The Signal | Notes on Bucks County: Reflections on Politics in Pennsylvania’s Most Curious and Captivating Collar County, with Andy Warren and Hal Marcovitz

A public works project that exploded into protests, mass arrests and political upheaval. A decades-long feud between two of the region’s best-known elected officials. Judges who feared their own constitutional rights were being ignored. The travels and travails of two candidates who went on to win statewide office, albeit with more than a few nervous moments along the way. Controversies that were sparked by such diverse issues as the drugging of racehorses, a nuclear freeze resolution and who exactly was it that spilled water on First Lady Barbara Bush. And, of course, a look at the 2020 election.

These are among the issues authors Andy Warren and Hal Marcovitz examine in Notes on Bucks County. At one time, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was known for its lush farmlands, charming small towns, covered bridges and as a home to authors, artists and other celebrities. Over the past 75 years, the county has emerged as a sprawling suburban community that has found itself playing an important role in regional, state and national politics. Indeed, readers of Notes on Bucks County will learn that politics in Bucks County can be two-fisted, as local elected officials spar over issues that affect the quality of life for the county’s more than 600,000 citizens.

Andy Warren attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse in rural Gardenville and later graduated from William Tennent High School in Warminster. Following graduation from Westminster College, Andy joined the faculty of Tennent as a teacher and cross-country coach. His political career began with election as a Warminster Township supervisor. In 1979 he was elected to his first term as a Bucks County commissioner, ultimately serving until 1995. He has also served as president of the Pennsylvania State Association of County Commissioners, chairman of the National Rebuild America Coalition, regional executive for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, director of the PENJERDEL Council and is the recipient of numerous awards for innovation and leadership.

Hal Marcovitz is a former newspaper reporter and columnist who spent 30 years in journalism. During his career he was employed by the Pottsville Republican, Doylestown Intelligencer and Allentown Morning Call. He has received awards for news and column writing from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association. Since 1999 he has authored more than 200 nonfiction books for young readers. Since 2015 Hal has served as a judge for the Eric Hoffer Prize, a national literary competition. He is also the author of the novels Painting the White House and My Life With Wings. 

Order Notes on Bucks County: Reflections on Politics in Pennsylvania’s Most Curious and Captivating Collar County at your local bookstore. 

Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Reading Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue

1. 30 years after bitter election Kostmayer and Greenwood unite at Bucks reunion, by Hal Marcovitz
2. Abbie Hoffman's presence still echoes in Bucks County, by Ben Finley
3. History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, edited by J.H. Battle
4. Bucks County must band together to ‘Ban the Bomb’, by Cyril Mychalejko
5. The American Fuehrer Fritz Kuhn's Neo-nazi Rally in Sellersville Was His Last Hurrah, Morning Call Staff Report

ALSO LISTEN TO:

• EPISODE 1 – Immigrant Solidarity: From Bucks County to the Border with Sue-Ann DiVito
• EPISODE 10 – Raising a Transgender Child in an Increasingly Transphobic Country, with Brett Freeman
• EPISODE 13 – Peace Activism from Bucks County to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with Barbara Simmons
• EPISODE 14 – Fighting for Students’ and Teachers’ Rights in Central Bucks School District, with ACLU’s Witold Walczak