At Wednesday night's Lehigh County Commissioners meeting, dozens of families who say they were affected by alleged "medical kidnapping" by Lehigh Valley Health Network spoke out against the hospital's treatment of children. The families' comments were spurred by a report titled "The Cost of Misdiagnosis," released by Lehigh County controller Mark Pinsley on Wednesday. The report claims there is a "systemic over diagnosis" of medical child abuse in the Lehigh Valley. The target of many families' anger Wednesday night was LVHN pediatrician Dr. Debra Esernio-Jenssen, who was accused of deliberately misdiagnosing cases of child abuse, which is some cases resulted in children being removed from their home and criminal charges being filed. In a statement, LVHN said, "We are currently reviewing the report presented by Mr. Pinsley. At first glance we are concerned that this appears to be rather one-sided in its presentation of facts and conclusions regarding the County of Lehigh’s Office of Children and Youth Services."
The disciplinary board of the state Supreme Court has denied an Allentown attorney's petition for reinstatement. The request was denied, in part, because the board says it finds Douglas Marinos “failed to show genuine remorse and demonstrated a lack of civility and professionalism throughout the reinstatement process.” The board also determined Marinos failed to make arrangements to pay back taxes to the IRS, despite having been convicted in a tax case. Marinos pleaded guilty in 2018 to failing to pay $229,000 in payroll taxes over nine years for his employees’ Social Security and Medicare contributions. He was sentenced to a year in prison and three years of supervised release. He filed a petition for reinstatement in January 2022.
The Northampton County coroner says Al-Malik Hakam Walker was the man who died in an Easton fire. The fire broke out Tuesday night just before 9 o'clock on the 900 block of Glendon Avenue. The Easton Housing Authority owned the home. Five people lived there in total, four adults and one child. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Church View Road in Upper Milford Township is closed through late September because of construction on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension bridge over the road. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said the road should be reopened by Sept. 22, depending on weather conditions during construction. Traffic will be detoured to Acorn Road, Faith Road and Geho Road. Trucks will be detoured to Dillingersville Road and Limeport Pike.
Shaquille O'Neal's restaurant chain will soon open a new location in the Poconos. The basketball star is co-owner of a fast-casual chain called Big Chicken. Big Chicken, known for their sandwiches, tenders and milkshakes, this week has confirmed plans to open a restaurant in Tannersville. The location at the Pocono Premium Outlets is expected to open later this year.
Pennsylvania's treasurer wants to take the burden off state residents for getting unclaimed money. Roughly one in ten residents have misplaced money that the state is holding. To get it back, they must search for their name in a public database then file a claim. State Treasurer Stacy Garrity has proposed legislation that would allow the state to automatically return some of those unclaimed funds to people with no action required on their part. Garrity says only amounts under five-thousand dollars with a sole owner who is still alive would qualify. In higher-value cases, residents would still have to file claims.
A state House Republican lawmaker is proposing legislation that would require pre-installed porn filters on mobile devices. State Representative Jim Gregory says such actions would help prevent kids from accessing sexually explicit content. Gregory says the technology already exists and can be easily placed on devices. The filters can also be disabled by adults and would not impact anyone of legal age from accessing any content. The lawmaker introduced similar legislation last session.
Wednesday was National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, and Pennsylvania looked for new recruits to help make sure every Election Day runs smoothly. It takes 45,000 poll workers to staff Pennsylvania’s 9,000 voting locations. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt calls it “among the most rewarding acts of civic engagement you can ever perform.” Pennsylvania’s poll workers must be registered voters. Seventeen-year-olds can also serve with permission from their school principal and parent or guardian. You can find out more about job requirements and job duties by going to www.vote.pa.gov website has online forms for students and adults. Poll workers are paid for training and Election Day work.
A former Philadelphia 76ers standout says he'll soon sell his brand of marijuana in Pennsylvania. Eleven-time NBA all-star Allen Iverson says he'll launch sales of the Viola cannabis strain in Philadelphia in September. His partner for producing and marketing Viola is former NBA player Al Harrington. He founded Viola in 2011, naming it after his grandmother who suffered from glaucoma. Iverson says a launch event planned for September 2nd will include a meet-and-greet and merchandise giveaways. All attendees must have a Pennsylvania medical marijuana card.
New Jersey is cracking down on gun traffickers with a first in the nation law. Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation targeting people who come from other states and illegally sell guns that are used in deadly shootings or shootings that result in injuries. "The message it will send to gun traffickers is loud and clear. If you illegally sell guns, you could personally face criminal penalties for violent crimes committed using those guns," the governor says. Murphy says the same criminal penalties can even apply to out of state gun dealers who knowingly sell guns to illegal traffickers.
A new study says New Jersey has the lowest number of underprivileged children of all 50 states. The study comes from the personal finance website Wallethub. The site looked at three categories in each state -- socio-economic welfare, health and education. New Jersey ranked among the bottom three among all states in all three categories -- which means the Garden State has some of the best welfare, health and economic conditions for children. It has the fewest number of children in foster care, the lowest number of maltreated children and the fourth lowest infant mortality rate nationwide.