The final straw
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Maybe it was when the U.S. House Representatives voted Thursday to blow up the increasingly popular Affordable Health Act and replace it with a non-vetted, closely-held replacement supported by less than 20 percent of voters (the cheering and beer party at the White House didn’t help, either).
Or maybe it was when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents...
A Q&A with Kate Young on Fair Districts PA and the fight against gerrymandering
By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
Recently I spoke with Kate Young about Fair Districts PA https://www.fairdistrictspa.com/ and its campaign to do away with gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. Several Fair Districts presentations this spring have generated great interest. West Chester Public Library didn’t have materials on gerrymandering in its collection, so Fair Districts PA donated three...
Kennett Democrats elect new officers
The Kennett Area Democrats elected a new slate of officers Thursday. Left to right: Dick Bingham, Wayne Braffman, Victoria Wiedwald, Karen Meyerson, Dale LaBar.
At its April 13 meeting, the Kennett Area Democrats (KAD) elected a new slate of officers to guide the civic organization through the next four years:
Chair: Wayne Braffman, Kennett Square
Vice-Chair: Victoria Wiedwald, Kennett Township
Secretary:...
Time for Costello to show just a hint of courage
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Sometime later this afternoon, U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello (R-6) will hold a town hall meeting.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that he’s holding it in Historic Courtroom 1, limiting it to 100 people, it was announced Thursday and filled up within minutes — and no one can record the video. Some sort of modern-day Stasi will be at the door, demanding “papers,...
Indivisible KSQ holds first meeting, plans 2nd March 4
KENNETT SQUARE — Dozens of people from as far away as Coatesville and West Chester packed the meeting room in the Kennett Library to participate in the organizing meeting of Indivisible KSQ.
Organizers Megan Bushnell and Laura Florence opened meeting by sharing their reasons for getting an Indivisible chapter started in Kennett Square then opened the meeting to participants to share why they...
Fair DistrictsPA forum takes on Gerrymandering
Carol Kuniholm, Chair of Fair Districts PA, addressing the audience, Wednesday night at West Chester Henderson High School.
By Eliza Mohler, Staff Writer, The Times
WEST CHESTER – Political strategist Karl Rove once said, “He who can control redistricting can control Congress.” At her presentation Wednesday at Henderson High School, Fair Districts PA Chair Carol Kuniholm used this quote to...
Chris Ross talks Harrisburg and good government
By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
Former state representative Chris Ross (R-158) recently was so kind as to spend an hour and a half talking with me about his 20 years representing a district that stretches from eastern and southern West Goshen west through the Bradfords and then south as far as London Britain and the Delaware border.
I had interviewed him before back in the fall of 2012....
A shiny new year: things are about to get interesting
Congressional, legislative officials face new political minefields in 2017
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
From Harrisburg to Washington, D.C., it is a bold, bright new year in politics.
From fresh starts to fresh panics, 2017 looks to be among the most interesting ever in the history of our little republic — and possibly not in a good way, but time will tell.
To kick off the year, we’ll...
Bill was right: it’s a crazy system (part II of II)
By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
Our current health care “system” is such an undependable patchwork as to be, for many Americans, crazy.
For years Democrats have been saying that Obamacare, officially the Affordable Care Act (inspired, incidentally, by Mitt Romney’s program in Massachusetts) is imperfect but a good step forward while Republicans (even some benefiting from it)...
Bill was right: it’s a crazy system (part I of II)
By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
Bill Clinton was right about health insurance when he controversially said on October 3:
“…The people that are getting killed in this deal are small business people and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies. Why? Because they’re not organized, they don’t have any bargaining power with insurance companies, and...
