Saying because mounting financial challenges have made the event unsustainable, the Board of Directors for the Kutztown Folk Festival says the summer tradition will not be held in 2025. Festival CFO Ed Richmond calls it a difficult choice, but shrinking attendance, higher expenses and net losses prompted the decision. The 2025 festival would have been the 75th anniversary year. Richmond says the Kutztown Folk Festival has lost $347,000 since 2022.
A Bethlehem woman is being sentenced to prison for the 2022 overdose death of her two-year-old son. Authorities said Nicole Ann Stauffer left an uncapped syringe containing fentanyl in the room where her child was sleeping. He was found unresponsive and taken to the hospital where he later died. Stauffer faces up to ten years behind bars.
Salisbury Elementary School is getting a boost in funding thanks to the state. Pennsylvania lawmakers from the Lehigh Valley were in town yesterday to announce a grant of more than 450-thousand-dollars for much-needed upgrades to the building. The money will go toward addressing flooding and groundwater issues on campus. The grant comes from Pennsylvania's Public School Environmental Repairs Program.
After getting nearly an inch of rain last night, more precipitation is coming says Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg. "There's going to be more precipitation tonight into the day tomorrow. As we get colder, some snowflakes are going to mix in. Even here in the Lehigh Valley, I think everybody is going to see some snow in the air at some point late tonight into tomorrow," Lundberg says. While that snow won't amount to anything in the Lehigh Valley, Lundberg says the Poconos could end up getting three-to-six inches of snow tonight and into tomorrow.
Last week came word Easton High School was canceling its traditional bonfire held the night before its annual Thanksgiving football game against Phillipsburg High. Now comes word Phillipsburg High School is canceling its traditional night-before-the-game fireworks show as well. Both decisions are due to the drought conditions currently existing in the Lehigh Valley. P-Burg says instead of fireworks, it will extend its drone show and pep rally at Maloney Stadium.
The future is brighter for a Big Lots location in Lehigh County as store closing signs have been taken down and shelves are being restocked. In an October bankruptcy filing, Big Lots identified 56 additional stores nationwide, including a store at 2631 MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township, that would be closing as part of the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. However, the Whitehall store is no longer set to close, according to a store manager.
Nearly a year after a Yocco's along Hamilton Boulevard in Trexlertown closed, we now know what is replacing it. The Upper Macungie Township Planning Commission has approved plans for a proposed bank Wednesday night at the administration building. The plan calls for the demolition of the former Yocco's building and the construction of a 3,370-square-foot Chase Bank.
Early returns from the recount in the Pennsylvania Senate race show Republican Dave McCormick still in the lead. McCormick reportedly leads Democratic Senator Bob Casey by more than 15,000 votes among counties that have finished their recounts. McCormick's team claims out of over 50,000 votes counted, only six have changed. Pennsylvania's 67 counties have until next Tuesday to turn in their recounts to the Department of State.
The House Ethics Committee says that it has not reached an agreement regarding a decision to release its report on former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. Lehigh Valley Congresswoman Susan Wild says the issue isn't settled though. "There was no consensus on this issue. We did agree that we would reconvene as a committee on December 5th to further consider this matter," Wild said. The committee was deadlocked over the decision to release the report of its investigation, which abruptly concluded when Gaetz resigned from Congress after president-elect Trump nominated him to serve as attorney general. The probe began in 2021 over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, which Gaetz denies.
New Jersey's recreational cannabis market has reached 238-point-7 million dollars in sales for the first quarter this year. With medical marijuana sales added, total marijuana sales exceeded 261-million dollars for the same period. The figure represents 49 percent growth compared with the same period a year ago. During the same period, the number of licensed dispensaries selling recreational marijuana in the Garden State has soared from about 30 stores to more than 170.
A pair of former Eagles are on a list of potential Pro Football Hall of Fame candidates for 2025. Running back Ricky Watters and cornerback Eric Allen were among 25 candidates announced yesterday. Allen was drafted by Philly in 1988 while Watters played three seasons in Philadelphia. The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be announced next February.