State & Regional News

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.

Under a proposal by Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania would cap tuition and fees at state-owned colleges to $1,000 a semester for in-state students from households earning up to the median income.

The number of people developing cancer is on the rise, but the survival rate is also going up according to the American Cancer Society. Doctors believe there are two contributing factors.

Tom Connors, director of the Carbon County Animal Shelter in Nesquehoning, is known to some as a dog whisperer.

A retired Pennsylvania firefighter has been arrested on suspicion of throwing a fire extinguisher that hit three police officers during the siege at the U.S. Capitol.

Gov. Tom Wolf says he wants to separate “fact from fiction” about the COVID-19 vaccine and to dispel rumors that include the vaccine can give you the virus.

The 105th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show is going virtual this year.

Gov. Tom Wolf has condemned Wednesday’s riots at the U.S. Capitol as “an attempted coup,” adding that the actions of Republicans led to the violence.

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.