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DOT Sec Sean Duffy finalizes $150M grant to build new port of entry on southern border

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DOT Sec Sean Duffy finalizes 0M grant to build new port of entry on southern border


U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy announced Tuesday that a $150 million federal grant had been finalized to construct a new port of entry facility and road for the San Diego-Baja California border.

As part of the agreement for the grant, Green New Deal requirements from the Biden administration, including a zero-emission vehicle charging provision, will be removed.

The DOT called the requirements a waste of taxpayer funds, taking away from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) mission toward national security.

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The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry project was awarded a grant from the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program in September 2022, though the project never moved forward.

The Otay Mesa, Calif., commercial port of entry is one of three ports of entry in the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan region. (Google Maps)

“Thanks to the prior administration’s lack of focus, this critical project sat in limbo for two years. No more. We moved to finalize this deal so we can help protect our Southern border and crack down on drug trafficking while preventing tax dollars subsidizing pointless Green New Deal priorities,” Duffy said. “This department will continue to clear the previous administration’s unprecedented grants backlog and deliver results.” 

The $150 million investment will give the CBP new state-of-the-art inspection facilities, as well as a commercial vehicle enforcement facility.

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The deployment of intelligent transportation technologies to help manage traffic demand through dynamic tolling will also be included, which the DOT said will increase inspection efficiency and bolster cross-border trade.

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DOT added that the project will reduce congestion, bring economic benefits and spur job creation across Southern California.

The nearly 3,600 trucks that cross the border at Otay Mesa and Tecate Ports of Entry, which are currently operating at full capacity, will have an alternative crossing once the project is complete.

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The project comes after the Trump administration inherited over 3,200 grants which were promoted by the Biden administration but never followed through on, according to the DOT.

“This unprecedented backlog of unobligated grants delayed critical investments in communities across the country,” the DOT said in a news release. “Under Secretary Duffy’s leadership, the Department is working diligently to accelerate the distribution of these long-overdue funds and address core infrastructure projects.”



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Arkansas

Stetson shuts down Arkansas baseball, wins 4-1 in third game of series | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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Stetson shuts down Arkansas baseball, wins 4-1 in third game of series | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette


FAYETTEVILLE — The ninth-ranked Arkansas baseball offense was tamed Sunday by Stetson junior right-hander Trace Hartman. 

Hartman allowed a run in the first inning but held down the Razorbacks for the rest of his 6 2/3-inning start, and the Hatters won 4-1 at Baum-Walker Stadium. Arkansas (12-4) had a five-game winning streak snapped. 

The Razorbacks had chances against Hartman. They put the leadoff batter on base against him in the first, second, third, fifth and seventh innings, but they could not come through with the big hit. Arkansas finished the game 1 for 16 with runners on base and 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. 

“Hartman just kept finding a way,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “He’d get behind in the count and he’d come back — 3-2, 3-1 and he’d get you out. He just pitched. Give credit to him. He did a good job.” 

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Stetson (6-10) snapped its three-game losing streak and gave itself a chance to split the series with a win in Monday’s series finale. First pitch is scheduled for noon. 

Hartman, a former NCAA Division II standout at University of Charleston (W. Va.) who entered the game with a 1.29 ERA and 0.71 WHIP, scattered 5 hits and 4 walks, and struck out 3 during his 101-pitch outing. 

“I was getting the fastball across the plate,” Hartman said, “really just challenging the hitters and making them get themselves out.” 

MORE FROM WHOLEHOGSPORTS: Notes, observations from 4-1 loss to Stetson

Stetson homered twice against Arkansas starting pitcher Colin Fisher in the fourth inning to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead. Left fielder Foster Apple led off the inning with a home run to left field to tie the game 1-1. 

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After a throwing error by Arkansas shortstop Carson Brumbaugh and a 1-out double by Stetson shortstop Landon Russell, right fielder Jayden Hylton hit a 3-run homer to left to give the Hatters the lead for good. 

    Stetson players celebrate with right fielder Jayden Hylton (17) after he hit a home run during a game against Arkansas on Sunday, March 8, 2026, in Fayetteville. (Hank Layton/WholeHogSports)
 
 

It was the third home run of the season for the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Hylton, who Stetson coach Steve Trimper said before the series was likely the team’s best pro prospect. 

“When Jayden gets hot he can be really good,” Trimper said. “He’s had kind of a roller coaster start to this [season]. He’s one of our better players and he just hung a breaking ball to him on that. 

“Foster, he just hit a good pitch. That was a ball that the pitcher was doing a great job and he just got his hands inside the ball and was able to turn on it enough to where the wind — the only place the wind was out today, I think, was kind of down that left-field line.” 

Three of the runs were earned against Fisher, who had not allowed an earned run in 22 innings prior to the fourth. It was the second-longest stretch without an earned run during Van Horn’s 24-year tenure. Barrett Astin threw 22 2/3 innings without an earned run to begin the 2012 season during the dead-bat era. 

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Van Horn said Fisher was not as sharp as his recent outings. He gave up leadoff singles to Juan De La Cruz in the first inning and Paul Napolitano in the third, but he worked out of the jams. 

Fisher struck out Yohann Dessureault with three consecutive curveballs in the first inning, and Renzo Gonzalez hit into an inning-ending double play in the third. 

“You could kind of tell early that he was either going to have to get better [and] he was going to have to recover,” Van Horn said. “We were hoping after maybe the second inning he would like make a jump and start pitching better, but it really just kind of stayed the same.” 

Fisher allowed 4 runs (3 earned) and 6 hits and struck out 4 during his 4-inning, 69-pitch start. 

The Razorbacks plated a run quickly against Hartman in the first inning when Damian Ruiz led off with a double and scored on Camden Kozeal’s 1-out double. 

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But there was little pressure on Hartman from that time until he left the game with runners on the corners in the seventh. Right-hander Andrew Lepine replaced Hartman and got Ruiz to ground into a force play at second base to end the seventh. 

  photo  Arkansas second baseman Camden Kozeal (8) flips to shortstop Carson Brumbaugh to start a double play during a game against Stetson on Sunday, March 8, 2026, in Fayetteville. (Hank Layton/WholeHogSports)
 
 

Kozeal said the Razorbacks should have been more aggressive offensively. 

“Maybe guys [were] taking it off a little bit 1 through 9,” Kozeal said. “We’ve got to have an aggressive lineup 1 through 9, trying to hit the ball hard.” 

Lepine worked around a leadoff walk by Ryder Helfrick in the eighth and a 2-out walk by Carter Rutenbar in the ninth. His 2 1/3 innings of scoreless work Sunday followed 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief against the Razorbacks on Friday. 

Trimper called Lepine “a really tricky guy” and a true submariner. 

“We got our little sinker baller, sidearmer to come in and get ground balls,” Trimper said. 

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Stetson out-hit Arkansas 7-5. De La Cruz and Russell both had 2 hits for the Hatters, and Ruiz and Maika Niu both had 2 hits for the Razorbacks. 

Cole Gibler did not allow a hit and worked around 2 walks and Brumbaugh’s second throwing error in 3 scoreless innings. Ethan McElvain pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings.

Box Score

Stetson 4, Arkansas 1.pdf

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Delaware

Spike in utility bills after cold snap forces Delaware customers to make tough choices

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Spike in utility bills after cold snap forces Delaware customers to make tough choices


Delaware elected officials push back on rising prices

Gov. Matt Meyer called out Delmarva for “overcharging Delaware families” in his January State of the State speech. He has also urged the Public Service Commission to reject the utility’s rate requests.

“Rate increases far beyond inflation are unacceptable,” he said. “Delmarva’s out-of-state shareholders should not take advantage of Delaware’s families working to make ends meet. We must hold monopolies accountable.”

Democratic members of the Delaware General Assembly also sent a letter in February to the commission, calling for Delmarva to resubmit its December rate increase request so it falls under a law that took effect in January that gives the commission greater scrutiny over rate increase requests.

The state lawmakers also noted that Delmarva has sought three electric base rate adjustments over the past five years and asked the commission to reject the current rate case so the company would have to resubmit the request.

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“We cannot reward Delmarva investors with such high returns on the backs of our constituents,” the letter stated.

Beal said they appreciate the governors in the states that use the PJM grid focusing on the supply costs and the need for more generation, which he said was the true driver of these significant increases for customers. He argued that they work on the delivery side to keep costs down.

“Our company’s been around since 1909,” he said. “Not all of our equipment is that old, but we certainly have some aging equipment. Over 50-year-old transformers that are really at the end of their life, and you want to make sure that you’re replacing this equipment in a planned manner, versus a catastrophic failure of equipment.”

Assistance programs to help low- and moderate-income households

Wilmington resident Alan Shores said he has tried to apply for help as his average monthly bill has gone from around $200 a month to about $500. Shores depends on monthly disability payments and said he’s struggling to afford his prescription medication because of the rising cost.

“I’m tap dancing as fast as I can, trying to pay this stuff, and I just can’t,” he said. “It’s because of this electric bill. Once that electric bill went through the roof, I’m like, ‘What do I do?’”

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Beal said they are adding $500,000 to the $6.5 million customer relief fund created last year. Past-due gas and electric customers who have a household income between 60% of the state median income and 350% of the federal poverty level could be eligible for a $500 credit.

The utility also offers payment arrangements and budget billing, and it directs customers to financial assistance offered by charitable organizations.



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Florida

Our leaders look to the past, but it's not a pretty picture

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Our leaders look to the past, but it's not a pretty picture


Tired of Black people thinking their lives matter? Sick of hearing Spanish every time you’re in a Miami restaurant? Annoyed by uppity women asserting their so-called rights, gay types flaunting themselves by getting married and taking out mortgages, unwashed tree-huggers trying to stop righteous sprawl, and Marxist high school teachers making kids study pornographic Shakespeare […]



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