We don't yet know why the bomb squad, FBI, local police and fire departments were all called to a Northampton County neighborhood Thursday night. Emergency crews were dispatched to a home near Lehigh and 12th streets in Bethlehem Township at 5:20 p.m. They were on the scene for approximately three hours. Records show someone who lives at the address where the bomb squad was called in was recently charged with three counts of terroristic threats with intent to terrorize, three counts of reckless endangerment, and a simple assault charge. That person is awaiting a preliminary hearing.
Lehigh Valley medical equipment company B. Braun says a Lehigh County judge has ruled a lawsuit filed against it by one individual does not meet class action lawsuit requirements. That means B. Braun will not have to pay for ongoing medical monitoring for thousands of people claiming they face a higher risk of cancer because they live near B. Braun's facility on Marcon Boulevard in Hanover Township, Lehigh County. Had the lawsuit qualified for class action status, many alleged victims could have joined together in one lawsuit and shared in the same verdict. While the lawsuit does not qualify for class action status, it remains active however. Last year, B. Braun settled lawsuits filed by dozens of people who were diagnosed with cancer that they said was linked to the company’s emissions of ethylene oxide between 2008 and 2018.
The Lehigh County Coroner's Office has begun performing a postmortem nasal swab for in-home deaths that the office is investigating to be tested for flu, COVID-19 and RSV. Coroner Dan Buglio explains why. "I think if we can put out there that we swabbed 30 people this month and 15 of them had the flu or some sort of respiratory illness, we want to put that out there and let people be aware," Buglio says. The coroner says his office hopes to contribute data to the health department.
Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg says another nuisance snow is on its way here. "It's another one of these typical systems for this winter season. It's little, but it's impactful," Lundberg says. Expect snow to begin around midnight and continue into midday Saturday. While it'll snow pretty long, it won't snow much. Just a coating-to-an-inch is expected in the Lehigh Valley and maybe one-to-three inches will fall in the Poconos.
Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman is one of three Democrat senators to introduce the Credit Card Fairness Act. That would put into law the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 cap on credit card late fees. In a statement, Fetterman says, "Big banks profiteering off people by charging $41 for a single late credit card payment is absolutely wrong." New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is one of the other two senators who introduced the legislation.
Next week, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners will discuss moving the opening date of the firearms deer season to the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Game Commission Executive Director Steve Smith says shifting the opening date to a week sooner would give hunters an earlier start and offer more opportunities for hunting families who travel long distances to hunt without interfering with the Thanksgiving holiday. If the opening date is shifted earlier, the firearms bear season would also be pushed one week earlier, while the early bear muzzleloader, archery and special firearms season would be limited to a single weekend.
Among those attending the Pennsylvania Farm Show Thursday was United State Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who says farmers don't have a better friend than President Trump. "We've already brought labor down almost 20 percent, just by changing the rules. That's $4 billion in additional dollars in farmers' pockets the next year," Rollins said. The annual farm show wraps up tomorrow in Harrisburg.
After falling to San Francisco in the playoffs last week, Eagles executive vice president Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni held a season-ending news conference Thursday. Roseman said it's possible to both win now while looking into the future. "You can do whatever it takes to win now and still build for the future and still have those parallel paths. I just don't want it to get confused that we can't do whatever it takes to build a championship-caliber team next year and also continue to have really good players on this team for the future," Roseman says. Roseman was asked about the possibility of trading wide receiver A.J. Brown. He didn't really answer the question, but said it's hard to find great players and that Brown is one of them.