The Pennsylvania Department of Health added 570 new cases of coronavirus Wednesday, pushing the overall total to 126,149 since the beginning of the pandemic. Two dozen more deaths related to COVID-19 complications were also reported Wednesday. That number now stands at 7523.
Some students in the East Penn School District will be learning online as their new school year begins later this month. The superintendent says the district is experiencing staffing issues with in-person classes, so students at Emmaus High School and the middle schools will start the fall with full-remote learning. That, the superintendent says, will allow the district to refocus resources on its youngest learners, meaning the district's elementary school students will remain on the hybrid plan, with the option for full online learning. The district hopes to bring middle and high school students back to the classrooms for the hybrid plan by late October. Those students will also have the option of remaining fully remote. East Penn will begin the school year on August 31.
The 2021 Pennsylvania Farm Show is moving online. State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding says they're cancelling the in-person event set for January 9th through the 17th at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, however events will be shown virtually. Redding did say they're looking to see what they can do to have some type of food court offerings however.
Two people from New York are being charged with the attack of a Sesame Place worker. It happened August 9th when Shakerra Bonds and Troy McCoy allegedly assaulted an employee after that 17-year-old employee told them they couldn't enter the amusement park without a facemask. McCoy then allegedly slugged the teen in the face. The teen was hospitalized after having his jaw shattered in the assault. Both McCoy and Bonds are also accused of assaulting another employee at a park ride later in the day.
The death of an 89-year-old man earlier this year has been ruled a homicide, but Lehigh County DA Jim Martin says no charges will be filed in the case. Frank Schwartz died January 24th at Lehigh Valley Hospital and an autopsy revealed that he died from head injuries and pneumonia with abscess formation. Schwartz was a resident of the dementia care unit at Whitehall Manor in Whitehall Township when police say he was "likely attacked" by a fellow resident on December 15, 2019. The police said they identified a "person of interest" in the case, but he will not face criminal charges. Martin says charges won't be filed for several reasons, including the person of interest is a resident of the dementia care unit who was committed under the provisions of the Mental Health Act and it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Schwartz's injuries were inflicted by that person of interest.
An Allentown man is being charged with raping a child. Adrian Villanueva-Pabon allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl last August. Investigators say they received a tip from ChildLine back in late April after the girl gave birth and an investigation determined Villanueva-Pabon was the father.
Northampton County's chief registrar says her office has been getting a lot of calls about unsolicited voter registration forms and mail-in ballot applications showing up in mailboxes. "They make these mailers look very deceptive. They look like they've come from the county. They're official pieces of mail," says Amy Cozze. She says those forms are not official even though some come with her office's address appears on them. She says her office doesn't send unsolicited applications. She says if you request one, you'll get one but that's the only way.
Ex-Republican Lehigh Valley Congressman Charlie Dent says he didn't vote for Donald Trump in 2016 and he tells CNN he won't vote for his this November either. "This isn't really about right or left. It's not about ideology. To me, it's about right or wrong, stability vs instability, security vs. insecurity and normal vs. abnormal," he says. Dent says if electing Joe Biden is what's needed to return the GOP to a better place where it becomes more socially tolerant, constructively engaged on the international stage and supportive of reasonably regulated free markets, all the better.
People will have limited choices on when to go to the Philadelphia Zoo this fall. The zoo will open Friday through Sunday beginning in September. Changes are due to the lack of visitors and schools not coming for field trips. The new schedule will begin after Labor Day.
New Jersey's governor says he would not accept a position in Washington if former Vice President Joe Biden wins the presidency. Phil Murphy, who knows Biden personally, says he won't take a Cabinet post if Biden wins in November. Murphy says with the COVID-19 pandemic still sweeping the country, there's too much to be done in New Jersey for him to think of leaving.
New Jersey's plan to send ballots to all 6.2-million registered voters for the November election has drawn a lawsuit from President Trump's re-election campaign. Trump campaign officials call Gov. Phil Murphy's plan a brazen power grab. The Trump campaign is also suing Pennsylvania, Nevada and Iowa over their efforts to expand vote-by-mail. Earlier this week, New Jersey sued based on charges the government is trying to cripple the Postal Service ahead of an expected increase in mail-in ballots in November.