Escape shows being cheap can be very expensive

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Like me, you’re probably a bit tired of hearing about Danelo Cavalcante. I certainly am. I live about 500 yards from Chester County Prison, so you can probably imagine I have pretty strong feelings about this issue and what caused it. You will see a lot of back and forth in the next few weeks leading up to the election, who was to blame and such, before...

Time for a calm, measured look at what happened at Chester County Prison

By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times DANELO CAVALCANTE is in custody. In Chester County, our 14-days of living with some level of fear, being couch potato voyeurs has ended. Mega congratulations are due for all the law enforcement personnel and others who worked tirelessly to track him down including Yoda, the police dog that locked onto him. But what now? I would hope a calm and professional debriefing...

What To Do: Fall into fun, WC restaurant fest, Coatesville Grand Prix and so much more

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times The Coatesville Invitational Vintage Grand Prix It seems that autumn weather has arrived. This is a weekend in which summer events are gone from the schedule and harvest and Halloween activities have yet to arrive. There is still a full slate of attractive events representing a wide range of genres such as cars, food, pirates, ethnic, hot air balloons,...

On Stage: After more than 50 years, Clannad is saying goodbye

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Clannad It’s been 53 years since Clannad formed in County Donegal in Ireland. It’s been 50 years since the masters of traditional Irish music first performed in America. Over that time, the band has released more than 20 albums and built up a strong large legion of devoted fans. “Mat the road rise to meet you” is an Irish blessing that has been...

After 40 years, somehow, I’m still doing this

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa On Sept. 13, 1983, I walked into the newsroom of Suburban Trends in Butler, N.J.  — a twice-weekly newspaper — for my first shift as a sports assistant. Forty years later, how different things are now seems difficult to absorb. I was a college sophomore at William Paterson College and had been pestering the editors of The Trends for work since I...

GOT HIM! Cavalcante captured Wednesday morning

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Danelo Cavalcante seen earlier this week. After a two-week manhunt, escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante was taken into custody Wednesday morning by law enforcement officers. Cavalcante — convicted of the 2021 murder of his girlfriend last month — was captured just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday, after a hunt that started in the southern portion of the county...

On Stage Extra: Maria Muldaur, more than a one-hit wonder

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Maria Muldaur The end of summer is looming on the horizon. For fans of live music, that means there is an uptick in midweek shows. This week, there is an impressive array of live shows on Wednesday featuring a legendary folksinger, an iconic British pop band from the 80s, a groundbreaking metal band and an up-and-coming singer-songwriter. When music...

Now armed, escaped murderer remains on the loose in N. Chesco

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa A recent doorbell cam image of Danelo Cavalcante. Monday night brought yet another twist in the nearly two-week pursuit of Danelo Cavalcante, the convicted murderer who escaped from Chester County Prison on Aug. 31 — authorities now say he is armed with a rifle and remains at large in northern Chester County. At a press conference Tuesday morning at...

Escaped murderer stole van; thought now to be in northern part of county

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa A clean-shaven Danelo Cavalcante captured on a doorbell camera, Saturday night. The hunt for escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante took a major turn over the weekend, as authorities say he managed to steal a van from a Pocopson dairy and was sighted in Phoenixville and East Pikeland and is thought to currently be somewhere in the northern Chester County...

What To Do: Mushroom Festival, Caln Community Day and more top busy event schedule

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Mushroom Festival One statement that always applies in Kennett Square is — “There’s a fungus among us” – and it’s never more evident than on the weekend after Labor Day each year – the weekend for the annual staging of the Mushroom Festival. After three decades, anniversaries begin to take on a special significance. This weekend marks...