Just after 4 o'clock Thursday afternoon, emergency crews rushed to the 4000 block of Hanoverville Road for a report of an unresponsive child. Northampton County DA Stephen Baratta says the toddler was dead inside her father's sweltering car. "This is the beginning of an investigation. I can confirm that the deceased was a female child, approximately 15 months old," Baratta says. Officials say the toddler was found in their car seat inside the car parked at ID Logistics in Lower Nazareth Township. Company officials none of their employees or affiliates were involved in the death.
The Lehigh County Coroner says a 14-year-old girl has drowned in Emmaus. We're being told the original incident happened last Saturday afternooon at a residence in Allentown in a private residential swimming pool. The girl was pronounced dead this morning after 3:30 at St. Luke's University Hospital-Bethlehem.
Today's Accu-Weather forecast is identical to yesterday's. Heather Zehr says it'll be very hot and humid and there's a very good chance of some nasty storms blowing through our neck of the woods. "Certainly heavy rain and strong winds are likely to return with these storms late today and into tonight," Zehr says. The heat and humidity will back off this weekend and into early next week.
Thursday night storms are causing Friday power outages. First Energy says nearly 6500 of its customers are without service, including more than 630 in Berks County and more than 320 in Northampton County. PPL customers weren't hit quite as hard. PPL says more than 2400 customers are in the dark, with the hardest hit region in Schuylkill County, which has nearly 170 customers without service.
A New Jersey flight instructor is going to prison for a plane crash in the Lehigh Valley that killed a student pilot. 37-year-old Phillip McPherson the Second has been sentenced to up to six-and-a-half years behind bars after pleading guilty to charges including involuntary manslaughter for the crash that killed 49-year-old Keith Kozel. Prosecutors said McPherson had two prior plane crashes and voluntarily surrendered his pilot's certificate in October 2021 after failing his reexamination, but continued to fly with passengers until the following September when he crashed a plane that had just taken off from Allentown. Federal officials said McPherson is also prohibited from working in the aviation industry.
The third and final Ahart's Market is closing. The Ahart's in Bath will be closing in about a month according to the owner, who says a power outage last weekend that cost him about $100,000 of his perishable stock was the final blow. George Ahart previously closed his stores in Allentown and Bethlehem and when his store in Bath closes its doors for good, he'll be left with only his store in Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County. The Ahart's in Bath opened up 33 years ago.
Mack Trucks will be part of the race weekend at Pocono. Three Mack Pioneer trucks featuring a special red, white and blue wrap will be at Pocono Raceway for the Great American Getaway 400, as part of Mack Trucks' role as the official hauler of NASCAR. The design was picked by some 2,400 fans who voted in an online poll, Mack said, in a news release and it displays the emblems of all six military branches.
A contract dispute between Hershey Entertainment and Resorts and their employees' worker's union could be coming to an end. Employees at Hersheypark, The Hotel Hershey, and the GIANT Center will vote today on a tentative agreement with the company. Union members turned down a different offer last week in a meeting during which they also voted to authorize a strike. The union is strongly encouraging members to ratify the agreement and avoid a possible work stoppage.
Garden State farmers are in line to now get federal help, after a couple days of freezing temperatures in April destroyed a good portion of their crops. Governor Mikie Sherrill's office announced Thursday that the U.S Department of Agriculture granted a disaster declaration for farmers and growers in all 21 counties. This means they will be eligible for low interest emergency loans through the Farm Service Agency, which is seen as a first step towards recovering crop losses. Farmers around the state say the cold snap wiped out between 80 to 100-percent of apple and peach crops this year, among the losses. Some crops were spared heavy damage.
The newest state park is an nine mile stretch of urban landscape between Essex and Hudson Counties, and the Sherrill Administration wants help in naming it. The park's designated space is currently called "greenway," and state officials will be there on Monday for a ceremonial tree-planting, along with announcing a public vote for naming the new park. Four names have actually been proposed, so people will be able to pick from those options that will be revealed. The state park itself is an old rail line between Montclair and Jersey City, with brush and trash being cleared to redevelop into biking and walking trails, with green space running through eight municipalities.
A six-year-old's painful encounter with a jellyfish off the shore in Brick Township this week has authorities warning swimmers to be careful when they venture into the ocean this summer. It took several days for the girl to fully recover Clinging jellyfish have turned up along the Jersey Shore from Sandy Hook to Cape May for much of the past decade. Experts think the cold winter led to a sharp increase in the number of clinging jellyfish in the waters off the Jersey Shore.