A domestic dispute prompted drama in Coplay late Sunday afternoon. Police say they were called to a home on Saylor Drive around 5:45 p.m. for a report of a man and woman getting into an argument. Police say the woman said she was afraid to leave because there was a gun in the house. The woman was able to walk out of the house on her own, and the man surrendered shortly before 7 pm. The man faces domestic-related charges.
A Carbon County man is behind bars after police say he had bomb-making materials and explosive devices inside his home. Over the weekend, Weatherly police and the Pennsylvania State Police's Hazardous Device and Explosives Section found homemade explosives and bomb-making materials at a home in the 300 block of First Street. Police say random and unexplainable explosions prompted them to execute a search warrant at the home of 28-year-old Anthony Petrone, who is now in custody. Weatherly police say Petrone also had a homemade explosive device inside his backpack when he visited an area dollar store on May 1. The device was confiscated and state police safely removed it.
Bethlehem firefighters battled two fires nearby each other overnight, just hours apart. Crews were called to a home in the 1200 block of Pembroke Road just before 10 o'clock Sunday night. About two-and-a-half hours later, firefighters were called to the 1400 block of Livingston Street. Authorities have not commented on either fire.
April's jobs report fell short of expectations with only 266,000 jobs added to the economy and unemployment rising to 6.1-percent. Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey says COVID-19 could still be blamed for some of it. "But another factor in all of this is systematically paying unemployment benefits that are more than a person makes working doesn't create an environment that's particularly conducive to going back to work," Toomey says. It's the second-lowest amount of jobs added so far in 2021.
Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry is launching its improved customer service initiative today for unemployment compensation. Officials say they're aware that unemployment program enrollees have experienced frustration in trying to reach them, especially by phone. They add that this initiative is a more comprehensive approach to significantly increase their capacity to answer questions and rapidly resolve outstanding issues.
The state Department of Health and Insight Global are facing a lawsuit over a contact tracing data breach. Late last month, Insight Global, who was hired by the state to help with contact tracing, reported a data breach that reportedly exposed confidential health information from about 72,000 Pennsylvanians. The lawsuit says that private information was accessible to the public through Google. It also accuses the Department of Health of knowing about the data breach in February but not taking action until April. However ,the DOH has already said it didn't know about the breach in February.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is changing its mapping system for COVID-19 vaccine providers. They will now be using the federal provider map. Officials say their goal is to make it quick and easy for people to get vaccinated and help overcome any hesitancy. They added that the federal provider map lets people search for a vaccine by brand name and shows which of the three vaccines are in stock at certain locations. You can go to www.vaccines.org to use the federal provider map.
Pennsylvania is advancing toward herd immunity. Officials say more than 50-percent of Pennsylvanians have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and about 44-percent of Pennsylvanians over the age of 18 are considered fully vaccinated.
New Jersey's COVID vaccination rates are going up as new infections drop. Gov. Phil Murphy says more than 7.6-million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered throughout the state. Nearly 3.6-million New Jerseyans are now considered fully vaccinated.
Restaurants across New Jersey are hanging on to a lifeline from the state's Economic Development Authority during the coronavirus pandemic. The agency says community organizations have spent more than $4 million at more than 10,000 restaurants purchasing meals for those in need. That adds up to about 450,000 ready-made meals which are distributed for free. It's part of the state's Sustain and Serve NJ program to help eateries struggling amid the pandemic.