A man wanted in connection to a shooting inside a restaurant in Bethlehem earlier this month is in custody. Police said 18-year-old Ashton Thomas turned himself in yesterday on charges including attempted homicide and aggravated assault. Thomas is accused of shooting two people inside Sizzling Bites Halal Grill after a fight on August Eighth. He is being held without bail.
The Lehigh County Coroner's Office has identified the man killed in a crash involving a LANTA bus. 62-year-old Emad Kasseri was killed in the accident that happened just before 8 o'clock Monday morning at West Tilghman and North Ott streets in Allentown. Police are still investigating the circumstances of the crash.
A car crashed into a building Tuesday morning in Lower Macungie Township, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Pennsylvania state police say on Tuesday, shortly after 8 a.m., troopers were dispatched to the 6900 block of Hamilton Boulevard, in Lower Macungie Township, for the report of a vehicle into a building. Police say a 68-year-old woman from Lower Macungie lost control of her vehicle and struck the JEI Learning Center, located in Suite 230. The crash also caused damage to neighboring Suite 235. There were no people in the business at the time of the crash.
Two people were injured in a crash involving an SUV and a motorcycle in Carbon County on Tuesday night. Carbon County officials confirm that the collision occurred just before 8:30 p.m. along Route 209 near the intersection with Homestead Lane in Towamensing Township.
About seven months after the Lafayette College faculty passed a no confidence vote on the leadership of college president Nicole Hurd, the college's board of trustees has extended Hurd's time in office through June 2030. The board says applications are up, excellent fundraising and strong credit ratings as the reasons behind the extension. Hurd has been Lafayette's president since 2021.
The Governor of Pennsylvania says President Trump can't end mail-in voting. Governor Josh Shapiro said Trump can sign whatever executive orders he wants, but the Constitution gives states the power to set their own election rules. The president shared a post on Truth Social which outlined his plan to lead a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots, and it targets what he called highly inaccurate, very expensive, and seriously controversial voting machines. Shapiro said Pennsylvania will continue to have free and fair elections both by mail and in person.
President Donald Trump is moving forward with a ban on mail-in ballots after he announced that during his Friday meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin in Alaska, the two leaders discussed doing away with voting-by-mail. New Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew says there is a way for the federal government to ban the ballots legally. "It has to be done carefully and accurately. It is the states that oversee the election laws, but there is also a federal component," Van Drew says.
U.S. Representative Summer Lee is introducing a measure that would make school supplies free for students and educators. Under the Access to School Supplies Act, students, teachers, librarians, and support staff and schools across the country would be able to get classroom necessities at no cost. Lee acknowledges a bill like this might be a hard sell in a Republican-led Congress, so she is working with Senate partners to introduce the same proposal in each chamber, giving the measure the best chance to pass. Right now, organizations like Education Partnership are step in to provide free school items for kids and teachers who need them.
Hurricane Erin is starting to rough-up the East Coast. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is asking residents not to go into the ocean along the shore because of very dangerous rip currents. "Don't go in the water. The fact of the matter is going in the ocean over the next several days is something you've got to avoid," Murphy says. Erin is expected to bring dangerous rip currents to U.S. beaches, including North Carolina's Outer Banks, where evacuations were underway. Forecasters warn Erin will substantially grow in size while moving over the western Atlantic through the week.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin is leading attorneys general in 21 states in a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over restrictions on crime victim funds. Platkin says the White House is unlawfully making conditions for the grants based on cooperation with federal immigration agents. Platkin's office says attorneys general offices nationwide rely on the funds for the more than 200-thousand victims' claims every year. It's the first time since President Reagan signed into law the Victims of Crime Act more than 40 years ago that the funds have been threatened.