Most of the bills flew through the House on the final day of Delaware’s 2024 legislative session, but one dealing with affordable housing was met with resistance before passing. Senate Bill 293, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman, D-Wilmington, revises both the Delaware Fair Housing Act and Residential Landlord-Tenant Code to repeal the exemption to discrimination based on …
It’s official – the Delaware General Assembly has overridden a veto by Gov. John Carney. And House Bill 282, sponsored by Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, has become state law. It will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, altering the membership, leadership, structure and procedures of the State Employee Benefits Committee, which controls health insurance and more for employees and retirees. Carney …
A bill forcing transgender student athletes to compete only with others who share their biological gender drew some healthy discussion in the Senate Education Committee Wednesday. “While the public could be broadly accepting of the idea that adults who want to identify as a different gender and undergo hormone treatment to live out their lives should be given space to …
An indoor track, a Frederica sports site, a pickleball complex and a tournament site have been awarded $11.3 million from a state fund devoted to boosting sports tourism. Established last year, the Sports Tourism Capital Investment Fund’s allocations are announced by the Delaware Tourism Office, providing grants in support of sports facilities like arenas, courts, fields, aquatics facilities, track and …
A controversial bill that would give terminally ill people the right to end their lives failed to pass the Delaware Senate Thursday. House Bill 140, sponsored by Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, would have permitted a terminally ill adult resident of Delaware to request and self-administer medication to end the individual’s life in a humane and dignified manner. The medication is …
Delaware residents soon will be able to say “cheers” or “bottoms up” with the First State’s official cocktail. House Bill 444, sponsored by Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, designates the Orange Crush as the state cocktail, passed the state House Thursday night. The point of declaring a state cocktail is to increase tourism, Schwartzkopf said before asking for a vote. …
Kent County is getting a Catholic high school. Holy Cross High will open in fall 2025. It is the only Catholic secondary education institution since Dover’s St. Thomas More Academy closed in 2020 because of the pandemic and low enrollment. Supporters include many involved in the old Holy Cross High School that closed down in the 80s, including alumni and …
The fourth-largest chicken producer in the U.S. is headquartered in Millsboro, and it’s giving Delawareans financial help for college. Mountaire Farms has announced an $80,000 allocation to 32 children of employees, growers and grain producers in Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina. Phillip Plylar, president and chief executive officer of Mountaire Farms, said in a statement that the company is proud …
A new bill would dispel the fears of potential repercussions for medics providing in vitro fertilization, commonly known as IVF, which takes mature eggs from ovaries and fertilizes them with sperm in a lab. About 90,000 babies are conceived through this process each year in the U.S. House Bill 374, sponsored by Rep. Kendra Johnson, D-Bear, would legally protect medical …
A senator representing Wilmington wants the state of Delaware to crack down on food scarcity and hunger. Senate Bill 254, sponsored by Sen. Darius Brown, D-Wilmington, creates the Delaware Grocery Initiative. That group would direct the Office of State Planning Coordination to study food insecurity in urban and rural food deserts. Per the bill, “food deserts” are census tract that …
