State & Regional News

Bethlehem native Ariel Torres became the first drag queen to perform at the Governor's Residence for its Pride Month Celebration Reception on June 26. Torres performed “I Was Here” by Beyoncé as his drag persona, Elektra Fierce St. James.

A dancing duo from the greater Lehigh Valley is heading south to compete in the Transplant Games of America. The couple is part of Gift of Life's Team Philly made up of 150 people.

Fireworks are a popular fun way to celebrate the 4th of July, but they can also be dangerous. Allentown's police and fire officials say every year they see a serious injury or fatality caused by fireworks.

The famous Sheetz $1.776 gas promo will not make a return this year, even though AAA East Central reports lower gas costs compared to this time last year. The Biden-Harris Administration is attempting to mitigate that.

Neither first lady Jill Biden nor U.S. Rep. Susan Wild addressed questions about President Joe Biden's fitness for office following his poor performance at last week's presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.

Victaulic, the pipe-joining manufacturer based in Forks Township, will undertake a $100 million expansion project in Tioga County, Pa., that will create at least 214 new, full-time jobs and retain 1,611 more across the state, it was announced Tuesday.

The Climate Prediction Center is favoring warmer than normal temperatures for the Lehigh Valley, which has an average daily high of 86.4 degrees in July, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Owowcow Creamery announced it secured two brag-worthy titles: third-best ice cream shop in the U.S. and first place on the East Coast. The creamery has two locations in the Lehigh Valley.

With first lady Jill Biden set to visit the region Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Police are warning of traffic delays in the Allentown and surrounding areas.

Zero tolerance on fireworks: “If we just kind of let people light things off, someone's going to get hurt or killed," Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott said.

It's not just homesteaders, hipsters and foodies getting into the hands-on pursuit. The butter-churning craze is part of a larger, do-it-yourself food movement that includes everything from canning, to making homemade bitters, a food writer says.

For 20 years, Linda Smith was a successful ER doctor. But she started to regret doing painful procedures on patients without having the time to sit down and talk with them. So she became a palliative care doctor, one of a growing number helping people deal with life-threatening illnesses.

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.