It is Election Day in the State of Pennsylvania. In addition to multiple municipal and school board races, Lehigh Valley voters also are deciding on county-level offices including Lehigh County commissioner, Northampton County Council and row offices. Northampton County voters will decide on term limits for some of those row officers. Allentown voters will decide if City Council members and the controller deserve pay hikes. Statewide, voters will cast ballots for a seat on the state Supreme Court, two seats on the Superior Court and one seat on the Commonwealth Court. Polls are open today from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.
All 120 seats in New Jersey's state assembly and senate are up for grabs in today's election. There are some new faces with 29 current lawmakers reportedly retiring or running for a different position. Voters will also decide on mayors, council members, and school board positions throughout the Garden State. Voters will also decide numerous school ballot questions, some of which ask voters if they want to increase funding for school security.
A man is dead after he was shot by police in Bucks County. Investigators say the unidentified man was armed with a knife when they arrived at the scene in Northampton Township Sunday night. The 40-year-old was rushed to the hospital where he later died. No other details have been provided at this time.
A second person has died from injuries suffered in a crash Oct. 30 in Lower Macungie Township. 73-year-old Bruce Schuessler, of Lower Macungie, died Sunday at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. Schuessler died of injuries suffered im a collision with another vehicle in the 900 block of Mill Creek Road at about 1 p.m. Oct. 30. 67-year-old Kathy Ann Schuessler, a passenger in the vehicle, died that day.
The city of Easton announced that Centre Square will be closed to vehicle traffic on Tuesday, Nov. 7. According to a Facebook post, the traffic circle will be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. as crews work to construct the city's Peace Candle. The 106-foot tall structure is erected every year for the Christmas season.
Major progress has been made regarding the rebuild of I-95 in Philadelphia. Last night, city officials opened the northbound lanes after drivers had been using a temporary roadway over the past several months. PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll says what's coming next. "We will deconstruct the temporary roadway beginning in the next couple of days, after the traffic has been shifted. That will unfold without too much dependency on weather. We will then construct the third bridge that will carry I-95 over Cottman Avenue. We expect to have that done in a matter of months," Carroll says. This comes after the deadly crash that resulted in the collapse of an overpass bridge near Cottman Avenue earlier this year. Officials plan to divert the southbound lanes tomorrow.
The man who has been convicted and sentenced to death as the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter wants a new trial. Robert Bowers alleges prosecutors improperly excluded potential jurors who were Black, Hispanic and Jewish in his trial this summer. He was convicted of 63 federal charges in the shooting deaths of eleven people at a Jewish synagogue five years ago. The appeal seeks both a judgement of acquittal and a new trial. Bowers' attorneys also argue that there was insufficient evidence to prove the shooter's hatred of the victims.