Don’t let anyone tell you differently, your vote matters
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
There’s a temptation to throw up one’s arms and say “it is hopeless. There is nothing I can do.”
I fear a lot of people may have that point of view when it comes to voting on Nov. 2. Fatigued from so much bad news, frustration and acting out by a small number of people, I understand why people would just want to ignore all of this, watch Netflix...
Letter: Why this former Kennett Democratic primary candidate is now voting for a Republican
TowTo The Editor,
For generations, every member of my family, on both sides, has voted for Democrats. I have been left with no choice but to break with that tradition in this year’s election and vote for the Republican running for Kennett Township Supervisor, Geoffrey Gamble. My entire immediate family, and an increasing number of other loyal Kennett Democrats, are doing the same.
I must...
Letter: Whomsley is a bully and does not represent WCASD families
To The Editor,
As a voter in WCASD Region 3 and a parent of a severely disabled child, I have watched while Stacey Whomsley has repeatedly used her child’s disability to claim that she represents kids with disabilities. While I disagreed with her on some points, I have always maintained that the Special Needs Family crowd is a big tent with room for many different opinions. But I do think, as...
When it comes to the pipeline: who bought Tom Wolf?
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
Yes, it was a good thing that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro came to Chester County this past week and announced 48 criminal charges against Energy Transfer, the company completely botching the construction of the Mariner East II Pipeline.
The bad thing: work continued on the project the next day like nothing happened.
Even if Energy Transfer...
Op/Ed: Social construction distracts from conservation of national parks
By Katie Toth, Special to The Times
A cannon at Valley Forge National Park. Image courtesy, National Park Service.
John Muir, a historical advocate for National Parks, once said “Thousands of tired, nerve- shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.”i National parks protect the natural environment, wildlife,...
Rabid GOP now feeding on their own
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
If they held a local competition for “off the rails” in politics, Chester County Republican Chair Gordon Eck would win by a landslide.
His — I won’t dignify it by calling it an Op/Ed — recently published screed attacking a fellow Republican and local Board of Education president over the fake issue of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our...
Ignore the anti maskers — masks are the best way to keep kids safe in school
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
All around the county local school boards have had to wrestle with the topic of requiring masks for students and staff.
Honestly, with the Delta variant of COVID-19, it really shouldn’t have been a tough decision.
Enter willfully misinformed (or just flat out lying) residents making any number of false claims about masks: they cut oxygen (they don’t...
Op/Ed: Gerrymandering cheats voters
By Mike Hays, Special to The Times
Mike Hays
One of the most abhorrent and undemocratic things about gerrymandering is how it stifles competition. As a new teacher in Pennsylvania, I have been thinking about how I might explain gerrymandering to my 8th grade class.
Full disclosure: I am not an innocent bystander, having run for the PA House 26th District in 2012 as an underfunded, yet determined,...
The lies that kill
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
The lies are killing people.
Thankfully, the open deception about COVID-19 has been of limited impact here in Chester County, save the odd spittle-flecked angry email or comment claiming the virus is fake, masking is a plot against freedom, the election was rigged and that Donald Trump would be reinstated on Aug. 13.
None of that is true, of course,...
As the Big Lie unravels, the PA GOP looks pretty bad
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
We might just be at a tipping point when it comes to The Big Lie.
Never mind the facts that Donald Trump lost the national race by somewhere around seven million votes and lost a solid margin in the Electoral College. And forget for a second, that Trump lost Pennsylvania to Joe Biden by about 80,000 votes in an election that has had multiple checks...
