Lehigh County News

South Whitehall Township’s planning commission weighed in Thursday on plans to improve municipal sewer infrastructure to comply with state regulations.

The property on West Packer Avenue will be rehabbed by the city and operated by the Lehigh Conference of Churches using state funding allocated to help prevent and address homelessness for individuals and families.

A group from the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living traveled to Harrisburg on Wednesday to speak with local legislators about the importance of continued state funding for organizations that help the disabled.

Umran Global Investment is aiming to build a 37-story tower at an empty lot at the corner of Ninth and Walnut streets with more than 200 apartments, as well as retail and office space.

Krista Brown-Ly has served as the center's interim executive director after Ashley L. Coleman resigned last year.

Whitehall-Coplay School Board approved a 4.6% property tax increase at its Monday committee meeting, but it will require $2.8 million from the general fund to make ends meet.

Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners unanimously approval a developer's request to construct 57 townhomes and 59 single-unit homes along Rural Road in two phases, not one, as was originally proposed.

Jason Krasley also is due to stand trial on numerous charges stemming from alleged sexual assaults in 2011 and 2015 when he served on the city’s Vice and Intelligence Unit.

Ryan Crosswell, a recent arrival in the Lehigh Valley, is the third Democrat to get in line to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. The seat should be one of the most contested U.S. House races in the 2026 midterms.

Speeding was so rampant on Center Valley Parkway in Upper Saucon Township that LehighValleyNews.com recorded someone going 95 mph near Promenade Saucon Valley.

Nearly a year after the Biden administration designated xylazine as an "emerging threat" to the United States, Gov. Josh Shapiro classified it as a schedule III drug, making unauthorized possession a crime in Pennsylvania. Experts say the move has partly served to clear the way for new illicit substances to enter the drug market.

Allentown's Redevelopment Authority is applying for up to $2.5 million that could be used to rehab 10 single-family homes for low-income residents.

Despite not being approved for human consumption, veterinary tranquilizers are infiltrating the illicit drug supply in Pennsylvania. Harm reduction specialists and health care professionals say these overdoses can't be approached solely with naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug.

Newhard Farms Corn Shed opened Tuesday for sweet corn sales. While it opened a few days later than in recent years, there's expected to be a good supply this season.

The bill would limit the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of firefighting foam containing PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, beginning in 2026.

Xylazine, an animal-grade tranquilizer that's not approved for human use, has taken Pennsylvania's illicit drug supply by storm. Known on the streets as "tranq," it accounted for almost 1 in 4 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania by 2023. Last year in Lehigh County, it was a contributing cause of death in 20 of the 112 deadly overdoses, or 17.9 percent of cases.

The funding comes from the commonwealth’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program, a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Known as "tranq" on the streets, an animal tranquilizer named xylazine infiltrated drug supplies throughout Pennsylvania since 2019. Its presence in the Lehigh Valley has grown, with deadly consequences.

WLVR's Brad Klein talks with Bethlehem's Backyard Astronomy Guy, Marty McGuire about planetary viewing in this week's Watching the Skies. Leading into the first week of July, viewers can snag a better view of the planet Mercury just after sunset.

The Clean Trucks PA Coalition report identified more than 600 schools, childcare centers, playgrounds and parks near major roadways and trucking corridors across the state.

In the past four years, Lehigh and Northampton counties each saw a roughly 3% population increase, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday.

Check out a roundup of activities, places, and times to see the fireworks as the Lehigh Valley celebrates Independence Day.