For the first time ever, women now outnumber men on city councils in both Allentown and Bethlehem. With the addition of three newcomers on the Bethlehem City Council, women now occupy five of the seven council seats. In Allentown, the addition of a 21-year-old woman taking over the seat of a man who stepped down makes for a women majority of four to three. A female majority is not the norm in the rest of the state. A Rutgers University report states women make up just 26 percent of elected officials in Pennsylvania cities with populations that are larger than 10,000.
A man is dead after a crash in Monroe County. The accident happened Saturday night near the intersection of Paradise Valley Road and Wyndham Drive in Cresco. Police haven't released how many people or vehicles were involved yet as the investigation continues.
A nasty Northampton County crash remains under investigation. Police were called to the 3000 block of William Penn Highway in Palmer Township just before 6 o'clock Sunday evening. It was a two-vehicle crash and rescue crews say several people suffered what are described as severe injuries. Palmer Township police are still trying to sort through what happened.
EMS directors in Allentown are saying December was their busiest month of 2021. Officials say their call volume was up 7.1 percent for last month. Crews responded to nearly 16-hundred incidents in December.
The coldest weather of the season so far has arrived. "The next 48 hours are going to be very cold across the area. I would not call this extreme, but just very, very cold," says Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg. He says today's high won't reach freezing and tomorrow's high probably won't reach 20 degrees.
Democrat St. Sen. Lisa Boscola has long crusaded for having Northampton County in one state senate district. She says her constituents want it. "They want me to fight for them, so I will fight for them. Can I win it all? Maybe not, but I think I'm going to win some of it just by being relentless. And I have to sue, I'll sue and use my own money to sue and that's what they don't expect to happen," Boscola says. She is pushing to prevent Bethlehem from being broken into two different senate districts.
Another Republican has entered this year's race for Pennsylvania governor. St. Sen. Doug Mastriano made his candidacy official over the weekend in Gettysburg. "Pennsylvania's best days are ahead. We are going to be, once again, the light of the nation. We're going to send freedom and peace around the world like never before," Mastriano said. He is a former Army colonel and has been a leader of the push to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election in Pennsylvania.
Even though signs are posted outside every entry way and promoters have strongly encouraged their use, officials say the masking up at the Pennsylvania Farm Show is not being observed very well. They also say, however, that there is no official mask rule or vaccine requirement to attend. In a normal year, the Hershey-Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau estimates that the farm show sees about 450,000 visitors.
The Eagles will visit Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday afternoon in round one of the NFL Playoffs. Head coach Nick Sirianni says the team's goal isn't just getting to the playoffs. "The goal is not to just make the playoffs, the goal is to win games in the playoffs and advance as far as you can advance. That's our mission. That's our goal. We'll take it one day at a time, one game at a time," Sirianni says. This will be the fifth time Tampa Bay and the Eagles have met in the playoffs. The teams have split the previous four games.