Chris Kelly Opinion: A data center/drive-in double feature Corporate exploiters have always treated Our Valley like a flea market, buying up what suits them and leaving their messes behind when the profits dry up.

The more we see of the coming attractions of invasive data center development the clearer it is that we’ve all seen this movie before.

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/04/22/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Jeffrey Lake, optimistic underdog By long-established and too widely accepted political “standards,” Democratic newcomer Jeffrey Lake has little chance of beating Marty Flynn in the May 19 primary election

“There should be no candidate or incumbent running for election if there’s any doubt about where they stand on data centers.”

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/04/19/c...

Billy Graham was a great man. Franklin Graham is Franklin Graham.

The interesting thing about RFK Jr.'s fascination with raccoon penises is that Trump is still hiding the Epstein files.

Chris Kelly Opinion: Data Centers on ‘Sunday Morning’ and Monday night I grew up in a Walter Cronkite/Charles Kuralt household, so I’ve been watching “CBS News Sunday Morning” since it premiered in 1979. The show is a Sunday staple, like bacon and eggs, The Sunday Times ...

More than 500 riled-up citizens packed the Valley View High School auditorium to send a strong, unified message to Brooklyn-based Cornell Realty Management: “We don’t like your project and don’t accept it as inevitable!"
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/04/14/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Wildcat Ridge ‘charm offensive’ bombs badly The first major strike of the public relations war in defense of invasive data center development was a misguided “mailbomb” that blew up in the chiseled face of its creator

the Wildcat Ridge developers have done the resistance an invaluable favor, exposing themselves as cynical snake oil salesmen too arrogant to accept or acknowledge that the resistance is real, righteous and growing by the hour.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/04/12/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Old-school ‘data centers’ don’t pollute Call me an analog stick in the digital mud, but I can conceive of no better setting for learning about invasive data center development than an old-school “data center” — a library.

Call me an analog stick in the digital mud, but I can conceive of no better setting for learning about invasive data center development than an old-school “data center.”
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/04/07/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Truth and decency as antifreeze Lackawanna County commissioners debating handling of federal immigration operations

No sane, decent person judges dangerous criminals the same as hardworking, taxpaying people striving for a better life, or sees criminality as a byproduct of nationality.

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/04/05/c...

Freight versus People: Why American Trains Come Last When profit is king, citizens wait while freight moves. The trains run late. So does everything else that was supposed to serve us.

Much of the United States infrastructure is obsolete and decaying. Laissez-faire Capitalism stagnates change and promotes obsolescence in nearly every field of human endeavor. The current president and MAGA only serve up the worst of old ideas. Wake up USA. open.substack.com/pub/danismar...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Democrats, heal thyselves! Saturday’s “No Kings” protest on Courthouse Square in Scranton was a defiant showcase of messages delivered by organizers, speakers and patriotic citizens who let their signs do the talking.

The conspicuous absence of some top local Democrats Saturday's No Kings Scranton protest sent a message about the divided state of the Democratic Party in Lackawanna County.

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/31/c...

Everything With Trump’s Signature, Name and Likeness: Currency, Buildings and More (Gift Article) Since the start of his second term, there have been more than a dozen instances of his name, image or signature emblazoned on a variety of American initiatives and institutions.

Putting the current leader’s name and image on everything is an authoritarian move, designed to make them seem more present, more powerful, more invincible than they are. It is a betrayal of American democracy, where power belongs to the people.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Chris Kelly Opinion: A petition for better acting in politics and PR “Memory, all alone in the moonlight/ I can dream of the old days/ Life was beautiful then…” – from “Memory,” by Andrew Lloyd Webber Successful theatrical productions achieve the “suspension of disbeli...

Last week, Lackawanna County was the stage for a pair of productions that were so clunky and transparently mercenary the goal may as well have been the widespread incitement of disbelief.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/29/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Stand up to SAVE America It shocked no one that the current commander in chief celebrated the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who passed away last week at 81, after a courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Now that his rotten past is finally catching up with him, Trump is plotting to die like a “divine-right” king. The Scranton edition of "No Kings!" kicks off at 11 a.m. on Courthouse Square.

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/24/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Archbald reshuffles the deck on data centers Local, organized opposition to invasive data center development played a strong hand in convincing a majority of Archbald Borough Council to demand the demotion of some members.

Wednesday’s reshuffle wasn’t quite a coup, but the result was regime change by any measure.

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/22/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: In Archbald, a petition for accountability In 39 of the 50 states that form Our Republic, citizens are empowered to seek the electoral recall of local officials whose performance is “criminally incompetent” but nonetheless legal. Pennsylvania ...

“This petition is just a really peaceful, powerful way for people to come out and say, ‘I disagree with what happened here. This isn’t the leadership that we were looking for in the circumstances that we were in.’ ”
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/18/c...

Another lie easily fact-checked

Chris Kelly Opinion: Massacre on the mountain Tuesday’s hearing in Archbald on a wildly unpopular data center development almost certainly marked the end of the borough council president’s meager political career.

In spite of himself (and his constituents), Dave Moran inadvertently articulated the gospel truth that animates the opposition to the Wildcat Ridge project and invasive data center development anywhere in our valley.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/15/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Recovery is Divine Mercy My sedan gets better gas mileage, but Chrissy drives the pickup to work. It’s newer and doesn’t smell like an ashtray with power-steering.

Like beat-up vehicles, the lives of addicts can be cleaned up and repurposed. The road to recovery is open to anyone willing to take it.

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/11/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: A ‘cure’ for data center despair Few evils are as demoralizing or debilitating as the toxic “air of inevitability,” a creeping sense that some fights — no matter how righteous — just can’t be won. The grim histor…

The grim history of our valley’s exploitation at the greedy hands of rapacious invaders reinforces hereditary self-doubt and normalizes the generational defeatism that has made us easy marks since the Gilded Age of the robber barons.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/08/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Government by bystander Imagine a power structure under which a local police chief can sign a legal agreement with the federal government without the knowledge or input of elected officials or solicitors who are paid to e…

Many urgently concerned citizens are sure to show up at today’s meeting of the Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners expecting progress on the “Protect Our Neighbors Act.” As of Tuesday afternoon, it wasn’t on the agenda.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/04/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: A rabbi and a columnist walk into a sanctuary… As the spiritual leader of a flock with diverse perspectives, Rabbi Daniel Swartz must craft his sermons with professional and personal care for differences of opinion, even when comedy is the goal…

Long story short: Until legislation that proactively protects the public interests and natural resources of Pennsylvanians is actually passed, these moves in the right direction are as performative and fleeting as a Purim spiel.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/03/01/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: ICE isn’t coming. ICE is here. What the story of a U.S. citizen being surrounded and detained apparently for driving while Hispanic says loudest is that ICE is not coming to Northeast Pennsylvania. ICE is here.

This latest outrageous incident involving ICE underscores the urgent need for local, county and state officials to coordinate and craft procedures and policies to protect people, personnel and resources against federal overreach.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/24/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Gaughan ‘grandstands’ while colleagues sit on hands Agree or disagree with his stance, the Lackawanna County commissioner deserves credit for speaking like a leader on the issues of immigration enforcement and data centers.

Gaughan is leading the local charge against outside exploiters and federal oppressors. Welby and Chermak have chosen to chirp from the sidelines while sniping at Gaughan for “grandstanding.”
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/22/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: From tattered tent to new life Junken Monkeys offers some a chance at escape from the bondage of addiction and the hopelessness of homelessness.

The tent by the river was an upgrade. Bianca once worked as a roofer, and hit up a former co-worker for insulation tiles to fortify the tent walls against the cold.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/17/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Valley rings with echoes of exploitation A deluge of proposed data centers is proposed in the Midvalley

I was drawn to visit the Wilkes family homestead by familiar echoes of the valley’s long, lamentable history of industrial exploitation. The house began as a small coal miner’s shack...
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/15/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Beware ‘digital identity detention centers’ Why data centers are being built and what other sinister uses they could be put to once they’re entrenched deserve our vigilant attention.

While our physical selves remain free to breathe toxic emissions... our digital identities will be locked up by corporate jailers who value our communities solely as commodities to be bought, sold and strip-mined in perpetuity.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/11/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Bread, circuses and Bad Bunny vs. ‘Meth Elvis’ The teams taking the field in Sunday’s Super Bowl are of little interest to most fans, but the contest between competing halftime shows may make the “big game” worth watching.

The chicken-in-chief is skipping the Super Bowl due to the thundering jeers and boos he stood to face — especially after the oaf of office chose to post a depiction of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/08/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: Data center race a marathon, not a sprint When you’re an underdog with a late start, it helps to have experienced coaches on your side.

For now, the focus is rightly and urgently on where data centers should and shouldn’t be built, but some attention must also be paid to the open question of whether they should be built at all.
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/04/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: On data centers, officials need to read the room Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan delivered the first stump speech of his presumed 2027 reelection campaign on Wednesday night in the auditorium of Valley View High School.

In politics, all uses are conditional. The political graveyard is littered with the clipped careers of ousted officials who failed or refused to read the room.

www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/02/01/c...

Chris Kelly Opinion: The state execution of Alex Pretti won’t be the last The invasion of Minneapolis and other cities and states that didn’t vote for President Donald Trump isn’t and never was about immigration. It’s about provocation. Don’t take the b…

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, “1984″
www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/01/28/c...