East Penn News

Candidates for East Penn School Board will participate in a forum tonight at the Univest Public Media Center organized by the League of Women Voters of Lehigh County. There are seven candidates on the ballot, vying for four seats.

Just five months after officially being in business in their recognizable bright yellow teardrop-shaped trailer, co-owners Melinda Schneck and Josh Elmer are expending Roasties Mobile Cafe into a brick-and-mortar coffee shop. It'll take root where the couple says its heart is: Macungie.

The League of Women Voters of Lehigh County will moderate and run the forums in partnership with Lehigh Valley Public Media. Participating will be school board candidates from Allentown, Parkland, East Penn and Southern Lehigh school districts.

The Coalition of Manufactured Home Communities of Pennsylvania held a get-together Wednesday to discuss the lot rental price jumps throughout the communities, and tell residents how they are combatting it.

Tracy and Joshua Dechant, charged with attempting to starve their teen sons to death, have 60 days to find a defense lawyer, a judge said.

Charles Bierbauer earned degrees in journalism and Russian from Penn State University and worked two decades at CNN, starting just a year after the network's inception. He grew up in Allentown.

Upset residents packed the last Upper Milford Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting to voice concerns against a zoning variance request at the TG Countryside ice cream shop. The applicants have withdrawn their request to turn it into a cigar lounge.

Two grieving mothers honor their sons killed in Lehigh Valley motorcycle crashes, urging drivers to be cautious and look twice for riders as fatalities surge on area roads.

Emmaus Borough Council voted Monday to authorize a $685,000 loan from Lehigh County. The borough will pay the county back at 0% interest over the next five years for radios the county purchased.

East Penn School Board voted Monday to pause work toward realigning grades 5-8. District officials will again study possible alternatives.

Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio said toxicology testing showed a significant level of illicit controlled substances in Timothy Vanbilliard’s system, including methamphetamine, when he died May 11, 2025.

While The Dorothy Rider Pool Wildlife Sanctuary is closed to the public after an April bridge collapse, officials had to get inventive — and adventurous — for camp to happen this summer.

Juggling family, business and a new yoga career, Coopersburg's Roey Ebert gets creative with her usual grace

Lower Macungie Township's board of commissioners granted preliminary and final land development approval to Allentown-based landscaper Western Lehigh Services at their July 17, 2025 meeting.

As a key early vote approaches, several East Penn school board members again raised concerns Monday over plans to realign its middle grades, and how much the project will cost.

Lower Macungie Township planning commission on Tuesday reviewed plans for a three-building commercial development on Route 100, to include a 'retail center,' a bank and a Sprouts natural grocery store.

The Knauss Homestead Preservation Society is coming back for its fourth year this summer at the Knauss Homestead Farmhouse in Emmaus. The late July event is free, but registration for attendance is required.

Plans for the Shoppes at Hamilton, a 318-unit apartment complex with retail spaces and a hotel, are moving along in Lower Macungie Township.

Lower Macungie Township commissioners took another look at the plans for the new Western Lehigh Services facility during their Monday evening workshop, reviewing a few technical notes that still need to be addressed.

A new analysis from East Penn's financial planners found that major renovations to Emmaus High School would require a referendum or decades of tax hikes — options school board members rejected.

Lower Macungie Township’s planning commission voted Tuesday to recommend approving a mixed-use project at 617 N. Krocks Rd. set to include a 318-unit apartment complex, a 160-room hotel and nearly 20,000 square feet of retail space.

The East Penn school board approved a 2025-2026 budget Monday which will raise property taxes by 0.84 mills, the most allowed under state law without a referendum.