State of Delaware

Take Saturday to prepare, advised Gov. Jack Markell, in light of expected high winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Sandy from Sunday through the early part of next week.

Take Saturday to prepare, advised Gov. Jack Markell, in light of expected high winds and heavy rain from Hurricane Sandy from Sunday through the early part of next week.

“It is forecasted to be a long-lasting event,” he said on Friday, noting that rain, wind and flooding likely. “The duration is what we are most concerned about.”

UPDATED Sunday, Oct. 28, 11:30 a.m.
Cancellations due to Hurricane Sandy include the following:

Both the Indian River School District and Sussex Technical School District have closed schools and offices on Monday, Oct. 29, and Tuesday, Oct. 31.

All University of Delaware classes are suspended Monday, Oct. 29, and officials were strongly encouraging students to go home.

Delaware Senate District 20 candidate Rick Eakle (D) on Friday asked his fellow Sussex County candidates in the Nov. 6 elections to put aside their political differences ahead of the anticipated arrival of Hurricane Sandy and gather to plan together ways they can help coastal residents weather the storm.

State and local emergency officials are urging residents of coastal Delaware to be alert and prepare as Hurricane Sandy tracks up the Atlantic in the coming days and poses a risk of potential severe weather, up to and including possibly making landfall in the immediate area.

U.S. Sens. Tom Carper, Chris Coons and U.S. Rep. John Carney (all D-Del.) hailed this week’s announcement by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar that Bluewater Wind will receive a lease for an offshore wind project on the Outer Continental Shelf off the shores of Southern Delaware.

The Sussex County Grand Jury on Monday indicted Georgetown resident Eric Bodenweiser, 53, on multiple sex crimes charges following a criminal investigation conducted by the Delaware State Police. The Oct. 22 indictment consisted of 113 total counts, including 39 counts of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse First Degree and 74 counts of Unlawful Sexual Contact Second Degree.

Beebe Medical Center representatives on Monday afternoon notified the public that visitor IDs were being checked after a former patient allegedly threatened two physicians affiliated with the hospital through a telephone message that was left sometime during the weekend and received on Monday morning.

Last week, the Delaware State Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the appeal by former Lewes pediatrician Earl Bradley of his conviction on charges he abused young patients was without merit.

Not long ago, Delaware launched a program that will help promote a safe and healthy Delaware — and help prevent some of the devastating effects of prescription drug abuse on families. Back in 2010, I signed the Delaware Prescription Monitoring Act and, since then, we have been working diligently to develop and launch a new tool that give doctors, pharmacists and others more information to responsibly treat patients.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture dropped its projection of corn yields to just 123 bushels per acre. That’s the lowest amount farmers have seen from their corn fields since 1995.

Delaware has a rich manufacturing tradition. For decades, high quality, highly paid manufacturing jobs sustained our communities — and I believe they can again.

Construction on Route 26 is unlikely to begin until spring of 2013 at the earliest, but DelDOT is already starting public outreach. Select community members along Atlantic Avenue have received invitations to join the Delaware Department of Transportation SR 26 Working Group.

The Food Bank of Delaware, which distributes between 7 million and 10 million pounds of food and grocery products each year, is looking to expand its reach in the Sussex County area. The Milford branch, which is one of the Food Bank’s two facilities, will soon double in size.

Maryland State Police homicide investigators reported on July 6 that they had charged a Dagsboro-area man in connection with the murder of Nicole Bennett of Millsboro, who was found dead in the Whaleyville, Md., area on June 15.

Delaware’s beaches ranked first in the U.S. in water quality for the year 2011 in a report issued last week by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Out of 30 states ranked, the state had the fewest water quality samples that exceeded national standards, with just 1 percent of samples for designated beach areas exceeding those standards.

Homeowners in Sussex County are being invited to a free public workshop on June 27 on financial assistance available to replace failing septic systems. The workshop will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, at the First State Community Action Agency, 308 North Railroad Avenue, Georgetown.

The Delaware Supreme Court stood in recess on June 13 after hearing arguments in the appeal of Earl Bradley.

The Delaware Supreme Court stood in recess on June 13 after hearing arguments in the appeal of Earl Bradley.

Last August, the former Lewes pediatrician was sentenced to 14 life sentences, plus an additional 164 years in prison, on five counts of assault in the second degree and five counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

This year’s U.S. Senate race in Delaware is already getting vocal, as independent candidate Alex Pires of Dewey Beach challenges incumbent Sen. Tom Carper to represent the state of Delaware.

After months of limited traffic, the Indian River Inlet Bridge appears on track to fully open all four lanes by Memorial Day weekend.

On Sunday, May 6, more than 2,000 people joined me to celebrate the history and the future of the Charles W. Cullen Bridge at the Indian River Inlet. The history of this location is one of several different bridges, an ever-changing environment and the emergence of Delaware as one of the East Coast’s premier resort locations.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary Shailen Bhatt, along with Cape Henlopen School District Superintendent Kevin Carson, visited Cape Henlopen High School to encourage students to be more active in their daily lives, by considering biking to school.

The Sussex County Council at their meeting this week received a legislative update from Deputy County Administrator Hal Godwin, offering them the chance to determine which, if any, of the prospective laws being discussed in the state legislature that they would like to support or oppose, or get changed.

The Inland Bays Foundation is up and running and ready to recruit members. They had their first official meeting as an established 501(c)3 organization in October 2011 and have a mission “to advocate and promote the restoration of the Inland Bays watershed by conducting public outreach and education, tracking restoration efforts, encouraging scientific inquiry and sponsoring needed research, in order to establish a long-term process for the protection and enhancement of the Inland Bays.”

Whether one is driving over the new Indian River Inlet Bridge, attending Delaware Tech, visiting the Veterans Home in Milford or kayaking the Assawoman Canal, it is hard not to feel the impact of state Sen. George H. Bunting and his 28 years in public office. Bunting’s tenure will come to an end this November, though, as he is not seeking re-election. And while these accomplishments are just the tip of the iceberg of his time in office, Bunting is particularly proud of them and the collaboration that turned them into reality.

The body of missing Maryland man Nicholas R. Townsend, 23, of Ocean City,  was found about 12:30 p.m. on March 17 in the Assawoman Bay off Ocean City.

The Delaware State Police arrested two Maryland men early Saturday morning, after an altercation in the parking lot of Selbyville’s Pomeroy’s night club led to gunfire and a stabbing that sent a Berlin, Md., man to the hospital with serious injuries.

Noting that one out of every three middle- and high-school students report being bullied but many other incidents go unreported, Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, Attorney General Beau Biden and legislative leaders unveiled legislation last Friday that aims to protect students against bullying and add consistency in how such incidents are reported.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden this week encouraged Delawareans whose mortgage loans were active in the foreclosure process in 2009 and 2010 to take advantage of an opportunity to have their cases independently reviewed. There were more than 12,000 foreclosures in the state during that two-year period, he noted.