Things have returned to normal in Alburtis after a man pistol-whipped a neighbor and barracaded himself inside his house overnight. Police say 40-year-old Stephen Baumann assaulted his neighbor arouind 9 o'clock last night as the neighbor was sitting in his car with the neighbor's wife. After doing so, Baumann retreated to his home and it was believed he had a hand grenade inside. Police from surrounding municipalities, the Allentown Bomb Squad, state police and the Lehigh County Emergency Response Team were called and after lengthy negotiations, Baumann eventually surrendered without incident just before 2 o'clock this morning. Police haven't said what prompted the whole incident.
A Forks Township man will spend the next one to five years in prison after admitting to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. 29-year-old Joshua Carrick will also have to register for the rest of his life as a sex offender after having sex with the girl inside his van at Hay's Cemetery on Easton's South Side. Investigators say Carrick first contacted the girl through Facebook.
The parents of a teenage girl have admitted to giving the girl so much alcohol she needed to be hospitalized. Charles Younger and Michelle Edwards, of Allentown, say they gave their daughter 10 shots of vodka during her 13th birthday party back in January. The girl got so sick she had to be airlifted to the hospital with a blood-alcohol level of .32 percent. Edwards pleaded guilty to child endangerment charges and Younger admitted to that charge as well as corruption of minors. Both will be sentenced next month.
Accu-Weather's Brian Thompson says if you have outdoor work you'd like to get finished, you might want to think about doing it today. "We are going to get a period of some pretty heavy rain tomorrow," Thompson says. Thompson says more than an inch of rain is probable Friday and flooding could occur in low-lying and poor-drainage areas. Thompson says a little more rain could fall Saturday as well.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is speaking out against a deportation. A mother and her five-year-old son were recently deported from Berks County to Honduras. Casey says they were seeking asylum in the U.S. because the woman was in danger. Casey says, "This is outrageous. This is America. They shouldn't be sending these people out of the country. They're no threat."
Congressman Lou Barletta is thinking about challenging Sen. Bob Casey in next year's election. The Republican's team says President Trump is encouraging Barletta to run. Barletta is serving his fourth term in the House. Casey is seeking his third term in the Senate.The state's top health official says they're making a dent in Pennsylvania's backlog of untested rape kits. Health Secretary Dr. Karen Murphy says the commonwealth's police departments had combined about 1200 kits that were waiting 12 months or more to be tested. That's down significantly from 2015's backlog of more than 1900. The backlog has drawn criticism from many directions. State Police Commissioner Tyree Blocker says evidence collected in sexual assault kits not only helps pursue justice for victims but helps ensure that cases are investigated thoroughly.
Pennsylvania's treasurer says residents everywhere have similar expectations of their government. "They want a government that works and solves problems. They want a government that uses and stewards tax dollars more wisely. They want their environment protected and they believe, correctly, that those goals are notin opposition to each other, but they are, in fact, congruent with each other," says Joe Torsella. He says the state's PennSEF program does that. The program provides legal and technical assistance and low-cost capital for energy improvements by municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals.
"Saturday Night Live" alum Joe Piscopo is ruling out a long-rumored bid for Governor of New Jersey. Piscopo told a Paramus crowd he wants to unify New Jersey. For Piscopo, that means not trying to replace Chris Christie when his term ends. Piscopo says he talked to people around New Jersey and also held a secret summit last weekend, where he met with Republican Lieutenant Gov. Kim Guadagno, before throwing his support her way. She appeared with Piscopo at the endorsement.
A medical marijuana panel is meeting next week to consider which illnesses should be added to the list that lets New Jersey patients buy prescription pot. The state's program is one of the strictest in the country. It allows patients with multiple sclerosis, ALS, terminal cancer, muscular dystrophy, inflammatory bowel disease or any terminal illness access to medical marijuana and, in some cases, patients with epilepsy, PTSD, AIDS and glaucoma. The panel is considering adding chronic pain, migraines, autism and Tourette's syndrome to the list of approved conditions. Currently, 11,000 people participate in New Jersey's medical pot program.
One of the Jersey Shore towns that is scheduled to get beach replenishment work done this year isn't happy about the timing. Ventnor officials have released a statement saying their beaches won't be available for the work by the Army Corps of Engineers until after Labor Day. They say the original timing for the work, scheduled by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for June and July, is unacceptable because it'll negatively impact tourism. The Army Corps is restoring beaches and dunes in several other parts of Absecon Island, including Atlantic City and Longport.