Coal Cracker, a Mahanoy City-based youth-led newspaper, will host a free journalism skills workshop titled "News Writing and Reporting for Your Community" from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday on the second floor of the Mahanoy City Public Library at 17-19 West Mahanoy St.

Veteran journalists Chris Mele and Meg McGuire will lead the session. The workshop is open to young people, of any school district, grades five through 12. No prior journalism experience is required. Please preregister at

info@coalcrackerkids.com or 570-647-6407.Mele is a staff editor on the Metro Desk at The New York Times. He previously served as executive editor of the Pocono Record in Stroudsburg, leading that 25-person newsroom to dozens of journalism honors.McGuire began her career in weekly newspapers, and continued in local dailies for 25 years. She values the connection between a community and its news voice. She has covered the police beat, and has served as a feature editor, a city editor and in senior management in two newspapers in New York.Visit CoalCracker-Kids.com for more information and the latest Coal Cracker news.Coal Cracker is a project of Heron's Eye Communications, a publishing, content marketing and project management firm with offices in Schuylkill and Pike counties. Meeting space is courtesy of the Mahanoy City Public Library. Some funding is provided by the Community Reporting Alliance, a nonprofit news support organization.