Criminal Justice

Easton City Councilwoman Taiba Sultana is suing PA Citizens PAC, alleging that racist campaign ads and imagery contributed to harassment and the loss of her campaign for the state House this year.

The first hearing related to council’s lawsuit against the mayor was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

The city is being sued over claims it took no action to stop racial harassment by a sitting council member.

A 29-year-old Allentown man has entered a guilty plea for involuntary manslaughter, after allegedly leaving his loaded gun on a couch pillow.

Christopher Joel Colon, 32, and John Brace, 32, both of Allentown, are accused of attempted murder and related crimes after a shooting early Wednesday on North Jordan Street. The victim suffered multiple wounds and was hospitalized, police said.

Easton Police Chief Carl Scalzo reviewed the 2025 budget with city council on Nov. 26, highlighting a substantial total budget increase for the department.

An estimated 300 Lehigh University students tore down a football goalpost and paraded it through South Bethlehem streets before tossing it from a bridge into the Lehigh River. It was a classic college football moment. Now, is someone going to be charged with a crime?

Francis "Frank" Anonia, 43, is accused of secretly recording a student in 2021 in the boys’ changing room in Parking High School’s auditorium.

Within weeks of Bethlehem City Council approving the police department to join a state drug trafficking task course, Police Chief Michelle Kott said Tuesday there’s an illegal drug now overshadowing opioids here locally.

A group of about 300 Lehigh University students carried the goalpost more than four miles from Goodman Stadium into South Bethlehem after the Lehigh football team's defeat of rival Lafayette on Saturday. On Monday, Lehigh apologized for the incident.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced Thursday that an Allentown man charged in a fatal shooting outside a child's birthday party last year has been sentenced. He will serve 11 ½ to 28 years in state prison in the death of an Alburtis man.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has filed an emergency motion in Lehigh County Court requesting that a judge unseal documents in at least 22 criminal cases tied to an interstate drug ring. Among the defendants is Lehigh County Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi.

After his ousting in August 2023, Nadeem Shahzad pledged to sue the city for terminating him without cause.

Alfeni Romero-Taveras, 22, of Allentown, was charged Friday in the June 1, 2024, death of Angel Martinez-Velez on a basketball court at Fountain Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Two men face felony charges for stealing nearly $100,000 from Lowe's stores across the state. Investigators say the men used self-checkout kiosks to make purchases with their cell phones using information stolen from Lowe's customer accounts.

Police responded to a report of an armed person at Innovative Arts Academy in Catasauqua on Tuesday afternoon. An investigation is ongoing.

Pennsylvania State Police said the incident began when they tried to serve an arrest warrant on a 62-year-old man in the parking lot of the Super 8 at 1033 Airport Road on Sunday morning.

Jeani Garcia, who took the helm at Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley this year, was recently named to serve on the executive committee for the state’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

Former Allentown police officer Jason Krasley was charged with stealing more than $5,000 in May 2019 as he and other Vice and Intelligence Unit officers searched a barbershop. Separately, Krasley still faces several other charges, including rape, sexual assault and prostitution.

Authorities allege Adam Makowka, 28, of South Whitehall Township, fatally shot Jereka Battle in her Allentown apartment in July.

"Behind Closed Doors: Opening Conversations That Matter" brought panelists to the Northampton County Courthouse to discuss domestic violence and the role the law plays.

A Lehigh County detective Monday explained his process for obtaining a cell phone from Francis Anonia, Parkland School District's former performing arts administrator charged with secretly recording a student changing clothes. Anonia's lawyer asked a judge to throw out key evidence in the case.