Residents in one Northampton County senior facility may be displaced for several weeks. A sprinkler pipe burst Saturday at the Sacred Heart Senior Living, sending water down three floors and destroying offices, furniture, walls and ceilings. Residents' rooms were largely spared, but around 100 people were evacuated and won't be permitted to return until electricity and water services are restored. The displaced residents are staying at the Saucon Valley Sacred Heart Living and Whitehall Manor while cleanup crews have been working around the clock.
An Easton restaurant remains closed because of a broken water pipe. The owners of The Bayou in Center Square says the restaurant is working hard to get reopened as soon as possible after water flowed into the basement and dining area of the building.
A weekend fire that burned two garages in Allentown is being called suspicious by investigators. The fire began just before midnight last night in the 1000 block of James Street, an alley behind Tilghman Street. A fire in one garage quickly spread to a second garage. There are no injuries reported.
An elderly woman killed while crossing a Lehigh County road over the weekend has been identified. The Lehigh County Coroner says 70-year-old Dzefka Islamova of Lower Macungie township was hit Saturday night while crossing Lower Macungie Road, reportedly where there was no crosswalk. She was brought to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, but could not be saved. Her death has been ruled an accident but remains under investigation.
Pennsylvania's Secretary of Health says it isn't too late to get a flu shot. Dr. Rachel Levine said there have been nearly 20,000 cases of the flu as of January 25th, with 25 of them deadly. Levine says that the flu shot is your best precaution to protect yourself and anyone you come in contact with.
There are 96 Pennsylvania State Troopers set to get to work. The 154th cadet class have graduated and will be off to their respective new barracks starting this week. The State Police now has just shy of 4500 troopers state wide.
Pennsylvania hunters hoping to hunt big game with powerful semiautomatic rifles are not going to going to get that chance this year. The state Game Commission says that the use of semiautomatic centerfire rifles for big game hunting will not be permitted for the 2019-2020 season. The reported reasons include public input and opinions from the General Assembly among others. Semiautomatic rifles already legalized for small game and furbearers are still fine, but Pennsylvania Game Commissioner Brian Hoover says while many states permit semis for big-game hunts, there's no evidence the majority of area hunters prefer that to be the case here.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is saying he will proudly sign the $15-an-hour minimum wage bill into law today. The measure calls for the minimum wage to go from $8.85 an hour to $10 an hour in July. It will then rise to $11 an hour on January 1st and then gradually increase to $15 an hour by 2024. Murphy tweeted Sunday that he feels the higher minimum wage will help support families, strengthen the state's economy and help make New Jersey more affordable.
New Jersey lawmakers are passing a law that will require all schools to teach LGBTQ history in schools. Starting in 2020, public schools must include lessons about the contributions of the LGBTQ community. California is the only other state in the nation with a similar requirement.
Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year at the NFL Honors in Atlanta over the weekend. Long had donated last season's salary to help various educational programs in the cities that he has played throughout his career, Boston, St. Louis and Philadelphia. He also raised an additional $750,000 through outreach efforts.