Three rivers. One award.

Voting is now open for Pennsylvania River of the Year.

The Delaware River, which flows through the Poconos in Northeast Pennsylvania, is up against Perkiomen Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River, located northwest of Philadelphia; and the Youghiogheny River in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“We’re thrilled to be nominated for 2025 designation, and we encourage the public to go vote … for the Delaware River so we can really help bring more attention to the outstanding resource that we have in our backyard,” said Mark Zakutansky, a member of the Delaware River Sojourn’s Steering committee.

The committee put the river in the running for the award. It’s made up of organizations, nonprofits, government, individual volunteers and businesses all along the Delaware River.

The sojourn celebrates its 30th year in 2025. The committee hoped for the nomination to help promote the annual paddling and camping trip down the 330-mile river.

“This is not just a celebration of the river, but, also, of all the people that have really dedicated their work lives and personal lives to make it better,” Delaware River Basin Commission spokesperson Kate Schmidt said.

The seven-day sojourn will be held the third week of June, and the event will proceed with or without the designation.

“We ultimately feel that the best way to kind of discover something is to do it,” said Schmidt. “So the best way to discover the Delaware River is to get on it and paddle.”

A quick history

Last year the Allegheny River won the award. In 2023, it was the North Branch of the Susquehanna. The Delaware has won before, in 2011 and 2002; just the Upper Delaware won in 1995.

Its east and west branches meet in Hancock, New York. The river forms an interstate boundary its entire length but the largest part of the watershed is in Pennsylvania. The river ends where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Schmidt says 14.2 million people — almost 4% of the entire population of the United States — rely on the river’s basin.

“For drinking, industry, agriculture, you know pretty much for their daily needs,” she said.

The indigenous Lenape people named the river Lenapewihittuck. They lived in the Delaware Valley, along tributaries of the river. Dutch settlers discovered the waterway in the 1600s and called it the South River.

The English then named the river after Sir Thomas West, the third Lord de la Warr. The Lenape became known as the Delawares.

Winner will receive $10K grant

Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR) facilitates the River of the Year program with funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

The winning river’s nominating organization will receive a $10,000 DCNR grant to fund year-long celebrations, including paddling events and community activities

Voting ends Jan. 24. To cast a vote, visit https://pawatersheds.org/about-river-of-the-year/vote-roy/

NEWS FEED

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Celebrate the Holidays in Delaware with the Hidden Holiday Gems Passport
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Delaware Schools Receive National, State Honors
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From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Cerron Cade has been a trusted member of Gov. John Carney’s cabinet, serving as both labor secretary and currently budget director.

Carney, who will become Wilmington mayor next month, has so much faith in Cade that he appointed him as city chief of staff.

Cade’s political career is now in jeopardy. He’s been suspended with pay from his state post for what the governor, in a cryptic Saturday evening news release, called a “personal legal matter.”

But WHYY News has learned that Cade, who oversees the state’s $7.2 billion operating and capital budgets, was arrested last week by state police for what court records describe as serial petty shoplifting from Wilmington’s Home Depot store.

Cade, 41, faces six counts of misdemeanor shoplifting for thefts that allegedly occurred between June 16 and Oct. 30.

Cade, whose taxpayer-funded salary is $164,000, allegedly stole eight items valued at $394.32, court records obtained by WHYY News show. Attempts to reach Cade were unsuccessful.

The four-page arrest affidavit, provided by Delaware Justice of the Peace Court under a public records request, says Cade utilized a practice known as “skip scanning.”

That means Cade allegedly purchased items at the store’s self-checkout registers but didn’t scan one or more items on each of the six separate incidents that were outlined in the arrest warrant.

The items Cade is accused of stealing were for gardening, patio and other home uses. The items include the following:

• Area rug, $199
• Animal cage trap, $74.97
• Patio lantern, $39.98
• Contractor bags, $29.97
• Paint, $16.48
• Laundry detergent, $15.97
• Battery-operated candle, $10.98
• Bag of soil, $6.97

Cade, who stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall, usually drove his gray 2019 Chevrolet Traverse SUV to the store on Miller Road, the warrant said. His arrival, departure and movements inside the cavernous Home Depot were captured on store surveillance cameras, the warrant said.

On one occasion, Cade was observed putting an item he allegedly stole — the animal cage trap — inside one he bought — a planter, the warrant said.

On another occasion, he put the candle inside the patio lantern, and stole them both, the warrant said.

State police, who didn’t announce the arrest in a news release but provided basic information after a request by WHYY News, said they began investigating on Dec. 6 after Home Depot reported multiple thefts by the same suspect.