Environment & Science

Officials gathered at the Lehigh Valley Zoo Thursday evening for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of Rothrock Red Panda Peak. It's the first time the zoo has had red pandas in residence.

The complaint alleges Sunshine Act violations from the township supervisors and legal filings from the township solicitor with no official approval beforehand.

The Storm Prediction Center has maintained a marginal risk (1 out of 5) for the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas Thursday, with the primary threat being damaging winds.

Environmental and county officials this week began dismantling a dam over Bushkill Creek in an effort to restore the creek. The removal will improve water quality, stormwater function and connectivity for fish and other organisms.

“The pleasant stretch of weather we encountered early in the week is beyond us,” the National Weather Service said in its latest forecast discussion, with the Lehigh Valley at risk of excessive rainfall Wednesday.

After a raging fire on Saturday night destroyed his Center Valley barn, tractors, trucks and equipment, Leroy C. Stahler Jr. vows to rebuild and continue the Stahler family legacy of farming, said his daughter, Tracy Beers.

While monitoring continues, Lehigh Valley Breathes officials used the most recent project update to explain results from the research this spring at Lehigh University.

When all was said and done, May was the Lehigh Valley’s sixth consecutive warmer-than-normal month, with an average temperature of 63.4 degrees – or 1.4 degrees above normal. So what will summer bring?

Voyager 1 is now the furthest man-made object from Earth, having traveled to a distance of around 15 billion miles away.

During this year’s spring migration count, which runs from April 1 through mid-May, Hawk Mountain volunteers and staff tallied 1,001 birds of prey.

The father of a Moravian University student was found dead Thursday after a water incident Wednesday evening.

Three people were killed in Montgomery County after severe storms from Hurricane Ida hit the region on Wednesday.

A Lehigh Valley man is heading south to assist with Hurricane Ida relief efforts. The Red Cross volunteer boards a flight Tuesday and will help distribute supplies when he gets to the devastated area.

Much of the state is under a flash flood watch as the remnants of Hurricane Ida travel to the northeastern United States.

The U.S. Department of Energy held an online public meeting on Tuesday to find out how frontline communities in Appalachia are impacted by the growing ethane and petrochemical industries. Ethane is a byproduct of natural gas development and can be used to make plastics.

Despite piping hot August temperatures, artist Sarah Karess is hard at work on the mural at the Allentown Transportation Center.

Pennsylvania’s environmental regulator is levying an $85,666 penalty against Sunoco for issues with its Mariner East project in four counties last year.

If you’re planning a visit to a national park, you’ll need to pack a mask even if you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.

More than a dozen city leaders, including the mayors of Lancaster, Lebanon, York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, are calling on Congress to pass the Parks, Jobs and Equity Act.

A “Code Orange” air quality alert is now in effect across the Lehigh Valley.

Tucked into the latest state budget agreement is tens of millions of dollars in new sales tax breaks for companies that build and run server farms known as data centers.

About 37% of ticks in Pennsylvania are the kind that carry Lyme disease, according to the Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania at East Stroudsburg University.