Northampton County DA Terry Houck says a 20-year-old North Carolina man admits he called and threatened Saucon Valley Middle School after learning about the district allowing the After School Satan Club to meet there. "He said something to the effect of 'I'm going to be coming in there and shooting everybody,'" Houck says. Ceu Uk was arrested in Charlotte and is awaiting extradition here to Pennsylvania. Houck says Uk initially denied leaving the message, but later confessed, but said he didn't mean it. The Saucon Valley superintendent rescinded approval for the club a few days after the threat, saying the club failed to meet all district requirements.
The topic of initially allowing and then denying at After School Satan Club from meeting inside a district school was a popular topic among community members who spoke at Tuesday night's Saucon Valley School Board meeting. "I feel strongly about the idea of First Amendment rights and I do believe that if you allow one religious group, then you have to allow the other," one woman said. Another man disagreed saying, "The reason why I live in Hellertown is because of this school. It's a smaller country, conservative school and the people of this community would like to keep it that way," the man said.
A local pediatric hospital is getting bigger. Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital cut the ribbon Tuesday to celebrate the addition of 20 pediatric inpatient beds, expanding the children’s hospital’s medical-surgical inpatient capacity to 50. LVHN says the expansion reflects the growing demand for specialized pediatric care.
Less than two months after being elected as Pennsylvania's Speaker of the House, Berks County Democrat Mark Rozzi has resigned that position. In his resignation speech, Rozzi criticized Republicans who helped elect him to the post in January. "When that temporary majority couldn't elect a speaker of their own, they attempted to hoodwink the House and elect a member of the other party as speaker to do their bidding for them," Rozzi said. Rozzi says he's resigning from the post and returning to the Democratic caucus. Later Tuesday the House voted Joanna McClinton, a Philadelphia Democrat, to succeed him. McClinton is both the first woman and first black to hold the title of Pennsylvania Speaker of the House.
It's costing less to fill your gas tank both in the Lehigh Valley and across the commonwealth. According to AAA East Central, the average price of a gallon of gas in Pennsylvania was $3.62 as of Tuesday, a nickel less than one week earlier and 13 cents below last year's price on that date. In the Lehigh Valley, the average price stood at $3.45 yesterday, seven cents below the prior Tuesday and 29 cents less than one year ago.
Three new cases of Avian Flu have been detected in Lancaster County according to the USDA. One case was detected Feb. 22, another was detected Feb. 23 and the third case was detected Feb. 24.
A new report from U.S. News & World Report named three Pennsylvania amusement parks among the best in the United States. The list included Kennywood in West Mifflin, Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, and Hersheypark in Hershey. Knoebels in Northumberland County has three types of rides: Kiddie, family, and thrill. Among the rides mentioned in the report were the Giant Flume, Black Diamond mine cars, and the Impulse coaster. Hersheypark has more than a dozen rollercoasters and an outdoor water park. During the holidays you can experience Christmas Candylane or Dark Nights. Your ticket to Hersheypark also includes ZooAmerica with hundreds of animals.
Reactions to Governor Phil Murphy's 53-billion dollar budget plan he announced yesterday fall along party lines. Democrats have praised it for offering property tax relief and not recommending any new taxes while Republicans criticized it as wasteful spending. For the third year in a row, Murphy's spending plan calls for an increase in direct property tax relief and additional school funding. The proposal also includes a third consecutive full pension payment and bolsters funding for workforce development and public safety. Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz praises the plan and says it brings the state closer to fully funding schools and expands access to early childhood education. But Senate Republican Budget Officer Declan O'Scanlon says Democrats have ignored Republican plans to cut wasteful spending.
Another dolphin carcass has washed ashore a New Jersey beach, only hours after a humpback whale carcass was confirmed in a shipping channel between New Jersey and New York. It's the fifth dolphin carcass found off the Jersey coastline in recent months. A necropsy on the bottlenose dolphin is scheduled to determine the cause of death. Environmental groups and mayors along the Jersey Shore have called on state and federal officials to pause offshore wind power development, which they say could be the cause of the deaths. Governor Phil Murphy and the Marine Mammal Commission disagree. Murphy says the development work will continue while the investigation into the whale and dolphin deaths continues.
The Eagles are making their new offensive and defensive coordinators official. Philadelphia announced on Tuesday that Brian Johnson will take over on offense while Sean Desai will staff the defense. Johnson was promoted after spending last season as the team's quarterbacks coach. Desai was on Pete Carroll's Seahawks staff as an associate head coach last year.