It sounds like the drive to and from work tomorrow might be a little slippery. "I'd say between 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock tomorrow morning is when we'll make that crossover from above to below freezing," says Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg. He says what will start as rain will likely change over to a little sleet, freezing rain and maybe snow. While no accumulation is expected, Lundberg says untreated surfaces could be pretty slick tomorrow as temperatures are expected to drop into the 20s as the day moves along.
A 47-year-old Lehigh County man is dead after a house fire late Tuesday night. Daniel Knotts lived in the home on Byfield Street in Salisbury Township that caught fire. He was declared dead just after midnight early Wednesday morning. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but firefighters say they were able to quickly extinguish the fire.
Allentown police are looking for information after a vehicle hit and seriously injured a pedestrian Tuesday afternoon. The vehicle hit the pedestrian about 1 p.m. in the 500 block of Union Boulevard. Anyone who witnessed or has information on the crash is asked to contact Allentown police.
PennDOT says they will conduct field evaluations of five bridges, including one in the Lehigh Valley. PennDOT says those bridges, including the Fahy Bridge in Bethlehem, have similar structures as that of the Fern Hollow Bridge that collapsed in Pittsburgh last Friday. PennDOT spokeswoman Alexis Campbell says based on their initial evaluations, all of the other bridges in question are in fair or better condition. The Fahy Bridge was rated in fair condition in its most recent evaluation and PennDOT finished a two-year major renovation of the span in 2018.
Pennsylvania's Department of Health reaffirmed its commitment to the practice of contact tracing for COVID-19. The department says they continue to contact as many COVID-19 cases as they can, even with constraints against community health nurses and other members of the investigations team. Pennsylvania spends about $20 million annually on contact tracing. Other states, including Maine and New York, have recently stated they'll end the practice.
Does having COVID-19 cause hair issues? A Dauphin County salon owner thinks it just might. Jennifer Greenawalt says about 40-percent of her clients are dealing with changes to their hair after having COVID. "We wish we could give people a little bit more distinct formula why they are losing or who is going to lose hair and how long it will happen, but unfortunately I don't have those answers. In the meantime it's our job to ease that transition. You shouldn't be going through something like COVID hair loss losing your confidence and not trying to do something about it," Greenawalt says.
Gov. Tom Wolf has unveiled a $1.7 billion plan to help the state fully recover from the pandemic. He says pushing this plan through cannot wait. "We need to get this money out the door so that people who are hurting right now get the relief, right now, that they need," Wolf says. The $1.7 billion would be divided into five categories, including bolstering the state's healthcare system, small business support and the state's environmental programs.
Lehigh Valley Republican St. Rep. Gary Day isn't too bullish on Gov. Tom Wolf's $1.7 billion plan to help the state recover from the COVID pandemic. Day says the governor is going about it wrong. "The governor should not be out there just calling on us to do something. He should be calling us on the phone, working with us across the aisle, working together. That's what a governor should be doing," Day says. He says infusing that much government money into the economy would push inflation even higher than it is.
Four people are dead after a house fire in the Poconos. The blaze broke out last night at a home along Furnace Street in Shickshinny Borough. Police say four people perished in the flames while two others were taken to the hospital. What caused the fire is still being investigated by authorities.
State voting officials say more Democrats than Republicans are changing affiliation to the opposing party in Pennsylvania. A new report says as of January of this year, there were a little over four-million-14-thousand registered Democrats and just over 3.4 million Republicans. The officials say the switching trend began in 2008. Since then, some 536,000 Democrats have become Republicans, while just a little under 327,000 Republicans went the other way.
The National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg will be closing for two weeks soon. Staff leaders say on February 7th, the nonprofit educational institution will shut down for its annual yearly upgrade work. Part of the projects for this year will be replacing their entire audio-visual system, which curators say is over 20 years old. All the updates and upgrades will be done in time for the re-opening on February 19th. That's when the museum hosts its community free day as a thank you to Harrisburg and the surrounding communities for their support.
A bill that would make Atlantic City's casinos smoke free is gaining traction in the New Jersey Senate. Advocates and casino workers have been fighting to close the casino smoking loophole for years. Sen. Joe Vitale is sponsoring the bill and plans to advance it in early spring. Vitale says the state gave casino tax breaks, now it's time to protect workers' health. Gov. Phil Murphy has previously said he's not opposed to adjusting legislation so it protects casino workers.
New Jersey's emergency rental assistance program continues distributing funds. According to the state's Department of Community Affairs, some $551 million has been distributed to more than 61,000 households to date. The initiative was started in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Officials are encouraging anyone in danger of being evicted to apply for assistance.