Delaware

Winter weather impacts for Monday, Jan. 26 | UDaily

Published

2 months ago

January 25, 2026

Winter weather impacts for Monday, Jan. 26 | UDaily

Editor’s note: This UDaily article will be updated as new information becomes available. The latest update was on Sunday, Jan. 25, at 1 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the region and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer has issued a state of emergency. With the likelihood of accumulating snowfall and mixed precipitation to continue throughout the weekend, the University of Delaware has made the following alterations to its operations and academic instruction for Monday, Jan. 26 at its Newark campus:

The University has suspended operations for its Newark campus. Only essential personnel should report to work Monday, as scheduled. Non-essential employees are released from their work responsibilities Monday. Essential personnel who are reporting to work Monday are encouraged to park their personal vehicles in University garages to make snow removal from streets easier for Facilities staff. Parking enforcement during this time will be suspended.

No in-person instruction will be held Monday. Instructors of Winter Session classes are asked to communicate with their students, as these sessions may convene virtually (either through synchronous or asynchronous formats), or be canceled or rescheduled at an instructor’s discretion. Flexibility is appreciated, as these measures prioritize the safety and well-being of our students and faculty while ensuring academic continuity.

The University will continue monitoring the winter storm and provide additional information and guidance, as necessary. Updates regarding Tuesday operations will be shared as conditions evolve and posted on UDaily.

Transportation services remain suspended until further notice, depending on road conditions. Monitor the Transportation website or Shuttle app for updates.

Residence and dining halls will remain open to students. The University asks all on-campus resident students to close and lock all windows, as even a slightly open window can lead to frozen and broken pipes. The Caesar Rodney Dining Hall will remain open on Monday for its regular hours of operation. For additional information, including hours of operation at retail locations, visit the Dining Services website or the Instagram account for UD Dining Services.

Members of the University community are reminded to use caution while driving on or navigating campus.

Other campuses and areas

All Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) courses are canceled for Monday. Read more about OLLI’s operations and course instruction.

No in-person Associate in Arts Programs (AAP) classes are scheduled for Monday. AAP staff do not need to report.

The Carvel Center in Georgetown will be closed on Monday.

The Paradee Center in Dover will suspend operations, effective Sunday at 12:01 a.m. and through Monday evening. Additional details will be announced through UDaily at a later time and as necessary.

UD’s Lewes Campus will suspend operations for Monday, with only essential personnel reporting to work, as scheduled. Lewes will hold no in-person instruction Monday. Instructors of Winter Session classes are asked to communicate with their students, as these sessions may convene virtually (either through synchronous or asynchronous formats), or be canceled or rescheduled at an instructor’s discretion.

Schedule updates

Regarding Student Wellbeing, patients with appointments at Student Health Services, Sports Medicine and the Center for Counseling and Student Development will be contacted to reschedule. Read more information on how to access after-hours and 24/7 medical- and crisis-care support.

The Carpenter Sports Building (Little Bob); UD’s Rust and Gold ice arenas; Morris Library; the Student Centers; the Wellbeing Center at Warner Hall; Clayton Hall; and the UD Barnes & Noble Bookstore will be closed Monday.

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Conference has been canceled for Monday, Jan. 26, and will be rescheduled.

Information about any additional closings or schedule changes will be posted on UDaily.

Personal safety

Safety is UD’s highest priority. Faculty, staff and students should not put themselves at risk, and employees who expect difficulty traveling should contact their supervisors.

Continued preparedness guidance

Forecasts for Sunday into Monday call for increasing winds followed by the potential for icing, which may lead to localized power outages. Members of the UD community should take steps now. Examples include fully charging phones and laptops, gathering flashlights or battery-powered lighting, and ensuring access to warm clothing, essential medications, and non-perishable food.

For resident students: Residence halls are equipped with emergency response procedures and staff who can assist if conditions worsen. If power fluctuations occur, remain indoors, avoid using candles, and follow instructions from Residence Life staff or official University communications. Dining locations and student centers may adjust operations depending on conditions; monitor University updates for hours and service availability.

For off‑campus students: Plan ahead in the event of extended power loss. Check that you have safe alternative lighting, know how to report outages to your utility provider, and identify a backup location to stay warm if needed. Be cautious around icy sidewalks, porches, and parking areas, and avoid unnecessary travel.

Please anticipate the issuance of state-mandated driving restrictions. As of 10 a.m. Sunday, drivers in New Castle and Kent counties are operating under Level 2, which restricts driving to only essential personnel (emergency workers, first responders, health care and designated persons already approved through DEMA’s State of Emergency Driving Waiver Program).

Report emergencies to 911 or through the LiveSafe app. Read additional winter safety guidance, including information on preparing for outages and severe cold.

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Delaware

Delaware history in The News Journal archives, March 29 to April 4

Published

3 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

Delaware history in The News Journal archives, March 29 to April 4

Excerpts from The News Journal archives from March 29 to April 4 include Wilmington’s national champion swimmers in 1926.
A new plaque in 1976 commemorates Delaware’s role in the Underground Railroad.
“Runaway development overwhelming Delaware” in 2006.

The Delaware history column features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.

March 29, 1926, The Evening Journal

Acclaim for high school national champion swim team

A self-appointed committee has started a movement to publicly honor the Wilmington High School swimming team, winner of the national inter-scholastic championship on Saturday at Northwestern University, Evansville, Ill., with a banquet in the Hotel duPont on Tuesday, April 6.

Reservations at $3 a plate can be made by sending a check for that amount to Herbert B. Mearns at Wilmington Trust Company, 10th and Market streets. Frank Ford Palmer, president of the Wilmington Swimming Association, and Councilman Alexander R. Abrahams, are the other members of the committee. …

Today is a holiday at Wilmington High School in celebration of the swimming team’s honor.

For several hours, the student body, headed by the school band as an escort to the championship team, paraded on Market and other streets of the city. …

The parade was the second within 24 hours, the boys having also paraded about the city upon the arrival of the team late last night.

Members of the team faced one of life’s proudest moments at the school this morning, when before their enthusiastic and cheering fellow students, they were eulogized by school teachers and officials for their achievements as mermen. …

The team includes Coach Leroy F. Sparks, Manager C.C. Gerow Jr., Captain Frank Holt, “Bus” Palmer, Sam Reese, Jim Frazer, Jack Spargo, Leon Syfrit, Charles Hartman, Bill Brown and Bill Briggs.

March 31, 1976, The Morning News

Wilmington plaque to honor slave escape route

A plaque to commemorate Delaware’s role in the Underground Railroad during slavery will be erected late this spring in the Peter Spencer Plaza on French Street, between 8th and 9th streets.

The two-foot-by three-foot bronze emblem will have pictures of Thomas Garrett, who helped more than 2,700 slaves escape, and of Harriet Tubman, who led hundreds of slaves from the south to their freedom.

The project is sponsored by the Wilmington branch of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History through a $5,000 grant from the Delaware Bicentennial Commission.

The plaque will be erected about 25 feet from the Father and Son Statue honoring Peter Spencer. The plaza was named after Spencer in 1974 to commemorate the site of the church he founded in 1813 that was the first in the country entirely controlled by blacks.

The plaza was selected as the site for “The Underground Railroad” memorial “to permanently commemorate the spirit of freedom, self-determination and camaraderie,” according to a resolution passed by the Wilmington City Council earlier this month.

Delaware became an important link in the Underground Railroad because it was usually the “last stop before freedom” for slaves on their way to Philadelphia and other northern cities. The chain of safe homes stretched from the South into the North and Canada before the Civil War. As they moved north to freedom, blacks fleeing slavery could be hidden in the houses of antislavery whites.

April 2, 2006, Sunday News Journal

Runaway development overwhelming Delaware

Look around Delaware. Tens of thousands of people have poured in from other states, enticed by an affordable suburban lifestyle in neighborhoods framed by farms and woods – all just a short drive to the beach.

But now, look-alike houses stretch from Bear to Rehoboth Beach, every year consuming an area of land larger than Wilmington. Kent County has so many new homes that Boyd White of Magnolia can’t tell where one town starts and another ends: “The charm is disappearing.”

In old farming communities, newcomers found a peaceful rural refuge. But now, that influx has forced Middletown High School to put students in trailers. …

Vacationers and retirees from all over the East Coast have migrated to the Delaware beaches to escape metropolitan life. But now, traffic is so bad on the two-lane road to Fenwick Island that retiree Jack Weston would “rather go out in a boat than a car.”

Indian River Bay, a magnet for boaters and fishermen, is so clouded by pollutants that if Stephen Callanen goes sailing, “You can’t see the bottom when there’s a lot of toilets flushing.”

Fifteen years of growth that has outpaced Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania – in fact most of America – has forever changed much of rural Delaware. Since 1990, about 84,000 new homes have been built statewide.

But with about 100,000 more homes planned, experts fear that unless government leaders do a better job controlling land use, the prosperity and qualities that make Delaware so appealing might be lost.

“It’s a rush to destruction,” said John Hughes, Secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Beyond the loss of scenic vistas, growth has created unprecedented traffic jams and air and water pollution, crammed classrooms and created a pressing need for public safety services. …

That is the legacy of decades of politicians promising strong land use reform but delivering weak policies that were often ignored. As a result, hundreds of farms have been transformed into one of the region’s top housing bargains. …

Maynard Esender, a cabinetmaker who has lived for nearly 20 years in the Sussex County town of Frankford, has watched growth steadily envelop the nearby beach areas. But last year, he was stunned after nearby Millville, which has about 270 people, approved a 2,700-home subdivision – the largest in state history.

“Soon the entire Delmarva Peninsula will be paved,” Esender said. …

When nurse practitioner Maltide Cruze moved to Middletown with her husband and two sons five years ago, they envisioned rural bliss. …

Both Maltilde, who commutes to Dover, and her husband Luis, who works at Christiana Hospital, now endure rush-hour backups as Middletown’s population has doubled to 12,000.

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

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Delaware

Supreme Court says local elections board must hear residency challenge

Published

15 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Supreme Court says local elections board must hear residency challenge

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered the Delaware County Board of Elections to hold a hearing on a residency challenge.
The challenge questions whether board member Melanie Leneghan, who is running for reelection on the state GOP central committee, lives in Ohio.
A previous hearing could not proceed after three of the four board members, including Leneghan, recused themselves.

In the latest development in the ongoing challenge over where a Delaware County Board of Elections member actually lives, the Ohio Supreme Court has weighed in.

On March 27, the state’s high court ruled that the Delaware County elections board must hold a hearing about the challenge to Melanie Leneghan’s residency. Leneghan is running for reelection to the position of District 19 women’s representative for the Republican State Central Committee seat in the May 5 primary.

A March 5 elections board hearing could not proceed after the two Democrat members recused themselves, along with Leneghan, a Republican, and the board could not reach a quorum. After that meeting, Velva Dunn, a Delaware County Republican Party Central Committee member, asked the Ohio Supreme Court to force the board to act.

Democrat elections board members Ed Helvey and Peg Watkins both recused themselves from the March 5 decision, citing concerns that any action they took could be perceived as partisan. Leneghan also recused herself.

Dunn challenged Leneghan’s ability to vote in Ohio, claiming Leneghan lives in South Carolina. Leneghan has denied the allegations, saying she lives in Ohio but travels out of state for work and to visit her daughter, who attends college in South Carolina. Leneghan owns two homes there.

She sold her Delaware County home in 2025 and is registered to vote at a house in Galena, of which she became a listed co-owner March 12 through a deed transfer that involved no monetary exchange, records from the county auditor’s office show.

Ohio does not have any known requirements about the amount of time a person needs to live in Ohio to be considered a resident. Voters must be a resident for at least 30 days before the election to be eligible to vote.

Ohio also does not have a process outlined in law for how recusals of elections board members should be handled. Those boards each comprise two Democrats and two Republicans.

In its ruling, the Ohio Supreme Court said Helvey, Watkins and Republican Steve Cuckler, the fourth board member, must hold a hearing about Leneghan’s challenge “forthwith.” It was not immediately clear when that meeting would take place.

Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com.

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Delaware

50 boys outdoor track and field athletes to watch in Delaware in 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

50 boys outdoor track and field athletes to watch in Delaware in 2026

Since the start of 2025, Delaware boys track and field athletes have set 11 state records between the indoor and outdoor seasons.

After a winter season in which 17 performances reached the top five on the state all-time list, Delaware appears poised for another strong spring.

Our list of track and field athletes to watch (presented alphabetically) features athletes from 24 schools who compete in sprints, distance races, throws and jumps. They are the athletes we expect to be among the state’s leaders at the DIAA Championships at Dover High on May 15-16 although many new names could emerge by then.

After defending its indoor track and field state title, Middletown is in search of its second straight Division I championship. Saint Mark’s enters the season as the Division II winner in three of the past four seasons.