Op/Ed: Radon – is your home raising your lung cancer risk?
By Harold P. Wimmer, American Lung Association
Harold P. Wimmer
Mention radon to most people, and you’ll get a blank stare. But mention lung cancer, and you’ve got their attention!
Most people don’t know that exposure to radon, an invisible odorless gas, is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. Pennsylvania is recognized as having a very high risk of radon, so we at the American...
Op/Ed: Supportive service for Veterans’ families
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.”
...
Political news and notes: 2014 legislative races kicking off
Final write-in results show poor turnout, participation in 2013
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
The political news cycle never seems to end these days, on the heels of the final write-in election results being posted Friday, we have a batch of new candidate announcements or pending announcements in 2014 state legislative races — and even, it seems — an early hint about a 2016 race.
First to the...
And…right back into campaign season
No rest for the weary, as Election 2014 kicks into high gear, already
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Now that we’ve gotten that pesky election out of the way, it’s time for the campaign to get started.
Think I’m kidding?
Then why is Gov. Tom Corbett in the county today, kicking off his 2014 campaign? And why has the jostling for state legislative and congressional seats already begun?
Traditionally,...
Is there hope for a pension fix in the legislature?
New proposal could form framework for at least a partial fix
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Is it possible that a small glimmer of hope toward finding a real, workable solution to public pension mess is inching forward in the state legislature?
As you’re probably aware, spiking contributions to state worker and teachers’ pension funds have hamstrung the state and local school districts,...
After three years, just two words: thank you
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
On Oct. 1, 2010 Unionville woke to flooding in the wake of Tropical Storm Nicole and a new source for local news and information, The Unionville Times.
We launched that gray October morning with no staff, little resources and not much more than a conviction that there was a better way to do local news, digitally, on the Web.
Through the last three years, that one site...
In praise of having a ‘boring’ school district
The recent lack of drama in the Unionville schools is a good thing
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Monday night, I was walking into the Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education meeting and board member Keith Knauss noted that there had been little news in The Times on school issues.
It’s hard to argue — things have been so peaceful and quiet in the district that of five open board seats up for...
Lies, damn lies and talk about Common Core
Kennett event drifted into propaganda, rather than a clear-eyed look at the facts
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
KENNETT — I came, I saw, and frankly, I left scratching my head.
Setting aside the oddity of complaining about the teaching of global warming on a day that four-plus inches of rain fell on the southern part of the county, closing roads and bridges, it was a complicated night of facts,...
Common Core hysteria is testing the limits
While a debate is proper, muddying the waters with lies doesn’t help
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Tuesday night, there’s a big meeting planned at the Kennett Fire Company’s Red Clay Room, to talk about the issues with the proposed Common Core curriculum.
And while there are issues with Common Core, ranging from questions about the nature of the curriculum to who should pay for it, the...
Same-sex marriage is happening. So?
The less time we spend on this, the more we might realize what sort of mess we’re in
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Same sex couples, it would seem, can drive a short distance from Chester County and obtain a marriage license.
At the same time, our state Attorney General is refusing to defend the state’s defense of marriage act — a law that defines marriage as being between a man and a...
