New Congressional maps are a karma bomb for GOP

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Republicans across the state of Pennsylvania are howling mad and running to the courts seeking assistance. Karma is a bitch, right? It seems like they may have to compete on a fair Congressional map — not the 2011 map that was among the most Gerrymandered maps in the entire country — and they don’t like it one bit.

Op/Ed: Addressing gender inequality in today’s workforce so we won’t need to in the future

By Michelle Kichline, Kathi Cozzone and Terence Farrell, Chester County Commissioners  Week after week, we are met with more stories of sexual harassment; reports of women who have suffered because of the “power” of predators, but who now have voiced their horrendous experiences because of the courage of women who first shared their stories leading to the strength of the #MeToo movement. ...

Op/Ed: Pennsylvania needs sensible gun laws

By Anton Andrew
, Candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 160th District Anton Andrew I cannot imagine the grief of those whose children and loved ones were killed at Parkland High School. I express my sincere condolences for their losses. But with this type of tragedy, repeated so many times across our country, we must ask ourselves, “What can we do as a nation to move forward?”...

Parkland slaughter should hit home in Chester County

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times If you had a pit in the stomach this morning when you sent your kids off to school, you were probably not alone. I certainly did. Yesterday’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida should hit home for folks here in Chester County. Like so many of our community high schools, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is in an affluent suburb. The school has an average SAT...

Letter: Thoughts and prayers are not enough

To The Editor, By now you have heard the sad but all too familiar news of another mass school shooting. This is the 18th school shooting of the year and it’s only February. It seems that our politicians only response to these horrific acts of violence is to offer thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families. While thoughts and prayers are well intended, it is action that is needed...

The new map is here! And it’s probably doomed

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Those of you old enough to remember Steve Martin’s film tour de force (yes, tongue in cheek), The Jerk, may remember the scene when his character runs about shouting “The new phonebook is here! The new phonebook is here!” might find the Pennsylvania GOP’s dump of a new Congressional map Friday night a bit of deja vu. Those of you too young to remember The...

Op/Ed: The wrong people are in jail

By Kathi Cozzone, Chester County Commissioner Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone If your child or spouse or parent had a mental illness, addiction or developmental disability, would you want them in jail or somewhere that could help them get better? County jails and taxpayers dollars are increasingly being used to detain pre-trial offenders and house inmates who suffer from such issues;...

Sometimes real life means more than politics

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Hello from the Coastal Bend of Southeast Texas — which hopefully will be the home of the new Times’ Texas bureau — where folks are bit more concerned about real life and less about politics and the political silliness that comes from places such as Washington or Harrisburg or Austin. Here, folks are about one thing: recovery. When...

Happy New Year! Surf’s up, baby!

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Happy 2018! Who’s got their surfboards ready? Because, yeah, it is becoming increasingly likely that our friends in the Republican Party might not just be facing a wave, but rather a tsunami. But before you rush out and scream “that dirty so-and-so Trump” (as apparently so many West Wing staffers seem to do daily, per Michael Wolff’s controversial new book),...

Russians and Americans

By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times Governments and their people are not the same thing. That’s what Americans spending time abroad were saying to French friends in the 1960s, when the US was taking the disastrous step of picking up France’s colonial wars in the former Indochina. And it’s still true today. Let’s hope Europeans, including Russians, realize our government...