The owner of Dorney Park has rejected a takeover offer from SeaWorld Entertainment. Earlier this month, Cedar Fair said it had received an unsolicited offer from SeaWorld to takeover the company, which has owned Dorney Park for 30 years. Tuesday, SeaWorld issued a statement saying its offer to acquire Cedar Fair was rejected and there doesn't appear to be a path to the transaction being completed. Cedar Fair owns 13 amusement parks in North America. SeaWorld owns a dozen. While nothing has officially been released, Bloomburg reports the takeover offer was worth $3.4 billion.
Lehigh Valley billionaire Jared Isaacman tells NBC's "Today" show he going back into space. "We're going to go farther into space than humans have gone since we last walked on the moon," Isaacman says. Isaacman launched his own SpaceX flight last year and says his next flight will launch no later than November 1.
Police in Allentown are looking for the driver involved in an early Tuesday morning fatal hit-and-run. It happened just after 3 o'clock Tuesday morning at 17th Street and Sumner Avenue. Surveillance video appears to show a white Acura TSX speed through a stop sign and hit 39-year-old Steven Bernhard of Macungie. Police are seen arriving just seconds later and Bernhard was rushed to the hospital where he died. The white Acura TSX involved in the crash has front end damage and a missing driver side mirror.
A tractor-trailer driver has received citations for a crash with a train earlier this month that left the driver injured and closed Route 512 for hours. The accident happened Feb. 3 where Route 512 intersects with railroad crossings in East Allen Township. The 67-year-old man from California was cited for reckless driving and failing to stop at a railroad crossing.
If you've filled up your gas tank in the past week, this is no surprise: gas prices are continuing to go higher. AAA East Central says the average price of a gallon of gas in Pennsylvania has risen six-and-a-half cents for the seven days ending Tuesday. The $3.69 price is 89 cents higher than a year earlier. In the Lehigh Valley, that gallon of gas costs an average of $3.71, up nearly nine cents from one week earlier and up 93 cents from one year ago.
The East Penn School District administration is recommending changes to the district's COVID policies. Superintendent Kristen Campbell said masks and face coverings could become optional pending board approval March 1. In addition, the district could eliminate contact tracing and quarantining of individuals exposed to COVID-19 effective that same date.
PennDOT says Route 33 North in Bethlehem Township will be closed for repairs later this week. The northbound lanes of Route 33 just beyond the exit ramp to Route 22 East will be closed from 7 o'clock Friday night until 7 o'clock Saturday night to repair a depression in the road. Detours will be posted and drivers should expect delays in the area.
The House January 6th Committee has issued another round of subpoenas Tuesday and one of them has gone to Republican state lawmaker and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. CNN reports the move comes as the House committee digs more deeply into illegitimate electors from key swing states where former President Donald Trump lost. Mastriano was one of several people who Trump reportedly entrusted to try to delay the certification of Joe Biden's victory. The committee wants to know more about his meeting with Trump in November 2020 and his involvement in planning for an alternate slate of electors to be presented.
The sale and cultivation of ravenna grass, glossy buckthorn and common buckthorn will be banned in Pennsylvania beginning in April of this year. Ravenna grass is also known as hardy pampas grass. The Department of Agriculture added the plants to the state's list of noxious weeds due to their aggressive spread and non-native status. The plants are especially prone to taking over wooded areas and fields.
Corrections officers in New Jersey must get their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine today if they want to meet Gov. Phil Murphy's deadline. Unions took the issue up in court but a state appeals court decided not to intervene in Murphy's order last Friday. That means staffers must get their first dose today in order to get their second dose by March 30th. If they do not receive the vaccine they will lose their job.