A Q&A with Margaret Hudgings

An interview with leader of local group questioning mosquito spraying By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times My opinion piece “Mosquito spraying: why doesn’t the county want to talk about it?” in the Times of Chester County, August 31, asked many questions. Since then I’ve found many answers, including from talking with the County Health Department, and many new questions too. One thing...

Letter: Wolf is fighting for middle class families

To The Editor, Governor Wolf is fighting for middle-class families in Pennsylvania by reversing the damaging Republican cuts to education and human service providers. The governor’s budget invests in education, provides property tax relief, and fixes the budget deficit created by Republicans without using gimmicks or games. Standing firm in his commitment to these priorities, the governor has...

Improving the higher education experience

    The Borough of West Chester is humming once again as students have returned to campus for a new academic year. In a similar fashion, though without the boxes of textbooks and bags of clean laundry, Congress returned to Capitol Hill with a full agenda of critical policy items to address this fall.   In the coming months, the House will work to advance legislation to reauthorize...

Mosquito spraying: why doesn’t the county want to talk about it?

County needs to answer questions about spraying program By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times The Kennett Township web site has two running headers at the top: “Monarch Butterfly population decline” and “Mosquito Spraying by Chester County Health Department 8/19/2015.” Could these two occurrences be connected, as with bee colonies and insect-eating bird populations being...

Birthright citizen challenge is a slippery slope

Can citizenship be taken away by a whim? By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Much in line with the old Chinese curse, we live in interesting times. Arguably, though, with more than one Republican presidential candidate arguing for repeal (or downright ignoring of) the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, suggesting that the children of illegal immigrants to the United States should be denied...

Does 161st election prompt worry for GOP?

Also, Kane must go; thoughts on GOP presidential debate By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times It’s still August, and as much as we want to cling to our icy-cold beverages, sun screen and the amazing scent of meat grilling in the back yard, like a storm front, politics, both local and national keep pulling us forward into the fall political season. We’ll dig into the Kathleen Kane issue, the Republican...

House Bill 809 would further cut local control

Bill would let state make housing, zoning choices instead of local communities By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times Along with about 50 other people, I attended a hearing at West Chester Borough Hall on July 20 about House Bill 809 proposed to the PA House of Representatives. On the positive side, we have a democratic process that allows citizens to find out what our legislators are doing and...

Letter: Longwood chief backs dedicated funding efforts

To The Editor, Longwood Fire Company has been seeking dedicated funding from governmental entities for many years. I was encouraged to see four companies in our region form a funding coalition to reach that goal and have offered them my support. The Berwyn, Paoli, Radnor and Malvern fire companies formed the T-E Fire Companies Funding Coalition. They are combining efforts to reach out to residents...

Op/Ed: Fictionalizing history

By Bruce Mowday Bruce Mowday The history Americans know, or think they know, is increasingly coming from polluted sources. Last week I was in Gettysburg digging into original historical documents at the Adams County Historical Society and Gettysburg National Military Park for information on my next book, J. Howard Wert’s Gettysburg. I had several interesting conversations with curators and historians...

What to do: Hometown fun, fireworks & festivals

  By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times   The Philadelphia Museum of Art sets the backdrop for the annual Welcome America fireworks display. Independence Day has arrived and that means it is time for two of Chester County’s longest-running and most popular Fourth of July events — Downingtown Good Neighbor Day (Kerr Park, Downingtown, 610-285-1119, www.goodneighborday.com) and...