Easton News

Easton has contracted Omnes, a landscape architecture, planning, and art business, to spruce up Centre Square's southeast quadrant so it can attract more pedestrians and improve the public space.

A Palmer Township police officer has been arrested for allegedly sending inappropriate images of himself to an underage Easton Area High School student, authorities said.

A rundown of how all the local races shook out in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary election — and the races that are now set for the general election in the fall, according to the counties' unofficial election returns.

Crayola has launched their Campaign for Creativity, aiming to showcase the importance of creative endeavors through a variety of methods, including reuniting artists with their original works they created as kids decades ago.

The mission of this community group is simple: Find a rock, hide a rock. Locals are having fun painting their own treasures and passing them on for the next person to find.

Northampton County Council voted Thursday to add a handful of new lots to Easton's Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program, and renew tax breaks for dozens of others.

Northampton County Conservation District held its annual Envirothon, where students go head-to-head in immersive challenges in the soil, mud, and woods — competing for hundreds of dollars. Teachers say it's special because it gets kids off their phones and experiencing the natural world, and each other.

Northampton County Council rejected a planned health clinic for county employees last July. On Wednesday, officials asked the body to approve the same plans.

An Aussie-owned general store and café is “emerging from its lengthy hibernation,” owners said Tuesday on social media. What was once Tucker Silk Mill will now be known as Tucker Garage + Grocery.

The Confluence apartment complex project has secured two variances linked to the building's sizable square footage following a zoning meeting, meaning groundbreaking may begin as soon as summer 2024.

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.

Officials signed off on plans that call for 73 condominiums — 15 one-bedroom units, 36 two-bedroom units and 22 three-bedroom units — and about 2,500 square feet of commercial space.

Jack Bennett grew up in the family hardware business and went on to lead it for nearly 25 years. He was one of Easton's most prominent business leaders in the 1970s and '80s. He died Jan. 29 at age 98. Friends say he left an impression on the Downtown business community that still can be felt today.