An Allentown man is charged with the weekend murder of a Carbon County man in a Whitehall Township parking lot. 35-year-old Christian Martinez-Ramos is in Lehigh County Jail without bail after being arraigned Wednesday on charges alleging he killed 46-year-old Hector Garcia Gomez, of Palmerton. Garcia Gomez was shot just after 6 o'clock Saturday night in the parking lot of Loco Hot Deals. Investigators say Martinez-Ramos killed Garcia Gomez as the victim walked back to his car, where his wife was waiting for him. Investigators have not indicated a possible motive.
An industrial property in Easton went up in flames late Wednesday night. Fire crews were called to Specialty Minerals Inc on N. 13th St. just before 11 o'clock last night. No injuries have been reported.
Less than a month after it reached a deal with the City of Bethlehem to offer cable and internet services there, Comcast has done the same with the City of Easton. Mayor Sal Panto talked about the agreement during Tuesday night's City Council meeting. "I think the one thing we wanted to make sure about is that they're going to do the entire city and I think we've found that out," Panto said. The city has currently two providers: Astound Broadband and Service Electric.
A popular Northampton County bakery is closing in less than two weeks. Via a Facebook post, Tomblers Bakery, in Glendon, has announced it will close Dec. 24. In the post, the bakery says it is no longer taking online orders, but phone orders for pastries, cookies and pierogies will still be taken until Christmas Eve. No reason was given for the bakery's closing.
The Allentown Parking Authority is planning to resume overnight enforcement next year. Officials say a modified overnight parking policy will resume on January 6th in the interest of public safety. The authority said the new policy will look to balance the enforcement of parking laws against the "public perception that some overnight enforcement was targeted." It will penalize "critical safety violations" like double parking, blocking a fire hydrant, and unauthorized use of handicap spots.
Pennsylvania State Senator Judy Schwank is responding to the federal hearing on the deadly explosion at the RM Palmer factory last year. Schwank said her main takeaway is the "critical importance of recognizing the dangers of natural gas and erring on the side of caution whenever a leak is suspected." The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that better training could have saved lives in the blast last year that killed seven people. The board also called RM Palmer's emergency response procedures training "insufficient."
The decision to fast-track a new flu and COVID vaccine will mean more work at one Monroe County plant. The FDA recently fast-tracked two non-mRNA combination vaccines from Sanofi. The hope is to use them to prevent the flu and COVID in people over 50. The work on the vaccines will be done at Sanofi's facility in Sweetwater. No one is saying just how much more work the new vaccine will mean for people at the facility in Sweetwater, or if there will be any new jobs created. The company says it has already begun two studies on the vaccines' efficiency.
Officials with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are warning Christmas travelers to look out for potential scams. The agency says some criminals have been trying to take advantage of people by sending fraudulent text messages saying the recipient owes tolls that were not properly paid. The commission says those texts are never legitimate, noting that they always request payments by mail only and include E-Z pass or license plate numbers. FBI investigators say these types of scams are common and tend to become more frequent during the Christmas season.
Pennsylvania, specifically Philadelphia, is on the latest Judicial Hellhole report. The American Tort Reform Foundation is out with its latest list of states where it says the jackpot justice system needs to be reigned-in. The report focuses on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and what it calls the 'eye-popping, nine-figure damage awards that were awarded without hardly a thought.' The Foundation says huge payouts jack-up the costs for healthcare in general, and hospitals and doctors in particular.
The Pentagon is pushing back on claims by Congressman Jeff Van Drew that the mysterious drones spotted over the Garden State could be from Iran. Van Drew says they should be shot down. In a statement, the Republican says there is evidence that suggests the drones could be the work of foreign adversaries, specifically Iran, and thinks the situation is part of a massive national security threat. Van Drew did not say where this evidence came from. Meanwhile, a state senator is calling for drones to be temporarily banned. Jon Bramnick is calling for a limited state of emergency and wants the government to speak out about the sightings.
A couple of star players on the Eagles are clearing the air. Quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver AJ Brown indicated on Wednesday that their relationship is not fractured, as teammate Brandon Graham suggested earlier in the week. Brown said that Graham is emotional and that he just "misspoke." Hurts agreed with Brown saying that Graham "spoke out of place." Graham said during his weekly radio show on Monday that Hurts and Brown used to be friends, "but things have changed." Philadelphia is leading the NFC East at 11-and-2 and will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
A baseball great that made Berks County his home has died. Rocky Colavito passed in Bern Township this week at the age of 91. Colavito was best known for his time with Cleveland, but before he moved up to the majors he spent the 1953 season in Reading. His 121 RBIs remains the second-most all-time in the city's baseball history.
A grand jury has indicted a man with the fatal collision in August that killed NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother as they rode their bikes in rural New Jersey. The grand jury yesterday indicted Sean Higgins on first-degree aggravated manslaughter, second-degree reckless homicide and other charges in the deaths of the Gaudreau brothers. They were hit while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister's wedding in Oldmans Township.