The former Holiday Inn at Ninth and Hamilton in Allentown will not reopen as a hotel. City Center Investment Corp. had planned to renovate the property into a new hotel, but according to today's Morning Call that idea has now been scrapped in favor of a plan to turn the site into apartments, with the hotel's conference space being demolished. The Holiday Inn has been closed since City Center bought it and closed it at the end of 2017. The Holiday Inn's demise leaves Allentown with one downtown hotel, the Renaissance Hotel two blocks away at Seventh and Hamilton.
A pedestrian was seriously injured after being hit by a vehicle Monday night. The crash happened around 9 p.m. on Route 100 in Macungie, near the E-Z Shoppe. The pedestrian was rushed to the hospital and was in the intensive care unit as of early this morning. Part of Route 100 was closed for a few hours. Police are investigating the crash.
One man is dead after a two-car crash in Bethlehem. A car driven by a 69-year-old man collided with another driven by a 70-year-old woman Monday morning at Linden Street and Westbury Drive. The male driver was killed in the crash, which is under investigation. Police have not yet indicated what may have caused the accident.
The Bethlehem woman who died in a weekend house fire has been identified. The Northampton County Coroner's office says Cathy Steigerwalt was killed Saturday morning by smoke inhalation in her Wyandotte Street home. Her death is being ruled an accident.
President Trump will be in Pennsylvania next week. The White House says the President will be in Montoursville on May 20th for a 4pm appearance at the Energy Aviation Hangar at the Williamsport Regional Airport. No specific reason for the visit has been posted, but it does take place a day before Pennsylvania's primary election. If you'd like to get tickets to see the President, you can RSVP right now via www.donaldjtrump.com on a first-come, first-served basis.
A bill is being introduced at the state Capitol to close the religious and philosophical exemptions in Pennsylvania's immunization law. Senate Bill 653 would only allow for anyone with a pre-existing health problem to be exempt from being immunized. Sen. Daylin Leach says he's introducing the bill to help stop the spread of easily preventable but deadly diseases.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is urging state officials to act on climate change. During the third of his hearings on the impact of climate change in Pennsylvania, DePasquale said not enough is being done on the national level, so state officials must step up. Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine claims climate change has already led to increased risks, like an increase in Lyme disease and West Nile Virus. A special report from the auditor general is expected to be completedd this summer.
The northeast corner of Washington and Meridian in Indianapolis is now Mario Andretti Drive. The racing icon was honored in Indianapolis Monday by having a section of the downtown street renamed after him. Andretti says he's going to keep a close eye on his street sign. "I'm going to keep going by here about 50 times a day to make sure it's still up there," a laughing Andretti said. The road sign will be up for the rest of the month, marking the 50th anniversary of his 1969 Indianapolis 500 victory.
A bill intended to make financial disclosures by independent expenditure committees is back with the New Jersey Legislature after being vetoed by Gov. Phil Murphy. The governor's office says he conditionally vetoed the legislation in order to further strengthen disclosure requirements, expand the range of pay-to-play laws, eliminate loopholes and other tightening of contribution declaration conditions. The governor says the bill as is falls short of its goal to bring greater transparency to the government's doings. He returned the bill but did add several amendments that could keep the legislation in play.
A day after being eliminated from the playoffs, 76ers managing partner Josh Harris told ESPN on Monday that Brett Brown will return to the team as head coach next season. 76ers star Joel Embiid had come to Brown's defense earlier Monday, saying the idea of Brown being fired was "BS" and said he did a fantastic job. Brown is 178-and-314 in six years with the organization, but the majority of those were spent in rebuilding mode. Brown has won 52 and 51 games each of the last two years, but the team hasn't advanced past the second round.