Pennsylvania social workers would be added to police departments under legislation that will be introduced by a Lehigh County lawmaker. Democratic St. Rep. Mike Schlossberg wants the state to earmark $100 million in new spending for mental health initiatives, including putting social workers in police departments. Schlossberg says he believes Republicans understand the gravity of the mental health crisis and he's cautiously optimistic about his proposal's chances.
The Bushkill Stream Conservancy wants to kill off an invasive plant. The organization is asking the Palmer Township Board of Supervisors to remove the invasive Japanese knotweed in and around the area of Braden Park in Tatamy borough and Mill Race Park in Palmer Township. Kathy Altmann recommends cutting the knotweed and treating it once in the early spring and summer, and then later in the season with an herbicide. She says Japanese knotweed spreads just as bad as bamboo but is a bigger problem because it has big flowers that produce seeds that end up being spread everywhere.
The Diocese of Allentown says it'll host an event next month to sell off stained glass windows from some of the Lehigh Valley's closed churches. There are more than 250 ready-to-hang pieces, with prices starting at $45. The sale will take place at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Whitehall Township from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 16th.
A tractor-trailer crash closed the ramp from Route 22 east to Route 309 south in South Whitehall Township for several hours Monday. The big rig overturned around 8 a.m. causing the ramp to be closed for about three-and-a-half hours. No serious injuries were reported.
PennDOT reminds you its driver license and photo centers will be closed Saturday through Monday in observance of Juneteenth, which marks June 19, 1865, when the last of the slaves were freed.
No official U.S. Supreme Court ruling yet on the Roe vs. Wade case that legalized nationwide abortions in 1973. Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz tells Fox News he believes the case was wrongly decided. "This is a correction of an error that states should be making these decisions. It gives people the power, which is exactly what I'd like to see more of as a U.S. senator. Federal government controls too much. It's too authoritarian. It's too overreaching," Oz says. Oz says he supports returning regulation of abortion back to the states.
The January 6th Committee held the second in a new series of public hearings looking at the riot on the US Capitol. Former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt testified that he found no evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania that would have impacted the outcome of the election and also testified how tweets by former President Donald Trump inspired threats against him. "After the President tweeted at me by name, calling me out the way that he did, the threats became much more specific, much more graphic," Schmidt testified. He says members of his family also began receiving threats. The ex-president continues to call the hearings nothing more that politically-motivated show.
Three Republican members of the Pennsylvania House have announced plans to draft articles of impeachment against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. Josh Kail, Torren Ecker and Tim O'Neal made the announcement in Harrisburg Monday. The announcement comes as Krasner faces continued criticism about his office's handling of gun cases in the city.
A state regulatory review commission has approved an updated set of K-12 science standards. A state Board of Education official says the new criteria will guide future instruction for Pennsylvania students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, areas. The new procedures will replace ones that were adopted in 2002 and will take effect July 1st of 2025.
The state Department of Labor and Industry may soon appoint a special prosecutor to focus on cases related to unemployment fraud. Supporters say House Bill 2648 would appoint a special state prosecutor for prosecuting people who have used the COVID pandemic to commit fraud with the state's unemployment compensation system. State officials say more than 33,000 fraud cases are outstanding as of early June.
If you've had an unemployment question you just haven't been able to figure out on your own, the state says you can soon meet a person face-to-face about your problem. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has announced in-person consultations are being offered at certain offices of the commonwealth's employment service regions. Department of Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier said they're being offered currently in the southwestern and southeastern metro regions but are expected to be expanded in the future.
Members of the New Jersey State House are trying to curb the Garden State's excessive deer problem. A study from Rutgers shows parts of New Jersey have 60-and-200 deer per square mile. They say the goal should be ten deer per square mile. Having so many deer in a small area is believed to contribute to traffic accidents and a negative impact on crops. Hunting isn't decreasing those numbers either. It's believed there are 102,000 deer in New Jersey.