Proposed bills would create funding for school athletic trainers and allow students to participate in extracurriculars even with lunch debt. (Photo courtesy of Nick Halliday)

Law would create funding for every school to have athletic trainer

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Government

Extracurriculars ruled the day in Wednesday’s House Education Committee meeting.  House Bill 244, sponsored by Rep. Mike Smith, R-Pike Creek, would provide funding for every public high school in the state to have a full-time athletic trainer. The funding would be phased over the next three fiscal years. Both the state and local districts would allocate money for the athletic …

Officers suicide rates are higher than the general population.

Bill promises officer families death benefits after suicide

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Government

A bill that establishes suicide as a line-of-duty death, allowing families of the deceased to receive receive benefits, passed the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee Tuesday. Delaware law now does not list suicide as a line-of-duty death that would enable an officer’s family to file for benefits. House Bill 133, sponsored by Rep. Sherry Dorsey-Walker, D-Wilmington, makes clear …

A bill that would allow tenants to stop paying rent when a landlord doesn't make critical repairs didn't make it out of committee Tuesday.

Bill to allow tenants to stop paying rent stuck in committee

Betsy PriceGovernment, Headlines

A proposed bill that would allow tenants to stop paying rent when life- or safety-threatening issues had not been repaired failed to pass out of committee Tuesday. House Bill 37, sponsored by Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, D-Wilmington, drew praise from both sides of the aisle as well as from apartment associations and others who deal with renters for wanting to …

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House committee debates student crimes being reported to school

Jarek RutzEducation, Headlines

A fiery discussion in the state House of Representatives Education Committee about a bill that would prevent schools from being told about students involved in certain crimes away from campus ended Wednesday with the bill being tabled. The sponsor of House Bill 396, Rep. Dorsey Walker, D-Wilmington, told the committee that the bill was designed to prevent double punishment. The …

Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks posing for a photo

Delaware teachers, others work to create Black History curriculum

Jarek RutzEducation, Headlines

When state schools start using a Black history curriculum in the 2022-23 academic year, it won’t entail having classes focus solely on that subject for a week or weeks-long series of classes. Instead, elements of Black history will be spread out through grades and course material. For example, two teachers told the Brandywine School District Monday night, kindergarten through third …

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Sunset Committee backs reorganizing Delaware Motion Picture Commission

Betsy PriceBusiness, Headlines

The state Sunset Committee would like to see the Delaware Motion Picture and Television Commission reorganized and funded.   A powerful state committee voted Tuesday to ask for the Delaware Motion Picture & Television Development Commission to be reconstituted, saying it could be an economic and public relations boost. The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee also asked its staff …

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Juneteenth joins Thanksgiving, MLK Day as official state holiday

Charles MegginsonGovernment, Headlines

Opal Lee, left in gray, watches Gov. John Carney sign the bill making Juneteenth an official state holiday.   Juneteenth is now an officially recognized state holiday in Delaware. The holiday commemorates the date on which the last enslaved African Americans in the United States were emancipated, on June 19, 1865, more than two years after the signing of the …

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Bill to mandate police body cameras signed into law

Charles MegginsonGovernment, Headlines

    Nate McQueen, secretary of the Delaware Department of Safety, leads applause for police officers during a ceremony that made police body cameras a state law.   Delaware has become the eighth state in the country to mandate the statewide use of body cameras by police officers. Gov. John Carney was joined by members of the House Black Caucus, …

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After emotional debate, bill defining bail for Class A felonies heads to Carney

Charles MegginsonGovernment, Headlines

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels. Alleged offenders of certain violent crimes could soon face mandatory minimum bail requirements under a bill passed by the House of Representatives Thursday. Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 7 is aimed at reducing violent crime in two of Delaware’s largest and most dangerous cities, Wilmington and Dover, by eliminating the ability of judges …