The nation’s first Catholic high school for students recovering from addiction, will not reopen for the coming 2023-24 school year. Enrollment was not enough to sustain Kolbe Academy financially and the school that opened in 2019 at the St. Francis Center in Bethlehem and later moved to the former Sacred Heart School in Bath will not reopen late this summer. Parents of students at the school were notified of the decision in a letter last week and Kolbe is offering assistance to the remaining students in finding their next high school.
Some Allentown residents are getting a pat on the back after helping firefighters battle a weekend fire. Fire crews were called to the 1900 block of West Allen Street around 4:30 Sunday afternoon. Both sides of the twin home caught fire and were badly damaged. Allentown fire officials say neighbors helped alert people to the fire and were helping firefighters drag supply lines in to help knock the flames down in about 30 minutes. Seven people were displaced and the Red Cross is assisting them. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Lehigh Valley needed some rain and Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg says we got quite a bit over the weekend. "It looks like 1.22 inches Saturday into Saturday night and then overnight, .38 so we had 1.6 inches overall on the weekend," Lundberg says. Some areas saw hail, others saw enough rain to cause some street flooding.
Berks County officials have placed a ban on open outdoor burning that they hope will won't last very long. The temporary ban issued by area fire commissioners comes at the request of some 20 fire chiefs and fire wardens in the area. The county says the area will see dry and dangerous burning conditions and sub-average rainfall, but they haven't listed an end date to the ban.
Work Zone Awareness Week begins today. "Sadly, drivers are still choosing to be distracted. We ask you to join us in making a choice and making a pledge on safe driving as we embark on National Work Zone Awareness Week," says the Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Mark Compton. According to PennDOT, there were 1293 work zone crashes in Pennsylvania last year, resulting in 14 deaths.
A House Republican has announced plans for legislation that would eliminate the General Assembly's distinction of being the nation's largest full time Legislature. Republican Representative Paul Schemel of Franklin County is proposing that Pennsylvania's General Assembly move away from being a "full-time" legislature and, instead, operate as a part-time one. Pennsylvania is just one of ten states that still have full-time legislatures. The proposal, which now sits with the House State Government Committee, would cut lawmakers' pay to $25,000 per year. It's now set at almost $103,000.
The Independent Regulatory Review Commission is scheduled to vote this week on whether to adopt stricter air pollution standards for the natural gas industry. Efforts to pass standards were stalled in the Pennsylvania legislature late last year. Political supporters say with Democrats barely hanging on to majority control in the chamber, it seems unlikely that the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee will object to the proposal if the IRRC adopts it.
Time is running out for individuals who still need to file their federal taxes. The IRS deadline for filing 2022 returns is tomorrow. Those who have not submitted forms can request an extension, delaying the deadline for paperwork until October 16th. The extension does not apply to payments owed. Those must be postmarked by tomorrow to avoid any penalties or interest.
A bad final weekend of the regular season has dropped the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to sixth in the Atlantic Division, which means they'll play their first round playoff series on the road. The Phantoms play Charlotte in a best-of-three series. All three games are scheduled in Charlotte, beginning tomorrow night.