Easton News

Northampton County Council voted for its new president and vice president at its Monday reorganization meeting, but will hold on to its retiring solicitor until a new candidate is vetted.

Tara Zrinski was sworn in as Northampton County executive on Monday afternoon, the first woman to serve in the position.

As various entities continue to collect revenue from automated school bus camera enforcement, they’ve failed to meet one of the law’s most basic transparency requirements — publishing an annual public report and operational data on how the system is operating.

Easton welcomed three new city council members — Frank Graziano III, Julie Zando-Dennis and Susan Hartranft-Bittinger — to the team on Friday evening.

2025 was quite the year for Easton, what with the months-long battle over Easton Commerce Park, concerns over the newly proposed EASD high school, and so much more.

A hot dog for only a penny? Jimmy's Hot Dogs in Palmer Township showed some customer appreciation on New Year's Eve by offering up their beloved franks for 1-cent each.

Of the thousands of stories covered and told in 2025, our staff picked some of their favorites. They included a bald eagle looking for love in the Hellertown area and an $11 million "sky dome" planned for Easton.

In 2025, LehighValleyNews.com readers gravitated toward stories that reflected mounting economic pressure, public safety concerns, environmental uncertainty and moments of sharp civic tension.

The owners of Jimmy's Hot Dogs say they'll hold a customer appreciation day as a way of saying thanks for the loyalty folks have shown since they took over over the longtime Easton-area business a year and a half ago.

A look back at some of our favorite arts, culture, and entertainment stories of the year, including Allentown Art Museum's must-see windows, Musikfest, Super Bowl bling, and a rock legend's last performance in Allentown.

The My Generation Tour of Gary Lewis & The Playboys, The Lovin' Spoonful and The Hollies' Terry Sylvester that stopped Friday, March 13, at Easton's State Theater was a wonderful collection of memories — and an occasional surprise.

The Oak Ridge Boys will stop at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 15, at Easton's State Theatre. Tickets, at $65-$85, remain available at the theatre website and are expected to be available at the door at 453 Northampton St.

Thirteen of the Lehigh Valley's seats in the General Assembly look like they'll have a contested November election. State Senate races in Lehigh and Northampton counties will have contested primaries, as well.

Gary Lewis & The Playboys and The Lovin' Spoonful will perform as part of The My Generation Tour at 7:30 p.m. March 13 at Easton's State Theatre. Joining them will be Terry Sylvester of The Hollies, one of those British groups with which they competed, and which had five Top 10 hits of their own in the 1960s.

"The entire regiment deserves some sort of reconsideration, whether it’s by BusPatrol or by legislative change,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

A Multi-Agency Resource Center will be open from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Gallery at the State Theatre for victims of the Hampton Hotel fire in Easton.

Broadway's "Rock of Ages" Band features the musician case of the Broadway show playing what it calls playing "the greatest rock hits from the glam metal bands of the '80s."

The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, in coordination with Greater Easton Development Partnership, has established the fund to help victims of Friday's devastating fire at the Hotel Hampton building, 462 Northampton St. Also, a Red Cross emergency shelter operation has been relocated.

One firefighter suffered serious injuries when he fell off a ladder escaping the fire. Several others received minor injuries. Authorities said the coroner was on scene Saturday "out of an abundance of caution" because they did not have an accurate count of people living in the Hotel Hampton building.

In December alone, there were 676 eviction filings and defaults in Lehigh County — the highest monthly total since August 2023.

In counties such as Lehigh, eviction filings have reached their highest point in years, even as rental vacancy rates have fluctuated. That apparent contradiction — rising vacancy estimates alongside persistent eviction volume — is part of a broader housing dynamic playing out across the region.

Xiaomin Fei, 34, on Thursday entered the plea in the June 3 shooting deaths of Robert and Gretchen Ackerman, Northampton County District Attorney Stephen G. Baratta announced.