Amish

Faced with subjects whose religion and culture prohibit them from giving interviews on camera or even posing for pictures, many filmmakers would have given up. The folks at PBS' "American Experience" stuck with it, however, and emerged with a revealing look at the Amish, a religious community of about 250,000 centered primarily in rural Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. The film premieres Tuesday on PBS stations (8 p.m. EST). The Amish, distinguished by their horse-and-buggy mode of transportation, proved not only elusive to study but more complex than most outsiders realize.

Attorneys for some defendants charged in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio say additional allegations won't change how they fight the charges. An updated indictment filed in federal court in Cleveland added four defendants to bring the total to 16 and added allegations they tried to hide or destroy evidence including a bag of hair. It said ringleader Sam Mullet Sr. lied to federal agents about an October hair-cutting, considered deeply offensive in Amish culture. Mullet has said he didn't order hair-cutting but didn't stop others from carrying it out to send a...

LANCASTER, Pa. -- Two things about the place surprised me. First, here in the heart of Amish country, there was not a quilt or piece of Shaker furniture in sight. Instead, at the boutique Lancaster Arts Hotel, which opened last fall, there is contemporary art by local artists and sleek furniture crafted by American Atelier of Allentown, the city northeast up the highway. Each of the hotel's 46 guest rooms and 16 suites is decorated with art created in and around Lancaster County, and some are named for area artists.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - As members of his community watched quietly in court, an Ohio man admitted Thursday that he defrauded fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million. Monroe L. Beachy, 77, of Sugarcreek changed his plea to guilty in US District Court before Judge Benita Pearson. She ordered a presentence report and scheduled sentencing for May 24. A one-count mail fraud indictment returned last year charged Beachy with promising investors safe securities but moving money to riskier investments.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Affordable rural farmland and proximity to traditional population centers are driving a recent boomlet in new Amish colonies in New York state, according to a study by Elizabethtown College researchers. The Amish, many of them from Ohio or Pennsylvania, have established 10 new settlements in New York since the start of 2010 - growth that is twice that of any other state. Total population there has grown by nearly a third in the past two years, to 13,000. The first Amish districts in New York were established in the Conewango Valley in 1949, but in-migration amounted to a trickle until...

MAYFIELD, Ky. - A group of Amish men were sent to jail in western Kentucky yesterday for refusing to pay fines for breaking a state highway law that requires their horse-drawn buggies to be marked with orange reflective triangles. The men have a religious objection to the bright orange signs, which they say are flashy and conflict with their pledge to live low-key and religious lives. Ananias Byler, the first of 10 Amish men who appeared in Graves County District Court yesterday, was sentenced to 10 days in jail.

A man has admitted defrauding fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million. Seventy-seven-year-old Monroe L. Beachy changed his plea to guilty Thursday in federal court. The judge ordered a pre-sentence report and scheduled sentencing for May 24. A one-count mail fraud indictment returned last year charged Beachy with promising investors safe securities but moving money to riskier investments. The indictment says nearly 2,700 people and entities, including an Amish community loan fund, lost about $16.8 million since 2006.

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - An elderly Amish man was attacked by his son, who a sheriff said cut the man's hair and beard in the latest incident in a breakaway Amish community. The victim told the sheriff he was scared and upset but would not press charges. "I'm frustrated with it. I'm upset with it. And, here again, the man doesn't want to file charges because of his belief," Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said yesterday. Abdalla warned the son in advance that he did not want trouble and parked nearby during the father-son reunion, the first in several years.

PITTSBURGH -- At a hearing that drew busloads of Amish protesters, a judge yesterday ordered a midwife to stand trial in the death of an infant after a complicated home delivery. The order that Judith Wilson, 48, face an involuntary manslaughter charge was issued a year after the county coroner recommended prosecution, saying Wilson did not do enough to help the baby when the feet-first delivery began. Isaac Daley died Nov. 21, 2002, two days after he was born at the home of his parents, Jonathan and Heather Daley.

NEW YORK -- A gritty documentary series about police that has filled the usual time slot for "NYPD Blue" has some viewers seeing red. After only three episodes, the ABC News series "NYPD 24-7" has infuriated a firefighters' union and annoyed New York Police Department officials. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg has panned one officer's performance. Publicly, police officials have taken no position on the show, which was distilled from 16 months of footage shot by film crews who shadowed detectives and other officers with the nation's largest police department as they investigated murders and fought...

CLEVELAND - All 12 defendants charged in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio will close ranks and challenge the constitutionality of the federal hate crimes law, a member of the defense team said Monday. J. Dean Carro, a University of Akron law professor who filed a challenge on behalf of the alleged ringleader and one of his sons, said all defendants would challenge the law and try to have the indictment dismissed. The judge extended Monday's deadline for prosecutors to respond until April 16. The challenges, including one filed electronically Sunday night,...

MASSENA, N.Y. - Two young Amish children were listed in critical condition after their horse-drawn buggy was rear-ended by a FedEx truck on a northern New York road, authorities said. State Police said the accident occurred around 2:30 p.m. Monday on Route 37 in the town of Massena, on the Canadian border. Troopers said that two women each had two of their children in the buggy when it was struck from behind by the delivery truck. Two 3-year-old children were in critical condition yesterday at a Syracuse hospital, police said.

Faced with subjects whose religion and culture prohibit them from giving interviews on camera or even posing for pictures, many filmmakers would have given up. The folks at PBS' "American Experience" stuck with it, however, and emerged with a revealing look at the Amish, a religious community of about 250,000 centered primarily in rural Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. The film premieres Tuesday on PBS stations (8 p.m. EST). The Amish, distinguished by their horse-and-buggy mode of transportation, proved not only elusive to study but more complex than most outsiders realize.

Many crime fiction writers have imagined the horror of losing a child. William Landay's "Defending Jacob" wades into similarly dark territory, exploring the anguish of parents who discover that their child may be a murderer. The setting is Newton. The father is Andy Barber, chief trial attorney in the Middlesex DA's office. He's among the first at the scene where 14-year-old Ben Rifkin is found dead with stab wounds to the chest, "as if he'd been forked by a trident. " Ben was a classmate of Andy's son Jacob, and Andy's decision...

A buggy carrying five Amish children was hit by a sport utility vehicle in western Kentucky and the buggy driver was cited for not displaying a safety triangle. Saturday's crash comes after nine Graves County, Ky., Amish men have been jailed for refusing to pay fines over the safety symbol, which they object to on religious grounds. There were no injuries reported but The Paducah Sun ( http://bit.ly/xvlqNb) reports the crash dragged the horse-drawn buggy several feet and knocked it into a ditch.

MAYFIELD, Ky. - A group of Amish men were sent to jail in western Kentucky yesterday for refusing to pay fines for breaking a state highway law that requires their horse-drawn buggies to be marked with orange reflective triangles. The men have a religious objection to the bright orange signs, which they say are flashy and conflict with their pledge to live low-key and religious lives. Ananias Byler, the first of 10 Amish men who appeared in Graves County District Court yesterday, was sentenced to 10 days in jail.

LOYSVILLE, Pa. — The father was making his rounds in his milk truck and the mother was in the barn milking the cows when their 3-year-old daughter smelled smoke and ran for help. By the time the parents reached their farmhouse, it was too late: Seven of their eight children were killed in a furious blaze Tuesday night. They ranged in age from 7 months to 11 years. Neighbors in the heavily Amish and Mennonite area converged on the farm to help with the chores yesterday. Even the grieving father, Theodore Clouse, kept busy, perhaps as a way of coping.

MAYFIELD, Ky. - On Jacob Gingerich's farm in western Kentucky, there is no phone or electricity for his family of 12 children. He even sees putting an orange safety triangle on their black horse-drawn buggy as a violation of the simple life his Amish faith requires. He and other Amish men in rural Graves County have become scofflaws for not using the reflective signs, ignoring state law, disobeying orders from a judge, and even going to jail for not paying fines. To Gingerich and others in the conservative Amish community known as Swartzentruber, using the bright reflective symbol...