State & Regional News

The toll booths are no longer needed as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission adopts open road tolling, with fares collected electronically via overhead structures between highway interchanges.

The state Office of Open Records issued the order after LehighValleyNews.com appealed Allentown's denial of a request for records under the state's Right to Know law.

Krista Brown-Ly has served as the center's interim executive director after Ashley L. Coleman resigned last year.

Ryan Crosswell, a recent arrival in the Lehigh Valley, is the third Democrat to get in line to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. The seat should be one of the most contested U.S. House races in the 2026 midterms.

Speeding was so rampant on Center Valley Parkway in Upper Saucon Township that LehighValleyNews.com recorded someone going 95 mph near Promenade Saucon Valley.

The grant, part of a $650,000 round of funding, came from the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, a State College-based nonprofit.

Temperatures climbed well into the upper 80s this week in the Lehigh Valley, teasing that classic summer milestone — the first 90-degree day of the year.

Eileen Miller, whose son Paul Miller was killed in a collision by a distracted driver, on Friday spoke on a piece of legislation that bans the use of handheld devices while driving in Pennsylvania.

The $13 million contract was with the Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program. A pandemic-era program, commonwealth farmers were paid to supply local food banks with fresh produce.

Governor Josh Shapiro, joined by local and state politicians, spoke out in support of mass transit investments for the betterment of the Commonwealth, at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hecktown Oaks Thursday.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is ramping up political spending in the region in its bid to help GOP challenger Ryan Mackenzie defeat U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley.

A group of Democratic Gen Z activists visited Rep. Susan Wild's campaign office Sunday to rally support among young voters. It's an easier lift with Vice President Kamala Harris atop the ticket, they said.

An estimated $450,000 is needed for the next step in the process of studying passenger rail. While Lehigh County officials say they will pay half, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure said he thinks other local agencies should foot the bill.

“Noticing a haziness to the sky today? That is due to the smoke spreading into the region aloft from the wildfires in western North America,” the National Weather Service said on X.

PennFuture and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network earlier this month realized a win in their case against the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, or Transco, and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild touted her bill that she says would protect fertility rights. She held a news conference at the nation's Capitol on World IVF Day this week.

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis joined local legislators at the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown on Friday to talk about the BOOST Program that will fund after-school programs across Pennsylvania. State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh, developed it.

Popular deli meat company Boar's Head has issued a recall for their liverwurst and other deli meats due to a listeria outbreak which has shown at least one reported case in Pennsylvania.

PennDOT plans to build a bridge that would bring Route 309 over Center Valley Parkway and West Saucon Valley Road. The department is currently seeking public comment.

Bethlehem joins 25 other places in the United States as a World Heritage Site — an effort that has been decades in the making and, advocates hope, bolsters historic preservation and tourism in the Lehigh Valley.

Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton have teamed up with Lehigh Valley Health Network to make the Lehigh Valley a Blue Zone. The initiative was launched this week and will take the next few years to earn the certification.

A vote in favor would put Historic Moravian Bethlehem among 25 other sites nationally and 1,199 around the world, including the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef.