Parkland News

A webinar Monday brought together regional planners, engineers and industry leaders to explain how data centers operate and what their growth could mean for local communities.

Democrat Geoffrey Whitcomb intends to campaign for the Lehigh County-based district that Republican Gary Day currently represents. The seat heavily favors Republicans.

The Lehigh County Coroner's Office said the 27-year-old died Saturday night at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest — hours after being shot during a standoff with Pennsylvania State Police in a North Whitehall Township driveway.

Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio announced that a 93-year-old Lower Macungie Township woman died outside her home of hypothermia. She is Lehigh County's first weather-related fatality of 2026.

Residents of South Whitehall Township voiced their opposition to a proposed 5-million-square-foot data center near Parkland High School.

A Lehigh County judge has denied an appeal that sought to clear the way for Nexus 78, a 501,000-square-foot warehouse proposed for North Whitehall Township. The ruling is unlikely to be the last word in the fight over the warehouse's fate.

In its review, the LVPC said the data center proposal lacks specificity needed to fully review the project in Upper Macungie Township.

Upper Macungie's planning commission voted Wednesday to recommend preliminary approval for a planned 203-home development connecting Schantz Road and Bastian Lane.

Parkland High School's planned $68 million, five-building expansion project is expected to begin early in 2026 and be completed by August 2028.

A new hyperscale data center could be on its way to South Whitehall Township, with the 5.1 million square foot Atlas Industrial project set to be constructed right across the street from Parkland High School.

Dorney Park officials said the first piece of Iron Menace arrived Thursday, and represents the first truckload of what will be about 68 total.

With just one incumbent seeking re-election, Lehigh County voters are guaranteed to place three newcomers on the Lehigh County Board of Elections this November.

Foxy's Cradle cat nursery is to appeal a code notice to North Whitehall Township that its operation was unpermitted. The owners of the nonprofit, which raises orphaned and neonatal cats, is seeking a special exemption to continue the operation, taking to Facebook to garner public support in advance of the meeting.

A seat on the Upper Macungie Township Board of Supervisors is up for election on Nov. 7. The candidates are Democrat Jeff Fleischaker, an attorney, and Republican Greg Wheeler, an emergency medicine doctor.

Barktoberfest at Grange Park will be held this Sunday after the forecast predicted rain all afternoon Saturday.

League of Women Voters Lehigh County held a candidate forum for Parkland School Board candidates. The slate running on the Republican ticket did not attend.

The Upper Macungie Planning Commission will discuss a plan for a manufacturing facility at 110 PA Route 100. A 150,000-square-foot warehouse has been proposed at the same site.

A proposal for a 150,000-square-foot warehouse may move forward in a compromise between Upper Macungie Township, warehouse developer Prologis and nearby hotel Fairfield Inn & Suites.

Pennsylvania State Police say officials have been unable to determine what caused eight children and five adults to become sick at the Lehigh Valley Children's Center on Park Avenue on Wednesday. Air quality tests are scheduled.

Six of the nine seats on the Parkland School Board are up for election. Two opposing candidate groups will face off on Nov. 7.

The organization has supported children with cancer insuring they have an angel watching over them.

St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Emmaus is proposing a move to South Whitehall. Father Joseph Landino said the church is looking to expand after many new parishioners started attending.