Lehigh County News

Republicans needed to win two of the four seats up for grabs on the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners Tuesday to regain the majority.

Unofficial results showed Democratic incumbent Mark Pinsley leading Republican challenger Robert Smith Jr. by more than 6,200 votes with nearly all precincts reporting. Pinsley has made headlines for his unconventional audits through his first four years in office.

Buglio, a Democrat from South Whitehall Township, has served as coroner since being appointed by the county commissioners in April 2022.

Several county and municipal races in the Lehigh Valley were uncontested in the general election. That includes two of the highest-profile jobs in Lehigh and Northampton counties, as well as elected city representatives in Easton and Allentown.

North Whitehall Township's Zoning Hearing Board will hold a special meeting to discuss the zoning appeal for cat nursery Foxy’s Cradle on Nov. 20.

Some voters in Lehigh County said they came out to make their vote count in the school board elections. Others said they wanted to see what candidates would do for the community.

The three townships in the Parkland School District rejected an agreement to continue to give the district $5 from its Local Services Tax. The district will now lose an estimated $300,000 in revenue.

North Whitehall Township is hosting its second Veterans Day Luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 9. It will take place at the banquet hall of Schnecksville Volunteer Fire Company from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Voters are casting ballots in several races at the county and local levels in Tuesday's general election. School board seats and statewide judicial posts also are up for grabs. Check out our rundown and last-minute checklist to get up to speed.

Trexler Middle School students took part in a game show to expose students to financial literacy with "Who Wants to be a Bazillionare," taking concepts from the American Public Media podcast "Million Bazillion"

One only has to go through the history of how Latinos have fared in a system that seems to give party powerbrokers more power than the voters in the district.

Lehigh County's election office inadvertently used a year-old mailer list when it mailed out the May 19 primary ballots last week. The mistake will complicate primary races with statewide and national implications.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it's throwing its support to Bob Brooks in the Lehigh Valley's congressional race. The announcement drew rebukes from his Democratic rivals and the chair of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee.

The new policy is "based on a very simple belief and simple framework … that parenthood should not come with a financial penalty," Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel said Monday.

Jose Batista-Gabin is the sixth person to face charges connected to 25-year-old Angel Martinez-Velez’s killing on June 1, 2024.

In part four of Lehigh Valley Public Media's "PA-7 Talks" series, Carol Obando-Derstine, Lamont McClure and Ryan Crosswell dig into what it would take to address the nation's ballooning debt.

PBS39 from 6-7 p.m. today, April 30, will broadcast a special hourlong community forum, "A Community Conversation: Understanding Childhood Vaccine Changes."

On this week’s episode of Lehigh Valley Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell spoke with political scientist Chris Borick about the economic forces driving the boom of data centers — along with the political friction emerging.

Bob Brooks, a Democratic candidate running for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, has asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit filed against him by Carol Wiley, his former mother-in-law. She alleges he owes her more than $162,000 from a lawsuit she filed in 2018.

Lehigh Valley Public Media at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, will hold a debate between Mark Pinsley and Bradley Merkl-Gump, Democratic candidates for the 16th District state Senate seat. The debate will be at Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem and on PBS39's YouTube channel.

Three of the Democrats running in this May's primary for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District criticized President Donald Trump's war with Iran and worsening relations with traditional allies.

Police in the Lehigh Valley say the size of these gatherings presents a difficult operational challenge: how to respond without escalating already dangerous conditions involving fast-moving riders and large crowds.