PPL made great progress Thursday in restoring service after Wednesday's heavy rain and strong winds caused widespread power outages. PPL reports more than 4600 outages remain. Of them, nearly 1800 are in Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties.
The Hotel Bethlehem is expanding across Main Street. The hotel has unveiled its extended stay suites right across the street and above the Hotel B Ice Cream Parlor and Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop. The Suites at 462 includes nine renovated, one-bedroom, apartment-style suites. Rates begin at $1750 per week with a mandatory one-week stay. Also opening in the same building is Steel Magnolia Spa and Salon, which relocated from the South Side.
PennDOT is now saying they hope to have all lanes open later today on Main Street in Palmer Township. They've been working to fill a large sinkhole that opened there last week, however lousy weather has hampered their efforts. Now, PennDOT says the sinkhole has been filled and paving over it is all that remains.
Monroe County is selling the Pleasant Valley Manor nursing home to a private company. County officials yesterday said Outcome Healthcare will take over operations sometime later this year. Pleasant Valley trustees say cost is driving the decision to sell, saying the finances of nursing homes have become more difficult in the aftermath of COVID 19. Monroe County is not saying when it expects the nursing home's sale to be finalized.
A woman had to be flown to the hospital after a Thursday fire in Tamaqua. It happened in a home on Riley Avenue. It only took firefighters less than a half hour to control the fire. There's no word yet on the woman's condition or on what may have started the fire.
State officials say over 800,000 voters have requested mail ballots for the state's upcoming primary. The Pennsylvania Department of State says of that number, nearly 74 percent, or 592,000, of requests have come from registered Democrats and more than 200,000 have been requested by Republicans. Voters have about two-and-a-half weeks to return their ballots for Pennsylvania's April 23rd primary.
A wild raccoon attacked two guests waiting in line for the SooperDooperLooper roller coaster at Hersheypark. In the incident, which happened on Hersheypark's opening weekend, the raccoon bit a young girl on the foot and made off with her shoe. Park officials say they took those two people to a local hospital out of an abundance of caution. The raccoon has not been captured, but it has apparently not returned to the park since the incident.
There is a plan at the Capitol in Harrisburg that would put chaplains in public schools across Pennsylvania. State Rep. David Zimmerman's legislation would allow volunteer chaplains to work in schools. He says the chaplains could offer support to both students and teachers, and claims that having chaplains in schools improves graduation rates and even lowers teenage pregnancies. Critics don't like the idea of introducing religion or priests into public schools. Zimmerman's plan has just nine co-sponsors so far.
Food and beverage options could be limited this weekend at Wells Fargo Center. That's because members of the UNITE HERE Philly Local 274 union are threatening to strike. Service workers and other local leaders gathered outside of City Hall yesterday afternoon to voice their displeasure against Aramark. No word on what impact this might have on WrestleMania tomorrow and Sunday.
Former three-term assemblyman from Freehold, Jack Ciattarelli is expected to announce his run for the GOP nomination for governor next Tuesday. Ciattarelli has sent out invitations to his announcement in Freehold. Ciattarelli lost to current Governor Phil Murphy by three percentage points three years ago. This time around, he'll face State Senator Jon Bramnick for the Republican nomination for governor.
The Philadelphia Eagles are rewarding one of their top offensive linemen. ESPN reports the team extended Jordan Mailata on Thursday. The deal is a three-year, 66-million-dollar agreement which includes 48-million in guaranteed money and a 20-million-dollar signing bonus. The 27-year-old is now the fourth highest-paid offensive tackle in the league, trailing only Houston's Laremy Tunsil, San Francisco's Trent Williams and New York Giants' Andrew Thomas. Philly finished first in run block win rate and seventh in pass block win rate last season.