A drug shortage that’s gripped Delaware and the nation has shown few signs of dissipating, and that’s prompted legislators, including U.S. Rep. John Carney (D-DE), to introduce bills to deal with the problem.

But health care experts aren’t convinced any proposed changes now on the table will go far enough to stop scarcities in everything from cancer medications to drugs that treat ADHD.
Last year, there were 267 drugs on the shortage list, up from 211 in 2010, and more than double the total a decade ago, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service.

More than seven million injuries every year in the U.S. are sports-and recreation-related and more than half of those 7 million injuries involved people age 5 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among 12-17-year-olds, sports-related injuries are the leading cause of emergency room visits. At the Center for Sports Medicine at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, staff not only wants to help young athletes heal after injury, but to educate athletes, parents and coaches on how to avoid injuries in the first place.

As more and more Wilmington children are exposed to violence and the trauma that comes with it, police, counselors, community-based organizations, and schools are boosting their efforts to guide those children to physical and emotional safety. Police and counselors work hand-in-hand; out-of-school programs provide safe havens. This report, the final part of a three-part investigation, examines the numerous organizations that provide safety and support when gun violence in Wilmington leaves children traumatized, grieving, and lonely.

Alarms go off in some children’s heads every day in Wilmington. Continually exposed to danger in violent areas of the city, the children can experience changes in their brain chemistry that flip their flight-or-fight responses to “on,” sometimes permanently.

“It’s like the car alarm that won’t go off. It just keeps going and going and going,” says Malina Spirito, clinical director for Supporting Kidds in Hockessin, where many children receive treatment for exposure to chronic violence.

In slivers of the city where violence is common, toxic stress affects the way children see the world.

IIn pockets all around Wilmington, gun violence routinely finds children where they live and play, leaving some to struggle with the aftereffects of trauma. This report, the first in a three-part investigation, looks at the ways in which chronic violence has become a part of children’s everyday lives. The series was produced in conjunction with the USC/Annenberg School of Communication, which awarded a 2011 National Health Journalism Fellowship to reporter Kathy Canavan.

Studies have long shown that students perform better when they are physically fit. A new study released Friday makes that point specifically about Delaware students.

The research, developed by a partnership between the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) and Nemours Health and Prevention Services (NPHS) shows students in Delaware schools who are physically active and fit perform significantly better in both mathematics and reading. The study also finds that Delaware students who are less fit not only score lower academically, but also tend toward more disciplinary problems like absenteeism and suspensions.

Backers of Delaware’s proposed offshore wind farm are blaming the withdrawal of federal loan guarantees and tax credits for the near-demise of the ambitious project.

Without strong and consistent financial help from government, costly, cutting-edge projects like the Mid-Atlantic Wind Park are unlikely to get the billions of dollars in private-sector backing they need to become a reality, the supporters said Tuesday.

That was the experience of NRG Bluewater Wind which announced on Monday that it was pulling out of an agreement with Delmarva Power to supply the utility with wind-generated electricity, in a deal that once offered the planned farm its best chance of success.

A new EPA report indicating a link between natural gas drilling and water contamination is further evidence that more research is needed before allowing gas drilling to go ahead in the Delaware River Basin, according to Governor Jack Markell’s administration.

The governor’s office responded Friday to the federal agency’s release on Dec. 8 of its report into water contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming, a farming community where some residents blame the gas industry for polluting their water wells with methane and chemicals used in the controversial gas-extraction technique of hydraulic fracturing.

Opponents of a controversial method of natural gas extraction will stage a last-ditch on Monday, November 14 effort to stop an interstate regulator from giving the go-ahead for gas production in the Delaware River Basin.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), consisting of the governors of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, plus Army Corps of Engineers which represents the federal government, is due to vote on Nov. 21 on proposed rules that would allow tens of thousands of gas wells to be drilled in the basin. Approval would lift a moratorium.

The wells, which would be sunk into the gas-rich Marcellus Shale, would use hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, which pumps millions of gallons of water, together with sand and chemicals, at high pressure about a mile underground where it breaks open fissures in the shale, allowing methane to be harvested.

The University of Delaware is positioning itself as a leader in developing renewable energy. Earlier this week, the school announced a groundbreaking partnership with NRG Energy to commercialize vehicle-to-grid technology that UD professor Willett Kempton has been developing since 1996. But as DFM News’ Patrick Mairs reports, the school’s history with “green energy” goes back much further than that – especially when it comes to solar technology where UD has played a school pioneering role for nearly 40 years.