A Bethlehem man is spending up to two decades in prison in connection with a deadly hit-and-run crash. A judge sentenced Isaac Resto to four to 20 years behind bars yesterday. Resto was driving through the intersection of East Linden Street and Hanover Avenue in Allentown, in October of 2020, when he struck and killed 46-year-old Eliezer Montano-Lopez, then left the scene. He was able to elude authorities for several months, eventually arrested by Bethlehem police in May of last year.
Northampton County's district attorney's office and several police and fire departments are holding a gun buyback event on Saturday, Oct. 1. It's the first in a series of events. Residents can bring rifles, handguns, shotguns and semi-automatic weapons, and the DA's office will pay them between $50-$200 in grocery gift cards, depending on the condition of the weapon. No ID is needed and the event is anonymous, but authorities ask that guns are not loaded and are transported in the trunk of the car. The event is set for Oct. 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hecktown Fire Company, 230 Nazareth Pike, Bethlehem and Bethlehem City Fire Department Lincoln Station, 2412 Easton Avenue.
Customers at Wegmans grocery stores will no longer be able to check themselves out as they shop due to an increase in theft. Wegmans has halted its self-service checkout app known as Wegmans SCAN because too many people were stealing items. Wegmans introduced the app three years ago and it allowed shoppers to scan, bag, and pay for items while avoiding long checkout lines. The company suspended the app over the weekend due to the financial losses and said they are hoping to make improvements to the system. Meanwhile, self-checkout lanes at the front of stores in the chain, which have employees supervising, are not expected to be closed.
Pennsylvania's gaming numbers were up slightly in the month of August when compared to August 2021. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says August's total gaming revenue eclipsed $425.3 million, up 4.24-percent from August 2021 numbers. Wind Creek in Bethlehem didn't fare as well, seeing revenues drop by 4.88-percent when compared to August 2021 figures.
Due to renovations, the Fine Wine & Good Spirits store at the Westgate Mall on Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem with close effective Tuesday night at 9 o'clock. While that store is closing for the time being, a temporary store will open up Wednesday morning nearby at 2359 Schoenersville Road. The Westgate Mall location is scheduled to reopen early next year.
An 83-year-old woman with dementia has been found. Lower Saucon Township police say the unnamed woman was last seen just before 7 o'clock Sunday night near her home in the Steel City section of the township. The woman was found just after 9:30 Monday morning.
Authorities are investigating what caused a huge fire at a car service center in Monroe County. The blaze broke out yesterday at the Gray Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler and Ram service center located on West Main Street in Stroud Township. Over one-hundred firefighters responded to the scene and one employee suffered burns to his arms, but no one else was injured. The fire destroyed the building as well as several cars inside.
A scratch-off lottery ticket worth $1 million was sold in Carbon County. Boyer's Food Markets on West Bertsch Street in Lansford sold the Cash King ticket and will receive $5000 for doing so.
A ban on fracking will continue in the Delaware River watershed. A federal appeals court has rejected Pennsylvania lawmakers request to overturn a ban on fracking in the watershed. The ban includes Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties. The ban on hydraulic fracking was passed by the Delaware River Basin Commission last year.
As Democrats inside the state Capitol were introducing a package of abortion rights bills, outside, thousands of pro-life activists were holding the Pennsylvania March For Life. "We have to fight for the state that we live in until our nation is free of this slaughter," one protester said. The pro-life crowd celebrated the overturning of the Roe vs. Wade ruling at the federal level, but continued to push state lawmakers to prohibit abortion at the state level.
New data from PennDOT suggests roundabouts improve traffic safety. The department studied 36 intersections across the state where stop signs and signals were replaced with roundabouts. Results show accidents and fatalities decreased at 31 of the locations. Suspected serious injuries also fell by around 76 percent.
It's been two-and-a-half-years since New Jersey first reported cases of COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic in early March 2020, the Garden State has reported two-point-three-million confirmed COVID cases. Out of just over nine-million residents in New Jersey, there were over 34-thousand deaths from the virus. In addition, the state has the ninth-highest coronavirus deaths per capita in the country. Meantime, eleven New Jersey counties have high COVID levels and ten are at a medium level, while four deaths were reported from COVID on Monday.
A New Jersey state senator wants to rework the Garden State's ban on single use plastic bags. The Senator states that the new legislation has some unfortunate consequences with non-recyclable bags piling up everywhere in New Jersey. The legislator argues the law should have included language that requires companies to use American made and recycled bags, instead of importing them from other countries like China. The ban, which was designed to drastically reduce usage of throwaway plastic bags and Styrofoam has been in effect statewide since May.
The Philadelphia Eagles had a surprisingly easy time with the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. Jalen Hurts went 26-31 for 333 yards. He ran for two touchdowns and threw for a another in the 24-7 win, but says there's more to give. "We have high standards for ourselves and we have a lot to learn from this," Hurts said. The Eagles are now 2-0. They visit Washington this Sunday.