Delaware

History in News Journal Dec. 28-Jan. 3 with state’s growth, budget woes

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2 weeks ago

December 27, 2025

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History in News Journal Dec. 28-Jan. 3 with state’s growth, budget woes

Excerpts from The News Journal archives from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3 include draining Sussex swamps 100 years ago.
Delaware deals with budget deficit 50 years ago.
Large population growth in state 25 years ago.

“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.

Dec. 29, 2000, The News Journal

Delaware’s population rises 18% in census

Delaware’s population grew by almost 18% in the past decade, a larger increase than state and federal officials had projected, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.

Delaware now is home to 783,600 people, up by more than 117,000 since 1990, according to the initial release of Census 2000 figures.

That is the largest relative population increase among Northeastern states and nudged Delaware past South Dakota to become the 45th most populous state.

But even that growth wasn’t enough to garner the First State a second seat in the House of Representatives. Delaware fell about 128,000 people short of earning another Congressional slot.

“That’s OK, I enjoy my role,” said Rep. Mike Castle, one of seven House members who are the single representatives of their state. “I am not lonely. I have a lot of friends down there.”

The Census Bureau in March will release more detailed numbers showing population by age and race down to the neighborhood level. That will show where the population has risen and fallen and provide a wealth of information for government, businesses and scholars.

Jan. 1, 1976, The News Journal

Analysis: Big budget squeeze sets tone for state

The tone of Gov. Sherman W. Tribbitt’s administration amounts to variations of one theme – is there enough money?

This year, state revenue estimates have dropped from $408.5 million in August to $401.5 million in December. Meanwhile, the pressure to increase spending has remained constant.

Delaware faces a deficit of $8.7 million, and Tribbitt recently ordered an 8% spending cutback to try to reduce it.

The problem has been aggravated by two changes in traditional budget procedures.

Income tax refunds had been left out of the budget by Tribbitt’s predecessors, making spending appear to be less than it was. Tribbitt obtained a court order to change that. Now, the refunds – totaling $20.7 million this year – are included in the budget to give an accurate spending picture.

Full funding of the state’s pension program also has added a significant burden since it was started in 1971. The tab for fiscal 1976 is $33 million.

So, more than half of the $99 million increase in the state budget was unavoidable. The remainder can generally be attributed to increased costs, particularly salaries and utilities….

Jan. 2, 1926, The Evening Journal

Work begins to drain thousands of acres of Sussex swamps

Probably one of the most extensive drainage projects ever undertaken in the eastern section of the United States is underway in the lower part of Delaware, just east of Frankford.

A large dredging machine is cleaning out Vines Branch Canal and when the work is completed, a waterway capable of draining 25,000 acres will be made.

The canal starts near the head of the Pocomoke River in Maryland and terminates a mile east of Frankford at what is known as Long’s Pond. …

In addition to the immense canal, there will be many miles of lateral ditches which will make their way into it and drain valuable tracts of land which heretofore have not been arable because of the low, boggy conditions and heavy undergrowth.

More than 7,000 acres of land adjacent to the project will be drained besides several thousands acres from the lateral ditches which feed into it.

Several years ago the plans and surveys for the gigantic undertaking were prepared for the government at the request of Dr. Hiram R. Burton, of Lewes, who was then Representative in Congress from Delaware.

The cost is being maintained by the adjacent landowners who will reap thousands of dollars of benefits.

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

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Delaware

MERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

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MERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach

A dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach on Jan. 8, according to the nonprofit Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute.

The juvenile male was first seen Jan. 6, floating at sea about 2 miles off the Indian River Inlet, a MERR Facebook post said. The bloated 30-foot whale ultimately beached near a private community in the early afternoon of Jan. 8, the post said.

MERR is attempting to coordinate with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to get equipment to move the whale out of the water and onto the beach to perform a necropsy, the post said. Right now, there isn’t enough information to determine a cause of death.

Delaware saw at least three dead whales last year, in the Indian River Bay, at Delaware Seashore State Park and at Pigeon Point. The first two were humpbacks, while the Pigeon Point whale was a fin whale.

A necropsy on the Delaware Seashore whale found blunt force trauma across its back, indicating it may have been struck by a ship, MERR Director Suzanne Thurman said.

Recently, on Jan. 4, a dead fin whale was found on the bow of a ship at the Gloucester Marine Terminal in New Jersey, which is located in the Port of Philadelphia on the Delaware River.

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Facebook.

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Delaware

Pa. man accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from Delco cemetery

Published

13 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Pa. man accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from Delco cemetery

A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from a cemetery in Delaware County.

Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, is charged with abuse of corpse, criminal mischief, burglary and other related offenses, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse revealed on Thursday, Jan. 8.

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Between November 2025 and Jan. 6, 2026, 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites had been burglarized or desecrated at Mount Moriah Cemetery, which stretches from Yeadon Borough, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia, investigators said.

As police investigated the thefts, they caught Gerlach desecrating a monument at the cemetery on Tuesday, Jan. 6, according to officials. Gerlach was taken into custody and investigators executed a search warrant at his home in Ephrata.

During the search, investigators recovered 100 human skeletons from Gerlach’s home as well as eight more human remains inside a storage locker, according to Rouse.

“Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life the other night guys,” Rouse said. “This is an unbelievable scene that no one involved – from myself to the detectives to the medical examiners that are now trying to piece together what they are looking at, quite literally – none of them have ever seen anything like this before.”

Rouse said some of the stolen skeletons are hundreds of years old.

“We are trying to figure out exactly what we are looking at,” Rouse said. “We quite simply at this juncture are not able to date and identify all of them.”

Rouse also said some of the skeletons are of infants and children.

“It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific,” Rouse said. “I grieve for those who are upset by this who are going through it who are trying to figure out if it is in fact their loved one or their child because we found remains that we believe to be months old infants among those that he had collected. Our hearts go out to every family that is impacted by this.”

Sources also told NBC10 the thefts are related to a similar case in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Investigators said they are looking at Gerlach’s online community — including his social media groups and Facebook page — to determine if people were buying, selling, or trading the remains.

Gerlach is currently in custody at the Delaware County Prison after failing to post $1 million bail. Online court records don’t list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

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