Christopher Dornblaser

1 week ago | mcall.com | Christopher Dornblaser

A student had a firearm in their backpack Wednesday morning at a Monroe County junior high school, according to police. Pocono Mountain Regional Police said in a news release that a Pocono Mountain West Junior High School staff member detected a firearm in a student’s backpack about 7 a.m. while they were going through routine security protocols at the school. The school resource officer was alerted, and the student was detained. The gun was also seized.

1 week ago | mcall.com | Christopher Dornblaser

The Northampton County District Attorney’s Office is expected to announce an update Tuesday in the investigation into Enci “Aubrey” Wu, the 14-year-old Palmer Township girl who went missing in January. DA Stephen Baratta will be holding a news conference 11 a.m. at the Northampton County Courthouse for what is described as an “important” update in the case. Aubrey, an Easton Area High School freshman, left her home Jan. 10, and was last seen the next day along MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township.

1 week ago | mcall.com | Christopher Dornblaser

A tractor-trailer fire is closing northbound lanes Tuesday afternoon on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension in Lehigh County. County dispatchers said the fire was reported about 1:45 p.m. on Interstate 476 northbound near mile marker 51 in Emmaus. At about 2:20 p.m., responders closed I-476 northbound between exit 44, Quakertown, and exit 55, Lehigh Valley, according to 511pa.com, PennDOT’s traffic website. Southbound lanes are open.

1 week ago | mcall.com | Christopher Dornblaser

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is extending hours at license centers for residents to get their Real ID ahead of the federal deadline next month. PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll told reporters during a news conference Monday that 57 license centers will be open Mondays with extended hours leading into the federal deadline set for May 7.

1 week ago | mcall.com | Christopher Dornblaser

Several inches of rain has fallen in the Lehigh Valley over the past six weeks, yet both Lehigh and Northampton counties remain under drought conditions following an extremely dry fall. Alex Staarmann, meteorologist for the local National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said Monday that about 5.5 inches of rain has fallen in the region during that time period. More than half of that fell in the past two weeks alone, according to weather service data.