State offers free guided hikes on New Years

To promote a healthy start to the new year, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will sponsor free, guided hikes in 23 state parks on New Year’s Day as part of America’s State Parks First Day Hikes initiative in all 50 states. “For the fifth consecutive year, First Day Hikes offer a great cure for cabin fever and a chance to burn off those extra holiday calories, and what...

PATCO completes construction, returns to normal schedule

Beginning Saturday, Jan. 2 , 2016 , PATCO will return to a traditional, full schedule as a result of near completion of its $103 million, 18 month track rehab project. The track project has involved replacing the entire 30 year old PATCO track system across the Ben Franklin Bridge, including all related signal, power and communications cables that are part of the system. Structural and site repairs...

Costello announces Congressional App Challenge                                                                                                                                                                                                                

    Washington, DC – Congressman Ryan Costello (PA-06) announced that his office is now accepting entries for the Congressional App Challenge. The contest, open to high school students in Pennsylvania’s Sixth Congressional District, encourages students to program and design their own original applications, known as “apps,” for electronic devices. Sponsored by the Internet Education...

Wolf calls GOP budget ‘garbage;’ line-item vetoes much of it

But some funds will flow to local schools and social services as dispute continues By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times Updated, 3:40 p.m.: adds GOP House leadership comments. While school districts and social service agencies in Chester County can finally look forward to seeing some state funds finally come their way after a six-month state budget standoff, Gov. Tom Wolf signaled Tuesday clearly that...

Op/Ed: State Courts seek to control county row office operations

Judiciary hungry to seize fees that help keep local taxes down By Terri Clark, Chester County Register of Wills Terri Clark With Pennsylvania locked in a five-month budget impasse, the state’s Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) is creating something that already exists at public expense.  As our schools and non-profits suffer without state funding, AOPC is developing a computer...

Longwood Gardens plans busy 2016

Nightscape: A Light and Sound Experience by Klip Collective Returns in 2016 Longwood Gardens plans five spectacular seasonal displays and nearly 600 daily horticultural, educational, performing arts, and holiday programs for 2016. Among the highlights for 2016 is the return of Nightscape: A Light and Sound Experience by Klip Collective, August 3 – October 29. The exhibit sets Longwood aglow with...

Volunteers sought to count county’s homeless

WEST CHESTER — Chester County’s Department of Community Development (DCD) is seeking volunteers to canvass areas throughout the county to determine levels of homelessness. The county’s annual Point-In-Time Count will take place on the night of January 27, 2016, into the early hours of January 28, 2016. Two time frames are available for volunteers – from 10:00 p.m. to midnight on Jan. 27 and...

What To Do: Dinosaurs to roar into 2016

Plus: New Year’s Eve rocks in Kennett and around the region By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times The Delaware Museum of Natural History presents its Dino Days Festival this coming week. At the end of each year, the Delaware Museum of Natural History (4840 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-658-9111, www.delmnh.org) presents a special event geared for families for the week between Christmas...

Counting down the New Year in Kennett Square

Expanded activities highlight the 3rd annual Mushroom Drop and Midnight in the Square   KENNETT SQUARE — At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, in the heart of Kennett Square, a 500 pound stainless steel mushroom glittering with thousands of lights will be lowered with a countdown to the new year. It is the finale of Midnight in the Square, Kennett Square’s family-style New Year’s...

Merry @#$% Christmas: Senate sends Wolf last-minute budget

Gov. won’t say whether he’ll veto budget without pension reform, liquor fixes By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times The State Senate sent Gov. Tom Wolf a most unwelcome gift — a $30.2 billion budget bill similar to one he vetoed earlier this year, after a compromise that would have included pension reform and changes to how liquor is sold collapsed, amid a bizarre series of events in the...