All of Tuesday's local races have now been decided. Congresswoman Susan Wild held off the challenge of Lisa Scheller and will serve a third term in Washington. Wild won by 4700 votes and Scheller conceded Wednesday afternoon. In local state Senate races, newcomers Nick Miller and Jarrett Coleman were winners as was incumbent Lisa Boscola. State House winners include Democrats Michael Schlossberg, Joshua Siegel and Peter Schweyer and Republicans Milou Mackenzie, Joe Emrick and Ann Flood.
The bird flu has hit Jaindl Farms in North Whitehall Township. About 14,000 turkeys have been infected, however Jaindl Farms has issued a statement that reads, "Many of the Jaindl turkeys intended for Thanksgiving were processed prior to this challenge. We are confident that we will have an adequate supply of turkeys for the Thanksgiving holiday." The company also says this strain does not present a food safety concern and the CDC says no human bird flu infections have been reported from proper handling and cooking of poultry. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture says the current outbreak has affected more than four million birds in the state.
Certain Lehigh County officers and the county executive will be getting pay raises over the next four years. Wednesday night, the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners voted 8-1 to set salary levels for the controller, the clerk of judicial records, the sheriff and the coroner. All four positions will be paid just under $88,000 in 2024 and with salaries rising to $95,500 in 2027. Salaries for those positions hadn't increased in over 11 years. The county executive will also see a pay increase that will rise to $104,000 in 2026.
The past seven days have seen gas prices in both Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley go quite a bit higher. According to AAA East Central, the average price of a gallon of unleaded in Pennsylvania was at $4.09 Tuesday, up eight cents from the previous Tuesday and 53 cents more than November 8, 2021. In the Lehigh Valley, the average price also stood at $4.09 Tuesday, up a dime from last Tuesday and 56 cents more than one year earlier.
Easton's City Council will be granting some relief for holiday parkers. On Wednesday night, they agreed to waiving certain parking fees for on-street metered spaces as well as for the South Third Street and Northampton Street lots. The fee-free parking begins Black Friday, November 25th and will continue on Saturdays and Sundays through December 18th.
Police and school districts around Pennsylvania have released the results of last month's Operation Safe Stop. They say there were 155 violations committed throughout the state on October 19th. That's a decrease from last year, when 252 violations were reported. Eric Haggerty heads up the PA Department of Education. "When parents and caregivers send their children off to school each day, they're entrusting us all as a society to keep them safe. That responsibility extends beyond the walls of the classrooms or windows of the bus to the rest of us, the drivers on the road," Haggerty says.
A bill has passed in Pennsylvania that will make it easier for hunters to buy antlerless licenses online. When it takes effect with the 2023-24 license year, antlerless passes will be available for purchase online or in person at any license issuing agent. Until now, hunters had to apply for antlerless licenses through the mail, as county treasurers were the only outlet permitted to sell them.
Governor Tom Wolf has struck down a State Senate proposal that would have let passenger cars be defined as farm vehicles. He has chosen not to sign the measure, which would have exempted such cars from state registration, insurance and safety inspection requirements. He said the vehicles would have been too high a risk to be driven up to 50 miles from farms and also would have posed a danger to other cars on the road.