Saturday, January 19, 2013
A Williams Township man died as a result of self-inflicted hammer blows to his head, officials have determined
Michael Muretta struggled for years with mental illness. His struggle reached a horrific end last August when the 47-year-old Williams Township man struck himself in the head with a hammer, causing fatal injuries. That was the conclusion reached by investigators looking into Muretta's death, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said Thursday. At a news conference at his office, Morganelli told reporters that Muretta's history --combined with physical evidence at his home and no evidence of anyone who wished him harm -- will lead the coroner to rule his death a suicide. It's not clear whether Murettta intended to kill himself. The hammer blows may have been a response to the symptoms of the schizophrenia Muretta suffered …
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Bethlehem and Northampton County officials plan to hire a consultant to study the feasibility of building a large convention center next door to Sands and SteelStacks.
Bethlehem and Northampton County officials are hoping to bring a convention center – perhaps one as large as 3½ NFL football fields – as a new neighbor for the Sands Casino Resort complex and the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks. County and city officials announced last week that they will hire a consultant to conduct an analysis to determine the appropriate size and configuration of a center, the proper placement of such a facility on the former Bethlehem Steel site and the financial feasibility of the project. There seems to be little doubt about the answer the third part of the analysis will yield. “We believe there is a market for a major exposition and convention facility in the Lehigh Valley and we believe we have the perfect …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Two to four inches of snow are possible Wednesday into Thursday along with gusty winds, according to the National Weather Service.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
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Tuesday, November 6, 2012
According to the calendar, there are six more weeks of autumn, but somebody apparently forgot to tell Mother Nature. November has barely begun and the Lehigh Valley is already under a winter weather advisory. On Wednesday morning National Weather Service predicted snow will start after 1 p.m. with a daytime snow accumulation of two to four inches possible. It will be breezy with a north wind 14 to 22 mph with gusts as high as 37 mph. Parkland schools dismissed early Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service, snow and sleet will start before 10 p.m. Wednesday followed by rain and sleet with a low temperature around 32. New snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 2 inches is possible. With the snow and wind predicted there may be …
The Lehigh Valley is a great predictor of how Pennsylvania will vote in presidential elections.
Muhlenberg College professor and pollster Christopher Borick won’t predict who is going to win Tuesday's presidential election. And he won’t say who will take Pennsylvania. But he will say this: “I’m very confident that who ever wins the Valley will win Pennsylvania.” The Lehigh Valley, with its cities, suburbs and rural areas, has become a bellwether for Pennsylvania politics. In 2008, both Northampton and Lehigh counties went for Barack Obama, just like the state. The Lehigh Valley went for Democrats John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000, as did Pennsylvania as whole. “Pennsylvania hasn’t been a very good predictor of elections,” said Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. But “the Lehigh Valley as a …
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Walt Garvin is a delegate to the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
- ELECTIONS
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Sunday, September 2, 2012
Editor's Note: Northampton County Democratic Party Chairman Walt Garvin is one of two Lehigh Valley delegates from the 17th Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. The 15th Congressional District also sent delegates from the Lehigh Valley, including Allentown City Council President Julio Guridy, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, Kathleen D. Miller of Upper Milford, Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan and Miriam Huertas of Allentown. Adrian Shanker of Bethlehem is an alternate delegate. Name: Walt Garvin Party: Democratic Age: 57 Hometown: Bethlehem Township Political Office: Chairman, Northampton County Democratic Party Employment: Semi-Retired Marital Status/Children: Married (Julie), One son Kevan, 23 …
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Columnist headed to the only Driver's License Center in Lehigh County that issues IDs for voters.
I spent a recent afternoon in an experiment to see how long it might take to get a voter’s photo ID from the PennDOT Driver's License Center off Airport Road. I’ll tell you the results in a minute. It’s an important question because according to Pennsylvania’s Department of State, about 31,000 registered voters in the Lehigh Valley are without a current driver’s license or state issued non-driver ID that will enable them to vote in the Nov. 6 presidential election. Some of those folks have other official photo identification that will be accepted at the polls because they are a government employee, a member of the military, a university student or a nursing home patient or employee. All those IDs, so long as they haven’t expired -- plus …
Armed Citizen
8:45 pm on Sunday, January 20, 2013
According to the article, it's the guy who stabbed his neighbor back in '86 but was deemed insane. Very bizarre all around. more ›