Northampton County says it saw far fewer drug overdoses in 2023 than the previous year. Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the county's campaign to educate the public and prevent drug overdose deaths and county officials say the program is working. Through November of last year, the county had 45 drug overdose deaths, putting it on pace to be fewer than the 81 drug overdoses in 2022. The county has now distributed almost 1400 Narcan kits and trained nearly 300 people on how to use the product, which is an overdose-reversing medication. The county plans to step up that campaign this year and expects to have vending machines at several county sites to dispense free Narcan by tomorrow.
We're learning a bit more about the man accused in Bucks County of beheading his father on Tuesday. 32-year-old Justin Mohn is charged with killing his 68-year-old father Michael and then fleeing to Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County, where he was eventually arrested. Joseph Bartorilla is the Middletown Township Police Chief. "I am very sad for the family. I'm very sad for the community and also for the people who knew him," Bartorilla says. After allegedly killing his father, Mohn posted a 14-minute video on YouTube where he showed his father's severed head. In the video, which he titled "Mohn's Militia - Call to Arms for American Patriots," Mohn referred to himself as a militia leader and called his father a traitor to the country for being a federal employee for 20 years.
The Allentown YMCA warming station has reopened after a guest threatened an act of violence. A guest leaving the station Tuesday morning threatened to return that evening and “carry out an act of violence”, prompting YMCA staff to close the station and suspend services Tuesday night. The YMCA warming station is open 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Nov. 15 to April 15 for people experiencing homelessness in the area. Allentown police officers have spoken to the guest who “understands he may not return to the warming station.” The shelter will have police present for the next three nights.
Allen High School was closed Wednesday due to an unspecified mechanical issue at the school.
To combat low staffing levels, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is lowering the minimum age to become a Corrections Officer Trainee from 21 to 18. Dennis Reichert is Recruitment and Retention Supervisor with the DOC and says the move makes sense. "These students are our target audience when we look at lowering the age to 18. They're doing it for three years throughout their high school experience, wanting to go into law enforcement when they graduate. So, they're prepared for something like this," Reichert says. John Eckenrode heads the Pennsylvania State Correction Officers Association and isn't so sure. "I'm certainly concerned by the idea of teenagers working in these dangerous jobs. I know that I certainly was not ready or mature enough as an 18-year-old to come in to work in a prison setting," Eckenrode says. The DOC says similar policies are in place in about 25 other states.
Two Senate committees have scheduled a joint hearing next week to find out more about how computer files were mistakenly deleted by staff in the state IT office. The hearing before the Senate Communications and Technology Committee and the State Government Committee is scheduled for Wednesday. Mistakes by Information Technology staff led to thousands of state police records being deleted January 3rd. State Employees' Retirement System records were also deleted. The incident involved 77 state computer system servers.
State Rep. Mark Rozzi has dropped out of the race to be Pennsylvania's auditor general. The Muhlenberg Township Democrat made his announcement Wednesday outside Reading High School. He has endorsed state Representative Malcolm Kenyatta for the job instead. Rozzi says he's leaving the campaign because of ongoing struggles with depression. He says he deals with that as a result of sexual abuse he suffered as a 13-year-old boy. Rozzi also has said he won't run again for his 126th District House seat. He's endorsed his ex-wife Jacklyn Rusnock in that race.
Tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway are rising by three-percent in a month. Governor Phil Murphy says he won't oppose the toll hikes, which officially increase on March 1st. Tolls have gone up three times since 2020, and this hike represents another 15-cents per toll on the Turnpike, resulting in an additional annual burden of 78-bucks for motorists. Garden State Parkway tolls will increase by five cents, equally an annual increase of roughly 26 dollars.
Last season's NBA Most Valuable Player is dealing with nagging knee injury. It's caused the Philadelphia 76ers' star Joel Embiid to be ruled out for the team's Thursday night match against the Utah Jazz. The center will have an evaluation done to determine the severity of the injury. Embiid got hurt in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's loss to the Golden State Warriors after Jonathan Kuminga fell on his leg. Embiid missed the previous two games due to soreness in the same knee. He will be ineligible for the MVP and other awards if he misses five more games this season.