East Penn News

Vice President JD Vance will swing through the Lehigh Valley on Tuesday as the Republican Party courts voters ahead of the midterm election. The Lehigh Valley and the surrounding area are ripe with swing voters who could flip control of the U.S. House in next year's election.

After setting aside a realignment plan in fall 2025, East Penn School District now is exploring a $142 million redistricting project that would see hundreds of students moved to different schools, and building renovations.

The family of Renna Marra, who has Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, is raising funds for a trained guide dog to help Renna with tasks as mobility assistance, behavioral calming and social communication.

Macungie residents, including a long-serving corporal of the police department, packed a borough council meeting Wednesday morning to protest a revised police internal affairs policy.

Hilary Unger, owner of Perianth Interior Design, was chosen Designer of the Year for 2025 by the Interior Design Society in the category of Living Spaces Over $100,000.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie helped secure $1.6 million in earmarks toward a new Alburtis Fire Station. The existing structure is too small to serve a modern fire department.

Next month, Wind Creek Event Center owner Jeff Trainer plans to open The Broken Record, a restaurant in Lower Macungie Township that will combine a broad range of food offerings with a music theme — and perhaps more.

At a Lower Macungie Planning Commission meeting Tuesday, officials praised a data center zoning ordinance under consideration in neighboring Upper Macungie.

Three African Servals escaped from Cricket Wildlife Center after a powerful storm last Wednesday damaged their enclosure. After dozens of reported sightings, two of the wild cats are back, leaving one left to capture.

Three Democrats will join the Lower Macungie Township Board of Commissioners in January. The trio appear to have become the first Democrats to be elected to the township governing body in more than a half century.

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.

North Whitehall Township's planning commission voted unanimously Thursday to recommend rejecting a land development proposal for a 501,000-square-foot warehouse near the intersection of Route 309 and Orefield Road.

The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Regional Music Awards, a new organization, will hold its inaugural presentation Dec. 7 at Emmaus Theatre.

April Lubenetski served the citizens of Lehigh Township since 2008 as a volunteer firefighter, and also was a Borough of Emmaus master firefighter.

So far, two Macungie residents have applied to fill an open seat on the borough council. On Monday, the body's current members asked them a few questions.

Lehigh County's board of commissioners voted narrowly Wednesday to grant a LERTA tax break for a property in Emmaus set to become 144 apartments.

Pediatricians say teen twin boys who were severely malnourished in their parents' care likely would have died in weeks or months if not for medical attention. District Judge Michael J. Faulkner determined that there was enough evidence to send the case to Lehigh County Court.