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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.

Abortion insurance coverage

A new law requires most private health insurance plans, state-regulated plans and Delaware’s Medicaid insurance program to cover abortions and related health care.

Health insurers are required to cover up to $750 for abortion services, which state lawmakers said should fully cover the cost of care for most patients.

There is an exemption for churches, religious businesses and employers to seek a waiver from the new requirements.

Insurance coverage for abortion begins Jan. 1 for people enrolled in Medicaid. Coverage for people with other types of health insurance plans will begin the following year, on Jan. 1, 2026.

New Jersey

Medical debt consumer protections

Parts of the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act already took effect this past summer, and more consumer protections are scheduled to kick in this coming July.

Right now, people in New Jersey who have unpaid bills and debt from hospital stays, health procedures and other kinds of care will not see their credit scores impacted as they figure out how to pay off their debt or dispute charges.

“Medical debt is incurred involuntarily, and it can result in exponential economic harms,” said Laura Waddell, health care program director at New Jersey Citizen Action. “So it wasn’t like, ‘Should we work on this?’ It was, ‘We have to work on this.’”

Debt collectors can no longer report a person’s medical debt to credit bureaus and agencies, which determine a person’s credit score. If someone’s score drops because of their medical debt, they may find it more difficult to secure a car loan, get approved for an apartment rental, apply for credit cards and even get a job.

If a bill collector does report a person’s medical debt to a credit bureau or agency in violation of the new state law, the amount of debt that is reported is voided, meaning, the patient will no longer have to pay it.

Beginning this July, all notices to patients about medical debt and billing must also notify them of their rights and new consumer protections. Interest on medical debt will be capped at 3% and debt collectors will be banned from using wage garnishment — when a portion of a person’s paycheck is withheld to pay off debt — for people earning up to 600% of the Federal Poverty Level, which is about $90,360 a year for a single person, or $187,200 for a family of four.

Waddell said the new consumer protections may not apply to people who are using medical credit cards to pay for services, copays and other charges (these are different from debit cards used for Health Savings Accounts).

Efforts to reduce the burdens of medical debt and regulate collection practices even more is ongoing, Waddell said.

“In the coming year, we want to try to bring more protections so that these aggressive debt collection practices, really try and curb some of those,” she said.

Postpartum health care planning

Later this spring, health care providers will be required to make a care plan with pregnant patients and new mothers for the postpartum period, which is a time after when women can experience complications after labor and delivery.

These postpartum care plans must include the review of future health care appointments; recommended testing or procedures for any ongoing health issues; guidance on the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression, anxiety and other mental health needs; breastfeeding support services; contraception options; and recommendations for other common postpartum health issues.

Plans and guidance must also be offered to patients who’ve experienced stillbirth and pregnancy loss.

Delmarva Power has reformatted its bills to make them easier to understand.

The new design started in November for all of the utility’s hundreds of thousands of residential and commercial customers in Delaware.

Zach Chizar, a senior communications specialist, said the redesign is based on feedback from customer focus groups. “It’s all about how to understand the bill better, in a visual approach,” he said.

The most dramatic addition, at the top right of the first page, is a colorful ring-shaped chart that splits the bill into delivery, electric supply, and (if used) gas supply.

Delmarva, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Exelon, the nation’s largest utility company, is only in the delivery business and does not generate power, he noted.

Some text on the top left of the first page adds a new breakdown of the monthly charges: total delivery, electric delivery, gas delivery, electric supply, and gas supply. By contrast, the old bill only listed electric and gas charges.

The amount due, below these breakdowns, is in more prominent type.

The new bill drops the bar charts covering daily electricity and gas usage. It refers customers to the  utility’s website, where they can already see usage broken down by the hour for their account.

The sample bill that Delmarva posts on its website runs four pages, down from a typical five for an electric and gas customer.

In another customer-friendly move, Delmarva recently opened its call centers on Saturday mornings to handle the number of calls it gets. “No one enjoys being on hold,” Chizar said.

(A helpful landing page titled “Understanding my bill” might answer questions.)

The new design generated some grumbling on social media. “They always just add extra charges and make it too confusing to figure out,” one post complained.

There are no new charges and no delivery rate increases involved now, Chizar said, noting that the cost of gas and electricity varies.