Power outages remain a big problem today. PPL reports more than 11,860 of its customers are without service at this hour. Almost 7900 of them are in our listening area. The three hardest hit areas locally are Lehigh County with more than 3000 customers in the dark, Bucks County with 2000 outages and Monroe County with more than 1400. First Energy says they've got more than 12,000 customers without service today. More than 8400 of them are in our area. Berks County reports 5500 outages, Northampton County has more than 1100 and both Monroe and Bucks counties with more than 700.
Police in Bethlehem are looking for the person who shot and seriously wounded a woman Wednesday afternoon. Police say it happened about 3:15 Wednesday afternoon in the 400 block of Cherokee Street. When they arrived on scene, officers were told the woman in her 20s, had already been taken to an area hospital in a personal vehicle. She remains hospitalized in serious condition. Anyone with information is asked to contact Bethlehem Police at 610-865-7000.
A large police presence was seen late Wednesday night outside of a home in Bethlehem. Officers in tactical gear converged on a home in the 600 block of Cherokee Street shortly before 11 p.m and were heard shouting orders to people believed to be inside. That house is just a couple blocks away from where a Wednesday afternoon shooting took place.
Bethlehem native and filmmaker Dan Roebuck has released the trailer for his latest movie, "Saint Nick of Bethlehem." Some of the movie was shot in Bethlehem and the Snow Goose Gallery, St. Luke's Children's Hospital and the Hotel Bethlehem are all seen in the trailer. The story is about a man who lost his son, but finds renewed hope and joy in giving presents to other children. It due to be released this Christmas.
The Delaware County district attorney says the investigation into the cause of the deaths of five family members in East Lansdowne is complete. "The only one not killed buy gunfire was the young boy. He died of smoke inhalation. The other five all died from injuries suffered by gunfire," Stollsteimer says. Three children and their two parents were killed back on February 7th. Jack Stollsteimer says Canh Le killed his brother, his brother's wife, their daughter and one of their sons and then set the house on fire, killing the second son. Stollsteimer says the grandparents of the murdered children managed to escape and told investigators the violence all began from an argument between Le and his niece.
U.S. Marshals have joined the manhunt for an escaped prisoner. Alleem Borden got away from two officers early Monday morning, when he was being discharged from Temple University Hospital's Episcopal Campus. The 29-year-old was spotted Tuesday night near 53rd Street and Parkside Avenue. Authorities say Borden was still in handcuffs when he got away. There's now a 25-hundred-dollar reward for information that leads to his arrest.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania are proposing over a dozen artificial intelligence-related bills that would address concerns about AI technology. Topics include increasing protections against AI voice and image fakes. Another bill directs the Joint State Government Commission to create an advisory committee to lead studies on AI impact in the state.
State House Democrats are continuing to try to pass a medical debt relief program. Lawmakers held a news conference Tuesday, saying the program should be passed during the second part of the legislative session. Governor Josh Shapiro has proposed spending $4 million to cover the proposal, which supporters say would target relief to those most in need while avoiding concern that debt relief may provide incentives to people who purposefully don't pay for healthcare services. A measure that would have directed funding toward a not-for-profit group that buys out medical debt passed in the House last year, but has not been brought up for a vote in the Senate.