State & Regional News

The SBA is offering low-interest disaster loans to both renters and business owners, while the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency has helped facilitate grant programs for renters.

PBS39 broadcast a special, hourlong community forum on "housing gridlock," in which record-high prices, a 9,000-unit deficit and high interest rates have frozen the market for the workforce and first-time buyers.

The episode examines how a partial funding standoff in Washington is contributing to delays at airport security checkpoints, with TSA staffing strained as the Department of Homeland Security remains caught in a broader political fight.

Without enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, Lehigh Valley residents have seen their Pennie premiums climb more than $300 a month on average.

Easton Fire Chief Henry Hennings said the Hotel Hampton blaze exposed critical staffing shortages, delayed response challenges and growing risks in high-occupancy buildings.

Explore how the cost of living has changed in the Lehigh Valley, with data on groceries, energy, housing and transportation over the past decade.

With primary petitions now filed, the Lehigh Valley’s election season is coming into clearer focus, with several races likely to be more competitive than they first appear.

Jessica Ortiz and Paulette Hunter filed an objection to the petition state Rep. Ana Tiburcio's campaign submitted last week in her bid for a full term representing Pennsylvania's 22nd House District.

The full story, to publish Wednesday, will explore why newly available apartments are attracting large numbers of applicants and what that reveals about the balance between housing supply and demand.

PPL Electric said it expects electric demand on its system could triple over the next decade. That growth is being driven largely by expansion of advanced manufacturing, new data centers and other large industrial electricity users.

In Allentown on June 21, education advocates, parents, and students marched to support Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed changes to the way the commonwealth funds its schools.

Latino leaders from across the state said Thursday the 2021 Pennsylvania Latino Convention will take place in Reading this fall.

Gov. Tom Wolf spoke out on June 17 against a Republican-backed election reform bill, calling it an ‘unconstitutional’ attack on voter rights.

A freshman Philadelphia Democrat has set off a firestorm in Harrisburg by proposing a bill that would establish new mandatory minimum sentences — an approach much more in line with Republicans’ criminal justice platform than his own party’s.

Gov. Tom Wolf wants Pennsylvania to join a nationwide program that aims to curb pollution generated by power plants.

The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate voted June 10 to end Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 disaster declaration. The resolution passed the house on June 8, and now goes back to that chamber for a final concurrence vote.

For the first time in its nearly 200-year history, the Philadelphia Flower Show will be held outdoors at a South Philly park beginning June 5 and running through June 13.

State parks saw an increase of more than 7 million visitors last year and the trend is expected to continue.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services is extending support for older youth who have aged out of the foster care system.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission says more people are taking to fishing and boating during the pandemic. The agency is getting ready for another busy summer season.

Dr. Sumit Ray, critical care chief at a New Delhi hospital, is on the front lines of India's growing COVID-19 crisis. "As a system in different parts of the country, we have collapsed," he says.

After one of the most destructive and extreme wildfire seasons in modern history, Californians are bracing again. Widening drought is creating conditions even worse than last year.