A new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll shows Mehmet Oz and John Fetterman in a dead heat. A September poll showed Fetterman leading Oz by five points, but the new poll of 460 likely voters shows both Oz and Fetterman with 47-percent support, with three percent backing neither candidate and two percent still unsure who'll they'll vote for next week. The poll was taken October 24-28, meaning some of the sample was taken before the candidates' one and only debate last week in Harrisburg and some was taken after it. The race for Pennsylvania governor does not appear to be nearly as close with Democrat Josh Shapiro holding a 54-40 edge over Republican Doug Mastriano.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court says mail-in ballots in undated envelopes will not counted in the upcoming election. Yesterday's decision directs county election officials to refrain from counting votes if there is no date on envelopes or the date is done incorrectly. The court's ruling also requires the ballots with discrepancies to be segregated and saved.
Former President Barack Obama will visit the Steel City this weekend to drum up last minute support and energy for John Fetterman's U.S. Senate campaign. The Democratic lieutenant governor is locked in a tight race with Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz for the seat being vacated by the retiring Pat Toomey. Obama and Fetterman will appear together at an event this Saturday. Details have yet to be announced.
Candidates for Pennsylvania governor are continuing campaign efforts in the final run up to Election Day. Attorney General, and Democratic candidate, Josh Shapiro, addressed voters on Pittsburgh's North Shore yesterday. Republican state Senator Doug Mastriano spent yesterday in State College, and is scheduled to appear at a rally featuring Ben Carson in Pittsburgh this evening.
The First Lady of the United States will be in Allentown Wednesday. The White House says Jill Biden will attend a political event for U.S. Representatives Susan Wild and Madeleine Dean. Polls have shown Democrat Wild is neck-and-neck with Republican challenger Scheller for the state's seventh Congressional district. It serves all of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon Counties. Officials say you should expect traffic delays as the First Lady's motorcade comes through the area.
New Jersey election officials are warning of text messages going out with wrong information to residents. They say a group called voting futures apparently sent text messages Monday with inaccurate voter information and polling locations. Officials say folks should go to vote-dot-NJ-dot-gov to find accurate election information. Early voting is underway now ahead of the November 8th election.
Allentown police and the Lehigh County Coroner's office continue to investigate an accident that killed a 77-year-old pedestrian Monday. The coroner has identified the victim as John Nick of Allentown. The collision happened at Springhouse Drive and Springwood Road across from Trexler Memorial Park in West Allentown.
The Northampton County coroner has identified the victim of a deadly car crash in Bath. Mark Beers was 55 and from Nazareth. He died in the two-car crash Monday, which has been deemed an accident. Beers was driving his Kia Forte north on Route 512 when he collided with a Dodge Ram at the intersection of Route 248 driven by a 37-year-old Bath man. State police did not release the name of the other driver, who was injured.
A local lottery player came oh-so-close to winning Monday night's massive Powerball jackpot. A ticket worth $150,000 was sold at Jerry's Deli on West Union Boulevard in Bethlehem, which earns a $500 bonus for selling it. That ticket matched four of the five white balls drawn and the red Powerball to win the $150,000. Nobody won the jackpot Monday night, meaning tonight's drawing is worth at least $1.2 billion.
According to AAA East Central, Pennsylvania gas prices and those in the Lehigh Valley went up quite a bit over the past week. In the Lehigh Valley, prices jumped from from $3.85 on October 25 to $3.99 yesterday. The local average price last November 1 was $3.53. Across the commonwealth, gas prices jumped nine cents to $4.01 a gallon. That's 44 cents more than a year earlier.
Pennsylvania's LIHEAP program is up and running for another winter. It provides assistance for people who need help heating their homes. Inez Titus is with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. "While last season's LIHEAP benefits were supplemented by additional American Rescue Plan dollars, this season's benefits will return to more traditional amounts. The minimum LIHEAP cash grant this season will be $300 and the maximum cash grant will be $1000," Titus says.
It doesn't appear mask-only trains cars will be coming back to New Jersey Transit anytime soon. At a Customer Service and Operations Committee meeting Monday, Transit officials say they were not looking to bring mask-only cars back. That's despite cold and flu season coming and a petition signed by hundreds of riders demanding it. Union members representing conductors are also against it saying it's hard to enforce.
The Phillies are two wins away from a championship after beating Houston 7-0 in Game Three of the World Series. While the Phillies tied a World Series record with five home runs, Phillies manager Rob Thomson wanted to talk about the performance of starting pitcher Ranger Suarez. "I thought Ranger really threw the ball well. He was really strong, had a good sinker. All his secondary pitches were good. He got a lot of soft contact. His poise is through the roof. Nothing really bothers him. He just executed all night long," Thomson said. Suarez threw five shutout innings and then four relievers each threw a shutout inning in the shutout win. Aaron Nola pitches Game Four for the Phillies tonight.