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A judge withheld ruling Monday whether forfeiture cases should continue against several Amish families who failed to get the proper county-required building and sanitary permits before constructing residences about three years ago. The Eau Claire County case is the first of its kind in the state, according to Eau Claire attorney Matthew Krische, who says signing the permits is in violation of the Old Order Amish’s sincere religious beliefs and requested the cases be dismissed. Eau Claire County Judge Kristina Bourget heard about a combined hour of comments by Krische and assistant county attorney Heather Wolske before indicating she would issue a ruling on an unspecified date. Another hearing is set for July 17, with a one-day trial scheduled for Aug. 6.

Lawrence County, Tennessee – A suspect remains at large after police said he and another accomplice attacked members of an Amish Community in Lawrence County. Officials with the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office said an arrest warrant has been issued for 40-year-old Jason Matthew Judkins, of Ethridge, Tennessee. Stacey Renee Hancock, 36, has already been taken into custody and charged with aggravated robbery. On Thursday, investigators responded to three different incidents of violence within the Amish Community. Officials said at least two people were victims of robberies. In another incident, a resident was the victim of a hit-and-run, when a motorcycle forced the victim off of the roadway.

New Castle, Pennsylvania - Two police officers posing as Amish women tried to catch a man who reportedly was exposing himself to Amish children. Despite their efforts, they didn’t catch him. However, they had a description of his vehicle and believe the suspect is the same person who was placed on house arrest in Mercer County at the end of January for similar acts in 2013.

Spring is in the air and with spring comes thoughts of graduation and heading off to college. But that seemingly simple act of growing up means more to Emma Gingerich than most. At 18, Gingerich left her entire family and the only life she'd ever known in the middle of the night, hidden away for weeks before coming to Texas. The strong, young woman remembers the trip to South Texas not like a refugee fleeing, but like any other teenager heading to college and the beginning of the rest of her life. "I thought about the rules as I cruised down Highway 499 in my maroon 2001 Dodge pickup truck, air condition and radio both cranked up," writes Gingerich in her new book, Runaway Amish Girl. "I had no clue what I was doing, but finally escaping from so many pointless rules filled me with a sense of relief so deep no one else could ever fully understand — unless, of course, that person grew up Amish as well."

Topeka, Indiana - Authorities in northern Indiana say three Amish school teachers escaped a small schoolhouse that had filled with carbon monoxide gas. Topeka Fire Chief Stewart Bender says the three teachers lived in the school in a rural area of LaGrange County. Bender tells The News Sun one of the teachers woke up about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and alerted the others, one of who was initially unresponsive.

East Fallowfield Township, Pennsylvania — Police are seeking help with a case involving a handgun being pointed at an Amish man in his buggy Tuesday. State police in Meadville are investigating the act of simple assault and reckless endangerment, on Atlantic Road, at the intersection of Leach Road, Tuesday night, around 9:30. According to police, the unknown suspect was driving a vehicle described as a new four-door sedan, with a loud muffler, possibly a dark-colored Toyota. The suspect was described to be in his early 20s, wearing a black baseball cap, with brown hair over his ears.

Convicted Ohio Amish sect leader Sam Mullet has challenged his 15-year prison sentence for orchestrating a series of beard-chopping attacks on other Amish, saying the federal hate crimes law that put him behind bars violates the U.S. Constitution and was improperly applied in his case. The Justice Department used the 2009 Hate Crimes Prevention Act to convict Mr. Mullet and 15 followers of hacking off the beards and hair of fellow Amish in a series of 2011 attacks meant to humiliate them for straying from the faith. In a new appeal filed Monday before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Mr. Mullet and his lawyers accuse the federal government of overreaching to make their case.

Burton Township, Ohio -The Ashtabula man who crashed into an Amish buggy, is now charged. Douglas Learn, 42, is charged with dui, driving under suspension and aggravated vehicular homicide. Learn is locked up in the Geauga County Jail and will have an initial appearance in the Chardon Municipal Court on April 1. The crash remains under investigation and further criminal and or traffic charges may be pending.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - The dozens of children learning to read and write at the six Amish schools in Somerset County get there the old-fashioned way: They walk. No yellow buses ferry children from their farms to the one-room Summit Mills Schoolhouse near Meyersdale, a simple white-frame building heated by a fireplace. Only a small black bell on the roof hints at the building's purpose. Passing motorists don't see school zone signs alerting them to watch for the students, who walk in the two-lane roadway out front.

New Wilmington, Pennsylvania - State police are searching for an unlikely suspect in a western Pennsylvania hit-and-run accident: the driver of an Amish buggy. Troopers from the Mercer barracks say the buggy twice hit a passenger vehicle at a crossroads on Route 158 in Wilmington Township, about 6 p.m. Sunday.

Amish life is more than plain dress, a Germanic dialect and an aversion to modern technology. It is also an insular faith which demands that adherents live, worship and marry within the community. Those strict expectations, along with a troubled home life, were too much for one Ohio Amish woman. Saloma Miller Furlong was 20 years old in the 1970s when she first ran away from her Amish community in Ohio and sought refuge in Burlington, Vt. It’s a story that she tells in her new memoir, Bonnet Strings: An Amish Woman’s Ties to Two Worlds. Miller Furlong recently spoke with Vermont Edition about her experience.

Philadelphia, New York - State police say a 35-year-old man has died after his car hit two horses that wandered onto a rural northern New York road after breaking loose from an Amish farm. Troopers say Jacob Tyler of Antwerp was driving on county Route 20 around 4:30 a.m. Monday when his Volkswagen Jetta hit the horses in the neighboring Jefferson County town of Philadelphia, 80 miles north of Syracuse.

Amish life is more than plain dress, a Germanic dialect and an aversion to modern technology. It is also an insular faith which demands that adherents live, worship and marry within the community. Those strict expectations, along with a troubled home life, were too much for one Ohio Amish woman. Saloma Miller Furlong was 20 years old in the 1970s when she first ran away from her Amish community in Ohio and sought refuge in Burlington, Vt. It’s a story that she tells in her new memoir, Bonnet Strings: An Amish Woman’s Ties to Two Worlds. Miller Furlong recently spoke with Vermont Edition about her experience

Ray Beechy is a cowboy who has overcome many obstacles. When he was 12 years old, he was involved in a sawmill accident, which resulted in his right arm having to be amputated below the elbow. The loss of his hand did not slow him down for long, however. It served to make him very competitive and he quickly became adept with using one hand. “It’s never kept me from much of anything other than shuffling cards - or clapping,” Ray said with a laugh. As Ray grew up Amish, he did not start competing in rodeo until after he moved away from the Amish community when he was 16. He tells the story. “I was 16 when I really took an interest in the rodeo circuit. A friend of mine that lived close by was riding bulls at the time, and got me interested.” Ray was given a boost into rodeo by Galen “Peewee” Helmuth. “He got me started way back in the day and has taught me more than anyone else,” says Ray. He has also been inspired by Ray Cox, owner of Lazy C Rodeo School in Jacksonville, Ill.

Salina, Kansas - Tired after a long day at work, the last thing Ron Brunner expected to do the night of March 7 was rescue a group of Amish people in a burning bus. Brunner, who is head mechanic at Reece Construction in Salina, was driving east on Interstate Highway 70 just after 7 p.m. when he noticed flames coming from underneath a passenger bus as both vehicles passed the Ohio Street exit. "The fire was coming from their rear axle," he said. Brunner flagged the bus driver, and the driver pulled the bus to the side of the highway. Brunner stopped behind the bus. Tired as he was, he couldn't abandon a vehicle and passengers in trouble, no matter how much he wanted to get home.

​Lancaster, Pennsylvania ​- Anabaptists — those who observe adult rather than infant baptism — define Lancaster County in many ways and yet remain a mystery in many ways. Why do the Amish live apart? Why do some Mennonite women wear those little white caps and dresses, never slacks? Why do some Anabaptists ride scooters, while others ride bikes? What's the difference between members of the Brethren in Christ Church and of the Church of the Brethren? "Anabaptist Faith," the topic of the Spring Senior Life Institute at Highland Presbyterian Church, 500 E. Roseville Road, will delve into these and many more questions in four sessions beginning next month.

Adams County, Indiana - On April 12, 2012, a buggy driven by the wife of Martin Schwartz was hit by a car while traveling on Indiana 124 in Adams County. Three of her children were killed, and the other occupants of the buggy were seriously injured. It wasn’t the first time members of the family had been involved in a buggy-car crash. Martin Schwartz had been hit by a car while traveling on Indiana 124 not long before the fatal crash. Schwartz said after the crash that killed three of his children, “A lot of people came to me and said, ‘Surely you’re going to quit using 124.' " But he said that even though he dreads using the road, which has no shoulder, forcing buggies into the traffic lane, he has no choice but to use it.

​Asheville, North Carolina ​- A group of men from the Union Grove Amish Church in Hamptonville, N.C., were the driving force behind a barn raising this past week at Hickory Nut Gap Farm. Located in Fairview, the nearly 100-year-old farm was a hive of activity on Thursday, as a storage shed and farm workshop were assembled in a process that would end up taking just a handful of days. The barn pieces were cut in the Amish community then shipped to Fairview by a driver — the only thing these Amish drive are tractors.

Oshkosh, Wisconsin - As the Amish community grows in the U.S. so do the misconceptions about its people, students learned at Amish of Wisconsin: A New Wave of Immigrants to the Badger State, held in Sage Hall Tuesday. The presentation, along with the Pennsylvania Dutch Documentation Program, is touring different universities so students and communities can understand the Amish culture as its population continues to grow. Mark Louden, co-director of German American Studies at the Max Kade Institute, said this event is meant to clear up any confusion about the Amish community.

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The owner of a Wilmington-area furniture store named The Amish Mill has been fined $23,000 for violating Delaware’s consumer protection laws. The Delaware Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit found that he assessed undisclosed fees and willfully misled customers who waited months for orders that never arrived. After receiving numerous complaints from customers, Biden’s Consumer Protection Unit filed an administrative complaint last year against Michael D. Wharton, The Amish Mill’s owner. The administrative complaint centered on allegations that Wharton would promise customers to have furniture ready by a certain date but never deliver and that he charged customers additional, undisclosed fees if they called to check on the order or complained about the store’s business practices.

Fort Wayne, Indiana – It will cost almost double to buy an Allen County license plate for your horse-drawn vehicle. The Allen County commissioners on Friday voted to raise the annual licensing fee from $30 to $55. Commissioner Linda Bloom was absent. Officials first proposed the increase in November, but it was delayed after concerns were raised by the Amish community, administrative assistant Chris Cloud said.

Palatine, New York - Authorities say a 1-year-old girl is expected to make a full recovery from injuries suffered when she was trampled by a horse on her Amish family's farm in the Mohawk Valley. State police tell The Daily Gazette of Schenectady that the accident occurred Sunday while the girl's parents were milking cows at the farm in the Montgomery County town of Palatine, 45 miles northwest of Albany.

Leon, New York – An Amish man accused of shooting his 8-year-old brother has pleaded guilty to fourth degree criminal possession of a weapon. Eli Wengerd, 20, accidentally shot the boy while playing with an unregistered handgun that he did not have a permit for. A pre-sentence investigation will be conducted by the Cattaraugus County probation department. Wengerd is due back in court in April. His brother did survive the shooting.

As a small child, I always prayed before I went to bed and asked God to take my brothers and sister and I to Heaven to be with my Mom and Dad, who were both killed in a car accident on October 17, 1946. I had simple the faith of a child and believed with all my heart that they went to Heaven. I also believed without a doubt that God would answer my prayers and take all of my eight brothers and sisters to Heaven someday to be with Mom and Dad too.

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Fort Wayne, Indiana – After a long legal battle, the Bluffton man who admitted he was texting and driving shortly before his van plowed into an Amish buggy, killing three people, has finally met the family. It was in April 2012 when Chandler Gerber hit the buggy on S.R. 124 in Adams County. The crash killed Jerry Schwartz, Barbara Schwartz, and Enos Schwartz.

East Lampeter Township, Pennsylvania - Police today announced charges have been filed against a Pennsylvania man in connection with the fatal drive-by shooting of a horse pulling an Amish buggy. Timothy Antonio Diggs, 22, is facing seven misdemeanor counts, including reckless endangerment, cruelty to animals, and firing into an occupied vehicle, according to the East Lampeter Township Police Department.

Parkman Township, Ohio - An Amish man was sentenced Thursday to the minimum three years in prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Parkman Township after watching porn. Raymond F. Miller, 18, of Parkman Township, previously pleaded guilty in Geauga County Common Pleas Court to rape. The incident occurred June 7. Miller knew the victim from the neighborhood and the rape occurred in a shed in a wooded area. “I am sorry I broke the law,” Miller told Judge Forrest W. Burt. “I am going to try and be a better person; try and get some treatment.”

When was the last time you sat down with pen and paper and hand wrote a letter? The art of penmanship and scribbling down your thoughts in a journal or sending them on to someone is not as commonly practiced among "Englishers" (non-Amish) as it once was. Cell phones and the internet have made connecting with friends and family as easy as a click of a button. A person could be over a thousand miles away but it can be hard to tell when their response to your last text message was within the second. In a culture where technology is very minimal and the simplest forms of communication still exist, it is no surprise that letter writing is still a prominent form of communication among Amish communities. Amish families are often quite large and spread out. For the Old Order Amish, letters are one of the few ways in which Amish families can stay in touch with each other.

Los Angeles, California - It all started with a truck, says 22-year-old Levi Shetler. “When I was 15, I was fascinated with trucks – any vehicles, really. I thought they’d be really cool to drive.” When family members pointed out that Amish don’t embrace flashy cars or high-powered trucks, the wheels started turning.