Lehigh County News

The Lehigh County Office of the Public Defender is set to host its fifth “Community Outreach Day” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the parking garage at Seventh and Walnut streets.

Lehigh Carbon Community College is now offering an accelerated program to get nursing students to a higher degree faster. The program is offered through a partnership with an online institution.

Allentown school board is considering whether Raub Middle School would benefit from a $1.2 million grant where several community groups would work with at-risk middle school students over two years, under a proposed plan.

The Borough of Emmaus Planning Commission received updates on projects, including the long-delayed Turkey Hill reconstruction on the corner on Chestnut and 6th Street as plans for a new car wash move forward.

Lowhill supervisors voted to deny the table plan for a warehouse at 2766 Route 100. The warehouse would be about 312,000 square feet on 43 acres.

The bill, spearheaded by state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, would dedicate American Rescue Plan money to training mental health care providers, creating more suicide prevention programs and supporting specialty courts.

South Whitehall has a new policy that outlines the process for implementing speed reduction measures in the township.

Smoke blanketed the Lehigh Valley area for a second straight day on Wednesday. Light scattering from particles in the smoke turned the sky a fiery orange in some areas.

State House Democrats approved adding $1.7 billion more education spending, including more money to the poorest districts. The final budget will be negotiated with Senate leaders and the governor's office.

Sedaris talked about his writing process, family life, time living abroad and fielded many questions from the audience after reading excerpts from yet to be published essays at the sold-out event at The End.

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.

The announcement this week by Volvo Group, parent company of Mack Trucks, to build a heavy duty truck manufacturing plant in Mexico has been met with disappointment and concern by UAW Local 677 and Lehigh Valley lawmakers.

More than six months after its launch, 33 air quality monitors have been installed throughout the Lehigh Valley as part of Lehigh Valley Breathes, a regionwide effort to monitor air quality amid emissions from trucking and warehousing.