PPL has reached a tentative deal to see PPL Tower on North Ninth Street in Allentown. PPL says the deal is for $9 million with D&D Realty Group, which plans to convert the building into mixed-use commercial spaces, apartments and other amenities. Last June, PPL announced its plans to relocate its headquarters to Two City Center on Hamilton Street. D&D's Nick Dye says, "PPL's iconic headquarters provides us with the perfect canvas for our vision of high-end, downtown living in the Lehigh Valley."
UGI is beginning to replace natural gas mains beneath about two dozen streets today in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and Nazareth. Work is likely to wrap up in Easton by the end of May and Nazareth by early May. The project in Allentown will probably stretch until the end of June and Bethlehem's work will stretch into mid-July, however work could run later than scheduled in all venues depending on weather and other factors. Road closures, detours and traffic delays are likely during construction and parking will be restricted.
Some Northampton County residents were evacuated Thursday morning because of a gas leak. It happened around 10:30 Thursday morning in the 100 block of West Water Street in Hellertown. UGI says a contractor working at a home there damaged a gas line. About 25 residents in that neighborhood were evacuated.
It's looking more and more likely the trial of Monroe County native and DeSales University graduate Bryan Kohberger won't begin until 2025. Kohberger is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022. Prosecutors suggest next March for the start date for the trial. The defense would like the trial to start later than that. There's no word yet on when an official trial start date will be set.
Cove Pocono Resorts says it has sold the Pocono Palace Resort to an unnamed buyer. The resort is one of the few left that have those legendary heart-shaped tubs and champagne glass whirlpools, both of which helped put the Poconos on the map according to the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau's Chris Barrett. "That's the first thing people will say sometimes, they hear Poconos. They'll say, 'oh the heart shaped tubs, the champagne glasses.' It really did put the Pocono Mountains on the map nationally and internationally," Barrett says. Cove Pocono will be keeping its other two locations, Cove Haven and Paradise Stream. At this point, there's no indication of what will become of Pocono Palace, but Cove Pocono says anyone with reservations at Pocono Palace after May 1 will be able to reschedule at the other two resorts.
PPL has almost restored power to all affected by Wednesday's strong winds. PPL says there are still above 500 outages in their coverage area, which includes 263 in Bucks, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton counties. First Energy reports more than 2500 outages. More than 1800 of then are in Northampton County. Another 266 are reported in Berks, Bucks, Lehigh and Monroe counties.
Bethlehem police still have not been able to find 18-year-old Allen Grimes, who is accused of shooting a woman in the 400 block of Cherokee Street Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday night, police raided Grimes' home in the 600 block of Cherokee Street but didn't find him. These residents in the neighborhood says they are a bit nervous. "You have to be fearful because he's on the loose," one woman says. The woman Grimes allegedly shot is listed in stable condition after being shot in the neck. Anybody who may have an idea where Grimes is should call the Bethlehem PD at 610-865-7000.
Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg has some words of caution for late night drivers up in the Poconos. "In the Poconos I think they can get down to 30, 31 for a couple hours as the precipitation is moving in," Lundberg says. And that could make for some freezing rain and some slippery driving overnight tonight.
A Philadelphia escapee was caught Thursday in Johnstown, Cambria County. Robert Clark, with the U.S. Marshals, explains how Alleem Bordan was caught. "The residence in the 300 block of Davis Street was surrounded by multiple law enforcement agencies. After knocking and announcing their presence, a woman answered the door, granted investigators permission to search and confirmed Bordan was presently in the home. A search was conducted and it was determined that Bordan had secured himself in an attic crawl space," Clark says. He says two associates of Bordan drove him to Johnstown. They have not yet been charged. Bordan escaped from custody Monday after being taken to the hospital following his arrest for stealing a delivery driver's vehicle. He has a lengthy criminal record with arrests including aggravated assault, resisting arrest and weapons charges dating back to 2016.
Penn State's president is urging lawmakers to increase state funding for the university for the first time in five years. President Neeli Bendapudi also told them Penn State is one of the lowest-funded public universities, on a per-student basis, in the country. She encouraged them to implement a performance-based funding model for the state's public universities, as well. President Bendapudi spoke during a hearing Thursday of the House Appropriations Committee in Harrisburg.
Funding for Pennsylvania cyber charter schools drew a large amount of attention at an education budget hearing at the Capitol. The head of Education Voters of Pennsylvania Susan Spicka, argued more of the focus should be on public schools which she says remain under-funded, while cyber schools, she says, are over-funded. "They are sitting on a quarter-of-a-billion dollars in surplus funding and there's finally in Harrisburg a recognition that we need to stop over-funding them with property tax dollars," Spicka says. More education funding questions will be taken up by the House Appropriations Committee next week.
Motorists who use the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway will have to pay a little more for tolls, beginning today. Tolls are going up by three percent in the third increase in three years. The toll increase helps fund part of the Turnpike Authority's capital budget. Officials say the increase means a motorist using the Turnpike will pay another fifteen cents, or $5.11 for a passenger vehicle. The average Parkway motorist will pay an additional five cents a trip.
Dollar Dog Nights are now a thing of the past at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies have replaced the promotion with Hatfield Phillies Franks BOGO Nights. Here's how it works, if you buy one hotdog at a concession stand, your second one is free. Team officials say the new promotion will be available on April 2nd and April 16th. Dollar Dog Nights was around for 27 years. The team says it's being discontinued because of unruly fans who threw the hot dogs around the stands and onto the field in a game last spring.
A star player on the Philadelphia 76ers hopes to come back during the regular season. Joel Embiid told the media on Thursday that the plan is to return before the playoffs and it "doesn't matter" where the team is in the standings. Embiid is recovering from a knee injury he suffered about a month ago. Before that, the reigning league MVP was on pace to average more points per game than minutes played, which had only been done by Wilt Chamberlain during the 1962 season.