State & Regional News

The Pennsylvania House passed a bill last week that would overhaul the state’s education funding system, sending millions to Lehigh Valley schools over the next seven years. But it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

No matter what we call it, hazardous heat is expected across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

Three farms in Lehigh and Northampton counties were the latest to be included in the state’s Farmland Preservation Program. The program aims to ward off development and protect open spaces.

Senate Republicans blocked a vote on a bill that would guarantee access to assisted reproductive technology. The effort came a day after Democrats blocked a Republican effort to penalize states that attempt to ban invitro fertilization treatments.

A bill aimed at saving local pharmacies with pharmacy benefit manager, or PBMs, reform was touted in Allentown this week. Pennsylvania State Representative Josh Siegel, who represents Lehigh County, joined State Representative Jessica Benham, who represents Allegheny County, at Allentown Pharmacy.

The grant program would allow schools to recruit students, paraprofessionals and other community members to pursue a career in education. It passed the House with bipartisan support last year but has been stuck in committee in the Senate since then.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan says machine gun conversion devices, also known as Glock switches, are becoming increasingly common in the region. The illegal modifications turn semi-automatic firearms into automatic weapons.

A new report release by the American Heart Association shows the U.S. on trend to have a cardiovascular disease crisis within 30 years. A public poll shows people feel eating healthy is the way to avoid the crisis, but price points and access limit that ability.

Heat index outlooks — projecting what it feels like outside with the heat and humidity combined — push feels-like temperatures near triple digits between June 17-21 and top 100 degrees in the Lehigh Valley between June 19-25.

More than two dozen state legislators, including one from the Lehigh Valley, have co-sponsored HB2238, which would eliminate the use of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in household products.

“It’s clear that our safety culture and our investments in safety were not enough to prevent this accident," CEO Alan Shaw said. "We’re going to learn from it. We’re going to improve. And we’re going to make Norfolk Southern a safer railroad.”

Kevin Dellicker, a Republican who ran for the Lehigh Valley congressional seat, said federal investigators should look into the improper release of his military records.

The chamber will return this week to focus on providing legal relief to sexual abuse survivors, but leaders are still debating what permanent rules to govern the chamber should look like.

The new route will fly from LVIA to Denver International Airport, with flights beginning June 15 with one-way fares as low as $59.

Lehigh Valley Health Network said Monday it has been the target of a cybersecurity attack by a ransomware gang known as BlackCat, which has been associated with Russia.

Some Pennsylvanians in Beaver County who live within or just beyond the evacuation area near the site of the train derailment are worried about the long-term effects of the event.

While Trader Joe’s has previously said it does not have any specific formula or demographic requirement for where it open new locations, the Lehigh Valley seemingly has not fit within its plans. Could that be changing?

The officer was a former Lehigh County corrections officer and son of an ex-Allentown police chief. Said an Allentown councilman who worked with the former chief: 'It's devastating to me.'

The ban says public school teachers may not wear any “dress, mark, emblem, insignia" that indicates they are part of "any religious order, sect or denomination.”

In the aftermath of the derailment, which released toxic chemicals into the streams and air around East Palestine, many are wondering how the country’s regulations around rail traffic could have allowed a train with 20 cars of hazardous material not to be considered a “high hazard.”

The extra payments that participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, have been getting during the COVID-19 pandemic are ending this month in Pennsylvania, leaving food banks bracing for a surge in demand.

Former president and humanitarian Jimmy Carter has elected to forgo medical treatment to spend his remaining time with his family.