Maryann Fisher, left, of Alexandria, blocks the photographer’s camera as her husband, former pastor David Fisher, second from right, 64, leaves the Huntingdon County Courthouse after pleading no contest to a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child in failure to report sexual abuse on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019, in Huntingdon, Pa. Echoes of abuse coverups ring throughout Plain churches across the country in a culture that has historically emphasized a separation from the outside world.
Diners look on as protesters briefly occupy the restaurant The Porch a day after former East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael Rosfeld was found not guilty in the fatal shooting of Antwon Rose II, on Saturday, March 23, 2019, in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. Protests continued from the night before as people called for “Justice for Antwon.”
Michelle Kenney, mother of Antwon Rose II, looks out the courthouse window on the first day of the homicide trial of former East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld, Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at the Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh. Rosfeld was charged in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II, who was unarmed, as he fled a felony traffic stop.
From left, Jerry Robinson, 10, blocks Brandon Turner, 4, while Shalen Burton, 8, chases after as they play football in the streets of their neighborhood of McKees Rocks, Pa. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. The boys say they all aspire to grow up and play football for their high school. “Football is the last hope they have to learn the ideals they need in life,” says Sto-Rox assistant coach Tony Ruscitto, 73, who coaches the high school football team with his son Jason.
T.J. Ashbaugh, 26, fastens the hair of his stepdaughter Emily, 3, as he puts her to bed at their home in North Vandergrift, Pa. Above on the top bunk, his eight-year-old daughter Keeley talks to them as she waits her turn. Keeley has settled into a life of more structure after the unpredictability that came with both of her birth parents’ substance use.
Nicole Vecchio, 19, of Irwin, shares a bench with Shriner clown “Uncle Witty” aka Dennis Barnette, 65, of Cranberry at the Big Butler Fair at the Butler County Fairgrounds on Sunday, June 30, 2013, Prospect, Pa. Barnette says the “hobo” and “tramp” characters are the only clown characters to come out of the US, originating after the Depression.
Micah Jeffries, 19, dances during the “Mystical Magical Mardi Gras” celebration marking the end of a school year at Don’t Worry Child Care Center on Friday night, August 23, 2013, in McKeesport, Pa. Several students from the class from across the river in Clairton will graduate from the program and choose to come to school again in McKeesport. Clairton’s school scores are so low that there is funding available so students can go to school elsewhere in the surrounding area.
Barry Highberger, 61, walks along the path of an interstate shale pipeline that runs through his farm on May 23, 2013, in Sewickley Township, Pa. Berger and his neighbors in Sewickley fought to stop Sunoco Logistics Partners LP from buying rights of way on their land or using eminent domain to take them, citing frustration from other pipeline projects that are still scarring their land, concerns over private property rights and value, and safety risks.
Deer hang in a freezer in line for the butcher’s block at Rome’s Meat and Deli on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013, in Butler, Pa. Rome’s is one of a handful of processors across the state that are processing sites for the organization Hunters Sharing the Harvest, which delivers an average of 100,000 pounds of venison to Pennsylvania food banks, soup kitchens, and pantries to feed insecure people and families.
Paul “The Pittsburgh Kid” Spadafora takes a deep breath as he prepares to fight Venezuelan super lightweight boxer Johan Perez for the WBA Interim World Championship belt Saturday, Nov. 20, 2013, backstage at The Harv, a part of Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in Chester, WV.
Matthew Young, left, 8, and his brother Noah Harrison, 6, look from Jerome Street Bridge on to the site of a train derailment in their neighborhood on Sunday, June 8, 2014, in their town of McKeesport, Pa.
Abdullah Alkhuzai, 43, points to a container of his father’s insulin pens as he discusses his father’s treatment for diabetes with his brother Salah, 36, of Dormont, their father, Khamees, and Alkhuzai’s wife Christine, far right, 46, in Khamees’ new room in his son’s Braddock home on Sunday, November 23, 2014. Khamees came from Iraq to receive medical care for his diabetes, which is developing gangrenous wounds on his feet.
Kids play outside the Healthy Learning Institute on April 16, 2015, in McKeesport, Pa.
McKeesport Black Beret stepper Nizhae with her pet ferret outside her home on April 18, 2015, in McKeesport, Pa.
A crowd gathers at the Healthy Village Learning Institute in the former St. Pius School on April 18, 2015, in McKeesport, Pa. The center offers non-violence training and programs ranging from manhood and womanhood development to health and wellness workshops to leadership, job, and entrepreneurial skills.
The McKeesport Black Berets Save Our City Step Team lines up to march in the 2015 Fourth of July Parade in Canonsburg, Pa. Miss Helene Phelps, known for being both tough and talented, brought back the group for young steppers after a years long hiatus from the Berets previous 30-year run. Nearly 97 girls from ages 5-17 showed up to participate on the first call for practice.
Smoking at the bingo table at Guyasuta Days, Aug. 4, 2015, in Sharpsburg, Pa.
Waiting at the Bloomfield laundromat, Sept. 20, 2015, in Pittsburgh.
Lights begin to turn on along the North Side and Troy Hill as crows make their way to their nighttime roosts on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, in Pittsburgh.
“Get a job!” shouts Kelly Starkey, center right, 41, of West Deer Township, towards protesters as they leave a rally for Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, in Pittsburgh. Starkey says she supports Trump. “He’s pro-police and he’s going to make a difference,” she said.
Emily Kuzma, 20, of Downtown, stands with her rental skates by the skate room window at Neville Roller Drome on Sunday, April 24, 2016, on on Neville Island in Pittsburgh. “We’re trying to rebuild the skate community here in Pittsburgh,” said rink owner/operator Jim Park, 53, of West View, a lifelong skater himself. This marks the fifth year under Park’s ownership for Neville Roller Drome, the rink where his father first took him to learn to skate as a six-year-old.
Lights illuminate skates for sale in the pro-room window as people make their way around the floor at Neville Roller Drome on Saturday, July 23, 2016, on Neville Island in Pittsburgh. “We were kind of territorial of this place as kids,” said Melissa Scalise, 38, of Freedom, who grew up in the on Neville Island and came often to the rink. “‘The Island Kids,’ they called us… Now we’re bringing our kids.”
Georgia Touloumes, center, 86, of Venetia, celebrates as she watches U.S. presidential election results favoring Donald Trump announced on TV at a GOP election night party at the Crowne Plaza Suites on Tuesday evening, Nov. 8, 2016, in Bethel Park, Pa. “I am so excited because I can see the future of my children,” said Touloumes. “To live in an America that is home of the free, home of the brave.”
Girls sing Frozen’s “Let it Go” as they drive around in a pink stretch limo during Sweet and Sassy’s lights and limo event on Dec. 29, 2016, in Bethel Park, Pa. Pictured left to right are Mackenzie Downey, 5, of McCandless, Lyla Ostrowski, 8, Alyssa Lips, 7, and Julia Tengowski, 7, all of Peters Township, and Bella Trout, 9, of McCandless.
Justin Sevacko, Jr., 2, of Imperial, stands with his aunt’s 6-week-old puppy, Ace, as they hang out on Tuesday, July 4, 2017 in McKees Rocks, Pa.
Junior Alyssa Briglio, center, 20, of Lisbon, Maine, waits to represent her sorority in homecoming court during the homecoming weekend football game on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, at Edinboro University. “We nominated her because she’s one of the sisters that represents the sorority the best,” said Briglio’s fellow Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sister, Sarah Albolino, 21, of Pittsburgh, who cheered for Briglio beside her other sorority sisters in the stands.
Alfred “Preach” Hines has driven away dealers who tried to peddle heroin in front of his house in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood. He sits with son “Mighty” Michael Hines, 8, in the attic room he is converting into a multimedia studio on July 28, 2017. He hopes by providing youth an opportunity to build their music, film, and recording skills, that young people in the area can build a professional identity beyond the dichotomy of choosing between the nearby McDonald’s and drug dealing.
“Lil” John Flint, center, 39, touches the face of his friend Ryan “Riz” Connon, as his wife, Ashley Connon, right, 28, hugs him during the Pittsburgh Mercy Homeless Candlelight Vigil under the Fort Pitt Boulevard overpass on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016, in downtown Pittsburgh. Cannon touches a wall bearing the name of his friend Justin “Boston” Burgess and other people who died while homeless over the years in Allegheny County.
Steam rises from the stacks at U.S. Steel Corp.’s Edgar Thomson steel mill beyond a snowy line of houses on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018 in Braddock, Pa. New Mexico-based Merrion Oil & Gas Corp. leased a 10-acre tract on the mill’s site where it plans to build a well drilling pad that will straddle the North Versailles-East Pittsburgh border, just inside the eastern property line of the 145-year-old steel mill. The company plans to drill and frack six wells at the site.
Recovery director of the ARK Allegheny Recover Krew Gus DiRenna, 59, of Whitehall, leads a prayer with his crew of workers as they start an afternoon of work in the former drug house that he is turning into a home for people in recovery on Thursday, June 28, 2018, in the Carrick neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Cowboys in the bullpen at Fort Armstrong Professional Rodeo on July 13, 2019, in Ford City, Pa.
Willa Spence, center, holds her daughter, BeneJyn Ingram, 22, as they attend a vigil for Ingram’s good friend Armani Ford, on Sunday, April 28, 2019, along Vankirk Alley in their city of Clairton, Pa. People gathered to pray, mourn, and celebrate Ford’s life near to the backyard along the 800 block of Vankirk Street where he was found dead from a single gunshot the previous Friday.
Kim Bowles at home in July 2018, in Pittsburgh.
Rebecca Brydges, back right, plays with her son, Jaxen Jakub, 5, as her daughter, Karlee Brydges, front left, 1, climbs over her brother Sean Brydges, 10, on Rebecca’s bed on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019, at their home in McKeesport, Pa. Rebecca has started sleeping on the couch downstairs since discovering her leaking roof has caused black mold to grow in her bedroom.
The daughters of Silas and Judith Showalter hold the geranium that Joanna Yoder, 48, of Mifflinburg, gave them from their aunt’s greenhouse as they leave their uncle’s home, Tuesday evening, April 16, 2019, in Glasgow, Ky. From left are Hannah, 8, Frieda, 10, Dorcas, 12, and Naomi, 14.
Jeremy Burkholder, left, 6, and his siblings, Sheldon, 8, and Diane, right, 4, on Sunday, April 21, 2019, at their home in East Earl, Pa., in Lancaster County. Their parents, former Old Order Mennonites, will be homeschooling them instead of sending them to the Plain schools their older siblings attended. Diane Burkholder, the children’s mother, is speaking up against the long-held idea in her former faith that they have the “religious right” to deal with problems internally, without turning to the outside world. “We really don’t have a religious right to not protect our children,” she said.
The Burkholder family joins hands in prayer as they sit down to lunch after church on Sunday, April 21, 2019, at their home in East Earl, Pa. “God is rewriting the lyrics of our song. It is changing. Because what the enemy meant for harm, God will use for good,” says Jim Burkholder, far right, 50.
Women ride their bicycles through farms and homes along South Fairmount Road, Sunday, April 21, 2019, in Ephrata, Pa. in Lancaster County, the county with the largest Plain population in Pennsylvania. Survivors say the abuse has persisted in the Plain church and culture amid an extreme emphasis on male authority and female purity, a separatism from the world and pressure to forgive predators without safeguarding against future abuse.
Maddox Burnes, front, 5, of South Park, dressed as a prince, and Tiffany Louise Ruelo Thomas, right, 14, of Steubenville, Ohio, representing “Reyna Elena,” process through the residential streets around the Philippine Center to celebrate the center’s very first Santacruzan on Sunday, May 19, 2019, in West Mifflin, Pa. Money raised by the Reynas goes to the Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh, the Philippine Center, and to Filipino charities.
Josef Hoerner, 14, of Moniger, warms up on the tuba with his fellow members of the Chartiers Houston High School marching band before participating in the Canonsburg Fourth of July parade on Thursday, July 4, 2019, in Canonsburg, Pa.