State & Regional News

With Memorial Day behind them, lawmakers are heading toward summer recess amid questions about what, if anything, they will be able to accomplish before voters return their attention to the fall elections.

Pennsylvania lawmakers moved closer to establishing a statewide restriction on student cell phone use in public schools, as the state House passed legislation requiring "bell-to-bell" phone bans during the school day.

The study, released late last week by the Delaware River Basin Commission, detected per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in surface water, sediment, fish and blue crab tissue collected throughout the basin, including along the tidal Delaware River.

On this week's Lehigh Valley Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell and political scientist Chris Borick break down the 2026 primary election results.

Electric customers across Pennsylvania will see higher supply rates beginning June 1, adding new pressure to household budgets just as air conditioning demand starts to climb.

Firefighter union boss Bob Brooks swept each municipality in Lehigh County and nearly each one in Northampton County en route to his nearly 20-point victory in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District's Democratic primary Tuesday.

Jack Pletz, 24 and his father, Matthew Pletz, have been arrested. Seventeen explosive devices were found inside their pickup truck.

The district, now represented by Sen. Jarrett Coleman, a first-term Republican, covers much of Lehigh County's rural and suburban communities and the northern part of Bucks County.

Bob Brooks has declared victory in the Lehigh Valley's Democratic primary for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District.

Tuesday is Primary Election Day in Pennsylvania. Lehigh Valley Democratic voters will cast ballots in the 7th Congressional District, 16th District state Senate, the 22nd District state House of Representatives and 187th District state House. Republicans have no races for those seats; GOP candidates in them are unopposed.

In a week where the nation will put football in the rearview mirror and welcome pitchers and catchers to spring training, the Lehigh Valley will enjoy some springlike weather.

Fans in the Lehigh Valley mourned the Eagles' Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs after Sunday's game.

A crowd gathered — and cheered — as Luani the otter at Lehigh Valley Zoo made his Super Bowl LVII pick during the 12th annual Otter Bowl a day before the big game between the Eagles and Chiefs.

Anyone enrolled in Pennsylvania's Medicaid or CHIP programs will soon start getting information about benefits renewal – a process that’s been on hold for the last several years because of the pandemic.

The new senator from Pennsylvania was discharged from the George Washington University Hospital, his office said.

Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio said the official pronouncement will be completed by the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

A judge in Pennsylvania found the public school funding system to be unconstitutional. But that doesn't guarantee change for poorer school districts.

Crews released and burned toxic chemicals from a wrecked train in Ohio near the Pennsylvania border, but residents remain in the dark about what toxic substances could be lingering in their evacuated neighborhoods.

Members of the Valley's Syrian and Turkish communities issue concerns for family overseas. They'll gather today at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Allentown and the Muslim Association of Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Valley lawmakers and educators were quick to react. One lawmaker said it was a victory for children in poorer school districts such as Allentown.

Easton Area Neighborhood Centers Inc. and the Seed Farm in Upper Milford Township are getting $50,000 and $27,754 respectively to put toward their greenhouses.

Independence and Bailey’s Island are now state forest lands.