Delaware

Trump will go to Delaware for the dignified transfer of the 2 National Guard members killed in Syria

Published

7 months ago

December 16, 2025

Trump will go to Delaware for the dignified transfer of the 2 National Guard members killed in Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is traveling to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday for a dignified transfer for the two Iowa National Guard members killed in an attack in the Syrian desert that is testing the rapprochement between Washington and Damascus.

The two guardsmen killed in the attack on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Both were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment. A U.S. civilian working as an interpreter was also killed.

The ritual at Dover Air Force Base honors U.S. service members killed in action and is one of the most solemn duties undertaken by the commander in chief.

During the process, transfer cases draped with the American flag holding the remains of fallen soldiers are carried from the military aircraft that carried them to Dover to an awaiting vehicle to transport them to the mortuary facility at the base. There, the fallen service members are prepared for their final resting place.

Trump, a Republican, said during his first term that witnessing the dignified transfer of service members’ remains is “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.

Remembered as ‘the best of Iowa’

The Iowa National Guard is remembering the two men as heroes. Howard’s stepfather, Jeffrey Bunn, said Howard “loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out,” noting that he had wanted to be a soldier since he was a young boy.

In a post on the Meskwaki Nation Police Department’s Facebook page, Bunn – who is chief of the Tama, Iowa, department – called Howard a loving husband and an “amazing man of faith” and said Howard’s brother, a staff sergeant in the Iowa National Guard, would escort “Nate” back to Iowa.

Torres-Tovar was remembered as a “very positive” person who was family oriented and someone who always put others first, according to fellow guardsmen who were deployed with Torres-Tovar and issued a statement to the local TV broadcast station WOI.

“They were dedicated professionals and cherished members of our Guard family who represented the best of Iowa,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Osborn, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard.

Trump stands by Syrian leader al-Sharaa

On Saturday, Trump told reporters that he was mourning the deaths and vowed retaliation.

Trump said Monday that he remained confident in the leadership of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the onetime leader of an Islamic insurgent group who led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad, whose family had an iron grip on Syrian rule for decades.

The U.S. president welcomed al-Sharaa to Washington last month for a historic visit to the White House and formally welcomed Syria as a member of the U.S.-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group. Hundreds of U.S. troops are deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.

“This had nothing to do with him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “This had to do with ISIS.”

Three other members of the Iowa National Guard were injured in the attack. As of Monday, two were in stable condition and the other in good condition. The Pentagon has not identified them.

Trump traveled to Dover several times during his first term to honor the fallen, including for a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during a raid in Yemen, for two Army officers whose helicopter crashed in Afghanistan and for two Army soldiers killed in Afghanistan when a person dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire.

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Delaware

Wilmington fire displaces 20, damages 6 homes on Clayton Road; cause under investigation

Published

13 minutes ago

July 2, 2026

Press Room

Wilmington fire displaces 20, damages 6 homes on Clayton Road; cause under investigation

WILMINGTON, DE – The Delaware State Fire Marshal is investigating a four-alarm fire that broke out Thursday, July 2, damaging six homes and displacing 20 people on the 1500 block of Clayton Road in Wilmington.

What we know:

The fire was reported shortly after 3:00 p.m. and quickly escalated to four alarms due to the heat, according to the Delaware State Fire Marshal.

Multiple fire companies responded and found heavy fire at the rear of the residences.

Several firefighters were evaluated by EMS and New Castle County Paramedics at the scene.

One firefighter was taken to a hospital for heat exhaustion.

Deputy State Fire Marshals determined the fire started under a deck at the rear of one of the homes.

The fire displaced 20 people from their homes and required a large emergency response, highlighting the risks firefighters face during extreme weather.

The American Red Cross is providing support to the families who lost their homes, showing the importance of community resources during emergencies.

What’s next:

The Delaware State Fire Marshal’s office is continuing to investigate the cause of the fire. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

What we don’t know:

The specific cause of the fire has not been determined, and the names of the families affected have not been released.

The Source: Information from the Delaware State Fire Marshal.

Crime & Public SafetyNews

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Delaware

County councilman says Newark data center plan paused after deal

Published

11 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Press Room

County councilman says Newark data center plan paused after deal

Olivia Marble
| Spotlight Delaware

A New Castle County councilman says he brokered a non-binding handshake deal to pause a data center project near Newark.
The deal depends on the county approving an exploratory plan that would grandfather the developer into previous zoning rules.
The developer, Shelbourne, has not commented on the informal agreement to consider other uses for the site.

This story was produced by Spotlight Delaware as part of a partnership with Delaware Online/The News Journal. For more about Spotlight Delaware, visit www.spotlightdelaware.org.

New Castle County Councilman Tim Sheldon says he recently brokered a handshake deal to pause a data center development project near Newark.

Sheldon, who represents the Newark area, said the deal followed private negotiations with the developer’s prominent Delaware attorney, Shawn Tucker, who told him the New York-based developer behind the project, Shelbourne, agreed to consider the Newark site for uses other than a data center. “This is my art of the deal,” Sheldon said.

But the deal is dependent on the county finalizing an approval for an exploratory plan application from the developer, which would grandfather the land into zoning rules that existed prior to this year, Sheldon said.

That means the developer would not have to follow the county’s recently-passed data center regulations if the company ultimately decides to build a data center there. Since the property’s zoning already allows data center projects, the county likely does not have the legal authority to deny that exploratory plan application. An email sent between Sheldon and Tucker, dated June 10, shows that Tucker agreed to pause the data center project under those conditions.

Neither Tucker nor Shelbourne representatives responded to requests for comment about this deal.

Last year, Shelbourne filed documents with the county that showed plans to demolish the existing White Clay Center office and industrial buildings and construct a three-building data center campus that covered about 850,000 square feet.

After the filing, the plans became wrapped into a larger community backlash in northern Delaware against the growth of the data center industry. Neighbors have voiced fears that such data centers would use too much water and energy, and be too noisy.

Sheldon’s handshake agreement is not binding, and the developer still has the legal right to build a data center.

New Castle County General Manager of Land Use David Culver said he saw the email from Tucker but has no other information.

Sheldon noted that the agreement is between him and Tucker — and not with the county as a party. He further stated that if he decides not to run for reelection in 2028 or loses to a challenger, “it may be null and void.”

“If I’m not there, there’s no promises,” Sheldon said.

Asked if he would try to secure an official county deal barring a data center on that property, Sheldon said the project is “too far in the process” and he doesn’t want to risk the progress he’s made.

He said he will instead work to find another company to lease or buy the land. He said in a text after the interview that the deal is “the best I could’ve got.”

“Nobody else has even done this much and it seems like I’m getting hammered because I did something,” Sheldon said in the text.

Sheldon said an Amtrak train maintenance site will open next door to the White Clay Center property in the next few years, and he thinks the track upgrades needed for that project could make the neighboring site more attractive for manufacturing.

Delaware Public Media reported last week that Alstom, which conducts maintenance on Amtrak’s high-speed Acela trains – will open a new facility on 1601 Ogletown Road, next to the White Clay Center office and industrial buildings.

Alstom did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

What’s the status of data centers in Delaware?

Beyond Shelbourne’s proposal, several other building projects proposed in Delaware could become data centers.

The biggest is Project Washington, a 1.2-gigawatt data center campus planned for the land just north of the Delaware City Refinery. It would use enough energy to power almost a million homes.

That plan faced a major setback in March after a state board unanimously upheld Environmental Secretary Greg Patterson’s decision that the project is not permitted under Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act, a landmark law designed to limit heavy industry along the state’s shorelines.

Developer Starwood Digital Ventures was expected to appeal that decision, but it is unclear whether it will. Representatives from Starwood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another potential data center plan is slated for land near the southern approach to the St. Georges Bridge off U.S. Route 13. The St. Georges project includes the land that hosts the popular Halloween attraction Frightland.

County records show plans for three distribution centers covering 3.6 million square feet on farmland, along with 150 homes.

The records say the buildings will be warehouses. But project engineer Verdantas also submitted letters to the county suggesting that the buildings could be a data center campus.

Delmarva Power filings this winter showed two other potential data center projects. But Technical.ly reported that only one of those projects is still on the table, which would be located in Harrington. City officials are still in the preliminary stages of discussions about that plan, according to the report.

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