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With temperatures dipping well below freezing tonight it can be pretty painful just to walk outside.
Can you imagine living out there?
Today volunteers headed out to check-in on the homeless in Northampton County as part of an annual count.
It's a mission that evokes a lot of emotion for these volunteers.
“Feels like I am having a heart attack," said Mike Sciascia. "It bothers me so much to see people living like this."
This group is walking around Easton looking for homeless camps.
It's part of the nationwide, Point in Time, count to determine the size of the homeless population.
Numbers that non-profits use to get federal grant money to help the homeless community.
“It doesn’t actually work that way," said Tyler Rogers, from Safe Harbor Easton. "Where if we go out and find 40 people this year and we found 22 last year that we will get twice the funding."
It's tough to imagine some of these places many people drive right past.
This place is on the south side of Easton.
The 25 year old man works full time, but has to live here, according to Rogers.
Little heat, plenty of blankets, and no running water.
“Try to show people in Easton what’s in their backyard, what’s right underneath their nose, what’s something out there that they don’t even realize,” said Rogers.
This is just one of the places Rogers and volunteers have come to, but the question still remains, why would a person choose to stay out here when there is a shelter miles away.
“You’re never going to end homelessness," added Rogers. "Ten percent of that population wants to be out there. I can take you to six veterans that are out there that’s I’ve known for the last eight years that are living outside. They don’t want the help.”
The goal is to get a count, offer help, and to change the way people view the homeless because some say not all of them are from the wrong side of the tracks.
“They think most of them are just drunks, druggies, whatever and that’s not true," added Sciascia. "I mean Mr. bank executive today can be right here tomorrow.”
Some Allentown residents were forced out of their homes today because of a gas leak.
We spotted UGI crews at the scene, in the 600 block of North New Street.
The leak was first reported around 2 pm Wednesday.
No injuries have been reported.
We're told about ten homes were evacuated as a precaution.
Officials said those residents are now back in their homes and the street has since re- opened.
Police in Northampton County are also warning residents to be on alert after a robbery.
Police said it happened yesterday in Palmer Township, at a home in the 2,700 block of Oregon Street.
According to police, two men told the homeowner they were there to inspect pipes in the basement.
A second homeowner then found two more men rummaging through their things.
The suspects reportedly took off with cash and jewelry and fled in a black van.
The thieves are described as Hispanic men, in their forties.
Anyone with information on this crime should call police.
The owner of The Americus in downtown Allentown is postponing its opening.
Part of the Hamilton Street hotel was supposed to open in February, after several years of renovations.
Now, owner Albert Abdouche, said he is delaying the launch, until mid-Spring.
We're told the hotel is now scheduled to open by June at the latest.
Abdouche is not revealing a specific reason for the delay.
We're told there is still a lot of work to do.
Jurors stepped out of the courtroom and onto a bus to view the scenes crucial to the high-profile case for a man who was once one of America's most wanted fugitives.
Day three of the case ended with jurors riding through downtown Reading. They were taken to the parking lot where Barbara Torres was shot and killed on Sept. 12, 2005.
Then, it was off to the parking lot on Poplar Street, where Barbie's white Cadillac Escalade was found.
Prosecutors are trying to convict Miguel Torres of first degree murder more than nine years after his estranged wife was shot and killed outside her work.
Jonathan Kurland, chief deputy district attorney, alleged Torres dumped the SUV in the lot moments after the cold-blooded killing, then fled the city in a van.
Eric Huber, owner of Huber Auto Rental, which was located in Lititz, Lancaster County, testified Torres rented a 1999 Chevrolet Express the morning of the murder. Huber said Torres provided a driver's license, proof of insurance and a major credit card to pay for the van, which was equipped with a bed.
"He said he was going on vacation," said Huber, who told the court the vacation was set to last 21 days.
Torres left his Lexus in the rental store's lot and said a family member would pick it up, Huber testified.
The van was found several months later, in 2006, at LaGuardia Airport in New York. A port authority officer told the court the van was abandoned and put in the impound lot. The Reading Police Department was contacted, and they investigated the scene at the airport in April 2006.
Four days after the murder, investigators with the Berks County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force responded to a Walmart near Huber Auto Rental. An investigator testified several items were purchased at the store with Torres' credit card a few hours before Barbie was killed. The investigator said Torres was seen on surveillance video buying duct tape, rope, cable ties, a knife and Vaseline.
During cross examination, Torres' attorney, Robert Kirwan, asked the investigator why they did not obtain a copy of the video. The investigator responded, "We were attempting to find him."
The jury also listened to hours of testimony from the victim's loved ones, who painted Torres as an abusive and possessive husband.
Raul Rivera, Barbie's stepfather, testified he was with Torres, driving together and looking for Barbie after she moved out of the couple's home.
"He pulled out a pistol and said, 'When we get there, if I see her with someone else, I'll kill him and I'll kill her,"' Rivera testified through a translator.
Kirwan grilled Rivera on his testimony and fired back this claim was never reported to police until almost nine years later.
Diana Rivera-O'Bryant, Barbie's aunt, told the court Barbie was upset and discussed their marital problems with her. She said her niece told her Mikey gets jealous, and one time he was so mad he put a gun in her mouth.
"If you ever try to leave me or leave this house again without my permission, I'm going to blow your brains out," Rivera-O'Bryant testified.
Rivera-O'Bryant said she tried to persuade her niece to file a protection from abuse order, but Barbie said she didn't want to because of Torres' stance in the community. He was a real-estate agent.
Kirwan fired questions at Rivera-O'Braynt about Barbie's affair with a married man and asked her why she waited nine years to tell police about it.
Next on the stand was Barbie's sister, Alicia Lebron. Tears rolled down her cheeks when she saw a picture of her sister. Lebron told the jury she went to the courthouse with Barbie a few days before she was murdered to file a PFA. She said Barbie was unable to fill it out because she was shaking, so she filled it out for her.
Lebron also read a letter aloud to the court, which was written in Miguel Torres' handwriting. The letter was written a few weeks before the murder, and after Barbie filed for divorce. The letter was found in their Exeter Township home.
"I hope you can all forgive me. Pray for me. I hope God forgives me," she read. "I'm sorry for what I've done. I couldn't take it anymore."
Torres went on to profess his love for Barbie. He said he felt alone in their home by himself and slept with her blouse to be close to her.
"Barbie, before I go any further, I want you to know I love you with all my heart. I need you. I miss you so much," Lebron read.
During cross examination, Kirwan told the court Barbie did not tell her sister everything, including the affair.
Lebron gave Torres a death stare after she walked off the stand.
Torres spent years on the run. He became the target of an international manhunt until his arrest in Italy in 2013.
Testimony will resume Thursday morning.
A business owner in Allentown said she was targeted by thieves pretending to work for PPL Electric Utilities. Joni Landry said they threatened to shut off service if she didn’t give them money.
When the telephone rang at Landry's salon, the caller told her unless she bought a Green Dot Card and loaded it with $260, which was the amount of her PPL bill, the electricity at the business would be shut off.
"They have guys out in the field right now that are getting ready to turn off electric," Landry said.
She said she rushed to pay PPL, but the man called back and insisted she needed the Green Dot Card transfer, as well.
Landry said it all happened so fast, and as quickly as her money was gone, she realized she would never see it again.
"As soon as I walked in the door, it was like it all hit me," said Landry.
69 News decided to call the number.
"Thank you for calling Pennsylvania Power and Light," the caller said.
We spoke with the person Landry had talked with earlier this week, who called himself Jonathan Smith. He said Landry's account was paid in full.
"It says here your account was paid already ma'am," he said. "It's paid already. I have a confirmation number here of a payment."
We asked if this was PPL, and he claimed he was with PPL.
69 News called back.
"This is Chandi with 69 News in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and I'm sitting here with Joni, and she tells me you have some money from her from a Green Dot Card?
This time, the caller denied he was with PPL and claimed to be a collection agency that works with the company and then quickly hung up the phone.
Joe Nixon, who works for PPL, said he knows all too well about the Green Dot Card tricks.
"They are falsely told they have an overdue balance," Nixon said. "They are being threatened with shutoffs. First of all, that's not how PPL Electric Utilities conducts business."
Nixon said the company never accepts prepaid cards, and he wants everyone to know to call PPL first to make sure this doesn't happen to you.
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A man working on a car inside a garage in Berks County died after being overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said.
Emergency crews responded shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday to the 200 block of Owens Place in Exeter Township.
They found Jonathan Favinger, 42, unresponsive inside the garage, authorities said. He was rushed to Reading Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, according to the coroner, who ruled his death an accident.
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While challenges remain on Reading's road to recovery, the city's future is bright.
Mayor Vaughn Spencer delivered that reassuring message in his fourth State of the City address, streamed live on WFMZ.com, Wednesday afternoon.
A large audience of city and community leaders gathered for the speech at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Entertainment Square.
"The city of Reading is riding a comeback," Spencer said. "The fiscal state of the city is the strongest it's been in the last decade."
Spencer singled out Al Boscov for his commitment to the city's rebirth and his decision to hire Craig Poole as general manager of the DoubleTree Hotel, which is currently under construction in the 700 block of Penn Street, across from the Santander Arena.
Despite the success, Spencer said challenges remain, including a 2019 deadline for the city to exit the state's Act 47 recovery program.
Police are searching for the man who robbed a bank in downtown Reading on Wednesday.
The holdup happened around 2:15 p.m. at the National Penn Bank branch at 21 N. Sixth St.
The robber handed a teller a note and demanded money, said police, who did not disclose whether he got away with any cash.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Crime Alert Berks County at 877-373-9913. A cash reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
