Lehigh County News

Shapiro highlighted his administration's historic investments in K-12 public education in the last two years before his budget address in the first week of February.

Francis Anonia, a former Parkland High School performing arts teacher, was arraigned in Lehigh County Court on Friday morning on charges he used his cell phone multiple times to secretly record a male student in a school changing room in 2022. If found guilty of all 19 charges, he could face up to 88 years in prison.

Bethlehem City Council on Dec. 17 unanimously approved the work, allocating $57,850 for local firm Traffic Planning and Design Inc. to complete the preliminary design measures sometime this year but before Dec. 31.

South Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners on Wednesday night voted 3-2 against a text amendment request that would have allowed for the building of a 8,000-square-foot restaurant at the Ridge Farms mixed-use housing development.

Allentown's EAC accomplished a lot in the past year, including successfully lobbying for two pieces of legislation and supporting a sustainability coordinator for the second year.

Angry and frustrated family and friends of the late Edward Tomcics packed the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, imploring them to address the speeding epidemic on Water Street. Tomcics, 75, was struck and killed outside his home on Dec. 25. An investigation into the incident is underway.

Excelsior Farms was one of nine farms across the state recognized at the 109th PA Farm Show that have been in the same family for 100 years or more.

Authorities are investigating after the body of a 39-year-old New Jersey resident was found in a dumpster behind the Santander Bank on Saturday.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. LehighValleyNews.com spoke with local human trafficking awareness advocate Carol Andersen to learn how to be more aware of human trafficking in the region.

Joshua D. Moser was found dead in his Lehigh County Jail cell on Saturday, Jan. 11. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, but Lehigh County Coroner and the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office believe it to be a suicide.

Officials on Wednesday reviewed several preliminary transportation policy strategies for the Valley's priority climate action plan. The plan’s focus is to reduce carbon emissions from transportation, a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions across the region.

More than three dozen projects in the Valley were awarded grants, receiving about 7% of the total funding awarded. Statewide, $335 million in grants were announced Wednesday.

KidsPeace, which provides behavioral and mental health services to children, collected about 1,400 toys for its 12th annual Angel Tree holiday gift drive.

All but one township zoning amendment application were reviewed without issue by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Comprehensive Planning Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

If ultimately completed, the combined health care system would operate 30 hospitals and more than 700 outpatient sites, with more than 62,000 employees, according to LVHN and Jefferson Health.

Driven by $8.1 billion in manufacturing, the Lehigh Valley's Gross Domestic Product grew to a record $50.2 billion in 2022. The region's economy now ranks above Vermont and Wyoming.

Verizon is bringing more choice for high-speed internet to the area as it expands Fios to previously unserved pockets of the Lehigh Valley.

State Sen. Lisa Boscola said it's a fallacy if the U.S. Postal Service thinks it can save up to $7 million by shipping outgoing mail from the Lehigh Valley to Harrisburg for processing without cutting jobs. On Monday, she called on USPS to do further analysis of its plans.

Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, which has been a central organization for LGBTQ community in the region since opening in 2016, in recent months has laid off five employees and temporarily reduced hourly employees' time.

The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission at 11 a.m. on Wednesday is holding a meeting at its Allentown office to brainstorm and prioritize ways to decarbonize transportation across the region. Decarbonization is the process of reducing or eliminating carbon dioxide emissions.

A new study from the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute of the area's local courts found a link between time spent in jail awaiting trial and harsher prison sentences.

AAA anticipates an increase in road and air travel this holiday season.