Lehigh County News

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure says he'll run for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District seat in 2026, seeking to bring the seat back under Democratic control.

The hourlong program focuses on how the Trump administration's new efforts to crack down on immigration are affecting the Lehigh Valley.

Mark Pinsley also plans to publish a series of “plain-language reports” about how billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to cut the federal government will affect local municipalities, services and programs.

The North Whitehall Township Planning Commission reviewed updated plans Tuesday for a 110-home subdivision along Rising Sun Road.

The East Penn School District's board voted Monday to create a three-year LERTA property tax incentive for an 8.5 acre brownfield in Emmaus. The lot is set to become 144 apartments.

The Whitehall-Coplay School Board on Monday accepted a letter of retirement from Director of Athletics Bob Hartman. Hartman has served in that role for 23 years. His retirement is effective in August.

Projects in Lehigh and Northampton counties were approved to get state funding by the Commonwealth Financing Authority on Monday, Feb. 24. Funding for the roadway upgrades in Northampton County alone amounted to more than $1.5 million, with a project in Lehigh County bumping that total to more than $2 million.

The U.S. Government's Medicare telehealth funding deadline is March 31. While many express concerns about its future, a local expert at St. Luke's University Health Network believes the program will be extended.

The federally funded Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley served about 10,000 people last year across its five locations across the region.

Flu rates are up nationally and especially in Pennsylvania. Lehigh and Northampton counties are among the Top Ten counties with influenza cases for this year's respiratory virus season, which runs through September.

In a move that Santander Bank said aligns with the financial institution's digital shift nationwide, seven Lehigh Valley branches will be sold to Community Bank. Branches will remain open and employees will be offered continued employment during the transition, which is expected to complete by the end of the year,

South Whitehall Township's board of commissioners voted Wednesday to purchase upgraded radios for first responders in the township through a five-year payment plan provided by Lehigh County.

Nearly a year after the Biden administration designated xylazine as an "emerging threat" to the United States, Gov. Josh Shapiro classified it as a schedule III drug, making unauthorized possession a crime in Pennsylvania. Experts say the move has partly served to clear the way for new illicit substances to enter the drug market.

Allentown's Redevelopment Authority is applying for up to $2.5 million that could be used to rehab 10 single-family homes for low-income residents.

Despite not being approved for human consumption, veterinary tranquilizers are infiltrating the illicit drug supply in Pennsylvania. Harm reduction specialists and health care professionals say these overdoses can't be approached solely with naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug.

Newhard Farms Corn Shed opened Tuesday for sweet corn sales. While it opened a few days later than in recent years, there's expected to be a good supply this season.

The bill would limit the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of firefighting foam containing PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, beginning in 2026.

Xylazine, an animal-grade tranquilizer that's not approved for human use, has taken Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply by storm. Known on the streets as "tranq," it accounted for almost 1 in 4 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania by 2023. Last year in Lehigh County, it was a contributing cause of death in 20 of the 112 deadly overdoses, or 17.9 percent of cases.

The funding comes from the commonwealth’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Known as "tranq" on the streets, an animal tranquilizer named xylazine infiltrated drug supplies throughout Pennsylvania since 2019. Its presence in the Lehigh Valley has grown, with deadly consequences.

WLVR's Brad Klein talks with Bethlehem's Backyard Astronomy Guy, Marty McGuire about planetary viewing in this week's Watching the Skies. Leading into the first week of July, viewers can snag a better view of the planet Mercury just after sunset.

The Clean Trucks PA Coalition report identified more than 600 schools, childcare centers, playgrounds and parks near major roadways and trucking corridors across the state.