driving 40.7 mph when he struck and killed Edward Tomcics, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.
-
Edward Tomcics was fatally struck on the night of Dec. 25 outside his home on Water Street. More than seven months later, authorities charged the man who hit him.
-
The crash occurred at I-78 westbound on marker 48.3 Pennsylvania State Police Public Information Officer Nathan Branosky said.
-
Lehigh president Joseph J. Helble said "racist language" was used, but the assault was not racially motivated.
-
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin will not be seeking reelection after nearly 25 years in the office
-
Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck is running for a second term in office. This will be his first race defending the seat as an incumbent.
-
Christopher Schweikert, 27, of Coplay, who also is a teacher at Freedom High School, had a sexual relationship with the girl, whom he coached, according to Northampton County prosecutors.
-
State legislators were set to address extending the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse — a bill that had been passed in the last session — but, partisan bickering stalled the move. Local Democratic legislators explain what happened.
-
The man accused in the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students appeared in court Thursday. Bryan Kohberger has yet to enter a plea and is waiting to learn whether prosecutors in the high-profile case will pursue the death penalty.
-
David Collins will take on the new job next month, overseeing plans to keep the jail safe and secure.
-
Legislators in the state's House of Representatives were set for a special meeting Monday to increase the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse. They stalled all day and never held a vote.
-
Bryan Kohberger's DNA was found on a knife sheath at the crime scene, an investigator said in court documents unsealed Thursday.
-
An Idaho magistrate judge on Tuesday reportedly issued a gag order in the Bryan Kohberger case, barring officials from talking publicly about many aspects of the case outside of court.
-
Bryan Kohberger, the man with Lehigh Valley ties facing first-degree murder charges in the slayings of four University of Idaho students, did not fight extradition at a hearing Tuesday in Monroe County Court.