The United Steelworkers Union Hall in Bethlehem hosted a Thursday night town hall focused on the presence of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in the Lehigh Valley. Among those participating was Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley, who says the people being detained by ICE are getting a bad rap. "Those arrested are drug addicts, or this or that. I think part of it is making sure everyone knows these people are good people," Pinsley told the crowd. Lehigh County Commissioner Jon Irons also attended and told the crowd there's now a hotline in operation to report ICE activity in the area.
Multiple people are in the hospital after a crash in Bethlehem last night. Police say two vehicles collided on the 2200 block of Easton Avenue at around 6 p.m. The conditions of those injured remain unknown. Authorities are investigating.
An Allentown man is accused of trying to pay for sexual contact with a child. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office said 31-year-old Kristien Diaz was arrested after he allegedly arranged a meeting for sexual activity with a 12-year-old. He faces several felony charges including attempted rape of a child. Diaz's bail is set at 500-thousand-dollars.
A local YMCA branch will only be open for a few more weeks. After more than 50 years in operation, the YMCA's Suburban North branch in Catasauqua is set to close after January 4. River Crossing YMCA says keeping it open would be unsustainable because of soaring costs to keep that branch open. Members of the branch will get to try other area locations for free for three months, and then can resume their paid membership April 1. River Crossing YMCA officials say many of the North Branch members live within 15 minutes of other locations.
Five Pennsylvania independent voters are suing to be allowed to vote in primary elections. David Thornburgh heads Ballot PA and is one of the five suing. "If you're a Republican voter and I'm an independent voter, you get two swings at the plate at the primary election and the general election, but I only get one," Thornburgh says. He says the current system is unconstitutional, saying it violates the right to cast an equally weighted vote. There are about 1.4 million independent voters across Pennsylvania.
It looks like we're going to get a bit more autumn snow this weekend. "It looks like that snow will break out after dark tomorrow night. We're looking at probably around 7 or 8 o'clock. But, by daybreak Sunday, it'll be gone, so it won't be a long-lived system," says Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg. He says one-to-three inches of snow is the expected accumulation.
The Pennsylvania Department of General Services is reporting that between November 3rd and December 3rd, more than two-and-a-half million pieces of mail across the state were never sent out. The issue was discovered when residents from around the state started reporting that they hadn't received their vehicle registrations in the mail. Apparently, a third-party company that was hired to come and sort mail stopped doing that. That company has since been fired.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is declaring a propane shortage emergency effective at 9 a.m. this morning. Murphy says it's caused by a service disruption at a major propane distribution plant in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. The Governor has issued a State Of Emergency order that extends allowed driving time from eleven hours a day to 14 hours for propane truckers. Murphy says he's trying to ensure that the 186-thousand New Jerseyans who rely on propane gas to heat their homes won't face service interruptions. He's also reminding people not to run generators indoors, including in garages, basements, crawl spaces and sheds because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.