The head of the Allentown police union says the heat hasn't worked inside Allentown's Public Safety Building for nearly a month. "They're freezing. I've seen an officer wearing a beanie hat, a hoodie and I think he was wearing gloves sitting at his desk trying to stay warm while he's working," says Dave Benner. He says temperatures in the work areas have dropped to as low as in the 50s and in the cells down into the 40s. Space heaters are being used but Benner says they're not nearly enough. Police chief Charles Roca says heat is expected to be restored within the next two weeks.
More charges are being added against the owner of an Allentown title insurance company. Last October, Louis Belletieri was charged with a dozen second-degree felonies for allegedly failing to pay out money he received during real estate sales on behalf of the sellers he represented. Now, Belletieri has been charged with 21 more felonies and a half-dozen misdemeanors for alleged similar actions. Belletieri surrendered to authorities Thursday morning and was arraigned on the new charges.
He has been behind bars since 2018 and now former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski is asking to have his conviction on 47 counts of corruption, conspiracy and fraud vacated. Allentown's mayor from 2006 to 2018 was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in 2018 for pay-to-play contract schemes. Pawlowski continues to maintain his innocence and in his motion claims prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence, falsely represented their evidence and that his lawyer failed to represent him adequately. Pawlowski has previously failed to overturn his conviction on multiple occasions.
Law enforcement surrounded a home in Lehigh County Thursday morning. Officers surrounded a home in the 600 block of East Paoli Street in Salisbury Township, but are not saying why, nor are they saying whether anybody was hurt or arrested.
Progress continues on construction of Dorney Park's first new roller coaster in 19 years. The park says Iron Menace's second inversion has now been assembled. Dorney Park opens for the 2024 season on May 10th.
A day after announcing country superstar Brad Paisley as its first Grandstand show of 2024, the Great Allentown Fair has revealed headliner number two. Pentatonix will headline the fair on Saturday, Aug. 31. It's the second time the a cappella group will headline the fair. They also performed to a sold-out crowd in 2017. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, Feb. 2 at 10 a.m.
As National School Choice Week wraps up tomorrow, the headmaster at the St. Francis Classical Catholic Academy in Bally says school choice is the way education is trending. "This is the wave of the future. A lot of states are moving to this kind of 'follow the child' model. There's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Parents want a better education for their kids that shares their values and we're the kind of school that fits the bill," says Richard Brake. He says his school has 55 students in grades pre-K through eight in its first year of existence and hopes to double enrollment in year two. While National School Choice Week wraps up tomorrow, Catholic School Week begins Monday.
About 25 Pennsylvania Freedom caucus lawmakers have filed a federal lawsuit against President Joe Biden and Governor Josh Shapiro. The group seeks to declare that President Biden's Executive Order, Governor Shapiro's state edict and U.S. State Department directives on automatic voter registration are unconstitutional. The civil rights complaint filed with the Middle District Court of Pennsylvania Thursday wants the directives reversed and automatic voter registration stopped. The group also wants the court to rule that federal buildings can't be used to register voters. The effort is being led by Republican Dawn Keefer of York County.
Another special election will happen next month that will decide control of the Pennsylvania House. That also happened three different times in 2023. The next special election has been set for February 13th when voters in parts of Bucks County will fill the vacant 140th District seat. The outcome of ballots cast for either Republican Candace Cabanas or Democrat Jim Prokopiak will break the current 101-101 tie in the House.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has hired a new defensive coordinator. Vic Fangio will be tasked with the job of leading the Philadelphia defense next season. He joins the team from the Miami Dolphins where he served in the same role last season. Fangio is 65-years-old and he also was a coach with the Denver Broncos earlier in his career.