News

The Salisbury Daily Times reports Donnie Williams, owner of Advanced Property Rental in Salisbury, allegedly shot himself in the chest Thursday.

More on this story on Friday.

Delaware State Police are investigating a rash of burglaries that have occurred in the Bridgeville area.

One Seaford property and four Bridgeville homes were burglarized from May 1 to May 9, and officials say a suspect entered the empty properties through doors and windows during daylight hours.

The suspect stole electronic devices, money, a small caliber handgun and two ATVs.

When one female victim returned to her residence, she witnessed what she described as a “small male subject” running across her yard and fleeing toward Cannon Road in a white station wagon.

Locations of the burglaries

·         Rabbit Run Road, Bridgeville, DE

·         Cannon Road, Bridgeville, DE

·         Ray Road, Bridgeville, DE

Delaware is the 18th most bike-friendly state; Governor Markell wants top 10.

Delaware residents will have the opportunity to speak for or against proposed bike and pedestrian paths at Thursday night's public workshop in Lewes.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Department of Transportation are sponsoring the event, which will outline Governor Jack Markell's First State Trails and Pathways Initiative.

Projects to be highlighted

Jessica Smithson wants the Wicomico County School District to fire a bus driver after her son was dropped off with a nose bleed miles from his home in the rain.

She said her son Jason text messaged her at around 6:40 am on Tuesday telling her that he had the nosebleed.

The Salisbury Daily Times reports that she said around 15 minutes later he sent her another message telling her that she needed to pick him up because the bus driver had allowed him off the bus and then drove away.

The paper reports that the student had asked the bus driver to drop him off so that his mother could pick him up.

Smithson said she found the ninth grader about three miles away from their home with his face, shirt and hands covered with blood.

The video of an alleged bullying incident on a school bus from Carter G. Woodson Elementary School in Somerset County is being kept under wraps by local officials.

Jenna Howard said that last Friday her son Caleb Marshall was crying and upset telling her that another boy had physically hurt him while they were riding on the school bus together.

WBOC-TV reports that Caleb said the boy had punched and kicked him on the side of the head and knocked him down to the ground.

The student said the boy then started stomping him on the head.

It was all caught on a camera installed inside the bus.

 The Lower Shore delegation found itself divided over the legislation approved in Annapolis during this week’s special session.

State Senator Jim Mathias voted for the measure that would shift some teacher pension costs to local governments.

But the Salisbury Daily Times reports that the Worcester Democrat opposed the proposed tax hikes on individuals making $100-thousand and joint filers earning $150-thousand of taxable income.  

Meanwhile, State Senator Rich Colburn voted against both bills.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a budget package in a special session.

The House voted 77-60 on Wednesday to raise income taxes on single filers who make more than $100,000 and joint filers who make $150,000 in taxable income a year.

The House voted 86-51 for a separate bill to split teacher pension costs over four years and raise taxes on tobacco other than cigarettes.

The House votes ends a special session that began on Monday.

Gov. Martin O'Malley called the special session to avoid about $500 million in budget cuts that were triggered by the General Assembly's failure to pass the budget package during the 90-day regular session last month.

MILLSBORO, Del. (AP) - A Delaware official says there isn't any money in the budget for dredging of smaller inland bay waterways.

David Small, the deputy secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, says that because of attrition of staff and equipment, the state's ability to perform the work has also decreased.

Local representatives met with DNREC officials this month about the issue. Rep. John Adkins says he would like to see a permanent funding source so mud flats and sand bars don't emerge at low tide.

The two pedestrian bridges in Salisbury City Park could be closed for the rest of the summer.

Teresa Gardner, director of Public Works, said city inspectors have found significant signs of deterioration on the Snow Hill Road pedestrian bridge during an inspection this month.

The Salisbury Daily Times reports the inspectors said they found the wood had warped and shrunk.

In addition, they said the screws that hold them together had rusted apart allowing the planks to be removed by hand.

Gardner also said that support beams had rusted to the point…that they had lost 30 percent of their thickness.

DOVER, Del. (AP) - A bill to regulate and monitor payday loans in Delaware continues to move through the legislature after winning narrow approval in the House.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in the Senate Banking Committee.

The bill cleared the state House two weeks, with only one more vote than needed for the required three-fifths majority.

Payday loans typically are small, short-term loans with high interest rates that effectively represent advances on a borrower's next paycheck.

The bill does not cap interest rates for payday loans, as previous failed proposals tried to do, but it does limit borrowers to no more than five payday loans in a 12-month period and lenders to no more than four rollovers of an existing payday loan.

DOVER, Del. (AP) - A bill that would prevent Delaware employers from demanding that employees and job applicants disclose social media login information has cleared a House committee.

The bill was released by the Telecommunication Internet and Technology Committee on Wednesday after lawmakers agreed to add an amendment exempting law enforcement agencies.

The amendment also allows the Department of Correction to request and achieve access to an employee's social networking site to ensure compliance with DOC policies.

A companion bill would prohibit both public and private educational institutions from requiring that a student or job applicant provide their social networking login information was released from the committee earlier this month.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The House of Delegates is set to vote on a package of budget measures in a special session.

The House vote on Wednesday could wrap the session, if no changes are made to the bills that already have passed the state Senate.

One measure would increase state income taxes on individuals who make more than $100,000 a year in taxable income and couples who earn more than $150,000.

A companion bill would start shifting some teacher pension costs to local governments over four years.

Gov. Martin O'Malley called the special session to avert about $500 million in cuts that the General Assembly approved after lawmakers failed to pass a similar tax package last month by the regular session deadline.

A federal judge says the Sussex County Council must end its practice of reciting The Lord’s Prayer when it begins its meetings.

US District Court Judge Leonard Stark issued a temporary injunction saying that it likely violates the First Amendment of the Constitution prohibiting the establishment of religion.

Local residents sued the county last year to stop practice.

Judge Stark wrote that since The Lord’s Prayer has been the only prayer recited by the Council over the last six years it is likely that the Council is giving Christianity an unconstitutionally preferred status.

Sussex County officials have argued that the prayer was a simple call for spiritual guidance and did not favor any religion.