Delaware
Delaware Senate leaders and Gov. Matt Meyer face off over control of port
For Meyer and some of his supporters, allowing Hall-Long to make the recommendations would be a repudiation of the voters who chose Meyer over Hall-Long in last year’s Democratic primary by 10 percentage points. Meyer also beat former environmental protection chief Collin O’Mara in that primary, who garnered about 16% of the vote.
“Those who lose elections don’t get to make appointments,” said Nick Merlino, Meyer’s deputy chief of staff.
“I think that it’s unprecedented for someone who lost an election to be able to make nominations as a consolation prize on their way out,” he said. “It just seems wholly unfair, unfair to the voters of Delaware.”
However, in a letter to Meyer, Senate President Dave Sokola, D-Newark, told Meyer that based on legal research, the nominations are “viable.” But he also invited Meyer to submit his own nominees. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Merlino said the Senate leadership told them the chamber was relying on rulings from court cases in Pennsylvania and Wyoming.
Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend said Hall-Long duly made the nominations during her time as governor and he doesn’t think which governor’s name is on the nominations has a direct connection to the voters.
Townsend did not clearly answer whose nominations the Senate would take up, but left the door open for the Senate to disregard Meyer’s picks in favor of Hall-Long’s.
“Right now we have Gov. Hall Long’s nominees that are submitted to the Senate. Gov. Meyer sent a letter that we believe presented an inaccurate, to put it mildly, framing of the Delaware Constitution and what its powers are,” he said. “Sen. Sokola responded and we’ll move through the process of considering nominees that are before us, whoever the nominees are and whichever governor submits them, we very much want to see people who are committed to what we believe the future of the port can be.”
Townsend also argued that even if Hall-Long was not elected governor last year, senators were. Sokola was not on the ballot last year, while Townsend and Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman ran unopposed.
Meyer will have four cabinet secretaries on the port board — pending expected confirmations by the Senate this month — who are legislatively appointed.
Those include his nominations for Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda, Transportation Secretary Shanté Hastings, Finance Secretary Michael Smith and Department of Safety and Homeland Security Secretary Joshua Bushweller.
In another potential blow to Meyer’s control over the direction of the port, Townsend is sponsoring legislation introduced days before Meyer was inaugurated that would allow the port’s board to elect its own chair without the consent of the Senate. That means the governor would no longer be able to pick the chair, possibly paving the way for former Secretary of State and longtime board chair Jeffrey Bullock to return to the position. He has served on the board since 2009 and has been chairman longer than anyone since the 18th century.
Saturday, July 11, 2026 1:40PM
MEDIA, Pa. (WPVI) — There is new information about what is being called a “sophisticated cybercriminal attack” against Delaware County.
According to officials, hackers were able to gain limited access to the county’s network and some of the data stored on it.
They are working with cybersecurity experts to learn the extent.
The sheriff’s office, district attorney, libraries and county council have all been dealing with disruptions since the attack on June 26.
The county’s internal networks are now up and running, and work is still ongoing to reinstate external-facing county services.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
DOVER, Del. (WPVI) — Delaware State Police are investigating a controversial traffic stop making the rounds on social media.
The video shows a trooper forcing a woman out of her car, slamming her to the ground, punching and tasing her.
It happened on July 7, in Dover, Delaware.
But Delaware State Police say the video doesn’t tell the whole story. They released a statement to provide what they call necessary context and clarity.
State police say the woman, identified as 38-year-old Sierra Hopkins, was initially pulled over in the area of S. Bay Road and Lafferty Lane in Dover for having suspended tags, no car insurance, and no driver’s license.
She was issued citations and let go, but then stopped again minutes later by the same trooper on E. Lebanon Road, who decided to follow protocol and have her car towed.
State police say he did this because Hopkins had been cited for the same violations five days earlier.
Things quickly escalated during this stop, with police stating she refused to leave her car, resisting, kicking and scratching the trooper in the face.
It all happened while several juveniles were in the car.
“This is such a vulnerable and tender moment… I’m sure her children were present, which brings another cause of concern because that’s trauma,” said Fleur McKendell, President of Delaware NAACP State Conference.
McKendell says her organization is pushing for a full and thorough investigation.
“It’s really deeply concerning. It’s evoked a lot of strong emotions from myself, my organization, as well as the public. I think it’s important to understand the full context of the content we have viewed before reaching conclusions, so I’m very eager to review available video footage and the circumstances that preceded and occurred during that incident,” says McKendell.
Delaware Governor Matt Meyer is also weighing in on this confrontation.
He released the following statement to Action News:
“Every law-enforcement officer is entrusted with a duty to protect, to serve, and to uphold the dignity and rights of every person, in every community. Policing relies on trust. That trust is not automatic; it is earned every day through mutual respect, integrity and transparency. The people of Delaware deserve transparency, and this administration will not turn away from that responsibility.”
Hopkins was later charged with assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest; driving without a license, endangering the welfare of children and other registration violations.
State police did not mention the current status of the trooper.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Watch the votes take place for the future of the Montchanin inn
Watch the New Castle County Board of Adjustment vote on whether the historic Inn at Montchanin should become a new neuro-rehab site, Dec. 18, 2025.
A medical group that wanted to create a brain injury rehabilitation center at the Inn at Montchanin Village & Spa but was denied by New Castle County’s Board of Adjustment has found a new location in Delaware City.
Delaware NeuroRehab has purchased the two-story Tilton Building at Fort DuPont, a facility that had been part of the Governor Bacon Health Center. The building has been listed for $3.15 million.
A subdivision was approved by the Delaware City Council in April.
The site at 2546 Colter Road will become the state’s first comprehensive post-acute inpatient brain injury rehabilitation center, according to the medical group. It will serve individuals recovering from traumatic brain injuries, strokes, neurological disorders, and other acquired brain injuries.
Construction and renovation for the 57,000-square-foot facility will begin soon, the group’s spokeswoman said. The 28-bed rehabilitation center is scheduled to open in 2027.
The historic Fort DuPont campus is along the Delaware River and the C&D Canal. The land had been a military installation dating back to the Civil War and is named for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, a Civil War Naval hero. It became a training facility until the end of World War II.
Fort DuPont was acquired by the state in 1947 and hosted the Governor Bacon Health Center. In 1992, it became part of the state park system.
Plans for the 219-acre site include new homes, shops, and gathering spaces while preserving and adapting many of the former military buildings dating back to the 19th century.
The Tilton Building was originally constructed in 1909 and reconstructed in 1936 following a fire, according to a brochure from Emory Hill, a commercial real estate and property management group. It served as the barracks for the First Regiment of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stationed at Fort DuPont. The building housed up to 628 enlisted men and supported the regiment’s engineering operations at the fort.
Later, it was a hospital for children and elderly patients. It was named for Dr. James Tilton, a Delaware physician and the first surgeon general of the U.S. after the Revolutionary War in 1948. The medical facility closed in the 1990s.
Last summer, Delaware NeuroRehab, which has outpatient locations in Dover, Newark, and Lewes, revealed plans to purchase the historic Inn at Montchanin Village & Spa from LeDee Lickle Wakefield, an owner and trustee. The upscale hotel, owned by descendants of the du Pont family, is on a triangle-shaped plot bounded by Route 100 and Kirk and Rockland roads.
In July 2025, an attorney representing Haresh Sampathkumar of Delaware NeuroRehab Inpatient LLC contacted New Castle County’s Board of Adjustment and said the doctor planned to buy the historic Inn, which, in the mid-19th century, was home to laborers who worked at the nearby DuPont Co. powder mills and at Winterthur estate. Wakefield’s parents turned the site into a hotel in the early 1990s.
Sampathkumar wanted to repurpose the historic Inn at Montchanin, located about 10 miles northwest of Wilmington, as a 34-bed short-term recovery facility that would have provided brain-injured patients with physical, occupational, speech, and other rehabilitation services.
Sampathkumar said the rehabilitation center was needed and filled a gap in care for patients who often must leave the state to receive specialized post-acute rehabilitation services.
The doctor said he had no plans to change the exterior of the buildings on the site, other than installing ramps that would have made them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said the 76-seat Krazy Kat’s restaurant, open since 1996 in a former blacksmith shop, and the Inn’s spa, located in a stone barn on the property, would continue to operate.
Delaware NeuroRehab needed a variance from the county Board of Adjustment because the more than 4-acre site is slightly smaller than the 5 acres required for an institutional residential building.
Residents of the affluent Montchanin area, which has million-dollar homes, opposed the plan, while the county’s Land Use Department had recommended its approval. The Board of Adjustment voted against the plan, with one member citing the property was too small for its planned use. The variance was denied in December 2025.
The Inn at Montchanin Village & Spa and the Krazy Kat’s restaurant went back on the market for $7 million this past February. According to a July 9 listing, it is still for sale. The listing said to contact the broker for the current sale price.
The Delaware City location for the Delaware NeuroRehab has the same goals as what were proposed for the Inn at the Montchanin site. Delaware NeuroRehab said the new rehabilitation center will provide an intensive program designed to help patients gain independence and transition back into their homes, communities, and workplaces.
“Too many Delaware families are forced to travel out of state during one of the most difficult times in their lives,” said Sampathkumar, founder and medical director of Delaware NeuroRehab, in a prepared statement. “Our vision is to provide nationally recognized brain injury rehabilitation close to home, allowing patients to recover while remaining connected to their families, caregivers, and support systems, and ultimately return to meaningful daily activities including work.”
The project is expected to create more than 60 healthcare and support positions.
Patricia Talorico writes about food, restaurants and Delaware history. You can find her on Instagram, X and Facebook. Email ptalorico@delawareonline.com. Sign up for her Delaware Eats newsletter.
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