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.

Alivia Giles, a Hellertown resident, competed against her family and friends in rabbit showing at the 2023 Pennsylvania Farm Show is Harrisburg.

Tom Shortell and Brad Klein go behind the scenes on Shortell's reporting following Pat Browne's nomination to Pennsylvania secretary of revenue.

State legislators were set to address extending the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse — a bill that had been passed in the last session — but, partisan bickering stalled the move. Local Democratic legislators explain what happened.

Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro plans to nominate former Lehigh County Sen. Pat Browne, who left office last month, as the commonwealth's Secretary of Revenue.

The man accused in the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students appeared in court Thursday. Bryan Kohberger has yet to enter a plea and is waiting to learn whether prosecutors in the high-profile case will pursue the death penalty.

In a victory for animal rights advocates, drugmakers can take their products to human clinical trials using alternative testing methods that don't involve animals.

As the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild could review complaints filed against Rep. George Santos.

A computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration brought flights to a standstill across the U.S. on Wednesday, with hundreds of delays quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide.

The busy road has been closed since early December, when heavy rain washed out a roadside rock facing and sent boulders onto the blacktop. A protracted closure is expected.

The new year arrives with a new political calendar, including amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution, local municipal races and school board elections filling the 2023 ballot.

The ozone layer is a thin shield in the stratosphere that protects humans and the environment from harmful levels of the sun's ultraviolet radiation.

Lawyers for Jimmy Lai, a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher, have asked for an urgent meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a leading member of his international legal team said Tuesday.