WILMINGTON, Delaware (WPVI) — The newest e-sport on the scene has emerged. Welcome to drone soccer.
The new Delaware Drone Soccer League and its Wilmington team operating out of the Walnut Street YMCA is the newest competitive coed sport for kids 12 and up.
The sport teaches kids aviation, career planning, coding, engineering, teamwork, and most of all, fun.
It’s played with the pilot controlling a drone soccer ball, flying through the air in a cage with a striker and a defender each vying to either score or play defense.
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Before any flying even starts, students are required to build, program and repair the drone to get to know it better.
Kaysan Salaam is known as the Lebron James of the league due to his penchant for scoring.
“Everyone has a role. If you get knocked down, you’re going to say it’s too difficult or get discouraged. It takes dedication,” said Salaam.
Ashlee Cooper is one of the commissioners of the league. She sees this as more than just fun and games.
“I see an opportunity in the future. Most students these days are training for jobs that won’t exist in the future. I see this as early career training,” she said.
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Fellow commissioner Theo Nix says, “They are learning about technologies that they didn’t even know existed. They can learn how to code, how to develop AI, how to build the drone, repair the drone, how to compete together as a team.”
He says he has a vision for America.
“I want to create workforce development for drone technology. We teach these kids at a young age and send them around the world to do good whether it’s in agriculture and data analytics, doing cell tower inspections, roof inspections, utility line inspections, the whole gamut,” said Nix. “There’s a $100 billion opportunity for drone technology. These kids can really be a catalyst for a global workforce with America at the forefront.”
For more information, check out https://www.dedronesoccer.com and https://www.ymcade.org/locations/walnut-street-ymca
Workers in Delaware experienced the lowest wage growth in the United States over the past year, according to recent data from ADP Pay Insights.
Employees in Delaware who have remained in their positions for at least 12 months saw their wages increase by 4.1%, bringing the median annual salary to $60,000. This figure places Delaware at the bottom of the rankings for wage growth across all states.
On average, other states saw a wage growth rate of 4.9% for job-stayers. In stark contrast, the top-performing states for wage growth in June showed significantly higher increases. Montana led with a 7.3% rise, followed by Idaho at 6.5%. Alaska, North Dakota, and Oregon each reported a 6% increase.
ADP’s Pay Insights report provides a unique view of salary trends by analyzing the same cohort of nearly 10 million employees over a 12-month period.
DELAWARE COUNTY — A Delaware County judge is siding with concerned residents over the rapidly increasing poultry farms in the area.
The concern is over the distance between the farms and residents as well as the output of waste from the chickens.
“They bring in all the chickens, they take out the chickens, they bring in the feed. They don’t take the manure. We get that,” said Pam Kingfisher a Delaware County resident.
She is part of a group called Green Country Guardians. The Facebook group’s thumbnail says, “Farms, not factories.”
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She supports the Spring Creek Coalition, a citizen-led group that is suing the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry.
Kingfisher said the poultry farms that are already built are already causing problems.
“My creek is now dead. Double Spring Creek is dead. The water is, the rocks are brown and slimy, and it stinks year-round, not just in August,” said Kingfisher.
She said the creek used to be full of fresh water and is disappointed by its current state. Kingfisher said the farms are not strongly regulated.
“We followed trucks full of dead chickens, feathers flying; you know it’s just out here. It is still the Wild West. They got away with a whole lot of crazy stuff,” Kingfisher said.
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In a decision on June 28, Delaware County Judge Dave Crutchfield said nearby residents were not informed of the farms before construction began.
It also said that poultry waste is a concern for nearby waterways.
“It’s a very big win because when you see words like ‘the problems should be inherently visible. It should be inherently apparent to anybody.’ Judge Crutchfield understood exactly the problem,” said Grant Hall another Delaware Country resident.
He is also involved in the movement against the state and poultry farms. He said that he is not anti-poultry, but he wants the regulations. “To get reasonable regulations is what we have been asking for. Reasonable regulations that are enforced,” Hall said.
To understand more about the state’s side, 2 News reached out to the ODAFF, they said they don’t speak on active cases.
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2 News was told the legal battle will continue, however the residents are confident with their efforts so far.
As renewals of the Delaware Handicap (G2) go, 2023 will long be remembered. Juddmonte’s Idiomatic won the historic race in a stretch duel, overcoming stumbling at the start to catch front-running Classy Edition .
That victory was followed by three consecutive grade 1 victories to close out the season by the Brad Cox trainee, the last of which came in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita Park. Months later, she earned an Eclipse Award as the champion older dirt female of 2023.
The 2024 renewal of the $500,000 Delaware Handicap, contested at 1 3/16 miles July 7, does not appear to have a starter of Idiomatic’s quality, but Cox is again participating by starting Godolphin’s Wet Paint .
Under Sunday’s handicap conditions, she carries the top weight at 123 pounds, spotting the opposition from 2-9 pounds. Graded winners Honor D Lady and Morning Matcha are second and third high weights at 121 and 118 pounds, respectively.
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Wet Paint, a 4-year-old daughter of Blame , is winless in four starts since winning the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) last summer at Saratoga Race Course. She travels to Delaware Park from her spring base at Churchill Downs, where she finished third in the Shawnee Stakes (G3) in her second start of the year June 1.
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Last year as a 3-year-old, she won three other races in addition to the Coaching Club American Oaks—rattling them off to begin the year at Oaklawn Park in the Martha Washington Stakes, Honeybee Stakes (G3), and Fantasy Stakes (G3). She streaked into the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs and started as the betting favorite.
However, she would run fourth in the Oaks, and the late-running filly would fail to catch Hoosier Philly and Randomized in slow-paced stakes later in the year. Wet Paint has yet to win outside of her age group.
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Regular jockey Flavien Prat returns in the irons.
Jose Ortiz in For The Mount on Honor D Lady
Another 4-year-old, Honor D Lady, won the Remington Park Oaks (G3) last fall in her top achievement from her 3-year-old year. Later in the final start of her 3-year-old season, she would finish third in the Comely Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack.
She is proven outside the 3-year-old ranks, taking the Royal Delta Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park in February. Since then, she ran ninth in the April 13 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) in a race in which come-backing Wet Paint was sixth. Honor D Lady was most recently second to the grade 1-winning 3-year-old filly Candied in the June 8 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Jose Ortiz rides Honor D Lady for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and owners Final Furlong Farm and Madaket Stables.
LC Racing, Cash is King, and Gary Barber’s Morning Matcha ran third in the Delaware Handicap last year. She heads into Sunday’s race off a troubled seventh-place finish in the June 15 Bed o’ Roses Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct.
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“I really did not think she had a fair shot in her last race,” said trainer Robert “Butch” Reid. “She was blocked almost the whole trip, but she came out of the race great and she had a beautiful breeze Saturday morning, so we are ready to go.”
