Delaware
Governor Carney Releases Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board Report – State of Delaware News
WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney, on Monday, released the eighth annual report of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board. Governor Carney established GEAR under Executive Order #4 in February 2017 to identify ways for state government to sustain its culture of continuous improvement. Specifically, GEAR aims to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of public services, while reducing costs.
“One of my first actions as Governor was to establish GEAR as an ongoing effort to contain government spending growth, improve the effectiveness of our service delivery, and better meet the needs of the citizens we serve,” said Governor Carney. “Over the past eight years, GEAR has played a crucial role in saving money and promoting a culture of continuous improvement across state government. Delaware residents and businesses have seen the benefits of their hard work.”
More than 100 practitioners from 23 state organizations are executing projects within a portfolio of 147 initiatives to improve efficiency. The savings from this work are estimated to total $101 million over the life of projects underway.
The report highlights key accomplishments and ongoing efforts across state government in 2024, including:
- Saving taxpayer dollars by restructuring leases, establishing a state land use inventory, streamlining the process of registering trade names, modernizing the client experience at State Service Centers, expanding broadband access across Delaware, enrolling more school libraries in the Delaware Library Catalog and Consortium, modernizing the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program with digital payments, optimizing long-term care delivery, and continuing to streamline financial, human resource, criminal justice, and information technology systems.
- Recognizing state employees who do this innovative and cost-saving work through the GEAR P3 Innovation and Efficiency and Trailblazer Award programs.
- Modernizing our public schools through EdGEAR, focusing on student enrollment, school finance, and unit count information systems.
- Recruiting and retaining professionals who specialize in this work by establishing job classifications for project managers, business process analysts, change management specialists, and specialists in continuous improvement.
The 2024 Annual Report also provides policy and budgetary recommendations aimed at continuing government efficiency and accountability initiatives.
“With more than 150 state employees engaging in training, practicing Lean philosophy methods, and working on projects as part of GEAR across Delaware Government – the Carney administration built a very strong foundation for driving greater efficiency and effectiveness, and sustaining a culture of continuous improvement”, said the GEAR Program Management Team led by Charles Clark and Daniel Madrid, Executive Director and Deputy Director of GEAR respectively and Bryan Sullivan, OMB’s Director of Management Efficiency. “Now we are poised to accelerate these efforts and achieve even greater measurable outcomes. GEAR looks forward to continuing these efforts with the guidance of a new Governor and his Cabinet, the Chief Justice, State Treasurer, Controller General and other members of the GEAR Board as the State strives to continue to support an adaptive, highly effective, and efficient Delaware State government for generations to come.”
GEAR’s accomplishments were recently included in Results for America’s “2024 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence,” a nationally recognized state benchmarking program.
Related Topics: GEAR, GEAR Board, Government Efficiency and Accountability Review Board
Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.
Here you can subscribe to future news updates.
WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney, on Monday, released the eighth annual report of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board. Governor Carney established GEAR under Executive Order #4 in February 2017 to identify ways for state government to sustain its culture of continuous improvement. Specifically, GEAR aims to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of public services, while reducing costs.
“One of my first actions as Governor was to establish GEAR as an ongoing effort to contain government spending growth, improve the effectiveness of our service delivery, and better meet the needs of the citizens we serve,” said Governor Carney. “Over the past eight years, GEAR has played a crucial role in saving money and promoting a culture of continuous improvement across state government. Delaware residents and businesses have seen the benefits of their hard work.”
More than 100 practitioners from 23 state organizations are executing projects within a portfolio of 147 initiatives to improve efficiency. The savings from this work are estimated to total $101 million over the life of projects underway.
The report highlights key accomplishments and ongoing efforts across state government in 2024, including:
- Saving taxpayer dollars by restructuring leases, establishing a state land use inventory, streamlining the process of registering trade names, modernizing the client experience at State Service Centers, expanding broadband access across Delaware, enrolling more school libraries in the Delaware Library Catalog and Consortium, modernizing the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program with digital payments, optimizing long-term care delivery, and continuing to streamline financial, human resource, criminal justice, and information technology systems.
- Recognizing state employees who do this innovative and cost-saving work through the GEAR P3 Innovation and Efficiency and Trailblazer Award programs.
- Modernizing our public schools through EdGEAR, focusing on student enrollment, school finance, and unit count information systems.
- Recruiting and retaining professionals who specialize in this work by establishing job classifications for project managers, business process analysts, change management specialists, and specialists in continuous improvement.
The 2024 Annual Report also provides policy and budgetary recommendations aimed at continuing government efficiency and accountability initiatives.
“With more than 150 state employees engaging in training, practicing Lean philosophy methods, and working on projects as part of GEAR across Delaware Government – the Carney administration built a very strong foundation for driving greater efficiency and effectiveness, and sustaining a culture of continuous improvement”, said the GEAR Program Management Team led by Charles Clark and Daniel Madrid, Executive Director and Deputy Director of GEAR respectively and Bryan Sullivan, OMB’s Director of Management Efficiency. “Now we are poised to accelerate these efforts and achieve even greater measurable outcomes. GEAR looks forward to continuing these efforts with the guidance of a new Governor and his Cabinet, the Chief Justice, State Treasurer, Controller General and other members of the GEAR Board as the State strives to continue to support an adaptive, highly effective, and efficient Delaware State government for generations to come.”
GEAR’s accomplishments were recently included in Results for America’s “2024 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence,” a nationally recognized state benchmarking program.
Related Topics: GEAR, GEAR Board, Government Efficiency and Accountability Review Board
Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.
Here you can subscribe to future news updates.
NEWARK, Del. (AP) — Christian Bliss’ 19 points helped Delaware defeat Kennesaw State 67-52 on Sunday.
Bliss also added eight rebounds and seven assists for the Fightin’ Blue Hens (5-9, 1-2 Conference USA). Tyler Houser scored 19 points while shooting 7 for 9, including 3 for 5 from beyond the arc. Justyn Fernandez had 10 points and shot 5 of 16 from the field.
Simeon Cottle led the way for the Owls (8-6, 0-3) with 16 points and seven assists. Kennesaw State also got 11 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and four blocks from Braedan Lue. Ramone Seals had 11 points.
Delaware took the lead for good with 2:43 remaining in the first half. The score was 29-22 at halftime, with Houser racking up nine points. Bliss scored 15 points in the second half to help lead the way as Delaware went on to secure a victory, outscoring Kennesaw State by eight points in the second half.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
So who – or what – is Pretty Eddie?
The namesake of the new corner market in downtown Wilmington is a mustachioed bell pepper.
Everything from smash burgers and Caribbean curry bowls to protein-packed meals and low-alcohol drinks is what the National Restaurant Association predicts will be among the hot culinary trends in 2026.
The association’s What’s Hot Culinary Forecast highlights trends set to shape America’s menus.
The 2026 report shows that diners are craving fusions of past trends and modern flavors.
They say diners will be seeking out local sourcing, comfort foods, value menus, smash burgers, allergen-friendly menus, and adding protein to drinks like smoothies and foods such as pancakes
With that in mind, here are some new restaurants and food businesses on the horizon that are expected to open in 2026 and may be embracing these trends as they launch:
Dixie’s Down Home Cooking, 2 N. Main St., Smyrna. A Facebook post said that the restaurant, which will be open at 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday and with a brunch service on Sunday, is coming in February. It’s the former site of the short-lived Inn at Duck Creek at Smyrna’s famed Four Corners. Comfort food seems likely.
Lefty’s Alley & Eats, the restaurant-bowling alley-arcade in Lewes, will open a second location in Newark in June 2026. The exterior of the 55,000-square-foot building, near the University of Delaware at The Grove, is complete and interior construction is ongoing, a news release said.
The Surf Bagel chain is opening a store in Churchmans Place shopping near Christiana Hospital in spring 2026. This will mark the seventh location for the Delaware-based chain. The Stanton-area store at 1103 Churchmans Road is taking over the site of the former Fuego Peri Peri Grill, which closed this past April after operating for three years.
Karma’s Korner is a cafe and grocery that Katie Kutler, owner of kaffé Karma in Greenville, announced on Instagram that she is creating in Wilmington’s Forty Acres neighborhood. It’s in the former Ciro Forty Acres space. Karma’s Korner will serve coffee, bagels, breakfast sandwiches, pastries, baguettes, healthy to-go meals, salads, juices kombucha and more. Stay tuned. Visit Instagram and Katie Kutler’s health and wellness YouTube channel for updates.
Bubba’s 33, a family-style restaurant with smash burgers (!), pizzas, wings and salads, will replace the old TGIFridays on Concord Pike that closed in August after 34 years. Its targeted date is spring 2026. Bubba’s 33 was founded in 2013 by Kent Taylor, the founder of Texas Roadhouse. It has locations in Maryland and New Jersey.
La Pizzeria Metro in the Town of Whitehall near Middletown is coming soon. It’s a spinoff of the Tumolo family’s La Pizzeria Metro off Miller Road. The new restaurant will have state-of-the-art pizza ovens for making wood-fired and New York-style pizza. The family is making pasta and gelato. Artisan sandwiches and salads also will be on the menu, along with beer and wine. Tumolos also operate Cafe Riviera in the Concord Mall.
A sign touting Casa Kahlo Mexican Grill & Bar has been posted outside of the closed Colbie’s Southern Kissed Chicken off Route 7 between Border Cafe and Royal Farms, which opened in September 2021. There’s a Casa Kahlo in the Newark Shopping Center. We reached out to the restaurant for more information and didn’t immediately receive a return call.
The first Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in Delaware is planning to open in mid-January at 645 S. Ridge Road in Middletown, said franchise owner Jason Ingermanson. The 3,013-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru is in front of Kohl’s along Middletown-Warwick Road, next to Chick-fil-A. Freddy’s specializes in steakburgers with patties “pressed thin to create deliciously crispy edges,” according to the company website. Frozen custard is similar to ice cream but it includes egg yolks and is churned slowly so less air is whipped into the mixture, making it denser.
In Middletown, Primo Hoagies is listed as “coming soon” on the company’s website at 1615 Lake Seymour Drive behind Kohl’s off of Middletown-Warwick Road. A spokesperson at the corporate office said an opening date hasn’t been set when reached by phone on Dec. 29. Founded in 1992 in “South Philly,” the hoagie and cheesesteak chain has grown to more than 130 locations, mostly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with two in Delaware in Claymont and Wilmington. The menu also includes chicken cutlet sandwiches and the “Schwartzie” with corned beef, roast beef or turkey with Swiss cheese, coleslaw and Russian dressing.
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At the Northside shopping center in Middletown in front of Target, five restaurants are planned in three buildings near Middletown-Warwick Road. The sites are expected to be finished and open by April, said Pat Gallagher, executive vice president at Metro Commercial real estate.
Honeygrow and Paris Baguette are coming to the building south of Popeyes. Honeygrow started in Philadelphia, with a focus on healthy, simple foods with stir-fry bowls, salads and fruit desserts. The company has 60 restaurants in nine states, with three in Delaware, according to a July 7 report by Restaurant Business website. Paris Baguette is an international bakery and café with more than 4,000 locations, but just over 200 in the U.S., according to the Chain Store Age website. The chain doesn’t have any other Delaware locations, according to the company’s website. Paris Baguette sells whole cakes along with pastries, breads, doughnuts, sandwiches, wraps and hot and cold beverages.
Next door, First Watch and Qdoba will be opening in the Northside shopping center in the building near Doc Levinson Drive and Dash-In. First Watch is a breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant with more than 600 restaurants in 32 states including six in Delaware. Qdoba is a Mexican restaurant with 861 sites including four in Delaware.
In a third new Northside building in Middletown, Tropical Smoothie Café is the first business planned in a strip of stores with more than 16,000 square feet next to PetSmart and Sprouts near Middletown-Warwick Road. The restaurant serves smoothies, sandwiches, wraps, salads and bowls with fruits, nuts, granola and yogurt at more than 1,500 restaurants including seven in Delaware.
Wing Stop and Smoothie King are coming to the new Levels Crossing shopping center in Middletown on Middletown-Warwick Road at Levels Crossing Road, across from Royal Farms. Those businesses should be opening in the spring, said Andy Fox, partner at DSM Commercial, a real estate and construction management company. Wing Stop serves chicken wings, tenders and sandwiches in a variety of flavors with sides like fries and cajun fried corn. The company has 2,353 restaurants with seven in Delaware as of Oct. 6. As the name implies, Smoothie King specializes in smoothies made with fruits and vegetables, iced coffees, bowls with fruits, granola and toppings and toast with fruits, avocado or hard-boiled eggs. The company has more than 1,300 restaurants with two in Delaware.
In Camden, south of Dover, the Oishii Sushi Hibachi & Bar is planning to open any day now, according to its Facebook page as of Dec. 29. The restaurant’s address is 386 Walmart Drive #1 near Dollar Tree in the Camden Town Center with Walmart off of Route 13 South. The staff plans to offer “a warm, modern dining experience,” featuring “New York City-level sushi craftsmanship,” “fresh ingredients” and “beautiful plating.”
In September, a final site plan for a Cook Out restaurant was approved for 22928 Sussex Highway in Seaford. The Cook Out menu features burgers, barbecue, hot dogs and milkshakes in 40 flavors. It originated in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1989 and now has over 300 stores in six states. The only other Delmarva location is in Salisbury, Maryland. When Cook Out will open is unknown; the company did not return requests for more information.
Signage for Cape Deli has been up at the former Kaisy’s Delights location on Savannah Road in Lewes for some time. A helped-wanted advertisement said the restaurant was expected to open in December. The ad called the restaurant a “full service ‘East Coast-style’ deli and bakery.’
Pizza Machine, owned by the Dewey Beer Co. team, is opening a second location in the Safeway shopping center, off Coastal Highway in Rehoboth Beach. The space was formerly home to Hammy’s.
The menu will be similar to the Harbeson location, but the pizza will be “classic style” rather than wood-fired, Dewey Beer Co. spokesman Harrison Albert said. The restaurant also will offer a specialty beer menu that includes Dewey Beer and other craft breweries, according to Albert. It was also expected to open by the end of the 2025.
Eden restaurant, which has had a home on Rehoboth Beach’s Baltimore Avenue for more than two decades, is moving and will reopen in the space of Red, White & Basil at 20200 Coastal Highway in Rehoboth, over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. The last night of service at Eden’s current location will be New Year’s Eve 2025.
JAM Bistro, a longtime Rehoboth favorite which was open for 14 years on Baltimore Avenue, is coming to the former Coho’s Market space at 305 Rehoboth Ave.
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. Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Facebook. Ben Mace covers real estate and development news. Reach him at rmace@gannett.com.
US military seizes Venezuela’s Maduro in ‘large scale’ operation
The United States seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an overnight military operation.
Delaware’s congressional delegation condemned the overnight military strikes in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3.
Following the capture of Venezuela’s president and his wife, President Donald Trump told reporters the U.S. would “run” Venezuela.
Trump didn’t rule out having the military contribute to running the country, but said U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will run the country alongside Venezuelan leaders, USA TODAY reported.
Rubio said the administration did not notify members of Congress about the strike ahead of time.
Trump stated Maduro and his wife will be taken to New York to face charges of drug trafficking in an indictment.
Delaware’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, expressed criticism of the Trump administration’s actions and questioned the legal authority to intervene without congressional approval.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, called the military action “incoherent” and an “illegal” operation in a statement on Jan. 3, criticizing the Trump administration for not notifying members of Congress until after the strike had concluded.
“The Trump administration owes our country transparency and a clear strategy,” Coons said in the statement. “The administration must promptly brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in Venezuela and the region, its legal basis for this action, and its plans for any further use of military force. Our Constitution requires the administration to seek congressional approval, in the form of an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, before they take any further action to commit U.S. troops or take military strikes against Venezuela.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester said in a statement on social media that the president carried out the operation without congressional approval because he knew Congress wouldn’t approve it.
“If this continues, nothing stops him from sending American troops around the world to carry out his own reckless foreign policy decisions, which thus far have already negatively impacted our standing on the global stage and continue to erode further the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution,” Blunt Rochester said in the statement.
“The administration must immediately brief Congress on its legal justification for this decision and its plan going forward,” Blunt Rochester added. “Congress must take action on Senator Kaine’s bipartisan war powers resolution to prevent further escalation.”
In a statement on X, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride said the Trump administration routinely ignores the Constitution and misleads Congress.
“I have fidelity to our Constitution even if I do not have sympathy for Nicolás Maduro,” McBride stated.
McBride criticized the actions. “At a minimum, these individual actions legally and substantively demand Congressional action and public consultation,” she said on X. “But collectively, the military operations we have seen in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and, now, on land in Venezuela, present a significant escalation of unilateral action that betrays a larger goal by this administration. Beyond arguments for or against any individual action, the Trump Administration is clearly seeking to remake the global order in a way that will, ultimately, benefit authoritarians and adversaries.”
“Our values and principles as a nation matter most when we have seemingly altruistic reasons to violate them. I oppose a ‘might makes right in my neighborhood’ foreign policy. It is amoral, illegal, dangerous, and lays the foundation for bad actors like Russia and China,” she added.
Coons added in his statements that the president lacks a clear plan for what comes next for Venezuela.
“This raid risks creating more instability in the region, putting U.S. service members and civilians in the hemisphere at risk, and dividing us further from our regional partners,” he said.
Sophia Voight is a growth and development reporter. Reach her with feedback and story tips at svoight@delawareonline.com.
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