The Bucks County Beacon continued to grow this past year. We brought on new writers and staff and continued to expand our readership, not just locally – but across Pennsylvania and the country. Together, we continue to prove the importance and necessity of independent local media in a community and for democracy.
I’ve been tasked with choosing our “Top” 10 Stories for 2025 – an almost impossible task given the amount of amazing contributions for our growing roster of reporters and writers. Instead, these are 10 stories I personally appreciated, but they could easily be replaced by 10 other ones.
What story or stories did you appreciate this year? And what would you like us to report more on in 2026? Write to me at cmychalejko(at)gmail.com, or comment on the Bucks County Beacon’s social media channels for this article.
10. Bucks County Beacon Selected for Associated Press Local Newsroom Pilot Program, by Melinda Rizzo
In April, the Bucks County Beacon was among nearly 50 independent newsrooms across the nation named to participate in a pilot program sponsored by the Associated Press Fund for Journalism (APFJ).
“Local newsrooms are on the frontlines telling the stories that matter most to their audiences, yet often they lack the resources to do so effectively. Fact-based, independent journalism is the backbone of engaged communities and informed civic discourse,” said APFJ CEO Rachel White in a press release. “This pilot program is a critical first step in our mission to close that gap, ensuring that state and local newsrooms have the tools they need to keep the public informed on stories and issues that wouldn’t otherwise receive coverage.”
Participating newsroom benefits include having access to the AP’s state and national reporting and photos, as well as guidance on localizing significant stories and/or data sets. And more good news for journalism (and democracy): the AP Fund for Journalism will expand its program providing resources to local and state newsrooms.
9. Bucks County Beacon Hires Daralyse Lyons as Chief Revenue Officer, by Melinda Rizzo
Bucks County Beacon has eyes set on the future with its latest executive hiring.
In a strategic move to grow the online news media platform’s footprint, profile, brand and aspirations – and to ensure a legacy local news service for current and future audiences – Daralyse R. Lyons has been named Bucks County Beacon’s first chief revenue officer.
“I have always been passionate about scrappy, start-up cultures and being in places where I feel empowered to make a difference. The Beacon’s news coverage fills a critical role not only in Bucks County, but nationwide. I want to be a part of that,” Lyons said.
And Daralyse wants to hear from you! Reach out for more information about collaborative opportunities and other ways to get involved with the Bucks County Beacon: daralyse(at)buckscountybeacon.com
8. Not Everyone Is Sold on the Benefits of Amazon’s Data Center Coming to Falls Township, by Naomi Weiss
Amazon announced in June that it will plant one of its data centers in Falls Township, concerning environmental advocates but delighting elected officials because of potential jobs. Reported environmental effects of large-scale data centers include significant local water straining, accelerated carbon-dioxide emissions and consequential electricity consumption. Data center growth is driving local communities in Pennsylvania and across the country to fight for more say in development projects that impact them. This is a story we will be dedicating resources to in order for Bucks County residents to be educated and engaged in this issue.
7. ‘Saving Plumstead’: A Rural Bucks County Township Stands Together to Preserve Their Piece of Paradise, by Lee Davis
How does it happen that, seemingly overnight, Plumstead’s township meetings are standing room only, their roadsides are peppered with protest signs and local community organizing are making headlines above the fold? A New England solid waste recycler is proposing to install a site one mile from Plumstead town square, amidst houses, schools, churches and businesses.
That’s how it happens.
Situated one hour north of the Philadelphia’s Vine Street Expressway and two hours southwest of the Holland Tunnel to lower Manhattan, Plumstead is known for its quiet, peaceful setting. It’s why many of the residents have never left and why others have chosen to move their families or to retire in the area. The tranquil setting they sought, they found in Plumstead and the threat of disrupting that existence has united them in a common cause — the wholesale rejection of a proposed plan for 6124 Potters Lane.
Read about how partisan politics took a back seat as a community united to successfully protect its home from a solid waste recycling center.
6. Bucks County’s Peace Center Isn’t Going Anywhere, by Erin Flynn Jay
Thanks to an outpouring of support from the community, The Peace Center in Langhorne will continue operations, rescinding earlier plans to close. Barbara Simmons, who previously served as Executive Director until her retirement five years ago, volunteered to step back into that role effective October 1, 2025.
“It seemed to be the worst time in our country to have a Peace Center close, so I decided to make myself available,” said Simmons in an exclusive interview. “I spent 30 years running the Peace Center in the past and I retired only begrudgingly. I wasn’t ready to retire, but my husband needed a bone marrow transplant, and I needed to be present for him.”
Simmons will ensure that The Peace Center continues “to educate, empower and support individuals and organizations in order to prevent violence, promote peaceful resolution of conflict and foster inclusive, equitable and safe communities locally, nationally and worldwide.” Its first event of 2026 comes to Brsitol Boro High School on Jan. 18 for the 16th Annual MLK Teen Peace and Social Justice Summit.
5. Pennsylvania Isn’t Quite the Abortion Sanctuary State That Reproductive Rights Advocates Want it to Be, by Sam Schroeder
It’s been over three years since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and women’s rights to bodily autonomy and abortion. While Pennsylvania is seen as one of the safer states in the country that continues to provide access to reproductive health care, conditions in the commonwealth aren’t as good as they should be. For example, in addition to a limited number of state abortion providers and facilities, and tight restrictions built into existing laws, recent data shows patients leaving the state to obtain abortion care actually outnumber those coming in. Moreso, so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Pennsylvania are growing in numbers–and predatory tactics.
4. Fracking’s Broken Promise to Pennsylvania, by Inside Climate News
Our partnership with Inside Climate News allows us to provide you with award-winning environmental journalism. From false promises about lower energy costs, to ‘toxic cocktails’ contaminating the state’s waterways, to radioactive waste left to poison the environment, fracking and Big Energy is putting the environment in peril and mortgaging our future for corporate profits. And many advocates are saying Governor Josh Shapiro has let Pennsylvanians down on fracking protections.
3. Homelessness and Housing in Bucks County and Beyond, by Pat LaMarche
Pat LaMarche writes extensively about homelessness for us – it’s her beat. It was difficult for me to choose just one her stories, given how critical this topic is. She noted in January that homelessness spiked in Bucks County. In fact, it grew much more than an already alarming national trend – increasing by nearly 25%. Some lawmakers are doing there best to address this. Bucks County State Rep. Jim Prokopiak led a roundtable discussion on housing affordability solutions in Morrisville in September. “These communities in Bucks County were built for working-class people, and for decades it stayed that way. But since 2017, rent has gone up in our region by 50 percent,” said Prokopiak.
However, not all efforts are equal. Seven State Senate Democrats Helped Republicans pass a bill that critics say punishes homeless Pennsylvanians. Senate Bill 780 effectively bans people from sleeping outside, even if they have no other shelter available to them, and fines municipalities that don’t comply. Though one local lawmaker critical of our coverage wrote on our opinion page that you can be an advocate for homeless people and believe encampments are not a good idea. Then Democratic lawmakers in Harrisburg followed that up by introducing a ‘Shelter First’ bill that national homeless rights advocates are praising. Pat also took a look at Chester County, which has improved their homeless numbers thanks to renewed commitment to affordable housing and rental assistance.
Pat also wrote to explain how the Trump administration’s action would impact people locally. Pennsylvania homeless advocates condemned Trump’s plans to punish the homeless and incoluntarily commit them, while the administration’s plans to end a federal emergency housing voucher program will increase homelessness in pennsylvania
2. ‘No Kings’/Anti-Trump Resistance Grows Locally, by various authors
In Bucks, anti-Trump resistance has swelled up and down the county – something we have also seen all across the country. Groups like Indivisible Bucks County, Upper Bucks United, Doylestown Action League, and others have been instrumental in organizing town halls, protests, and mutual aid. I spoke with Larissa Hopwood on the newly formed Doylestown Action League and progressive activism in Bucks County. The Trump/Project 2025 agenda is horrifying to a majority of Americans, as just 36% of Americans polled in a Gallup’s end of year survey approve of Trump’s job performance, never mind November’s election where a Democratic “Blue Wave” washed away Republican officeholders is a testament to this inconvenient truth. All eyes are looking ahead to the 2026 midterms.
1. Bucks County’s ICE-Loving, MAGA Sheriff Fred Harran Got What He Deserved: A Pink Slip From Voters on Election Night, by Cyril Mychalejko and Melinda Rizzo
To borrow a phrase from our reality TV star turned president: “You’re Fired.”
That’s the message Bucks County voters gave to outgoing Sheriff Fred Harran on Election Night when they overwhelmingly elected Democrat Danny Ceisler to replace him.
The Bucks County Beacon broke the news (which MSNBC’s Chris Hayes highlighted on his program) that Sheriff Harran had enlisted his department in Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown. He applied to partner with ICE through its controversial and much-maligned 287(g) “task force model” program, which would have empowered his deputies to act as de facto ICE agents. There was immediate outcry from local residents.
“We ask that 287(g) be rescinded and we ask that our Sheriff’s deputies do not become ICE agents,” said Immigrant Rights Action Executive Director Heidi Roux.
“This program opens the door of racial profiling and unjust detentions and the criminalization of immigrant families who already live in fear,” said NAACP Bucks County President Adrienne King. “It will tear communities apart, discourage victims and witnesses from cooperating with law enforcement, and ultimately make Bucks County less safe for everyone.”
Harran called his critics“liars” and “lunatics,” but the only lunacy was his thinking that Bucks County would ever accept ICE terrorizing our communities. The Bucks County-ICE deportation partnership is now officially finished. This in my mind was the biggest story in Bucks County this past year, and an enormous victory for immigrant rights advocates and just human decency.
More ICE coverage:
- Exclusive: Sheriff Fred Harran Enlists Bucks County in Trump’s Nationwide Immigration Crackdown
- Bucks County Commissioners Meeting Packed with Residents Fired Up Over Sheriff’s ICE Agreement
- INTERVIEW — From Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to Bucks County’s Fred Harran: Why ICE 287(g) Partnerships Are So Dangerous, with Jessica Pishko
- ACLU Says Sheriff Fred Harran Must Get Bucks County Commissioners’ Approval for Future Partnership with ICE
- It’s Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran Who Owes the Jewish Community an Apology for His Disingenuous Accusations of Antisemitism
- ICE Approves Bucks County Sheriff’s ‘Task Force Model’ Partnership, ACLU Lawsuit ‘Forthcoming’
- Bucks County Commissioners Vote to Set the Record Straight That the Sheriff Lacks the Legal Authority to Partner with ICE
- Ballooning Number of ICE Partnerships with Sheriff’s Departments — Like in Bucks County — Leaves Immigrants and Advocates Worried
- After Local Judge Greenlights Bucks County Sheriff-ICE Pact, Voters May Be the Last Hope to Derail It
