After being closed for most of the morning rush hour, the left lane has reopened on I-78 westbound at New Smithville in Lehigh County, near the Berks County border. Big grates in the road came up and the road is damaged and deteriorating, forcing crews to close the highway for emergency repairs for several hours. While one lane of 78 west in that area is open, traffic is still quite slow there.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has told police to treat unassembled so-called "ghost guns" as firearms, meaning felons cannot possess one any longer. Gov. Tom Wolf backs the decision. "Changing this classification will not hurt legal, responsible gun owners as the attorney general has said. But, this change will stop criminals. It will stop terrorists and other lawless people who can't pass a background check and acquire a gun through a loophole that never should have existed in the first place," Wolf says. Shapiro has determined the gun frames, also known as 80-percent receivers qualify as firearms. These guns can be put together quickly and do not have serial numbers and cannot be traced.
The death of a Philadelphia man has been ruled a homicide. 56-year-old David Roberts was found dead on a sidewalk early Sunday morning in the 300-block of Hamilton Street. The Lehigh County Coroner's office determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma and ruled the death a homicide.
One man is injured after being hit by a vehicle around midnight last night. The accident happened near the intersection of 25th and Northampton streets in Palmer Township. There's no information on the man's condition.
All of the nine House Democrats for Pennsylvania will vote to impeach President Trump. That includes the last holdout, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who represents parts of Berks and Chester counties. She made her decision to support impeachment known on Twitter last night.
Voters in New Jersey will get the chance in 2020 to personally decide if recreational pot will be legalized. Both the state Senate and Assembly voted in favor Monday to put the question on the November ballot. Voters will see a question on their ballot asking if they approve amending the state Constitution to legalize cannabis for use by adults age 21 and older. If passed, New Jersey would also be empowered to charge sales tax on the legalized products.
Thousands are expected to attend today's funeral for a New Jersey police detective who was murdered last week. Members of the public and the law enforcement community said their goodbyes at his wake Monday. A funeral Mass for Jersey City detective Joseph Seals is later this morning. "We all stick together and pray for his family," one mourner says. Seals was shot to death last Tuesday by two suspects who then killed three more people in an apparent hate attack at a kosher market. They were then killed by police.
The newest Philadelphia Phillies are in the fold after an introductory press conference Monday. Zack Wheeler and Didi Gregorius put on Phils' jerseys for the first time Monday. Wheeler won 11 games for the Mets last season. Gregorius hit 16 home runs in 82 games last season with the Yankees.
For the first time in more than 20 years, the Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball team is ranked in the top 25. The Nittany Lions are ranked number 23 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll released Monday. The last time Penn State was ranked was 1996.