The front page of today's Daily Times features the tragic case of Jason McClay, the store manager who was gunned down during a holdup gone wrong at the Rite Aid at Ninth and Highland in Chester back in 2013.
A jury convicted all three defendants - Rita Pultro, the woman who is believed to have fired the fatal shot, of first-degree murder, two males accomplices of second-degree murder.
Yes, it's another front page dominated by a story that shows the city of Chester in a less than positive light.
It's very easy to assume the worst when it comes to Chester, to simply shrug and rack it up as another horrible incident in a city that continues to battle crime and an image as someplace that is not safe.
But it's more than that, it's far too easy to dismiss a lot of the good things - and good people - that are happening in the city.
That's why what I did yesterday was so important.
I had a chance to meet some truly great young people, and the teachers and nuns who are molding them into outstanding citizens.
I had the privilege of speaking to a couple of classes at Drexel Neumann Academy.
I was invited by Sister Maggie Gannon, OSF, and the principal, Sister Cathy McGowan, SSJ.
That's right, they have two orders of nuns at Drexel Neumann.
Sister Maggie assured me these were some of the best, most well-behaved kids she's ever encountered. They ranged in age from first-graders to a couple of high schoolers.
She wasn't lying (nuns don't lie, do they?). The kids were great.
While introducing me to her young charges, Sister Maggie reminded me of something that I had forgotten. St. Francis DeSales is the patron saint of journalists because of the tracts and books that he wrote.
I told the kids they had something in common with the old guy who was addressing them, that 50 years ago I was sitting where they are now, under the fairly firm tutelage of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
I tried to explain to them the seismic changes that are convulsing my business, and the complications that toiling in two worlds - print and online - can create.
But most of all I urged them to develop a love of words, while at the same time cautioning them that these are very powerful things. I told them my parents and the good sisters of IHM instilled in me a love of language and writing, and I hoped they would as well. I told them something I stress to every group of young people I speak to: Regardless of what they do with their lives, they will need to do two things: Communicate effectively in both written and verbal forms.
Sister Maggie was right. It's much too easy to develop a pre-conceived image of Chester and the young people who live there. I wish everyone could see what I saw at Drexel Neumann Academy.
Later that day, Sister Maggie wrote me an email to thank me for coming. She that "after today, I have no doubt you also are a Franciscan."
I'm not sure I've ever received a nicer compliment.
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