Shame of the commonwealth: PA tied for no. 3 in US for hate groups

By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times PENNSYLVANIA is tied for third among states…..and not in a good way. The Southern Poverty Law Center has released its “The Year in Hate & Extremism Report” for 2022. The report tallies up the number of hate and/or extremist groups in the country by state. Topping the list with 103 is California. Next comes Florida with 89. No surprise there. The state...

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),...

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...

Lawrence, Hennessey choosing extreme politics over Chester County women’s lives

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa In the middle of the night, Pennsylvania’s legislators pushed through an amendment to the state Constitution removing any protection for abortion and women’s health services — along with a number of anti-democratic measures that could make it harder for minorities to vote. There are massive issues with morality and democracy here, but the fact of...

Op/Ed: Time to promote sensible gun laws

By Chris Pielli, Recorder of Deeds, Chester County Chris Pielli South Street on a Saturday night. How many times have we enjoyed hanging out there?  Now I am calling my son to make sure he is safe.  Meanwhile, extremist Doug Mastriano and his radical Republicans stomp and shout about the sanctity of life while promoting lethal legislation seeking to pass permit less, concealed carry laws that will...

Democrats throwing mud in primary may hurt efforts in the fall

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa For a number of weeks, I’ve been wanting to write a column about the dysfunction in the Democratic race for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania — but every time I’d be poised to do so, the Republicans in either or both the gubernatorial or U.S. Senate race would do something so out there it could not be ignored. But the fact of the matter is while the GOP...

Op/Ed: The new PA State redistricting is the fairest it’s ever been

By Matt Han, Special to The Times Even in today’s polarized and tense political climate, almost all Americans regardless of political party/orientation agree that fair maps and the elimination of gerrymandering are vital in creating a fair and democratic country. While most issues require opposing viewpoints and often cannot be resolved, the issue of fair representation is one that is not impossible...

GOP continues to whine when they can’t rig the vote

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa If you can’t win fairly, then rig the game. This is pretty much the new motto of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Whiny over new legislative redistricting maps that only give them a slight advantage, the GOP in the legislature is trying to use a constitutional amendment to make sure they can fix the game again.  They’re trying, again, to do the...

Op/Ed: The time for gun safety reform is now

By Tim Kearney, State Sen., 26th District Tim Kearney This area is riling. Our country is in crisis. The culprit. Gun Violence. Far too many lives have been lost, communities shattered, and families forever changed because of gun violence. This is not just an inner-city problem or urban issue. Our country is being assaulted on two fronts—the COVID-19 pandemic AND the epidemic of gun violence. We...