The names of the two men killed in a Sunday afternoon double-murder in Allentown have been released. The Lehigh County Coroner's office says 23-year-old Kelvin Montolvo, from Luzerne County and 30-year-old Jose Salgado, of Allentown, both died after being shot in the 800 block of North Elliger Street. Police say one of the men was found on North Fourth Street and taken to the hospital, where he died. The other was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle. Police have not released any further details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting or what may have led up to it.
A teen has been charged as an adult with dangerous driving for his part in a crash 11 months ago that left him and three others badly injured. Dylan Sturts, who is 17 and from Allentown, was charged as an adult Monday for allegedly driving about 130-miles-per-hour before a fiery crash in Lower Nazareth Township. The incident left him, as well as three passengers, badly burned. One of them reportedly is still in a medically induced coma. The crash happened January 30th on Hecktown Road in Northampton County.
One of Allentown's school board leaders will be spending his Christmas break climbing the world's largest freestanding mountain in Africa - all for the good of the schools. Nick Miller, who serves as vice president of the Allentown School Board, will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for replacing weight room equipment that he says is decades older than the students. His goal is to raise $24,000 to refurbish the weight rooms at Allen and Dieruff high schools. Donations are being collected through the Allentown School District Foundation.
In a party line vote, the state Senate has approved legislation that would prohibit any mandate requiring kids to receive a COVID-19 vaccination for them to attend school. Currently, neither the state nor any school district in Pennsylvania require this and Gov. Tom Wolf says he has no plans to require students get vaccinated and the Senate is wasting time and money with this legislation, but supporters say they sought to be proactive in preventing any related idea from moving forward. The measure now heads to the House.
Pennsylvania's acting health secretary is resigning. Alison Beam released a statement Monday, saying serving as the health secretary during such a critical time "has been the most humbling honor" of her career. She's stepping down at the end of the month. Beam did not say why she's resigning. Department of Health Executive Deputy Secretary Keara Klinepeter will serve as the new acting health secretary.
Multiple Republicans on Capitol Hill have called on White House medical advisor Doctor Anthony Fauci to resign and Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Doctor Mehmet Oz is now joining them. He explains why to Fox News. "He has problems explaining to Americans why we have so many deaths and why illnesses has hurt our country proportionally more than other countries. I think he's lost the trust of a lot of Americans because of mandates, where we don't really true benefit of these mandates are," Oz says. Oz also says Fauci is more of a political figure than he should be.
Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz is ending his long-running talk show. The host will end his program after a 13-season run. Continuing to air the program could have created problems for Pennsylvania affiliates who may have been obliged to provide equal time to Oz's political rivals. Producers yesterday said the program's last air date will be January 14th. The series is expected to be replaced by a cooking show featuring the doctor's daughter Daphne.
The House Judiciary Committee has approved two proposed changes to the state's constitution that deal with how long appellate judges' terms should be and how they are re-elected. One proposal would limit judges and justices to serve a maximum of two full terms of office on each the commonwealth, superior and supreme court benches. The other proposal would require judges to run for re-election just as magisterial district judges and other elective officeholders must do. The proposed changes now must be considered by the full House of Representatives.
You will soon need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to dine-in at a Philadelphia restaurant or bar. That's the new rule taking effect in 2022 that also goes for any indoor space that sells food or beverages. That includes the Wells Fargo Center, home of the 76ers and Flyers. So effective January 3, if you have tickets for any event at the Wells Fargo Center, you will have to show proof of vaccination to get in the building.