100 Years Ago, 1924: From Washington, D.C.: The Census Bureau today made public estimates of the population of cities between 25,000 and 100,000 population as of July 1, 1924. The population of Chester was given as 66,602. These figures were published by the Times last July on special information from the Census Bureau. The last census, taken in 1920, gave Chester a population of 58,030.

75 Years Ago, 1949: Col. Frank K. Hyatt, Pennsylvania Military College president, is likely to remember today — his 64th birthday — a long, long time. At 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the popular prexy was routed from his bed by the din of the college band and the cheering of the students. When Col. Hyatt investigated the excitement at close range, he was presented with a television set and cries of “Happy birthday!”

50 Years Ago, 1974: Approximately 3,000 production and maintenance workers belonging to United Aerospace Workers Local 1069 went on strike early today against Boeing Vertol Co. It was the first walkout at the Ridley Township plant since 1968 when Local 1069 was out for four days. Local 1069 President Robert T. McHugh said today that negotiations had continued past the midnight deadline set by Local members when they voted to go on strike.

25 Years Ago, 1999: Aston police busted an underage drinking party after responding to a complaint early yesterday. Twenty-one arrests were made, with nine revelers from Aston, three from Delaware, four from West Chester, two from Glen Mills, and one from Folcroft, Media and Maryland. According to a report, officers responded to the 2200 block of Bridgewater Road about 2 a.m. They found two kegs of beer in a bathtub and began questioning those at the house. Officers quickly determined their ages were between 18 and 20. One 21-year-old male was also cited for public drunkenness.

10 Years Ago, 2014: A group of Widener University communications students published a magazine that features stories and photographs about the school’s home city of Chester. The project was undertaken by the five students of Sam Starnes’ magazine journalism course offered in spring. The students produced every aspect of the publication, including conceiving and writing stories, taking photos and helping to design the publication. “The students did all of the reporting and writing,” Starnes said. “We ran the class just like a newsroom.” Unveiled Thursday afternoon, the 28-page magazine includes photos and stories highlighting Chester’s arts community, Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Laran Bronze foundry and the locally owned Phatso’s Bakery.

— COLIN AINSWORTH

DRBC officials expect the New York City reservoirs to be under increased demand soon, as the city resumes its diversions from the reservoirs for drinking water. The city announced Monday it is pausing an aqueduct repair project that had stopped those diversions amid concerns about the drought.

“We might enter drought operations, and that’s because we expect a significant draw on the combined storage in the New York City reservoirs,” Shallcross said.

Rain and snow are forecast for the eastern United States later this week, but it’s not yet clear what impact this potential precipitation will have on water supplies and the severity of the drought.

“We had a rainfall forecast — it was for a lot less rain — and we didn’t see any of that in the river,” Shallcross said. “So it will be interesting to see how much rain that we get from this predicted storm event.”

The DRBC is “preparing for either outcome,” said spokesperson Kate Schmidt.

If drought conditions worsen, the Delaware River Basin Commission could declare a “water supply emergency” to implement a coordinated response as early as Thursday — or at its regularly scheduled business meeting in early December, officials have said.

When the basin enters drought operations, it triggers conservation actions such as smaller out-of-basin water diversions by New York City and New Jersey, water conservation orders or reduced river flow targets, which allow upstream reservoirs to release less water.

These actions help the Commission prepare to repel the salt front from drinking water intakes if needed by releasing more fresh water from upstream reservoirs.

The DRBC can launch drought operations before reservoir levels reach the drought thresholds, but the commission is not considering doing so at this time, Schmidt said.

Only a handful of people testified during Tuesday’s virtual public hearing. Several expressed concern about paving and water use associated with development in the upper basin, as well as climate change — which scientists say can intensify droughts by increasing temperatures. 

Karen Feridun, founder of the anti-fracking group Berks Gas Truth, lives near Neversink Mountain, where dry conditions complicated efforts to suppress a brush fire in recent days. She told DRBC officials that reading about the impact of the drought on local waterways has been “heartbreaking.”

“I feel like what’s happening now is what we’ve been telling you was going to happen if someone didn’t blink and start acting on climate change,” Feridun said.

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Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride is already the target of anti-trans bias just days after Delaware voters sent her to the U.S. House.

A resolution introduced by GOP South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace would add a bathroom ban to the rules package House members will vote on next month. McBride will be the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress when she’s sworn in in January.

The bill would restrict members, staff and others from using single-sex facilities such as bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms “other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”

The ban would apply to the U.S. Capitol and House office buildings and require the House sergeant at arms to enforce it.

Conservative Republican Georgia Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene said she also supported a bathroom ban rule.

McBride did not respond Tuesday to an emailed request for comment, but wrote on social media yesterday in apparent response to Mace that “every day Americans go to work with people who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness.”

McBride called the effort “a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.” She said lawmakers should focus instead on issues like the cost of products and services, including housing, health care and child care.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would not say Tuesday if he would entertain Mace’s legislation, but he did say all people would be treated with dignity and respect.

“This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before, and we’re going to do that in deliberate fashion with member consensus on it, and we will accommodate the needs of every single person,” he said. “That’s all I’m going to say about that.”

Mace told reporters Monday that McBride, who she misgendered during her comments, didn’t “belong in women’s spaces, bathrooms and locker rooms.”