Op/Ed: Legislators must end funding delay for community colleges

By Marta Yera Cronin, Ed.D., President, Delaware County Community College Marta Yera Cronin Nearly six months into the fiscal year, Delaware County Community College and Pennsylvania’s 14 other community colleges have yet to receive operating funds authorized in July as part of the state’s FY 2023-24 budget. Community colleges are the only public higher education institutions in Pennsylvania still...

Off year election? Hardly. Tuesday’s election really does matter

By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times The best way to ensure our democracy survives these troubled times is not to support any candidate running as under the Republican label, given how that party has endorsed MAGA and has as its agenda the dismantling of democracy.  HERE IN MY little corner of the world we are just three days out from the Nov. 7 elections and the end of that day can’t come soon...

Letter: Duanne Scavicchio and the DEI Question

To The Editor, On October 9th, I attended a candidate forum put together by the League of Women Voters and a group of DASD students.  The event was informative, and I commend all the candidates from both parties who participated. During the forum, each candidate was asked their stance on the district’s DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs, including the hiring of a DEI director.  Every...

Election of Johnson as Speaker shows exactly who the GOP is and why you can’t vote for them

By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times OCT. 25, 2023. A date that will live in infamy. Seriously. Why? It was the date on which Rep. Michael Johnson, a Louisiana far-right little-known congressman, was elected unanimously by his U.S. House Republican colleagues to be Speaker of the House. I am going to put it right up there will with the issuance of the Declaration of Independence, the adoption of the...

Republicans are a cancer on the body politic and we need chemotherapy, stat

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa It hit me like a ton of bricks, Tuesday: Donald Trump, the leader of the Republican Party announced he would block immigration or entry of anyone who “don’t like our religion.” “Our religion.” What the everlasting Hell? This is America, we don’t have a “Our religion.” We have dozens of religions and many people who aren’t religious....

Letter: In support of Rongaus for Court of Common Pleas

To The Editor, On November 7, 2023, Chester County voters will elect five judges to serve on the Court of Common Pleas, the county’s trial court that hears criminal prosecutions and civil cases — that include contract disputes, personal injury claims, divorce, custody, and local government appeals. Such a critical position demands, not only a keen knowledge of the law, but also judicial temperament...

Escape shows being cheap can be very expensive

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa Like me, you’re probably a bit tired of hearing about Danelo Cavalcante. I certainly am. I live about 500 yards from Chester County Prison, so you can probably imagine I have pretty strong feelings about this issue and what caused it. You will see a lot of back and forth in the next few weeks leading up to the election, who was to blame and such, before...

Time for a calm, measured look at what happened at Chester County Prison

By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times DANELO CAVALCANTE is in custody. In Chester County, our 14-days of living with some level of fear, being couch potato voyeurs has ended. Mega congratulations are due for all the law enforcement personnel and others who worked tirelessly to track him down including Yoda, the police dog that locked onto him. But what now? I would hope a calm and professional debriefing...

Letter: Better security needed at Chester County Prison

To The Editor, Danelo Cavalcante escaping Chester County Prison in West Chester was a scary experience. Families throughout Chester County had to be on super strict guard. If a person does a horrific crime such as committing a murder then in that case justice was served fairly as far as the sentencing. The Chester County Prison Acting Warden Howard Holland, Deputy Warden of Security Ocie H....

After 40 years, somehow, I’m still doing this

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa On Sept. 13, 1983, I walked into the newsroom of Suburban Trends in Butler, N.J.  — a twice-weekly newspaper — for my first shift as a sports assistant. Forty years later, how different things are now seems difficult to absorb. I was a college sophomore at William Paterson College and had been pestering the editors of The Trends for work since I...