Allentown School Taxes Could Rise Nearly 5%

English: View of Allentown, Pa from Keck Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Allentown School Board on Thursday approved a proposed $235 million spending plan for 2012-13 that includes a nearly 5 percent tax hike.

The board’s 8-1 vote means a property owner’s tax bill would rise about $86, to $1,890, on a home assessed at the district’s $37,500 average. The millage rate would go up 2.3 mills to about 50.4.

Superintendent Russ Mayo faulted Gov. Tom Corbett for shifting a greater financial burden on school districts.

He said the governor’s proposed state budget for 2012-13 has about $100 million less for kindergarten, tutoring and class-size programs. That’s on top of the $900 million in school funding he cut statewide in 2011-12.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-school-budget-0524-20120525,0,4061905.story

Lehigh Valley Housing Market Continues To Rebound

The Lehigh Valley housing market continued to rebound in April, with sales and prices up from a year ago.

A total of 466 homes sold in April in Lehigh and Northampton counties, up 24.9 percent from the same month a year ago, according to the Prudential Patt, White Real Estate HomExpert Market Report. The median sale price was $170,000, up 6.3 percent from a year ago and up 8.4 percent from the median sale price in March.

April was the tenth consecutive month of year-to-year sales increases and it was the second straight month of price increases. If the sales pace and price trends holds, it will mean the local housing market bottomed out last year.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-home-sales-april-20120521,0,518533.story

Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre 32nd Season

Allentown, Pa. (May 15, 2012) — If you’ve planned a wedding recently, then you’ll find something familiar about the lineup for this summer’s Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre season. In the spirit of bridal couture, the 32nd MSMT festival will feature something old, something new, something borrowed, and something — well, purple.

The “something new” is the regional professional premiere of “Hairspray: The Broadway Musical” that opens the season, June 13 – July 1. Adapted from the John Waters movie that was partially filmed right here in the Lehigh Valley, “Hairspray” will feature Angela DeAngelo as Tracy Turnblad and SMT mainstay Bill Mutimer as her mother, Edna. MSMT co-founder Charles Richter directs.

The “something old” is Gilbert & Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore,” the duo’s first commercial hit (way back in 1878), and a precursor to the Broadway blockbusters of today. The show runs July 11-29. Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance Department chair James Peck directs.

This season’s production for young audiences, “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” accounts for both the “borrowed” and the purple. The play is a movement theater adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s beloved children’s book, created by Enchantment Theatre Company. “Harold” plays June 20 – July 28.

“Hairspray: The Broadway Musical” features a book by Mark O’Donnell, music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman. It’s 1962. Beehive hairdos are in, rock ‘n’ roll is young, and Baltimore teenager Tracy Turnblad dreams of dancing on “The Corny Collins Show.” Plump and proud, Tracy wins a role on the program, then uses her newfound fame as a platform to rally support for racial integration.

Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Book, and Score, “Hairspray” is a big, goofy, good-hearted celebration of young people, rock ‘n’ roll, and doing the right thing. Ken Butler is the musical director, and Karen Dearborn is the choreographer.

“HMS Pinafore” was the first big hit by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, whose 19th century comic operas have been featured regularly on the MSMT stage. In this romantic comedy, Ralph Rackstraw, “the smartest lad in all the fleet,” is in love with the captain’s daughter, Josephine, but her father has a more sophisticated suitor in mind.

Full of hijinks and silliness, as well as the duo’s trademark wit, satire, and tunefulness, the production features musical direction by Ed Bara and choreography by AlexJo Natale.

“Harold and the Purple Crayon” adapts Crockett’s 1955 picture book about a curious four-year-old boy who, with his purple crayon, has the power to create a world of his own simply by drawing it. The play follows Harold’s adventures as he explores oceans, braves dragons, and finds friendship.

The production is created by Enchantment Theatre Company, whose “Cinderella” was a hit during the 2011 MSMT season. The show tells Harold’s story through movement, narration, and imagination, with innovative animated scenery and an original score by Charles Gilbert. Enchantment founder Leslie Reidel directs.

The show is recommended for ages 4 and up. The actors wear masks and full-body costumes throughout the show, and parents of young children are encouraged to bring their children at least ten minutes early to meet members of the cast without their masks on. Cast members will be available after the show to talk to audience members and sign autographs.

Tickets for the first four performances of both “Hairspray” and “HMS Pinafore” are $32 regular admission; seniors are $28; students and children are $18. For the remaining 11 performances, tickets are $38 regular admission; seniors, $35; students and children, $20.

All tickets to “Harold and the Purple Crayon” are $10 for June performances and $12 for July performances.

Sundays are Family Matinee day; tickets for children ages 5-18 are just $10 when purchased with a full-price or senior ticket. (Limit two discounted tickets per full-price ticket.)

Subscriptions to “Hairspray” and “HMS Pinafore” are available for $50 for the first four shows, or $60 for the remaining 11 shows. Group discounts are available for groups of 15 or more.

Open Captioning and Audio Description will be available at the Sunday, June 24, performance of “Hairspray.” Call 484-664-3087 for tickets in the accessible section of this performance. 

Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre performance information and tickets are available at 484-664-3693 or www.muhlenberg.edu/SMT.

Allentown School District Moves Closer To Student Uniforms

Allentown charter school students wear them. So do Catholic school students. Now, Allentown School District students could one day wear them too.

Uniforms.

The school board’s Education Committee on Thursday again scratched the itchy subject of requiring student uniforms. But unlike uniform debates that have taken place in the last decade or so, this one seems more real as anger and frustration boils over scantily clad students who ignore the district’s unenforceable dress code to either act sexy, defiant or think their particular style is just fine.

A growing number of school directors, administrators, students and teachers voiced strong support for establishing a mandatory, homogeneous clothing style for schools, beginning in September 2013 for elementary schools, 2014 for middle-schoolers and 2015 for Allen and Dieruff high schools.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-school-uniforms-20120510,0,2595084.story

Rabid Fox Attacks Woman In Allentown

City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A woman walking her dog in east Allentown late Tuesday morning thought she saw a small, reddish dog dart out of the bushes near an apartment complex.

Until she saw its teeth and tail.

By then, it was too late.

The fox sunk its teeth into her ankle. The woman grabbed the animal with her right hand and tried to throw it. The fox latched on to her hand.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-woman-rabid-fox-attack-20120511,0,1722157.story

Muhlenberg Woman Beaten By Daughter With Meat Tenderizing Mallet

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Nothing says I love you Mom like a couple whacks with a mallet!  WTH!

A 79-year-old Muhlenberg Township woman was beaten by her 55-year-old daughter with a meat tenderizing mallet in the daughter’s Lehigh County residence, state police said Tuesday.

Teresa Kauffman was taken by ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital, near Allentown, for injuries suffered in the attack early Monday morning in the Lower Macungie Township home, investigators said.

A hospital spokeswoman said Kauffman was in fair condition Tuesday.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/Article.aspx?id=381669

PPL Will Rebuild Turbine Plant, Creating Electricity To Sell To Allentown

The PPL Building (seen here in the distance) is the tallest building in Allentown, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Allentown will transfer an aging turbine plant on the Little Lehigh Creek to PPL so the power company can rebuild and modernize the facility, creating electricity to sell back to the city.

City Council unanimously approved the 25-year agreement at a meeting Wednesday night, with members saying the city would save on electric costs in the partnership.

Allentown has to provide the byproduct gas from the nearby wastewater plant and buy the electricity generated at the new plant. The city won’t spend anything on capital costs or maintenance.

The deal will help the city avoid the cost of dismantling or operating the 8-year-old plant that has come to the end of its usefulness, said Rich Young, the public works director, at a meeting last week.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-ppl-biogas-electric-facility-20120418,0,3278821.story

Lehigh And Northampton Transportation Authority Breaks Ground For New $13 Million Garage

wm-license-information-description-missing wm-license-information-description-missing-request LANTA logo.png (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Regional political leaders and transportation officials held a groundbreaking Monday for a new maintenance garage for the Lehigh Valley‘s public bus agency, anticipating growing demand for the service as well for newer hybrid-electric buses.

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority faced public opposition in 2009 when the initial plans for the building on LANTA’s property at 1060 Lehigh St., Allentown, showed it encroaching into the parking lot of adjacent Bicentennial Park. The baseball field once was home to the semi-pro Allentown Ambassadors, and the bus garage would have covered 40 percent of Bicentennial’s parking spaces.

LANTA officials reversed gears, having the project redesigned for a garage expansion to the southwest of the existing building, away from the ball field rather than toward it, pushing the new garage close to the edge of the LANTA property.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-lanta-garage-ceremony-20120416,0,5643129.story

Lehigh Valley Labor Market Continues To Improve

City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lehigh Valley labor market continued to improve in February, with businesses adding jobs and residents finding work.

The Valley had 337,600 jobs in February, up 6,400 compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Monday by the state Department of Labor and Industry. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent in February, down from 8.2 percent in January and the lowest it’s been since March 2009. 

The job gains came through most of the private sector. Jobs added at hospitals, hotels, temporary staffing firms, warehouses and stores were partially offset by losses in manufacturing and government.

‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Explores Power And Love, But Also Looks For Fun

Allentown, Pa. (March 12, 2012) — In staging Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” opening March 28 at Muhlenberg College, director Beth Schachter says she is looking for the play’s “critique of power” and its commentary on marriage — but she’s also looking to create a good time.

“This is a play which has a tremendous amount of fun in it,” says Schachter of Shakespeare’s most popular comedy, which was first produced in the 1590s. “The lovers’ plot, and the fairies’ manipulation of the lovers and their affairs, all add up to highly comical miscommunications and misunderstandings. And chase scenes. It’s fun stuff!”

The Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance Department will present the play, the fifth of its 2011-12 main stage season, March 28 through April 1, in its 100-seat Studio Theatre. Schachter is an associate professor of theater in the department.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” begins with four hopelessly entangled young lovers, adds a royal wedding and some traveling thespians, and then sends everyone off to an enchanted forest, where they get caught in the crossfire between the King and Queen of the Faeries. It’s a story of love, magic, mistaken identity, and Nature gone mad — as well as some of the most enduring poetry the English language has to offer.

Schachter says that much of the spirit of the production comes from the fairies — both their magical qualities and their ethereal dance-like movement.

“The fairies are something that we, in the contemporary world, can be drawn to,” she says. “There’s something still pleasurable, I think, about their ‘hand-made magic,’ and we’re trying to tap back into that pre-modern sense of magic.”

Choreographer Robert J. Wagner, a Muhlenberg alumnus and professional teacher and performer, has worked with the cast to create a vocabulary of movement based on contact improvisation — an approach designed to give the choreography a sense of spontaneity and flight. Schachter has also incorporated contemporary music, to give the audience a more direct association with the characters’ emotions — for example, their discovery of love, and their sense of confusion.

“The songs tap into a sensory experience of the play, which I think that Shakespeare would be after,” Schachter says. “There are hilarious rhymes and even bad rhymes in the fairies’ spells, and Shakespeare obviously enjoyed the clunkiness of off-rhymes. He took pleasure in sound and music.”

On the more serious side, Schachter says she is interested in the play’s critique of power and exploration of freedom. She suggests that power and freedom don’t always correlate as closely as might be expected.

“We go from the highest reaches of power to the lowest reaches, both in romantic relationships and marriage, and in creative pursuits,” she says. “The play explores who has the most freedom, and it turns out that the Mechanicals — the wandering, largely unemployed troupe of part-time performers — have perhaps the most freedom to genuinely create. There is a sense that their imagination does vault them over certain physical limits and power limitations.”

Helping to create the production’s sense of magic will be scenery by set designer Kina Park. Her ambition, she says, is to transport the audience from the present time and place into a timeless realm.

“The set features vibrant colors, oversized flowers and trees, and a hill covered with funky textures to help emphasize the fun and whimsical mood,” Park says. “As in ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ the scale of the object is a key to the magical world. Giant flowers will make the audience feel all of a sudden small, and will help them to be a part of the world of the play.”

Muhlenberg College’s Theatre & Dance Department is the top-rated college performance program in the country, according to the Princeton Review’s 2012 survey report. Muhlenberg is a liberal arts college of more than 2,200 students in Allentown, Pa., offering Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” runs March 28 to April 1. Performances are Wednesday through Friday, March 28-30, at 8 p.m; Saturday, March 31, at 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, April 1, at 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for patrons 17 and under, $7 for students, faculty and staff of all LVAIC colleges. Performances are in the Studio Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre and Dance, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown.

Tickets and information: 484-664-3333 or Muhlenberg.edu/theatre

Allentown Woman Punches LANTA Bus Driver Over Fare, Police Say

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Editor’s note:  What a class act.  Evidently somebody needs an anger management course.

A LANTA bus driver who challenged a passenger’s claim to a student discount was slugged by the passenger as the vehicle moved from an Allentown bus stop, police said.

Daquasia Kim Ransome, 18, of 513 N. Silk St., Allentown, was arrested Friday after city police used bus surveillance video from the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority to determine who attacked the driver two weeks ago.

Ransome got on the bus 3:08 p.m. Feb. 27 at Hamilton and Seventh streets, and handed the $1 student rate – half the regular fare – to driver Barbara Rosamilia, police said. An argument began when Rosamilia asked which school Ransome goes to, police said.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-lanta-bus-driver-attacked-in-allentown-20120312,0,2717958.story

Allentown Carrier Direct Air Halts Flights Nationwide

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Apparently buried in debt and wracking up service fees at airports including Lehigh Valley International, Direct Air abruptly halted all flights Tuesday morning, and there is no word when or if air service will resume.

Charles Everett Jr., executive director of Lehigh Valley International, confirmed that Direct Air had halted flights but he said he wasn’t sure what that meant for its upcoming flights at LVIA.

He also wasn’t yet certain what the unannounced stoppage meant for the $93,000 in service, landing and passenger changes Direct Air owes LVIA.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-abe-airport-direct-air-20120313,0,2234033.story

Allentown Jobs: Lehigh Valley Ranks Fourth In Business Development

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Editor’s note:  This is great news for Pennsylvania!

The Lehigh Valley ranked fourth in new business development among mid-size metro areas for 2011 in an annual survey published by Site Selection magazine.

The magazine’s readers include economic development officials and key corporate decision-makers who choose new locations for businesses looking to relocate or expand.

Site Selection ranks metro areas by the number of “corporate facility expansion projects” they attract. In the category of metro areas with populations between 200,000 and 1 million, the Lehigh Valley reported 28 such projects in 2011, one more than the Harrisburg-Carlisle region.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-allentown-area-jobs-ranking-20120309,0,7746005.story

Carjacking Suspect Has History Of Stealing Lobsters, Fine Meats

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Editor’s note:  This is what’s known as having champagne taste and a beer pocketbook/wallet with a healthy dose of stupid thrown in for good measure!  Lock him up and thrown away the KEY!

It didn’t take long for employees at a Weis Kings Market in west Allentown to realize they had a lobster thief in their grocery store Thursday afternoon.

Charles A. Shumanis III, who was arrested Thursday after police say he carjacked a man in South Whitehall following a botched retail theft attempt at the supermarket, had been charged the week before with stealing more than $160 worth of lobsters from the store, according to court documents.

Hours after allegedly stealing from the market Feb. 23, Shumanis went to the Wegmans, 3900 Tilghman St., where he took $150 worth of meat, according to court documents.

Shumanis already had four prior retail theft convictions, making the fifth and sixth retail theft charges on Feb. 23 felonies, police said. He added a seventh charge Thursday, to go along with more serious charges of carjacking a man and dragging him 50 feet in the Friendly’s Restaurant parking lot in South Whitehall.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-carjacking-suspect-history-stealing-lobsters-me-20120302,0,7455738.story

PPL Buys Natural Gas Power Plant

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PPL Corp. is buying a natural gas-fired power plant in Lebanon, the company announced on Monday

AES Corp. of Arlington, Va., is selling its Ironwood plant for $304 million, PPL said.

The plant, which began operation in 2001, has a 705-megawatt capacity, or roughly enough to power 564,000 homes.

For the past four years, PPL EnergyPlus, the marketing and trading subsidiary of Allentown-based PPL, has supplied natural gas for the operation of the Ironwood plant in return for rights to its full output.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc–ppl-power-plant-20120228,0,7169860.story

Blake Shelton To Headline Allentown Fair Grandstand Shows!

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The Country Music Association’s reigning male vocalist of the year for the past two years, and a judge on the hit TV singing competition show “The Voice,” will headline Allentown Fair’s grandstand, it was just announced.

Blake Shelton, whose latest album “Red River Blue,” released in July, hit No. 1 and went gold – meaning all six of his studio albums have hit Top 7 – will play the fairgrounds Aug. 29.

For all the details, click here: http://blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2012/02/reigning-country-male-vocalist-of-the-year-the-voice-star-coming-to-allentown-fair.html

PPL Residential Rate To Drop 10.7 Percent

PPL Electric Utilities said today it will cut its residential rates by 10.7 percent, effective March 1.

It will be the fifth consecutive rate reduction since PPL rates spiked nearly 30 percent in January 2010.

In total, the series of cuts will have nearly erased that record increase two years ago.

PPL said it’s been able to trim rates because it’s paying less to obtain power on the wholesale market, a trend it foresees continuing

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/591068_PPL-residential-rate-to-drop-10-7-percent.html#ixzz1n3kvOn3b

PPL To Invest $664 Million In Electric Grid

PPL Electric Utilities, which suffered extensive power outages during two storms in 2011, plans to invest $664 million this year in the electric grid serving eastern and central Pennsylvania, including much of the Lehigh Valley.

The investment represents nearly a 50 percent increase over what it spent last year on new transmission lines, poles and substations, the company announced Friday.

More than 400,000 PPL customers lost power in August after the remnants of Hurricane Irene swept through eastern Pennsylvania. And an October snowstorm cut power to 388,000 PPL customers, nearly half of whom were in the Lehigh Valley. Nearly 10,000 in the Lehigh Valley had no electricity for six days after the snow.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-ppl-grid-investment-20120217,0,4685365.story

PPL’s Profit, Revenue Surge

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PPL Corp.’s annual profit surged in 2011 on revenue from recent out-of-state acquisitions.

The Allentown energy company earned $1.44 billion, or $2.61 per share, up from $938 million, or $2.17 per share, in 2010.

The whopping 53 percent increase was largely driven by additional revenue from PPL’s recently-acquired Kentucky and United Kingdom utilities.

“This increase reflects the strength of our business portfolio and our prospects for future growth,” James H. Miller, PPL’s out-going chairman said in a press release. “Our strong 2011 results are due to solid performance across our business segments.”

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-ppl-earnings-20120210,0,3573342.story

Mayors Tout Jobs Growth In Lehigh Valley

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As a national jobs report released Friday pointed to a surge in hiring, the mayors of four of the Lehigh Valley‘s largest municipalities gathered in front of the future minor league hockey arena in Allentown to tout the Valley’s growth.

The mayors — Ed Pawlowski of Allentown, John Callahan of Bethlehem, Sal Panto Jr. of Easton and Ed Hozza Jr. of Whitehall Township — didn’t announce a new project on the same scale as Steel Stacks or an out-of-state company bringing hundreds of jobs. Instead, they praised the creation of 40 jobs for workers who are making way for the hockey arena at Seventh and Hamilton streets.

That number, Pawlowski said, will grow to 1,000 during construction.

The mayors gathered in front of the demolition site just days after revelations that the special tax district that will help pay for the $158-million arena may divert and delay the return of the Valley’s municipalities’ earned income taxes.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-hockey-arena-jobs-20120203,0,1222186.story