Amish in the News

A Carroll County ordinance requires new homes to be built with sprinkler systems, but the commissioners unanimously voted to make an exception for an Amish family’s home that will be without electricity.

At about 12:30 p.m., on Sunday, June 21, Linda Stoltzfoos, a tall, slim 18-year-old Amish woman, left a church service at a home in Bird-in-Hand, east of Lancaster, Pa., and started walking home. And then, she vanished. 

BIRD IN HAND, PA - The search for a missing 18-year-old Amish woman in Lancaster County continues today.

A Fillmore County District Court judge's ruling that would require Fillmore County Amish men to install subsurface sewage treatment systems despite religious objections was upheld by the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

LANCASTER, PA — In mid-March, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all Pennsylvania schools to close, prompting an abrupt shutdown of the state’s public and private schools – and, it turns out, Amish one-room schoolhouses.

Who needs machinery when you can get a few hundred of your closest friends to help you move your barn?

The criminal complaint against the Amish bishop is clear about how he learned of a church member’s alleged sexual assault on three young teenage girls:

PEQUEA TOWNSHIP, PA — An Amish bishop was charged this week by Pennsylvania authorities with failing to report sexual abuse allegedly committed by one of his congregants.

The party took place in Huntsburg Township, Ohio.  Huntsburg is home to a very large Amish population about an hour East of Cleveland.  There have been reports along with pictures of large Amish gatherings sent to police during the Stay Home order.  Read More

Police in Northeast Ohio broke up a large gathering of Amish people over the weekend after a man spotted a group of buggies and called 911 to report a stay-at-home order violation.

MERCER COUNTY, PA - State Police say they broke up a drinking party involving eight Amish teens and one 20-year-old in Mercer County.

WARREN, OH — When it comes down to love or the law, it seems the law will prevail.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported that an Amish community in Ohio is mobilizing to create medical supplies for local hospitals.

Hospitals and clinics in cities across the U.S. have recently established drive-through testing for COVID-19. It’s the strategy that enabled countries like South Korea and Japan to test as many as one out of every 142 people for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the infectious disease, thus helping to track and slow the virus’ spread.

BLOOMFIELD, IA - Back in mid-March, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds gave a directive that all Iowa schools close for a period of four weeks, a measure taken to help control the spread of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease.

UNITY, ME - Most Wednesday mornings, the delicious smell of freshly made doughnuts entices crowds of people to the Amish-run Community Market in Unity.

COLUMBUS, OH - The leader of a breakaway Amish group in Ohio who was sentenced to prison for beard- and hair-cutting attacks will get to to serve the rest of his sentence at home after his attorney argued the new coronavirus puts the 74-year-old bishop at risk.

On Friday night, the bishops in a tri-county area of the Amish community had a meeting to discuss COVID-19 and their response to it.

Ruth Lapp said she always let her babies crawl on the floor when they were young. And when her children complain of a sore throat, she gives them a spoonful of vinegar, a remedy she says could cure any infection.

One-room Amish schoolhouses across Lancaster County are closed for the week, yet scores of Amish wedding goers Tuesday filled a big tent on a farm near New Holland.

CLEVELAND, OH - Amish bishop Sam Mullet, one of more dozen people convicted in a series of nighttime raids and beard cuttings on his enemies in eastern Ohio, wants out of federal custody because of the coronavirus.

MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, PA — When Earl Hurst bought 100 acres of farmland in rural Lancaster County in 1952, he planned for the fertile fields to help sustain his family. And for a generation, they did just that.

NEW WILMINGTON, PA — One teenager is injured after a garbage truck collided with an Amish buggy in Pennsylvania.

ARTHUR, IL — Mennonite farmer Willis Kuhns said 2019 was “as frustrating as it gets.”

As the new coronavirus spreads throughout Pennsylvania, health officials are working to inform Plain communities in Lancaster County of the virus.

The procession of 3 wheel bicycles rolled down 17th Street before turning right into the 17th Street Softball complex.

Torah Bontrager can’t stop fighting for closure. She recently said she wouldn’t be able to say how it might feel to never receive judicial retribution for the multiple violations she had to experience as an adolescent at the hands of her uncle.

Ohio has a substantial number of Amish residents. Some are in our own region. All too frequently, we have to report accidents in which motor vehicles have struck horse-draw buggies operated by the Amish.

LAGRANGE, IN - The first day turned into a disaster at a new local business after fire that destroyed the building and equipment on Tuesday.

The bill would require animal-drawn vehicles to display these two things on top of the vehicle at all times. Failure to do so could result in a fine.