State & Regional News

'A Community Conversation: The Road Ahead' will feature several guests discussing Lehigh Valley traffic and transportation issues. It will start at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 3, at the Univest Public Media Center in Bethlehem.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last week launched the Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction grant program. Aimed at schools and childcare facilities, the program is focused on testing for, and remediating, lead in drinking water.

Lehigh Valley business experts said it's too soon to determine how President Donald Trump's across-the-board tariffs of 10% or more will affect the economy but acknowledged that stakes are high.

Gov. Josh Shapiro made an appearance at Fegley's Brew Works in Bethlehem Wednesday to speak out on tariffs and how they could impact small businesses across the Lehigh Valley, including its thriving craft brewery scene.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, a national initiative occurring annually to encourage safe driving. It will take on added significance in Pennsylvania this year.

Mega Millions is making changes to its lottery game starting as soon as its April 8 drawing. Changes include an increase in the ticket price and retiring add-on features, and replacing them with new features that Mega Millions says will benefit players.

If Mother Nature has anything to say about it, this could be an abbreviated peak bloom for the cherry blossoms in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas.

Miller-Keystone Blood Center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to introduce its newest bloodmobile, Bloodhound I — among four new vehicles planned to be put into service over the next year.

“I want to warn everybody there are a lot of procrastinators out there, and our driver's license centers are having real serious issues with lines and people showing up before they even open,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said Tuesday.

This week on Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell is joined by political scientist Chris Borick to talk about the department, its standing in American politics and its future.

A recent bald eagle rehabilitation and release is a bright spot amid a dangerous time for bald eagles in the Lehigh Valley and the rest of the commonwealth. Bird flu continues to threaten wild bird populations, causing more than a dozen bald eagles to be euthanized across Pennsylvania.

A five-part series this week will explore traffic and transportation issues in the Lehigh Valley. Increasing traffic volume, dangerous driving and insufficient infrastructure are among the topics examined.

Said LANTA planning and scheduling manager A.J. Jordan, “LANTA Planning Department is consistently working to make sure changes impact riders as little as possible."

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie visited Ward Transport & Logistics Corp. in Easton, where he got feedback about federal regulations on truck drivers and concerns about Pennsylvania's emission standards.

Justin Simmons, the former Republican state representative, was among three people who filed nomination papers last week to seek the party's nomination in the May 20 primary election.

The first-of-its-kind report, “Wildlife Corridors: How reconnecting habitats is protecting Pennsylvania’s native species," highlights 10 innovative wildlife corridor projects around the state.

Democratic VIPs including U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, DNC Chair Ken Martin and former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild attended the town hall at Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Thursday night. The evening came with a rebuke to attendees from the church pastor.

At a virtual town hall Thursday, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, said he did not support cuts to Medicare or Social Security, called for peace in Ukraine, and gently pushed back on how the Trump administration handled cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Pasa Sustainable Agriculture officials say they're owed more than $3 million in outstanding reimbursements from the federal government. The lawsuit includes six other organizations and five major cities.

Organizers with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Democratic National Congressional Committee and several other groups invited U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie to a town hall event Thursday over proposed Medicaid cuts. Instead, the first-term Republican will hold his own telephone town hall.

The spring equinox officially arrived at 5:01 a.m. Thursday, but the upcoming pattern is cold, blustery and rainy for the Lehigh Valley and the rest of the region.

According to the USDA, wholesale prices for large cartoned shell eggs fell as low as $4.78 per dozen in the Northeast region — a decline of 33% month to month.