Environment & Science

EPA officials last week announced the first-ever national drinking water standard regulating per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are widespread, long-lasting in the environment and have been linked to long-term health issues.

A female mallard duck has stolen the spotlight at the Promenade Saucon Valley after nesting in a planter. Her month-long residence will postpone landscaping plans, but her newfound popularity is making up for it.

First introduced by state Sen. Lisa Boscola in 2015, the bill would increase penalties and direct any money collected toward bald and golden eagle conservation efforts in Pennsylvania.

Brandon Krock has 440,000 seeds to plant at Fox Summit Farm, a pick-your-own sunflower farm that will return this summer in the Lehigh Valley. He's planning fireworks, food trucks, a 5k and more.

Philadelphia Eagles Safety Reed Blankenship will visit the park as part of its Iron Menace Ride for a Cause event this Friday, which benefits the Eagles Autism Foundation.

WLVR's Brad Klein and Marty McGuire, known as Bethlehem's 'Backyard Astronomy Guy' spoke over the phone about the April 8 total solar eclipse. The path of totality veered toward the Northeast, where McGuire saw it from New York.

A severe weather threat is on tap for Sunday, forecasters warn, with a tornado threat for central Pennsylvania and damaging winds possible in the Lehigh Valley.

From April 20 through April 28, residents are invited to join or host a cleanup along a section of the D&L Trail as part of a trash collection competition. Winners will be announced May 3.

More than 2,000 acres on 28 farms in 15 counties across the commonwealth were preserved. Here are the Lehigh Valley farms now safe from development.

More than six months after its launch, 33 air quality monitors have been installed throughout the Lehigh Valley as part of Lehigh Valley Breathes, a regionwide effort to monitor air quality amid emissions from trucking and warehousing.

The winter solstice is celebrated in many ways by many cultures. How will you ring it in in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Dec. 21?

State environmental officials awarded $2.55 million in grants as part of a statewide effort to improve air quality in communities through cleaner fuel transportation infrastructure.

Wilson Area School District's second annual Family Computer Science Night welcomed hundreds of students to learn all about computers, AI, robots, and the future careers they could have in the field on Thursday evening.

Plans by Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley to construct a 1,200-square-foot addition to its existing administrative offices at 4501 Crackersport Road were approved by the South Whitehall Township Planning Commission on Thursday night.

Three farms in Lehigh County were the latest to be included in Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation Program. The program aims to ward off development and protect open spaces.

A system arriving Sunday night could bring a period of snow and ice to the area before a changeover to rain but “there remains considerable uncertainty with the details.”

During the 2023-24 hunting seasons, a record-breaking 261,672 pounds of venison from 6,905 deer and six elk statewide was donated through Hunters Sharing the Harvest. Find out how much was donated in the Lehigh Valley.

Part of the DCNR Community Conservation Partnerships Program, the grants support projects to develop new parks, rehabilitate existing spaces and protect vital natural habitats. A dozen Lehigh Valley projects were funded.

The Blue Mountain fire, also called the Gap Fire, on Nov. 2 erupted in Lehigh Township. The fire, which grew from 150 acres to almost 600, took seven days of fighting before it was marked 100% contained.

The rainfall is expected to be heaviest Wednesday afternoon and evening as a cold front approaches, with forecasters not ruling out some rumbles of thunder possible in the Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s annual autumn Bake Oven Knob Hawk Watch ended late last month, with 9,373 migrating raptors recorded. While the overall count is lower than last year, many species exceeded 2023 totals.

Planet Venus is acting as the brightest star, visible in the West after sunset. Grab your binoculars, because there's a second planet at play with lots to show.