Connect with us

Delaware

University of Delaware junior wins NPR’s College Podcast Challenge

Published

on

University of Delaware junior wins NPR’s College Podcast Challenge


From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Mere minutes before the NPR Student Podcast Challenge deadline, Trinity Hunt, a former WHYY intern, eagerily double clicked the submit button. The University of Delaware junior had no idea that her submission, “Dear Little Sister,” would earn her the winning spot, competing against over 500 entries from across the country.

“Dear Little Sister” is a compilation of letters and phone calls between Trinity and her little sister Jewel, who left home for basic training after joining the U.S. Army. With limited editing and audio experience, Hunt embarked on her podcast journey without any fancy tools or equipment — just an iPhone and a vision.

She began recording her conversations with her sister but didn’t decide to fully commit to creating the podcast until hours before the deadline. She wanted to share a glimpse of their relationship as they dealt with living apart. The two have grown close over the years and the separation was difficult for Hunt.

Advertisement

“She’s my best friend,” Hunt said. “When she talked about entering into the military, I was like, ‘No that’s not happening, you’re not doing that.’ But I knew this was something that she wanted to do.”

The Hunt sisters hug and listen to music together. (Courtesy of Trinity Hunt)

At first, Hunt struggled with supporting her sister’s decision.

“It was so new to me because no one else in my family had been in the military,” Hunt said. “I was experiencing this first hand especially as an older sister. It was like this protective sense that you feel.”

The eight-minute podcast balances authenticity and vulnerability while protecting her sister’s personal life. There were a few things Hunt chose to leave out while sharing their story, like her sister’s mental and physical health during training.

Advertisement

“I didn’t want to put her business out there,” Hunt said. “I wanted to be as vulnerable as I could. I feel like that was more interesting to people. If I just talked about it without sharing that vulnerable aspect of the letters and the phone calls it wouldn’t have been as interesting.”



Source link

Delaware

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

Published

on

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Delaware

2 hurt after car crashes into building in Talleyville, Delaware

Published

on

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.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Delaware

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

Published

on

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.

Advertisement

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. 

Advertisement

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. 

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending