Charleroi scored three runs with two outs in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday and defeated Keystone Oaks 3-2 in Class 3A Section 3 Charleroi is 5-3 in section and 7-7 overall but a two-out two-run single by Payton Huweart gave Charleroi the lead The Cougars pushed across an insurance run that proved to be important because KO scored in the bottom of the seventh and had the potential tying run on base when winning pitcher Ariahna Blouse ended the game with a strikeout Starter Lyla Brunner allowed one run over five innings West Greene improved to 13-1 overall and 8-1 in Class A Section 2 with a 13-3 victory in six innings over Beth-Center tWinning pitcher Payton Gilbert struck out 5 with no walks Gilbert was 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI Kendra Tharp and Khyler Davis had 2 RBI each B-C’s Keira Lamp and Jenna Pohill each had 2 hits Winning pitcher Gabby Marmie homered as Jefferson-Morgan rolled to a 13-0 win over visiting Avella in a Class A Section 2 game between teams that have clinched playoff berths 8-5) sealed the win with a seven-run fourth inning Emilee Bazzoli hit two doubles and Brooklynne Snyder also had a two-bagger for the Rockets fired a no-hitter with 18 strikeouts and the Raiders hit two home runs in a 5-0 win over Canon-McMillan in Class 6A Section 1 Hames issued only one walk and was supported by home runs from Abby Kalowski and Liv Herrem Seneca Valley is 12-2 in section and 14-2 overall Brooke Bumer struck out 11 for Canon-McMillan (8-7 Frazier remained in sole possession of first place in Class 2A Section 4 with a 9-1 win over visiting Bentworth Addison Hiles pitched a four-hitter and Frazier (8-1 The Commodores scored seven runs over the first three innings Nora Lindley hit a double for the Bearcats Jaidyn Vay hit two doubles and pitched a four-inning no-hitter with eight strikeouts as Yough defeated California 15-0 in nonsection action If you have an account and are registered for online access sign in with your email address and password below Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe Copyright © Observer-Reporter | Contact | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy The rebirth of Charleroi’s First United Methodist Church started with a gesture by Carolyn McCuen At the end of a Sunday service six or seven years ago the 87-year-old McCuen saw a large Nigerian man trying to enter through a side door Are you looking for a church?” she said she asked him But Samuel later said his encounter with McCuen was the first time a white person had shown him real kindness And so he not only began attending services at First United every week but invited other immigrants to join him Pastor Randy Ord says welcoming strangers is what Christians are called upon to do “The Bible tells us that we are to help those in need,” he said “So how they got here and why they're here and all the minutiae of that is kind of irrelevant to me.” who was among the first of hundreds of Haitian migrants who have moved to Charleroi Many of the new arrivals were driven from Haiti by a wave of chaos back home and they were drawn to Charleroi by jobs at Fourth Street Barbecue a frozen-food factory just outside of town began translating the church service into Haitian-Creole That drew other Haitian families without cars who could walk to the service and the people at the church really know me,” Pierre said Membership at First United has grown by around 50% the past few years More than a third of his congregation is now made up of Haitian families will be because of immigrant population,” Ord said Two Methodist churches he serves nearby are struggling with aging congregations “We have babies and it’s really nice to hear them in the service whose own parents brought her to First United as a baby Most local leaders tell a similar tale of Charleroi itself — a story that contrasts sharply to other parts of the Mon Valley An influx of immigrants has meant that Charleroi’s population has returned to levels not seen since the 1970s With the new arrivals have come new businesses and newly refurbished houses “They fixed up so many buildings in the town and filled so many storefronts compared to where we were at,” said Leanna Spada the executive director of the Mon Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce But not everyone feels as thought the community has benefited And the Trump administration’s recent decision to change the immigration status of many Haitians means that the revival of Ord’s church — and the community it serves — is in jeopardy as gangs took over the country and Haiti’s president But last month, Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, announced that the protected status would expire after Aug. 5. Experts estimate that more than 5 million immigrants in the United States have that status including Pierre and most other Haitians in Charleroi Pierre’s main hope is that Trump will have a change of heart, though there seems little chance of that given the anti-immigrant tone of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Trump himself called out Charleroi’s immigrant community last summer telling an audience in Arizona that Charleroi had “a beautiful name Trump “can decide whatever he wants to decide and even if it's not good for us there's nothing we can fight against that,” Pierre acknowledged He’s planning to ask friends in Canada if they can sponsor him to move there who asked to be referred to only by his first name in case he has to return to Haiti said he will do so in June if nothing changes Dorval used to work at the Quality Pasta factory in Charleroi before it shut down last year; he now works for a contractor who fixes houses Dorval recently bought his own house in Charleroi from his boss so his wife and year-old son in Haiti could join him Now he says he’ll likely have to sell the home instead ‘What you will do?’ I say only one thing I don't want to happen to me — deportation,” he said Dorval said being deported can be stigmatizing: Some believe it happens only to criminals he’d lose the ability to apply for a visa to return to the United States It’s not certain how many Haitians have left Local school officials say about as many new immigrant children have begun attending school as have left the district fearing that Trump’s campaign rhetoric put Charleroi in the crosshairs have already moved elsewhere in the Mon Valley told the congregation the day before Trump was inaugurated that he was leaving the state to live with a relative working remotely and staying indoors in hopes of avoiding deportation “He got up and said how much he loved the church and how much he loved everybody he was uncomfortable with the situation with Trump,” recalled Ord asked why Samuel was so afraid: Trump would deport only criminals This view of Trump’s intentions is common among native-born residents Even though Samuel has permission to be in the country for now “They're not just going after illegals,” Ord said Without Charleroi’s immigrants, the Pittsburgh region likely would have been the only large metro area in the country to lose population in the most recent U.S. Census estimates, according to Chris Briem, a University of Pittsburgh economist Their departure could make things difficult for local employers “A lot of employers will not find some easy quick or any replacement for those workers,” he said be forced to raise [wages] to a point where a lot of them are probably not competitive.” Fourth Street Foods CEO Chris Scott said the company was trying to figure out how to respond In October the company said it employed around 1,000 people — including about 700 immigrants — at its food packaging plants A majority of those immigrants were Haitian But Scott declined to give an interview this month about how the company would respond “We have temporary and full-time employees who are nervous about their immigration status even though they’ve done everything they were supposed to do,” Scott said in a text message “Additional exposure specific to our company or our people is not something anyone needs.” Barbe said he’d received 300 threatening calls including some that threatened to burn down company facilities and accused him of being “a traitor” who imports “slave labor from Haiti.” The Charleroi Area School District isn’t sure yet how to budget for the next school year given that many of its more than 130 English-language learners could be gone Superintendent Ed Zelich said the district would likely have to furlough most of its English language-learner teachers and potentially some of the first- and second-grade teachers who would have been teaching Haitian children “It's almost like throwing darts at a balloon in the dark,” Zelich said of the budgeting challenge “But we're trying to have plan A and plan B as we move forward.” Zelich said the district has tried to focus on educating students and stay out of controversies In December the school district sought to quell a rumor that one of its students had been infected with tuberculosis But then in January one of its students was diagnosed with the disease and there does not appear to have been an outbreak of the disease since But some parents believed that the district had not been truthful in December “My job is to lead people and keep them calm and try to predict the future as well as live in the present.” after Trump called out Charleroi’s Haitian immigrants in September people in town have become emboldened to speak out against them Ord said people will come up to him and try to get him to agree that they’ve been a problem said a neighbor once accosted her while she was walking the dog “He said I was the reason the immigrants were in Charleroi because I give them free things,” she said For the past three years Mary has led an effort to collect donations for immigrants She heard that many Haitians arrived without warm clothes bedding or basic cooking supplies — and she began handing out donations in a program she calls “Ezekiel’s Closet.” She’s skeptical the program has drawn many immigrants “I really don't think an old spoon and some old leggings are going to do the trick,” she said There was a relatively brisk business at the church’s most recent Thursday-morning giveaway as both newcomers and more established residents picked up necessities towels and some “international peacekeeper” action figures for her children While the atmosphere seemed relatively light Mary said the giveaways used to be filled with laughter and joy She says she’s felt discouraged that fewer people had shown up recently as worries about the future have left everyone uncertain like much else that Haitians have brought with them has found its way into local houses of worship Which is why the pews were packed on a chilly Sunday morning after CityReach Church’s early-morning Haitian service in Creole The congregation was listening to Joseph Patrick Murphy a Pittsburgh immigration lawyer who has been coming to Charleroi every week for years “This town is very supportive of your presence in spite of every once in a while we'll run into some weirdo,” Murphy assured them He paused for what he said to be translated before continuing: “Trump doesn't run Charleroi Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities were targeting three kinds of immigrants: those with criminal records those with deportation orders and those with no status at all Local Haitians didn’t fall into those categories which is why “we don't have ICE trucks going up and down the street.” But some of the Haitians wanted to know if they should apply for asylum — a status given to those who face political or other persecution in their home countries — before their TPS status expires Being granted asylum can lead to a green card and eventually citizenship And Murphy holds impromptu office hours in a nearby McDonald’s restaurant and sometimes meets clients in his car when they don’t feel comfortable speaking in public “We'll get it done because we want to get everybody out of Trump's crosshairs,” he told the audience But Murphy can’t work for free — “It's not pro-bono It's low-bono,” he told WESA — and asylum is rarely granted to immigrants who apply more than a year after they arrive who was translating for Murphy at CityReach applied for asylum in 2020 after his father they wouldn’t even have taken the body,” he said “I think they would have just left it in the street.”) He is still waiting for a decision Ladouceur says he understood some of the impulses driving Trump voters including their support for the Laken Riley Act named after a woman killed by an immigrant And he says he’s envious of Americans for having a president with Trump’s values: “He said America first I would love to have a president like that in my country.” But Ladouceur holds degrees in both law and philosophy and he views the issue through both lenses Haiti has been a good friend of the United States,” he said Not everyone sees the imminent departure of Haitians as a problem as a look at the town’s Facebook page suggests In response to pictures of a car that crashed into an electrical pole this week Nikki Sheppick is among the page’s most prolific posters “I don’t hate ’em,” Sheppick said of the immigrants “If they're legal and they have no ill intent toward Americans But Sheppick objected to Biden’s admission of Haitians: “All of a sudden somebody signs an executive order and says just let in multimillions.’ That is not the way this is supposed to be done.” And she said she was wary of immigrants who “are not here legally and we don't know what their intentions are.” Many residents don’t agree that immigration has revitalized the economy according to Republican borough councilman Larry Celaschi “They've not had an impact … to where I can see that we are thriving because of the immigrant community,” Celaschi said While he acknowledged that a half-dozen or so businesses have opened to serve the new arrivals he said their products and services largely target immigrants Celaschi said that only a few of the “American businesses,” such as the Dollar General and a local gas station “What about the business owners that are not benefiting from the influx of the immigrants?” he asked Celaschi said he believes that the state and federal government should have done more to help the town adapt to what some estimate to be about a 50% increase in population in just a couple of years state and federal officials should have provided additional resources to pay for more emergency-service workers “If we were to get support from the beginning to help us adapt to this change Celaschi has heard many of the arguments in favor of the immigrants and he has responses — often based on anecdotal evidence — for many of them Asked whether the Haitians’ arrival has prompted a rise in home values he said his aunt’s house recently sold for a low price Asked how the Haitians’ departure would affect local churches he pointed to two churches in nearby Rostraver that were doing fine without any Haitians Even the growth in production at Fourth Street Barbecue does little to help Charleroi’s bottom line Celaschi said: Its plants are located in the neighboring boroughs of North Charleroi and Speers Celaschi said he isn’t opposed to all immigrants But Celaschi said isn’t sure how many immigrants are here legally pointing to a recent federal indictment that charged a staffing agency with providing Fourth Street Barbecue with immigrant workers who were here illegally The owner of the agency has pleaded guilty to falsifying paperwork and not paying taxes as well as immigration lawyers and Haitians themselves the vast majority of Haitians in town have the legal status they need to work But Celaschi said that when that status changes this summer “I'm going to stand by our President of the United States.” Celaschi doesn’t think the immigrants have done enough to adapt to life in America Although he’s heard of Haitians attending English classes in town One fall afternoon while he was painting his house “I did not hear one word of the English language at all on my street that day how this could happen when all the neighbors were speaking the same language forever here — and now all of a sudden you can't even have a conversation outside of waving your hands and saying hello.” Others will feel the departure of the Haitians more deeply Sharon Woomer and her husband were co-pastors at Presbyterian churches in Charleroi and Monongahela until three years ago when Woomer decided to dedicate herself full-time to the Presbyterian Church of Charleroi The congregation had only about 15 elderly members — but the need among the immigrants was great the whole truth of the gospel is to be able to realize that we're the same and to welcome the stranger,” she said One way Woomer has tried to do so is by using her church as a space for English classes Although she had no experience teaching English Woomer herself taught the advanced classes And it was during those conversations that she got to know the Haitians in a way that many others have not conversations in class “would end in tears because people are remembering their mom or children that they left behind with good planning with relatives and then something happens to that child.” And much like many Charleroi residents found the arrival of the Haitians perplexing Haitians often found it a challenge to adjust to life in Charleroi “There's no guidebook when you get here,” she said “You have to figure everything out yourself: how to get a checkbook Her students also told her about some local Facebook pages where Haitians were insulted and attacked — attacks that grew harsher after Trump called out the town they really hate us,” one of those students “I would like to tell them to have love in their heart instead of hate because we all are human.” Marie said that the immigrants’ efforts to adapt — all made while working full-time — often go unrecognized “They say that we don't speak English,” she said Longtime residents “want to preserve their town … They think we wanna take over the town,” she said “If they really want to know what we are doing where she helps translate for her colleagues It’s a step down from her white-collar job in Haiti but a step up from her previous job in Fourth Street Barbecue’s refrigerated warehouses Marie was able to make friends at a women’s group in a local Catholic Church She helped convince the church to bring in a Haitian priest and she translates for a weekly trauma-support group that helps immigrants deal with the separation from their home — and to recover from sometimes-violent pasts and she couldn’t leave the country for the funeral But she said that despite the hardships of living outside Haiti she hopes that before she loses her status in the U.S she can get permission to live with her brother in Canada her 23-year-old daughter can continue to pursue her dream of becoming a dental hygienist — a job she currently holds in Charleroi but gang violence is daunting “when you have your daughter who is really scared when she knows that they can rape her “It's very sad for us and it hurts,” Marie said “So we keep praying that God can change the President's decision.” Have a tip for the WESA newsroom? Email news@wesa.fm worked with the school district on two environmental projects Charleroi Area students celebrated Earth Day this week with help from Komatsu Mining Corp representatives from the company have stopped by each spring to spend the day with students and help complete environmentally friendly projects on the school district’s campus Earth Day now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by earthday.org TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. 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All rights reserved American Compass “If you showed people in Haiti a map of the United States, the likelihood that they’d put their finger on Charleroi, PA and decide to come here is close to zero.” It’s a good point made to my America 2100 colleagues by a local resident of Charleroi during their week-long on-the-ground investigation of the impact immigration is having there and across middle America is located about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh A case study in the deindustrialization of the Midwest Charleroi was once a booming town founded by Belgium glassworkers featuring glass factories access to nearby jobs with Pittsburgh Steel and even one of America’s first movie theaters—Electric Theater Charleroi has been in decline for years and experiences all of the challenges of job losses and drug overdoses that have become all too familiar in towns laid low by deindustrialization Then, just a few years ago, something changed. Thousands of Haitian migrants arrived in Charleroi. Most of these Haitians are not in the United States illegally. They are here under a program called CHNV Parole which allows up to 30,000 nationals of Cuba and Venezuela to apply per month for humanitarian parole into the United States But back to Tom’s question: How did they end up in Charleroi implausible that they chose to come to the small Pennsylvania town on their own This isn’t the result of people coming to America and ending up in a town where they know somebody Rather, what you discover in listening to people on the ground is that they end up in Charleroi—or countless other American cities like the high-profile case of Springfield Ohio—because of a sophisticated operation that involves local businesses that want low-wage labor “staffing agencies” that not only have access to migrant labor but also frequently source them housing and transportation to the job sites and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that help connect the staffing agencies with newly arrived migrants necessitating the importation of a foreign workforce to do them for us Few of our nation’s policymakers question this assumption. Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, speaking recently on the Ezra Klein Show laid out this consensus perfectly: Let’s take a look at economic prosperity: There is agreement that our economy benefits from migrant labor implore me to deploy the maximum number of visas available and they all decry the fact that the maximum number is woefully inadequate to meet their respective jurisdictions’ needs Mayorkas is certainly correct that there is bipartisan support for low-wage temporary labor This bipartisan demand extends beyond H-2B visas to the H-2A work visa for agricultural workers as well as any number of other ways businesses bring in cheap foreign labor This model may work well for the businesses and business owners employing low-skill migrants at poverty wages and the government collecting taxes from those businesses and business owners but it provides no incentive for anybody to invest in the productivity of the worker Several years ago, American Compass chief economist Oren Cass wrote about this in his essay, “Jobs Americans Would Do”: Owners of capital and managers of firms might see their profits and wages rise even as the typical worker’s wage stagnates or falls Our leadership class sees aggregate wealth increasing and business profits going up, and they see success. Writing about the recent attention paid to the town of Springfield, Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine stated: “Springfield is having a resurgence in manufacturing and job creation Some of that is thanks to the dramatic influx of Haitian migrants who have arrived in the city over the past three years to fill jobs.” citizens who live in Springfield still have problems finding jobs that pay a living wage and see the culture of their town change overnight in a process over which they have no agency Springfield has gotten wealthier in aggregate than it would have been under a status quo with no migrant labor influx so The people of Charleroi don’t see it that way. “I don’t believe that argument of, they had to bring that population here to save Charleroi, has any validity,” Tom Altmiller says This is a town of 4,000 people hanging on the best they can So whoever is responsible for putting them here They expect to spend another $300,000 next year Property damage from cars crashing into buildings has increased in Charleroi in recent years. “I have never seen a town respond to so many of these calls,” Charleroi Fire Chief Robert Whiten Jr. said “Our response area has more vehicles into buildings than anywhere else but we have a lot of cars into buildings.” “They say ‘we can’t find people to work.’ Well, that’s a half truth,” Andy Armbruster, a lifelong native of Charleroi said “There’s people who would work if you paid them the going wage for the work But they want to pay less and so they ended up getting involved with these agencies that bring in these workers.” America has a different option than filling low-skill jobs with foreigners coming to our country through an abused asylum process and the other mechanisms on which millions of jobs are today filled It’s the “Jobs Americans Would Do” model and requires a commitment from policymakers and investors with capital to actually invest in the productivity of the American worker Rather than relying on cheap labor to do low-productivity work allowing labor scarcity to incentivize technological innovation is the path to higher-wage work This is a point the American economist It is important to recognize that discoveries of improved methods and of substitute products are not just luck They happen in response to “scarcity”—an increase in cost there is a good chance that it will not be put into operation until there is need for it due to rising cost This point is important: Scarcity and technological advance are not two unrelated competitors in a race; rather That investment in worker productivity is what causes worker wages to go up. It’s what takes a low-skill, low-wage job that isn’t attractive to an American and transforms it into a job he or she would be interested in. Speaking in 2018, former President George W. Bush strangely cited cotton picking as an industry where America needs low-skill immigrants to do jobs “Americans won’t do”: There are people willing to do jobs that Americans won’t do…Americans don’t want to pick cotton at 105 degrees but there are people who want put food on their family’s tables and are willing to do that We ought to say thank you and welcome them In the United States, people do not, generally, still pick cotton by hand. “Cotton picking is typically done mechanically by cotton pickers or cotton strippers in developed nations like the USA, Australia, Brazil, and Russia,” according to an academic review of current research and development in cotton harvesters published in May 2023 If cotton picking is proof of anything, it’s that a job traditionally done by low-wage or slave labor can be transformed by cutting-edge technological innovation at the center of 21st century great power competition The first cotton picking machine was rolled out in the 1930s, but automation continues to transform the agricultural sector. According to a report in Ag Funders News “It’s possible that more mechanization in the ag sector will see a decrease in reliance on H-2A in the US and Western Growers expects H-2A to ‘remain an important component of major farm operations in the foreseeable future.’” In other words price pressure is driving technological innovation stop boxing him out with cheap migrant workers Allow labor scarcity to drive technological innovation Similarly, a Charleroi business owner invited CBS News into his factory to see the work being done by migrant workers. Though only a few seconds of video is shown in the CBS report the main task one sees workers doing in the video is manually moving bowls of food from one conveyor belt onto another It’s not difficult to imagine automation playing a greater role in that process Productivity increases won’t change the nature of every low-skill job. But in a higher-wage economy with greater income to pay for low-skill services, even the service sector sees its wages go up. That’s why it was possible 50 years ago for a bartender and a maid to own their own home raise their children in a safe neighborhood Is our economy providing that same opportunity today Immigration policy is not just a question of economics It has tremendous implications on our culture and our ability to provide dignity and basic services to our citizens What is being done to these communities is a tragedy Our country’s elites have made policy choices about what kind of economy they want our nation to have The choices they have made may be good for them but they are destroying small towns like Charleroi America’s problems can’t be solved by only addressing what government shouldn’t do Agricultural states are prepared to fight the good fight on trade @AmerCompass contact@americancompass.org  media@americancompass.org ©2025 American Compass, Inc. | Privacy Policy Designed by Beck & Stone Join our mailing list to receive our latest research Charleroi Area HIgh School crowned McKenna Shields as prom queen and Landon Barcus as prom king during Friday’s prom festivities Andrew Lane was preparing to help shut down his production line for the final time in a glass plant that has been the lifeblood to generations of residents in the Mon Valley town of Charleroi a Mechanic at the factory that produces Pyrex glass was called into a meeting with around 30 other workers just before 3 p.m. and told that he would have his job for another three months The plant closure was put on hold briefly by a lawsuit last year Since then the company has announced and then delayed the plant closure an additional three times Even after the company’s second extension back in January Lane said that his patience was wearing thin “I mean every month you get to the end of the month We're going to put it off a little bit longer,’” he said “I think it's wore on people and just really negatively impacted them so bad that they just want [the company] to peel the Band-Aid off and just give us a reason to move on.” announced in September that it was closing the plant after having taken it over less than a year before two of the factory’s four production lines have been shut down and only a little over 100 of the plant’s previous 250 workers are staying around to find out if this next date is to be believed Most of the plant’s workers have already left for other jobs or retired early Many of Lane’s former coworkers took jobs at U.S Some have tried to get work at the General Electric plant in Speers That’s left some of the plant’s remaining workers to pick up additional overtime Lane said many of them are having trouble moving on from the camaraderie they’ve built up over the years — 15 of them in Lane’s case but it was one of the first places where people accepted his odd sense of humor He even met his fiancé there when she and her twin sister got jobs I've always felt like people judge me,” Lane said “And for once I was with a group of people I didn't care about trying to be somebody I'm not… They accepted me for me.” Announcement of the closure set off a firestorm in town amid a national election in which Charleroi But interest in the plant’s fate has lagged since came to town during his campaign last year to take up the workers’ plight “I'm not promising I have any sort of magic solution, but I am promising that if people of good conscience can focus on this issue, we're hopefully going to get better decisions,” McCormick said at the time McCormick said he has continued to be engaged “with the relevant parties,” but Charleroi’s borough manager and council president said they hadn’t heard from McCormick and plant employees say he and other other politicians haven’t followed through “He was supposed to be behind us,” said Robert Basiak McCormick’s spokesperson said he’s worked with a Republican on the borough council Celaschi didn’t respond to WESA requests to describe those efforts John Fetterman responded to questions about their efforts in Charleroi either Corelle Brands didn’t respond to a request for comment Daniel Roberts has worked at the plant for 19 years alongside his wife who now serves as the local union president His great-grandmother worked at the factory at one time and his grandfather worked there for 47 years “My family's been in the factory since they pretty much broke ground,” he said “My grandfather’s rolling in his grave right now.” Roberts began working at the glass plant just after he got out of high school in 2004 and has to find another job after the plant closes — but doesn’t know what he’ll do “Go back to school,” Roberts said for “sports management Lane says he plans to go back to school: He’s been hanging on at the plant in part because he hopes to use a potential severance payment to help him pay tuition Basiak said that almost none of the employees still at the plant are accepting the company’s offer to move to Lancaster Ohio where the production lines are being relocated The company offered him a $7 hourly raise and help with moving expenses but he no longer trusts the company enough to take them up on it Basiak hopes to get a job driving shout-haul truck routes after the plant closes He said he’ll likely have to travel an hour or more to a job near Pittsburgh that pays as well: Jobs at the coke works pay less than what he’s making and he has five children to support with his wife “There were offers to go work in the Lancaster “But that's just not something easy to do — just uproot your life.” Nichols has been hesitant to start applying for other jobs without clarity around when his current one will end Nichols lives on a street with five or six other workers at the factory and he’s in no hurry to leave “I love what I did: running huge machines and making a quality product But the atmosphere inside the factory is different now “People used to be proud and walk around with their head held high,” he said “Now it's gloomy looks and you can tell that everybody's upset about it and wondering what to do next.” Charleroi hired one of its own Tuesday night to take over the Cougars’ football program a 1997 graduate and a standout athlete for the Cougars was unanimously hired as head coach at the Charleroi School Board meeting and he is excited to take over a program that means so much to him “Being a Charleroi guy my whole life it starts with the community,” he said “I grew up here and have pride in it.” who resigned after two seasons to become an assistant at Robert Morris University When asked what he wants to bring to the program basketball and baseball player started his answer with one word “We have had six coaches in 10 years.” Charleroi athletic director Bruno Pappasergi is encouraged by what he’s heard from DeUnger “It is always nice to see a home-grown kid come back and speak the way he spoke (during the interview process),” Pappasergi said very positive about the direction he wants to take the program and complementary of the coaches before him “He will continue to lay the groundwork that (the previous coaches) laid.” and I think Scott will do a fine job with our kids,” Pappasergi said “He has been involved with the kids coming up and the midget league for a long time “He is involved with a lot of sports here has a good pulse on what is going on at the school right now and it is always nice to have someone who is local That’s one big thing he has going for him.” DeUnger has an advantage as he knows all of the Charleroi players “I have come up through the youth program and at the middle school,” he said Pappasergi spoke about DeUnger’s lack of varsity coaching experience “The only stumbling block is he will have to learn to be a varsity coach,” said Pappasergi “I have all the confidence in the world going from a middle school coach and morphing into a great varsity coach.” DeUnger already has his coaching staff assembled and that is a big key as the Cougars are a couple months behind other teams in terms of an offseason “We are going to jump right into it,” he said is that far too many Charleroi kids stop playing from midgets to high school “How can we bridge the gap?” he pondered “We lose the kids from midgets to middle school to high school We want to build a program all the way down from the high school team to the midgets.” When asked what it meant to take over his alma mater DeUnger took a deep breath before answering “I could go on for days about that,” he said It’s the first time Marsh Tire has been outside the Mollis family since 1951 a member of the Mollis family will not be the owner/operator of Marsh Tire in Charleroi whose father Albert purchased the business in 1951 before passing it on to his son “I’ve been winding down now for over a year,” said Mollis it started to get like work and all thos.. This website is unavailable in your location It appears you are attempting to access this website from a country outside of the United States therefore access cannot be granted at this time April 17 marks Palestinian Prisoners’ Day the annual international day dedicated to the struggle for and liberation of Palestinian prisoners an impressive evening event took place in Brussels and an action was organized in the center of Charleroi A delegation from the Plate-Forme Charleroi-Palestine attended the excellent public meeting,  “Palestinian Prisoners – Current Issues and Prospects for Release” on Friday, April 18. We are publishing here the testimony that a friend from Brussels sent us “On April 18, I participated in the conference organized by Samidoun  and other collectives in Brussels (Pianofabriek – Saint-Gilles) on the occasion of Palestinian Political Prisoners’ Day.  95% of whom were young people and 80% of whom were motivated young women The two comrades who hosted the evening are young Palestinian women studying at the VUB one from Gaza and the other from the Ain al-Helweh refugee camp  (Saida They were fluent in French and English (as well as Arabic and Dutch) and led the discussion excellently focusing on the central themes of resistance and the struggle for the liberation of Palestine Five people were invited to speak:  Hadeel Shatara and Fadia Barghouti two Palestinians freed by the resistance in the Toufan al Ahrar exchange; Adel a comrade from Samidoun Paris Banlieue;  Nathan a comrade active within the Université Populaire de Bruxelles (the student occupation of the ULB in spring 2024); as well as a comrade from the  Getting the Voice Out collective which fights against the imprisonment of undocumented migrants denounced the repression and described the misery in prison But their words were neither complaints nor lamentations; their testimonies were full of dignity and illustrated the will and strength of an entire people which can be characterized by the term ‘sumud’ an example of the importance of literature produced by prisoners in understanding the colonial prison system) He also recalled the place of  Toufan al Aqsa  (October 7) in a context where the liberation of prisoners is at the heart of the Palestinian struggle to remind us of the strength of peoples when they rise up against the oppressor from Haiti (a people of enslaved prisoners who wrested their freedom from the French colonial power 200 years ago) to Algeria  This slogan illustrates it: Haiti has won The comrade who participated in the ULB encampment/occupation for Palestine explained how he and his comrades held in-depth discussions and developed an anti-colonial political position which was not limited to  “liberating Palestine”,“stopping the genocide” and achieving a “ceasefire” of the Palestinians to regain the integrity of their homeland this occupation went much further than the courageous occupation of Ghent The comrade from the Getting the Voice Out collective which defends detained undocumented immigrants testified to how these defenseless people are humiliated and isolated without any prospect of finding the freedom and protection they sought in our country The evening ended with the call from liberated prisoner Hadeel Shatara : “Let us continue to weaken the Zionist entity and its imperialist backers a team from the Platform set up camp at Place Verte in Charleroi decorated with photos of Palestinian prisoners and martyred prisoners as well as banners for the release of Georges Abdallah and passersby also discovered messages against the ongoing genocide passersby found scarves and bracelets in support of Palestine and could also send cards to Palestinian prisoners Two participants read a text written by several Palestinian resistance fighters who had experienced Zionist jails They wrote this text on November 25th in support of their imprisoned sisters some of them have been released thanks to the exchange agreement reached by the Resistance and the people of Gaza at the beginning of this year  Currently, 29 Palestinian women prisoners remain incarcerated. This text was sent to us by the  Dismantle Damon campaign. with the voice of all the oppressed prisoners in Damon Prison with the voice of Khalida Jarrar from her solitary confinement cell and with the voice of all the women of Palestine who constantly suffer various forms of oppression and violence – whether at the hands of the so-called  local “Palestinian Authority”  or the Zionist colonial army Damon’s daughters are suffering today or her loved one: these are all stories the world must hear One of the most difficult aspects of their detention is the separation from their families the complete lack of contact with the outside world and the neglect of institutions and lawyers Another crucial point is the lack of any privacy with the jailers monitoring the prisoners 24 hours a day the masks are falling: all colonizers and oppressors identify with Israel and all the colonized and oppressed identify with Palestine The oppressors believe their voice is the loudest Many countries are complicit in the genocide: they continue to support Israel not only financially These same countries that claim to be defenders of human rights and international law revealed their double standards and double standards by reacting to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against two brutal Zionist criminals even though the matter was to enforce equal rights and international law The world continues to ignore the lives of two million people in Gaza We witness the violence of colonialism in the West Bank every day The number of Palestinian captives in Israeli prisons is growing rapidly particularly those under administrative detention Palestinians in Zionist prisons face deliberate starvation Join us at our next Place Verte event: Saturday Source: Charleroi for Palestine Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email Enter your email address to receive all new Samidoun posts by email Palestinian prisoners call for international boycott of Israel In many ways, Charleroi seemed like a perfect backdrop for the issues that Donald Trump has made the centerpiece of his campaign. And it was thrust into the national spotlight last month when Trump denounced the hundreds of Haitian migrants who had recently settled there 23 rally in Indiana County — although local police leaders had been saying otherwise Charleroi was reeling from another trend that Trump decries: a long Locals had just learned that its historic glass factory — one of the few remaining in a region that once dominated the glass-making industry — would close by the end of the year employs 300 people and makes the popular Pyrex cookware — which has been made in Charleroi since before World War II Daniel Byrne is one of the many employees whose family history goes back nearly that long: Her grandfather worked there Trump typically blames such hardship on two major factors: jobs being shipped overseas and immigrants flooding in from across the border the chief curator of the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh featured glass pieces from Charleroi in a museum exhibit about the industry She said the products were “fine enough for the presidents in the White House,” but also included “Depression-era” dinner plates and cups “What they advertised was they made a quality glass at a quantity price,” Madarasz said 80% of the glass in the country was made in the greater Pittsburgh region and Madarasz said those factories attracted skilled glass-makers from Belgium and Germany and later less skilled workers from Eastern Europe The 1920s was the decade when Charleroi’s population peaked at more than 11,000 Today the community’s biggest employer also relies on immigrants: Fourth Street Barbecue a food manufacturer that makes frozen food items like breakfast sandwiches and breakfast bowls “Our company feeds millions of people every day,” said Chris Scott “We do it in a way that food is high quality So we'll do everything we can do to retain that.” Immigrants have been a key part of that plan – at least until now companies like Fourth Street tend to hire a lot of foreign workers He said it's been true in every frozen food factory he's worked for over the course of than three decades And recently that's meant hiring Haitian immigrants in Charleroi — dozens of whom were doing things like putting finished breakfast bowls into boxes and stacking meat and eggs onto croissants a regional economist at the University of Pittsburgh said Charleroi is a rare exception to the fact that the Pittsburgh area hasn't attracted a lot of low-skilled immigrants “So all the jobs that you would have been pulling immigrants here for the last couple of decades we had this overhang of older workers,” he said with unemployment rates dipping below 4% this year “No local employer has any memory or history or experience with trying to hire workers in such an environment where our unemployment rate is so low,” he said That was the dilemma facing Fourth Street owner Dave Barbe in the middle of the pandemic Fourth Street works with a variety of brands as a subcontractor to put frozen food on the shelves of grocery stores like Walmart and Aldi And those brands could not get enough product during the pandemic Barbe wanted to hire nearly a thousand workers to keep up with rising demand But Charleroi and most of the towns nearby have been losing population for decades Barbe said: “We offer $30 an hour and we offered a $1,000 signing bonus The other guy didn't show up for the interview I believe we hired him and he's still with us But everybody is scrambling” to find workers Barbe said he reached out to other food companies who told him about staffing agencies And with the help of those agencies Barbe started to quickly ramp up the number of immigrants working at his factories the first wave of those immigrants — many of whom were Liberians — arrived thanks to Donald Trump Trump created a special program for Liberians that gave them a path to citizenship in 2019--the year that Barbe took over production at the company's two plants Joseph Patrick Murphy is an immigration lawyer in Pittsburgh.He said that in 2019 he started getting so many requests for legal help from Charleroi he started traveling to the town every Sunday He eventually found an office and put up an LED sign that said in Spanish English and Creole: “President Biden wants to help you get legal.” Many of the immigrants asking for help were now Haitian Haiti's president had been assassinated the year before touching off widespread violence and thousands of Haitians had begun making their way across the U.S At first Murphy helped them apply for asylum but later that year the Biden administration offered many Haitians temporary protected status which would allow them to stay in the country and work That made Haitian migrants very attractive to a place like Fourth Street “You can quickly get them legal and quickly get them work permits So that's what made them so desirable,” Murphy said The Haitian population in Charleroi “exploded,” Murphy said School officials held meetings with state leaders and town leaders welcomed the immigrants When Murphy set up a similar office in Oklahoma it was riddled with bullets by someone who apparently didn't think favorably of immigrants “I don't really put up an office in some small town that says ‘Immigration Here.’ But we were able to do it in Charleroi,” he said until Trump put Charleroi in this election's political crosshairs Murphy recently stopped posting on his company's social media pages because he received threats with details about his home and family Angry residents started approaching him at McDonald's where he was meeting with clients “You don't know what kind of state of mind these people are in or what kind of propaganda they're crazed by,” he said Murphy has been attacked by supporters of the Haitians as well criticized Murphy for saying that many of his Haitian clients had entered the country illegally “I don't want someone to come up here and say I think probably there's a lot of illegals here.’ How can you just say that?” she said Murphy said that his clients were all now at least on the path to obtaining formal status Barbe has lived in Charleroi his entire life In the last few weeks he has faced attacks from residents who say he's ruined the town by hiring so many immigrant workers “I'm still in pretty good shape for a 71-year-old guy “You can’t explain to them in that amount of time everything you think you're doing right and you really have to take it on the chin.” One of the staffing agencies that has supplied workers for Barbe, Prosperity Services, has recently faced scrutiny from federal investigators over allegations that they were helping immigrants without legal status to work at the factory, according to WTAE Barbe said the company has hired a firm to audit the staffing agencies who supply workers at the factory “And I'm not saying somebody might slip through the cracks but I have documentation from the auditing agencies that everybody that's here is vetted to work and they're legally able to work.” But during a recent interview Trump threatened to remove Haitian immigrants if he's elected And the company is beginning to make contingency plans in case that happens “We're very familiar with [Trump’s] comments and we've actually met internally as we think our way through if that were to occur what the timing would be and what kind of changes we'd have to make in preparation for that,” Scott The Haitians’ current protected status expires in 2026 and Murphy said Trump would face serious legal challenges if he tried to cancel their status early Murphy said many Haitians would likely apply for asylum a process so backed up that it can take more than four years just to get a hearing they would likely be able to continue working But some of the Haitians in town have also become worried about their safety and future legal status Absenteeism has increased: About 20 workers per day have stopped showing up for their shifts at Fourth Street although unemployment is low in the Pittsburgh region And many of these Haitians could find work elsewhere who moved to Charleroi from Haiti in 2019 and who drives a forklift for Fourth Street He believes that Haitians will want to move to places with more amenities than Charleroi Right now it takes a long time just to drive to the mall “Once they get money where they can buy a car they just leave to live in the big towns like New York City,” he said said he’s already noticed fewer people walking the streets kind of creepy because you go out here and there's like nobody around where they used to be,” he said Meanwhile the glass plant in Charleroi announced it was going to begin layoffs in December despite some last-ditch efforts by politicians to try to save it Not everyone’s been happy that so much attention has focused on the Haitians rather than the glass plant Kevin Heubner is one of the people who will lose his job when the plant closes but they're not causing any problems as far as we know.” A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order stopping the closure of the Pyrex glass plant in Charleroi according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office The plant’s owner, Anchor Hocking, announced in September that it would shutter the facility and move operations to Lancaster The court ruling stops the company and its private equity partner from removing equipment and other materials from the glass plant before the next scheduled hearing on Nov According to the restraining order issued on Oct the court found the plant’s closure would result in “immediate and irreparable injury” to the town of Charleroi and its workers The glass plant has been a major employer in the Washington County town for more than 100 years and the closure would result in the loss or relocation of 300 jobs “The closure of this longtime manufacturing hub will have permanent impact on the Charleroi community and surrounding neighborhoods which depend on the plant for employment,” said Attorney General Michelle Henry whose office filed the motion for the restraining order Charleroi was thrust into the national spotlight in September, when former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump denounced the hundreds of Haitian migrants who had recently settled there The controversy peaked as the town reeled from Anchor Hocking’s announcement it would close the glass plant The owners of a Charleroi glass plant that makes cookware have delayed its scheduled closing for about two months until April 30 which is a move that impacts about 240 workers according to a notice the company filed with the state Corelle Brands LLC is moving its production from the former Corning glass plant in Charleroi to Lancaster It notified the state Department of Labor and Industry that its decision to delay the closing from Feb 17 to April 30 is the result of what it refers to as the company’s operational needs through the transition of the plant closing according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining notification it filed Even with the extension on the closing date stated that customer demands may require some employees remain on the job beyond the anticipated layoff date The first layoffs are scheduled to begin around Jan rather than before Christmas as originally planned The first round of layoffs will affect about 140 employees the plant is expected to have about 25 workers according to the schedule sent to the state The production of glassware will cease on Feb a United Steelworkers staff representative for the union members at the Corelle plant He characterized it as the company’s Valentine’s Day present to the remaining workers Most of the last workers at the plant will be involved in shipping remaining inventory and maintenance of the facility Eichorn said in the letter that workers at the Charleroi plant have been notified of the opportunity to work in Lancaster with the benefit of some relocation assistance which represents union workers at the plant When Corelle announced its plans last fall local and federal officials fought to keep the plant open in Charleroi the Mon Valley town’s largest employers with about 270 workers The state Attorney General attempted to block the plant closing on the grounds that the private equity firm Centre Lane which bought the Charleroi plant in March 2024 would control more than 90% of the glass cookware market A federal judge in Pittsburgh judge ruled there was not sufficient evidence to prove that the combination of the plants violated federal antitrust laws Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com A high school with tuberculosis in a Pittsburgh-area district reportedly went to school this week before getting medical clearance The case at Charleroi Area High School is raising concerns about the disease and potential health risks Charleroi is a small town in Washington County The town of about 4,000 people was once a hub for the steel industry a student at Charleroi Area High School was diagnosed with tuberculosis weeks ago but returned to school this week before completing medical clearance Tuberculosis is a contagious disease that attacks the lungs and is spread through the air by coughing The Charleroi Area School District has bout 1,400 students across three schools teachers and staff at the school are likely to be at the highest risk What is tuberculosis?Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria and can cause symptoms like persistent coughing but spreads easily in close contact situations friends and family at the greatest risk if they’ve spent significant time with the student The school district is working with public health authorities to monitor the case, but say no “public health action” is needed at this point. The student was sent home and the school has been sanitized The audio for this story was produced by Susan Scott Peterson. A separate audio piece was produced by Oliver Morrison with NPR and can be found here Kevin Kuzma was in the middle of filling T-shirt orders at his screen printing shop in Charleroi when a new customer walked in Kuzma couldn’t figure out what the customer wanted to order because he spoke little English So the customer called a friend whose English was a little bit better “He wants to put his name in a what?” Kuzma said loudly into the phone worked together to find a suitable image of a crown Then Avion gestured with his fingers on the computer screen to tell Kuzma to make the picture bigger Kuzma told Avion that his customized sweatshirt wouldn’t be ready until the next day “Right now I have my hands full with about three or four things that I have to get done today.” Business has been increasing at Mon City Apparel “They seem to celebrate birthdays on a high level,” Kuzma said “So a lot of times they'll come in for birthday shirts.” Weekends in downtown Charleroi are bustling with people now unlike anything he’s seen in the 15 years since he moved to Charleroi from New Jersey five new businesses have opened up that are run by or cater to Haitians Kuzma said they have spruced up a downtown that was blighted with empty storefronts “They're welcome customers to me,” he said But Kuzma has heard some long-time residents complain about the immigrants — without saying anything specific about what problems they’re causing used to complain about the town’s slow demise Charleroi’s population has declined every decade since 1920 from a peak of more than 11,500 to a little over 4,000 in 2020 It’s not entirely clear when that trend began though locals say they began noticing a spike in the population between three and five years ago Nor is it certain how many Haitians live in Charleroi today But some local leaders estimate that the new migrants — most of whom are Haitian — have increased the population of Charleroi from around 4,000 to more than 6,000 estimates that immigration has increased the population by more than 50% in the past several years That would work out to a roughly 1,500% increase in immigrants since the 2020 census which counted fewer than 200 foreign-born residents living in town Manning said that until recently, any discontent expressed by local residents has largely been confined to social media. For example, Facebook commenters chimed in on a recent local news story about a local businessman who paid for seven Haitian high-school students to attend their first prom but a few asked why native-born Charleroi students weren’t receiving free tickets The online bitterness didn’t seem to affect the town Manning said: “Nobody showed up at borough council meetings to complain or to bring anything to our attention.” last week former President Donald Trump weighed in Pennsylvania — have you heard of it?” Trump said during a press conference in Arizona It has experienced a 2,000% increase in the population of Haitian migrants under Kamala Harris remember this when you have to go to vote.” Trump added that Charleroi’s “schools are scrambling to hire translators for the influx of students who don’t speak not a word of English costing local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.” leaders of the Charleroi School District say they are receiving state help to cover additional expenses The district’s roughly 225 English language students this year will eventually bring the district an additional $2 million per year from the state’s funding formula — an amount that covers the additional staff administrators have had to hire And some local leaders like Manning are worried that Charleroi could be turned into the next Springfield, Ohio. Mike DeWine, the governor of Ohio, recently had to call in state troopers to try to help quell the uproar in Springfield after Trump falsely accused local Haitians of eating cats and dogs Several Charleroi leaders and civic organizations have criticized Trump for his remarks the president of the Charleroi Borough Council said Trump was exploiting the town for political gain Charleroi’s leaders learned that a glass factory known for making Pyrex dishware would close and move to Ohio More than 300 jobs were in jeopardy after more than 100 years of production in town — the latest crushing blow to the local economy “Rather than acknowledging the real economic issues the town is facing some have chosen to unfairly target the Haitian community judging the entire group based on misinformation and fear of outsiders,” Hopkins-Calcek said in her statement the chair of the Washington County Republican Party said Republicans aren’t attacking the Haitian people “They have a reputation for being churchgoing and for making the most out of their opportunity,” Logue said Democratic leaders are to blame for allowing the immigration without providing the town with support “[Trump] did not say that the Haitians are the ones responsible for it not being beautiful,” Logue said “What he's saying is that it's a small town and has problems And a few thousand Haitians showed up and the town's being forced to pay for them.” Republican Senate Candidate Dave McCormick said in a statement schools are overwhelmed and police are struggling to keep up with the surge.” even local Republicans acknowledge that there has been no surge in crime “The police chief told us when I was a solicitor of the borough last year or at least the Haitians are not committing crimes to an elevated extent compared to the native population,” Logue said “For some of these people saying awful things about these Haitian immigrants I’d ask them what it might’ve been like for their parents or grandparents or great-grandparents who might have come from another country and spoken a different language,” she wrote on Facebook “How about the Italian immigrants and how they were treated when they first came over Most of the accusations about the town aren’t based in reality the data doesn’t bear out rumors of a rise in traffic accidents The borough is in the middle of a $6 million project to improve its major intersections and during the preparation for that project Manning said he looked at the regional police data and it showed traffic accidents had continued falling “We saw them coming down for the past two or three years,” he said The Haitian immigrants aren’t causing financial problems in the school district either the superintendent of the Charleroi Area School District Zelich said a number of teachers in the district told him they are upset that their students are being scapegoated “Springfield schools have been closed down There have been bomb threats,” Zelich said Even if the complaints by politicians so far have lacked evidence or been incorrect or misleading that doesn’t mean the town had totally accepted the Haitians before Trump spoke said he doesn’t like that he can’t communicate with the Haitians He wonders if the recent sewage smell in town is related to their arrival (it has to do with a sewage cleaning issue according to Manning.) And he asked if the Haitians brought the ubiquitous spotted lanternflies to town (again Jackson does pressure-washing for a living and can’t find anyone to help him but he said he wouldn’t consider hiring any Haitians because of the language barrier “There's so many pouring in that … it's just cluttering up things that used to not be so cluttered.” said some of his customers have spoken in a way that made him think they don’t like Haitians because of their race “They’re used to the only black people in this town being from North Charleroi,” he said Eva Ross was at a social services agency in Charleroi on Monday trying to get a new low-income apartment in a neighboring town her neighborhood’s demographics have changed “But I came down Fallowfield [Avenue] a couple of months ago There it was like on a Saturday or Sunday evening I probably counted 40 people walking from one end of Fallowfield to this end of Fallowfield She doesn’t like how long it takes to buy something at the Dollar General near her house now because Haitians struggle to communicate at the register Pierre Richard Momplaisir moved to Charleroi from Haiti four years ago because he heard from a friend that he could get a job at Fourth Street Foods a food-packaging facility in town where many Haitians work Momplaisir works as a forklift driver at the factory to support his wife and two children Fourth Street Foods didn’t respond to requests for comment Momplaisir works the late shift because he’s also been hired by the school district to help translate for migrant families registering their children Momplaisir said that families call him at all hours to ask for translation help tries to counsel them to not crowd too tightly in the houses they are renting — and to learn English “The language is like a weapon just to defend yourself,” he said he tells them Momplaisir has noticed that some Americans are a little wary of Haitians “Some of the American people really think that Caleb Fontus moved to Charleroi just before the town saw a surge of Haitian residents in 2019 He owns a party space downtown that largely caters to native-born customers But he said he’s been able to rent out some homes in town to Haitian migrants And he said they’ve been better tenants than his native-born renters “But I have had other tenants where they know the law and they use the loopholes to not pay your rent and to destroy your house.” Fontus pointed to a number of businesses on his block that have been thriving in storefronts that had been closed for years a place that sells hair products and a clothing store Fontus said he wanted to buy a car wash in town but the owner of the car wash is doing such good business now that he won’t sell it anymore “All the [businesses] that have catered to the immigrants “All the ones that are not catering and that are staying segregated said she has been able to buy better hair products at one of the new Haitian-owned stores in town Reid moved to neighboring Monessen a few years ago “They're hard workers,” she said of the Haitians “I feel like once they brought them over here and they opened all these businesses Marie Guerdy works as a cashier in the new grocery store in town which sells a variety of brands and produce that are widely accessible in Haiti Guerdy was a Kindergarten teacher in Haiti but moved with her family first to Mexico and then the United States when it became unsafe “He said whatever he wanted to say,” she told WESA in Spanish It is very disgusting for us to eat dogs and cats.” William Staten was in Charleroi on Wednesday to tend to his wife’s house in part because many of their relatives and friends in town had passed away But he was in town to tend to the grass and weeds at their empty house A local resident had offered to cut their grass for $75 but Staten thought that was too much he heard about a Haitian who would cut the grass for $25 Staten was trying to track down another Haitian who was interested in buying the house Staten said he and his wife recently lost their jobs as truck drivers and are in poor health “The solution for my problem is the Haitian,” he said “You can't look at a person's skin color and say they're responsible for destroying Charleroi,’ because that's not the case,” he said I think that Trump could do a lot better than the Democrats are doing But you can't racially profile people even if they are immigrants.” The Charleroi Area School District takes in students from several local areas–not just Charleroi So the impact of immigrants in the schools hasn’t been as pronounced as in the borough The roughly 225 students who are still learning English make up less than 15% of the district population according to data provided by the district More than a third of those students are enrolled in Kindergarten and first grade a Kindergarten teacher in her 19th year of teaching But the schools and teachers have learned to adapt during the past few years and now many of the students she had a few years ago are now writing whole paragraphs in English I would like to say compared to the other grades because everybody has to learn what a 5 is,” she said Ondrish said every student is receiving just as much attention as they did five years ago “It makes me mad that so many outsiders think that this is … such a burden,” she said “For people to say that their local kids aren't getting the attention We're giving all the kids all the attention regardless of what language you speak or where you're from.” The district had to hire an extra kindergarten teacher this year to keep up with booming enrollment most of the Haitian students join existing classes and state money enables the district to bring in additional support for them The school system employed only one ESL teacher five years ago It received a state grant last year to train another 11 teachers in ESL and it uses an online application that streams a live translator during important meetings with parents the state already provides supplemental funding to train teachers and provide additional academic support after school and over the summer Resources aren’t the district’s biggest challenge Zelich said: “Misinformation — that's my biggest challenge: getting the misinformation cleared up.” The attention the community has received since Trump spoke about it hasn’t made that easier A group of four men who identified themselves to WESA as working for a nonprofit called America 2100 that is funded by Republican donors began interviewing Charleroi residents and posting videos on social media In a Twitter video that was retweeted by the platform’s owner they falsely asserted that a majority of the district’s young students are Haitian (Enrollment data shows that even in kindergarten which has the highest percentage of students who speak a second language most students’ first language is English.) Another video quoted a local resident who described a real incident on a district bus: Last year a 19-year-old Haitian boy grabbed another student by the arm and pulled her out of her seat said the incident drew much more local attention than the occasional high school fights that aren’t related to migrants Two months of my life were miserable,” he said “And the child that did that was disciplined and the child that did that is no longer in the school.” The school district has raised property taxes in recent years. But it said its largest increase was in response to spiking inflation and uncertainty about state educational funding Some teachers would like additional resources to help the Haitian students Paula Coles teaches a fifth-grade class where four out of the 21 students are not yet proficient in English Coles herself has two children with special needs so she recognizes that it’s her job to help students with whatever challenges they’re facing “It's not challenging for me because this is easy,” she said it would be nice to have that to make this transition to our country and our town easier And I would like to advocate for that in any way.” said she didn’t agree with Trump that the Haitians are making Charleroi less beautiful Some older students have taken on leadership roles to help make newer students more comfortable “They take it upon themselves to help the new students,” she said “And you see them walking down the hall together Tom Riese contributed reporting to this story The Charleroi Area School District has moved to remote learning after a number of students and district support staff workers became sick with flu and strep In an attempt to reduce the spread of Influenza Type A and strep middle and high schools will be closed on Friday and students will attend classes following their remote learning school schedule A message on the district website indicated the decision to pivot to remote learning had been made after a consultation between district administrators and school nurses “with the well-being of our school community as our top priority.” The district encourages families to take precautions to stay healthy Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact a building principal or visit the district website for updates Influenza activity is very high in Pennsylvania according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health Charleroi scored three runs in the top of the first and got a strong outing on the mound from Jacob Gelder for a 4-3 win over Seton LaSalle (4-4 5-6) in a Class 3A Section 4 game Wednesday Gelder only needed 81 pitches to finish off a complete game where he allowed two earned runs struck out three and did not walk a batter Jake Pager went 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs for the Cougars (5-3 Peters Township scored five runs over the last two innings to pick up a key 6-1 win over Bethel Park in Class 5A Section 2 8-5) broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth on a two-run single by Brody Takacs and tacked on three insurance runs in the sixth throwing six innings and allowing one run on seven hits The Black Hawks are tied for first place with South Fayette the closure of the World Kitchen Plant has been delayed A communication from Anchor Hocking was sent to “All Charleroi Employees” Thursday stating that “due to business necessity the Charleroi Plant operations will be extended.” the plant will remain in operation in a two-feeder capacity until Feb The Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) that have been issued to date will be updated and the adjusted date for separation will be provided in revised notices said a new WARN notice is expected to be issued next week She said many employees are leaving the plant for other jobs “The morale is really down,” she said Friday There were three people whose last day was (Friday).” a WARN notice was received that pushed the first round of layoffs to Jan Byrne said that was her scheduled date to be laid off but believes the latest delay will keep her employed longer She and her husband each have been with the plant for at least 35 years which was sent in October to Mayor Gregg Doerfler with the first 173 employee terminations originally scheduled for Dec Workers were first told in September that plant operations would be moved to Lancaster Byrne said very few Charleroi employees have taken the offer to move to the Lancaster plant Charleroi Borough Manager Joe Manning is grateful the employees received an extension “We’re encouraged that the longer we can keep these folks working “I don’t think this is any kind of a sign that they’re going to reverse their decision We’re grateful they’re going to keep them there a little while longer a federal district court granted a motion from Attorney General Michele Henry for a temporary restraining order to pause the closure District Judge Nicholas Ranjan denied the request to temporarily block the relocation of the plant saying his decision was based upon the fact that the loss of jobs was not deemed irreparable World Kitchen manufactures kitchenware and tableware The history of the plant dates back to 1893 Ownership has changed hands numerous times in its long history with the most recent owners being New York-based Centre Lane Partners following the acquisition of the appliances division of Instant Brands Anchor Hocking is another company under the Centre Lane umbrella Link IconCopy linkFacebook LogoShare on FacebookXShare on XEmailShare via EmailLink copied to clipboardImmigrants were revitalizing tiny Charleroi Then Donald Trump’s attacks brought white supremacists and conservative influencers.Trump's claims thrust the Western Pa exposing fault lines and ratcheting up tensions that show little sign of abating weeks later The day after former President Donald Trump returned to Butler for a comeback rally after he survived an assassination attempt there stood 75 miles away in her Charleroi shop surrounded by unsold clothing Occimabia emigrated to Florida from Haiti in 1991 she moved her store to Charleroi to join a growing Haitian community that was breathing life into the Western Pennsylvania borough’s languishing downtown claiming that it’s on the precipice of bankruptcy the former president’s claims thrust the small town crime was down and bankruptcy was nowhere on the horizon exposing fault lines and ratcheting up anxiety and tensions that show little sign of abating weeks later Massive stickers promoting a white supremacist group and declaring “Reclaim America” recently appeared on new traffic signal boxes downtown And on that recent Sunday after the former president’s Butler rally a driver with Trump stickers on his bumper shouted at a small group of Haitian immigrants gathered in front of a church: “Trump is coming!” said the town that originally seemed to welcome immigrants has been tainted since Trump’s comments these folks have received a lot of support in this community,” Manning said I don’t know if it’s ever going to go back to the way it was.” And while the former president’s comments were directed at the Haitian community in Charleroi his claims impact immigrants from across the globe “Whether you are from a different part of the world they think that you are Haitian,” said Amy Karpu a Liberian immigrant who moved to Charleroi from North Dakota and works at Fourth Street Foods a local frozen food manufacturing company that expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic and has hired hundreds of immigrants to fill jobs the factory’s owner said Americans didn’t want in the cold plant about 700 workers hail from 40 different countries “It’s like the United Nations,” said David Barbe Karpu and Barbe have both noticed that Haitians and other immigrants have become less visible since Trump’s comments Charleroi is one of many towns in Western Pennsylvania that saw its economy decline as factories closed and people moved away over the last few decades the economy has picked up as entrepreneurs like Occimabia and Augusta “Queen” Goll a Liberian immigrant and the owner of Queen’s Market who moved to Charleroi from Arizona about five years ago plantains and other groceries while speaking French a decorative license plate advertised TRUMP from behind Goll’s counter a relic from her recent past as a Trump supporter When he chose to lie about the immigrant communities instead of talking about his plans for the country » READ MORE: Donald Trump wants to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. What would this mean for Pennsylvania? you have to make sure that they are here legally,” she said of Trump regularly shops alongside immigrants at Queen’s Market who said he has lived in Charleroi for about a decade and works at a glass plant that’s on the verge of closing said the influx of businesses that came with the influx of immigrants has improved his life “It used to be a lot of vacant buildings,” he said Staub said he stopped using a local Facebook group because of the way some locals talk about immigrants and he recently saw someone rev their motorcycle next to an immigrant family He said he heard a local complain about immigrants by saying: “If they have a business have also been on the receiving end of vitriol about immigrants in Charleroi who has worked with Haitian immigrants in the town for several years said that while he received threatening comments online before Trump’s claims He previously never felt like it was dangerous to go down to Charleroi And agency workers from other countries actually cost more to hire than locals since some of the pay goes toward transportation and housing provided by the agencies a Zambian immigrant who moved to Charleroi from Kentucky in 2019 and now works as the plant’s director of community affairs she sees camaraderie among immigrants and those born in America who work in the factory together Those who work at the plant “get to talk to them and get to know them better they shy away and they make their own assumptions,” said Mwale “They will say whatever they want to say and be critical of the immigrants that they don’t know,” she added » READ MORE: Charleroi’s GOP state senator is defending Haitian immigrants in the town as Trump’s allies continue to circulate falsehoods With those critical voices only growing louder a group of Haitian community leaders in Charleroi is trying to help educate people and mend the divide hosts meetings with immigrants to help them acclimate to the American town And discussing the tensions that unraveled from Trump’s comments have been unavoidable Some Haitians are even considering leaving Charleroi of these negative rumors on the Haitian community,” Bernabe said a Haitian immigrant who lives in Charleroi and attends graduate school at PennWest University in California said that Haitian immigrants have begun staying inside and keeping a lower profile in town in part because of complaints on Facebook about them gathering in groups outside “Every day I go to that platform to see what they are saying,” Janvier said “There’s a lot of closet Trumpers out there,” Civitello Former President Donald Trump made his first public campaign stop in the Philadelphia suburbs Monday night to Oaks The increasingly Democratic suburbs helped deliver the 2020 election to President Joe Biden but Monday’s crowd drew MAGA-merch wearing supporters from across the populous five-county region Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Washington Crossing in Bucks County on Wednesday a source familiar with the plans confirmed The vice president's visit to purple Bucks County comes as the candidates and surrogates from both Harris' and former President Donald Trump's campaigns are zeroing in on the Philadelphia area as Election Day inches closer Trump just completed a town hall in Oaks Monday evening and his running mate President Joe Biden will be in Philadelphia Tuesday evening for the Philadelphia City Committee’s fall dinner will be campaigning for Harris in the suburbs earlier that day the county is crucial to the path to the White House During his first public campaign stop in the Philadelphia suburbs former President Donald Trump made sure to pander to his Pennsylvania audience the event’s moderator: “Don’t ever call [Pennsylvania] a state telling the Montgomery County audience: “I know you so well His town hall marked Trump's fourth in Pennsylvania in just the last 10 days Trump ended his spiel about the Keystone State by touting his time at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and said it was “a great place.” After pausing for two medical emergencies and listening to Ave Maria we’re going to win the whole thing,\" though earlier in the evening he mistakenly instructed voters to cast their ballots on Jan former President Donald Trump appointed himself DJ After playing \"Ave Maria\" during two medical emergencies the former president seemingly didn’t want his self-curated and impromptu soundtrack for the evening to end “Let’s not do any more questions,” Trump joked though he did answer several audience members’ questions during the town hall “Let’s just listen to music … Who the hell wants to hear questions?” The former president recalled that \"Ave Maria\" was played during his rally in Butler on Oct a high-profile and highly anticipated event that marked his first time in the Western Pennsylvania town since he survived an assassination attempt there on July 13 and then we had the bells of Notre Dame go off Kristi Noem then asked Trump: “Do you want to play your song and then greet a few people?” After riling up the crowd and pledging to “Make America Great Again,” Trump and Noem stood on stage while “Time to Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman blared through the speakers Trump swayed to James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” a staple of Trump’s rally music — the Village People’s \"YMCA\" — came on causing attendees to clap along to the beat And just when the former president thought it was ending — “There’s nobody leaving,” Trump said — he asked the audience “Keep going… should we keep going?” The audience cheered in response and then Hallelujah came on Election officials who refuse to cheat and \"find\" extra votes Politicians who refuse to bend to his will Vice President Kamala Harris continued to liken former President Donald Trump to something of a dictator someone who would not be afraid to use the powers of the military to persecute his enemies Harris called Trump \"increasingly unstable and unhinged.\" she cast Democrats as the party of democracy and America Harris then told the crowd that how Erie votes tends to predict the national vote (The county voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020) Vice President Kamala Harris had a message for her Erie supporters: \"Just Google it.\" \"Donald Trump is an unserious man,\" Harris said after the crowd booed the Republican nominee \"But the consequence for him being president again are brutally serious.\" Harris ran the gamut of the Heritage Foundation's proposed blueprint for a second Trump term including stripping workers compensation protections and public healthcare The vice president could barely contain her laughter as she mentioned Trump's debate performance and his assertion that he had \"concepts of a plan\" on government-assisted health care \"He's going to threaten health care for 25 million people based on a concept?\" Harris asked the audience in disbelief Pivoting to the one the Democrats' strongest policy positions Harris issued firm condemnations of Trump and the GOP's attacks on abortion access She assured voters she would \"proudly sign\" federal abortion protections should they reach her desk \"We have to remember that this is not 2016 or 2020,\" Harris said Vice President Kamala Harris opened with a familiar pitch to her Erie supporters when mentioning former President Donald Trump \"It's time to turn the page,\" Harris said before working in her \"New Way Forward\" slogan Harris also underscored the recent support her campaign has received from former Republicans who have defied Trump — a point her campaign has driven home through television ads featuring defected Trump officials as well as a public appearance with former Republican Rep Harris then pivoted smoothly to the core of her stump speech riffing on her history as a prosecutor in California alongside more recent messaging on prices and the economy that promises to bring down the cost of housing and offer first-time home buyers assistance with down payments In a pitch for her proposed expansion of Medicare for caregivers Harris told a story about her mother being diagnosed with cancer telling audiences about the challenges of caring for an elderly relative \"It's about dignity,\" Harris said of caregiving She received some of the largest cheers when telling audience members that she comes from the middle class \"I will never forget where I come from,\" Harris said Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage in Erie just after 7:40 p.m. walking out to her signature campaign song \"It's good to be back in Pennsylvania,\" Harris said with a large smile Supporters waved signs that also read \"Freedom\" high above their heads Democrats have claimed the word this cycle to signify their stances on abortion and gun control telling voters that women should have the freedom to make decisions about their bodies and that the public should be free to congregate without the fear of gun violence Harris began her remarks by thanking local leaders such as Eugene DePasquale a former Pennsylvania auditor general who is the Democratic nominee for state attorney general Casey could \"not be here tonight because he's doing what he needs to do to get reelected to the U.S The vice president told the crowd that the race was tight and that Democrats were the underdog in the competition with former President Donald Trump But \"hard work is good work,\" Harris said Two medical emergencies paused former President Donald Trump's town hall campaign event in Oaks A man appeared to lose consciousness on the bleachers around 7:30 p.m a woman on another set of bleachers was being administered help as people in the crowd fanned her with Trump campaign signs The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center is packed with people standing very close to one another Trump asked if the air conditioning could be turned up higher and South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem quipped: \"They probably can't afford it sir \"Would anybody else like to faint?\" Trump asked to laughs The crowd is now listening to Ave Maria at Trump's request John Fetterman took the stage in Erie just before 7:30 p.m backed by Bruce Springsteen's \"The Rising.\" He wore a Pittsburgh Steelers beanie and a Carhartt hoodie a town in the Pittsburgh region just under two hours from Erie you win Pennsylvania,\" Fetterman said to cheers from Harris supporters \"That's what happened in 2020 — Joe Biden showed up and he smoked that clown and sent him home.\" The senator suggested Erie was \"the most important bellwether\" not just in the country Evoking rhetoric used by Harris' running mate Fetterman thanked the crowd for \"sending that weirdo\" back to New Jersey Former President Donald Trump emphasized his familiarity and support for guns which was used in the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler Two other attendees were injured while Corey Comperatore died shielding his wife and daughters from the gunfire But Trump still called for looser gun restrictions touted his National Rifle Association Endorsement the bad guys are not giving them up,” Trump said The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America and has become an icon of the gun rights movement in the United States Trump brought Mary Ann and Charles Strange, a Montgomery County family, to the stage Monday evening. They lost their son, Michael, on Aug. 6, 2011, when he was killed alongside 29 other U.S. soldiers and eight Afghan security forces while carrying out a mission in a valley southwest of Kabul Charles Strange told the former president that he wants Congressional hearing into what transpired that day Trump vowed to set up a commission to investigate America’s deadliest day of the war in Afghanistan because so many people are in your same position they want to know what happened,” Trump said inviting the Stranges over to the White House if he is elected “Why did it happen to their son or daughter And we’re going to do that within the first week.” The first question of the evening came from a man described as a single father and Iraq war veteran asking former President Donald Trump how to make home ownership more affordable Trump started out by answering the question pledging to bring interest rates down and to remove some of the red tape surrounding zoning approvals and other parts of the homeownership process “We’re going to create the American Dream for young people and for older people too,” Trump said touting another proposal of his: no tax on Social Security benefits But then the former president then pivoted to talking about fracking and energy repeating a catchphrase that both he and running mate Sen JD Vance have chanted in their Pennsylvania campaign stops: “Drill He then insulted Vice President Kamala Harris’ intelligence before circling back to inflation and job numbers Former President Donald Trump has taken the stage for a campaign town hall at The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds in Oaks — almost one hour after he was scheduled to start speaking — to the tune of his usual soundtrack: Lee Greenwood’s \"God Bless the U.S.A.\" and we’re going to make your fight easier,” Trump said to the crowd Kristi Noem is moderating the town hall and spoke to the audience before Trump walked on stage “I know that you all embrace being the City of Brotherly Love but I’m going to get real with you right here Kamala Harris sucks,” Noem said at the Montgomery County event Philadelphia is commonly referred to as the City of Brotherly Love Trump’s event Monday evening marks his first public campaign event in the Philadelphia suburbs an area that will play a crucial role in November He previously held a private fundraiser in Newtown in April Both the Trump and Harris campaigns are laser-focused on the Philly area this week looking to court voters that could help determine the outcome of the election To name a few: First lady Jill Biden will be in the suburbs to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris Tuesday and later that evening Trump’s running-mate and President Joe Biden will be in Philadelphia as the special guest at the Philadelphia City Committee’s fall dinner Harris is expected to campaign in the Philadelphia area Oaks is in Montgomery County, which handedly went for President Joe Biden in 2020 but Trump’s appearance in the Philly ‘burb today further highlights his campaign’s strategy of trying to shave away as many Biden 2020 votes as possible from Harris in battleground Pennsylvania The Oaks expo hall was filled with supporters of Donald Trump an hour before the former president was scheduled to start his town hall “There’s a lot of closet Trumpers out there.” a Democratic bastion that helped deliver the 2020 election to President Joe Biden but the crowd drew MAGA- merch wearing supporters from all over the populous five-county region like Civitello, said they hoped Trump spoke about the economy which they think is his strongest message to appear to center-right voters said she hopes Trump can strike a more positive note “I do really want to hear an optimistic view,” she said “We know what the gloom and doom is.” a former Democrat who represented Florida in Congress which is now waiting for the main programming to start As college-educated voters in Philadelphia’s suburbs continue to flock to the Democratic party — a seismic political realignment inspired by both former President Donald Trump and his larger MAGA movement — supporters in Oaks described a sense that their unchanged conservative beliefs had made them a minority in their affluent Some supporters described political tension so palpable that giving their full name in the media could jeopardize their reputation a finance professional from the Main Line who requested his last name be withheld for that reason said practically every sign he sees in his community is for the Harris-Walz ticket because it’s got nothing to do with Harris,” Josh said because if the teachers in my high school found out They talk about it constantly — anti-Trump Some Trump voters were animated by issues of the economy and immigration but also by abortion and ending foreign wars Dan Finley described himself as against abortion as he waited in line alongside Marita “What Trump did to get a more conservative court back in place was very important to us grew frustrated while mentioning foreign wars under President Joe Biden's administration including the billions in government spending to defend Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing siege of the country But perhaps more aggravating to the suburbanite was that his wealthier neighbors — removed from many of the economic issues concerning lower and middle class voters they don’t live in the small towns that have been bringing in people from overseas,” he said “It’s champagne socialists that I live around As autumn shadows cast over the Greater Philadelphia Expo and Fairgrounds on Monday the venue’s Ferris wheel and carnival rides appeared all but abandoned the only amusement of importance was the arrival of former President Donald Trump the Republican’s campaign had largely focused its efforts on the rural deep-red communities he will need to secure Pennsylvania’s critical electoral college votes as Trump did in 2016 But Trump’s decision to rally in the leafy Montgomery County exurb with several weeks until election day drew a different type of voter one the campaign hopes will chip at Harris’s margins in the densely populated region around Philadelphia — suburbanites Instead of the workwear jackets and well-worn jeans popular with many of Trump's rural Pennsylvania supporters rally-goers in Oaks were far likelier to be clad in down puffer vests and synthetic golf polos as they shuffled into the Expo building hours before the former president’s arrival have only seen a few Trump lawn signs in their Main Line community this year; Marita believes showing visible support for the former president is asking for conflict from neighbors who support Vice President Kamala Harris “We think people are for Trump — as they were for Trump against Hillary,” said Finley speculating that support for the Republican in the suburbs was larger than it appeared “They just don’t want to deal with the nonsense.” With just about three weeks until Election Day both presidential campaigns are zeroing in on Pennsylvania a crucial battleground neither candidate can afford to lose has at least two events in Pennsylvania this week As the candidates and their major surrogates traverse the state to try to close the deal in the campaign’s waning days each side is also pouring millions of dollars into advertising and field operations across every region in Pennsylvania Vice President Kamala Harris will sit down with Fox News Wednesday for an interview Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier will conduct the interview, which will take place during Harris' visit to Philadelphia Wednesday. It will air during Special Report on Fox News that evening at 6 p.m It's the first time Harris has agreed to sit for an interview on Fox News where much of the talent has outspokenly supported her opponent President Joe Biden has not appeared on Fox News since taking office in 2021 President Joe Biden will be the special guest at the Philadelphia City Committee's fall dinner Tuesday several sources familiar with the event said Both Bidens are scheduled to be in Philadelphia Tuesday – the president for the dinner and First Lady Jill Biden will be stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris through the Philadelphia suburbs The dinner is a fundraiser for the city committee with tickets starting at $75 for young Democrats and $20,000 for hosts Biden is longtime friend of Philadelphia party chair Bob Brady who has led the party since 1986 The dinner will be at the Sheetmetal Workers Banquet Hall on Columbus Boulevard Gov Austin Davis and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker are also slated to attend All eyes have been on Pennsylvania for months but the focus will sharply turn to Philadelphia and turnout here as Election Day approaches Some city committee members raised the alarm this spring concerned about the party’s turnout operation.The Harris campaign has been proactive in Philadelphia with seven offices here staffed by 50 organizers working seven days a week Pennsylvania has emerged as the most crucial battleground state in one of the wildest presidential races in memory — with both campaigns battling for every last vote in the state that former President Donald Trump won eight years ago by just 44,000 votes are both crisscrossing the commonwealth in hopes of eking out a win in the potentially decisive state Pennsylvania is unique in many ways — it’s closely divided according to an Inquirer analysis of election data and interviews with dozens of Pennsylvanians that informed a series of stories about voting trends this year Here are six major lessons about which Pennsylvania voters could sway the race — and the future of the country Former president Donald Trump is headed to Montgomery County today The visit to Oaks for a town hall will be Trump’s first public campaign event in the Philadelphia suburbs of the 2024 campaign It also will mark his fourth event in Pennsylvania since he returned to Butler home to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds where Trump will appear all places that have trended blue in recent elections But Republicans looking to win statewide need to cut into those margins Trump’s town hall will focus on the economy A town hall format slated for Scranton last week turned into a rally featuring Trump’s standard rambling stump speech To appeal to more moderate voters from the Montgomery County region A quarter of Republican primary voters in Montgomery County voted for former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley in the GOP primary months after she had dropped out of the race They’ve become a bloc that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is trying to appeal to in a closely divided state Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning in Erie Monday and will travel to Philadelphia Wednesday as polls show an increasingly tight race in Pennsylvania Harris will hold a rally at Erie Insurance Arena The event is expected to begin around 7 p.m.  Harris will travel to Philadelphia on Wednesday for a campaign event though specific details have not been released.  Harris will also participate in a CNN town hall event Oct. 23 in Delaware County. CNN offered a separate town hall event to Donald Trump on the same date but the former president hasn’t said if he’ll participate.  Second gentleman Doug Emhoff visited Delaware County and Montgomery County Sunday, and first lady Jill Biden will be in the suburbs on Tuesday to stump for the Harris campaign Vice President Kamala Harris has maintained a narrow lead against former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania a state whose importance continues to loom large and where the margin of victory looks like it will be razor thin A Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College poll released Saturday shows Harris with a nearly 4-point advantage over Trump in the state meaning either candidate could be in the lead As an unprecedented campaign summer turned to fall neither candidate has leaped ahead in stubbornly divided Pennsylvania Both Harris and Trump have near-identical support in the state as they did in September despite spending more money and time here than in any other swing state Their relative strengths remain the same as in September with Trump still leading on the economy and Harris on abortion The divided electorate remains sharply split by gender The poll, conducted between Oct. 7 and 10, follows Trump’s return to Butler, after his survival of a July assassination attempt and comes as Pennsylvania voters are already casting their ballots by mail A federal judge has ruled that he doesn’t have the authority to stop the closure of a plant that makes glassware in Charleroi “While the Court is sympathetic to employees whose jobs might be at risk and a long-time local facility that may cease production … the Court must narrowly consider the requirements of federal antitrust law and determine whether they have been met,” said federal judge J In March the company Centre Lane purchased the plant In September the firm announced that it was closing the facility and moving its operations to another plant in Lancaster Many of the 270 Charleroi jobs would be terminated; and the rest would have to relocate Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry intervened by asking the courts for a preliminary injunction that would stop the facility from closing Her office argued that the combined production of the two plants would constitute greater than 90% of certain kinds of glass cookware and this would ultimately cause prices to rise for consumers the judge paused the closure while he heard arguments about whether it should be halted Ranjan said the attorney general’s arguments were unpersuasive Ranjan didn’t come to a final conclusion on whether or not the merger violated antitrust law The decision was confined to the question of whether or not the closure needed to be stopped immediately to prevent causing “irreparable harm.” Ranjan found that the harms the commonwealth presented — such as the cost of dismantling and later reassembling production lines — could later be undone through monetary compensation The judge said there wasn’t enough evidence that the merger would hurt consumers The attorney general had argued that the newly merged company would be able to raise its prices because it would own most of the market But the company countered that consumers could buy other kinds of cookware The company cited a survey showing that a majority of consumers preferred metal cookware over glass Company lawyers also argued that its market share wasn’t as large as the attorney general argued because the government’s analysis left out certain competitors — most notably “An analysis that excludes or discounts Amazon The commonwealth argued that glass cookware “holds heat better” than metal cookware and provides “versatility in doubling as food storage” because it’s transparent But Ranjan said such economic analysis was insufficient to prove the AG's case “Without more concrete data that goes beyond anecdotal consumer preferences … the Court cannot with any reasonable probability determine what the economic reality of the market is.” the AG’s office said it didn’t conduct a typical economic analysis because it didn’t have access to company market data which it would only receive at a later stage in the lawsuit But Ranjan said that wasn’t a strong enough basis for a preliminary injunction which he said “should be granted only in limited circumstances.” The judge also said that some of the attorney general’s arguments came too late and Ranjan noted that there wasn’t any evidence presented of prices going up during the intervening months (The companies were not required to notify the commonwealth of the merger and the attorney general said the office only learned of it through media reports in the late summer.) The plant in Lancaster has previously served as a contractor to produce Pyrex glassware that the Lancaster plant could not produce the same quality of glassware The strongest argument for pausing the sale concerned the harm that would result from the loss of local jobs “The Charleroi plant is the last largest manufacturer in the community and is an important employer,” he said Ranjan ordered the company and the Commonwealth to enter into mediation “to reach provisional agreements pertaining to job relocation [and] continued operation of the Charleroi plant” as the case moves forward The Attorney General’s office hasn’t said if it will continue pursuing the case and Republican Dave Sunday will take over the office in two months “Although the court’s preliminary ruling is disappointing the decision makes clear that the case is not over and we are determining our next steps,” said Brett Hambright Here is the 2025 Charleroi Area High School prom court: Lilli Lee Missing from the photo is court member Noah Pletcher The king and queen will be crowned Friday during grand march A federal judge on Thursday said he will not stop the closure of the Pyrex glassware plant in Charleroi finding the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office failed to prove the company’s actions in shuttering the facility violate antitrust laws “(W)hile the court is sympathetic to employees whose jobs might be at risk and a longtime local facility that may cease production the court must narrowly consider the requirements of federal antitrust law and determine whether they have been met,” U.S obtained the Pyrex business unit of Corelle Brands in March they controlled more than 91% of the glass bakeware market Anchor Hawking announced plans to close the 132-year-old glass plant in Charleroi to move operations to Lancaster where officials say they have a newer plant with more capacity The move would eliminate 270 jobs — although company officials said they offered those affected by the closure positions in Ohio — and the plant would be closed by February as Centre Lane had already begun dismantling equipment at the plant the state Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint against the company alleging an anti-trust violation and obtained a temporary restraining order halting the take-down of equipment Ranjan held a hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction that would have put the closure on hold while the state AG’s office investigated the merger to determine if it violates antitrust laws Centre Lane’s attorneys argued the merger had been completed months earlier and the AG’s office only became involved at the announcement of the closure Ranjan said the commonwealth failed to meet any of the requirements necessary to receive a preliminary injunction — including that they were likely to prevail on the merits of their case Among the contested questions at Tuesday’s hearing was how to define the relevant market affected by the merger The parties argued extensively over the value of glass pans vs The attorney general’s chief economist identified the market at risk as glass bakeware but Ranjan said the expert failed to present any data as to why glass bakeware cannot be substituted with metal or ceramic The judge said the AG’s office failed to provide any meaningful analysis to identify products that might be reasonable substitutes in the market “There are too many holes in the analysis for the court to define the market in the way that the commonwealth proposes,” the judge wrote Ranjan also said the attorney general’s office failed to show irreparable harm The commonwealth’s strongest argument for harm was the loss of jobs that will result from the closure “The court is sympathetic to and recognizes the significant impact that the dismantling and potential shutting down of the Charleroi plant has For the employees that have worked at the plant the loss of jobs can be very damaging,” Ranjan said “As the Commonwealth persuasively notes the Charleroi plant is the last largest manufacturer in the community and is an important employer.” many employees have already voluntarily left — and may not return even with an injunction the attorney general would have had to show a decrease in production a decrease in quality or harm to competition and consumers A message left late Thursday with the union president who represents the plant employees was not immediately returned Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com