Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg says we could be getting a little March snow tonight. "It's not going to be a wide band of it, but we're going to be in the middle of it later tonight," Lundberg says. He says one-to-two inches of snow is possible in the Lehigh Valley. Not much of anything is expected south of the area and perhaps up to six inches of snow is possible up in the Poconos.
It looks like Allentown School District's interim superintendent could become the permanent superintendent later this week. The school district's solicitor says contract negotiations are underway with Carol Birks, who could get the job as soon as this Thursday's board meeting. Birks has been interim superintendent since taking over for John Stanford last October.
An Allentown home has been badly damaged in a weekend fire. It happened at a home in the 2200 block of Union Boulevard around 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon. There's no word of any injuries or what may have sparked the fire.
Several units of a Lehigh County apartment building have been damaged in a weekend fire. Firefighters were called to apartments in the 400 block of Liberty Lane in Lower Macungie Township just before 11 o'clock Sunday morning. No one was hurt. Investigators think the fire may have been caused by some sort of electrical issue.
The Department of Energy and the FBI are now both saying the COVID-19 pandemic was likely the result of a lab leak in Wuhan, China. Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Dan Meuser says that's not exactly breaking news to him. "I've been saying for a good year now that it was one-in-10,000, one-in-100,000 that it did not come from Wuhan," Meuser says. Others believe the virus jumped from animal hosts to humans, as was the case in previous pandemics.
Josh Shapiro is set to present his first budget as governor to the state legislature Tuesday. One of the items he's expected to focus on is a $2500 tax credit to attract new critical workers to the state including teachers, nurses and police officers. The governor also shared last week that other proposals will include a 50-percent increase in funding for the Manufacturing P-A Innovation Program and a 25-percent increase for computer science and STEM education.
Pennsylvania will soon take up the issues again of whether to allow local police departments to use radar to catch speeding drivers. Legislation sponsored by state Senator Greg Rothman was approved unanimously Friday by the Senate Transportation Committee. Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that prohibits local police from being equipped with speed-enforcement radar. Supporters say Senate Bill 459 has built-in protections to ensure radar won't be misused to raise revenue and wouldn't be used unless a driver exceeds a speed limit by at least 10 miles-per-hour.
U.S. attorneys are asking the judge in the Tree of Life shooting case to grant them permission to conduct a psychiatric evaluation for suspect Robert Bowers. Federal prosecutors filed a motion last Friday requesting that a psychiatrist, neuropsychologist, and neurologist be granted access to Bowers ahead of the trial. Potential jurors are due to meet with court officials starting today to fill out questionnaires that will be used to help determine who ultimately sits on the panel. Official jury selection is slated to begin April 24th. Bowers is accused of carrying out an anti-Semitic attack at the synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, shooting and killing eleven people in October of 2018.
Researchers say the whale that washed ashore Wednesday in Seaside Park this past week likely died from a propeller strike. Officials with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center say the 30-foot female humpback had a fractured skull, bruising on the head and cuts they think probably came from a propeller strike. At 13 whales have washed ashore along the New Jersey and New York coastline for the last three months. Mayors of several New Jersey communities and wildlife groups have called on the federal government to suspend wind power development along the shore. Governor Phil Murphy has rejected any link between the whale deaths and wind power development.
Lafayette's men's basketball team is 11-22 but are just one more upset away from making the NCAA tournament. The Leopards beat American 84-76 in double overtime to advance to the Patriot League championship game Wednesday night. Mike McGarvey is Lafayette's interim coach and says his team is enjoying the unexpected ride. "We're taking each playoff game as a championship. We've been in a couple very cool environments, in the quarterfinals at Lehigh and tonight in the semifinals and we believe we can compete with anybody," McGarvey says. Lafayette will play regular season league champion Colgate in the title game Wednesday night.
Joshua Sills has been free on bail but is scheduled to be back in an Ohio court Thursday on rape and kidnapping charges. The offensive guard for the Philadelphia Eagles didn't get to play in the Super Bowl because of the pending charges. Sills' pretrial appearance has been set for the March 9th at 2:30 p.m. Prosecutors allege he forced a woman into non-consensual sex and held the victim against her will in December 2019. He appeared in one NFL game for the Eagles this past season.
The Eagles are keeping a close eye on one of their wideouts after he was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint. Zach Pascal suffered minor injuries in the incident late last week in Maryland. The 28-year-old was in his hometown and the robbers also stole his jewelry. Detectives are continuing to search for a pair of men in connection to this incident.