Touting Lehigh Valley’s Benefits, To Locals

When he took over the region’s main economic development agency last year, CEO Don Cunningham promised to refocus the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. on its primary goals, especially marketing the Lehigh Valley.

That apparently includes marketing to the people living here, especially business leaders.

LVEDC rolled out a sweeping billboard campaign this week designed to promote the Lehigh Valley to the Lehigh Valley and its business leaders.

Or wait, just Lehigh Valley. Drop the “the.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-lehigh-valley-billboards-20130612,0,3517196.story

Edward Snowden Fired, Booz Allen Hamilton Says

WASHINGTON – Consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton said Tuesday that it had fired Edward Snowden “for violations of the firm’s code of ethics and firm policy” after the 29-year-old admitted he leaked secrets of the U.S. government’s surveillance programs to the news media.

The company said that Snowden, who had been assigned to a team in Hawaii for less than three months, was earning a salary “at a rate of $122,000.”  Snowden claimed he made about $200,000, a figure that could have included overtime pay and other bonuses.

Snowden, a computer technician from Maryland who previously worked for the CIA and the National Security Agency, had been holed up in a sleek hotel in Hong Kong for weeks before checking out on Monday.  His whereabouts are unknown.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/la-pn-edward-snowden-fired-booz-allen-20130611,0,234483.story

In a related story:

FBI Visits Family Of NSA Leaker In Upper Macungie

The father and stepmother of Edward Snowden, the man who said he leaked news of the government’s classified surveillance program, live in Upper Macungie Township and were visited Monday afternoon by two people who identified themselves as FBI agents.

Karen Snowden, 48, said the couple had been “bombarded” by media, including ABC’s ”Good Morning America,” since the story broke Sunday.

Her husband, Lonnie Snowden, 52, briefly spoke to ABC News on Sunday, saying he had last seen his son months ago for dinner and the two parted with a hug.  The elder Snowden told the network he was still “digesting and processing” the news about his son.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-ed-snowden-nsa-leak-20130610,0,7199785.story

Developer: Whole Foods Would Join Costco In Lower Macungie

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

Whole Foods Market has agreed to join Costco and Target as an anchor at the proposed $140 million Hamilton Crossings shopping center in Lower Macungie.

Jeremy Fogel of the Goldenberg Group of Montgomery County, one of two developers planning the project on the Route 222 bypass, confirmed Tuesday that the grocery store chain is the “high end” food store that he and Tim Harrison of Staten Island, N.Y., plan to bring to the shopping center.

“We have been working with Whole Foods for some time, but only yesterday have been authorized to announce that we have an approved deal with Whole Foods,” Fogel said.  ”We are currently negotiating a lease for them to become part of the Hamilton Crossings Shopping Center.

Fogel said the addition of Whole Foods enhances the appeal of the proposed development.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/eastpenn/mc-lower-macungie-wholefoods-hamilton-crossings-20130604,0,1882822.story

Jobs In Lehigh Valley Hit New Peak

After more than three years of sluggish job growth, the Lehigh Valley has replaced all of the roughly 25,000 jobs wiped out during the country’s worst economic crisis in generations.

The region had 351,400 jobs in April, a new high, according to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Labor and Industry.  The old record of 350,200 was set in June 2007, just before the Great Recession hit, bringing 2 1/2 years of plant closures and cutbacks that put the local labor market in a tailspin.

The number of jobs in the Valley hit a recessionary low of 324,700 in January 2010 and has since been slowly recovering.

The private sector is driving job growth.  Gains in warehousing, tourism and business services were partially offset by cuts in government and public school jobs.  Warehousing and business services — a broad jobs category that includes bookkeepers, janitors, landscapers and engineers — both hit new highs in April.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-lehigh-valley-jobs-april-20130529,0,2958420.story

Have We Lost All Desire To Vote?

Editor’s note:  Apparently yes!

While other row offices were eliminated, Luzerne County’s home rule charter kept the controller to independently scrutinize its $260 million in spending, 1,400-plus workers and more than 50 departments providing services from tax assessment to 911 dispatch.

The public — not county employees or officials — pick the person who fills this $64,999 elected post for the next four years to be the fiscal watchdog.

Although an estimated 256,800 residents are eligible to vote on this decision, the number who narrowed down the controller finalists from four to two in Tuesday’s primaries was 31,000 — only 12 percent of the over-18 population.

“When you break it down and see the percentage of the population making the decision, that’s pretty troublesome,” said Barry Kauffman, executive director of the nonprofit citizen advocate group Common Cause Pennsylvania.

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/539857/Have-we-lost-all-desire-to-vote

Fiber Optics Headquarters To Occupy New 10-Story Building In Allentown

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

York-based United Fiber & Data will occupy a new 10-story building behind the Butz Corporate Center in the 800 block of Hamilton Street in Allentown.

The building will rise behind the existing Butz structures, and have three floors of parking garage and four stories of office space topped by three stories of apartments and condominiums.  It’s a long-planned third phase of the Butz headquarters, located across 9th Street from the PPL tower.

Details are being announced this morning.

From its new Allentown headquarters, United Fiber & Data will run a new 300-mile fiber optics network serving clients from New York to Virginia.  The company will occupy a just-completed Butz building on Hamilton until Butz completes the new structure in spring 2015.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-niz-butz-fiber-optic-20130517,0,5580943.story

Hispanic Growth Brings New State House Seat To Allentown

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

Residents in parts of the greater Lehigh Valley are going to need a new score card to keep track of who their state lawmakers are.

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld new legislative boundaries for the House and Senate as more geographically compact — and less politically gerrymandered — than a previous plan the justices rejected last year.

The new map goes into effect in the 2014 election.  It includes a House seat and Senate seat that are moving to the region from Allegheny County because of population declines there.

In the House, the 22nd District is moving to Allentown to reflect the city’s rising Hispanic population in its downtown and south side.  That newly created Allentown seat pushes Republican Justin Simmons, who has represented those city neighborhoods since 2010, into Emmaus, Upper Milford Township and Montgomery County.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-supreme-court-lawmaker-district-maps-20130508,0,4974852.story

DA: Man Shot Wife, Himself In Murder-Suicide At Lehigh Valley Hospital Hospice

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

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said a man shot and killed his wife then turned the gun on himself Tuesday afternoon in the hospice ward of Lehigh Valley Hospital at 17th and Chew streets.

The woman, 83, was found dead in her bed, Martin said.  The man was also found dead in the room.  The woman was in hospice care, according to Martin.  No one else was in the room.

Martin said at 1:03 p.m. three hospital staff on the fourth floor heard a gunshot coming from one of the hospice rooms. He said the incident was contained to the one patient room.

“I don’t have any more detail I am prepared to release,” Martin said about 2 p.m. at the hospital complex. “There were no eyewitnesses to this event.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-lehigh-valley-hospital-murder-suicide-20130319,0,2694606.story

Jobs Returning To The Lehigh Valley, Slowly

Lehigh Valley workers were hit harder by the recession and recovered more slowly from the damage than those in many comparable urban areas.

That finding and a slew of others are included in the fifth annual State of the Lehigh Valley research study that was rolled out Thursday at Lehigh University by the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium and Renew Lehigh Valley.

Researchers Christopher Ruebeck and Jamila Bookwala, who led the presentation, ran down regional employment figures between 2006 and 2012, finding that the Lehigh Valley’s job market held its own prior to the recession, comparing favorably with similar metro areas, with the nation as a whole and with our neighbors in New Jersey.

But the Valley’s unemployment rate rose more than comparable metro areas during the Great Recession, and those jobs have come back more slowly than in many comparable areas or the state or nation as a whole.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-lehigh-valley-jobs-20130228,0,7642549.story

Hellertown’s Dolce Patisserie Owner, Alan Pitotti, Wins $10,000 On Food Network’s ‘Sweet Genius’

English: Logo for Food Network (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chef Alan Pitotti, owner of Hellertown‘s Dolce Patisserie, won $10,000 on the Food Network on Thursday night and proved what his customers already know: He is a sweet genius.

Ron Ben-Isreal, host of the show that’s also called “Sweet Genius,” told Pitotti, “You are like me and belong in my world of desserts.”

It was high praise for Pitotti, who has watched the program since it began and admires Ben-Israel’s work.

But winning that $10,000 wasn’t easy for the pastry chef who revealed a side as sweet as his creations.  He told viewers he left a budding career in the pastry world’s limelight to return home to be with his mother after his father died unexpectedly.  It has been nearly five years since he began creating extraordinary chocolates and cakes in quiet little Hellertown.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-chef-wins-10000-20130118,0,4267715.story

PennDOT Unveils Upgrade To Interstate 78

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A major section of Interstate 78 in northern Berks County will be upgraded under a PennDOT plan unveiled Thursday night at a public meeting in Greenwich Elementary School.

The Krumsville Interchange Project, a $140 million initiative, is aimed at increasing safety on an 8-mile section of the interstate from Lenhartsville east to the Berks-Lehigh county line, officials said.

Ronald J. Young Jr., PennDOT spokesman, said construction is scheduled to begin in 2015 and last about three years.

“It’s designed to improve safety and emergency access,” Young said. “Fatalities on this section are 40 percent higher than average, and the crash rate is 71 percent higher.”

Read more:

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=444438

Appeals Court Sides With Macungie Mayor In Police Dispute

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

Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman has scored a victory in a dispute with Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin over control of the borough’s police department, the latest chapter in a costly and acrimonious legal battle.

In a state Commonwealth Court opinion issued Thursday, a seven-judge panel upheld a series of decisions by Lehigh County Judge Michele A. Varricchio, who ruled that Hoffman is the borough’s chief law enforcement officer and that he is entitled to unrestricted access to the police station and its files.

Hoffman was declaring an “across-the-board” victory in a case the judges characterized as “testy litigation” of questionable value to the borough.  Martin called part of the decision pertaining to “sensitive” police records access a victory for his office.

“Once again, I’ve been proven right,” Hoffman said. “I just wish it wouldn’t have gone this far.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-macungie-mayor-police-lawsuit-20130103,0,5955787.story

Upper Macungie Swears In 28 New Officers

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

Upper Macungie Township began a new era Friday when 28 officers were sworn in to become the first members of the township’s new police department.

Police Chief Edgardo Colon said the ceremony was more meaningful because the township planned the police department from the ground up. Formerly, the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police Department serviced the township, but Upper Macungie elected to break away and form its own department.

“Everybody is eager and ready and prepared to move forward and start going to work,” Colon said.

Nicklaus Morris, one of the officers sworn in on Friday, echoed Colon’s sentiments.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/parkland/mc-upper-macunge-new-police-department-20121228,0,2751181.story

Bethlehem City Council Passes $71 Million Budget With 7 Percent Tax Hike

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

In a budget where rising pension costs framed the debate, Bethlehem City Council on Thursday adopted a $71 million budget that includes a 7 percent property tax hike and other revenue including a tax on certain concert tickets.

But what it doesn’t include is $500,000 from a citywide trash hauler, a proposal by Mayor John Callahan that drew public backlash.

Instead, council cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from the budget and accepted Callahan’s suggestions on refinancing the landfill debt.  Council also accepted the administration’s updated revenue projections that show the earned income tax and casino fees as bringing in more money than when Callahan first released his budget proposal last month.

Councilman Robert Donchez acknowledged the budget isn’t perfect but a lot of work was put into it.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-bethlehem-council-passes-budget-20121221,0,6831964.story

‘Moving Stories’ Dance Concert Showcases Innovative Work By Student Choreographers In A Nationally Acclaimed Program

Logo of Muhlenberg College (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Allentown, Pa. — Muhlenberg College dancers tell their stories through movement, as the Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance Department presents “Moving Stories,” a showcase for dance works created by emerging choreographers, Nov. 15-17 in the College’s Baker Theatre.  Artistic director Karen Dearborn says the 10 choreographers selected for the program have created sophisticated and innovative dances, informed by their liberal arts education, and intended to probe and illuminate the human experience.

“‘Moving Stories’ is designed to inspire and challenge audiences,” Dearborn says.  ”These visually lush dances offer a view of our present and future through contemporary eyes.  It is always exciting to be enveloped in these kinetic and symbolic works of art — to be moved by the movement.”

The concert will showcase 50 dancers from the department’s dance program, which is among the most highly regarded programs of its kind.  The concert features costume and lighting designs by the department’s acclaimed professional staff.

The ten original dances include contemporary ballet, jazz styles and modern works that investigate perpetual motion, the fight or flight response, trust in relationships, and a neuroscience take on active/passive brain and body activity.  The dances range in tone from the comedic to the serious.

Muhlenberg College’s Theatre & Dance Department offers one of the top-rated college performance programs in the county, according to the Princeton Review rankings.  Muhlenberg is a liberal arts college of more than 2,200 students in Allentown, Pa., offering Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance.  It has been named annually among The Fiske Guide to Colleges’ top 20 small college programs in the United States, and the American College Dance Festival Association has consistently recognized dances premiered on the Muhlenberg stage for excellence in choreography and performance.

“Moving Stories” runs Nov. 15-17 in the Baker Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance, MuhlenbergCollege, 2400 Chew St., Allentown.

Performances are Thursday and Friday, Nov. 15-16, at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 17, at 2 and 8 p.m.  Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for patrons 17 and under, and $8 for students, faculty and staff of all LVAIC colleges.  For groups of 15 or more, tickets are $13.

Tickets and information are available at 484-664-3333 or http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/academics/theatre-dance/

In Post-Lower Macungie Development Boom, Talk Of ‘Smart Growth’

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

Jim Palmquist is one 66-year-old who has the time, motivation and legs to walk the nearly two-miles from his Lower Macungie home to the closest restaurant.

What he doesn’t have is a death wish.

With the proliferation of cars and trucks clogging roads between his Fresh Meadow Drive neighborhood and the closest Brookside Road businesses, walking can be a life-risking proposition, particularly because of the sporadic placement of sidewalks and walkways that go virtually nowhere.

“This is a township that is completely auto driven,” said Palmquist ,who recently did a thorough study of sidewalks in the area of Lower Macungie and Brookside roads. “You can’t walk to the Wawa. You can’t walk to the township building.”

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/eastpenn/mc-lower-macungie-smart-growth-20120930,0,2415679.story

Macungie Councilman’s Public Urination Case Going To Lehigh County Court

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

A Macungie man told a judge Monday that he and his 3-year-old son saw Borough Councilman Linn Walker’s penis as Walker urinated outside his house in July.

Walker’s defense attorney argued that the alleged act doesn’t amount to open lewdness, the crime Walker is accused of committing that day.  But District Judge Donna Butler said she heard enough evidence during a Monday afternoon preliminary hearing to send Walker’s case to Lehigh County Court.

“I don’t think we would have a whole lot of [media] here today if peeing in public was a normal thing to do,” Butler said in issuing her ruling, adding, “I don’t pee in public.”  She said a jury can decide whether Walker committed a lewd act as alleged.

Walker did not speak to reporters before or after the hearing at District Court in Emmaus.  Although he said after he was charged on Aug. 3 that he planned to step down from council, he has not submitted his resignation to the borough.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-macungie-councilman-walker-lewd-urination-20120827,0,182651.story

Developers Of Planned Lower Macungie Shopping Center ‘Trying To Bridge Financial Gap’

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

Developers of a proposed shopping center that would bring a Costco Warehouse and Target to Lower Macungie Township pitched their project to the East Penn School Board Monday night in anticipation of a future request for Tax Increment Financing.

Staten Island developer Timothy Harrison presented his vision for Hamilton Crossings – a $120 million, 580,000 square-foot shopping center proposed on 62 acres on both sides of Krocks Road between the Route 222 Bypass and Hamilton Boulevard. He told the school board he would be returning to ask the district to participate on a TIF committee.

Harrison and his partner Jeremy Fogel, executive director of The Goldenberg Group in Blue Bell, discussed financial hurdles involved with the site that are caused by geotechnical issues resulting from more than 70 years of use as an iron-ore mine. They told directors that much of the site consists of mine wash, a pancake batter-like substance that has to be removed and mixed with concrete or rock before it is returned to the ground. Harrison said the ground could not support buildings or a parking lot without remediation.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/eastpenn/mc-east-penn-lower-mac-tif-20120814,0,2514578.story

Macungie Councilman Will Resign After Being Charged With Urinating On Neighbor’s Porch

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

A Macungie borough councilman has decided to resign after being charged with open lewdness, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness for allegedly urinating on a neighbor’s porch Friday afternoon.

A police officer was on the unit block of W. Chestnut Street investigating complaints that Linn Walker, 70, had repeatedly urinated on neighboring properties when he observed Walker relieving himself in public about 3:30 p.m., according to Police Chief Edward Harry Jr..

“While the officer was speaking to [residents], Walker exited his home and proceeded to a neighbor’s home at 43 W. Chestnut St. where the officer and the residents witnessed him urinating on the porch pad of that home and a garden hose and gas can lying next to the porch,” Harry wrote in a news release.

Residents had reported seeing Walker urinate outside during daylight hours and in full view of them and their children on numerous occasions, Harry said in the release.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/police/mc-macungie-council-member-urinating-20120804,0,1829243.story

Hartford Reports $101 Million Loss

English: The skyline of Hartford, Connecticut, USA as seen from across the Connecticut River (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bloomberg – Hartford Financial Services, Inc., which employs more than 1,000 workers at an Upper Macungie Township call center, posted a second-quarter loss on the cost of retiring investments made by Allianz SE.

The net loss of $101 million, or 26 cents a share, compares with profit of $33 million, or 5 cents, a year earlier, according to a statement today from Hartford, an insurer based in the Connecticut city of the same name.  Chief Executive Officer Liam McGee struck a deal in April to pay about $2.4 billion to buy back debt and warrants that were issued to Allianz.

McGee is counting on profit from property and casualty policies as the insurer shrinks life operations.  He reached a deal in April to sell an annuities-distribution business and an agreement yesterday for American International Group Inc. to buy Woodbury Financial Services.

“Selling Woodbury is a favorable sign that Hartford is making progress on its divestiture plans,” Meyer Shields, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said in a note today.  ”Individual life and retirement plans will probably be more difficult to get done,” and those deals may be necessary to push the stock above $20 a share, he wrote.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-hartford-financial-20120802,0,62163.story