Delaware
Delaware program connects rural mothers to doulas, prenatal care
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Maternal health providers in Sussex County are launching a new initiative aimed at connecting pregnant women in rural Delaware with care earlier in their pregnancies, particularly women of color and immigrant families who often face barriers accessing services.
Last month, La Red Health Center partnered with the Delaware State Housing Authority and several community organizations to launch the Maternal Outreach and Mobile Services: Advancing Health for Rural Delaware Families initiative, known as MOMS.
The program uses community health workers, doulas and La Red’s mobile health unit to bring maternal health services directly into underserved communities throughout southern Delaware.
“Far too many women in Southern Delaware have difficulty accessing women’s health care services,” said Rachel Hersh, CEO of La Red Health Center. “Some of the reasons are as simple as a lack of transportation. Ensuring that all women have the opportunity to receive care, but also care that is well-coordinated will only help improve outcomes for Delaware women. Ultimately, that will lead to healthier communities, which benefits us all.”
For Lisa Butterworth, a certified nurse midwife and clinical director of women’s health at La Red, the initiative is part of a larger effort to address longstanding disparities affecting women of color.
“We know that women of color face a much higher maternal morbidity and mortality rate, and it’s not genetic,” Butterworth said. “It is because of systemic failures.”
“When we address the issues that are affecting Black and minority women, we know that improving the Black and minority women’s health is going to improve all of our health,” she added.
Addressing barriers to care
Butterworth said Latina women in Sussex County often face multiple barriers when seeking prenatal, postpartum and reproductive health care.
“We noticed with the Latina population, they have a lot of barriers to health,” she said. “In Sussex County, we don’t have enough obstetrical providers in general, and then to have obstetrical providers who can provide culturally competent care and provide language services when needed is even harder for this population,” Butterworth said.
Many women also remain uninsured during pregnancy, causing them to delay care.
“They often don’t come into prenatal care until late in the pregnancy,” Butterworth said, adding that cost is also a barrier. “They just can’t afford the visits, the ultrasounds, blood work, all the things that come along with prenatal care,” she said.
Transportation can also be difficult, especially for families living in rural communities.
“Getting to one of the offices that exist for maternal health care can be difficult,” Butterworth said. “A lot of families share a car, a vehicle, and doctors’ offices are open during the day when their husbands are at work.”
The challenges often extend beyond health care itself.
“If you have a mother who’s trying to provide for her kids and she can’t put food on the table and they’re hungry, going to a doctor’s appointment isn’t going to be her priority,” Butterworth said. “Her priority is going to be finding a way to make money to feed her family.”
To help address those barriers, La Red’s MOMS initiative brings services directly into communities through its mobile health unit and a team that includes a bilingual community health worker and a bilingual Latina doula.
“We saw that Sussex County really needed to expand and get out of the building to reach some of these people,” Butterworth said. “That’s kind of why we applied for this grant and we’re so happy to get it to bring the care to the more rural areas of Sussex.”
MUNCIE, IN — The Delaware County commissioners on Monday, July 6, approved a measure expressing a lack of confidence in Marion County’s prosecutor, Ryan Mears.
The resolution, read aloud at Monday’s meeting by commissioner Stephen Brand, also had the approval of Delaware County’s prosecutor and sheriff, Eric Hoffman and Tony Skinner, respectively.
The measure noted statistics reflecting “multiple years of elevated violent crime” in Marion County and Indianapolis, creating concerns for officials and citizens statewide about the “policies and practices” of Mears, a Democrat who has been been Marion County prosecutor since 2019.
It also said authorities in Hoosier counties near Marion County have “documented increasing criminal activity involving individuals traveling from Marion County into neighboring jurisdictions, creating significant public safety challenges and financial burdens for local taxpayers.”
Brand said Delaware County has experienced “firsthand the consequences of these policies, including major violent felony prosecutions involving multiple defendants who traveled from Marion County to commit serious crimes within Delaware County.”
Five Indianapolis residents face charges stemming from the December slaying of 48-year-old Michael D. Greer of Shelbyville.
Greer’s body was found in a burning car along Delaware County Road 500 South west of Indiana 3.
Brand said the cases “require substantial expenditures of local taxpayer dollars for law enforcement investigations, incarceration costs, court operations, public defense services, jury trials, victim services and prosecution resources.”
“Delaware County taxpayers should not be forced to bear increasing financial burdens associated with a criminal justice system in another jurisdiction that fails to adequately deter, prosecute and incapacitate repeat violent offenders,” the county commissioner said.
In reading the measure, Brand said citizens of Delaware County “expect prosecutors throughout the state to uphold the rule of law, protect public safety and seek justice on behalf of crime victims.”
The measure said the Delaware County commissioners, Hoffman and Skinner believe the “policies and practices of Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears have contributed to circumstances that negatively impact public safety and pose unnecessary costs on Delaware County taxpayers.”
The resolution won the approval of all three commissioners, Brand, Shannon Henry and Sherrry Riggin. Henry said he decided to support the measure because it had the support of Hoffman and Skinner.
The no-confidence resolution will be sent to Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, the Indiana General Assembly, the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council and Hoosier congressional representatives.
Democrat Mears is campaigning for re-election in the Nov. 3 election. His local critics — the commissioners, Hoffman and Skinner — are Republicans.
In early June, U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, criticized Mears on the floor of the U.S. Senate, calling him soft on crime.
The Indiana Fraternal Order of Police also issued a vote of no cofidence against Mears at its annual convention in June.
Efforts to contact Mears for comment on Monday were unsuccessful. Calls to his office were sent to a voice mailbox that was already full.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
What Delaware’s New Probate Threshold Means for Your Estate Plan
On June 10, 2026, Governor Matt Meyer signed House Bill 333 into law, raising Delaware’s small estate probate threshold from $30,000 to $50,000. The change took effect immediately. Under the new law, an estate valued at $30,000 or less still applies if the decedent died before June 10, 2026. For anyone who dies on or after that date, the threshold is now $50,000.
In practical terms, this means that when a person passes away owning $50,000 or less in assets held solely in their own name, their family may be able to use Delaware’s simplified small estate process instead of opening a formal probate administration through the Register of Wills. The prior $30,000 limit had not been updated since 2005, so this adjustment brings Delaware’s threshold in line with neighboring states like Pennsylvania and Maryland, and is intended to ease the burden on families settling modest estates.
So what does this mean for your estate plan? For most people, not much.
It is a welcome update, and will help some Delaware families, particularly those with smaller estates who might otherwise have faced the time and expense of a formal probate proceeding for what amounts to a car and a bank account. If that describes your situation, this change is good news.
But for the majority of Delaware, the probate threshold remains far below what most people accumulate over a lifetime of homeownership and savings. A $50,000 limit still captures most estates well within the reach of formal probate. Owning a home, and/or holding savings with any meaningful balance, is often enough on its own to exceed the new threshold. The estate planning strategies that made sense before HB 333 still make sense today.
A well-structured plan continues to do its job. A properly funded trust, whether revocable or irrevocable, keeps assets titled outside your individual name and outside the probate process altogether, regardless of what the statutory threshold happens to be. Trusts remain one of the most effective tools available for avoiding probate, maintaining privacy, and controlling how and when your assets pass to the people you love.
Alongside a trust, a current Power of Attorney and Advance Health Care Directive are just as essential. These documents have nothing to do with the probate threshold at all. They govern what happens while you are alive, giving someone you trust the legal authority to manage your finances or make health care decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so yourself. Without them, your family may find themselves in court seeking guardianship at the exact moment they can least afford the delay.
HB 333 is a sensible, incremental update to a number that had been frozen for two decades. It deserves recognition as good public policy. But it is not a substitute for a thoughtful estate plan, and it does not change the guidance we have long given our clients: build a plan around a Trust, keep your Powers of Attorney and Advance Health Care Directives current, and revisit that plan regularly as your life and assets change.
If you have questions about how this update applies to your specific situation, or if it has been a while since your documents were reviewed, we would welcome the opportunity to talk with you.
Procino-Wells & Woodland, LLC is Delaware’s trusted resource for estate planning, elder law, and estate and trust administration. Serving all of Delaware from offices in Lewes and Seaford, our firm is dedicated exclusively to helping families create comprehensive estate plans, protect assets from long-term care costs, navigate Medicaid and Veterans Aid & Attendance benefits, establish supplemental needs trusts, and administer estates. Our team-based approach ensures every client receives consistent, exceptional service from our award winning attorneys and experienced staff, all women who are passionate about this area of law. Whether you’re planning ahead or need immediate assistance with asset protection, our 46 years of combined attorney experience serves Delaware families through in-person and virtual consultations. Learn more at www.pwwlaw.com.
Delaware
Body of missing 19-year-old tuber recovered from Delaware River in Hunterdon County – WRNJ Radio
ALEXANDRIA TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Hunterdon County) — A 19-year-old Flemington man who went missing in the Delaware River Friday night was found dead Sunday, according to the New Jersey State Police.
State Police Sgt. First Class Charles Marchan said troopers from Troop “C” Kingwood Station were notified at approximately 9:41 p.m. on July 3 of a missing person in the Delaware River in Alexandria Township, Hunterdon County.
Troopers responded to the scene and, with assistance from the New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau, Aviation Bureau and Target Hardening Unit, along with multiple other agencies, searched the area but were unable to locate the missing man.
The search resumed July 4 with the Marine Services Bureau but again ended without locating him.
Earlier Sunday, the victim was found by a civilian boater in a shallow area of the Delaware River adjacent to the Riverview Parking Area.
State police identified the victim as Jason Blanco, 19, of Flemington.
According to a preliminary investigation, Blanco got off an inner tube, entered the water and did not resurface.
The investigation remains active, and no additional information was immediately available.
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