Easton News Archives

Easton police have collected DNA from a "person of interest" in an unsolved 1978 rape and murder in the city. via The Morning Call

Posted by Express-Times staff February 28, 2008 15:27PM Categories: Breaking News The Easton Police Department is investigating an incident involving a Shawnee Middle School student who was followed by a man ... via Easton Express-Times

Riegelsville residents must continue to send their children to the Easton Area School District, at least for now.

State Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak said the residents' secession plan to transfer their children to neighboring Palisades School District ''lacks merit.''

''There is no educational benefit to the proposed transfer,'' he said in a one-page letter dated Jan. 24 that was released Wednesday.

Based on Zahorchak's decision, Bucks County Judge Clyde W. Waite on Wednesday denied the residents' petition to leave Easton. Read more

“Defendant is in need of and is amenable to a program of supervision, care and rehabilitation which he could receive as a juvenile”

The lawyer for a former murder suspect is trying a second time to have the teenager's case moved to juvenile court. via Express-Times

The Easton Housing Authority voted 3-2 on Tuesday to send City Council a letter recommending it remove two commissioners for lack of attendance.

Authority Commissioner Brenda Nelson has missed eight monthly meetings in a 13-month period and Larry Hendershot seven in the same time frame.

According to meeting minutes during the same period, Commissioners Paul Felder, the Rev. George Martinez and Dawn Washington have missed fewer than four meetings combined.

Felder called Nelson and Hendershot ''irresponsible'' and voted for their removal. Read more

An off-duty Easton police officer was arrested for public drunkenness Sunday evening in Nazareth at the Vigilance Hose Fire Co. via Easton Express-Times

Two Lehigh Valley men have been arrested for using Internet chat rooms to sexually solicit people they believed to be young girls, state Attorney General Tom Corbett said today. via The Morning Call

The Easton Boys and Girls Club has until Sept. 1 to move its staff, members and its games, desks and other furniture from its building while it is being renovated.

The problem is, officials have no idea where they're going to relocate for up to two years.

The building, owned by the Easton Housing Authority and situated in the middle of the Delaware Terrace public housing development, would receive at least $700,000 in renovations as part of the authority's HOPE VI project.

A price tag from four years ago to refurbish the club on the South Side was $1.9 million. Read more

“Every time you make a purchase, you are voting with your dollars”

Before you make plans to spend that tax rebate, the Sustainable Business Network of the Lehigh Valley says consider the following: Dollars spent on locally owned independent businesses can benefit the Lehigh ... via Easton Express-Times

A Pen Argyl man is accused of raping a 21-year-old borough woman while she was unconscious in his apartment. via The Morning Call

NORWICH Commerce Chenango will host its annual Economic Forecast Breakfast Tuesday at the Canasawacta Country Club in Norwich. via Press & Sun-Bulletin

Commerce Chenango will host its annual Economic Forecast Breakfast Feb. 26 at the Canasawacta Country Club in Norwich. via Press & Sun-Bulletin

“I saw sparks flying off cars and it was bang, bang, bang. I said, 'That's shots.' ”

Posted by Express-Times staff February 18, 2008 19:38PM TIIM WYNKOPP A Wilson police officer looks for shell casings tonight in the 200 block of 16th Street. via Pennlive.com

Easton police are investigating a report of shots fired into a house in the city's West Ward this morning. via MergeDigital

An Easton man who allegedly posed and photographed two young girls performing simulated sexual acts will stand trial apart from his co-defendant, a judge ruled Friday. via Easton Express-Times

An Allentown man charged with causing his infant daughter's death by giving her adult-strength medication to make her sleep waived his right to a preliminary hearing before a Lehigh County district judge ... via The Morning Call

Area High School senior was killed in a crash Tuesday morning about a dozen blocks from her home when her car veered off Freemansburg Avenue in Bethlehem Township and struck a tree. via MergeDigital

A Wilson man was electrocuted and a co-worker jolted and burned when an aluminum pole they were erecting near an old barn in Forks Township touched an overhead power line Tuesday, township police said.

Neighbors ran to help Gary Rinker, 43, of the 100 block of S. 18th Street and began CPR, but their attempts to revive him failed. The accident happened about 10:45 a.m. at the barn at 4110 Richmond Road.

Rinker was pronounced dead about noon at Easton Hospital, said Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek. Read more

A 37-year-old Pennsylvania man died early this morning after the pickup truck he was driving ran off a road in Hunterdon County, slammed into a tree then caught fire, according to the State Police. via NJ.com

At a May 4, 2006, meeting of key players involved in the Riverwalk garage-condominium project, an Easton Parking Authority consultant provided grim news.

The project construction manager said ''the current design ... is over the budget of the Easton Parking Authority,'' the meeting minutes read.

In the months that followed, authority and city officials repeatedly ignored similar warnings, even as construction cost estimates continued to surge well beyond what was budgeted, records show. Read more

An Easton man who testified as a witness earlier this week in a murder trial was ordered to spend up to five years in state prison for having a sexual relationship with a young girl.

Wilberto Ortiz-Rodriguez, 21, of the 1300 block of S. Ninth Street told Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden on Friday he was sorry for being involved with the girl and that he was ''willing to do anything'' necessary to complete his sentence of 14 to 60 months. McFadden also fined Ortiz-Rodriguez $750 and ordered that he have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised contact with children. She also said Ortiz-Rodriguez must spend the first 60 days of any parole on a global positioning unit. He pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault in December. Read more

City police are looking for a man who exposed himself to several people on a LANTA bus in Easton on Jan. via The Morning Call

“There's nothing evident to determine an exact cause here”

It was his personality that Gay Elwell remembered most about Russ Flanagan. That's why Wednesday was such a sad day for Elwell and her staff in Easton district court. via Easton Express-Times

Posted by Sarah Cassi and Alyssa Young February 06, 2008 10:32AM Rivera The man who was driving the car in which Harold "Jerry" Figueroa Jr. via Easton Express-Times

Opening arguments are set to begin this afternoon in the homicide case against a Brooklyn man accused of shooting an Easton man to death over an alleged gun deal gone bad. via The Morning Call

“I just like seeing them smile”

Div., MND-B Making a positive impact, no matter how little, on the lives of Iraqis, is a big part of current operations by Coalition Forces in the Fahama region. via InterestAlert.com

The criminal trial for Cassey Weierbach, the 29-year-old former AIDS activist accused of faking the disease to bilk the state of more than $66,000 in medical assistance and other benefits, has been postponed so ... via The Morning Call

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. unveiled the first round of initiatives Thursday that he hopes will make the city ''clean and safe,'' the tag line of his administration.

The initiatives include a city hotline, police foot patrols in the West Ward and the launch of a private-sector funded program that will put uniformed people in the downtown to help with an array of issues.

''If we have a clean and safe city, people will want to come,'' Panto said to a room of more than a dozen people from various public and private groups. Read more

An apparent short circuit in a bathroom ceiling light fixture in a Spring Garden Street home caused a fire that displaced a mother and daughter Thursday afternoon, the Easton Fire Department said. via The Morning Call