Allentown police are investigating two homicides that happened over the weekend. Police responded to the first murder around 2 o'clock Saturday morning in the 200 blcok of Hazel Street. That's where 30-year-old Shane Gensaker was pronounced dead due to a gunshot wound. Police were then called to an apartment in the 700 block of Walnut Street around 11:30 Saturday morning and found 28-year-old Christopher Sappah dead inside his home. Investigators do not believe the cases are connected.
Eleven people are displaced after an apartment fire in Allentown. The two-alarm fire was reported shortly before 2:30 Sunday morning in the 900 block of Pine Street. Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the blaze. No one was injured.
A Bushkill Township home is damaged after an overnight fire. The fire broke out just after midnight in the basement of a home on Arthurs Court. It only took firefighters about 45 minutes to extinguish the fire. There are no injuries reported. The cause of the fire is undetermined at this point.
A lawsuit against Lehigh Valley Academy has been dismissed. A federal judge decided late last week that the school was not involved on the day a 16-year-old student went to Mexico with 46-year-old Kevin Esterly, a married man. The judge says the two met before school, dismissing the claims of the teen's mother that the school should be held responsible for the psychological harm done back in March. In December, Esterly was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail on a misdemanor charge related to the incident.
Some schools are either closed today or had delayed openings because of a wintry mix overnight. Accu-Weather's Elliot Abrams says a lot more schools could be impacted Wednesday. "It'll start as snow. There could be up to a few inches of snow. It looks like sleet and freezing rain for a while on Wednesday night and then it'll change over to rain," Abrams says. He says Wednesday's expected storm is similar to one last week that started as snow and then finished with sleet, freezing rain and then plain rain.
It's not business as usual today for government offices. Today is Presidents Day, a holiday at the local, state and federal levels. Banks are also closed today and there is no mail delivery. Most state workers have the day off and many schools are closed as well for the holiday.
Organizers are celebrating another successful THON at Penn State. The 46-hour dance marathon raised more than $10.6 million over the weekend. That amount is up about $470,000 from last year. The funds are raised for the Four Diamonds Fund, to support pediatric cancer patients and their families at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Since 1977, the event has raised more than $157 million.
New Jersey may be close to legalizing marijuana for adult use. State lawmakers are expected to vote by the end of the month on a proposal to legalize recreational pot. The agreement would reportedly tax the sale of marijuana by the ounce, as opposed to by the total sales price. Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to sign the measure if it's passed, meaning New Jersey would join ten other states that already legalized weed.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker says he's withholding judgment over an alleged attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett in Chicago. After speaking with voters in New Hampshire Sunday, the presidential candidate said he'll withhold until all the information actually comes out from sources that go on-the-record. His comments come after he originally said the alleged attack on the actor last month was a modern-day lynching. Chicago police say Smollett is no longer considered a victim.