State & Regional News

A Lehigh University graduate last year recorded a new species of mushroom at Wildlands Conservancy's South Mountain Preserve.

Monarch butterflies are starting to migrate through the Lehigh Valley. An annual tagging program, held at Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center, helps conservation efforts.

What feels like a local housing crisis is actually a “global phenomenon” across all income levels, state Rep. Josh Siegel, D-Lehigh, said at a housing summit Friday.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on procedural grounds that a lower court should not have taken up the case because it did not draw in the election boards in all 67 counties.

Called the Recovery in Nature initiative, two state departments have joined forces to create regional-specific partnerships to bolster substance use recovery efforts while strengthening all residents’ connection to nature.

Folks of older age and those with mobility troubles may already have enough of a hard time getting where they need to go, so a local panel is brainstorming how to get federal funding to make day-to-day transportation a smoother ride for them.

Democrats said they wanted Vice President Kamala Harris to provide more details about her policies while Republicans acknowledge she presents a more serious challenge to former President Donald Trump.

Early Tuesday, Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who has a home in the Lehigh Valley, launched into space for a second time as part of a mission dubbed Polaris Dawn. The launch was visible in the area.

This week on Political Pulse, Tom and Chris talk about public opinion polling at a state and national level — and what that means to voters.

A microcosm of Pennsylvania, Northampton County's urban areas, rural farms and middle-class suburbs make it a melting pot of different political stripes.

An experimental "gut check" test can tell us more about the bacteria that live inside us. By studying the way the microbial populations change over time, researchers think they may have a new tool for monitoring health.

Audie Cornish speaks with Michele Dunne, director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East for analysis of the latest events in Egypt.

The Statue of Liberty reopens July 4, for the first time since Hurricane Sandy damaged the statue's pedestal and flooded park service offices. We look at what it took to reopen the iconic statue — and why nearby Ellis Island remains closed indefinitely.

After years of food shortages and drought, in a country that was once the breadbasket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe's crippled economy is recovering — after adopting the U.S. dollar as its currency. But memories of the violent elections in 2008 are fueling fears about security. The disputed vote ended in a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and his main opposition rival. The Zimbabwean leader has now proclaimed July 31 as election day. New York-based Human Rights Watch warns there's potential for more violence — unless key security and other reforms are brought in before the vote.

When it comes to selling Texas Latinos on the Republican Party, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz would seem like a natural. But even though he is the son of a Cuban refugee, Cruz is much closer to his Tea Party supporters' hard line on immigration than he is to the Republicans who are urging a more accommodating position for the sake of the party's future.

One day after Egypt's military deposed the nation's first democratically elected president, it began a crackdown on Mohammed Morsi's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Homemade sodas are hot these days: Americans bought more than 1.2 million home carbonators last year. For the Fourth of July, we asked mixologist Gina Chersevani to help us tap into the trend with a soda float inspired by Independence Day.

A young college grad asks an economist for advice.

Consumers already have an abundance of choice when it comes to entertainment and news subscriptions. But analysts say it's still early days for all the digital subscription offerings we'll have to pay for.

President Obama lost Texas by more than 1 million votes last year. But Democrats believe their fortunes in the state may soon be changing, thanks to demographics and a new organizational push.

Matthew Burnett wanted his clothing line to be "Made in the USA." But he decided it was too difficult to find information on U.S. manufacturers. So Burnett and his business partners created Maker's Row, a website where people who design things can find people who make things.

Some 15 states are expected to consider giving advanced practice nurses more independence and authority this year. It's part of a push to meet increased demand for primary care as more people get insurance under the health law.