Op/Ed: How mandates raise your local school taxes
By Lisa Longo, President, Phoenixville Area School District Board of Education
Lisa Longo
Do you wonder sometimes why property taxes increase? I did and I decided to start attending school board meetings to understand. That was seven years ago. Now, as a member of our school board, I can share what I have learned.
I discovered a large part of a school district budget is mandated. Congressional and...
Letter: A safe harbor for child-victims of sex trafficking
To The Editor:
If you’re sitting in a doctor’s office and see a patient wearing handcuffs and leg shackles, your assumption is that she is a criminal. Probably a dangerous criminal. Most likely, you’ll send glances or the body language of fear, disdain and horror.
What if she isn’t a criminal?
If Socialism comes to the U.S., it will be brought on by Republicans
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
HAVANA, Cuba — While walking the streets of this alleged “workers paradise” it was a bit hard not to see the irony when into my email box popped this messaging winner:
“PA GOP asks Democratic Congressional candidates whether they support Pelosi, Socialists, and/or Maxine Waters.” This genius move come from Pennsylvania GOP Chair Val DiGiorgio, who decided...
Ready for a new round of ‘hire a judge?’
By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
Every U.S. Supreme Court session offers fresh evidence of confirmation bias, the human tendency to process information in a way that conforms to our prior beliefs.
The Justices know why they are there: it’s not for their great legal minds, but because their legal backgrounds served as cover for getting them confirmed by the Senate.
Upton Sinclair said:...
Letter: Thank yous for support of Strawberry Festival
To The Editor:
On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors of the Brandywine Health Foundation, “THANK YOU” to our entire community for your support of the 2018 Strawberry Festival! We are extremely grateful to KeyBank and PECO for generously serving as the presenting sponsors, once again, and to Brandywine Hospital – Tower Health for allowing us to use their beautiful grounds and staff support...
Beyond ‘Trump, bad’
By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
The June 16 editorial “For GOP candidates the question is: To Trump or not to Trump?” http://chescotimes.com/?p=25893/ makes a lot of good points about this year’s enthusiasm gap between the two major parties (see also the recent Pew poll http://www.people- press.org/2018/06/20/voters-more-focused-on-control-of-congress-and-the-president-than-in-past-midterms/)...
For GOP candidates the question is: To Trump or not to Trump?
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
With summer bearing down on us (finally!), it seemed like a good idea to take one quick snap shot of the local political scene before moving into our summer hiatus (and yes, we already skipped an edition of Politics as Unusual (PAU), sensing something of a politics overload for you, the reader).
As this could well be the final edition of PAU until — gasp — August,...
Letter From The Editor: Tough times in the media world
Dear Readers,
I probably don’t have to tell you what a challenging time it is for us in the small-time, local media.
The old advertising model is broken, a new one hasn’t really replaced it and readers like you increasingly don’t want to have to pay for content.
It’s that vise that has seen our readership hold steady, yet revenue decline for three straight years.
Op/Ed: Time for legislative candidates to take the ‘No Nonsense’ pledge
By Susan Rzucidlo, Special to The Times
Susan Rzucidlo
Ethics in politics. It’s not an oxymoron or at least, it shouldn’t be. However, given Pennsylvania’s long and recent history of corruption scandals among members of both parties, well, sometimes I wonder. Will they ever learn? Will we – the voters – ever learn?
All too often, it seems like integrity is the exception to the norm in Harrisburg....
Will 2018 be the year of woman in Chester County politics?
By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
In the Chester County Democratic primary election, the winners for U.S. Senator and Governor were (unopposed) men, but women for US House PA-06 (also unopposed) and Lt. Governor (Kathi Cozzone carried Chesco but not PA), so that’s half men and half women Dem winners in Chesco.
For PA Senate and House, 3 men and 8 women won Democratic races in districts that...
