More information is coming out on the Poconos man who is being accused of murdering four University of Idaho students this past November. Search warrants served in Washington state were unsealed by a judge yesterday. According to the warrants, investigators took stained bedding, hair strands and nitrate-type black gloves from Bryan Kohberger's apartment, but they didn't collect any weapons. Investigators say Kohberger repeatedly messaged one of the victims on Instagram. Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Monroe County last month.
The owners of a huge warehouse near Lehigh Valley International Airport have announced that they've sold it for $91 million. Construction on the distribution facility at 800 Willowbrook Road was completed last year. The Rockefeller Group says the nearly half-a million-square-foot property in Hanover Township has been sold to Link Logistics, a New-York-based company that owns over 60 properties in eastern Pennsylvania.
The mayor of Bethlehem says three churches should sell their properties to the city, not to nearby Lehigh University. Mayor William Reynolds is urging the congregations of St. John's Windish, Light of Christ and St. Peter's Lutheran churches to consider the city's bid for the properties. That comes after the Bethlehem Parking Authority threatened to seize the parking lot of St. John's Windish by eminent domain. The parking authority has since said it won't take that action, but church officials said a final sale is now on hold as the congregations formulate a new plan. The city says it would use the properties to build affordable housing.
Lehigh Valley International Airport says 2022 saw passenger traffic return to pre-pandemic numbers. More than 912,000 passengers traveled through LVIA last year, a 21-percent increase from 2021 and more than the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Crews in Slatington are still working to fix a water main break that happened during a Tuesday afternoon house fire in nearby Washington Township. Water customers near Northern Lehigh High School have been asked to conserve water and a boil water advisory has been issued for everyone north of Williams Street and near the high school off Bulldog Lane.
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs says IronPigs Charities has handed out 22 grants, totaling $75,000 to support organizations that serve children in and around the Lehigh Valley. Among this year's recipients are Camelot for Children, the Emmaus Public Library and the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley. Since the team's inception in 2007, IronPigs Charities has donated nearly $1.3 million in cash grants and combined with donations from the IronPigs itself, nearly $2.3 million has been handed out.
Moravian University has chosen former player Jeff Long Jr. as its new football coach. Long played at Moravian in the early 2010s. The 31-year-old Long comes to Moravian after he spent the last six seasons as an assistant at John Carroll University in Ohio.
On his first full day as governor, Josh Shapiro signed an executive order that eliminates a four-year-degree requirement for about 65,000 state jobs. Shapiro says if you are qualified for the job, then you should get the job. "Degree requirements that reward folks who pursue a different path while shutting out others hurts us all. But when we open up the doors of opportunity to everyone, it strengthens our families. It strengthens our workforce and it strengthens our economy," Shapiro says. The order also requires state agencies to lead new job postings with qualifications about prior work experiences, rather than their educational background.
School districts are struggling to overcome the cost of feeding students as they try to adhere to federal nutritional requirements and as pandemic relief programs are lifted. "Many times students go home to a family that doesn't have food to put on the table over the weekend," says Sherri Smith, the head of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.
Consumer advice website WalletHub has recently completed a study of the best and worst states in America in which to drive. The site compared statistics in 31 key metrics among all 50 states in putting together the list. Data considered included average gas prices, auto maintenance costs and the average commute time by car. According to the rankings, Pennsylvania ranks as the 39th best state in which to drive...one spot behind Vermont and one spot ahead of New Jersey. Iowa ranks as the best state in which to drive with Hawaii as the worst.
The National Hockey League is responding after Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov boycotted warmups during the team's Pride Night. Provorov said he refused to wear the team's LGBTQ+ jersey or use a stick with rainbow tape because of his religious beliefs. "I respect everybody's choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion," Provorov says. In a statement Wednesday, the NHL said players are free to decide which initiatives to support.