News

DOVER, Del. (AP) - The discovery of an obscure chemical in a public well near New Castle is prompting Delaware officials to propose new disclosure requirements.

The change would require utilities to tell customers about the detection of unregulated but potentially toxic drinking water contaminants.

Wi-Fi is coming to downtown Salisbury.

At least, that’s the plans of Bill Garrett who was hired last July to be director of the city’s information technology.

He told the Salisbury Daily Time, “It’s time to step up the game a little.”

On the table are plans to provide free WiFi for patrons on or near the Downtown Plaza.

He noted that other municipalities do this and bring in more business, especially in college towns.

The connection would be relayed by 10 antennas atop the surrounding buildings with the consent of their owners.

This fall the Army Corps of Engineers will begin dredging the Isle of Wight and the Sinepuxent Bay Channels.

Money will flow from the Hurricane Sandy relief funds which will also repair the damaged seawall along the north side of the Ocean City Inlet.

The Salisbury Daily Times reports that the corps figures the current channel depth of Isle of White at 2 feet and the Sinepuxent Bay at 3 feet.

With the Delaware state legislature considering a law that would prohibit discrimination against transgender men and women, we reprise the AP award winning series by Jamyl Krempel. In part one, what is it like to discover that your sexual identity is not what most people might think.

Senior citizens in Maryland are increasingly becoming victims of financial crime that include includes members of their own family.

That’s according to the AARP.

Maryland News Connection reporter Allison Burns has the story.

GEORGETOWN, Del. (AP) - A Sussex County brick fountain damaged by a car two months ago is getting money for repairs, thanks to help from the county council.

The News Journal of Wilmington reports that the county council has allotted Georgetown $1,500 in grants to repair the fountain.

The landmark is located among the courthouses and county offices and help marks the county seat.

The fountain was damaged April 22 when a driver plowed into it.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - School employees in Anne Arundel County would receive pay raises under an agreement being voted on this week.

The county school board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on terms of employment that would give salary step increases and cost-of-living adjustments to thousands of school district employees.

The cost-of-living adjustments would range from 1 percent to 2 percent of employees' salaries, depending on position, and they would take effect next month. The step increases would go into effect early next year.

Governor Jack Markell wants $31 million in new funding for Delaware’s public schools.

The largest part of the growth comes from $8.8 million to fully fund the increasing size of enrollment at the schools and another $8.5 million for step increases for school employees…that are given to teachers as they gain experience and education.

The Wilmington News Journal reports that the state is required to fully fund both programs.

NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) - The panel that sets Delaware's official financial projections is updating its revenue estimates for the final time before lawmakers pass a new state budget.

The Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council meets Monday. The legislature's capital budget committee also meets Monday to begin work on a spending plan for roads and other construction projects.

Last month, the DEFAC panel boosted revenue estimates by about $20 million, giving lawmakers more money to add to the proposed operating budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

LAUREL, Del. (AP) - Delaware State Police say two people have been injured while skydiving at the Laurel Airport.

Authorities say the men's parachutes became entangled as they were skydiving together over the airport Sunday afternoon. Police say one parachute didn't fully deploy and the men improperly landed together.

A 69-year-old Laurel man was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, while the 52-year-old Beltsville, Md., man was treated for minor injuries and has been released from the hospital.

Dr. Mansour Panah’s license has been restored.

He was the medical director for a group of Maryland abortion clinics.

WBOC reports that the Maryland Board of Physicians’ online records found no substantial likelihood of risk of serious harm to the public.

The clinics were shut down when a patient died at one of the facilities and regulators found lax procedures at all four.

He was 1 of 3 doctors working for Associates in OB/GYN Care whose licenses were suspended.

The search warrants in the case of some 70 arsons in Accomack County earlier this year appear to contain information about the motive for the fires.

The Salisbury Daily Times reports that one of those charges in the string of fires 38 year old Charles Smith allegedly told investigators that he and her girlfriend 40 year old friend Tonya Bundick picked out one house because of comments made on Facebook about her.

The warrant said there was probably cause for searching two Facebook accounts belonging to Bundick.

SHARPTOWN, Md. (AP) - Authorities in Wicomico County say a Hurlock man drowned while swimming with friends at Cherry Beach along the Nanticoke River.

The Wicomico Bureau of Investigation identified the man Thursday as 44-year-old George Douglas.

County officials say Douglas was swimming with friends late Wednesday, when they noticed the experienced swimmer wasn't with them. Emergency crews were called in and officials say a dive team found him unresponsive about 40 minutes later. He was pronounced dead at Peninsula Regional Medical Center a short time later.

BALTIMORE (AP) - The Maryland State Department of Education says it has approved teacher and principal evaluation plans in 21 Maryland school systems, clearing the way for the state to receive $250 million in federal funds.

The department announced the approvals Thursday. Data tied to Maryland's statewide standardized test, the Maryland School Assessment, or MSA, makes up 20 percent of the measure for evaluating teachers.

Expect sunny skies in the aftermath of the storms that blew across the Delmarva Peninsula yesterday which left behind downed power lines and tree limbs.

In Seaford the roof of the Soil Services building that is used for storage was destroyed.

At one point Delmarva Power reported around 16-thousand customers in Delaware and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore were without power yesterday. Around 10-thousand were in Delaware alone.

Downed trees and power lines block more than a dozen roads in the First State.

DOVER, Del. (AP) - Former governor and congressman Mike Castle is joining the Delaware State University board of trustees.

Gov. Jack Markell appointed Castle to the board on Thursday.

Castle will serve a six-year term on the board. He succeeds Dr. Calvin Wilson, whose term expired last August.

During 40 years in public office, Castle served a number of elected positions. He served two terms as governor and nine as congressman.

Delaware State University will be expanding into the Sheraton Hotel on North Dupont Highway with a 15 year lease.

The hotel that sits on 6.5 acres is located around a quarter-of-mile north of the main campus in Dover.

The Wilmington News Journal reports that Board Chairman Claibourne Smith says the facility will provide adequate room for the university in its effort to increase enrollment.

The Trustees voted unanimously approved a $12 million for the lease which includes an option for the university to purchase the property within two years.

Midwives in Delaware want some rule changes.

Currently, they are required to have a “collaborative agreement” with a licensed obstetrician.

And they want to requirement lifted.

Lori Serabo from Elkton, Maryland told WBOC that no obstetrician will sign such an agreement because none is willing to back up a midwife.

She said there is only one midwife licensed in the state but she can only attend the Amish and Mennonite community.

Dr. Robert Hartman has the collaborative agreement with that midwife but with any treating the general population.

This week found Christina Superintendent Freeman Williams defending the school district’s efforts to address an investigation that found black students were being disciplined more often and more harshly than white students in similar circumstances.

The investigation by the US Department of Education looked at three years beginning in 2008.

Superintendent Williams told a public meeting Wednesday that the district is confident it will be able to resolve man of the issues that have been identified.

Debate about the Chesapeake Bay "pollution diet"

Guests: Chip MacLeod with the Maryland law firm, Funk and Bolton

Alan Girard, Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Another week, another storm.

Warnings

(12:00 a.m. -- There are severe thunderstorm watches and warnings for Kent and Sussex counties in Delaware and for Anne Arundel, Caroline, Carroll, Frederick, Harford and Talbot counties in Maryland.)  

New Castle County

A storm has moved quickly into New Castle County and surrounding areas this morning.

It brought heavy rain and power outages for nearly 15,000 customers across most of the county.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Recent rains and standing water may make mosquitoes a concern, but Delaware health officials say the state also has one the nation's highest rates of Lyme disease.

Dr. Awe Maduka-Ezeh, the state's Public Health Medical Director, tells WDEL-AM that there are many reasons for the tick influx. She says the state has many parks and forests and a large population of deer, which are the natural hosts for the ticks that carry the disease.

DOVER, Del. (AP) - A bill aimed at protecting transgender people in Delaware by outlawing discrimination based on gender identity has cleared a House committee.

The committee released the bill following a public hearing on Wednesday. It is scheduled for a House vote Tuesday.

The legislation, approved by the Senate last week, adds gender identity to the existing list of protected nondiscrimination categories, including race, age, religion and sexual orientation.

With students taking off for the summer a new survey by the National Summer Learning Association found that over 60 percent of them say it will take at least a month to re-teach the previous year’s skills.
Maryland News Connection reporter Allison Burns has the story.

It doesn’t look like Delaware will be getting anymore new casinos for now.

Lawmakers in Dover tabled a measure yesterday that would have added two more including one in Sussex County and another in New Castle County.

The bill’s sponsor Representative Dennis Williams said the he was one vote short of what he needs to get the legislation to the floor of the House of Representatives.

The Talleyville Democrat told WBOC that he was in discussions with two other law makers, but time is running out.

Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed a gun control measure yesterday that would require reporting of a lost and stolen firearm within seven days of the owner discovering a weapon is missing.

The measure is aimed at eliminating “straw purchases” which involves individuals buying guns to be illegally given to those who cannot obtain one.

Markell says that this legislation is probably the last gun control law for now.

DOVER, Del. (AP) - With only two weeks left in this year's legislative session, Gov. Jack Markell and Delaware lawmakers are mulling proposals for tens of millions of dollars in new taxes and fees.

The revenue measures being considered include raising Delaware's gas tax by a nickel and hiking motor vehicle documentation, titling and registration fees.

Lawmakers also are eyeing proposals to raise weekend tolls on Route 1 and expand the public accommodation tax on hotel and motel rooms to include short-term beach rentals.

DPR’s "Summer Solstice" Online Auction is coming soon…..

We have some really great items lined up to help you kick off the summer! Bid on items such as Paddleboarding excursions, Kayak rentals, Shorebirds box seats, Unique  mosaic art, Ward Museum gift bags filled with books & passes to the museum, Private Charter fishing or sightseeing trips and much more! For a preview click here.

The auction starts Thursday June 20th and runs through June 24th! Proceeds benefit Delmarva Public Radio.

The National Weather Service is warning of a powerful line of gigantic thunderstorms that are rolling out of the Mid-West and are expected to hit Maryland and packing some hail lightning and tree-toppling winds.

They’re called a derecho with winds that could span 240 miles.

The storms are likely to generate tornados and cause power outages followed by oppressive heat.

Meteorologist Mitchell Gaines, National Weather Service:

Delaware

NEWARK, Del. (AP) - The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in New Castle County.

Jim Bunker, observing program leader with the Weather Service office in Mount Holly, N.J., said Tuesday that an EF0 tornado touched down about 4:45 p.m. Monday near Newark.

EF0 is the lowest indicator on the tornado scale. Such a tornado has winds of up to 85 mph.

No injuries were reported, but dozens of homes were damaged, trees were uprooted, and power lines were downed.

Maryland