State & Regional News

Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed increasing basic education funding by $1.1 billion, laying the groundwork to slash tuition costs at state-owned schools and taking out a $500 million bond to spur economic development.

Gov. Shapiro will deliver his budget address on Tuesday, Feb. 6. The deadline to deliver a completed spending plan is June 30.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, state parks across Pennsylvania were inundated with visitors.

State officials late last month announced the theme for this year’s annual tick-themed art contest, “Protect. Check. Remove.” Last year, there were no winners in the Lehigh Valley.

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Republican congressional candidates Maria Montero and Ryan Mackenzie criticized U.S. Rep. Susan Wild after she said Carbon County "drank the Trump Kool-Aid" on a conference call with prominent Pennsylvania Democrats.

News Director Jen Rehill talks with journalists Tom Shortell and Brittany Sweeney.

More than $2 million was allocated to nine organizations across Pennsylvania to fund various research efforts, all linked to the state’s $132.5 billion agriculture industry.

Campaign finance reports show Republican Kevin Dellicker outraised the rest of the GOP field combined in his bid for PA-7. But Democratic incumbent Susan Wild raised twice as much as all of the Republicans put together.

Two Lehigh Valley’s representatives in the state house have recently proposed legislation to make affordable housing more accessible.

Lehigh Valley Republicans were among those protesting in Washington on Wednesday, among them, Northampton GOP Chair, Lee Snover.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh has died at 88. He is remembered for his handling of the 1979 Three Mile Island crisis.

President Donald Trump signed the latest federal stimulus bill yesterday, but federal unemployment benefits may still be delayed for recipients. In the interim, WLVR’s Brittany Sweeney has more on other Pennsylvania resources for people struggling to make ends meet.

Levittown's Mia Krier, a Rosie the Riveter, discusses the years long effort to bring a congressional gold medal to women who helped win WWII.

Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, Dr. Rachel Levine says more than 40,000 healthcare workers have received Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine and tens of thousands of more doses are on the way - including the new vaccine from Moderna.

Pennsylvanians are getting their first doses of the new COVID-19 vaccine today. Tens of thousands more are expected this week. And health care workers in the Lehigh Valley will be among the first in line.

The state’s so-called COVID testing “strike team” that descended on Northampton County last week has moved on. The initiative provides services in areas with surging coronavirus cases.

Dominion Voting Systems were targeted in the president's claims of an inaccurate election, but Spotlight PA's reporting found no problems with these machines.

Pennsylvania’s state lawmaking session ended Monday, and with it, any chance for legislative intervention seeking to overturn the state’s election results.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to make permanent a program that protects some undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.

President-Elect Joe Biden is preparing to pick key members of his Cabinet. As WLVR’s Tyler Pratt reports, one group is lobbying Biden’s team to make Pennsylvania’s top health official the next surgeon general.

Democrat Joe Biden was certified Tuesday as winner of the presidential election in Pennsylvania, culminating three weeks of vote counting and a string of failed legal challenges by President Donald Trump.