State & Regional News

Few, if any, bridges in Pennsylvania insulate the steel beams in their decks, PennDOT Deputy Secretary Mike Rebert said Wednesday. High-intensity fires capable of destabilizing those bridges are rare, but do happen.

Democrats in Pennsylvania are optimistic that Republicans will finally agree to raise the state's minimum wage after years of debate. A Republican member of the state Senate's leadership team is leading a bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, providing hope for a resolution, although challenges remain in the GOP-controlled state Senate.

The late William Jacob Heller founded The American Flag Manufacturing Co. in Easton in 1887, helping popularize the U.S. flag nationally. Heller is credited as being instrumental in having flags hung at schoolhouses throughout the nation.

Local experts say the Lehigh Valley is well prepared to knock down wildfires, but state data show those blazes are becoming much more common across Pennsylvania.

The Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors reported home sales dropped 22% in May — normally a busy season. Increased interest rates and tight inventory in Lehigh and Northampton counties were driving the figures, according to GLVR.

State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh, is the architect of a bill that would allocate $100 million of federal American Rescue Plan funding for mental health programs. It passed the House last week and is under state Senate consideration.

The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners in April voted to remove the mail-in application process for antlerless licenses, as well as move up the sale to the fourth Monday in June.

Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based nonprofit that didn't exist in 2020, has become a power player in conservative politics ahead of the 2024 elections, including in the Lehigh Valley.

Spraying began 9 a.m. at Washington Crossing State Park. Black flies have been a recognized pest of humans and livestock in Pennsylvania since the 1970s.

Around 53-hundred mail carriers were attacked by dogs last year, according to the United States Postal Service. Pennsylvania is 4th on the list of top dog bites among postal workers.

Republicans in the House Health Committee are challenging the Pennsylvania health department’s order that requires children to wear face coverings at schools to decrease the spread of COVID-19.

New data released by the state Health Department shows COVID-19 vaccines have managed to protect against illness, hospitalization and death in the vast majority of Pennsylvanians.

Pennsylvania is a top destination for people who travel to take pictures of fall foliage who are also known as “leaf peepers.”

A man working at the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant outside Harrisburg died late last week.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Veronica Degraffenreid has been Pennsylvania's Acting Secretary of State since former DOS Secretary Kathy Boockvar resigned in February.…

State health officials are ramping up efforts to get more people vaccinated in Pennsylvania where just over 50% are fully vaccinated.

Food insecurity is the lack of regular, reliable access to nutritious food, and it’s a problem in both cities and rural areas.

State senators have begun hearing testimony in that chamber’s latest round of election investigation hearings.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Elected officials met Friday to promote a plan to expand the existing passenger rail service statewide. For that to happen, Congress…

Sharon Serra was a federal law enforcement official working in Manhattan when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. At the time, the Northampton County resident was just about three years into her now decades-long career in law enforcement.

This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. President Joe Biden is expected to visit Shanksville, Somerset County, on Saturday, the site of the Flight 93 crash.

PALMER TWP, Pa. - Patrick Cartier of Palmer Township said two decades later, he still feels the trauma of 9/11. “I look at it like it’s a part of me,”…