Northampton County News

As the North American Music Merchant's yearly show kicks off in California, music lovers in Nazareth can check out C.F. Martin's newest lineup at their local headquarters.

Rob Albert, who has worked with B. Braun for 40 years, was appointed chief executive officer to succeed Jean-Claude Dubacher, the company's board of directors announced. He has worked in operations, sales and marketing since joining the company in 1984.

The new owner of Carl's Corner told LehighValleyNews.com that he settled on the property this week and looks to take over the business Sunday. Carl's Corner has locations in Bethlehem and Lower Nazareth Township.

The district said it's owed more than $700,000 in school lunch debt, unpaid tuition by ex-employees, missing or damaged Chromebooks and facility fees.

PPL Electric Utilities and Met-Ed, which serve the Lehigh Valley, said high winds were bringing down poles and wires. The biggest trouble spots appeared to be in Lower Macungie Township, the Bath area, and the Slate Belt.

Olivia Louise McMahon traveled to Dubai last month as part of Penn State University's delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Officials from around the world discussed how to limit the effects of climate change already present and prepare for further impacts.

January is National Radon Action Month, and officials from the American Lung Association are offering a limited supply of free radon test kits for commonwealth residents, including those in the the Lehigh Valley.

As 2023 draws to a close, lehighvalleynews.com offers a retrospective of a variety of stories about people, places and things that make the Lehigh Valley special.

Northampton Area Board of Education said it would have been on the hook for about $9.5 million if construction contracts were cancelled for a new elementary school.

Chances are, you'll still be able to find a tree, it just might take a little extra work — and you might want to get it soon. Roger from Unangst Tree Farms explains the ins and outs of why this problem, a decade in the making, is now causing tree farms and stands to sell-out when it's barely December.

Representatives from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission appeared before Northampton County Council on Thursday for a recap of their work in 2024 and 2025.

Legislators worked to establish penalties for xylazine use and trafficking in an attempt to lessen its presence in Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply. Some say doing so made way for a new, unclassified veterinary tranquilizer to take its place — medetomidine.

The tax and spending plan drew praise from Republicans for lowering taxes and funding border security, but Democrats condemned it for slashing Medicaid coverage and raising the deficit.

Easton officials announced Thursday that the city will begin leasing public parking from the county lot and the Social Security building lot to address access to public parking.

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,

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.

Pennsylvania's 137th District is among the most competitive state House races in the commonwealth. It's based in the swing suburbs of Northampton County.

The city is the third major city in the Lehigh Valley to become certified through Bird Town Pennsylvania, an annual designation focused on community-based conservation.

Sigal Museum held a screening of Mariska Hargitay's movie about her famous mother for staff and volunteers on Tuesday. Hargitay filmed at the museum while tracing her family tree for the film.

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.

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.