The Bethlehem Township Board of Commissioners Monday night denied a final land development plan involving Penn Center 33, previuosly known as the Mill Creek Corporate Center. The proposal from developer Lou Pektor consists of four buildings totaling almost 500,000 square feet to be built on 62-acres north and west of the William Penn Highway park-and-ride, west of Route 33 and east of Church Road. Last month, the board granted conditional final land development approval for the project with 24 total conditions. On Monday, Pektor sought relief from one of those conditions, but was denied. Pektor's attorney told the board their decision will result in a lawsuit.
A member of the Biden cabinet is in the Lehigh Valley today. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has made a pair of appearances in the area today. This morning Buttigieg arrived at Lehigh Valley International Airport to highlight infrastructure funding being used to build new security checkpoints and expand capacity at LVIA. From the airport, Buttigieg headed to Lehigh Carbon Community College to discuss how infrastructure money will help veterans find jobs. At each stop, Buttigieg was joined by Lehigh Valley Congresswoman Susan Wild.
A 39-year-old Northampton man allegedly broke into a Main Street Bethlehem home on Sunday afternoon and fired a shot at a woman inside. Officers were called to the 1000 block of Main Street just before 1:30 Sunday afternoon. A woman in the home told officers that Joseph Shankweiler Jr. forced his way through the front door in the home pointed a handgun at the woman, whom he knew, and fired a shot. Police tracked down Shankweiler with the help of a Facebook Live video of him saying he shot at the woman.
It's been a violent couple of days in Reading, where less than 24 hours after separate shootings killed two men, another man was found shot inside a vehicle. Police found another gunshot victim just after 12:30 Monday morning. That man was rushed to the hospital, where his condition is unknown. Police are treating the shootings as separate incidents.
A large crash involving two tractor-trailers on I-78 in Bethlehem closed the interstate for hours this morning. It happened around 2:20 a.m. just past the 33 exit on I-78 Westbound, near the Easton road underpass. One trailer rolled over and blocked all lanes and its tractor portion ended up going down an embankment. Nobody was injured.
St. Rep. Scott Conklin continues to push legislation that would ban people convicted of domestic violence from holding public office in state government. "What type of individual would hurt somebody who's lesser than they are, or do harm to someone they say they love? I don't believe that type of individual should be serving as a legislator to make laws," Conklin says. State law currently prohibits people convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, and perjury from serving in the General Assembly.
State election officials say third-party candidates have filed to run for office in Pennsylvania for the November 8th general election ballot. Candidates from the Libertarian Party, the Green Party and the Keystone Party all have provided officials with enough signatures to run for governor and the U.S. Senate. The Libertarian Party candidate for Senate is Montgomery County's Erik Gerhardt. The party's candidate for governor, Matt Hackenburg, is a computer engineer from Northampton County. The Keystone Party candidate for Senate is Dan Wassmer, from Bucks County. The party's candidate for governor is Joe Soloski, who lives in Centre County. The Green Party candidate for governor is Christina DiGiulio, an environmental activist and former Department of Defense chemist. The party's candidate for Senate is Richard Weiss, a lawyer from Allegheny County. Political watchdogs say the third-party candidates could make a difference in the final voting outcome for the major party candidates.