Business News

A Lehigh Valley Planning Commission committee met Tuesday to go over regulations under consideration in Lowhill, Bushkill, Washington and Plainfield townships.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, secured almost $3.7 million in federal funding to support the first phase of a project to redevelop the former Iron Works site in Catasauqua.

Officials and executives at the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation's annual meeting Tuesday pulled back the curtains on Eli Lilly's decision to open in the region.

PPL Electric said it expects electric demand on its system could triple over the next decade. That growth is being driven largely by expansion of advanced manufacturing, new data centers and other large industrial electricity users.

Municipalities should work to plan for data centers that can cover millions of square feet and reshape local economies, according to regional officials.

PBS39 will broadcast a special, hourlong community forum tonight on data centers — their demand, their needs and their potential impact on the Lehigh Valley.

The project, known as The Shoppes at Hamilton, would include 318 apartments, a 160-room hotel and roughly 20,000 square feet of retail space.

The Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority learned Wednesday night that plans that would have changed the taxing district's borders did not pan out.

Officials are looking to secure a developer to build a mixed-use space at a property that features a large parking lot and a 7-Eleven built almost a half-century ago.

Gov. Josh Shapiro's 2026-27 budget proposal falls back on familiar proposals to regulate skill games and legalize marijuana, two flashpoints that fueled a months-long budget impasse last year.

Pennsylvania's new $47.6 billion budget sets aside $500 million to improve old industrial sites so new businesses can expand or relocate to the properties.

A text scam is making its rounds again, according to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Recipients are urged to not click the link in the text.

Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to visit the Bethlehem Steel General Office Building on Tuesday to promote his $500 million shovel-ready development program. The program was funded in the recently approved $47.6 billion 2024-2025 state budget.

Gov. John Shapiro last month signed HB 1333 into law, which allows for recycled materials to be used in stuffed toys manufactured and sold statewide. In the Lehigh Valley, one toy manufacturer plans to launch a sustainable line.

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission on Thursday unanimously approved the sale of PPL Tower in Allentown to Wilkes-Barre-based D&D Realty Group. The sale comes more than four months after PPL Corp. announced that its subsidiary, PPL Electric Utilities, had reached a tentative $9 million agreement to sell the building to D&D Realty Group.

For decades, the land that is now Green Knight Industrial Park in Wind Gap, Plainfield Twp. and Bushkill Twp. contained a pile of 2,000,000 tires. On Thursday, officials cut the ribbon on the park's first completed building, a 50,000-square-foot warehouse.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission issued 19 recommendations for PPL Electric to improve upon, including fixing its poor customer service and restoring power to customers faster following an outage.

The $208 million will also produce 295 new union jobs, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s announcement said, though it’s unclear what cut of the funding the Macungie facility is getting or the number of new jobs expected locally.

Northampton County officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for a new maintenance building for groundskeepers, replacing a more-than-century-old wooden barn the Parks Department currently uses.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh/Bucks, is looking to force his predecessor, now Secretary of Revenue Pat Browne, to release tax returns about Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone. Browne, who crafted the NIZ, has worked to keep the information confidential for five years.

With other communities around the state adopting bans on plastic bags, Lower Saucon could be on its way to something similar. if approved, it would involve a transition process to show shoppers the bigger picture and give time for businesses to properly offload plastic bags on hand.

A $6.4 million mansion called Ravenwood Manor caught fire just a day after being sold. Three years later, the owners have donated it to the local government, reportedly as a sign of gratitude for local emergency responders.