State & Regional News

The Walking Purchase, a 1737 land grab perpetrated by William Penn's sons, shaped the Lehigh Valley as residents know it today. But, the land wasn’t actually purchased, as the name might suggest — it was swindled from the Lenni-Lenape.

More than 130 people attended the panel, which focused on efforts across the state to tamp down on light pollution, not only to benefit star-gazers, but for fireflies and migrating birds, too.

Lehigh Valley Political Pulse host Tom Shortell wants to hear from you. Readers are encouraged to submit questions through the link in the article. They may be addressed on a future episode of the program.

As the system moves off the Carolina coast and begins to strengthen and lift northward, impacts farther inland — particularly in the Lehigh Valley — are not expected to be overly hazardous.

PennDOT has decided to convert a normally empty parking lot off William Penn Highway into 30 or more truck parking spots. While warehouses have boomed across the Lehigh Valley, truck parking has failed to keep up.

Political scientist Chris Borick joined Tom Shortell again this week to try to make sense of the government shutdown and what it all means.

Senate Democrats have refused to fund the federal government unless Republicans agree to extend tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. U.S. Ryan Mackenzie supports the tax subsidies but echoed Republican demands that no deal can be struck until the federal government is funded.

A reinforcing cold front has triggered a freeze watch in the Lehigh Valley from Thursday evening through Friday morning, bringing our coldest overnight temperatures since mid-April.

State environmental officials are calling on residents to nominate their favorite waterway to be 2026 River of the Year. The effort aims to elevate public awareness of specific rivers and recognize important conservation needs and achievements.

The filings, which occurred over the past few days in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey, are individual filings of LLCs, including the location that was based at the Lehigh Valley Mall Lifestyle Center.

New data released by the state Health Department shows COVID-19 vaccines have managed to protect against illness, hospitalization and death in the vast majority of Pennsylvanians.

Pennsylvania is a top destination for people who travel to take pictures of fall foliage who are also known as “leaf peepers.”

A man working at the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant outside Harrisburg died late last week.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Veronica Degraffenreid has been Pennsylvania's Acting Secretary of State since former DOS Secretary Kathy Boockvar resigned in February.…

State health officials are ramping up efforts to get more people vaccinated in Pennsylvania where just over 50% are fully vaccinated.

Food insecurity is the lack of regular, reliable access to nutritious food, and it’s a problem in both cities and rural areas.

State senators have begun hearing testimony in that chamber’s latest round of election investigation hearings.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Elected officials met Friday to promote a plan to expand the existing passenger rail service statewide. For that to happen, Congress…

Sharon Serra was a federal law enforcement official working in Manhattan when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. At the time, the Northampton County resident was just about three years into her now decades-long career in law enforcement.

This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. President Joe Biden is expected to visit Shanksville, Somerset County, on Saturday, the site of the Flight 93 crash.

PALMER TWP, Pa. - Patrick Cartier of Palmer Township said two decades later, he still feels the trauma of 9/11. “I look at it like it’s a part of me,”…

Tuesday was the start for Pennsylvania’s K through 12 masking mandate. The order was issued last week by Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam, not Gov. Wolf. Sarah Anne Hughes, deputy editor for SpotlightPA, a nonpartisan investigative newsroom which has been covering these issues, recently joined us by phone to discuss the move by the Wolf administration.