It'll be Bob Brooks vs Ryan Mackenzie in this November's 7th Congressional District election. Brooks handily won the Democrat primary Tuesday. "I'm honored to be handed this nomination. The team that I've put together has been just unbelievable and I think we just proved exactly what we can do," Brooks said. Brooks looks to unseat incumbent Republican Ryan Mackenzie, who didn't hold back when talking after Brooks' victory. "Bob Brooks is a con man and a fraudster and has been proven in court to have stolen tens of thousands of dollars from his own family. It's amazing that this is the best nominee Democrats could come up with, but the Democrat party insiders selected him and we're going to defeat him in November," Mackenzie said. Mackenzie ran unopposed Tuesday. Brooks earned 42 percent of the vote in a four person race to win by 21 points over Ryan Croswell.
Many of Tuesday's races were uneventful and unopposed, but there were a handful of contested local races. Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach has won the 22nd State House primary over Ana Tiburcio by 12 points. In the 187th State House race, Democrat Rachel Cuevas easily defeated Geoffrey Whitcomb by a more than two-to-one margin. She'll faceoff with incumbent Republican Gary Day in November. In the 16th State Senate race, Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley defeated Bradley Merkl Gump by about eight percent and will take on Republican incumbent Sen. Jarrett Coleman this fall.
A rather typical election day in Catasauqua became very unusual just before 10am according to State Police Trooper Nathan Branosky. "There was some sort of explosive thrown from a vehicle," Branosky said. He says "an unknown explosive device" was thrown in front of the Salem United Church of Christ on Third Street. The device did detonate, however no one was injured and nothing was damaged.
Attorney Jason Richey will be the GOP's nominee for Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor. Richey defeated former UPS executive John Ventre in last night's primary. He'll be the running mate for State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary for governor. They'll challenge incumbent Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis this November.
Voting by mail continues to gain popularity according to Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt. "More than 854,000 registered voters requested mail ballots for this primary. As of 8pm, counties reported about 77 percent of those ballots had been returned," Schmidt says. He says there were almost no issues with in-person voting Tuesday.
The tail end of the Tuesday afternoon drive home from work was a mess thanks to a tractor-trailer rolling over and then catching fire. It happened just after 5:30 Tuesday afternoon and it forced the Route 33 south ramp onto I-78 east and the I78 east to 33 north ramp to be closed for several hours.
A woman is suing Hershey Entertainment and Resorts after she was reportedly injured by glass at a Hershey Bears game. A woman says a glass barrier secured by a mechanical system collapsed and cut her leg when two players crashed into it during a game in June 2024. The lawsuit alleges the mechanical system had known issues before the incident, and the company continues to seat fans on the glass secured by that system despite knowing the risk. Hershey Entertainment and Resorts says it denies the allegations and intends to "vigorously defend against the claims."
There's been another earthquake in New Jersey, the sixth one this year. It was detected at about 1:30 Tuesday in Morris County. It was small, a magnitude one-point-seven trembler, centered in Washington Township. It was detected by sensors and, apparently, wasn't strong enough for people to queue up to reach 9-1-1. The last quake was on April 22nd near Whitehouse Station. That was even smaller, just one-point-three on the Richter Scale, and considered a "micro earthquake."
Three state lawmakers announced on Tuesday they are sponsoring a bill meant to claw back about $250 million worth of tax incentives planned to go to A-I data centers around New Jersey. The Democratic lawmakers, state Senator Joe Cryan and Assemblymen Balvir Singh and Andrew Macurdy say their bill would re-do the 2024 Next New Jersey tax incentive program, which set aside a $250 million award to a data center in Union County. The lawmakers tell the New Jersey Globe political news site they plan on introducing the bill before the end of the month.
Any teens looking for a wild party in Wildwood this Memorial Day weekend may have a harder time finding one. Local police said Tuesday they are working with State Police and the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office to stop any 'pop up parties' or teen gatherings, after seeing several social media posts promoting unsanctioned events. The Press of Atlantic City is reporting detectives identified two promoters and served them cease and desist orders. Local officials want to avoid a repeat of 2024's Memorial Weekend, when fights among large groups of teens and adults led to the city declaring a state of emergency.