PA Headlines 12/1/21
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CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — Senator Jake Corman launchED his statewide “Restore Freedom” Listening Tour in his hometown as part of his campaign to become the next Pennsylvania governor. The tour kicked off last evening at Axemann Brewery in Bellefonte. Corman said it provided him with an opportunity to meet with Pennsylvania residents and business owners to learn more about the challenges they face, according to a press release. Axemann Brewery is located at a former metal factory. It’s reported Corman secured funding for the brownfield site, helping to create jobs as part of the Titan Park redevelopment.
Corman stated he will fight for personal freedoms, education, job creation and safe communities. He was elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania in 1998 and represents the 34th Senatorial District that includes all of Centre, Mifflin and Juniata Counties as well as part of Huntingdon County, according to his website. In 2020, he was elected to serve as President Pro Tempore of the state Senate, where he presides over the Senate floor when the Lt. Governor is unavailable and fills the position of Lt. Governor if the office becomes vacant. For more information on Corman, head to his website.
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting… Dr. Oz is in. Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz launched his campaign for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, bringing a splash of star power, wealth, and political-outsider status to the unsettled Republican primary — much the way former President Donald Trump once did. Oz’s entry jolted one of the country’s most critical campaigns, adding a nationally known figure to an unsettled Republican primary that just lost its apparent front-runner. Both parties see Pennsylvania’s Senate race as vital to control of the chamber, but the GOP has struggled to find a standout candidate to try to replace Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican who isn’t seeking reelection. Now Oz enters the fray a week after the candidate endorsed by Trump, Army veteran Sean Parnell, dropped out of the contest after facing abuse accusations from his estranged wife.
He joins a crowded field in which he’s likely to face questions about his ties to Pennsylvania, commitment to conservative beliefs and his at times controversial on-screen medical advice. The 61-year-old doctor has long lived in New Jersey and rose to fame on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. In his campaign announcement Tuesday he rhetorically nodded toward Trump, whose endorsement could still carry major weight. “Pennsylvania needs a conservative who will put America first, one who can reignite our divine spark, bravely fight for freedom and tell it like it is,” Oz said in an opening campaign video that an aide said will be broadcast throughout Pennsylvania as part of a multimillion-dollar ad buy. In the one-minute video, staged much like one of his TV appearances, Oz touted his work as a heart surgeon while echoing anger at coronavirus restrictions that many conservatives have chafed against.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — AP is reporting.. A federal lawsuit filed this month claims boys and young men at a church-related farm business in Pennsylvania were subjected to forced labor and punishment that included dragging chains and breaking up rocks with a hammer. The lawsuit by two former residents of Liberty Ridge, an 80-acre farm in Juniata County near the state’s geographic center, said the two plaintiffs were held there in violation of federal laws against human trafficking and forced into long hours of grueling work. The residents, identified by their initials, now live in New Jersey and Missouri. In Pennsylvania federal court on Nov. 17, they sued the Ephrata-based Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church and Related Areas; the church’s nonprofit corporation that oversees Liberty Ridge, the Mennonite Messianic Mission; and Liberty Ridge Farm in McAlisterville and its owner.
The defendants do not have legal representation listed in the online case docket. A call to a number for Liberty Ridge listed in a Mennonite directory rang and then was disconnected. A woman answered the phone at a number listed as a contact for the church but then hung up. Liberty Ridge was set up in Juniata County in 2011 for boys and young adult men the church considered troubled and to have spiritual, emotional and social needs as well as behavioral problems. The plaintiffs say the farm raises chicken, beef and pork; builds wooden pallets and fiberglass fence gates; and does interstate trucking. The residents or their families had to pay around $2,300 a month and their labor — often six long days a week — is unpaid, the lawsuit states. Those deemed to have acted “against the Bible” or otherwise broken the farm’s rules were forced to endure what were called “consequences,” among them being limited to rice and beans and water, digging up tree stumps by hand and dragging chains over their shoulder, according to the lawsuit.
The staff used zip ties to restrain residents and at times dragged residents as punishment, the plaintiffs claim. The residents allegedly were told they would be thrown out of the church and kept from their families if they spoke of leaving the farm. “I can only tell you that law enforcement is aware of the allegations and taking the appropriate steps,” Juniata County District Attorney Cory J. Snook said in an email late Tuesday, declining further comment. The plaintiffs’ Harrisburg lawyer, Renee Franchi, said Tuesday she believes only a handful of boys and young men were housed at the farm at a time. She encouraged others to come forward. One of the plaintiffs says he spent three years there, starting when he was about 14 and ending in 2014. He says he was never paid for his labor and at the start, received no schooling. He claims he was tied up for at least 30 minutes and disciplined by being put to work with limited or no food or water for extended periods.
