A WGMD Local News Article
Opioid prescriptions dropping in Delaware as state monitors doctors
Opioid prescriptions in Delaware continue to fall. The state says there were 14 percent fewer prescriptions written during the first quarter of this year compared with 2017. The drops come after new legislation took effect last April to more closely monitor the amount of painkillers prescribed by doctors. Officials say fewer prescriptions means fewer pills…
Read MoreDE considers ending exceptions to child marriage laws
Delaware lawmakers to vote on a bill that would ban child marriage in the state. The legislation would prevent marriages where one future spouse is 17 or younger. While current law requires individuals to be 18 to marry, Family Court judges are able to grant exceptions. According to Unchained At Last, 200 Delaware minors were…
Read MoreUPDATED: Seaford Election Today
UPDATED – 4/21 6:30am – It’s Election Day in Seaford. Voters will elect two to the city council and a mayor. Incumbent Orlando Holland is challenged by Shane Beard, Pat Jones, James King and Matt McCoy for 3 year terms on the city council. Councilwoman Grace Peterson is retiring, which leaves the second vacant seat. …
Read MoreLast chance to register to vote in Harrington city election
Today (Friday, April 20th) is the last day to register to vote for Harrington’s town elections. Harrington City elections will take place May 1st, there are two candidates vying to represent District 4 on the city council, Eric Marquis and Brian Slattery. If you would like to vote in the harringotn election, today is the…
Read MoreDelaware real estate stays hot through 1st Quarter
Delaware real estate stays hot through the first quarter of this year. According to the Delaware Association of Realtors, single family homes in Sussex County are selling for 15% more than the year before, and the number of days homes stay on the market dropped 30%. Overall, the total number of sales across Delaware has…
Read More1 dead after car ends up in pond near Houston
A person drowned after in a pond in Southern Kent County yesterday. The incident was called in around 1 PM, authorities responded to Hewish Parkway, which is in between Greenwood and Houston, and sits close to the Kent/Sussex County border. Paramedics arriving to the scene reported a vehicle in the water with 1 person dead…
Read MoreNational Guard Chaplain dissolves campaign for Congress
Chaplain Kenneth Brandt’s campaign for Delaware’s 1st Congressional District is over. Brandt has filed paperwork to dissolve his campaign committee and is dropping out of the race to unseat incumbent Lisa Blunt Rochester. The Republican announced he was running two weeks ago, but almost immediately there were questions about whether the campaign would run afoul…
Read MoreDE AG: Police use of deadly force justified
Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn says deadly force was justified when police shot a man suspected of killing a state trooper last year. Troopers opened fire on 26-year old Burgeon Sealey at his home in Middletown at the end of a 20 hour standoff last April. AG Denn says taking down Sealey was legally justified…
Read MoreSeries of crime bills pass through DE General Assembly
The Delaware General Assembly is sending two crime-related bills to the governor. The state Senate unanimously passed a measure yesterday that would tie the criminal sentence for home improvement fraud to the value of the loss suffered by the victim. Lawmakers also approved legislation yesterday that would make permanent a civil citation program for first-time…
Read MoreOysters added to Tred Avon River to help clean Chesapeake Bay
The Oyster Recovery Partnership is working to make sure oysters are plentiful this summer around the Chesapeake Bay. The group is attaching baby oysters to used shells and adding them on already established oyster beds in hopes of growing the population. Millions were delivered to the Tred Avon River in Talbot County this week. Cleaner…
Read MoreDE lawmakers push to ban powdered alcohol
Delaware Lawmakers want to ban powdered alcohol sales. Powdered alcohol is what it sounds like, packets of drink mix, but instead of getting orange drink you get drunk. The effort is being spearheaded by Lt Governor Bethany Hall Long, who also chairs the Behavioral Health Consortium. She believes powdered alcohol products requiring only the addition…
Read MoreFunding questions surround Berlin Fire Company
A report says Berlin’s Fire Department is “not sufficiently funded” for the level of services it provides to the city and Worcester County. It also says the fire company is not accountable for how they allocate funding provided by the county or town. The report was completed by Matrix Consulting Group, a firm specializing in…
Read MoreMilford Police raid two homes in drug investigation
A two month long police investigation ends with two arrests and a cache of drugs in Milford. On Monday police executed two search warrants; the first on Southeast 2nd street, finding crack, cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and drug paraphernalia. Police arrested Charles Wise Jr. on drug charges and for endangering the welfare of a minor, as…
Read MoreDE cracking down on firearm “straw purchases”
Delaware Governor John Carney signs a bill into law cracking down on straw purchases of firearms. The new law strengthens penalties for anyone who buys weapons for those who cannot legally purchase or possess firearms, making jailtime more likely. Gov. Carney says the bill passed with broad bipartisan support, and shows the state’s commitment to…
Read MoreHenlopen Acres Mayor David Lyons dies
The mayor of Henlopen Acres, David Lyons, died on Tuesday. Mayor Lyons was 58 years old. No cause of death has been released. Henlopen Acres town manager Tom Roth says the town is mourning the sudden passing of Mayor Lyons, and that thoughts and prayers are with his family. Lyons is survived by his wife,…
Read MoreNone injured in school bus fire in Millville
School bus goes up in flames in Sussex County yesterday. Just before 3 PM a bus was dropping off children at one of its usual stops in the Millville Giant parking lot. The driver noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment, and had all the kids get off the bus. Soon afterwards the front of…
Read MoreFirst-time homebuyers may get realty transfer tax relief
First time home buyers in Delaware could get some extra money in their pocket. A proposed bill in the State House would refund first-time home buyers a portion of the realty transfer tax that increased last August. The bill would be retroactive, so any first time home buyer who purchased after the increase could get…
Read MoreDE gets grant funding to support early childhood workforce
Delaware one of six states to get grant money to develop a strong early child care and education workforce. $12,500 in funding from the National Governors Association is going to the Family Services Cabinet Council, maintain the Delaware Stars program, and expand school based health centers into elementary and middle schools. Governor John Carney says…
Read MoreKent Island HS evacuated, checked after threats
Kent Island High School evacuated yesterday amid a bomb threat. Disturbing messages were found in the girls bathroom on the Main Campus, which caused an initial lockdown followed by an evacuation of the high school. Queen Anne’s County Sheriff’s office brought in K-9 units to check the building for explosives. Nothing was discovered during the…
Read MoreStudy: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative spurs economic development
A multi-state agreement to control carbon dioxide emissions from power plants generates $1.4 billion in economic benefits over the past 2 years. That’s according to a study of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which has lowered CO2 production and increased pollution costs in 9 states, including Delaware and Maryland. The report says since its start…
Read MoreDNREC launches new Public Pond Page for freshwater anglers
DNREC is implementing a new interactive online map to help anglers find public ponds to fish. Get the precise location of the 30 public ponds available to fish in Kent and Sussex Counties, full with details about access points, depth contours, flow directions, vegetation spots, and information about gamefish in each pond. The site also…
Read MoreMD Poison Center: Synthetic marijuana may cause internal bleeding
The Maryland Poison Center is warning people that smoking synthetic marijuana could cause internal bleeding. Officials say they have come across 3 cases so far this month, and two came over the past weekend. The condition is known as synthetic cannabinoid–associated coagulopathy; symptoms include bruising, nosebleeds, bloody gums, excessive bleeding, and blood in vomit, urine,…
Read MoreTeenager in Magnolia arrested on weapons charges
Delaware State Police arresting a teenager in Magnolia on multiple weapons charges. On Saturday, State Police were dispatched to McKinley Circle in Magnolia after reports came in about a man with a handgun. As they got to the neighborhood, troopers saw 15-year old Davion Scott of Dover abruptly walk away from the patrol untuck a…
Read MoreEPA adds Delaware superfund to ‘Emphasis List’
The EPA adds a Delaware superfund to the Administrator’s Emphasis List. The list represents sites identified by the EPA that will benefit from immediate and intense targeted attention. Delaware Sand and Gravel Landfill Site in Newark was added onto the list Monday. The agency issued a Record of Decision Amendment at the site in December…
Read MoreUPDATED: Protests in Seaford over fatal hit-and-run
UPDATED 4/25: About a hundred people took to the streets in Seaford yesterday to protest what they call the lax treatment of a man who killed a 9-year old girl in a hit-and-run accident last week. Led by Shaquita Truitt, the mother of the girl killed, the protest marched down Norman Eskridge Highway to Town…
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