State & Regional News

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation encourages Whitehall Township residents to review virtual plans for the replacement of the Fifth Street Bridge over Route 22.

A handful of organic farms across the Lehigh Valley are welcoming residents and visitors this weekend to help their own gardens get growing.

The PennDOT Workers' Memorial honors the 90 employees who died while on the job since 1970. The memorial is displayed along North Cedar Crest Boulevard in Allentown Thursday through Friday.

State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh/Northampton, sponsored the bill. Any money collected will go toward bald and golden eagle conservation efforts.

Norfolk Southern’s CEO will be under more pressure to improve profits after the railroad’s shareholders voted Thursday to elect three of the board members an activist investor nominated, but he won’t be fired right away.

Pennsylvania election officials say the rate of mail-in ballots rejected for technicalities saw a significant drop in last month’s primary election. That is after state officials tried anew to help voters avoid mistakes that might get their ballots thrown out.

A special hourlong program livestreamed on LehighValleyNews.com Wednesday night. Panelists included Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure. The nonpartisan civic education group Keep Our Republic was a partner in the production.

The safety of a skin care procedure that draws patients’ blood and uses it in the healing process is coming into question. A Lehigh Valley nurse explains how to stay safe while receiving a vampire facial.

A report from the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion has former President Donald Trump with a 3-point lead over President Joe Biden in a head-to-head battle. That lead becomes a tie when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is included as an option.

More than a dozen wild birds in Pennsylvania have so far been confirmed to have the strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI. The threat to humans is low.

It might seem counterintuitive, but harvesting holiday trees year after year is better for the environment than using an artificial one, experts said, especially amid the proliferation of plastic piling up in landfills.

Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott said these types of incentives will help to attract “the best and brightest” candidates to serve the city.

More than three dozen projects in the Valley were awarded grants, receiving about 7% of the total funding awarded. Statewide, $335 million in grants were announced Wednesday.

Driven by $8.1 billion in manufacturing, the Lehigh Valley's Gross Domestic Product grew to a record $50.2 billion in 2022. The region's economy now ranks above Vermont and Wyoming.

State Sen. Lisa Boscola said it's a fallacy if the U.S. Postal Service thinks it can save up to $7 million by shipping outgoing mail from the Lehigh Valley to Harrisburg for processing without cutting jobs. On Monday, she called on USPS to do further analysis of its plans.

The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission at 11 a.m. on Wednesday is holding a meeting at its Allentown office to brainstorm and prioritize ways to decarbonize transportation across the region. Decarbonization is the process of reducing or eliminating carbon dioxide emissions.

Amid the joy and festivities, environmental advocates are urging residents to keep sustainability in mind during what can be a time of year when trash and waste spikes.

State environmental officials on Thursday evening hosted the last of five public engagement sessions, as they work to create a Priority Climate Action Plan, or PCAP, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emission statewide and mitigate further effects of climate change.

On the sixth day of Hanukkah, some in the local Jewish community called for supporters of Palestinians in Gaza to join in calls for peace.

PennDOT officials detailed planned and continuing work for 2024, including major bridge replacements along well-traveled state routes.

Sunday's rain could transition to snow as the storm system departs the region Monday morning, with the potential to affect the morning commute, according to the National Weather Service.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its plant hardiness map, showing a warmer Lehigh Valley. The region has moved into a warmer zone from the one where it was placed more than a decade ago. Experts say it has consequences for plant seasons and species.