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.

Spraying began 8 a.m. Tuesday. Black flies have been a recognized pest of humans and livestock in Pennsylvania since the 1970s.

Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center has a new fawn hotline, where a fawn specialist will help callers quickly determine if a newly found fawn needs help, or needs to be left alone.

As the summer solstice arrives this week, the long-range outlook depicts a pattern shift that will go from seasonal to sizzler in a hurry, forecasters warn.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, got an earful from a constituent Saturday after he accused protesters of feeding a charged political environment that's led to assassinations.

Three farms in Northampton County and three in Lehigh County are among 35 in the state that are the latest to fall under Pennsylvania's farmland preservation program.

High school Ultimate Frisbee teams from across the U.S. began competing Friday in the High School National Invite tournament, held in the Lehigh valley for the first time.

The Lehigh Valley has endured nearly non-stop weekend rain since April, marking one of the region’s wettest springs. Despite high rainfall totals, flooding hasn't been a concern.

About 500 people rallied at two spots Thursday night — outside the Five10 Flats building where ICE agents arrested 17 people the day before, and at Bethlehem City Hall.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie voted in line with the Republican majority to strip more than $1 billion of federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting over the next two years.

A group from the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living traveled to Harrisburg on Wednesday to speak with local legislators about the importance of continued state funding for organizations that help the disabled.

The toll booths are no longer needed as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission adopts open road tolling, with fares collected electronically via overhead structures between highway interchanges.

The state Office of Open Records issued the order after LehighValleyNews.com appealed Allentown's denial of a request for records under the state's Right to Know law.