Newsworks | by Zoë Read Legislation that aims to revamp the Coastal Zone Act and make way for the repurposing of abandoned industrial sites in an attempt to make Delaware more business-friendly has been cleared for a vote. The legislation, sponsored by State Rep. Ed Osienski, D-Newark, and State Sen. Bryan Townsend, D-Newark, was voted out of the General Assembly’s Natural Resources committee Wednesday. “I’m hoping this legislation puts the sign up that Delaware is open for good stewards of our environment who are willing to come to Delaware and […]

The News Journal | by Scott Gross A controversial proposal to amend Delaware’s landmark environmental protection law for the first time in its nearly 50-year history cleared a major hurdle Wednesday. The House Natural Resources Committee voted 9-1 to advance the measure following a two-and-a-half hour hearing. About 40 people testified during public comment even though the hearing started 90 minutes late. “I wasn’t really surprised,” state Rep. Ed Osienski, D-Newark, the bill’s chief sponsor in the House, said after the committee vote. “We had a good response from business representatives and labor […]

The News Journal | by Matthew Albright Democrats and Republicans are deadlocked over how much to raise in tax increases and how much to cut with only a month left in this year’s session of the General Assembly. Fundamental disagreements over the budget threaten to clog a legislative agenda that still includes controversial bills ranging from reinstating the death penalty to legalizing marijuana to overhauling the historic Coastal Zone Act. When legislators return to work on Tuesday, they’ll have 13 legislative days left. “All these other issues are being held […]

Newsworks | by Cris Barrish Proms, finals and graduations are dominating the final days of the school year, but most eyes in Delaware’s academic circles are focused on Dover. One month from now state lawmakers will decide the fate of Gov. John Carney’s proposed $37 million in cuts to K-12 education. Right now, though, the state’s school community is in turmoil — a state of uncertainty and fear that may or may not be alleviated when the General Assembly fulfills its statutory obligation to pass a balanced budget by June […]

Delaware Public Media | by Jon Hurdle At the old Claymont Steel site in northern New Castle County, some 425 acres of land sits empty and derelict, dotted with piles of brick and the rusting remnants of the Evraz steelworks that operated there until it closed in December 2013. A portion of the site, crossed by Philadelphia Pike, lies within Delaware’s Coastal Zone, an area that has been designated off-limits to new industrial development since the eponymous Coastal Zone Act was passed by the state legislature in 1971 to protect […]

Delaware Public Media | by James Dawson A bill that would allow local school boards to raise property taxes for operating funds based on inflation is looking for sponsors in the General Assembly The draft proposal from Rep. Earl Jaques (D-Glasgow), who chairs the House Education Committee, is nearly a clone of a plan floated three years ago that never received a vote. Every two years, school board members could hike property taxes by up to three percent, or based on inflation, without getting taxpayer approval. Referendums for capital projects, […]

Delaware State News | by Matt Bittle DOVER — Draft legislation in the General Assembly would let school districts raise property taxes without referendums. The bill, which has not yet been assigned a number, would enable school boards to increase taxes every two years by the percentage change in the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers or by 3 percent. Such tax hikes could only be used to pay for operational costs and not construction. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Earl Jaques, D-Glasgow, is sure […]

Newsworks | by Cris Barrish For the 16 years Newark Charter School has been in existence, the high-performing institution has given preference to students who live within five miles of the campus. Using that formula the school has grown and thrived, and this year became a National Blue Ribbon School for the second time. It’s now Delaware’s biggest public school, with 2,330 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Another 3,000 are on its waiting list. Yet as the school has flourished, discontent has grown among families, politicians and other critics that […]

WDEL | by Mark Fowser Three Delaware lawmakers – with the backing of the President of the NAACP Delaware State Conference – are seeking a legal opinion on legislation that addresses the enrollment process of charter schools. A house substitute for a bill that passed last Thursday in the House of Representatives would allow charter schools to give preference for students in a portion of a school district that’s geographically contiguous to the charter school. It would eliminate the five-mile radius preference charter schools had been granted. Critics say the […]

Delaware Public Media | by James Dawson Charter schools may soon no longer be able to use a five-mile radius surrounding the location as a screening tool for their student body. Instead, a charter would be able to use the school district in which it resides as an enrollment preference. But the bill explicitly excludes the part of the Christina School District within the city of Wilmington, which critics say lets Newark Charter continue to duck enrolling poor, minority students. Rep. Stephanie T. Bolden (D-Wilmington East) called it simply discriminatory during […]