Ready for a new round of ‘hire a judge?’

By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times Every U.S. Supreme Court session offers fresh evidence of confirmation bias, the human tendency to process information in a way that conforms to our prior beliefs. The Justices know why they are there: it’s not for their great legal minds, but because their legal backgrounds served as cover for getting them confirmed by the Senate. Upton Sinclair said:...

Letter: Thank yous for support of Strawberry Festival

To The Editor: On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors of the Brandywine Health Foundation, “THANK YOU” to our entire community for your support of the 2018 Strawberry Festival!  We are extremely grateful to KeyBank and PECO for generously serving as the presenting sponsors, once again, and to Brandywine Hospital – Tower Health for allowing us to use their beautiful grounds and staff support...

Beyond ‘Trump, bad’

By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times The June 16 editorial “For GOP candidates the question is: To Trump or not to Trump?” https://chescotimes.com/?p=25893/ makes a lot of good points about this year’s enthusiasm gap between the two major parties (see also the recent Pew poll http://www.people- press.org/2018/06/20/voters-more-focused-on-control-of-congress-and-the-president-than-in-past-midterms/)...

For GOP candidates the question is: To Trump or not to Trump?

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times With summer bearing down on us (finally!), it seemed like a good idea to take one quick snap shot of the local political scene before moving into our summer hiatus (and yes, we already skipped an edition of Politics as Unusual (PAU), sensing something of a politics overload for you, the reader). As this could well be the final edition of PAU until — gasp — August,...

Letter From The Editor: Tough times in the media world

Dear Readers, I probably don’t have to tell you what a challenging time it is for us in the small-time, local media. The old advertising model is broken, a new one hasn’t really replaced it and readers like you increasingly don’t want to have to pay for content. It’s that vise that has seen our readership hold steady, yet revenue decline for three straight years.    Send...

Letter: Kennett emergency service tax doesn’t help Longwood FC

To The Editor, I’m compelled to write to all taxpayers in Kennett Township to correct a dangerous misimpression concerning the recent tax levied by the supervisors for public safety. The Longwood Fire Company DOES NOT RECEIVE A PENNY of additional funding from the new public safety tax. We actually receive less money from Kennett Township since the forming of the regional Fire/EMS commission....

Op/Ed: Time for legislative candidates to take the ‘No Nonsense’ pledge

By Susan Rzucidlo, Special to The Times Susan Rzucidlo Ethics in politics. It’s not an oxymoron or at least, it shouldn’t be. However, given Pennsylvania’s long and recent history of corruption scandals among members of both parties, well, sometimes I wonder. Will they ever learn? Will we – the voters – ever learn? All too often, it seems like integrity is the exception to the norm in Harrisburg....

Will 2018 be the year of woman in Chester County politics?

By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times In the Chester County Democratic primary election, the winners for U.S. Senator and Governor were (unopposed) men, but women for US House PA-06 (also unopposed) and Lt. Governor (Kathi Cozzone carried Chesco but not PA), so that’s half men and half women Dem winners in Chesco. For PA Senate and House, 3 men and 8 women won Democratic races in districts that...

Endorsement: Cozzone for Democratic nominee for Lt. Gov.

Kathi Cozzone The race for Lt. Governor, a post some might suggest is unneeded (we note that neighboring New Jersey added the post after a couple of governors were forced to leave office early and the transition from senate president to the governor’s mansion didn’t go as well as hoped), has been busy and seen candidates come and go in the Democratic primary race. The one constant has been Chester...

Endorsement: Ellsworth for GOP Gov. nomination

Laura Ellsworth This year’s Republican primary for Governor has been an unprecedented mess, one that is bad for the commonwealth and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. Candidates Paul Mango and Scott Wagner have waged a scorched-Earth battle — essentially handing Democratic incumbent Tom Wolf more than enough material to rout either — in a deeply personal and juvenile campaign for governor. ...