This week in Lehigh Valley history: Quadruple killer Michael Ballard sentenced to death in 2011; racial strife at Easton High in 1971 (May 16-22)
Updated 6:41 AM; affiliate The Express-Times and its predecessors from 10, 25, 50, 100 and 150 years ago. These stories were pulled from microfilm at the Easton Area Public Library. The original text is edited for clarity and length.
This week in Lehigh Valley history, in 2011, Michael Eric Ballard was sentenced to death for the brutal 2010 slaying of four people in a Northampton home.
Bill Cosby’s crimes against women are widely known now, but in 1996 the comedian was a popular celebrity and gave a local graduation address.
Do you get to vote for a Lehigh Valley district judge? A guide to who’s running where.
Updated 10:05 AM;
Voters across the Lehigh Valley are choosing a number of judicial seats in the May 18 primary, including magisterial district judges.
District judges handle preliminary arraignments and preliminary hearings in criminal cases to determine if the cases will move on to county court, as well as landlord-tenant disputes, traffic offenses and civil actions where the amount claimed does not exceed $12,000.
District judges serve six-year terms, and are paid an annual salary of $93,338. Some incumbents are running unopposed this year, and incumbents are identified on this list by an “I” after their name.
5 candidates fight for 4 seats in the Bethlehem City Council race
Posted May 10, 2021
There are five candidates in the Bethlehem City Council race vying for four open seats in the May 18 primary.
Incumbents Olga Negron and Council President Adam Waldron are not running for another term. Councilman J. William Reynolds is running for mayor against former city administrator Dana Grubb for the Democratic nod, and former Lehigh County Administrator John Kachmar is running unopposed as a Republican. If Reynolds wins his bid for mayor, it would create a fifth opening on council. His term expires in 2024.
The predominantly female slate of council candidates means that 2021 just might go down as the year of the woman in Bethlehem’s local political history.