Tanisha Long shared her thoughts online, and "within hours, her phone was lighting up with notifications: people trying to hack her Instagram, calling her racial slurs, and wishing her dead." My latest, a Ximena Conde collab @inquirer.com www.inquirer.com/politics/cha...

Stephen Wilkins shut off his tenants’ electricity, tossed a brick through a window, and even removed all of the doors and windows from their home, said former tenant Crystal Hall. “And then Wilkins sent a man to the house with a gun. And he killed her mother.” @ellierushing.bsky.social

State lawmakers still have not passed a budget, and the complex reasons behind the transit agency’s $213 million shortfall remain unaddressed. But for now, things are back to normal. Sort of. www.inquirer.com/transportati...

some of the last large undeveloped lots in Port Richmond could be on their way to getting filled in www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

"FBI agents aided by local police arrested private-equity investor Daryl Heller outside his Lancaster County home Wednesday..." @inquirer.com Joseph N. DiStefano reports: www.inquirer.com/business/dar...

My profile of the redevelopment of the Willow Street steam plant! www.inquirer.com/real-estate/...

After the 2024 election, I wondered if I had wasted my time tracking Heather Honey, whose group had been setting up lanes to claim the election was rigged if Trump lost. Now, I'm glad we kept tabs on her and glad my story about efforts to remove voters from rolls was included in this piece.

With Lebanon County-based conservative activist Heather Honey newly appointed to oversee “election integrity” in Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, I’m re-sharing this thread from last year. Honey spent the past few years organizing people who believed Dems rigged the 2020 election.

Personal news: I have joined the Philadelphia @inquirer.com as part of its Inquirer Weekend team. I could not be more excited! Lancaster: Thank you for trusting me with your stories these past few years. Philly: Don't be a stranger, send me your story ideas, theories, etc.

The SEC has staked a claim against embattled Lancaster County businessman Daryl Heller. The federal agency said it has been investigating "certain pre-bankruptcy transactions and practices” involving Heller. @lancasteronline.bsky.social lancasteronline.com/news/local/a...

A luxury a-frame lodge, farmland, an active natural gas drilling site... part of over $4M in real estate, tied to ATM businessman Daryl Heller, that could get swept up in bankruptcy. My latest @lancasteronline.bsky.social lancasteronline.com/news/local/o...

Strike art at Thomas F. Donatucci, Sr. library, Philadelphia ☠️

The bill requiring cyber charter schools to see students online once a week came after the 2024 death of a 12-year-old attending Commonwealth Charter Academy who was allegedly tortured and starved. CCA faces a wrongful death suit. @katiemeyer.bsky.social www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/07...

ICYMI: a couple years before Amish-born Lancaster businessman Dave Zook was involved in Daryl Heller's $500 million+ ATM scheme, Zook was involved in a $181 million Ponzi scheme originating in Texas.

@brettsholtis.bsky.social looks at Dave Zook, a Lancaster County investor who tied to both the Heller ATM Ponzi scheme and another one in Texas.

What do an Amish shed maker from Lancaster, a dentist from the Philly suburbs, and the mayor of a small town an hour south of Dallas have in common? For the answer, you must travel to Fairfield, Texas . . . lancasteronline.com/news/local/a...

In the City Council race, all three of the Democratic party's endorsed candidates will move onto the Nov. general election. Incumbent Lochard Calixte lost out to newcomer Amos Stoltzfus, the director of Tenfold's SoWe lancasteronline.com/news/politic...

Jaime Arroyo has won Lancaster city's mayoral primary with more than 83% of the vote. He soundly defeated opponent Janet Diaz who earned just 710 votes as of 11:15 p.m. Arroyo had 3,692. lancasteronline.com/news/politic...

Charles Carrier, a “We Buy Ugly Houses” former franchise owner, is accused of orchestrating a yearslong Ponzi scheme, bilking tens of millions of dollars from both wealthy investors and older people with modest incomes. Despite signs of trouble, the company didn’t intervene.

they put me into a tik tok www.tiktok.com/@lancasteron...

“I’m having panic attacks and shaking uncontrollably at times,” Paramount's CEO, Randall Leaman, told his boss, Daryl Heller, as he made his case to resign from the company. My @lancasteronline.bsky.social colleague Chad Umble details the final, panicked months of the company.

New from @brettsholtis.bsky.social: “Do you think Paramount was a Ponzi scheme?” attorney Joshua Voss asked Paramount CEO Randall Leaman. “I do not know,” Leaman replied. lancasteronline.com/business/loc...

What does this jet have to do with a Lancaster County scheme that made hundreds of millions vanish? This jet was used to fly cash from Pa. to Michigan. Just one detail in my story: 'Under oath, Paramount execs could not say ATM company wasn’t a Ponzi scheme' lancasteronline.com/business/loc...

NEW: A secretive surveillance company is building "AI persona" bots for cops intended to gather evidence on people. Personas include "college protesters," "radicalized" divorced moms, children. We have docs that shows how it works and what cops can do with it: www.404media.co/this-college...

A city activist and City Council members have called on Janet Diaz to resign or be removed from her seat on council over a social media post they described as racist and Islamophobic. Diaz, a Democrat, is also running for mayor in the May 20 primary lancasteronline.com/news/local/l...

'Migrant children, teens in Lancaster County at risk of deportation after Trump administration cuts funds' New from me @lancasteronline.bsky.social lancasteronline.com/news/migrant...

Lawyers question Daryl Heller over family gifts, business entities at bankruptcy meeting My @lancasteronline.bsky.social look at a three-hour meeting today where lawyers scrutinized the businessman's assets -- right down to the grapes growing in his yard. lancasteronline.com/news/lawyers...

“Some local Republicans on Wednesday whispered — others shouted — that Parsons’ polarizing personality drove many GOP voters away from the polls, or to choose Malone on their ballots.”

"...the account revealed the names of hundreds of Waltz’s personal and professional associates, including journalists, military officers, lobbyists, and others—information a foreign intelligence service or other actors could exploit for any number of ends, experts say."

Never seen anything like it

"The county’s elections website showed 100% of precincts reporting, with Malone getting 26,951 votes compared to Parsons’ 26,469. Libertarian candidate Zachary Moore had obtained 480." @jaxonwhite.bsky.social lancasteronline.com/news/politic...

The politics team at @lancasteronline.bsky.social has done a fantastic job covering this special election race. Follow @jaxonwhite.bsky.social who has been on this and no doubt will have more to come soon. Here's a piece of his from a few days ago, when Republicans started to voice concern.

Parsons: Obviously we are disappointed in the numbers. We are still reviewing them, but it appears we will come up a little short. We will have a further statement tomorrow. We appreciate all those who worked hard, supported our campaign, and came out to vote today.

“We know electeds pay attention to the people who write the big checks. That doesn't mean we influence them, but that our names are known.” If that's true, then based on @stephenjcaruso.bsky.social reporting, most of our lawmakers' attention goes to two guys -- Jeff Yass and Michael Karp.

"One woman said she was fed nothing for 36 hours. All four women said they had no easy access to potable water; they had to bang on the window to be given a paper cone of water from a jug in the hallway." When one needed Benadryl for a rash, she was told to "pretend I had a seizure and fall down."

In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

"At least 10 men from the Bhutanese refugee community in Pennsylvania have been arrested by [ICE] in recent weeks," WITF's Jordan Wilkie reports. "The families say they don’t know why their loved ones were arrested now or what will happen next." www.witf.org/2025/03/22/f...

Daryl Heller, who owes investors $138M, has faced lawsuits, but no criminal charges. But this week he hired a N.J. criminal law firm for “pre-indictment legal services relating to securities, wire and mail fraud," signaling that he may expect that to change. lancasteronline.com/news/daryl-h...

Dairy farmers nationwide are bracing for the economic fallout of President Donald Trump’s trade war with Mexico, Canada and China — the three leading buyers of U.S. dairy products. lancasteronline.com/news/politic...

"I think, for someone who came to this country in a legal process, to have been detained by ICE, under immense pressure from this administration, I feel that that is wrong.” If you read one thing (outside the @penncapital-star.com today), check out this story from @brettsholtis.bsky.social.

'This brings back a lot of trauma': area Bhutanese-Americans react to recent ICE raids New from me @lancasteronline.bsky.social lancasteronline.com/news/local/t...

This is the kind of in-depth gun violence reporting that requires deep sourcing, trust building, newsroom resources, and straight up empathy. Which is why so few people do it like @ellierushing.bsky.social: share.inquirer.com/49QJcN

A lot of detail here from my colleague Jordan Wilkie on this evolving situation. Six men from Dauphin and Cumberland counties, all legal residents, originally from Bhutan or Nepal, were detained without explanation. www.witf.org/2025/03/18/i...

Good story by @penncapital-star.com breaking down these federal job cuts by county. Thousands of jobs lost in York, Lebanon, Cumberland, Franklin counties. penncapital-star.com/uncategorize...

News from me @lancasteronline.bsky.social: Pa. Board of Education rejects a Christian schools’ association as accreditor. Board opposition came after some lawmakers and officials said the group’s policy on “Biblical sexuality” was discriminatory. lancasteronline.com/news/pennsyl...

Though a court has not yet "established that this is a Ponzi scheme,” Matthew Haverstick, who represents funds that sued Heller, said “I don’t doubt that it is. A common feature of a Ponzi scheme is that a lot of entities are created to fill holes in the dike.” lancasteronline.com/business/loc...

Update to this, the committee recommends that the BOE oppose ACSI's request to become an accrediting organization for private schools. Tomorrow, BOE will vote on the matter. In the past, it has tended to follow committee recommendations. I'll wait until the vote to publish a story.

If you're following the Pa. Board of Education hearing, and you heard attorney Randall Wenger cite a @lancasteronline.bsky.social story --- here is the story. Update on how this plays out TK

From last night: Josh Parsons absent from forum with Pa. Senate special election candidates James Andrew Malone, Zachary Moore lancasteronline.com/news/politic...