A former deacon in the Evangelical Luthern Church has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for driving an 11-year-old girl from Pennsylvania into New York and then sexually abusing her. George "Travis" Woodfield, of Macungie, pleaded guilty to driving the girl to New York City for an overnight trip in November 2018 and then sexually abusing the child in his hotel room. Woodfield also pleaded guilty to several child pornography charges.
Electric car manufacturer Tesla is coming to the Lehigh Valley. The company is planning on opening a service center and store in Whitehall Township. They will be moving into a 42,000-square-foot building that used to be home to Toys R Us and was most recently a carpet and tile store that is moving to another Whitehall location. There is no timeline for when the Grape Street location is scheduled to open.
A Northampton County family is displaced after a weekend fire badly damaged their home. The fire broke out around 8:30 Sunday night at a house in the 2500 block of Windy Lane in Moore Township. No one was injured. Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused the fire.
A Lansdale woman was killed and the driver seriously injured in a crash with an SUV on Sunday in Warren County, New Jersey. A 29-year-old man from Lansdale was driving south on Route 519 in White Township Sunday afternoon when he veered off the road and crossed back over the double-yellow line before his vehicle struck a northbound SUV. The car went off the road to the left and slammed into a utility pole. 23-year-old Rosa Zumba died following the crash. The driver of the car was seriously injured. State Police said the crash remains under investigation.
Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg says we'll be back in the oven today. "Today will be day number two of this heat wave and tomorrow will be day number three. Temperatures both days will be in the mid-90s and probably at or close the record highs for the dates," Lundberg says. Today's record high is 96, set in 1954. Tomorrow's record is 97, set back in 1940.
The cause of death for a nine-year-old girl at Hersheypark last Thursday is confirmed. Representatives of Dauphin County say the girl drowned accidentally, and was not caused by a medical event. A family representative of the Bhutanese Community in Harrisburg confirmed the girl's identity as Sophia Subedi.
Governor Josh Shapiro and U.S. Senator Dave McCormick are slated to appear at an upcoming artificial intelligence summit in Pittsburgh. AI Horizons 2025 is happening at Bakery Square on September 11th and 12th. Tech professionals will be joining the elected leaders to discuss ways that AI-based systems will be able to interact with the real world. A full agenda for the conference will be released in August.
Officials with Six Flags Great Adventure say the popular event known as Holiday in the Park will not return this year. They also say they're delaying the debut of their record-breaking roller coaster that would replace Kingda Ka, which was originally scheduled for next year. In a letter to pass holders, the debut of the new roller coaster has been pushed beyond next year. A park spokesperson says the delay is meant to ensure the roller coaster meets standards.
Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper had some choice words for Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred in a meeting between the team and commissioner last week. ESPN is reporting that Harper and Manfred had a heated confrontation that involved the two-time National League MVP cussing out the commissioner of the league. The dispute reportedly centered around Manfred wanting to talk about the potential implementation of a salary cap.
Former Lehigh Valley IronPigs manager and baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg died Monday after a battle with prostate cancer. Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber broke into the big leagues with the Chicago Cubs, which is the team Sandberg starred with. "It's a bad day for baseball. He was one of the better players in the game and obviously a nice human," Schwarber says. Sandberg managed the IronPigs for two seasons, compiling a record of 155-132.