An Allentown man is now under arrest for a weekend murder in the city. Police say 26-year-old David Rivera shot and killed 32-year-old Ivan Diaz Jr., of Lower Macungie Township outside the BKK Lounge on Union Boulevard around 4 o'clock Sunday morning. Three other victims were shot, but are expected to survive. Police said the shooting happened after a fight between two groups of people inside the lounge. Investigators say video surveillance led them down the path which ended up with Rivera's arrest. That video surveillance also showed a second shooter involved in the killing, however, there's no word yet on a second arrest.
A man is pleading guilty to murdering his father. Giuseppe Rizzolino Junior entered the plea in a Northampton County Courtroom Monday for the 2022 death of Joseph Rizzolino. Rizzolino lured his father out of his home in Palmer Township then stabbed him multiple times. He faces up to 50 years in prison. The victim's girlfriend said Rizzolino had frequently asked his father for money and had started making threats against his father before the stabbing. The victim was going out to his car to wire more money to his son when his son attacked him. Rizzolino fled the scene and was arrested in Upper Mount Bethel Township the next day.
Firefighters in Northampton were busy this morning. Crews were called about 5:30 this morning to a building fire in the 700 block of Smith Lane in Northampton. There are no reports of any injuries.
Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg expects snow, sleet and freezing rain to arrive after midnight tomorrow night. "That's going to make things very slippery late tomorrow night and into the Thursday morning commute before we go above freezing and it transitions to rain Thursday morning," Lundberg says. Accumulations may only be a coating to an inch, but overnight driving tomorrow night into Thursday morning could be challenging anyway.
Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to propose legalizing recreational marijuana, taxing popular gaming machines, and sending more money to Pennsylvania’s poorest schools when he unveils his budget pitch to state lawmakers today. The Democrat proposed many of these ideas during his first two years in office, but they never went anywhere. Shapiro’s budget pitch is expected to include wish list for increasing revenue. Without new money, the commonwealth is on track to drain its sizable budget reserves and its rainy-day fund by the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year, according to the Independent Fiscal Office.
JD Vance says that East Palestine will not be forgotten. The vice president visited the Ohio community on Monday -- the second anniversary of a Norfolk Southern train derailment that hobbled the area. Vance visited with residents and local elected officials. With the vice president on the trip was new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin who vowed to make the clean-up effort in the area his department's highest priority.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy says he and his wife are housing an undocumented immigrant. He said the person is someone part of their "broader universe" who has not gotten their immigration status to where they want it to be. "We said, let's have her live at our house above our garage and good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her," the governor says. Governor Murphy made the admission during a conversation with a progressive grassroots organization. The governor has repeatedly affirmed New Jersey as a safe harbor for immigration protections, even implementing directives that limit local law enforcement's ability to work with ICE.
The top federal immigration official in New Jersey warns illegal immigrants they need to be aware that anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is considered a criminal and may be arrested. The field director for ICE in New Jersey, John Tsoukaris, says his agents are not targeting immigrants who have filed for asylum and are going through immigration court. Agents arrested several suspected illegal immigrants last month in Newark. He acknowledged law-abiding migrants may sometimes be detained and processed during operations.
A new law that has taken effect in New Jersey requires that all student drivers under the age of 21 have a minimum 50 hours of supervised practice before they receive their license. The law took effect Sunday. Under the law, ten of the required hours must be at night and a parent or guardian must sign a form that confirms the student drove the required number of hours.
In his six years with the New York Giants, Whitehall High grad Saquon Barkley played in two playoff games. Super Bowl 59 will be his fourth this season with the Philadelphia Eagles and on Super Bowl Opening Night, he said he really appreciates the opportunity. "It means everything. That's life though. You have adversities. You have ups and downs, but it's who you are in those moments. I never lost faith. I just kept my head down and kept working and was able to get here and be able to surround myself with unbelievable individuals and we're you're able to do that, you're able to have a lot of success," Barkley says. Barkley has run for 442 yards and five touchdowns in the playoffs in helping the Eagles to Sunday night's Super Bowl against Kansas City.