The Allentown School Board got an earful from school bus drivers angry that monitors are being pulled from many of the school buses. Allentown School Superintendent Carol Birks says the finger is being pointed in the wrong direction. "First Student, we gave them ample opportunity to look at all the routes, determine what was needed. They decided they were not going to continue on with the bus monitors. This is not us." Allentown School District Superintendent Carol Birks told the crowd. There are 115 bus routes with a driver and monitor managed by First Student and it has reportedly been determined 40-percent of them don't need a monitor. The district says most of those monitors are being pulled from general education buses.
Northampton County officials say they'll be holding another gun buy-back event this weekend. District Attorney Terry Houck says last fall's initial buyback was successful. "We'll take anything. We had very small revolvers. We had assault rifles. We had brand new weapons. We had older weapons. We got them all," Houck says. Owners can bring unloaded firearms to either the Leithsville Fire Station in Lower Saucon Township or the Northampton Fire Department in Northampton tomorrow from 10am-2pm. Owners will receive grocery store gift cards ranging in value from 50 to 200-dollars depending on the condition of each weapon.
A Bethlehem man, who admitted to pouring gasoline on his home on Carlton Avenue last April has been sentenced to four years of probation. 44-year-old George Papaioannou also poured gasoline onto his mother's SUV and tried to set it on fire before going into the home and setting the floor on fire. His attorney says Papaionnou has suffered from mental illness for years and called the whole situation 'tragic'.
Reader’s Digest published a list titled “15 Most Underrated American Cities Worth a Visit” and a local city makes the list. Reader's Digest suggests a visit to Bethlehem because of Musikfest, its rich history and exceptional dining options.
FYE currently has about 200 stores nationwide. Soon, only one of them will be in the Lehigh Valley. FYE has announced it's closing its Palmer Park Mall store this weekend. FYE is holding a 'everything must go' sale with discounts of 30-percent to 90-percent. With the Palmer Park Mall store closing, FYE's only local store is at the Lehigh Valley Mall.
The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area will be reopening sites that were closed for the winter starting today. All river access points, access roads to Dingmans Falls and a couple of other routes throughout the area will officially re-open for the spring and summer seasons today. Amenity fees will be charged at Smithfield Beach, Bushkill Boat Launch, Dingmans Boat Launch, Milford Beach and Turtle Beach. The fees are ten-dollars per vehicle and two-dollars for additional passengers and will go into effect on Monday.
A new poll released Thursday shows fewer registered residents now supporting voting by mail than the number who supported that method leading up to the 2020 election. More than two-and-a-half-million people cast their ballots by mail then - which was also during the height of the pandemic. The poll found that 50 percent of respondents continue to support mail-in ballots, compared with 59 percent who showed support when the same question was asked a month before the 2020 presidential election.
A Franklin & Marshall poll takes a look at potential 2024 Senate races in Pennsylvania. 643 registered voters were polled and incumbent Democrat Bob Casey comes out on top of all hypothetical contests. Casey holds a seven point edge on Republican Dave McCormick, who lost last year's GOP primary against Mehmet Oz and Casey holds a 16 point edge on St. Sen. Doug Mastriano, who lost last year's governor's race to Josh Shapiro. Neither McCormick nor Mastriano have said they're running. A separate Public Policy Polling survey shows Mastriano with 39 percent GOP support, 18 points ahead of McCormick and 28 points better than Kathy Barnette, who finished third in last year's GOP primary and has said she doesn't plan to run in 2024.
Pennsylvania State Police are reporting the results of drug seizures from the first quarter of 2023. Troopers took more than 16-million dollars worth of drugs out of circulation including nearly 230-pounds of cocaine valued at more than five-million dollars. Among the rest of the drugs seized were nearly 400-thousand dollars worth of fentanyl, four-point-six-million dollars worth of processed marijuana and more than two-point-three-million dollars worth of THC extract.
Officials with the Pennsylvania Game Commission are expected to take up a vote this weekend on whether or not to change the opening day of the statewide firearms deer season. Supporters wanted the date changed from the Saturday after Thanksgiving to the following Monday. The board had voted at its earlier quarterly meeting to keep the Saturday opener in place but the motion was only preliminary and still needs final approval.
Senator John Fetterman is discussing the East Palestine train derailment with Western Pennsylvania farmers. Fetterman held a roundtable session with Beaver and Lawrence County growers in Darlington Township yesterday. Fetterman says it was an honor and a privilege to sit down with area producers to learn about their concerns over the derailment. He says the session also served to get their overall feedback and input ahead of the negotiations on the upcoming Farm Bill.
The U.S. Postal Service is increasing the price of stamps yet again. If the post office commission favorably reviews the proposed increases, a First Class Forever stamp would cost 66 cents, three cents more than now. The price changes will rise 5.4% to offset the cost of inflation. The Governors of the U.S. Postal Service have already approved the posted changes. If approved, the changes will take effect July 9.
Retail chain Target is bringing back their annual car seat trade-in program next week. Guests can take old or damaged baby seats to participating stores for recycling beginning this Sunday. In exchange, customers will receive a 20 percent off coupon good toward a new seat, stroller, or other select baby item. The company says they have recycled more than two million car seats since launching the program in 2016.
A report from the New Jersey state auditor's office says the state has spent only one-point-one billion dollars of the six-and-a-quarter billion dollars the state received in COVID-19 relief funds. The state received the money almost two years ago. Republican leaders in the state legislature jumped on the report to criticize Governor Phil Murphy's response to the pandemic, which they say has not been urgent. But in a statement, the governor's office replied that the money the state received was never intended to be short-term spending. Instead, state officials say the funds have an expenditure deadline of the end of 2026, and that they're investing the funds in more long-term projects.
Local officials in Avalon are saying beach replenishment projects will start on a stretch of the coastline Monday. Borough officials are saying the project does not come with an additional cost and it will provide over 580,000 cubic yards of sand to beaches from ninth to twenty-eighth street. Previous estimates from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was expanded due to harsh winter storms that eroded sand, according to The Press of Atlantic City.
Governor Phil Murphy is bringing together a coalition of mayors in favor of reforming New Jersey's liquor license laws. Murphy says the bipartisan coalition includes 90 members who represent different areas, but their local economies would all benefit from modernizing liquor laws. Murphy has been vocal about changing liquor license laws since his state of the state address earlier this year. Changes would include gradually phasing out current population caps for licensing and ease restrictions for breweries.