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.

The Parkland School Board stopped short of committing to advertising to fill the vacant seat of Jarrett Coleman, who was elected to the state Senate.

State Senator-elect Jarrett Coleman had previously said he was not going to resign his school board position.

KidsPeace received more than a thousand gifts during its 11th annual Angel Tree holiday gift drive. The gifts will go to more than 200 kids in the organization’s residential treatment and foster care programs.

A representative of the owner of the King George Inn property addressed the delay in the property’s redevelopment at the latest board of commissioners meeting. The three-story stone structure dates to the 1700s, but has been renovated over the years as it was used for various businesses.

The newly approved budget does not raise property taxes, but does have a deficit due to big projects planned in 2023.

Upper Macungie Township’s newly adopted 2023 budget does not change the real estate tax.

The South Whitehall Township Zoning Hearing Board didn't make a decision about the proposed facility at its meeting Thursday.

South Whitehall Township commissioners unanimously appointed Penn State University student Jacob Roth to fill their vacant position.

South Whitehall Township's Board of Supervisors may appoint a new commissioner at their special meeting on Wednesday.

Police blocked off the entrances to the plaza, onlookers say, but the public was never in danger, according to a press release about the incident.

Parkland High School will perform in Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in the school's history. The parade is the oldest in the country, dating back to 1920.

Newly-elected Lehigh Valley State Sen. Jarett Coleman has dropped a lawsuit he filed last year against the Parkland School District that sought to invalidate teacher pay raises. The trial over Sunshine Act breaches was scheduled to take place this week.