Ann Rejrat

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Spotlight PA •

Clearfield County to make $1 million over 5 years on detention center contracts

Clearfield County will make $1 million over five years to act as the middleman between ICE and the private contractor that operates the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest immigration detention facility in the Northeast.The county enters the final year of its contracts with ICE and the GEO Group as the Trump administration has intensified efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.Moshannon — which had already been accused of physical and psychological abuse, inadequate health care, a...
Spotlight PA •

Two PA families face felonies after infant sleep deaths

HARRISBURG — Two sets of Pennsylvania parents face felony charges after police say their infants died in unsafe sleep positions.While experts and family advocates say young babies should sleep on their backs without anything in the crib, simply failing to follow the recommendations shouldn’t amount to a crime.In both cases, brought in the past six months, law enforcement say the parents knowingly put their children at risk. Parents from Lebanon County are accused of putting their son to sleep on...
LancasterOnline •

Lebanon pro boxer led a life on the streets. Now, his life's work is to help at-risk youth

LEBANON – A bell rings and a green light turns on. The kids have three minutes at their assigned stations – jumping rope, hitting bags, running on the treadmill, shadow boxing in a mirror, and hitting pads in the ring with professional boxer Nicolas “The Living Dream” Hernandez. The makeshift gym is in Ferrer Motorsports, an automotive shop in Lebanon. The walls are adorned with photos from past fights and fight promotions. It has a ring at one end and bags hanging by chains at the other. Amid t...
LancasterOnline •

'I can’t believe it’s real’: Father remembers East Petersburg man who died in burning home

Craig Rice ducked under the police tape and walked through the ruins of his son's home Monday morning.About 12 hours before, a fire ripped through the brick rancher at 6294 High St. in East Petersburg Borough, leaving only a shell of the structure. Police say Rice’s son, Mark Hackman, 53, set the fire that killed him. “I can’t believe it’s real,” Rice said. The house sits on the corner of High Street and Jefferson Drive, and a tree on the corner of the lot holds birdhouses and feeders. Under the...
LancasterOnline •

'They were family:' Uncertain future for longtime employees of fire-ravaged Martin’s Country Market

Editor's Note: This story had been updated to correct a misspelling of a source's name.When his phone lit up just after 4 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 15, Randy Eshleman assumed someone was sick and calling off work.Instead, Eshleman, a department manager at Martin’s Country Market in Ephrata Township, checked his phone and saw a text message telling him the supermarket was on fire. “The first thing that exploded out of my mouth was ‘Oh, my God,’ and I was out of my house quicker than I ever had...
LancasterOnline •

Shank’s Mare Outfitters, now closing, served Lancaster County for 45 years

WRIGHTSVILLE –  About 20 people set off from Shank's Mare Outfitters, kayaking on a hot, humid, sunny July day in 2012, a summer day like most others. But as the group paddled across the Susquehanna River down through the Conejohela Flats, the sky started to darken. The private group that booked a Paddle and Dine adventure decided not to turn back, though, said Randy Blasdell, 63, of West Hempfield Township, who was in the group.The sky got darker. Winds picked up. Thunder boomed clearly. Shank’...
LancasterOnline •

'You can't let hate win': Star of 'Drag Queen Story Hour' reflects on cultural firestorm

Editor's note: The event was canceled Saturday morning due to a public safety threat reported by the police.Monday was Christopher Paolini’s birthday, and he spent much of it crying and feeling overwhelmed. A West Reading native, Paolini has for years performed in drag as Miss Amie Vanité, staging both adult shows and kid-friendly Drag Queen Story Hours, which feature songs and readings for young people and their families.But now, with Lancaster Public Library hosting its first Drag Queen Story...
LancasterOnline •

Lancaster County residents who remember TMI nuclear plant meltdown see positives in reopening

David Hershey was in the library at Elizabethtown High School on March 28, 1979, when school officials told him he and all of his classmates had to go home.Five miles away at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, the Unit 2 reactor was having a partial meltdown, the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history.“I don’t think I realized how serious it was because I was young,” said Hershey, who was 16 at the time.His family chose to stay in town and deal with the uncertainty of a potent...
LancasterOnline •

Displaced for nearly a year after explosion, Rapho Township man prepares to return home

Gary Devonshire misses his home.He misses the quiet in rural Rapho Township, and the view of fireworks in the surrounding towns around the Fourth of July. He misses his koi pond, where he kept fish for more than a decade.His koi pond is empty now, but he is eager to restock it when electricity is finally restored to his home.Devonshire lost power — and a lot more — on July 5, 2023, when the public works shed next to the Rapho Township municipal building on the 900 block of North Colebrook Road e...
LancasterOnline •

Voters in 100th District talk passionately about their favored primary candidate

Across the 100th Legislative District in Lancaster County’s southern end, voters showed up to be heard in a race between 18-year incumbent state Rep. Bryan Cutler and political newcomer Dave Nissley.Nissley, a landscaping business owner from Sadsbury Township, has never run for office and wasn’t involved with the county Republican Party. But support among some conservatives outside of the Republican establishment made him a formidable challenger.With both candidates’ billboards and yard signs do...
LancasterOnline •

Lebanon restorative tattoo artist helps fellow cancer survivors and others ‘feel whole again’

LEBANON — Barbara Fox sits back to look at her work on Julie Swartz, nods, then leans in to continue the tattoo. Fox is working on a tattoo few will ever see — a realistic areola on Swartz, a breast cancer survivor. “You know, it (the tattoo) is not for everybody else,” Swartz says. “It’s just for me and it’s a chance to feel whole again. So it’s sort of a reclaiming. It’s putting my own mark on something that I had no control over.”The tray to Fox’s side is organized — ink colors sit in small p...
LancasterOnline •

Miss Amie Vanité returns to Lancaster for Drag Queen Story Hour as a performer at Lancaster Pride [photos]

In a black dress with colorful music notes on it, wearing silver sparkly heels, with a makeup look that included red sparkly lipstick, and equipped with a guitar and a collection of books, Miss Amie Vanité took the stage once again for her Drag Queen Story Hour on Saturday. It was the first story hour since October for West Reading native Christopher Paolini, who performs as Miss Amie Vanité. Paolini appeared in Freedom Hall at the Lancaster Convention Center in Lancaster city, one of a slew of...
LancasterOnline •

Lancaster nonprofit addressing disparities by investing in minority medical students, doctors

Rutgers University senior Nicolle Asprilla has dreamed of being a doctor since she was a little girl growing up in Columbia. She’s even thought about being a surgeon.But at one point during her undergraduate studies, her confidence in her abilities began to waver, and she began considering other options in the medical field, like becoming a physician assistant.“I thought I wasn’t going to be able to have what a person needs to be competent to get into medical school,” said Asprilla, who is Hispa...
LancasterOnline •

‘I’m emotionally and physically drained’: Drag queen performer cancels another event

A Drag Queen Story Hour event that was scheduled for later this month at a church in Mountville has been canceled. Christopher Paolini, who performs as Miss Amie Vanité, said that the decision was made to cancel the event after a news article by another media outlet was posted Saturday incorrectly saying the event was a reschedule of the canceled March Drag Queen Story Hour at the Lancaster Public Library.“Hate started piling in with comments and shares on social media,” Paolini said. The church...
LancasterOnline •

A legal battle almost 40 years ago reshaped voting and schooling for one remote Lancaster County neighborhood

On the northeast side of Texter Mountain, Foxcroft Lane, a horseshoe-shaped road, dips briefly into Lancaster County from the Berks County side. Every other year, the Lancaster County residents who live in the eight households on that block are issued a special set of instructions when they show up at the polls on Election Day.The 12 registered voters in those homes fill out the same ballots as their West Cocalico Township neighbors, but with one exception — they vote for school board candidates...
LancasterOnline •

Community mourns loss of Ukrainian man adopted in Palmyra killed fighting for homeland

PALMYRA — A cover of Jo Dee Messina’s “Heaven Was Needing a Hero” played through the speakers of Palmyra Grace Church, the singer’s voice carrying over a hushed chorus of conversation at the memorial service for Alex “Sasha” Coburn.About 300 people gathered on a November afternoon to mourn with Alex’s parents, Patricia and Brian Coburn, and other members of the Coburn family, who stood near the stage dressed in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine.Alex, 23, was adopted from Ukraine by the Cobu...
LancasterOnline •

Drag performers, Lancaster Pride thrilled to team with Jonathan Groff for weekend events

It took Christopher Paolini a few minutes to process the news that he was going to host a Drag Queen Story Hour with Tony Award-winning actor and Ronks native Jonathan Groff.Paolini, who performs in drag as Miss Amie Vanité, got a call from Lancaster Pride President Tiffany Shirley in early August letting him know he and Groff would be headlining Saturday’s free storytime events at the Lancaster County Convention Center in downtown Lancaster.“I hung up the phone, and then I was just like, ‘Wait...
LancasterOnline •

Norfolk Southern fails to notify local fire crews of maintenance work that sparks fires

Dozens of small fires on properties bordering a rail line owned by Norfolk Southern prompted multiple 911 calls to Lancaster County first responders on Wednesday and Thursday. In some cases, fire units that responded were ordered off the railroad’s property.First responders said the fires along the Norfolk Southern Port Road rail line, from Marietta Borough to Safe Harbor in Conestoga Township, were caused by grinding work on the tracks, which often causes fires. The equipment used to grind rail...