Lehigh County is being sued over ballot drop boxes. Four residents, who want restrictions on election drop boxes where hundreds of voters violated election law last year by dropping of multiple ballots, are suing the Lehigh County Elections Board, elections clerk and deputy clerk. Jackie Rivera, secretary of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, 2021 Allentown mayoral candidate Tim Ramos, former Upper Macungie Township supervisor Sean Gill and ex-Lehigh County GOP Committee chairman and current state House candidate Robert Smith are the plaintiffs. The four want the county's five drop boxes to be available only on weekdays during regular business hours and observers on hand to make sure people are only dropping off their own ballots, as required by the state election code.
Four plaintiffs are suing Lehigh County elections officials over the use of election ballot drop boxes. The four want the county's five drop boxes to be available only on weekdays during regular business hours and observers on hand to make sure people are only dropping off their own ballots, as required by the state election code. In the 2021 general election, 288 people possibly placed multiple ballots in the drop boxes, but District Attorney Jim Martin chose not to pursue charges and he explains why. "I discovered that the signage on the drop box itself, which is like a mailbox, was not conspicuous and it didn't give them adequate warning that if they deposit more than one, they'd violating the election code," Martin said. Having said that, Martin says there should be a Voters Registration Office employee monitor the boxes at all times to prevent that and suggests those drop boxes be available during normal business hours.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and Senate candidate John Fetterman mocked retiring Sen. Pat Toomey at a rally Sunday. Fetterman told the crowd, “Senator Toomey was not very nice to me,” referring to the senator’s criticism about Fetterman’s fitness to serve. “Pat Toomey is a miracle,” Fetterman joked. “He managed to figure out how to be despised by Republicans and Democrats.”
A man from Allentown is now in custody for an alleged theft that resulted in a Reading officer shooting at the suspects' car. Members of the U.S. Marshals' Fugitive Task Force announced Monday that Marlon Carrasquilla was taken into custody in Allentown. They say he was one of three masked men attempting to steal catalytic converters in Reading in July.
South Whitehall Twp. PD is looking for Dakota Banks. Banks went missing from the 2600 block of Pennsylvania St. at around 2:50 p.m. on Saturday. He is listed as a missing endangered person.
The Delaware Canal State Park Towpath has been named Pennsylvania's 2022 Trail of the Year. The nearly 60-mile towpath passes through 18 municipalities in Bucks and Northampton counties. The path, where the mules once pulled canal boats, provides a level trail for walking, jogging, biking and horseback riding. The Executive director of the Friends of Delaware Canal says the momentum from the recognition will allow his group to make sure the entire length of the path can be used.
A state Child Protective Services report shows 58 children died from abuse in Pennsylvania last year. It also shows 18 of them died violent deaths. The newly-released report from the state Department of Human Services also shows half of the deaths were caused by what was cited as a lack of supervision. The remaining deaths were caused by asphyxiation, failure to provide medical attention, ingestion, poisoning, unsecured guns and malnutrition.
Pennsylvania will slowly be changing over to a new design for its drivers licenses. PennDOT says the changes are part of ongoing security enhancements for both licenses and ID cards. The new products will be phased in over the next four-years to replace existing cards. Current drivers don't have to do anything until their licenses are about to expire. Driver's license centers will be using the new cards by mid-November.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike reportedly wants to electrify portions of the PA toll road. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the agency is working with the Ohio Turnpike on a pilot project to create a charging station in the next 18 months. The station would straddle the Ohio-Pennsylvania border so drivers can power up before they hit the turnpike. The agency leaders are also planning to place solar fields at some maintenance facilities.
Thousands are showing support for a Carnegie Mellon professor after a controversial tweet about the death of Queen Elizabeth. Nearly four-thousand people have signed a petition calling the university's reaction to Doctor Uju Anya's statements unacceptable. In the tweet, Anya referred to the queen as the chief monarch of a genocidal empire, and wished that "her pain be excruciating" at the time of her death. Carnegie Mellon leaders issued a statement, calling the message "offensive and objectionable".
While New Jersey businesses have the right to enforce a drug-free workplace, a positive drug test upon arriving is not grounds for termination. The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission adds that employees should also not be disciplined solely for such a result. The CRC estimates that approximately nine-hundred thousand people use cannabis in the Garden State.
Governor Phil Murphy and State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio are praising Fitch Ratings' decision to upgrade the Garden State's credit rating on general obligation bonds. The grade is changed from "A-minus" to "A." This is the first time Fitch has upgraded New Jersey since it started rating the State in 1992.
The season is over for Philadelphia Eagles defender Derek Barnett. The defensive end tore his ACL on Sunday. Head coach Nick Sirianni called it 'a big blow' for the team. Barnett was drafted by the organization in 2017.