Initial filings for unemployment benefits in Delaware dropped last week compared with the week prior, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 472 in the week ending November 29, down from 672 the week before, the Labor Department said.

U.S. unemployment claims dropped to 191,000 last week, down 27,000 claims from 218,000 the week prior on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Nebraska saw the largest percentage increase in weekly claims, with claims jumping by 98.5%. Virgin Islands, meanwhile, saw the largest percentage drop in new claims, with claims dropping by 58.3%.

USA TODAY Co. is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly unemployment insurance claims report.

Why Should Delaware Care?
The Division of Small Business distributes millions in grants and incentives each year to assist small businesses and organizations. But in September, a business owned by a senior agency official received funding from the agency, raising questions about oversight and conflicts of interest.

Officials at the Delaware Division of Small Business recently rescinded a $7,500 sponsorship contract awarded to a Wilmington bar after learning that an owner of the business was the state agency’s own deputy director. 

Beyond returning the money, agency spokesman Rony Baltazar-Lopez told Spotlight Delaware that officials had also imposed “corrective actions,” in response to the apparent conflict of interest. 

Those included “employee education, discipline, and internal policy revisions,” Baltazar-Lopez said in an email. 

The situation began in late September when the Division of Small Business received an email from Rachel Lindeman, co-owner of the popular Nomad Bar on Orange Street in Wilmington, asking the state to sponsor her networking series for small business owners

The request didn’t appear to raise any alarm, as Division of Small Business Director C.J. Bell responded three hours later stating that his office would award the Nomad a $7,500 sponsorship, according to emails obtained by Spotlight Delaware through an open records request.

Baltazar-Lopez said the sponsorship was the kind of project the office routinely supported. 

What was different though was that the money went to a business co-owned by Jaimie Watts, deputy director of the Division of Small Business.

But the sponsorship was short-lived after officials learned of Watts dual roles.

Within weeks of Lindeman’s email, state officials quietly opened an internal investigation, rescinded the money, and determined that the sponsorship posed a conflict of interest inside the agency responsible for overseeing millions of dollars in business grants and incentives each year. 

“We recently learned that a sponsorship was issued to a business that was not eligible to receive DSB funding due to its relationship with a state employee,” Baltazar said in his statement.

Spotlight Delaware further asked whether the office has ever rescinded a sponsorship; how long a typical sponsorship decision takes; and what controls exist to ensure contracts do not go to businesses owned by agency staff. The Division of Small Business declined to comment further. 

Watts became deputy director of the Delaware Division of Small Business in April. A month later, she purchased the Nomad Bar with Lindeman. 

Watts also is a member of Spotlight Delaware’s governing board of directors. Read our editorial independence policy here.  

In an email sent to state officials in October, Lindeman said she had been “informed” that the sponsorship money had to be returned. By early November, an agency official confirmed in an email to a colleague that it had been.

Watts did not answer questions for this story, instead referring Spotlight Delaware to a Division of Small Business spokeswoman.

Read more from Spotlight Delaware

A Delaware man who was convicted of kidnapping and other offenses for a multi-state crime spree in which he raped a woman at gunpoint has been sentenced to 75 years in prison, officials said.

Tonnaire McNair-Matthews, 26, was sentenced to a total of 900 months, or 75 years, in federal prison for six offenses, including kidnapping, carjacking, robbery, and related firearms offenses, according to the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Delaware. This sentencing follows Nair-Matthews’s conviction on all counts after a July 2024 trial. 

Officials said that court records and evidence presented during the four-day trial, McNair-Matthews conspired with David Hinson, 23, Michael Caldwell, 21, and Mahkiya Powell, 20, to rear-end unsuspecting drivers with a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee and then rob the drivers when they got out to inspect their vehicles for damage. 

After three unsuccessful attempts, officials said McNair-Matthews rear-ended one victim’s vehicle. When the woman got out, McNair-Matthews abducted her at gunpoint, forcing her back into the passenger seat of her own vehicle. 

Officials said McNair-Matthews then drove the woman, against her will, from Delaware into Pennsylvania.  During the drive, McNair-Matthews demanded the PIN code for the victim’s bank cards, forced her to disrobe, and “digitally penetrated her against her will.” McNair-Matthews then stopped the vehicle and forcibly raped the victim at gunpoint. 

McNair-Matthews abandoned the victim in Pennsylvania, according to officials. He drove her vehicle back to Delaware, where he visited various convenience stores and used her stolen bank cards and PIN code to withdraw money from ATMs. 

After, officials said McNair-Matthews reunited with Hinson, Powell, and Caldwell in Wilmington. Once there, he provided them with the victim’s bank cards and PIN, as well as the firearm he had used in the carjacking and rape. 

Hinson, Powell, and Caldwell then cleaned the victim’s car and stole her purse, officials shared.

After McNair-Matthews changed clothes, officials said the four men met up at a Wilmington gas station, where law enforcement found them. McNair-Matthews and Powell quickly fled, leading officers on a high-speed chase in the stolen Jeep. 

Officials said McNair-Matthews and Powell temporarily evaded police, but McNair-Matthews was found three days later after fleeing to Maryland.

“This was a calculated, predatory attack that shattered an innocent woman’s sense of safety,” Julianne E. Murray, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, said in a news release. “The Court’s sentence delivers justice for a survivor who showed extraordinary courage.  Moreover, it sends a clear message that those who terrorize our communities with violence, intimidation, and exploitation will be pursued, prosecuted, and held fully accountable.  Finally, I commend the vigilant work of the FBI, the Delaware State Police, and the Pennsylvania State Police for swiftly bringing the defendant to justice.”