Costello, Meehan, Casey rip Trump decision on Paris Agreement

Three of Chester County’s federal elected officials, U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello (R-6), U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan (R-7) and U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D) took strong issue with President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday to withdraw from the Paris Agreement to limit carbon emissions. The county’s other two elected officials — U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-16) and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey appear...

Comey firing raises the stakes for 2018 elections

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Just when the healthcare mess seemed ready to drown our local Congressvictims in a Jonestown Flood like deluge, President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James B. Comey, Tuesday, swooped in and saved them by changing the subject. And by saving them, I mean sparing them from a looming electoral firing squad by hitting them with a flaming asteroid. While Pennsylvania’s...

Chester Co.: Where men are men and the congressmen are nervous

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times That loud sigh of relief you might be hearing is coming from our three local members of Congress — Ryan Costello (R-6), Pat Meehan (R-7) and Lloyd Smucker (R-16) — when it became clearer that the White House wouldn’t force a vote on the revised replacement for the Affordable Care Act this coming week. While the text of the revised legislation isn’t out,...

Op/Ed: Block grant cuts will be devastating

By Kathi Cozzone, Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone President Trump has presented his first budget proposal, a document containing many surprises, and quite a few points that have alarmed various groups of people from housing advocates to environmentalists to diplomats. Count me among the alarmed. In Pennsylvania, Counties are on the front lines of spending on human services. We leverage...

March on, Sister!

By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times As I type, women (and men and children) are marching in cities all over this country. I was not able to get there physically…so, this article will be my contribution to the cause. I have read a lot of criticism on social media questioning the purpose of participating in such an event. How can it really change anything? I guess the answer leads to...

Social media mayhem: can we learn to agree to disagree?

By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times The inauguration is only a few days away and the chatter on social media is beginning to escalate. I guess it’s no wonder considering the President-Elect is “somewhat” of a Twitter fan. If history is our guide, we should be prepared to be inundated with a flood of online opinions come Friday. I’ll admit, I was shocked by the back and forth on Facebook...

The big GOP loss no one is talking about

Could 2016 become a textbook example of win the battle, lose the war? By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Across America, Democrats wail in anguish while Republicans rejoice in total control of the federal government. Confident of the outcome of the election, Democrats were quite sure that Hillary Clinton would defeat Donald Trump and they would regain control of the U.S. Senate. It didn’t quite...

Democrats play their Trump card and hard

Ads start to go negative, too, shockingly By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Last week, in this space I noted that Democratic candidates would be looking to staple their Republican opponents to GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. Based on a flurry of TV ads and mailers I’ve seen this week, I had it mostly right, except maybe the implement: Democrats are using a nail gun, and one has to wonder...

GOP seems to be laying groundwork for two campaigns

As Trump implodes, Republicans pivoting to save down-ballot races By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times As we suggested last week, the heavy firepower is hitting Chester County now — and is likely to continue right up to the election. Already this week, we’ve seen Ted Danson in town stumping for Hillary Clinton and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (and former GOP Vice Presidential...

County Democrats display passion at local office opening

Crowds pack new Kennett Area Democrats’ campaign facility By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Democrats from around Chester County gathered Sunday to celebrate the opening of the Kennett Area Democrats’ new campaign office on East Linden Street in Kennett Square. From left: State Rep. candidate Susan Rzucidlo, Chester County Democratic Chair Brian McGinnis, Attorney General Candidate...