The Supreme Court is allowing elections officials to count mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania that lack a handwritten date but were received in time. The unsigned order Thursday applies to a Lehigh County judicial election from 2021. But Justice Samuel Alito warned in a dissent that the issue could affect the November elections. Last week, Alito had imposed a temporary hold on counting the ballots to give the justices more time to consider the matter. The local race in question currently has David Ritter leading Democrat Zachary Cohen by 71 votes with 257 ballots not yet factored in. Those 257 votes will now be counted unless the Supreme Court decides it will hear an appeal. The Supreme Court ruling was 6-3 in favor of counting the votes.
A 57-year-old man is dead after a Thursday afternoon crash. David Polczer was killed when the dump truck he was riding in collided with another vehicle and then a traffic sign support post. The accident happened just before 1:30 Thursday afternoon at East 4th and Emery streets in Bethlehem. The Bethlehem PD is investigating.
State health officials say Lehigh and Northampton counties are seeing a surge in COVID cases caused by the new sub-variant, known as "stealth omicron." The CDC confirms those areas are among a group of Pennsylvania counties seeing the highest level of community coronavirus activity and recommends masking indoors in these areas.
Two Lehigh Valley hospitals are rated among the top in the country for pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care. Newsweek released its list of the best 350 maternity hospitals in America for 2022, divided into a five-ribbon and four-ribbon category. Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest and St. Luke's University Hospital-Bethlehem both earned four ribbons.
Officials are looking for a man who they say drove a long way to sleep with a 13-year-old girl, then fled police when they tried to arrest him. Michael Bascom reportedly traveled from Slatington to East Lampeter Township in Lancater County for the encounter last week. Police say he hit one of the officer's cars as he fled and they say his Blue Mazda 3 with Pennsylvania plates will still have damage. They believe he's headed to Maryland.
Allentown's waterfront project continues to move forward with developers giving us a first look at the project's first building, to be known as the Mohrbanc Building. Zac Jaindl describes what's just months away from completion. "It's a six-story, 125,000-square-foot office building," says Jaindl. He says it should be open in October. He says the third, fourth, and fifth floors are completely leased to unknown tenants. The sixth floor is under negotiation. The Mohrbanc Building is the first of dozen planned for the area.
The Pennsylvania House is advancing legislation to erase the word "homosexuality" from the definition of prohibited sexual acts in the state Crimes Code. The 198-to-0 vote on Wednesday was on a bill to clean up language that supporters said does not belong there because homosexuality is not a crime. Under "prostitution," state law currently defines sexual activity so that it "includes homosexual and other deviate sexual relations." Democrats say the Legislature should also act to expand nondiscrimination law to LGBTQ people.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced an $8.25 million investment in ByHeart, a new formula manufacturer in Exeter Township. He said the investment will help increase capacity and hiring so ByHeart can feed 500,000 more babies within two years. The announcement comes about a week after Wolf and other Pennsylvania leaders and lawmakers visited the newly-opened facility to highlight its initial $1.75 million investment.
Two persons of interest in the South Street, Philadelphia mass shooting have been captured. They were arrested in Virginia days after the weekend incident. Philadelphia police already had two-others in custody for their role in the shooting. Both suspects have been charged with murder.
The Pennsylvania House Liquor Control Committee has approved a bill which would ban the commonwealth from manufacturing or selling liquor. House Bill 2272 would pave the way for the private sale of liquor in the state. Should it pass in the legislature, it would go to the voters, not the governor's desk, in the form of a ballot referendum.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has handed down a unanimous decision deeming so-called spot assessments of real estate properties unconstitutional. It also says the practice is unfair to commercial property owners. Pennsylvania's uniformity clause states taxes should be the same across all property types and that a property type, such as office, industrial or apartment, can't be singled out.
Republican Congressman Scott Perry has been mentioned at a hearing Thursday night that's investigating the attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Representative Liz Cheney talked about the congressman's role in attempting to get Jeffrey Clark, to be appointed as attorney general. Cheney says Rep. Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after January 6th to seek a presidential pardon for him. A spokesman for Perry's office says the committee's work "is a sham."
A bipartisan group of New Jersey lawmakers is pushing election reform. The Assembly Judiciary Committee advanced seven bills that aim to boost voting transparency, security, and participation. Democratic Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin says New Jersey is taking action, alleging the federal government can't act decisively as other states move to make it harder to vote. One of the measures would allow mail-in ballots to be processed, but not counted, five days ahead of elections while another would ban voters from being able to change their party affiliation at the motor vehicle commissioner.
Starting Monday, fans who love their own Reese's combinations can enter for a chance to build an ultimate creation. The winner of Reese's Stuff Your Cup contest will be featured on the menu in both Times Square and in Hershey locations. Promoters say you just need to snap a shot of your creation and tag Hershey's Chocolate World on Instagram or Twitter. The contest ends July second.