Dear John, I was running late one spring morning in 1979, parking the car and racing across the bridge to Baltimore’s Penn Station to catch the commuter train to Washington D.C. Damn! I missed it by ten seconds. I stepped into a phone booth and called the Daily World (predecessor to People's World) office in New York. “Hey, Mike,” I said to Editor, Mike Zagarell. “I’m going to be an hour late.” “I’m glad you called,” said Zagarell. “Any chance you could get up to Harrisburg? There’s been an accident at a nuclear power station near there.” "I'm on my way," I replied. And 15 minutes later, I was driving north on I-83, headed toward Three Mile Island. I'm reminded of this story because, like then, People’s World is there to cover the stories that impact working families. And it’s working-class people who keep this publication going with their generous support. Please join in me donating to achieve our goal of raising $75,000 by May 1. Back to the story! I arrived at Three Mile Island just in time to witness a federal scientist holding up a crackling Geiger counter in the parking lot with the TMI cooling towers looming in the background. I interviewed several emergency workers as they donned their white hazmats, put on their scuba tanks, and got ready to walk across a bridge into the TMI power station with the sizzling, white-hot nuclear rods. I wrote up my story on a yellow legal pad and found a payphone in nearby Middletown, Pennsylvania. I dictated my story to Madeleine Provinzano, the Daily World's superb secretary in New York. She typed as fast as I could read. Here is the first sentence of my story that appeared the next day, May 30, 1979: “The Geiger counters of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) crackled here today as a radioactive breeze blew across the Susquehanna River from a leaking nuclear reactor owned by Metropolitan Edison Company….” That’s why I loved my job. Endless surprises. I never knew where the class struggle would take me. The intrepid reporters at People’s World follow the class struggle wherever it leads them too, whether Amazon and Starbucks workers organizing, efforts to defend the right to vote, or saving the planet from environmental destruction. Our award-winning coverage is possible because of you and your generous support. Please donate to achieve our $75,000 goal by May 1! I appreciate that Mark Gruenberg has taken my place as People’s World Washington D.C. correspondent. I covered the United Mine Workers, including traveling to Mannington, W.Va. in Nov. 1968 to cover the mine disaster that killed 78 miners. That morning, Daily World Managing Editor Si Gerson had given me the assignment to drive out to cover that tragedy. Years later, I was down in southwest Virginia covering the Pittston coal strike. Gruenberg loves a breaking story as much as I do. For nine months, he has been covering the African American and white UMW miners on strike at the Warrior coal mine in Alabama. We call these miners the "shock troops of the labor movement." We cover breaking stories in the People's World just as we did when I was on the staff in 1968 and 1979. It all costs money. Only you and I can cover those costs. I am pledging $500 today to keep Mark Gruenberg and his People’s World sisters and brothers on the road! Please donate whatever you can and we will reach our goal of $75,000 by May 1! In solidarity, Tim Wheeler People's World Sequim (Wash.) Correspondent  | 
