A Bethlehem teenager was killed in a car crash in Warren County, New Jersey over the weekend. The crash happened around 7:45 Sunday morning on County Road 632 in Franklin Township. A SUV went off the road and overturned. 18-year-old Angelina Serratore was killed. There was no one else in the vehicle. State police said the crash remains under investigation.
Rescue divers in Maine recovered the body of a Monroe County man from a pond. 25-year-old Akshay Mamidela, of Delaware Water Gap, apparently drowned after taking a kayak to retrieve a paddleboard that drifted away. Rescuers believe the man's kayak capsized in rough waters. Mamidela's body was found Friday.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday for a new youth center in Palmer Township. The Kiwanis Youth Center will be located on Green Pond Road and will replace a field house from the 1960s. That field house will be torn down to make way for a two-story building that's three times as big. The money for the $1.2 million building is being raised privately by a non-profit group. The local Kiwanis Club has already donated $150,000.
When you cast your ballot in Tuesday's election, you'll find a question on whether to remove English as Allentown's official language. The Allentown City Council voted some time ago to place the referendum on the November ballot to remove the provision from the city charter, saying the 1990s-era holdover only serves to send a bad message to Allentown's diverse, modern community. City leaders say Latinos now make up 54 percent of city's population.
Tomorrow is election day in Pennsylvania and state election officials want you to know if you're casting your ballot in-person and masks are encouraged, but not required for voters. The Pennsylvania Department of State says, "Voters who are not wearing a mask will not be denied their right to vote." The statement also relayed that only first-time voters or those voting for the first time in a new precinct are required to show ID.
The polls are closed in New Jersey today but will open for election day tomorrow. Early voting wrapped up yesterday with more than 500,000 mail-in and early ballots already turned in. The governor's race between incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy and his Republican challenger Jack Ciatterelli is front and center this election cycle. All 120 seats in the assembly and senate are also up for grabs.
The governing board of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association will no longer be part of the national association after the national group asked the Biden administration for federal help with threats it received. In the letter, the NSBA asked that parents protesting education policy be investigated as 'possible violent domestic terrorists.' In describing the reason for the break from the national group, a spokeswoman for the state association says it wasn't consulted prior to the letter being sent, adding that it also "wasn't asked for input nor discussion on its content."
Rural Pennsylvania is seeing a housing boom. Over the past three years, the analysis by the center for rural Pennsylvania says the state saw a six percent drop in urban home sales and a seven percent increase in rural home sales. Some real estate experts attribute the growth to post-pandemic homeowners who can now work wherever they want to. The center also says many of the rural-home buyers come from more urban counties with higher COVID rates.
Lawmakers in both parties have begun to rally around a new drug policy in Pennsylvania. It lets Pennsylvania researchers look into how to use magic mushrooms can help address mental health issues. The legislation is sponsored by ten Republicans and ten Democrats. Advocates say if the legislation is accepted and passed, it could reduce the stigma around the use of psychedelics in mental health care while helping veterans and cutting care costs.
A new study is giving high grades to Pennsylvania for school funding. The education law center gave the state an "a" for how it funds schools in its making the grade 2021 study. It says Pennsylvania spends over $1,000 per student, while the national average is over just over $15,000. The report did rank Pennsylvania with an "f" for funding distribution, which covers how funds are spent on high-poverty schools as compared to low-poverty schools.
The Philadelphia Eagles are 3-5 after blowing out Detroit 44-6 Sunday afternoon. Quarterback Jalen Hurts says winning the battle up front was the key to the easy win. "We had a great week of preparation and we kind of dominated the line of scrimmage and we were able to do that," Hurts says. The Eagles host the Chargers this Sunday afternoon.