Lehigh County | featured news

BETHLEHEM – An audit showed Bethlehem finished 2014 $9.6 million to the positive, the biggest fund balance the city has posted since at least when Bill Clinton was president.The audit shows that the city spent $4.37 million less than the taxes, fees and other income that it brought in. That surplus,...

Stuck in the back of a sheriff's van with nothing else to do during a three-hour ride between prisons, two inmates made small talk to pass the time. One was a serial burglar due back in county court. The other was a drug dealer headed back for new charges involving prison contraband, but he knew...

A progressive group is targeting Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey with a new robocall campaign criticizing his opposition to considering a Supreme Court nominee this year. In the calls by People For the American Way, actress Alfre Woodard urges voters to contact Toomey’s office and tell him "you expect...

HARRISBURG — The board that investigates and prosecutes judges for ethical misdeeds in Pennsylvania is seeking to move the pending trial of state Supreme Court justice Michael Eakin from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.Lawyers for the Judicial Conduct Board filed a motion in the matter Friday saying...

BETHLEHEM — Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania announced its latest round of funding on Monday, investing $519,984 in a variety of companies in the region, including several with ties to the Lehigh Valley.• Eventuosity, located at Ben Franklin TechVentures in Bethlehem,...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is preparing to raise the minimum wage by nearly $3 an hour, to $10.15, for state government employees and workers on jobs contracted by the state. The Democrat is signing an executive order Monday establishing the new wage minimum. The Republican-controlled...

Moravian College will be picking up the tabs on Grey, Bethlehem's newest police horse, for three years through an Adopt-a-Horse program.The college bought the horse, a 4-year-old gray Percheron, last year, increasing the city's mounted unit to four horses. The horses are supported by the Friends...

ALLENTOWN – American conglomerate General Electric Co. is close to acquiring a privately held New Jersey turbine-supplier company that operates a plant in east Allentown.GE's purchase of Metem Corp. is expected to close this month. Terms of the sale, which was first announced late last year via...

BETHELHEM -- Mayor Robert Donchez has decided to ban the box.Come March 14, the city job application will no longer contain a question asking an applicant to disclose his or her criminal record. Police, firefighters, paramedics and emergency dispatchers will still be required to make the disclosure.

SOUTH WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP – An upstate New York payroll company has plans to expand its Lehigh County operations, thanks to state assistance.Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday that Paychex Inc. will expand operations in South Whitehall Township and create at least 100 jobs. The company currently employs...