Back in February 2024, Roberto Gonzalez shot and killed an Alburtis man outside of a child's birthday party. Thursday, Gonzalez found out how much jail time he'll serve for the murder. Gonzalez was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years to 28 years behind bars for shooting Miguel Dalmasi to death outside a one year old's birthday party being held in Allentown. Prosecutors say before the shooting, several men wearing ski masks got into the hall where the party was being held and a dispute began. That dispute ended up outside and Dalmasi was killed when he went outside to mediate the dispute and a fight broke out.
Two people are facing charges after authorities say thousands of fentanyl pills were found in their vehicle. State Police said troopers discovered about 20,000 pills while searching a vehicle yesterday that was pulled over on I-78 in Glendon Borough. A driver from New York and a passenger from Maryland were taken into custody. They are both being held on $250,000 bail.
The City of Allentown officially launched its new 3-1-1 system yesterday. Residents can call the number to report non-emergency issues like potholes, trash, and street maintenance to Public Works. The city says completing a report takes only about one minute.
With the federal SNAP benefits expected to run dry this weekend thanks to the federal government, area food pantries are doing their best to stock up to help people left without SNAP money. "Things have been coming in fast and furious," says Christie Gera, who heads up the Quakertown Food Pantry. She says they've seen a half-ton of food donated over the past couple days. The pantry serves about 2000 people per month and Gera says with SNAP benefits not going out in November that number is expected to go quite a bit higher.
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis is asking for people to help their local food banks as snap benefits are set to be cut off this weekend. He says there are funds in place to keep SNAP running and there's no reason for the funding to be turned off. "This is one of the most disturbing things I have seen as a public servant and during my time in elected offices. The Trump administration is deliberately causing pain to people in need, people who rely on food assistance to feed their families," Davis says.
Democrat state lawmakers in Pennsylvania are proposing an investment in food banks to help folks impacted by the likely SNAP benefits freeze. This week, the state Senate Democratic Caucus introduced a measure that would provide $ 50 million for food banks, plus another $10 million for Meals on Wheels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says no food assistance payments for the SNAP program will go out for November as the federal government shutdown continues. Members of the Pennsylvania House and Senate are not scheduled to be in session today so a vote on the emergency food bank money is not going to happen before the benefits freeze.
Daylight Saving Time is ending across Pennsylvania and most of the U.S. this weekend. Clocks will "fall back" one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, giving many people more time to sleep. The current system used across the country was established with the Uniform Time Act of 1966. There have been numerous efforts to end the time change practice at the federal level over the years, but none of them have been adopted so far. Lebanon-area State Representative Russ Diamond has a current proposal that would allow Pennsylvania to join Arizona and Hawaii in opting out of Daylight Saving Time.
Pennsylvania is being ranked as one of the worst state's in the country to find a job in. That's according to a new WalletHub study, which ranked the best and worst states to find a job in based off of metrics like job market rank, economic environment, unemployment rates, the number of available jobs, job security, and median income. Pennsylvania was ranked in 44th place, with only North Carolina, Oregon, Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana and West Virginia being deemed worse states for job seekers. Massachusetts and Connecticut took the top spots.
A final New Jersey Governor's Race survey gives Mikie Sherrill a razor-thin edge over Jack Ciattarelli. It's the final Emerson College Poll which shows Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill with 49 percent, compared to former GOP Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli with 48 percent. With just three percent of voters saying they're undecided, the New Jersey governor's race is too close to call. There's a significant gender divide with women breaking for Sherrill by 18 points and men going for Ciattarelli by 16 points. More than half of all likely voters rank the economy as their number one issue.