A 46-year-old man was shot in Easton Thursday night in what police are calling a targeted shooting. Police say the shooting happened just before 11:30 last night at Chubby's on Easton's South Side. The wounded man suffered what police are calling "very serious injuries" and was rushed to the hospital. Investigators are looking for a silver SUV that fled the scene, perhaps heading north on St. John's Street.
In a somewhat surprising move, Judge John Judge has decided to allow cameras to remain in the courtroom during Bryan Kohberger's quadruple murder trial in Idaho. Howver, Judge says he intends to rein in the footage shown. "What I'm going to do is take control of the cameras in the courtroom," Judge said. He didn't specifically say how he would do that. During Thursday's hearing, Judge said he's been disappointed with what he's found the video used for by people who are not part of the media. The Monroe County native and DeSales University graduate is charged with murdering four University of Idaho students last November. Judge also denied Kohberger's bid to have his grand jury indictment dismissed or have his case sent back to a preliminary hearing. Kohberger's attorney argued yesterday that the case should be dismissed due to the standard of proof for a grand jury to legally indict a person beyond a reasonable doubt.
Police and emergency crews responded to William Allen High School Thursday following what turned out to be a bogus 911 call. First responders began to arrive at the high school around 10:20 Thursday morning for a report of an active shooter. In a statement to parents, the school district said, "School administration immediately placed the school in lockdown. During this lockdown, the Allentown Police Department conducted a search of the entire school to determine that there was no threat or active shooter. The lockdown has since been lifted and regular classes have resumed."
The Philadelphia man who brought a pipe bomb into St. Luke’s Hospital in Fountain Hill has found out how much time he'll spend behind bars. 46-year-old Brian Kunsman will serve more than six years in federal prison for bringing a homemade pipe bomb into St. Luke's ER in October 2021. Kunsman went to the hospital after a car crash in Lower Saucon Township. Kunsman told police he built the device for self-defense and police said at the time, they believed Kunsman forgot he had the pipe bomb in his backpack and didn't intend to cause any harm.
Allentown School Board members have voted to table a discussion about a complaint against board member Phoebe Harris. It was issued on behalf of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley and reportedly involved a racial slur. The board's solicitor says the usual procedure for similar complaints about employees is to discuss them in a private executive session. But since Harris is a board member, open discussion is required. The board can't remove or censure members; it can only remove them from committees if there's found to be reason to do so. Harris says the complaint is based on lies.
Crayola Experience is set to open its first foreign venue A 40,000-square-foot attraction is set to open in Beijing, China sometime in 2026. It's all part of a new family entertainment center complex, called "Top Park." Earlier this year, Crayola Experience announced plans to double its footprint here in the United States.
The Pennsylvania Treasury's two-day unclaimed property auction wrapped up Thursday. More than 4200 items from the treasury's vault, valued at more than $250,000, were up for bid. Treasurer Stacy Garrity says if it's determined post-auction that a resident's property was auctioned off, they can still cash in. "We track everything very carefully so that even after an item is sold the proceeds are going to be available for the rightful owner. So, the rightful owner can come forward months, years and even decades from now and that money will still be available for them," Garrity says. She says the Treasury tries to find the owner for three years before an item is auctioned. Overall, there's more than $4.5 billion in unclaimed property owed to about one in 10 Pennsylvanians with the average claim worth around $1,600.
Wawa wants to continue to expand its footprint, announcing plans to build about 80 stores in North Carolina over the next ten years or so. The first eight will open in 2024. Wawa had already announced plans for 160 stores to be built in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is saying no to his state's upcoming toll hike. Murphy says he vetoed the New Jersey Turnpike's proposed budget passed this week -- that contained three percent toll hikes -- because he's not satisfied with the justification provided for the toll increases. Top Democrats in New Jersey's legislature had called on Murphy to stop the three-percent highway toll hikes that are to begin January first. The hikes on the Garden State Parkway and Jersey Turnpike would be the fourth increase in as many years. Murphy's veto comes less than two weeks before Election Day with Democrats hoping to hang on to majorities in both houses.
In his season-ending news conference, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski said in 2024 his hitters need to be more disciplined at the plate. "We swung at way too many pitches out of the strike zone this year. Way too many. I know we have guys that chase, but for whatever reason, they chased even more this year and that's something that I think we need to address. I know we'll address it because we've already had meeting on how we get better in that regard," Dombrowski said. Earlier Thursday, the team announced that it had parted ways with assistant hitting coach Jason Camilli and bullpen coach Dave Lundquist. The rest of the Major League coaching staff will return for the 2024 MLB season.