A body found near Trout Creek Park last Friday has been identified as a missing man. Lehigh County officials say the body of 33-year-old Michael Morrissey was discovered in a wooded area on the 1200 block of South Eighth Street. Morrissey was reported missing on August 8th, which was about two weeks after he was last seen alive. The investigation is ongoing.
The school board of Bethlehem Area School District has voted to approve a grant application for obtaining and installing vape detectors. The district is asking for a $377,604 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The detectors would detect vaping, nicotine, THC or anything that changes the air quality, and they would send an alert to administrators. The detectors would also send an alert if there is a sudden increase in noise, like during a fight.
The Berks County woman accused of killing two of her children will not take the stand in her trial. Lisa Snyder declined to testify when asked by the judge on Monday. Snyder is charged with first-degree murder after her eight-year-old and four-year-old children were found hanging in the basement of their home in 2019. Snyder is facing a bench trial, meaning the case will be decided by the judge instead of a jury.
Former President Trump made an appeal to Christians and gun owners at a campaign rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania Monday night. "We've gotta get the Christians to vote. I don't know what it is. Relatively, they don't vote a lot. They go to church and they love church and that's great, but we've gotta get Christians and evangelicals out to vote. We have to get gun owners. You know, gun owners don't vote. They don't vote," the former president said. The former president is currently in a deadlock with Vice President Harris for the state.
Pennsylvania officials are reassuring voters that this year's election will be secure. During a forum in Harrisburg on Monday, Secretary of State Al Schmidt, former State Superior Court Judge Robert Graci, and others involved in the election process took questions on topics ranging from mail-in ballots to security at the polls. The forum took place as former President Donald Trump once again claimed there was fraud in the 2020 election during a rally in Indiana County. Graci said some people will never come around, but many want to believe the system works.
There may be more roundabouts coming to Pennsylvania. The state's Department of Transportation is out with a new report that says roundabouts are safer than traditional four-way stop signs. The numbers in the report say roundabouts cut crashes with injuries by more than 50 percent, and cut overall traffic crashes by seven percent. Roundabouts have become more popular in the state, but they are not for every community. PennDOT says some roads are too rocky or congested for roundabouts to properly work.
There are an awful lot of lead pipes in Pennsylvania. In fact, a new report says Pennsylvania has one of the worst lead pipe problems in the entire country. The Natural Resources Defense Council recently released a report that details just how many lead pipes need to be replaced in the state. The report says there are over 50 thousand lead pipes in just Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and there are hundreds of thousands more in the rest of the state. Pennsylvania's governor earmarked 200 million-dollars for water projects last year, but the NRDC says that won't be enough to replace all of the lead pipes in the state.
For the first time in 169 years, beer is now being sold at the Bloomsburg Fair. Beer is only sold inside the gates at the grandstand at the fair. People are ID'd and are only allowed to buy two drinks at one time. The Bloomsburg Fair will continue until September 28.
Delays have prevented some of the events at Fright Fest at Six Flags Great Adventure in Ocean County from opening. Fright Fest was scheduled to open September 13th but Six Flags officials announced it would open as a preview instead, with some of the mazes still closed. The preview continued into this past weekend as well. Officials did not explain why the mazes were not available, stating that unforeseen circumstances prevented the opening.