First Lady Jill Biden is set to visit Allentown today. She is scheduled to appear at The Learning Hub in Allentown as a part of National Hispanic Heritage Month. She will be joined by Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, as well as U.S. Rep. Susan Wild. They will take part in a roundtable with members of the Hispanic community. Mrs. Biden is expected to arrive at Lehigh Valley International Airport at 1:45 this afternoon.
A man is dead after a shooting in Allentown Tuesday night. Police were in the area of the 400 block of North Seventh Street when they heard shots fired shortly after 7:30 Tuesday night. Police quickly found a man, who was shot multiple times while inside a vehicle. He died at the hospital. No arrests have been announced and neither has the victim's identity.
A Berks County man is under arrest, charged with being three-times above the legal blood-alcohol limit when he was involved in a January crash in Lehigh County. 39-year-old Jonathan Richards was allegedly driving northbound in the southbound lanes of Hamilton Boulevard in Upper Macungie Township when he crashed into the oncoming vehicle driven by Wadnor Louis, who was declared dead at the scene. Richards faces a lengthy list of charges and has been sent to Lehigh County Jail on $50,000 bail.
The summer of 2022 will be another dry one in Hanover Township, Northampton County. There will be no swimming at Hanover Township's swimming pool again next summer. The township's options to repair or replace its 40-year-old pool range in price from about $1.1 million to $6.8 million, and all three choices rule out a 2022 swim season. Hanover Township's Board of Supervisors must now decide which path they take. The township pool on Jacksonville Road was closed in June 2019 after leaks were found.
Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health added 16,287 new cases of COVID-19 to the statewide total, which is now 1,486,134. Those new cases were spread out over a four-day period. There were 151 new COVID-related deaths also reported during that span, leaving the state with 30,058 deaths attributed to the virus. Right now, 2967 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, 670 of whom are in the intensive care unit. Statewide percent positivity for the seven days ending October 7th stood at 9.6-percent.
A man is behind bars after he allegedly kidnapped a woman and crashed her car. This all started Tuesday morning in Bethlehem when Ruben Melendez began chasing a woman and ran her off the road. That's when he allegedly took over her car and then crashed it into a pole before dragging her into his vehicle. The suspect sped away but was caught by police near New York City. The woman was taken to a hospital with only minor injuries and the suspect faces numerous charges related to this incident. The victim reportedly had a protection from abuse order in place against Melendez.
Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry is responding to accusations that he urged the Department of Justice to overturn the 2020 election results. "This, unfortunately, is another distraction from the Biden administration and Democrats who don't want to talk about the failed exit from Afghanistan, the economy and seven-percent inflation," Perry says. Last week, a report from the Senate Judiciary Committee accused him and St. Sen. Doug Mastriano of providing false election claims to the former U.S. associate deputy attorney general, which were debunked.
The state legislature is considering new voting legislation. St. Rep. Scott Conklin proposed the legislation, saying following the 2020 election, county election officials asked the state for help. He added that this bill would streamline processes, allow for pre-canvassing of ballots to begin 21 days before election day, and fund necessary equipment purchases. Conklin says he hopes that his colleagues on both sides of the aisle will agree and join him in making these necessary updates to the state's election laws.
A York County elementary school teacher is facing charges for allegedly threatening to shoot school administrators. Officials say on October 8th, Sinking Springs Elementary teacher Chad Gerrick reportedly approached school administrators about a plastic COVID-19 barrier he installed in his classroom that was removed by maintenance. Following that conversation, a worker allegedly overheard Gerrick saying if he gets COVID, he will shoot all of them and spread the virus as much as he can. Police investigated his home following the threats and removed nine long guns and one pistol. His preliminary hearing is set for October 22nd.
A police officer who confronted Tree of Life suspect Robert Bowers following a 2018 shooting rampage says that Bowers told him that 'all Jews had to die.' Bowers is charged in the shooting deaths of 11 people at the synagogue. A hearing is being held this week to consider the admissibility of statements made by the suspect at the scene after he was wounded in a shootout with police. Officer Clint Thimons took the stand yesterday and said that, when asked why he shot up the synagogue, Bowers said that he had had enough, that Jews were killing children and that they all had to die.