LEHIGH VALLEY NEWS

Real-time news from Easton, Bethlehem, Phillipsburg & more

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and Phillipsburg officials are hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning to mark the completion of the Main Street-Union Square enhancement project.

The commission helped finance the $3 million project, which included improving traffic circulation and and street-scaping, according to the DRJTBC.

The event is scheduled at 11 a.m. near the corner of North Main and Broad streets in Phillipsburg.

It's game off for a new miniature golf course at the Bethlehem Golf Club next year.

The $300,000 course is a casualty of the economic recession, city officials announced today. Next year's operating budget has been cut $930,000 because of reduced revenues, so a new miniature golf course is no longer justifiable, Mayor John Callahan said.

"In the context of making the difficult cuts ... in next year's operating budget ... mini golf, I think, became a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have," he said.

The city is now anticipating $930,000 less revenue for the 2009 budget than when it was introduced a month ago. The reductions include $300,000 less from earned income taxes, $253,628 less from recycling revenues and $225,000 less from real estate taxes.

Continue reading "Miniature golf course and another $930K cut from Bethlehem's budget" »

Matching shell casings led authorities to believe the same people were responsible for three New Jersey bank robberies, according to testimony in the first day of trial for three alleged bank robbers linked to the shooting death of FBI agent Barry Lee Bush.

FBI agent Carrie Brzezinksi took the stand and described the clues that led them to a PNC Bank branch in Hunterdon County on April 5, 2007. Shells from a .380 caliber handgun were found at three of banks hit between February and April 2007, she said.

"We believed we knew who was doing these robberies," Brzezinksi said. "We believed a pattern had been established."

Continue reading "UPDATE: Shell casings, other clues led FBI to Hunterdon County bank where agent got shot" »

President-elect Barack Obama told the nation's governors today that he wants their advice on how to best help states hardest hit by the struggling economy.

"As president, I'm not simply asking the nation's governors to help implement our economic plan," he said. "I'm going to be interested in you helping to draft and shape that economic plan."

Obama and Vice-president elect Joe Biden met with the nation's state leaders in Philadelphia at a conference of the National Governors Association. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell chairs the association; New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine also attended. Check out a gallery of photos from the event.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission is hosting E-ZPass Quickstart programs at the Interstate 78 Welcome Center in Williams Township from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Dec. 11, 12, 18 and 19, according to a news release.

A motorist can apply for and receive an activated E-ZPass with a $25 toll credit in about 10 minutes at the programs.

E-ZPass holders save 15 cents on commission-operated toll bridges.

A 28-year-old Allentown man admitted today that 300 prescription pills discovered by Clinton Township police during a 2006 traffic stop were his, according to a Star-Ledger report.

Tywan Malone's girlfriend and the mother of his three children, Lashawn Shipman, originally claimed the pills were hers and risked three to five years in state prison.

"I was alone. She had nothing to do with it," Malone told Flemington Superior Court Roger Mahon today.

Prosecutors said Malone purchased the pain killer Oxycodone and the anxiety medication Alprazolam in Newark and planned to resell them in Pennsylvania. He accepted a plea deal today and now faces up to a decade in state prison.

Some of the men accused of plotting to attack New Jersey's Fort Dix talked about the scheme during a Poconos Mountain visit in February 2007, according to an Associated Press report.

In a recording played at trial today in Camden, N.J., one of the men, Eljvir Duka, asks whether a rifle would be powerful enough to carry out a successful attack.

"Can you shoot an American soldier from a mile away and kill him?" he said.

FBI informant Besnik Bakalli made the recordings. Prosecutors are hopeful the recordings and Bakalli's testimony will help convince jurors that Duka his two brothers and two other men were plotting to attack Fort Dix.

A Bethlehem Township man may have to do without fireworks at his annual Christmas party on Dec. 13.

Dr. Atul Amin went before the township commissioners Monday night, but they have deferred his application to shoot off the fireworks to the codes office. A new ordinance requires a 45-day application period, but Amin submitted his Nov. 18, the day after the change went into effect.

Amin, a prominent Lehigh Valley plastic surgeon who lives on William Penn Highway, is also running into problems over fireworks he set off in October for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Last year, the commissioners denied a fireworks application for his Christmas party because of safety concerns and complaints from neighbors.

The body of a Tinicum Township, Pa., man was found in the woods behind a Bucks County home on the first day of rifle deer season Monday, and authorities are trying to determine how he died.

The Bucks County Coroner's Office plans to perform an autopsy today on the unidentified man, who was found dead about 5:30 p.m. Monday, according to an Associated Press report.

Tinicum Township police said it was uncertain whether the man was stricken, causing him to fall from the tree stand, or whether he was killed by the fall.

An FBI agent is testifying in the trial of three accused bank robbers whose capture led to the death of another agent, according to an Associated Press report.

Agent Carrie Brzezinski is describing the investigation that led to the arrest of Wilfredo Berrios, Efrain Lynn and Francisco Herrera-Genao, who are accused of robbing four banks and trying to rob a fifth in early 2007.

At the last one, FBI Agent Barry Lee Bush of Forks Township was shot and killed by another agent who mistook him for a suspect.

Continue reading "Trial under way for three alleged bank robbers whose capture led to death of FBI Agent Barry Bush" »

December is here and so are the holiday hooligans bent on dampening everyone's spirits with their alleged mischievous deeds.

Bethlehem police reported that an artificial Christmas tree was carried away from Maurene Schulpheis' front porch Monday in the 2000 block of West Broad Street. The tree was worth $70.

A man tried to steal a Ralph Lauren Polo vest, worth $195, from the Bon-Ton in the Westgate Mall. Police said the man dropped the vest while running away.

A 19-year-old man was cited for underage drinking and disorderly conduct while waiting in the walk-up line last night at the South Side McDonald's. Police said James E. Scott, of the 300 block of Sixth Avenue, complained of hunger and was drunk and generally disagreeable.

Continue reading "Grinches pepper Bethlehem police blotter with thefts, drunken mischief" »

Easton Area High School was evacuated briefly this morning after someone found a note indicating there was a bomb in the building, according to an e-mail alert.

The building was cleared out, and authorities searched the premises after the note was found at 9:55 this morning in a girls' bathroom. Authorities did not find anything suspicious, and students were allowed to return to the building before 11 o'clock.

Air Products has signed a contract to supply gases and equipment to a solar company in China, according to a news release posted this morning on the company's Web site.

Air Products will provide hydrogen, nitrogen and argon, as well as specialty gases such as silane and nitrogen trifluoride. The company also will install and manage the gas supply systems for China's Best Solar Hi Tech Co., Ltd., which is building a new photovoltaic plant in China that promises to be one of the largest facilities of its kind.

The solar panels, which convert sunlight into electricity will be manufactured like thin-film transistor-liquid crystal displays. Air Products is one of the largest suppliers to the TFT-LCD industry and continues to look for ways to expand through renewable energy.

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and other county officials are set to unveil a crime victim notification program this afternoon.

Pennsylvania Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification (PA SAVIN), is an automated system that will provide victims of crimes, their families and members of the community with a phone call or e-mail announcing the release, transfer or escape of offenders housed in Lehigh County Prison.

Continue reading "Lehigh County to use automated system to alert crime victims when offenders released from prison" »

When Barbara Garrison started feeling burned out in her work as a clinical social worker, her husband suggested she opened a retail store. She didn't know anything about running a store and thought he was nuts.

Fast forward 11 years, and her Bethlehem business The Heavenly Hedgehog Ice Cream Co. is thriving even during the winter months as she attracts customers with custom flavors such as pumpkin pie.

Continue reading "'Five Questions': Barbara Garrison talks about The Heavenly Hedgehog Ice Cream Co.'s crazy flavors" »

A driver suffered unknown injuries this morning when a vehicle went off the road at the Route 22 West off-ramp at Route 33 North in Bethlehem Township.

The crash happened at 10:11 this morning, and there were unknown injuries, according to emergency scanner reports. Check back later for more information.

Lehigh County motorists will have shorter commutes when the Hokendauqua-North Catasauqua bridge re-opens this afternoon.

The steel truss bridge, which connects North Catasauqua and Whitehall Township, will re-open in time for rush hour, according to a news release from the county.

The bridge has been closed since Nov. 15 when the metal sidewalk and part of the railing were damaged in a car crash.

Fire and EMS crews are responding to the Lehigh Valley International Airport this morning for a report of a regional jet making an emergency landing.

The Alert 2 call came in at 6:23 this morning. Emergency officials from Northampton and Lehigh counties initially were called, but the Northampton crews then were told they were not needed.

Scanner reports did not detail the problem with the jet. Check back later for an update.