A man fatally shot a woman and then himself Wednesday night in Monroe County. State police were called about 7:30 p.m. to a home on Smith Road, Hamilton Township, for a report of a domestic disturbance and shots fired. Troopers tried to get the occupants out of the home, but were not successful. Investigators eventually searched the home and found both of them dead. They determined that the man shot the woman, killing her, before turning the gun on himself. The incident remains under investigation.
A man faces decades in prison for his role in a deadly shooting in Allentown in 2022. Lehigh County officials said Xavier Grenon was sentenced to between 18-and-40 years behind bars yesterday following his conviction on multiple charges stemming from the death of Najeer Lane. Authorities said Grenon and two other men fired 13 shots at a vehicle with Lane and another person inside, killing him. One of the three men is still awaiting trial.
A Lehigh County semiconductor company plans to lay off 55 workers. Advantest on East Race Street in Hanover Township has filed for a Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification, which is required of employers 60 days before closing or large layoffs. According to the notice, the effective date is June 30.
Eight years after is was closed, a Northampton County bridge is reopening today. The new Meadows Road Bridge in Lower Saucon Township, near Route 412, will reopen today. The old bridge was closed in 2018 after a 4-foot hole developed in it. The bridge was eventually demolished a few years later. The $3 million replacement project began in late 2024. The new bridge is wider and has a 5-foot sidewalk for pedestrians.
A bill that would change a 1972 law to allow separate state playoffs for public and private schools passed the state House and now heads to the Senate. Democrat Scott Conklin is a bill sponsor and says having charter and private schools be able to recruit athletes from anywhere playing public schools which can only use athletes from within their district is grossly unfair. "We're putting competition against the right competition. We're telling boundary schools that if you live within a certain public school which is a boundary school that yes, you'll be playing like teams in the playoffs," Conklin says. Over the last decade, private and charter schools have won about half of all state championships despite only making up about a quarter of Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association member schools. The bill passed the House with bipartisan support, 178-23.
Pennsylvania is well-represented on the latest list of America's best theme parks compiled by USA Today. Hersheypark was once again voted one of the country's top 10 theme parks by USA Today readers, while iconic Northumberland County theme park Knoebel's made the list as well. Hersheypark was voted No. 10 on the USA Today 10Best Theme Parks list, while Knoebel's checks in at No. 2.
The number of first time filings for unemployment are decreasing across Pennsylvania. That's according to the U.S. Department of Labor, which says there were just over 79-hundred first time filings in the state last week, which is hundreds less than the week before.
State officials starting opening applications Thursday to pick ten that will be part of a pilot program meant to speed up the application process for permits to build residential, commercial and energy projects. Once the test phase is done, the public will be able to call up a website dashboard later this year, fill out permit applications from Environmental Protection, Community Affairs and Transportation Departments, and check status and next steps. Officials tell the Press of Atlantic City they plan to hire more staff and upgrade technology to cut down on wait times for people applying for permits.
After his team forced a game seven against the Celtics, 76ers head coach Nick Nurse said the past two games were terrific, but won't matter in game seven. "It's nice to win a couple in a row and it's nice to play the way we did tonight, but it really does not matter. Each game is its own game. It's one game and one story. We can't just flip a switch and have it happen again. We're going to have to really dig in and focus and and prepare," Nurse says. The Sixers won 106-93 Thursday night to force game seven tomorrow night in Boston.