Last Friday night's death of a Bethlehem man has officially been ruled a homicide by the Lehigh County Coroner's Office. 29-year-old Rahmil Gordon was shot several times late last Friday night in the 1100 block of Maple Street in Allentown. Gordon's killing is still under investigation.
Allentown residents are expressing outrage after a social media post shows a parking authority officer issuing tickets to people in line at a local food bank. The video posted Saturday by Fuente de Vida Church shows a line of cars on St. John's Street. A parking enforcement officer standing on the street appears to be scanning license plates in the queue. The Parking authority confirms that an officer issued nine tickets to drivers in line at the food bank. The authority says the officer was sent to the neighborhood after a resident called to complain about the traffic backup.
Bethlehem Area School District board members have approved the appointment of Dr. Jack Silva as superintendent. At its meeting Monday night, the board also accepted the retirement of superintendent Dr. Joseph Roy. His time with the district will end July 15th. Silva began his career in the district in 2010 as the assistant superintendent and chief academic officer. Prior to coming to the Bethlehem School District, Silva served as an administrator in the Souderton Area School District. He has served as principal, assistant principal, and director of secondary education. He taught social studies in Souderton Area School District and Central Bucks School District.
William Penn Elementary School in Bethlehem will remain closed Tuesday, a day after an exterior stairwell wall collapse forced classes to be canceled. Structural engineers and city building inspectors will continue to evaluate the stairway. Details on what caused the collapse have not been released. There were no injuries.
Lehigh Valley hot dog fans will have one fewer option soon. Mad Dog Hot Dogs in Macungie will close this Sunday because the owners are retiring. It's the third well-known hot dog establishment to close this year. Willy Joe’s on Lehigh Street in Allentown closed over the weekend after 45 years in business. Pete’s Hot Dog Shop, at 400 Broadway in South Bethlehem for nearly 85 years, closed last month.
Someone has won nearly half a million dollars after purchasing a lottery ticket in Northampton County. The ticket is worth more than $429,000 and was sold at the Easton Food Mart. The winner's ticket was from a fast play game called Ca$h Wanted. It originally cost $20.
The northbound exit and entrance ramps of the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the Allentown service plaza will remain closed at night for the next few days. State transportation officials say the closure needs to happen so that milling and paving work can be done on the ramps. The work started Monday night and the closures will be in effect each night from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. until Thursday. The Allentown Service Plaza is located on I-476 northbound and southbound in Lehigh County.
A state House committee has advanced a bill that would require insurance companies to cover genetic testing and counseling for women at high risk of breast cancer. It would also eliminate cost sharing for MRIs for those women. The bill, sponsored by state Senator Kim Ward, has already passed the Senate. It now goes to the full House for consideration.
Attorneys are hearing from prospective jurors as the federal trial for accused Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers gets underway. Fifteen potential panel members were questioned before the court yesterday, with motions for dismissal based on cause made for eleven of them. The reasons for dismissal motions ranged from their stated feelings on the death penalty to their descriptions of personal hardship circumstances. Bowers is accused of entering the Squirrel Hill neighborhood synagogue armed with multiple weapons in October of 2018, opening fire and killing eleven people. Jury selection is slated to continue this morning.
Penn State has been selected to host the 2024 Olympic team trials for the U.S. Olympic Wrestling team. The champions from the trials, which will take place from April 19th through the 20th of 2024, will become eligible to represent the United States at the Olympic Games. Those will be held also in 2024 in Paris. Ticket information for the wrestling team trials will be announced in May.
A panel of democratic officials and environmental experts are saying climate change is what is behind a recent spate of whale deaths, not off-shore wind energy. More importantly, the panel says it's the burning of fossil fuels causing the climate change that is behind the spike in whale deaths that have washed ashore in New Jersey and New York over the coming months. Earlier this month a group of New Jersey republican law makers asked the federal government to halt all off-shore wind energy projects until a cause can be found for the marine mammal deaths.
For the first time since agreeing to a huge contract, we've heard from Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who said the new deal doesn't change his objectives. "The only thing that I've wanted to do is to be on a constant quest to try to be the best player I can be, with no limits. Just trying to be the version of myself, the best player and man I can be," Hurts said. Hurts agreed to a five-year, $255 million contract, with $179 million of that guaranteed money. Hurts said "Money is nice. Championships are better."