Allentown Area

At Manufacturers Resource Center on Wednesday, area manufacturing volunteers assembled 40 youth bicycles to be distributed to children through the Community Bike Works program.

Officials say enforcers will work under a limited scope and focus on “public safety” violations, including double-parking and blocking a street or fire hydrant.

The Allentown nonprofit is gearing up to break ground that would add around 6,000 square feet to its art school located at 510 Linden St. The state awarded $1 million through an LSA grant to the project, which is expected to cost around $5.5 million.

Christian Martinez-Ramos, 35, was charged with homicide and aggravated assault-knowingly or recklessly extreme indifference, in the death of Hector Manuel Garcia Gomez, 46 of Palmerton, Carbon County.

More than $1 billion in development in downtown Allentown has “created … an empty vessel” that needs an organization to help fill it with the right businesses, a consultant said Tuesday.

Archer Music Hall, which developers have called a state-of-the-art entertainment venue at 935-939 Hamilton St., now has an operational website.

City Center is planning to overhaul the former Allentown State Hospital property with hundreds of new homes, offices, a school and more.

The site would accommodate 30 tractor-trailer loading docks, 148 employee parking lot spaces and 44 tractor-trailer parking spaces.

Residents expressed anger toward the township board of commissioners for an 86% increase in annual garbage collection fees in Whitehall Township.

Officer Zane Struss, who was cleared of wrongdoing in a fatal shooting last February, drove through an intersection without his emergency lights or sirens on and hit another vehicle, according to a since-settled lawsuit.