Democrats: there are a lot of Republicans on your primary ballot, know what to look for
By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times
It’s going to be critical for Democratic voters to take their “cheat sheets” into the polling place and be absolutely sure the candidates they vote for really are Democrats. If you are concerned about far righters taking over school boards, county elections, boroughs and towns, you need to understand the law suits the far-righters file start in our Common...
Some local school board candidates are not what they seem
Editor’s Note: Rich Heiland is a veteran, award-winning news reporter, editor and columnist. We were alerted to Rich’s column on local education and felt it deserved wider distribution beyond his personal Website. With his permission, we present this column — with hopes that Rich’s work will appear here semi-regularly.
By Rich Heiland, Special to the Times
I was told this was...
The May primary election matters, but not everyone gets to vote — which needs to change
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
In a few weeks, Pennsylvanians will go to the polls in what can be the most overlooked election we have: the off-year municipal primary, May 16. You may have your mail in ballot — as I do — don’t lose it or disregard it.
Even with much easier mail-in voting, too many people will pass on their chance to vote. Additionally, as these are primary elections...
It’s not about ‘parental rights,’ it’s about greed
By Mike McGann, Editor, the Times @mikemcgannpa
You’ve probably heard a lot about “woke” “CRT” and “DEI” relating to public schools. And like most people, you may not be entirely sure what these terms mean and how they might impact your kids.
And maybe this might be a good time to offer a primer on what these terms mean, as it seems increasingly likely they will be thrown around a lot...
PA is a third-world state because of funding issues
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
Pennsylvania has a funding problem. Yes, right now, there is a budget surplus, but for decades state government has slowly been starving essential services such as police, education and roads/infrastructure.
There are a lot of issues — too many loopholes and tax exemptions for corporations (a shocking number of profitable companies pay nothing in tax),...
Ignoring the will of the voters won’t end well for GOP
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
“Voters? We don’t need no stinkin’ voters.”
As it self-immolates into the dustbin of history, the Republican Party in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. seems to really only stand for one thing: ignoring the will of the voters.
Sure, it’s bad politics and bad policy, but ignoring the will of the people seems to be just about that trick left to...
Op/Ed: Resolve to keep your personal data safe in 2023
By Liz Terwilliger, Special to The Times
Liz Terwilliger
I considered repeating the usual New Year’s resolutions this year – eating better, exercising, listen more than talking, reading that stack of unopened books…all worthy goals. But this year I am prioritizing personal data safety by reducing my exposure to electronic surveillance.
Most of us are concerned with how much electronic...
Why was there a Blue Wave in Pennsylvania?
By Mike McGann, Editor, the Times @mikemcgannpa
By now we’ve all had a bit of time to digest the election results — in terms of Pennsylvania and Chester County — it was a very good mid-term election for Democrats, sweeping the statewide races, taking control of the state House of Representatives and holding all of their Congressional seats.
As you may know, the party in control of the White House...
Election Day 2022: Be patient and ‘Don’t panic.’
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
While tonight might be election night, don’t expect results tonight.
It’s likely to be a bit more like 2020, when it took a few days to sort things out — a fact largely driven by your favorite GOP state legislator, as they and their cohorts refuse to allow counties to count the large number of mail-in ballots before election day — a transparent...
While far-right, big-money school board candidates struggled in the primary, it was just a rehearsal for Nov.