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Hidden Talents Of PA Lawmakers: A New Yorker Writer, An MMA Fighter, & Alligator Rescuer – LevittownNow.com

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Hidden Talents Of PA Lawmakers: A New Yorker Writer, An MMA Fighter, & Alligator Rescuer – LevittownNow.com

This story first appeared in PA Local, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA taking a fresh, positive look at the incredible people, beautiful places, and delicious food of Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here.

By Colin Deppen | Spotlight PA

A sign for the House of Representatives Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. File photo. Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

The work of a Pennsylvania legislator may be defined by bureaucracy and procedure, but lawmaker lives can be a little more colorful in the off-hours.

While the hundreds of legislators in Harrisburg proudly tout their values and communities, they’re often less vocal about their personal hobbies and any extracurricular skills they may possess. Sometimes those hidden talents can be surprising.

The state House boasts an alligator rescuer (Tom Jones), a woodworker (Rick Krajewski), a trained soprano (Liz Hanbidge), a country singer (Shelby Labs), and a former public radio journalist (Elizabeth Fiedler), just to name a few.

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In the state Senate, there’s former MMA fighter Marty Flynn. Following in the footsteps of his grandfathers, Flynn originally was a boxer, serving as sparring partner for Bernard Hopkins as the Philadelphia pugilist trained to fight Félix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya in the 2000s. Flynn later stepped into the octagon “for fun,” he told PA Local. His injuries included “around 40 stitches.”

Asked if politics share any ground with combat sports, he said, “Yes, you know that you have a fight on your hands, the only problem is that in politics it’s dark and there is more than one opponent, and they have knives.”

As for why he stopped fighting, Flynn, now 49, said the answer is simple: “Age.”

In the first installment of what we hope will be a recurring feature about the hidden talents of Pennsylvania lawmakers, PA Local is highlighting a recent conversation with State Sen. Nikil Saval, an accomplished scribe who’s written extensively in some of America’s most prestigious publications.

His piece on “James C. Scott and the Art of Resistance” appeared in the New Yorker in April. Saval has written for the magazine since 2016. The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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PA Local: When were you first published? What was the piece about?

Saval: The first piece I published was in n+1. I wrote a review of an avant-garde opera about German philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin called Shadowtime, by composer Brian Ferneyhough and poet Charles Bernstein. This was in 2005. Shadowtime was premiered in Munich in May 2004, but it had its American premiere in July 2005 at the Lincoln Center Festival. I had just graduated from college and was still living in New York. Eventually I became a co-editor of n+1. When I first came to the Senate, I was serving on its board. Right now, I’m a contributing editor.

Salman Rushdie said “Writers and politicians are natural rivals. Both groups try to make the world in their own images; they fight for the same territory.” Do you agree?

This is a quote that I’ve thought about a lot. I’d say it’s mostly true but not entirely. The sentiment is common and captures something that is true about politics versus the work of artists — which is that politics (and politicians) often have to meet needs of great urgency and act on the exigencies of a particular moment, whereas writers can respond in ways that range more widely, and more deeply. Often freer.

State Sen. Nikil Saval speaking at an event in Philadelphia.

Sometimes writing has met occasions and political moments more readily than the laws and statements of politicians, and sometimes politicians have done the same. There are writers and poets in politics. I think of the poet and theorist Aimé Césaire, who wrote the indelible political poem Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, a vehicle for his notes as he returned to Martinique and his reflections on colonialism. Also Léopold Senghor, a prominent Senegalese poet and theorist of Négritude who became the first president of Senegal.

So, there’s truth to Rushdie’s words but also plenty of counter examples.

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Related, but: Do writers make good lawmakers and, if so, why?

There’s potentially an affinity between writing (and I would also add editing) and lawmaking, which is a professional need to be curious, to ask the right questions, and to be ready to learn quickly about new subjects about which one needs to develop real knowledge and confidence.

The New York Times reported that during your 2020 campaign (at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic), you were asked what word you would choose as a title for a memoir about the bid and you answered “Tired.” I want to ask that same question now that you’ve been in office a while. What would your answer be?

“Tired 2.” A few months after I came into office, my second child was born. My wife and I navigated the pandemic with two very young children, alongside our jobs and other family and community responsibilities, just as so many other households have done during the past few years. My older son is now getting ready to graduate from kindergarten, and my younger son is in pre-K. I am still very tired.

Who or what do you like to read the most?

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My favorite novelist is Henry James, but I love to read everything. The best books I’ve read this year so far are Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, and Revolutionary Spring by Christopher Clark.

I also love reading magazines — in particular, the London Review of Books, Lux, n+1, and The Wire.

Is it tricky writing in-depth pieces like the one on James C. Scott while serving as an elected? How do you balance the two?

Yes! But I find that it’s important, from time-to-time, to step back from what is immediate and pressing and take a longer view, as James C. Scott did so well. The experience of immersing oneself in a great political thinker’s body of work — and through that work, the deep past and enormous transformation in political and social life that have occurred over millennia — helps put the work of everyday politics in necessary perspective.

Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso contributed reporting to this article.

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Cause determined for plane crash that killed school board president in Chester County

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Cause determined for plane crash that killed school board president in Chester County


Friday, March 6, 2026 7:13PM

Cause determined for plane crash that killed school board president in Chester County

WEST CALN TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — Investigators have revealed the cause of a plane crash that killed a Chester County school board president two years ago.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed it on inadequate preflight inspection.

There was a loss of engine power because the fuel was contaminated with water from a recent rainfall, the NTSB said.

The plane crashed shortly after takeoff in West Caln Township on February 1, 2024.

Octorara Area School District School Board President Sam Ganow was killed when a small plane crashed Thursday in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

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The pilot, Sam Ganow, was the only one onboard.

He was the Octorara Area School District board president.

Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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Pennsylvania man arrested for allegedly feeding pet parakeet marijuana and beer

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Pennsylvania man arrested for allegedly feeding pet parakeet marijuana and beer


A Pennsylvania man was arrested on animal cruelty charges for allegedly feeding marijuana and beer to his pet parakeet after bringing the injured feathered friend to a bar, according to reports.

Timothy Grace, 40, was busted on Feb. 21 after carrying his wounded pet budgie named “Blue Skies” in his pocket to Callaghan’s Bar in Greensburg, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

Timothy Grace was arrested on animal cruelty charges for allegedly feeding marijuana and beer to his pet parakeet after bringing the injured feathered friend to a bar. WTAE

“The caller’s a bartender. She says there is a white male at the bar with a parakeet,” a dispatcher reported on the police radio transmissions obtained by the outlet.

“The patron was bragging to other people that were inside the bar that he feeds the parakeet marijuana and has it drink beer on a daily basis,” Detective Sergeant Justin Scalzo told the outlet.

Grace “appeared extremely intoxicated” when police showed up to the bar and found the pet bird in distress, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.

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“Its leg appeared to be broken,” Scalzo said, according to WTAE. “Its foot was actually facing the wrong direction.”

Grave was initially arrested for public intoxication and now faces charges including aggravated cruelty to animals and transporting animals in a cruel manner, the outlet said.

The pet bird was brought to PEARL Parrot Rescue in the Pittsburgh area, which rushed him to an emergency care facility.


Exterior of Callaghan's bar, with a sign showing
The injured parakeet is still breathing hard, remains on antibiotics, and has to wear a splint on his right leg. WTAE

Blue Skies spent four days in the hospital and was later taken in to be fostered by Teri Grendzinski, the president of PEARL. The injured parakeet is still breathing hard, remains on antibiotics, and has to wear a splint on his right leg, CBS reported.

“They realized his leg was broken. He also had some respiratory issues going on,” Grendzinski told the outlet. “He was also very, very skinny.”

“The leg was broken badly enough there is a chance they’re going to have to amputate the leg if it doesn’t heal correctly,” she added.

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If Blue Skies is eventually put up for adoption, he will require specialized care, the outlet said.

“When we got that call, it was horrifying. Why would you do that to a bird?” Grendzinski said.



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Pa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico

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Pa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico


A Pennsylvania man was found guilty of repeatedly raping his daughter’s best friend over a three-year span before fleeing with the teen to Mexico.

On Thursday, March 5, 2026, Kevin Esterly, 53, of Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, was convicted on all counts of rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary sexual intercourse and endangering the welfare of children.

Esterly shook his head as the verdict was read but said nothing in the courtroom.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.

Esterly’s trial began on Tuesday, March 3, after a judge denied his pretrial motion for the charges against him to be dismissed and for the Lehigh County District Attorney to be removed as a prosecutor in the case.

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Both Esterly and his victim testified on Wednesday, March 4.

The victim — who is now 24-years-old — told the courtroom that she met Esterly and his family while attending church as a child and became best friends with one of his daughters. Esterly was a youth leader and elder at the church at the time. The victim said Esterly also coached her soccer team.

The victim said she became so close to Esterly’s family that she called his wife “mom” and eventually spent almost every weekend at their home in Lowhill Township, Pennsylvania. She also said she vacationed with them in New York state and Ocean City, Maryland.

The victim said Esterly first sexually assaulted her in August 2015 when she was 13-years-old after he gave her alcohol during a family birthday party.

“I was scared. Frozen in fear,” the woman told the courtroom on Wednesday. “I pretended I was sleeping.”

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The woman accused Esterly of sexually assaulting her almost every time she slept over at his home. She told the courtroom she eventually became addicted to alcohol and drugs, which Esterly gave her in exchange for sex. According to the woman, Esterly gave her cocaine and methamphetamine to keep her awake during school because she “would be up with him all night.”

The woman said Esterly continued to sexually assault her until he was confronted by his wife in 2017. Esterly’s wife then threw him out of the house, according to the victim. She said Esterly continued to sexually assault her over the next year.

Esterly was later arrested and then sentenced to prison after federal agents found him with the victim in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in 2018. She was 16-years-old at the time.

The woman said she moved on and went to college after Esterly’s sentencing though she still struggled with drug addiction. She said she sought counseling in February 2025. She told the courtroom she received a message from Esterly on LinkedIn that same month in which he apologized for “failing you as a person I was supposed to be for you.” At that point Esterly had been released from prison.

The woman said she had not told anyone about her relationship with Esterly up to that point and replied to him, “I live with our secret every day as I promised. I would appreciate an apology.”

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The woman told the courtroom that Esterly responded by writing, “I hope one day you can forgive me. Nobody knows I reached out to you. That is the best for both of us.”

On Feb. 21, 2025, Allentown Police received a report of Esterly’s sexual assaults which led to the new charges being filed against him. He was arrested in West Virginia in June 2025 after two police pursuits. He was then extradited to Pennsylvania.

The victim told the courtroom on Wednesday that she kept quiet about Esterly’s abuse for years because she “was afraid to speak,” and felt “dirty and ashamed.”

“I wasn’t ready to tell anyone,” she said. “He was a father figure in my life. I loved him.”

The woman also said she didn’t want to hurt Esterly’s daughter who was her best friend.

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When the District Attorney asked her why she was “here today,” she replied by saying, “I want to tell the truth. I want to be set free.”

The woman ended her testimony by saying, “I don’t want to live with this secret anymore.”

After her testimony, Esterly took the stand for 45 minutes, denied all of the accusations against him and accused the woman of lying.

Closing arguments then took place Thursday morning. It then took an hour for the jury of seven women and five men to reach their verdict.



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