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.

Lehigh Valley native Danielle Meyers, 22, is among 190 million women worldwide with endometriosis, a chronic, incurable tissue abnormality that causes a host of painful internal problems.

A handful of Lehigh Valley farms are feeling the impact of the federal funding freeze. It's also causing a Harrisburg nonprofit focused on sustainable agriculture to announce furloughs starting next month.

Last year was a big year for dam removals not only in the Lehigh Valley, but across Pennsylvania. The state was ranked first in the U.S. for the most outdated, unsafe and uneconomical dams removed in 2024.

Collectively, the shipments destined for Allentown and Whitehall were valued at $28,550 had the cosmetics been genuine, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said.

In this week’s Political Pulse, Tom Shortell and Chris Borick discuss the shifting dynamics of U.S. foreign policy, in light of the recent meeting between Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, President Trump, and Vice President JD Vance.

As part of The Road Ahead, our Lehigh Valley traffic project, we thought it would be a good idea to allow folks to test their basic knowledge of the rules of the road. Take the quiz and see how you score.

The Pennsylvania Invasive Replace-ive Program encourages property owners to remove invasive plants by offering native replacements, for free, during events in May throughout the state.

As the winter months pass through, several Lehigh Valley emergency homeless shelters have seen an influx of individuals coming in. For some, this is putting a strain on resources.

Surrounded by family, friends and fans, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley addressed an enthusiastic and raucous crowd at the PPL Center. It came a month after winning the Super Bowl and days after signing a contract extension that made him the highest-paid running back in NFL history.

An invasive insect known for its voracious appetite that can defoliate millions of acres of forest, spongy moths have been an annual blight on the Valley and the rest of Pennsylvania for decades.

According to PennDOT, 86 crashes occurred at the same Route 22 interchange between 2019 and 2023, the most recent years of data available. And 34 of those crashes occurred in the exact same spot.

A wind advisory was extended until 4 p.m. Friday in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas, with winds 15 to 25 mph and gusts of 35 to 50 mph expected.