Delaware
Delaware's Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester unveils agriculture plan with a focus on the future – 47abc
DELAWARE – Delaware’s lone House Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester is unveiling a new plan to support agriculture across the First State. Rep. Blunt Rochester tells WMDT that the ideas for the plan came from Delawareans. She heard from them as she traveled on her Delivering For Delaware tour.
Farmers Facing Pressure
The Congresswoman says farmers face many pressures. They include supply chain challenges and the threat of diseases like highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Those in the agriculture industry also deal with a changing climate and razor-thin margins in a tight economy.
One in four Delawareans live in rural areas. Rep. Blunt Rochester says coming up with creative solutions to tackle the challenges that many of them face is crucial.
“We’ve seen a decline in our family farms. In Delaware, I think it’s about 90% of our farms are family farms. We want to continue supporting them,” Rep. Blunt Rochester said. “It’s farming, but it’s also biotech; it’s also finding new cures for things. That’s all part of agriculture.”
Protecting Producers
Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse agrees that those challenges are mounting, especially involving the supply chain.
“We really need to make sure that we are able to get adequate products and supplies from foreign countries where we’re importing nitrogen, potash, and other things for our producers,” Secretary Scuse said. “Better managing our supply chain to help ensure that we don’t have those disruptions is extremely important to everyone, not just producers.”
Sometimes farmers are faced with even tougher challenges, like losses of animals from diseases such as HPAI. Secretary Scuse says protecting producers is vital.
“When contract growers get hit with [HPAI], they’re not the ones that receive the compensation. Yes, they’ll be compensated for cleaning up their facilities, but it’s lost revenue for those producers,” Secretary Scuse said.
Community Care Means Farmers’ Success
However, Rep. Blunt Rochester says supporting farmers off of the fields is equally as important.
The Congresswoman’s agriculture plan urges more resources for housing, health care, lower utility costs, increasing education, and delivering the latest in technology to rural communities.
“Making sure that we’re paying attention to what we’ve done but also what we can do, that’s what this plan is all about,” Rep. Blunt Rochester said. “As we look towards the future, and look towards the present, we’ve got to make sure that we’re using all of the tools at our disposal.”
The need to increase access to technology is growing just as fast as the innovation itself is progressing, says Secretary Scuse.
“Today’s agriculture world is high-tech. We are very reliant now on high-speed internet at all of our farms,” Secretary Scuse said. “We have planters now that are relying on GPS to go straight across the field to change plant populations, to change nutrient loads on different areas of the field as needed.”
Inspiring the Next Generation
All of these efforts, Rep. Blunt Rochester says, inform the way that Delaware will support its next generation of farmers. And extending that attention to the younger generations is key in that work, she says.
The Congresswoman points to farm-to-table programs, and innovative projects like vertical farming in First State schools, primary to higher education. Rep. Blunt Rochester is also touting her success in securing Congressional community project funding to bring the Delaware State Fair’s 4H and Future Farmers of America facility up to speed.
And, the Food Bank of Delaware’s work in growing fresh produce and serving it to the hungry is another creative solution, says the Congresswoman. Other important efforts, she says, include inspiring and enabling urban communities to connect agriculture.
“Our goal is to encourage [young people], to inform them, and to educate them about what the possibilities are, and really to make it fun and cool,” Rep. Blunt Rochester said. “We tried to look at the whole continuum, from little kids all the way up to our current farmers, to make sure that they have the resources they need, as well.”
Secretary Scuse says it will be extremely important to continue inspiring the younger generations. Part of that is helping them to see that farming isn’t just about sowing seeds and tending livestock. Agriculture is also dependent on non-production jobs, from biotechnology to aeronautics.
“You could run the whole list and there’s probably an area in agriculture that fits in,” Secretary Scuse said. “We need our brightest and best minds to continue in these areas that are actually going to help production agriculture.”
Collaborating on Capitol Hill
Looking ahead, Rep. Blunt Rochester says collaborating with other lawmakers on Capitol Hill is going to be vital to pushing these efforts forward. The Congresswoman is the first person from the state of Delaware to serve on the House Agriculture Committee in 120 years.
And, Rep. Blunt Rochester says she’s seen first-hand how agriculture touches so many lives. The Congresswoman recounts an incident in line at the grocery store in which she noticed a father with three children replacing a bag of grapes that rang up at $9.
“It shook me to my core, and it made me realize that I can do something,” Rep. Blunt Rochester said. “Every single one of us is impacted by agriculture in this country and in this state, and [it relates to] the focus on keeping the costs of goods down so people can afford them.”
To download and read Rep. Blunt Rochester’s agriculture plan, click here.
WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) — The family of Kadir Skinner is calling for criminal charges against the police officer who shot the 19-year-old after the release of officer body camera footage that attorneys say contradicts the police account of the incident.
The shooting happened June 24 after 11 p.m. at 24th and Jessup streets.
Calls grow for body cam video in deadly Wilmington police shooting
Body camera video shows an officer drawing and firing his weapon while yelling commands. In the footage, officers can be heard saying, “He’s got a gun,” as they approach Skinner, who is on the ground.
Skinner repeatedly tells officers he is unarmed and says he cannot breathe.
“I don’t got nothing. I don’t got nothing,” Skinner says in the video.
Footage shows officers handcuffing Skinner and kneeling on him while he continues to say, “I don’t got nothing. I can’t breathe.”
Skinner was shot in the rear.
READ MORE | ‘We need answers’: Family disputes details after man killed in Wilmington police shooting
A second body camera angle shows a crowd forming as officers instruct people to back up.
Video from a third responding officer appears to show an officer picking something up from the grass and returning toward the crowd and the officers with Skinner.
In the footage, an officer can be heard saying, “Secure the gun,” and the officer wearing the body cam says, “I have it.”
Attorneys for Skinner’s family, along with family members and community supporters, gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church in Wilmington following the release of the video to demand justice.
“Regardless if he had a gun or not, he was still shot in the back, running from police, not having been a threat,” attorney Harry Daniels said.
SEE ALSO | Family releases witness video after 19-year-old fatally shot by police in Wilmington
Attorney Chance Lynch said the footage showed “an unjustified killing.”
“What we saw and what we witnessed was an unjustified killing,” Lynch said.
Attorneys for the family contend the video disputes the police version of events. Wilmington police previously said Skinner came out of a home armed and waved a gun at a crowd before officers opened fire.
“The video that I saw, I didn’t see a crowd, and I did not see Kadir coming out of a residence. I did not see a crowd, and I did not see Kadir pointing a firearm at a crowd,” Lynch said.
Attorneys and the family maintain that Skinner was running from a loose dog.
The family also announced a $25 million claim against the city of Wilmington for wrongful death. They are seeking criminal charges against the officer who shot Skinner.
The Delaware Department of Justice is investigating.
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Delmarva Power objects to applying legislation to interim rate
The debate among commissioners over the breadth of their oversight on utility rates comes as the company has pushed back on the group, limiting its interim rate increase to half of its total request, even while it faced criticism from commissioners that it is “cruel” and “tone deaf” for continuing to press for rate hikes.
Delmarva Power, an investor-owned utility, serves 344,000 residential and nonresidential customers in the state. Its parent company, Exelon Corporation, is the nation’s largest regulated electric and gas utility.
Its customers pay a supply and a delivery charge for gas and electricity. The supply of energy comes from PJM Interconnection, a regional grid serving Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and several other states. Delmarva Power profits through the distribution fee.
Delmarva Power Region President Marcus Beal said they need to file rate hike requests to recoup money it spends on improving and maintaining the infrastructure.
“Our equipment is extremely expensive, the items that we buy, the transformers, they’re very large, complex things to build,” Beal said. “Even something as simple as a treated pole of a certain size can be very pricey, so we spend a lot of money on the grid itself.”
Under Delaware law, interim rates can be approved seven months after a rate case is filed, while the full petition is being considered by the commission. Prior to the legislation, 100% of the rate request could be implemented. The bill caps interim rates at 50% and allows 75% of the ask to go into effect after 12 months. The bill also puts limits on Delmarva Power’s infrastructure spending.
Delmarva Power spokesperson Matt Ford said the commission overstepped its authority to cut the interim rate as much as they did and the company has argued in its PSC submissions that SB 326 did not apply to the rate increase request filed in December because it had yet to be signed into law. Meyer said he signed the bill Monday.
“Delmarva Power further reserves its objections to the applicability of the legislation, should it become effective, including its impermissible retroactive application,” the utility company said in comments filed Monday afternoon with the commission.
In addition, Delmarva Power has objected to halving $23.2 million in distribution system improvement charges as part of the interim rate commissioners approved. The fee allows utility companies to recover project costs and depreciation between full rate case proceedings.
“My suggestion is, if you don’t like it, appeal it,” Iorii said.
It’s unclear whether the utility plans to appeal the order. Ford said they were reviewing it and its implications.
Tweedie said he hopes they decide not to appeal.
“If they appeal this, what they are essentially saying is, ‘We want to extract more money from our customers than the commission intended to allow,’” he said.
Delaware State Police have identified the man who was struck and killed by a vehicle while lying on the roadway in Harrington, Delaware.
On Monday, July 13, 2026, Jimmy Burgess, 62, was struck by a Chevrolet Silverado driving westbound near the 1500 block of Whiteleysburg Road.
According to police, the Silverado, which was operated by a 17-year-old boy from Milton, Delaware, was unable to stop once he saw Burgess on the road, striking him. The driver of the Silverado was not injured during the crash.
Burgess was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, said police.
The roadway was closed for approximately three hours while the scene was investigated and cleared.
The Delaware State Police Troop 3 Collison Reconstruction Unit continues to investigate this crash.
Troopers ask anyone with information about the crash contact Sergeant M. Long at (302) 698-8518.
Information can also be provided by sending a private Facebook message to the Delaware State Police, or by contacting Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-(800) 847-3333
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