Becoming mostly cloudy and a little more humid with a few showers or thunderstorms later in the day; still cool for late June. .

Mostly cloudy with a few showers and thunderstorms likely.

Here's a look at what's happening around the area.

Bam! And just like that, Emeril Lagasse's name was taken off two restaurants at the Wind Creek Bethlehem casino. Emeril's Chop House is now the Chop House at Wind Creek, and Burgers and More by Emeril has been renamed Urban Table. The casino's in-house culinary team will run the restaurants. Lagasse, the celebrity chef, is known for his restaurants, television appearances and charity, the Emeril Lagasse Foundation.

The Brass Rail is set to close for good Saturday. The Lehigh Street, Allentown, restaurant will be demolished to make way for a Royal Farms convenience store. "The Rail" opened in Allentown more than 90 years ago and tradition holds that it introduced the cheesesteak sandwich to the city. The Brass Rail's Hamilton Street location closed in 2001.

A space-age Dunkin' has opened at 1174 MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township. The upgraded Dunkin' (the name Dunkin Donuts switched to in 2019) has a tap system, a drive-thru lane for mobile app customers and digital kiosks for ordering. The "next-generation" Dunkin' outlet also has beverages not found at the chain's other coffee and doughnut shops.

The parent company of Dunkin' is Inspire Brands, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol QSR. The Whitehall restaurant will hold a grand opening celebration on June 18.

Bowery Farming has opened its newest indoor farm on former Bethlehem Steel land. Bowery's Bethlehem farm is on Feather Way near Interstate 78 on former industrial land. New York-based Bowery grows crops such as herbs and lettuce in a controlled, pesticide-free environment, with plants in stacks from floor to ceiling.

Community Bike Works is expanding to a new site on Spruce Street in Easton and to a spot near Franklin Park in Allentown. The Allentown-based organization teaches youngsters to fix used bicycles, which they get for free for completing the program.

HNL Lab Medicine is opening at Mt. Bethel Plaza and holding a ribbon-cutting Thursday. The events start at 11 a.m. at 2165 Mt. Bethel Highway in Upper Mount Bethel Township and conclude at 1 p.m. HNL provides laboratory services. Patients may check in online, though HNL says no appointments are needed and wait times are usually less than 15 minutes.

The event is free, pre-registration is recommended via the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce website.

Bojangles, a popular quick-serve restaurant chain that specializes in Cajun-seasoned fried chicken, will open its first Lehigh Valley area location – and just second in Pennsylvania, officials say.

It will be in a building taking shape at 85 S. West End Blvd. (Route 309), Quakertown, according to Ganaway Contracting, which is building the structure. The site – across the road and slightly south of John’s Plain and Fancy Diner – previously held another building that was home to various restaurants over the years, including, most recently, Tom’s All American BBQ which opened in 2019. Ganaway said construction started on March 16, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 1.

Bojangles is a contestant in the so-called "chicken wars," the battle for market share in the chicken-sandwich market. Its menu includes hand-breaded bone-in chicken, boneless chicken, fried and grilled chicken sandwiches and Cajun chick filet served between biscuits. Side orders include fries, dirty rice, Cajun pinto beans, macaroni and cheese, and more. Salads and family meals are also available, and biscuits and breakfast items are sold all day.

Bojangles was founded in North Carolina and has 780 locations. Pennsylvania’s first Bojangles is in Muhlenberg Township, Berks County.

Honeygrow, a Philadelphia-based fast-casual restaurant that specializes in stir-frys, salads and its signature better-for-you sweet treat, honeybar, opened its new location in Quakertown on Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with founder and Chief Executive Officer Justin Rosenberg. The eatery, at 69 N. West End Blvd. at Quakertown Shopping Center, will create 45 jobs.

Honeygrow is a technology-forward fast-casual restaurant, with customers placing orders on its app or in-restaurant kiosk. Curb-side pick-up and delivery also is available through the app and third-party delivery partners. Honeygrow opened its first restaurant in 2012 at 16th and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia. Its 27 locations now span from Boston to northern Virginia and west to Pittsburgh.

The Fine Wine & Good Spirits store in Quakertown is moving across the street for a few months to make way for renovations. The Quakertown Plaza liquor outlet next to Joanne Fabric closed May 30 for renovations and will reopen later this year. Until then, a temporary wine and liquor store will be open across Route 309 in the Trainers Corner Shopping Center.

Wyomissing Restaurant and Bakery has changed its ownership and leadership, but kept it in the family. Usman "Oz" Chaudhry said he and his brother, Rizwan "Riz" Chaudhry, on Wednesday took over ownership of the eatery at 1245 Penn Ave. from his cousin, Hamid Chaudhry. Oz Chaudhry said he and his brother have worked with Hamid Chaudhry since 2008, helping him manage three Dairy Queens at in Kenhorst, in Exeter Township, and in the Berkshire Mall in Wyomissing, as well as the Lukoil gas station at Fourth and Penn avenues in West Reading and the Mustang Grill restaurant in Kenhorst.

The restaurant, open 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, is known for its weekday breakfast buffet and daily and weekend brunch buffets. It also offers takeout specials, including fried chicken. Oz Chaudhry said there will not be any immediate changes at the restaurant.

A longtime mainstay Italian restaurant on Route 222 that faced being closed because it found itself in the path of progress has been given a road to the future by township zoners.

The Maxatawny Township Zoning Hearing Board on Tuesday voted unanimously to grant Valentino's restaurant, which has operated more than 40 years at 15492 Kutztown Rd. (Route 222) outside Kutztown, variances from zoning ordinances regarding off-street parking, visibility at intersections and more. Without those variances, Valentino's wouldn't have been able to continue doing business, attorney Sal Folino, representing the restaurant, told the board. That's because the restaurant will have a large part of its parking lot taken by PennDOT to replace the traffic-light intersection at Long Lane with a roundabout and to widen the roads. It's part of a long-term project to add traffic lanes to the heavily-traveled Route 222 in Berks County, and to change several of its intersections to roundabouts, which PennDOT said is more efficient for handling voluminous traffic.

Valentino's was built by the Folino family in the early 1980s after Rodolfo Folino and his wife, Lidia, immigrated to the U.S. from their hometown in Calabria, Italy, according to the restaurant's website.

An Allentown developer is proposing a warehouse that could be Maxatawny Township's largest, to be located just more than a mile from another planned warehouse that has drawn controversy. Township officials said the new plan faces an uphill battle — literally, with the property's grading a significant question, but also because of multiple other concerns.

Plans for Maxatawny Industrial/310 Hilltop Road envision a 1,004,180-square-foot warehouse on 128.2 acres of what now largely is farmland on Hilltop Road — a narrow, sleepy country road just 0.6 of a mile off Route 222, near the Kutztown bypass.

The developer, 23 Max LLC of Allentown, says the project would have 200 employees, though notes on the township reviews of the plans note "that value appears low as compared with other warehouse and distribution facilities constructed in this regional area."

23 Max submitted a preliminary subdivision and land development plan application to the township on March 31. The township's planning commission reviewed it this month. Commission member David Sobotka said the project needs "several significant variances" from township zoning ordinances. Planning officials were told the plan includes widening Hilltop Road from the project to Route 222, but not up the road from the project, where it significantly inclines. Plans show trucks turning into and out of the warehouse driveways only below the incline.

After more than a year of construction, Lehigh Valley Health Network is scheduled to open its first hospital in Carbon County on Monday. Before it does, the new Lehigh Valley Hospital-Carbon will hold a community open house from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the campus, at 2128 Blakeslee Blvd. Drive East (Route 443) in Mahoning Township, near Lehighton. The public will be able to take tours of the new facility, local food trucks, giveaways and entertainment for the whole family. The 100,578-square-foot hospital will officially open with a ribbon-cutting at 1 p.m. Monday.

LVHN-Carbon broke ground in December 2020. Billed as a “full-service community hospital,” it will have a 24/7 staffed emergency room and higher-level care including internal medicine. There will be two surgical suites, a special procedures room and an imaging department featuring CT, MRI, ultrasound and traditional X-rays. All 20 of its in-patient rooms will be private.

A health center next door will have a seven-bed infusion center, cardiac rehab center and a physical rehabilitation program. Lehigh Valley Physician Group practices will house its ENT, OB-GYN, cardiology, urology, GI, orthopedics, spine and general surgery practices at the center.

Kunai and Falguni “Pinky” Patel might seem to be going against conventional wisdom, choosing a downtown location for their new Shenandoah Pharmacy, which also is family-run rather than a chain. But government and business officials are glad they are and told them so during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday.

Kunai Patel, who is a pharmacist, said the decision was easy. The location is inside a convenience store which the couple opened in 2013 when they first moved to the area from Reston, Virginia. Since then, they’ve opened convenience stores in Bangor, Hamburg, Stroudsburg, Ringtown, Scranton and Marietta, Lancaster County.

The building, at 33 N. Main St., previously was a Rite Aid, then a Dollar Bazaar and a One Stop convenience store before the Patels bought it.

A Dollar General store proposed at 201 Pottsville St. in Port Carbon, near the Mechanicsville line, came before the Schuylkill County Zoning Hearing Board on Wednesday. The board is expected to announce a decision at its next meeting July 6.

JLM Real Estate Investments, based near Schuylkill Haven, wants an exception to the required off-street parking. The request, if granted, would allow the store to have 34 parking spots instead of the required 45 for that area. The site, owned by Richland Properties, is a former industrial building next to a park and playground.

A Palmerton-area business that started in a garage has been acquired for $20 million. Chart Industries, a Georgia-based global maker of equipment for the cryogenics and gas industries, bought Fronti Fabrications, a family-run Carbon County business. Chart said the acquisition will expand its manufacturing capacity for equipment that handles extremely cold materials including liquid hydrogen and helium. Chart's customer base includes the liquid natural gas (LNG) industry.

A remodeled Dunkin’ will be unveiled Monday at 400 Terry Rich Blvd. in St. Clair, Schuylkill County. This Dunkin', a Bowers Donuts Inc. store, will hold a ribbon-cutting celebration starting at 10:45 a.m. The ownership will present a check to the Schuylkill YMCA during its opening.

Aviridi, a development-stage company that will use fermentation to create products used in the food, pharmaceutical and other industries, is expanding in Montgomery County. Earlier this year, Aviridi bought a Norristown property to serve as its headquarters, and this week, it acquired a 26,000-square-foot Pottstown building.

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· Terrain on the Parkway offers 160 new 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments at 1625 Lehigh Parkway East in Allentown. Other amenities include a club room, fitness center, conference rooms and package lockers. Monthly rent starts at $1,575 with three-bedroom, two-bath units starting at $2,540.

· The former site of the flagship Hess's department store will soon be home to another company with local roots. Lehigh Valley native Don Wenner is moving his real estate investment and finance firm DLP Capital from Bethlehem to Allentown at 835 W. Hamilton St.

· While Wells Fargo has been the leader in closing banks lately, it will hold a ribbon-cutting for its new downtown Allentown office at 740 Hamilton St. on June 30.

· If you're in the market for sterling silver jewelry, minerals and semi-precious gemstones, C& I Minerals is now operating at the South Mall at 3300 Lehigh St. in Allentown.

· The Allentown-based utility company PPL Corp. has a new approach after making two big transactions. It sold its U.K. operations, taking a lot of risk and currency complications out of its business, and bought a major Rhode Island utility.

· Ownership at Martellucci's Pizzeria in Bethlehem has changed, but the nearly half-century tradition there continues. Paul and Donna Hlavinka and their family are running the pizza place at 1419 Easton Ave., just as it has been operated for 49 years. 

· Dr. Jacob Kasprenski's father and grandfather were both physicians in the Lehigh Valley, and now he's following in their footsteps of serving the community. His new Kasprenski Family Eye Care opened at 1088 Howertown Road, Catasauqua.

· This longtime downtown Easton lunch spot closed early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but it could be making a comeback. A plan to split the space with a vegan deli did not work out, but a June 13 Historic District Commission meeting approved a request for a new sign at Josie's at 14 Centre Square. 

· Zekraft cafe has opened its second location in the Easton Silk Mill in Easton. The first Zekraft restaurant was opened in Bethlehem. The restaurants' menus change frequently, with a focus on local ingredients. 

· Manta Massage at 319 Main St., Emmaus, will hold its grand opening on July 10 starting at 11 a.m. Services offered include facial cupping, and massages including targeted warm Himalayan salt stone and targeted facial massage.

· The former Iron Lakes Country Club, constructed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, will operate at 3625 Shankweiler Road in North Whitehall Township under its new name, The Club at Twin Lakes. The Jaindl family purchased the golf course last year, and worked with KemperSports Management to upgrade it. 

· Prologis, a titan in the logistics industry, is the choice of Air Products and Chemicals to own and operate three warehouses proposed in Upper Macungie Township. The industrial gas company said Prologis will use some of the former Air Products headquarters campus at 7201 Hamilton Blvd. for the warehouses, totaling about 2.6 million square feet. 

· Lehigh Valley Health Network ceremonially opened its first Carbon County hospital — a $78 million, 100,578-square-foot facility that officials billed as a "full-service community hospital." It's located at 2128 Blakeslee Boulevard Drive East in Mahoning Township.

· Pocono Township commissioners voted to approve a plan to build Pennsylvania's largest solar field on a mountain slope, despite pleas by some residents to reject the project for environmental concerns. Commissioners voted 4-1 to accept Swiftwater Solar's preliminary final plan for the $111 million, 80-megawatt field on a private 644-acre site on top of Bear Mountain that would include about 200,000 solar panels.

· Firetree Ltd., which is based in Williamsport and operates treatment centers for people with drug and alcohol addiction and other clients transitioning out of prison, wants to expand its in-patient rehab operation at the former Sands Ford auto dealership at 440 N Claude A Lord Blvd. (Route 61), Pottsville. To do that, it needs the Pottsville Zoning Hearing Board's approval regarding the use of the land.

· A Dunkin' in Schuylkill County has become just the fourth location of the donut and coffee chain to go entirely digital. The remodeled store at 400 Terry Rich Blvd., St. Clair, has replaced its traditional order counter with two in-store kiosks at which customers place digital orders and pay using a credit card or Dunkin' gift card.

· The Conservatory music school in Bucks County will close after 34 years, and school officials say the COVID-19 pandemic is the cause. The nonprofit, located at 4059 Skyron Drive, Doylestown, will close June 30.

· A Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Arby's will be built on the site of the former Ahart's Market on Route 22 in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

· Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce offices and the Unity Bank Center for Business & Entrepreneurship will be located at 119 Main St., Flemington. The building was erected in 1847 and was once the home of George Hall Large, who served as president of the New Jersey state Senate.

· Honeygrow opens Quakertown location, next to Chipotle on Route 309, on June 3.

· Dunkin' reopens remodeled restaurant at 1174 MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township

· Muse Modern Med Spa at 325 Fifth St. in Whitehall Township  will hold a grand opening June 4.

· Around Again, a consignment store, opened at 154 S. Main St., Phillipsburg

· Steak and Steel Hibachi, a restaurant in the works at 44 W. Walnut St., Bethlehem, still plans on opening late this summer. 

· Take It Outdoors Recreation Hub has moved to a spot along the Schuylkill River Trail at Riverfront Park in Pottstown, Montgomery County

· Pedego Electric Bikes has a new outlet in Lambertville, N.J. at 13 N. Union St.

· Amanda Vachris has opened a new Keller Williams Real Estate office at 15 St. John St. in Schuylkill Haven.

· Easton's new West Ward Market will open Wednesday and be open on Wednesday's through the summer from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The market, created by the Greater Easton Development Partnership, will sell fresh produce on 12th Street, next to Paxinosa Elementary School.

· Ciao Sandwich Shoppe is adding a second location, this time on College Hill in Easton. Ciao plans to open at 325 Cattell St. in late summer. Ciao already operates in downtown Easton at 12 N. Third St

· Ma's Crepes and Cakes will hold a grand opening and ribbon-cutting June 16 at 46 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe. The celebration starts at 5 p.m., with the ribbon cutting at 5:45 p.m. 

· Bethlehem's Back Door Bakeshop will reopen as a wholesale operation at 7 E. Church St. in the city's historic district. The business was open for nine years as a retail outlet at Broad and Center streets, before announcing in March that it would close the storefront April 3 and "go back to its origins as a wholesale business."

·The Beef Baron on Catasauqua Road in Bethlehem is closed indefinitely for renovations

· The Brothers That Just Do Gutters are opening a new location in Allentown at 1302 N. 18th St.

· St. John Chrysostom Academy, an Orthodox school serving grades 1-9 starting this fall, held a grand opening at its St. Francis Center, Bethlehem, campus.

· Easton Commons, a shopping center anchored by Giant Foods at 2920 Easton Ave., Bethlehem Township, has a new name: The Shops at Bethlehem.

· Carbon County is getting a taste of Brazil at Uai Brasil BBQ at 315 Lehigh Ave. in Palmerton.

· The Keystone Pub in Bethlehem Township, at 3259 Easton Avenue, has reopened after a lengthy and expensive renovation. 

· The Trading Post Depot opened at 401 Northampton St., Easton. The rustic furniture store makes custom tables for dining rooms, desktops, conference centers and more.

· The Easton area has a new gym: Homemade Fitness at 444 Cedarville Road in Williams Township.

· Il Gaetano Ristorante opened at its 665 Columbus Ave., Phillipsburg, location. 

· Ciao! Sandwich Shoppe to open second location on College Hill in Easton, replacing The Kettle Room

· Rene and Grisellies Benique have opened Ezekiel 47 Cafe at 10 S. Fifth Ave., off Fifth and Penn avenues, in West Reading. 

· Alter Ego Salon and Day Spa in Emmaus is holding a grand opening Sunday, May 22, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a ribbon cutting at noon. 

· Origen Latin Fusion has opened at the site of the former Tomcat Cafe in Sinking Spring, Berks County. 

· Sellersville Senior Residences will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 24. The Bucks County affordable-housing community for adults 55 and older has 50 apartments, with eight allocated for people with behavioral health needs.

· The House and Barn in Emmaus has opened its Shed outdoor dining and cigar bar area. The House and Barn is at 1449 Chestnut St. in Emmaus.

· Realtor Amanda Vachris and the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon cutting at Vachris's new Keller Williams Real Estate office at 15 St. John St., Schuylkill Haven, at 4 p.m. on May 24.

· Il Gaetano Ristorante will hold a grand opening on Friday, May 20, at 5:30 p.m. The 665 Columbus Ave., Phillipsburg.

· First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union will hold a grand opening at its new headquarters in Trexlertown, 6126 Hamilton Blvd., on May 18.

· Vinyl Press Signs & Graphics has relocated within Emmaus. The new site is 15 S. Second St., not far from the former Sixth Street location.

· Pedro's Cafe in Emmaus to close

· SV Sports (formerly Schuylkill Valley Sports) to close Quakertown location

· Flemington DIY will host a Grand Re-Opening on May 14 at 26 Stangl Road, Flemington. The celebration will kick off at 10 a.m. 

· Elpedio’s Ristorante at Seipsville opened at 2912 Old Nazareth Road in Easton. The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday.

· Uai Brazil opened at 315 Lehigh Ave, Palmerton, offering both a seated or buffet option. 

· Colombian Mex Restaurant opened at 107 E Union Blvd in Bethlehem, offering traditional Colombian cuisine. 

· Precision Ink opened at 161 W Berwick St. in Easton. 

· King Wing opened a location in Bethlehem at 129 E. Third St., serving wings and sandwiches.  

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