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 the coming weeks, candidates will bombard your mailboxes with ads. It may seem old-fashioned, but the consultants who devise direct-mail campaigns have become sophisticated about knowing whom to reach and what to say.

U.S. Catholic bishops are wrapping up their annual meeting in Atlanta. They vowed to continue fighting the Obama administration over contraceptive health coverage. Plus, ten years after sexual abuse scandals were revealed, the bishops assessed whether they're doing enough to protect children. Host Michel Martin speaks with two religion reporters.

Eleven members of the Florida A&M University marching band were arraigned on felony charges Thursday, in the alleged hazing death of drum major Robert Champion. This comes after the university's president received a "no confidence" vote from the board of trustees. Host Michel Martin speaks with FAMU's President James Ammons.

In Iran on Tuesday, students and other protesters stormed the British Embassy in the capital Tehran, smashing windows, throwing firebombs and burning the British flag. The crowd had gathered at the embassy to protest new severe economic sanctions imposed by Britain, cutting off all banking with Iran. Renee Montagne talks with Washington Post reporter Thomas Erdbrink, who is in Tehran.

The former Massachusetts governor has been unofficially running for president for the better part of five years, and in that time, he has been asked about immigration over and over. Now some of Mitt Romney's rivals are arguing that his answers to the question have been inconsistent.

Congress had been hoping the deal supercommittee would, along with its deficit cutting plan, also deal with unemployment benefits and the payroll tax holiday. Now, with the supercommittee failed and folded, Congress will need to act in the final weeks of the year on these and other pressing deadlines.

When it comes to abortion, the former governor of Massachusetts appears to have changed his position, from being in favor of abortion rights to being opposed. But now some are asking if Romney ever supported abortion rights at all? Backers of abortion rights don't think so.

The U.S. Air Force says it will train more drone pilots in 2011 than fighter and bomber pilots combined. The distance between the pilot and the remotely controlled vehicle he flies is redefining what it means to be a pilot and creating some friction within the Air Force.

From health care to climate change to immigration, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has found himself at odds with conservatives over the years. But will Republican voters overlook those issues if they think he can beat President Obama?

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Ancestry.com's World Memory Project allows people to sift online through hundreds of thousands of documents that previously required a painstaking manual search.

Companies are trying to bring down their spiraling health care costs by helping employees lose weight. At Dow Chemical, managers hope to set an example by hitting the corporate gym at midday, and the company offers weight-management classes on demand, at workers' convenience.

From compost to mulch, fall leaves can be used to improve the health and ecological diversity of lawns. The National Audubon Society's Melissa Hopkins, who calls the leaves "free vitamins," has some tips on how to make the most of them.