It’s not just Coatesville: funding crisis coming to your school, too

As poorer districts struggle, they are everyone’s future without state action By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times If you’ve been in and around Coatesville recently, you may have seen picketing teachers — as was the case at the district’s three middle schools Thursday night. The contract between the district and the Coatesville Area Teachers Association expired in late August and there...

Letter from the editor: A comment on comments

A few changes to our commenting system debut By Mike McGann, You may have noticed a few changes here at The Times over the past few months, from a new mobile and tablet-friendly design to this weekend’s evolution to a new commenting system — faced on the Facebook platform. Like many other publishers, large and small, we’ve wrestled with the balance between both having a true back and forth...

Op/Ed: Government to blame for EpiPen price hikes?

By Joe Pitts, Member, U.S House of Representatives, (R-16)  U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts (R-16) As the summer sun rises high in the sky, many of us are finishing out the season by enjoying the last remnants of our vegetables and flower blooms. Bees are ever present, seeking out nectar from their favorite flowers, and along with that comes inevitable bee stings. For some, a single sting can cause their...

Letter: Despite GOP claims, 158th, 16th are in play

To The Editor, The Chester County Democratic Committee believes, just as Mike McGann does, that the 158th is very much in play. The first endorsed Republican candidate for this office withdrew because of falsified petitions.  Second choice candidate Eric Roe has serious residency issues that likely disqualify him to run for office in Pennsylvania. His entire employment history indicates eight ‘political...

The Zika virus and Chester County

Getting rid of standing water is more effective than spraying By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times News has come around lately that “Pennsylvania Is Now One Of The Top States With Zika Virus ” (Phoenixville Patch, 8/23/16). Currently PA ranks 5th in the number of diagnosed Zika cases. Of course, no one knows how many undiagnosed cases there are anywhere. Quick quiz: how is Zika...

Letter: Politics column is nothing more than wishful thinking

To The Editor, I recently read Mike McGann’s column regarding the 2016 election. Let me say first that I have generally been impressed with your political analysis, which (while having a Democrat tilt) was generally unbiased and on the mark. Any pretense of that type of balanced analysis, however, seems to have been lost in the divisiveness of this year’s election. Case in point is your...

Letter: Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day

To The Editor: Drug overdose is a leading cause of accidental deaths in Pennsylvania. The rate of overdose deaths in the state has increased by 14% in recent years and is significantly higher than the national average. Government alone cannot fix what is wrong in society, but it does have an important role to play. The government can coordinate and connect systems so that there is less redundancy,...

Yup, it’s ‘Lawyers, Guns and Money’ time

Could the unthinkable happen in Unionville on Election Day? By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times It’s not even Labor Day yet and Election 2016 is already deeply into weeds of crazy, with apparent Russian Intelligence hackers seeking to impact two local congressional races, the local Corporate Republican Liberation Front is up to its old tricks and once unthinkable scenarios are now entirely plausible...

School start time changes shouldn’t be rushed

Right now, it appears Unionville-Chadds Ford may be only district pushing for change By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times There has been increasing talk about changing the start time for middle and high schools in Chester County — driven largely out of Unionville — part of a larger dialogue going on nationally. While its clear that the science supports such a move — teens seem to have built-in...

Letter: Library board lacks skills to build new library

To The Editor, Here we go again. After over two decades of announcing the need for a new library facility, the current library board and earlier library boards have  failed  to provide a new facility. Instead the current board is  forming another  new committee  to conduct additional study. THE PUBLIC DOES NOT NEED ANOTHER STUDY. THE PUBLIC NEEDS A NEW, MODERN LIBRARY! LOCATED IN THE BOROUGH!!