Coplay News

The skies are set to be lit up tonight as communities celebrate the nation's 232nd birthday this weekend -- that's if the showers stay away.

Whitehall Township and Coplay Borough officials have agreed to discuss the township taking over firefighting in the borough.

''The township would be willing to sit down and discuss with Borough Council the need for fire protection from Whitehall Township,'' said Whitehall Township Executive Edward Hozza Jr., adding that he and Borough Council President Beverly Miller have not set a time.

Miller said she is waiting for Hozza to get back to her with a date.

Coplay officials said they have been looking outside the borough for fire protection in the wake of rising costs linked to a conflict between the borough and the Coplay Fire Company, a social organization which owns the building housing borough fire operations.

Lehigh County has proposed millions for open space preservation, park improvements and bridge repairs -- including work on the historic Manassas-Guth covered bridge in South Whitehall -- as part of the five-year capital budget announced Tuesday.

The proposed $75.4 million budget includes some 110 proposed projects and purchases the county hopes to complete by 2013.

The plan is more modest than in years past when the budget included the multimillion-dollar courthouse expansion, pushing capital spending to roughly $150 million.

The Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival receives as many as 600 applications from crafters, when there are only around 20 booths available.

A years-long feud involving Coplay Borough Council, borough firefighters and the owners of the Coplay firehouse spilled over into Northampton on Wednesday, during a meeting about Northampton's Fire Department ...

When you have a recipe to contribute, please provide your name, address and daytime phone number.

FOUND Wheelchair ramps: Sheila of Allentown has portable wheelchair ramps she is willing to sell to Mary Ann of Bethlehem.

A Coplay man testified Tuesday that he and his 18-year-old girlfriend were on their way to the Trexlertown Wal-Mart when the relationship they had since the ninth grade abruptly ended.

FOUND Bunk beds: Sharon of Easton has a ''barely'' used Ikea bunk bed set she is willing to sell to Matt of Allentown.

A Hanover Township, Northampton County man, who wandered into the home of Coplay's mayor because he thought it was the site of a New Year's Eve party has been placed in the Accelerated Rehabilitative ...

Arms are going to be sore today but some minds more at ease at Victory House of the Lehigh Valley following a city immunization clinic Monday.

FOUND Lift chair: Judy of Lehighton has a lift chair she is willing to give to Linda of Bethlehem. via The Morning Call

At first, Mike Kurtz was skeptical about buying Bangor's Colonial Hotel. Actually, ''skeptical'' is putting it lightly.

''I wanted to run away probably the first two times I saw it,'' Kurtz said of the 103-year-old building. It's one thing to renovate a house. It's a little different when you have a three-story hotel with a history of health, safety and zoning violations.

But Kurtz, along with brothers Shane and Dusty Keyser, appears to have done it. On Monday, the three Allentown men will reopen the Colonial and its restaurant, nearly two years after the borough closed the building. A formal grand re-opening is scheduled for 3 p.m. May 31. Read more

“I can go to jail for sending u pics like that.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett agents from the Child Predator Unit have arrested five accused predators in suburban Philadelphia and Allentown areas in the last few days. via NBC 10

ALLENTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT will hold kindergarten registration today. Please visit or call your neighborhood elementary school to schedule an appointment for your child, who must be present. via The Morning Call

“If I was with you I'd show you how to do a lot of fun sexual things.”

The Attorney General says these men have an appetite for underage boys and girls. via WFMZ-TV Allentown

A Whitehall High School teacher being investigated for alleged inappropriate conduct with a student has resigned, authorities said.

Lehigh County Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew Falk said Tuesday the teacher, who was not identified, faces no charges but won't teach again. Falk's office investigated the case along with Whitehall police.

The allegation reported April 11 involved inappropriate letters between a student and teacher, according to a Whitehall police crime log.

Whitehall-Coplay School Director Tina Koren said the school board will probably vote on whether to accept the resignation at its meeting Monday. She said the teacher is a man who taught math and is new to the district, and the student is a girl. The teacher might have interacted inappropriately with more than one girl, Koren said. Read more

ALLENTOWN will conduct street sweeping in the following areas: Friday -- S. Bradford Street to S.W. 31st Street south of Emmaus Avenue; S.W. 26th Street to S.W. 32nd Street north of Emmaus Avenue including the ... via The Morning Call

A state trooper was involved in a crash Monday afternoon on the Route 222 bypass in Lower Macungie Township when he drove through standing water while responding with lights and sirens to an incident on ... via The Morning Call

Pleasant Valley School District calls itself ''the home of the bears.''

But for identification purposes, administrators would like to use just one.

District School Board members say the varying bear images displayed throughout the district's seven schools, which serve some 6,500 students, are simply unbearable, and they're discussing possibilities for one mascot.

Board member Susan Kresge first raised the issue last month, saying there was a consensus on the board's Athletics Committee to adopt one look for the bear. Read more