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TOPEKA, IN - There is one stoplight in Topeka. It blinks red at the downtown crossroads, an indication that the 1,200 town residents are in no hurry to get from here to there. As Amish buggies trot by and bicyclists ride past on South Main Street at noon on Fridays, a large number of Muslim men gather to worship in a makeshift mosque they have created in a worn building that was once a restaurant. The mosque serves between 30 to 40 Muslim families.

MADISON, WI - Three people were arrested Monday in connection with a string of burglaries affecting numerous Amish homes in Columbia and Marquette counties, according to a release. Grant G. Pulver, 21, of Portage, Alex A. Moulton, 20, of Portage, and Dylan J. Bartaczewicz, 20, of Pardeeville, were arrested on a tentative charge of felony burglary.

FREWBURG, N.Y. - An intoxicated Frewsburg man who repeatedly tried to strike an Amish buggy and horse with his vehicle on Friday was arrested, New York State Police said. Ryan Fusco, 30, was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicate.

AKRON, OH - Supporters of presidential candidate republican Donald Trump want you get out the vote in Ohio from a group not known for participating widely in elections. They've set up an Amish PAC, a political action committee, to target the religious community. It's estimated about 70,000 Amish live in Ohio and about 17,000 of them are registered to vote. With me to talk about the outreach to the Amish is Benjamin Walters who came up with this strategy.

INDIANA CO., PA — State police reported an underage DUI incident involving five Amish men last month in Indiana County. The four passengers, 20-year-old Andrew D. Coblentz, 18-year-old William W. Byler, 20-year-old Raymond E. Kurtz, and a 16-year-old known juvenile, received citations related to their alcohol consumption and possession.

BETHANY, MO - An Amish man who admitted to poisoning his wife to death 10 years ago was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday. Samuel Borntreger, 39, admitted to poisoning his former wife, Anna Borntreger, 26, over the course of about a month in 2006 while he lived near Bethany, Missouri, in Harrison County. In a written statement, Borntreger admitted to using antifreeze and battery acid to bring about his wife’s death.

WISCONSIN - In 1989, in a cornfield in southeastern Pennsylvania, Holmes Morton, MD, built a timber-frame clinic to care for the area's Old Order Amish and Mennonite children, many of whom had poorly understood, complex medical problems due to inherited disorders. Dr. Morton spent his first day in Wisconsin at a community health event at the Scenic Bluffs Community Health Center in Norwalk, near one of the more concentrated Amish settlements in the state.

INDIANA - A study published Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2015, explored reasons why asthma is so uncommon among Amish communities, where children play barefoot in dairy barns and farm fields. Experts have long recognized that exposure to farm animals – and the microbes associated with them – protects children from asthma.

CANTON, MO - A Lewis County man is facing a sex abuse charge for an alleged incident in 1997, according to the sheriff's office. Henry Schwartz, 53, of Canton, was arrested Wednesday on a first-degree sodomy charge.

PITTSBURGH, PA — Pennsylvania police are investigating a case of alleged animal cruelty after photos of the incident surfaced on Facebook. The woman who made the post claims the horse wasn’t able to pull a wagon full of watermelons, and the man began beating the animal.

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA -14-year-old Amish girl 'gifted' to man 33 years her senior in exchange for financial help: court hears. "Fourteen," the young woman responded when asked: How old was she when she began having sex with Lee Kaplan, a man 33 years her senior? She was 14 when she moved in with him, she testified, 15 when their first child was born, and 17 when the second one came. Police said the adults claimed the teenager was given to Kaplan at 14 in exchange for his having helped the Stoltzfuses out of financial ruin, but Savilla Stoltzfus' attorney has disputed that account. He also has said he will seek to sever the cases.

LANCASTER, PA - Daniel Stoltzfus, 43, and his wife Savilla Stoltzfus, 42, both of 10 Locust Lane in Quarryville, are accused of providing their then 14-year-old daughter to Lee Kaplan as part of a 2012 agreement. Daniel Stoltzfus told police he "gifted" his daughter to Kaplan, 51, of 428 old Street Road, Feasterville, as a thank you for helping his family out of financial ruin.

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From the time I was a young Amish boy, I thought that I wouldn't mind being a preacher. In my early teens, I memorized large portions of scripture in German, and practiced quoting them as I heard them in church, imitating my favorite preachers. As I grew older, the desire to do something for God grew stronger. I wanted to rise above the ordinary, dull life I seemed to be destined for.

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DRUMORE, PA - Father, 2 sons charged in sex assaults of 3 girls at Drumore Twp. home. Ephraim Zook and Daniel Zook are each accused of assaults involving one girl while Ivan Zook allegedly assaulted two of the girls, court papers show. The girls ranged in age from 6 to 14 at the time of the alleged assaults.

University Park, PA - Amish upbringing influences Shenango graduate. Raised in an Amish community in Pennsylvania until the age of 23, Linda Byler, a 4.0 student who graduated from Penn State Shenango in December 2015, knew at a very young age that she would leave the old-order sect to pursue her dreams and live a life that included more than what limited options were available to her. “I really did not mind working in the fields,” said Byler. “Sure, it could sometimes be exhausting, but there is something very satisfying about working together as a team and accomplishing a difficult task.

DECATUR, IN - More than 100 Amish men, many of them bishops in their church, along with a handful of members from the English community, attended a public informational session at the Berne Senior Center Monday night on the possible implementation of a wheel tax in Adams County. What is commonly referred to as a wheel tax is actually two different taxes: a wheel tax and an excise surtax. The excise surtax applies to passenger vehicles, motorcycles, motorbikes and trucks weighing less than 11,000 pounds. The wheel tax applies to larger vehicles like semis, buses, recreational vehicles and trailers.

HOPEWELL, PA - If at first you don’t succeed at harassing a farmer out of business, try again…and again…and again. That has been the tack the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Hopewell Township have taken since 2012 against Amish farmer and FTCLDF member Chris Zook. All four actions against the farmer have stemmed from Chris Zook’s building of a new barn on his farm to replace the original one that had been destroyed in a 2011 fire. Hopewell Township issued Zook a permit to rebuild his barn, but both the Township and the Commonwealth objected to Zook using part of the barn as a retail store.

LANCASTER, PA. - Medical professionals are trying to minimize the number of farm fatalities in Lancaster County. The county leads the state in fatal farm incidents with more than 60 deaths since 2000. In 2011, a team from Lancaster General Hospital visited an Amish farm to see what was causing so many injuries. Children, they found, were falling through barn hay holes, rectangular openings in the structure’s upper level that provide ventilation and are used in the feeding of cattle below. The holes can be as high as 10 to 15 feet off the ground.

In 2009, the Amish community was rocked by the murder of one of their own, Barbara Weaver, in Apple Creek, Ohio. Even more shocking was when her husband, Eli, was charged with aggravated murder. It was only the third time an Amish man was suspected of killing his wife in the 250 years the Amish have lived in America. On the day of her murder, Weaver’s alibi was solid — he was fishing with friends. But neighbors and family kept mentioning one name: Barb Raber.

ELKHART, IN - Nearly 400 members of Elkhart County's Amish community recently learned about the dangers, warning signs and law enforcement efforts related to the illegal drug epidemic. "They are simply being proactive and I applaud them for that," said State Police Sgt. Trent Smith, spokesman for the Bremen post. "This is something that they have done in the past with other agencies. The difference being the entire community was present, parents and children at the same time."

ARTHUR, IL - Larry Schlabach, a former member of the Amish community turned pyrotechnic, spends all year preparing for it. A homemade cannon with bowling balls as ammunition gave Schlabach, his brothers and his cousins — all of whom were raised Amish — their start in pyrotechnics. Many members of the nearby Old Order Amish population — about 4,500 strong — sit atop the roofs of their sheds, barns and houses to watch the fireworks and flames.

I was born and raised in a Beachy Amish community. I didn’t really think much about growing up in the Amish culture; it seemed normal to me. My father was always very preoccupied and distant, but my mother was different; she was loving and very understanding. Considering that my mother had eleven children and still made each of us feel special always made me feel like I had the perfect mom.

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HARRISBURG, PA – An Amish couple have won an appeal against the Sugar Grove Sewer Authority that will allow them to connect to the township’s sewer system in the way that is least restrictive to their religious beliefs. The recent order by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania follows an appeal submitted by Sugar Grove Township residents Barbara L. Yoder and Joseph I. Yoder.

SOUTH AMERICA - The Amish branched out last year with new settlements in Bolivia, Argentina and Canada as their numbers continued to grow and a high percentage of young people opted to remain within the religious community, which eschews many modern conveniences. The sect's total current population is about 308,000 and has grown about 18 percent over the past five years.

NAPPANEE, IN — It's a place you may not expect to hear about substance abuse. But there's a push to get the word out in the Amish community. "There is drug problems among the plain community," said a community member. "I know of a young gal that's actually being challenged right now because of that."

MARYDEL, DE - Two individuals have been charged with burglarizing more than 20 Amish residences, garages, and sheds, Delaware State Police announced Friday. According to authorities, Harvey M. Coblentz, 26, formerly Amish himself, and his girlfriend, Peggy S. Wright, 31, both of Hartly, were immediately suspects in the thefts.

CALGARY, CANADA - I was handed this book by its authors during my recent trip to Canada. They came from Montana to join me in Calgary and I had time to hear part of their story of moving out of the Amish culture and finding greater freedom in Christ. Plain Faith: A Story of Tragedy, Loss, and Leaving the Amish by Irene and Ora Jay Eash with Tricia Goyer, is a fascinating read about truth awakening in the human heart and that putting them in conflict with the religious tradition they grew up in.

FEASTERVILLE, PA - Lee Kaplan was arrested at his home in Pennsylvania on Thursday morning after child welfare workers and police conducted a surprise visit based on an anonymous tip. They found girls between the ages of 6 months and 18 years living in the house in Bucks County. All are believed to be Amish. Daniel Stoltzfus told investigators he and his wife were the parents of the 18-year-old, whom they "gifted" to Kaplan as thanks for helping his family out of "financial ruin", according to Kaplan's criminal complaint.

RICHMOND, IN - Amish communities from three Indiana counties met Monday night to talk about a common problem: heroin. Amish elder Ben Stoltzfus says the problem of opioid addiction hasn't spared his otherwise isolated community.

I received a letter from you yesterday. Since I know you all of your brothers and sisters and parents and have now also gotten to see you, it almost seems like you were also a part of us. I think and wish you would be and should be. Our parents split away from the large Mennonite Church back in 1940’s about C.O. camps; they found the big church dishonest then. Joe Wenger was the bishop of the big church, so that church is called the Wenger church to this day. The Wenger people got more and more modern; they had electricity, phones, and tractors, about everything but the TV and cars. Our church got the nickname 35er’s because there were not many members. Our people were more minded to keep the old ways, like horse farming, no electricity, etc. Satan is not satisfied where peace is, though, and works to destroy it. The 35er’s have a very sad history with many splits, and also many have been sadly carried away with styles and fashions of the world, so that you can hardly tell them apart from the world.

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