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...

On Stage: Rock, indie-pop, bluegrass & more hit music scene this week

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times Two major factors a band needs to achieve success and longevity are the ability to write good songs and the maintenance of a high level of friendship among band members. Lloyd Cole Three bands who will be performing in the area, over the next week, have met this criteria along with solo artist, Lloyd Cole, who went back to old friends and his old way of...

Op/Ed: A tale of two high schools

Growing gap between urban, suburban schools is unconscionable By Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman, State Senator, 19th District Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It’s almost like Charles Dickens was describing public education in Pennsylvania. Today, the disparity between the academic services, technology and basic resources available to students in inner...

A better day than you might think for Coatesville

In beleaguered school district, kids, community are finally coming first By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times If you watched the TV news yesterday, or read some of the local media, yesterday was a terrible day for the Coatesville area community. But I’m here to say this: I don’t agree. When we watched Richard Como — the former superintendent of schools, disgraced in just about every way possible...

Op/Ed: Chester County benefits from China partnership

By Terence Farrell, Chester County Commissioner and Michael Grigalonis, COO of Chester County Economic Development Council Recently, political and business leaders from Chester County visited China seeking to improve business and investment relationships. From left, David Liu, General Manager of CTDI’s China Operations, Chester County Commissioner Terence Farrell, Mike Grigalonis, Chief Operating...

Just do it: vote

Tomorrow is Election Day. That should matter to you — but alarmingly, for a lot of you, maybe even a majority of the people reading this, it doesn’t. Consider these horrifying numbers: only about 75% of eligible voters are actually registered to vote. Of those, it is expected that only about 45% of those will cast ballots tomorrow in Pennsylvania. That means roughly one third of those eligible...

Are we ‘prepping’ our kids for too much stress?

A few thoughts on navigating today’s increased anxiety-filled world By Kim Chiomento, Staff Writer, The Times As a teen in the 1980’s, the terms “prep, prepper, and preppy” evoke strong memories of a serious fashion statement: Tretorn tennis shoes, gravity-defying, up-turned collars, going sockless and the syrupy scent of Ralph Lauren’s Lauren perfume.  The above was often tied...

Op/Ed: VISTA 2025 offer balance of growth and preservation

By Molly Morrison, President, Natural Lands Trust Molly Morrison It may be surprising that preservation features so prominently in reports about Chester County’s new economic development plan. The need to balance economic growth and preservation is, however, the innovative and insightful organizing principal of VISTA 2025, the County’s new Economic Development Strategy. The plan, prepared with...

Could attacks on Pileggi doom Pa. GOP?

If Republicans move right, will they lose moderates — and control? By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Is state Sen. Dominic Pileggi in danger of becoming a former Senate Majority leader? If you ask a couple of his fellow Republican senators, who have both issued scathing letters condemning the senator, yes. But Pileggi, who represents a large swath of southern Chester County, seems ready to seek...

The silliest of silly seasons cranks up

Playing the Walker ‘blame game’ and hijinks in the Sixth race By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times It’s just one month until election day and the gloves have come off, from dueling ads (of questionable veracity at times), protests, endorsements, temper tantrums and worst of all: the lawyers have been unleashed. So, in other words, it’s a pretty typical October, when politics goes from...