Lehigh County News

The Parkland School District budget that was voted on and approved Tuesday night includes a 2.5% property tax increase. The tax hike is district's highest in the past seven years, but is still the lowest millage rate in Lehigh County.

A new ArtsQuest festival that will bring three days of family-friendly music, games, food and amusements to Upper Macungie Township, announced in February as a paid-ticket event, now will be free, organizers announced.

The Borough of Emmaus has chosen to take the steps to treat its own water supply after spending over a year seeking a solution to the municipality's PFAS contamination issue

Since it's not a presidential or midterm election, the 2023 municipal primary election may have snuck up on folks. If that surprises you, here are some other things you may not know about how our local elections are run.

Gavin Holihan, the uncontested candidate for Lehigh County district attorney, has been endorsed by incumbent Republican Jim Martin and Democratic County Executive Phil Armstrong, among others.

Three candidates for the local office said they focused on juggling campaign tasks around full-time jobs in the lead-up to the primary election. All were driven by a desire to educate voters and help people understand county government and its services.

They have been working without a contract since last summer and say they are overworked and short-staffed.

National issues are seeping into local races, turning elections into proxy partisan fights over race and gender.

Local elections rarely get the same level of participation as presidential races, but the outcomes often have greater impacts on voters' quality of life.

Like all the other major cities in the Lehigh Valley, Allentown is a patchwork of neighborhoods, some with good tree cover and some without any. Officials plan to use a mapping tool as a starting point to make planting trees city-wide more equitable.

It will be the company's first manufacturing facility in the United States.

The authority plans to expand but that can't happen just yet.

The Lehigh Valley lawmaker says Pennsylvania should withdraw any investments tied to Russian assets.

Trout season opens across Pennsylvania on Saturday, April 2.

The two-year global health crisis has had a huge impact on young people's mental health.

Community Action Lehigh Valley has another $25 million to distribute and plans to ask the state for $15 million more.

Fire companies are also looking for ways to get more people to volunteer.

Lehigh County has its own bridge maintenance department but PennDOT performs routine inspections of locally-owned bridges.

For now, only a small number of Lehigh Valley properties are being spurred by AI, says a local expert.

The county put a freeze on its work-release program over a year ago, but that could be changing.

The good news is that the number of bridges that are classified in poor condition has been going down, an expert says.

Sen. Lisa Boscola condemns the changes, calls process 'back-room assault on the Lehigh Valley."