A state senator says a woman running for the House should quit the race after submitting a forged signature on a nominating petition. St. Sen. Lisa Boscola says that forged signature was her's. Boscola says Easton City Councilwoman Taiba Sultana submitted a nomination petition with Boscola's forged signature on it and she says she doesn't live at the address provided and that the road in that address doesn't even exist. Sultana calls the issue a case of human error and has apologized. She says she was made aware of the forged signature but didn't catch it before the petition was submitted. Sultana says it's foolish to call for her to be disqualified for what she calls a typical error. She's running against longtime St. Rep. Bob Freeman in the 136th House District.
The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday adopted legislation establishing a countywide non-discrimination policy and a human services commission. The bill establishes employment, housing, education, health care and public accommodations requirements and allows for roughly 30 conditions ranging from age to sexual orientation to citizenship status. The bill also creates a human relations commission to investigate and enforce discrimination claims. Opponents say the commission will accountable to nobody and far too powerful.
The post-snowstorm power outage issues are dramatically better this morning. As of 5am, PPL reports just above 9000 of its customers are still without power after Tuesday's heavy snowfall. More than half of those still in the dark live in Schuylkill County. Just more than a dozen Lehigh Valley PPL customers remain without service today. First Energy has whittled their power outages to about 1500, with Lehigh and Northampton counties combining for roughly 1000 of them. Half of those First Energy customers still affected live in Berks County.
While some areas in the Lehigh Valley picked up more than a foot of snow Tuesday, Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg says some more is on the way. "The storm goes by to our south tomorrow night, but we are going to get some snow from that," Lundberg says. The forecast is for one-to-three inches of snow to arrive Friday night and continue until early Saturday morning.
A missing woman was found dead Wednesday morning in Lehigh County. The Lehigh County Coroner says 46-year-old Catherine Blank was found dead a little before 8:30 Wednesday morning in the 4700 block of Indian Creek Road in Upper Milford Township. Alburtis police had been searching for her since Tuesday morning. The department said she was reported missing from a home in the 100 block of South Main Street and was last seen about 4:30 a.m. in the 5300 block of Indian Creek Road, Lower Macungie Township. Authorities on Tuesday said they did not suspect foul play.
The driver of a box truck was seriously injured when a large chunk of ice came off of a tractor-trailer and went through his windshield. It happened Wednesday on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Franklin Township, Carbon County. Investigators say the tractor-trailer driver never stopped and likely wasn't aware it even happened.
A former Brodheadsville man who hid his father's death from relatives and the government has been sentenced for illegally collecting his dad's social security benefits. Timothy Gritman moved with his dad from Pennsylvania to Wyoming in 2017 where the father's health benefits were last used in September of that year. Investigators say the father likely died before that year was out and that Timothy Gritman disposed of his father's body through unknown means. Gritman pleaded guilty last year to charges of wire fraud and social security fraud. He was sentenced yesterday to serve five years in prison and ordered to pay back more than $200,000.
A study released by the US Geological Survey found that at least 45% of the country’s tap water contains so-called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment. The USGS tested 161 Pennsylvania rivers and streams for those chemicals last year, and found 76% contained one or more types of the chemical. High concentrations were found in high-population areas, such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania’s tap water ranked as the sixth worst in the nation, according to a study released by J.D. Power, which found that 33% of the state’s rivers and streams failed to meet water quality standards.
Five Democrats and two Republicans are running for attorney general in Pennsylvania. Candidates were required to file their petitions by Tuesday, but those can be challenged until February 20th. Candidates also can withdraw from the race up until February 28th, so the ballot is not yet set. The position is open because current Attorney General Michelle Henry chose not to run for a full term. She was appointed to finish Josh Shapiro's second term after he became governor last year.
The number of fishing and hunting licenses issued in Pennsylvania has decreased. That's compared to their sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pennsylvania Game Commission and Fish and Boat Commission's annual report released yesterday shows the nearly 845,000 hunting licenses sold last year were just about 90,000 fewer than those sold in 2020. The commissioners say their proposed changes in key hunting dates will help put the state figures back on track.
A bill state lawmakers are considering would make apprenticeship programs in New Jersey free. The bipartisan bill would waive tuition fees for students working in apprenticeship programs. Apprenticeships have been increasing in New Jersey as well as nationwide. Federal data state there are more than nine-thousand active apprentices available in New Jersey. More information is available on New Jersey's apprenticeship website.
Governor Phil Murphy is described as white-hot mad that demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza were able to gain entrance to an event at his mansion. The incident occurred at the governor's mansion in Princeton Monday night during a Lunar New Year celebration. The governor's staff says it's reevaluating protocols used for events to try to prevent such instances from happening again. The two activists called on the governor to disband the New Jersey-Israel Commission, which Murphy said he would not do. The two women were not arrested and were asked to leave.
Temperatures here dropped into the teens this morning, but there's light at the end of the tunnel. Phillies pitchers and catchers reported to spring training Wednesday in Florida. Manager Rob Thomson says his goals for the first few days are pretty simple. "I'm not really looking at anything right now, other than just staying healthy for five days, the first week and getting into the games," Thomson says. The team's first full-squad workout is Monday and the first spring training game is February 24.