Elections officials in Northampton County have found more than 200 votes that had not been counted after the November 5th election. Those votes were from Lower Saucon Township and were discovered during a routine follow up of the election. It's not expected these newly found votes will impact any countywide race, but it's conceivable they could affect the Lower Saucon Township Council race. According to today's Morning Call, it appears an elections judge in the township accidentally put 219 votes in the wrong case, which was then sent to Easton for counting. County elections officials say there is no indication the votes were tampered with in any way and that the canister was still closed with two seals that had not been broken.
The Lehigh County DA's office says the man killed in a Monday night crash in Whitehall Township was fleeing the law. Investigators say 55-year-old Todd Kresge, of Whitehall Township, was fleeing a drunken driving stop in Northampton when he was killed in a crash at Second and Roosevelt streets after 6 o'clock Monday evening. Kresge and another vehicle collided head-on. The unidentified driver of the other car suffered a broken leg. The investigation continues.
An Allentown man is facing charges in connection to a stolen gun. City police say they've arrested Jawon Johnson on charges of possessing stolen property and carrying an unlicensed weapon. When he was arrested, Johnson allegedly was found with a gun that had been stolen from a car earlier this year. The search that led to the arrest was reportedly related to a shooting that happened on October 30th.
The trial for a man accused of pulling a gun on a Boy Scout is now underway. James Kutz is charged with pulling a gun on the 12-year-old last November. The boy said he was going around the neighborhood hanging flyers for the Boy Scouts' annual food drive. Kutz says he thought someone was trying to break into his home. He's facing simple assault and harassment charges.
Sean Kratz has passed on taking the stand in his murder trial. Defense attorneys rested Tuesday without the expected testimony from their client. Kratz is charged in connection with a quadruple murder at a Bucks County farm owned by his cousin, Cosmo DiNardo, who is already serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in the case. Kratz could face the death penalty if convicted. His attorney claims Kratz feared for his life and that DiNardo forced Kratz to kill three of the four men in July 2017.
If you haven't pulled your heavy winter jacket out of the closet yet, Accu-Weather's Heather Zehr says today might be a good day to do it. "Cold weather is going to continue. We have temperatures that started off down in the upper teens this morning. 18 was what we got down to officially, which means we tied the record from 1996," Zehr says. And tonight Zehr says we could dip down to 19 and that will flirt with today's record low of 17 degrees.
As Pennsylvania waits for a judge’s decision on whether Marsy’s Law is constitutional, some child experts fear it could harm minority youth in foster care. Marcía Hopkins with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center fears Marsy’s Law could inadvertently hurt defendants in foster care in at least two instances. She says victims would be able to decline information for certain cases. Dauphin County DA Fran Chardo doesn't see the connection. "I don't see how giving power to victims could in any way disproportionally affect one group," Chardo says.
State officials are saying licensed antlered elk hunters can brag of a perfect season. The Game Commission says every hunter who is permitted to hunt bull elks harvested one during the recent season, which ended Saturday. Overall, 98 hunters scored 89 elk, including 14 bulls that each weighed at least 700 pounds, with the heaviest weighing 800 pounds in Cameron County. 62 cows were also taken, with ten of them weighing more than 500 pounds.
Pittsburgh's mayor wants the state to take over the Pittsburgh Public School District. Tuesday, while responding to a question about a proposed 2.3-percent school tax increase, Mayor Bill Peduto said the district should go under Act 47 oversight to get its financial picture in order. Peduto added that he felt the school district should be able to balance its budget using its current revenue levels.