If you found the news of 2024 too fast-paced, too breakneck, too exhausting, then 2025 was hardly the time to catch a breather.
Trade wars, assassinations of political figures on both sides of the aisle, nonstop government turmoil, and the loss of such luminaries as George Foreman, Ozzy Osbourne, Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Jeff Stone, Udo Kier, Diane Ladd, D’Angelo and so, so many others. This reporter bids good riddance to 2025.
But before shoving the outgoing year into the dusty boxes of your memory, why not join The Morning Call as it looks back at its biggest stories of 2025? This year’s summary includes the mundane, the controversial, the tragic and the absurd, from chicken coop battles to ICE arrests to, of course, warehouses.
Politics in 2025: History repeating itself
Visits from leaders in President Donald Trump’s administration, such as Medicare administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and Vice President JD Vance, reaffirmed the importance of the Lehigh Valley in national electoral politics, which remained as heated and divisive as ever with the next midterm elections now on the horizon.
Trump’s second presidency has faced the same level of opposition that it did the first time around. Perhaps the most notable were the “No Kings” protests, held in June and October.
People march toward downtown Bethlehem during a “No Kings” protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the Rose Garden in Bethlehem. The rally, one of several in the Lehigh Valley, was part of the nationwide “No Kings” demonstrations coinciding with President Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
In March, with many federal assistance programs already on the chopping block, Democrats of the Lehigh Valley held a packed People’s Town Hall where they called on Republicans to oppose these cuts and attacked the Republican establishment. At the same time, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican, held a town hall over the telephone with his constituents.
While controversy and division swirled like a funnel cloud at the national level of government and politics, some top local government stories were surprisingly grounded. This includes the story of a Forks Township woman who briefly found herself in bureaucratic limbo after she was informed that the chicken coop she’d received approval for years earlier actually wasn’t permitted under township ordinances. Fortunately, for her, she was given the all clear.
Disgraced commissioner, noose hoax and Charlie Kirk fallout
The hits kept coming in local and county-level politics, with several elected officials in the Lehigh Valley left with egg on their faces.
Zachary Cole-Borghi, a Lehigh County Commissioner and former Bethlehem employee, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in August after he was allegedly found to have a pound of the drug. Authorities said the arrest was part of an investigation that spanned four states, although details still have not been made public.
Cole-Borghi went on to win reelection as county commissioner; he has has denied the charges, calling them politically motivated.
Earlier in the year, a noose left on the desk of a Black Allentown employee in January that sparked protests against the city, calls for accountability by activists and an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation turned out to have been planted by that employee.
LaTarsha Brown, an Allentown School Board Member and formerly of the city’s Community and Economic Development Department, ended up facing charges of making false reports and fabricating physical evidence, both misdemeanors. Brown was admitted into an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program for first-time offenders for two years and ordered to pay $1,985 to the state police for DNA testing as well as court costs.
In Northampton County in September, a County Council member and Easton Area School District nursing supervisor ended up in hot water over comments she made following the assassination of activist and right-wing political figure Charlie Kirk.
People attend a candelight vigil in memory of slain conservative political activist Charlie Kirk on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, at Water Street Park in Hellertown. (Jane Therese/Special to The Morning Call)
Kelly Keegan allegedly called Kirk a “monster” and went on to say his “wife and kids are better off without him as is the rest of the world” in a Facebook post. These comments led to protests and calls for her resignation from the county council and firing by the EASD, neither of which occurred.
Fire, ICE and homeless camps
No one was hurt in the fire, but the extensive damage, which extended throughout most of the building, left 135 people displaced, as well as a Starbucks, El Jefe’s Taqueria and Mister Lee’s Noodles and Social Still distillery, which all temporarily closed or required extensive remodeling due to the fire.
The roof of the Five 10 Flats apartment complex at 510 E. Third St. in south Bethlehem is heavily damaged by fire Friday, May 2, 2025. (Rich Rolen/Special to The Morning Call)
In the fallout, the Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter of the American Red Cross helped displaced residents and opened a temporary evacuation center. Residents of Bethlehem also rallied around those displaced and created a relief fund that raised tens of thousands of dollars.
This wasn’t the end of the troubles associated with Five10 Flats. On June 11, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 17 employees of a construction company repairing the building.
The employees had been determined by ICE to be in violation of U.S. immigration laws, and though the city had been provided a courtesy notification from ICE, city leadership said they were troubled by the raid. Mayor J. William Reynolds called the event tragic and many city residents spoke out before city council against the arrests.
People march holding a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe and signs on Thursday, June 12, 2025, during a protest near Five 10 Flats in South Side Bethlehem. The protest was organized by Lehigh Valley Immigration Emergency Response Network. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
At the same time, the city said it was in the dark about what happened and why, with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security not immediately responding to requests for more information. It wasn’t until about 9 days after the incident that ICE shared details. Those arrested included 13 Venezuelan citizens, two Mexican citizens, one Ecuadorian citizen and one Nicaraguan citizen
This incident was just one of several high-profile ICE arrests that occurred in the Lehigh Valley in 2025 as Trump’s return to the White House has spurred a return to the zealous immigration enforcement that occurred under his first term.
Earlier in the year, Luis Gualdron-Gualdron, 22, a Venezuelan national and alleged member of the street gang Tren de Aragua, was arrested in Northampton County before being released into ICE custody. And not long after the Five10 Flats arrests, it was revealed that a Bethlehem man who had legally entered the country and had an open asylum case had been detained by ICE for an extended period and decided to return to his native country of Colombia rather than remain in detention.
The latter part of the year was marked by multiple homeless camps being cleared out in Allentown and Bethlehem. The first public calls that camps be cleared came from Norfolk Southern, requesting Bethlehem police remove an encampment along the Lehigh River, though nothing came of this until mid-December.
City trucks collect and dispose of pallets, tarps and other personal belongings Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, at the Jordan Creek homeless encampment in Allentown during a sweep by city officials to clear residents out of the site. (Monica Cabrera/The Morning Call)
In October, concerns expressed by the city fire department led to multiple camps being cleared out along the Jordan Creek. City officials said the needs of those displaced were addressed with “compassion and collaboration,” but these evictions spurred backlash from unhoused people and their advocates, who said alternative housing wasn’t being provided. City Council member Ce-Ce Gerlach, who herself experienced homelessness, said she wanted the city to handle this differently.
Several weeks later, a fire broke out in a homeless encampment on Kline Island near the Lehigh County Authority Wastewater Treatment Plant. Multiple municipalities concerned that evictions and displacements of homeless people could lead to them moving into their communities led to some looking at ordinances about outdoor camping.
Jefferson and LVHN post-merger
The announcement at the end of 2023 that Jefferson and Lehigh Valley Health Network were looking to combine and the subsequent merger that occurred in 2024 were some of the biggest stories of those years. As the new massive network grew into itself in 2025, it experienced success and fumbles.
Despite local concerns that the Lehigh Valley would be second to Philadelphia, Jefferson leadership has made commitment to spend $900 million over the next three years on facilities in the Lehigh Valley. A major expansion to the emergency department of Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg is underway, and the network opened the Health Center at Tower Place and the Women’s Health Center in Bethlehem over the summer.
Jefferson has also brought chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy and liver transplants to the Lehigh Valley.
At the same time, it hasn’t been all champagne and roses. In October, amid financial challenges, Jefferson laid off about 1% of its workforce, about 700 employees. A credit ratings group noted that despite possessing a respectable market share in the regions it serves, and a healthy student population, as well as continued research, Jefferson recorded operating losses of $479 million in fiscal year 2025.
And a significant amount of these losses were due to Jefferson Health Plans, Jefferson’s noncommercial insurance marketplace, which was one of the big selling points leaders of both Jefferson and LVHN pushed before the merger. Though Jefferson CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione said in August that they were pleased with the growth of Jefferson Health Plans into the Lehigh Valley, the program lost $170 million in 2025.
Runaway teen, twins left in the cold and a table surfing death
Endangered Lehigh Valley teens dominated far too many stories in 2025.
Early in the year, teenager Enci “Aubrey” Wu’s disappearance drew attention and support for her family from across the Lehigh Valley.
Wu, at the time 14 years old and described by her parents as an intelligent and ambitious girl with a rebellious streak, left her family’s Palmer township home through her bedroom window on the evening of Jan. 10. She wouldn’t be seen again by her family or authorities until April.
Around the same time that Wu went missing, a pair of twin boys were freed from alleged abuse at the hands of their parents. Law enforcement was tipped off by a neighbor after one of the boys was allegedly forced by his stepfather and mother, Joshua Dechant, 36, and Tracy Dechant, 42, to stand outside naked in frigid weather.
Trooper Steven M. Potynski Jr., Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara Moyer and Senior Deputy District Attorney Sarah K. Heimbach stand with Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan during a news conference Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, at the Lehigh County Courthouse. Holihan announced Joshua Dechant, 36, and Tracy Dechant, 42, were charged Sunday with endangering the welfare of minors and sent to Lehigh County Jail under $75,000 bail each. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
When admitted to the hospital, the boys were 53 pounds and 55 pounds, respectively, meaning they were about 90 pounds underweight. Additionally, they had bruises and sores, and their bones could be seen through their skin, according to testimony. The boys struggled to walk short distances.
According to Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan’s office, the boys were denied food and water to the point they developed scurvy; forced to walk around the home naked; forced to stand outside naked in freezing cold; and forced to sleep on the floor with only a single blanket to share. An older sister told prosecutors that she’d been subjected to similar conditions.
In June, another teen suffered a tragic fate. David Nagy, 17, a student at Freedom High School, was killed June 1 while table surfing with five other teens. Nagy was sitting on an upside-down folding table pulled by a car, replicating a social media trend, early in the morning, when he was whipped into a parked car, suffering blunt force trauma to his head that killed him
As a result, the driver of the vehicle, also 17 years old, was charged with involuntary manslaughter by Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta’s office, which sought to make an example of the teen and hopefully prevent others from replicating their dangerous behavior. Baratta said prosecutors would pursue a nonprison sentence if the teen admitted culpability and they would also be able to have their records expunged.
Business highlights of 2025
The top business stories of the year included the strong possibility of data centers for artificial intelligence and crypto mining coming to the Lehigh Valley; the last Rite Aid stores in the Lehigh Valley or elsewhere closing; and the closure of several major warehouses.
The Air Products sign at the company’s former headquarters on Hamilton Boulevard in Upper Macungie Township. A data center has been proposed for the site. (Morning Call file photo)
The first of the announced closures was United Natural Foods in North Whitehall Township June, followed by an August announcement for Supply Chain Solutions’ warehouse in Upper Macungie, Allen Distribution’s Upper Macungie warehouse in October and a major announcement in the final moments of the year from Giant that it would be closing its fulfillment center in Coopersburg, as well as others in Philadelphia, Lancaster, Willow Grove and Chester County. These closures affected nearly 1,100 jobs.