BillLawrenceOnline

The Chesco Site for information

By Bob Small

This is part of a continuing series on resources listed on the program for last December 15 Bill of Rights Banquet.

Though many people are aware of ChescoUnited: Home, not everyone may be aware of their programs. F

Chesco United is a network of freedom-loving patriots, working every day to preserve and advance the quality of life for the citizens of Chester County, Pennsylvania, as per its mission statement.

There’s also a section on the Chester County Election Integrity report for previous years.

One way they do this is by presenting their Keystone Town Hall series of Forums, whose slogan is “We focus on facts first”. Keystone describes itself as “ a nonpartisan, independent community that discusses the critical issues of our time and takes action to address the issues affecting ourselves and our families. “

Their next forum is Jan. 27 in Annville. In December, they presented a series celebrating Trumps second term at its Malvern home Desmond Hotel .

Some previous events included “Are Voting Machines Secure, Battle of Eagle Pass, Free Flights for Illegal Aliens?, IS WW3 Knocking at our door?, More Tax on Small Business?, Pennsylvania’s Budget balloons to $51.5 Billion!, Squatter Enterprise, Tough Love: A Necessary “Evil”, and “A Walk in Kensington” featuring four Kensington Community leaders.

Keystone Town Hall presents The Conservative Voice on WWDB 860 am. Currently, the voices are Felice Fein, Chris Glover, Gary Heasley, John Allante McAuuley, Ada Nestor, and Mina Quarles. They can be found on Apple Podcasts, Facebook, and You Tube, among others,

Under the call to action section,they note “Self-governance requires us to know and understand the Constitution, and to stay informed about federal, state, and local laws as they are being written and voted on by our representatives “.

Are Newspapers Yesterday?

By Bob Small

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a Newspaper almost as old as the US (dob 1786) will print its last issue on May 3.

Pittsburgh will become the first city of its size without a daily newspaper. Block Communications cited losses of $350 million.

One backstory is the PPG’s refusal to honor a NLRB (National Labor Relation Board) ruling. According to Andrew Goldstein, President of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, “Instead of simply following the law, the owners chose to punish local journalists and the city of Pittsburgh.”

Concurrently,the Pittsburgh City Paper has also ceased operations.

Industry reaction has been sharp. Neil Brown, President of Poynter opined that “the situation in Pittsburgh has been a tumultuous hot mess for years, and the erratic nature of the ownership family in grappling with its labor issues has been well documented.” And Jeff Jarvis, Director (emeritus), Tow Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, stated “Political ideology and a lack of strategic foresight and vision got in the way, and now another great city is one paper poorer.”

Tracing the recent history of closings we read that  the U.S. has lost about  40 percent of its local newspapers . Not everyone is online but most of us can travel to our local Wawa for a Delco Times, along with a coffee and pastry of choice.

According to one survey, roughly 12 percent of the public lived in households without internet access in 2023. This limits not only how and where you get your news, but how you can check its reliability.

Other papers that have flown the way of the dodo are The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Tampa Tribune

Co-pilot and other AI sources cited other Pennsylvania papers that have closed in the last five years include Clinton County Record,The Easton Express-Times, the Middletown Press and Journal, the Titusville Herald and The Upper Dauphin Sentinel .