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.

Two phases of the Ridge Farms land development project were given extensions by the South Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners.

In June, North Whitehall supervisors rejected plans for a 500,000-square-foot warehouse called Nexus 78. The proposal could return from the dead, after developers filed a land use appeal in Lehigh County Court.

Lehigh Country Controller Mark Pinsley criticized President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie for gutting the social safety net and Democratic leaders for failing to offer effective resistance.

Mark Pinsley is the fourth Democrat to challenge Republican incumbent Ryan Mackenzie in the Lehigh Valley's battleground district in the 2026 midterm.

South Whitehall Township commissioners on Wednesday approved an ordinance that asks to add a ballot question requesting a tax increase intended to help support the preservation of open spaces.

The Trump administration announced in late June that it would not pay out more than $6 billion allocated through six grant programs created by Congress. For Parkland School District, that works out to $410,000 in lost funding.

The crash occurred Friday at Route 100 and West Tilghman Street in Upper Macungie Township.

South Whitehall Township's planning commission voted Thursday to delay a vote to approve Parkland High School's planned expansion. Township staff gave the school district plenty to do before they return to seek land development approval.

The 24-year-old woman “exited the vehicle while it was moving after an altercation with the driver,” according to the Lehigh County coroner.

The victim, a resident of Upper Macungie Township, was operating the e-bike when it was involved with a collision with another vehicle in Upper Macungie, according to the Lehigh County Coroner's Office.

Parkland School District locked down its $248 million 2025-26 budget on June 17, and despite a 4% tax increase, all board members approved.

Upper Macungie Township planners Monday reviewed and ultimately seemed in approval of plans to allow trailer access alterations for an Amazon fulfilment center.