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Remembering former Wilmington City Council President Ted Blunt

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Remembering former Wilmington City Council President Ted Blunt


Top leaders throughout Delaware offered their condolences and memories following the death of Ted Blunt, former council president and member of Wilmington City Council for 24 years. Blunt was 80 years old.

“Wilmington lost one of its greatest leaders and public servants,” said current Council President Trippi Congo. “Wilmington lost one of its greatest leaders and public servants … Throughout his political career, he always kept his feet humbly on the ground and his heart rooted in his beloved city.”

Congo pointed to Blunt’s achievements, which included making scholarships available for students citywide, extending hours at community centers and securing funding to help “at-risk” students. He was also remembered as a family man who was “larger than life,” Congo said.

Blunt stood by his daughter’s side on election night in November 2016 as Lisa Blunt Rochester became the first woman and first Black representative to serve Delaware in the U.S. House.

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“My heart is broken at the passing of my father, my hero, and my inspiration,” Blunt Rochester said in a post on social media. “Dad was an educator, mentor, leader, and friend to so many. My family asks for your grace, prayers, and privacy as we mourn his loss.”

Before his political career, Blunt was a star athlete who played college basketball at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, back when it was called Winston-Salem Teachers College. He was the 1963 CIAA Tournament MVP and named to the all-conference team three seasons. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, he  tried out for the U.S. Olympic team in 1964.

In a virtual reception President Biden hosted for Blunt  in October 2022, Biden recognized Blunt for his sports skills.

“Ted, you and I have known each other for a long time,” Biden said. “You were a significant public official, but you’re also probably one of the best college basketball players in history. Not a joke.  He was an all-American.”

The Biden-Blunt connection is deep in part because one of Ted’s other daughters, Marla Blunt Carter, served as project manager and director of constituent services for Biden during part of his years in the U.S. Senate.

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“But this guy — not only can he play ball—  the reason his daughters have this kind of, I don’t know, spark to change the world is because he did that too,” Biden said during a Black History Month event at the White House last February.

Blunt’s third daughter took a different path than politics but has been no less successful. Thea Blunt Fowler is an engineer who spent 25 years at the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Test Center. She’s now project manager at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations in Atlanta.

It was that family connection that U.S Sen. Chris Coons remembered as one of Blunt’s greatest attributes.

“Ted Blunt helped me believe it was possible to be in politics and still not lose sight of what matters to you the most: your family,” Coons said. “Ted confronted each moment, big or small, with his infectious smile and determination to accomplish what was just and necessary for the greater good.”



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Delaware

Delaware state police trooper killed in active shooter incident at DMV facility; suspect also dead

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Delaware state police trooper killed in active shooter incident at DMV facility; suspect also dead


This story originally appeared on 6abc.

Delaware state police say a trooper was killed in what officials said was an active shooter situation at a DMV facility in New Castle on Tuesday afternoon.

The suspect in this incident is also dead, Gov. Matt Meyer said.

State police said they are “are continuing to assess additional injuries.” There is no official word yet on the exact number of people injured.

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Police say the active shooter incident is now over.

The incident happened around 2 p.m. at the facility on Hessler Boulevard.

No further details have been made available.

Police are asking residents to avoid the area.

Stay with Action News and 6abc.com as this story develops.

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Delaware

2 hurt after car crashes into building in Talleyville, Delaware

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2 hurt after car crashes into building in Talleyville, Delaware


Two people were hurt after a car crashed into a building in Talleyville, Delaware, Monday morning.

The incident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. along the 100 block of Brandywine Boulevard. Police said a woman was driving a light-colored vehicle when she somehow lost control and crashed through the first floor of a realty company.

A fire station is located across the street from where the crash occurred. Firefighters responded in less than a minute and the driver as well as another person were both taken to the hospital. Investigators told NBC10 both victims suffered minor injuries and are expected to be OK.

Crews removed the vehicle and boarded up the damaged building. They continue to investigate the cause of the crash.

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Delaware-based dark money group ‘Alabama Patients First’ unleashes TV, digital attack on Blue Cross Blue Shield 

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Delaware-based dark money group ‘Alabama Patients First’ unleashes TV, digital attack on Blue Cross Blue Shield 


A brand-new, out-of-state dark-money group launched an attack on Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama over the past week, and has already invested over $320,000 in negative television advertising alone. 

During some of this weekend’s largest SEC football matchups, including Alabama vs. Oklahoma, the group ran a shock-style message that is now being pushed to Alabama voters more aggressively than any political campaign could afford to spend on television at this point in the 2026 election cycle. 

According to business filings, “Alabama Patients First LLC” was formed in Delaware on December 11. The state is known for its Teflon business privacy laws. LLCs are not required to publicly list their ownership or members, making it an ideal vehicle for dark money to reach its target. 

Since its formation, the group has been busy in Alabama.

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Using a “Paid for by Alabama Patients First” disclaimer, the group aired television advertisements, launched a website, and directed SMS marketing campaigns directly to voters, igniting a costly media attack against the state’s leading insurer. 

“They make a killing off telling you ‘No.’ Blue Cross Blue Shield: ‘No.’ That’s Blue Cross “B*******,” the ad says.

A station-by-station breakdown of the Alabama Patients First TV buy across multiple Montgomery-area outlets, including WSFA, WAKA, WCOV-TV, WNCF, and others, totals $226,071. 

The group also spent $102,000 across Birmingham, Huntsville, and Dothan media markets.

The buy spans six weekends, ranging from its first airing on December 14, with a much smaller spend scheduled after January 1, to a wind-down on January 18, 2026. 

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By comparison, in the Montgomery media market, the group spent $211,633 in December and just $14,438 in January.

In total, the out-of-state group has spent at least $328,071 on pushing the TV spot to Alabama residents. 

Alabama Patients First’s TV spend isn’t the whole tab, either. The professional fees required to deploy such an operation likely reach into the millions – and the timing is striking.

The attack on Alabama began the same week that Jackson Hospital and Clinic, Inc. initiated a high-visibility litigation campaign against BCBS of Alabama. 

Jackson Hospital and its lender, Atlanta-based Jackson Investment Group, are on the clock for a December 31, 2025 bankruptcy court deadline to secure $100 million in public funding, which would help satisfy a debtor-in-possession (DIP) agreement the two signed earlier this year. 

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Yellowhammer News requested information from officials at Jackson Investment Group, Jackson Healthcare, and Jackson Hospital to confirm or deny a connection between the hospital’s lending relationship and the creation of Alabama Patients First. 

At the time of publication, those requests went unanswered.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama did respond to the negative ad blitz in a statement on Monday afternoon.

“The ads are an intentional misrepresentation of how we do business,” Sophie Martin, Director of Corporate Communications for BCBS of Alabama, said.

“Based on the timing of the ads, we believe they are nothing more than an improper attempt by Jackson’s investor-lender to improperly influence litigation.”

Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.

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