Lehigh County News

The Whitehall-Coplay School Board voted 5-4 to adopt a final 2024-25 budget with a 4.5% tax hike at its May 28 meeting.

After a raging fire on Saturday night destroyed his Center Valley barn, tractors, trucks and equipment, Leroy C. Stahler Jr. vows to rebuild and continue the Stahler family legacy of farming, said his daughter, Tracy Beers.

While monitoring continues, Lehigh Valley Breathes officials used the most recent project update to explain results from the research this spring at Lehigh University.

North Whitehall Board of Supervisors on Monday voted to deny the preliminary plan for 55-plus residential community Strawberry Acres. The controversial housing development may now go to court.

JET Upholstery plans to open a workshop on Third Street to support its Bedminster showroom.

A Wawa proposed for MacArthur Road and Mickley Road received conditional approval from the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners on Monday night.

Forty-five lawmakers have co-sponsored a bill that would protect workers who make prefabricated structures used in government contracts in better-paying communities.

The director that oversaw a revival of the community center and a variety of new events announced she will be stepping down after over two years in the position.

Parkland School District administrator Frank Anonia is the subject of an internal investigation. He was recently deposed in a lawsuit that alleges the district knew another teacher, Christian Willman, was sexually assaulting students but did nothing to stop it.

Coopersburg's farmers' market disappeared with the COVID-19 pandemic. On Sunday, the market returned to the borough for the first time in years.

For every Republican voting by mail this April, there are 2.75 Democrats voting by mail, according to state data. Political observers believe it could give Democrats an advantage heading into the November election should the pattern hold.

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for Iron Menace, the Northeast's first-ever "dive" roller coaster that features a 95-degree, 152-foot drop.

Construction of a new Taco Bell was approved by the Whitehall Township Zoning Hearing Board on Tuesday night. The board also approved a zoning variance request, a zoning exemption, and tabled a discussion until May.

Skill games — those machines that look like slot machines in convenience stores and taverns across Pennsylvania — are a potential public safety threat because they deal in cash in places that generally have little or no security procedures in place, according to the state district attorneys association.

Incumbent Rep. Zachary Mako and Slatington Borough Councilman Zachari Halkias are each looking to win the Republican primary and face Democrat Joseph Lenzi in the November general election for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild leads the pack in spending. And along with Republicans Kevin Dellicker, Ryan Mackenzie and Maria Montero, the four have spent more than $660,000 through the first three months of 2024 in their efforts to win Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District seat.

Philadelphia Eagles Safety Reed Blankenship will visit the park as part of its Iron Menace Ride for a Cause event this Friday, which benefits the Eagles Autism Foundation.

Bethlehem native Glen Larimer has authored a book to honor his late father — local sports journalist Terry Larimer.

From April 20 through April 28, residents are invited to join or host a cleanup along a section of the D&L Trail as part of a trash collection competition. Winners will be announced May 3.

Christian Joel Gonzalez Santiago, 29, last month pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor, in the July 31, 2022, crash on MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township.

A $1 million state grant funded Bethlehem Area School Board's purchase of the buses as well as the related infrastructure and job training to implement the changes.

The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed for about six hours in both directions between the Lehigh Valley and Quakertown exits.