Police in Allentown say a 27-year-old South Whitehall Township man murdered his ex-girlfriend just after 4 o'clock Tuesday morning. Police say an unidentified 22-year-old woman was shot to death inside her home in the 700 block of West Turner Street. The suspect, Adam Makowka, allegedly entered the home, killed the woman and shot at, but missed another person and a three-month-old child, before fleeing. Lehigh County DA Gavin Holihan lists a possible motive. "It appears to be a custody dispute between the deceased and Mr. Makowka," Holihan says. Makokwa's vehicle was tracked to a Delaware County park, where he was arrested a couple hours after the incident.
Idaho quadruple murderer and Poconos native Bryan Kohberger will return to court for sentencing later today after his surprise guilty plea earlier this month after negotiating a plea deal. Steve Goncalves, father of murder victim Kaylee Goncalves hopes his daughter's killer explains why he her and three other University of Idaho students. "We have one moment, one time, to actually get this right. I want a statement and have him maybe show a little remorse, but beyond that, at least give us the facts of what happened," Goncalves says. The plea deal did not require an explanation from Kohberger, who pled guilty to take the death penalty off the table.
An Allentown man has pleaded guilty to two cases of child rape, human trafficking and other offenses. 32-year-old Joshua Martel will spend the next 21-to-50 years behind bars and must register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life. Martel admitted to raping a 12-year-old girl at a motel on Airport Road. The victim told investigators her mother essentially sold her to Martel for drugs and money in April 2024 and then left her alone in the room with Martel, which is when she was raped. The mother, who is not named by the DA's office faces numerous charges as well. Martel also admitted to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in May 2024 at the same Airport Road motel. Martel sent an Uber to pick the girl up at school and bring her to the motel. Authorities were made aware of that by a school resource officer, who contacted police.
The Lehigh Valley's average gas price is almost below the $3 mark. According to AAA East Central, the average price in our area dropped three cents over the past week and sits at $3.03 a gallon. That's 49 cents less than one year ago. Pennsylvania's average price is at $3.22 a gallon, also down three cents from the previous week and 42 cents below the 2024 price.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says the Fiscal Year 2024/2025 was a record breaker at Pennsylvania's 17 casinos. Those casinos pulled in nearly $6.4 billion in revenue from slot machines, table games, iGaming, sports wagering, video gaming terminals and fantasy sports contests. That eclipses the all-time record by roughly $500 million. The state's tax share of that is just below $2.8 billion. The Wind Creek Bethlehem pulled in the most table games revenue and the second highest slot machine revenue.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency is revealing the cause of the statewide 9-1-1 outage earlier this month. PEMA says the 9-1-1 system went down on July 11th due to a defect in an operating system that was not related to a cyberattack. The outage lasted several hours before crews were able to get the system back online. The agency recommends residents save their county's non-emergency contact number in the event of a future outage.
The price of Hershey chocolate is about to go up. The Hershey Company confirmed Tuesday that it plans to raise its prices due to the increasing cost of cocoa and other ingredients. Cocoa is harvested mostly in west Africa, where cocoa crops have been hit hard by climate change and disease, causing prices to skyrocket. The price change is expected to take effect in the near future.
The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed a half-dozen earthquakes occurred in Morris County on Monday. The quakes were all considered minor, with none registering over two on the Richter scale. The first one occurred before 6 a.m. Monday morning in Morris Plains. The last one was recorded just before 11:30 p.m. Monday night near Randolph. No injuries or major damage was reported.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is breaking ground on the first-of-its-kind health facility for mothers and babies. The governor and First Lady Tammy Murphy joined other government officials as well as health and faith leaders for the groundbreaking of the Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center in Trenton yesterday. It will advance medical technologies that promote maternal and infant health equity and address racial disparities. The MIHIC is located in the heart of Trenton at Pennington Avenue and Warren Street. The state has committed more than 86 million in federal and state funding to bring the project to life.
New Jersey has lost its legal fight to prohibit privately-run immigration detention centers in the state. A federal appeals court struck down a New Jersey law that banned detention center contracts with private companies as unconstitutional. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals determined New Jersey overstepped its authority and interfered with federal immigration enforcement. The ruling could affect other states that are considering similar bans. Attorney General Mathew Platkin says he's disappointed with the ruling, adding that states retain broad latitude to protect the health and safety of people who live within their borders.
Today, Republican candidate for governor Jack Ciattarelli is expected to announce his running mate for November: Morris County Sheriff Jim Gannon. Gannon has been elected as Morris County Sheriff three times. In addition to his longtime law enforcement experience, Gannon has advocated for school safety issues, food insecurity solutions and has served as vice chairman of the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. He's a lifelong Morris County resident who helps strengthen Ciattarelli's law and order message. The Democrats' candidate for governor, Mikie Sherrill, has until Monday to name her running mate.
One of Trump's top lawyers is out as interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, and the Department of Justice has already fired her replacement. A panel of federal judges declined to extend Alina Habba's 120-day limit yesterday. They instead employed a rarely used power to appoint a new interim U.S. attorney: Desiree Leigh Grace. Hours later however, the Justice Department announced Grace's firing, calling the move by New Jersey federal judges to dismiss Habba a political one. Trump nominated Habba to serve a full term last month, but the Senate has yet to take up a vote.