Demolition continues today on North Fountain Street in Allentown where a Sunday morning fire destroyed ten row homes and left 47 people displaced. Allentown fire Captain John Christopher says they had no choice but to completely tear down the homes. "The buildings are so compromised we couldn't put our guys safely in there," Christopher says. Some of the people living in those homes report hearing explosions before the fire, however investigators aren't confirming those claims and UGI says its testing has shown no signs of a gas leak in the area. Remarkably, no injuries were reported in the fire.
An Allentown man is accused of slashing someone at Dorney Park over the weekend. South Whitehall Township police responded to the amusement park Saturday night and arrested Jorge Otero on various assault counts. Police say Otero used a razor to slash the hand of an underage girl and then tried to flee but was confronted by an adult male. Officials say Otero bit that man and broke the skin before he was subdued by park security. The park has not commented on how a razor made it through the metal detectors at the entrance.
An elderly woman is dead after being hit by a vehicle last week in Walnutport. 90-year-old Dorothy Fosbrook of Lehigh Township died Monday from injuries after being hit by the vehicle last Friday. Fosbrook was hit along South Best Avenue and suffered head injuries as a result. The incident remains under investigation, although there have been no charges announced against the driver involved.
A man is hospitalized following an apartment fire in Northampton County. Fire officials are still investigating what caused the fire that devastated a building on Butler Street late Sunday night. The family dog alerted the residents to the fire but then ran back toward the burning building when firefighters tried to rescue it. The dog died as a result. The hospitalized man suffered burns to his feet and back.
Pennsylvania's attorney general says he and three other attorneys general have struck a deal on the nationwide opioid epidemic. Josh Shapiro announced Monday the agreement in principle with the five companies is valued at $48 billion. The deal would see $22.5 billion spread among every state and local government to work toward decreasing the crisis while the remainder would come in the form of medication-assisted treatment.
Pittsburgh is preparing for President Trump's visit Wednesday. City officials will be closing numerous streets following rush hour tomorrow morning and the superintendent of Pittsburgh's public schools is closing a dozen schools tomorrow to ensure student safety. President Trump is speaking to the Shale Insight Conference.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is calling out a South Jersey school district for punishing students who owe lunch money. The Cherry Hill Public School Board has recently voted to restrict students who have at $75 worth of lunch debt are not allowed to attend the prom, participate in extracurricular activities or to buy a yearbook. The governor also says no child should be shamed, punished or banned from school activities over lunch money. He says he's committed to working with the state legislature to protect students from such a punishment.