Local History

Central Moravian Church hosted a joint service Sunday with congregations based at three other historic Moravian settlements that recently became the first joint UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Joe Kovacs, a Nazareth-area native and Bethlehem Catholic grad, is competing in his third Olympic Games as a member of Team USA. The shot put finals are Saturday afternoon.

Easton officials paid respect Saturday to 43 African Americans whose grave sites have been built over. The city expects to honor their memory with a new memorial in the months to come.

The Buffalo Soldiers are set to ride from Allentown to Easton's Nesquehoning Street Park in remembrance of the men interred at a forgotten site as part of the "Forgotten Soldiers Ride" on Saturday.

Bethlehem joins 25 other places in the United States as a World Heritage Site — an effort that has been decades in the making and, advocates hope, bolsters historic preservation and tourism in the Lehigh Valley.

A vote in favor would put Historic Moravian Bethlehem among 25 other sites nationally and 1,199 around the world, including the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef.

South Whitehall Township plans to put a referendum to create an open space tax on the May 20 primary in 2025.

The fire, which broke out overnight and sent plumes of smoke skyward, is under investigation, said Allen Township Fire Capt. Mike Miller on Saturday.

A home on Spring Street in West Bethlehem could be up for demolition to make room for senior living units. The Diocese of Allentown owns the property and could replace it with a four-unit, 4,100-square-foot complex.

The 65-mile, day-long train ride will depart from Nesquehoning, Carbon County, to the Vosburg Tunnel, a 3,900-foot former Lehigh Valley Railroad tunnel north of Tunkhannock, Wyoming County.

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission on Thursday unanimously approved the sale of PPL Tower in Allentown to Wilkes-Barre-based D&D Realty Group. The sale comes more than four months after PPL Corp. announced that its subsidiary, PPL Electric Utilities, had reached a tentative $9 million agreement to sell the building to D&D Realty Group.

The 37th Annual Blueberry Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, with live music, food, kids activities, outdoor games, and of course, blueberries. New this year is the Blueberry Tavern Tent, serving centuries-old tipples for tasting and taking.