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Bill seeks to protect social media passwords from employers

News that some employers were asking job applicants for their Facebook passwords led to a national outcry earlier this year. The uproar prompted Maryland and Illinois to introduce legislation curtailing employers from asking for passwords, and earlier this month Maryland became the first state in the nation to ban the practice. Now Delaware is getting in on the act. ...More

Fort Delaware joins battle to protect bat population

As Fort Delaware State Park kicked off its 2012 season last weekend, park rangers and guides started enlisting visitors to help the park’s seldom-seen bats. Visitors to the fort are being asked to assist in the effort to curb the spread of the disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS) to other parts of the country. Around 6 million bats have succumbed to a deadly fungus in just five years in the eastern United States and Canada. This winter, the culprit took up residence in Fort Delaware State Park. ...More

UD professor finds plastic pollution in ocean may be grossly underestimated

Surface trawling has long been used to estimate the level of plastic pollution in the ocean, from plastic soda bottles to disposable bags, but it turns out this method of measurement only scratches the surface of the problem… quite literally. High winds cause plastic debris to mix well below the surface where more than half of the ocean’s plastic pollution has swirled about, uncounted, according to Tobias Kukulka, a University of Delaware assistant professor of physical ocean science and engineering. ...More

Delaware lawmakers form charter school task force after public hearing

With a hearing Tuesday night at Legislative Hall, the House Education Committee took its first uncertain steps toward legislation to improve the state’s regulation of charter schools. As the session drew to a close after nearly two and a half hours, Rep. Terry Schooley, the committee chair, announced that House Speaker Robert Gilligan, had agreed to create “a blue-ribbon committee or task force,” to study an overhaul of the current charter school law. ...More

Delaware students delve deeper into history for National History Day

National History Day is nation’s largest program of its kind for school-age children. In the First State, the year-long academic program focused on historical research for 6th to 12th grade students is administered by the Delaware Historical Society (DHS). “The teachers benefit from having to think like historians,” said Ellen Rendle, curator at DHS and director of the program. “Students benefit from analysis, problem solving, research and communication.” ...More

History Matters: Fort Delaware sketches

In this month's History Matters, another view of Fort Delaware - one from those who were actually there during its time as a Civil War prison. While Max Neugas was a prisoner and Baldwin Coolidge was a guard, they had something in common - a talent for sketching. Both took time to draw life at Fort Delaware as they saw it and their work survives to this day, offering a unique window into history. ...More

USS Missouri gun welcomed on way to its new Delaware home

Flags waved, while the Sussex Technical High School marching band waited to lead a parade around The Circle in Georgetown. Wearing military hats or full military uniform, veterans watched as speakers took their turn at the podium. It was a good old-fashioned salute to America’s heroes. But the guest of honor stood about three blocks away on the railroad tracks. The celebration, which drew more than 1,000 people, was prompted by the 16-inch gun barrel from the USS Missouri, which had paused en route from Norfolk, Va., to Cape Henlopen State Park. ...More

April state revenue estimate restores March losses

Delaware’s revenue projections bear a close resemblance to those at the very beginning of the year. Revised numbers approved this week by the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) nearly offset the downward forecasts adopted at the March meeting. More than $23-million dollars in all have now been added to projected state revenues in the current and coming fiscal years. ...More

Delaware First Media teams with DSU, UD to launch WDDE-FM 91.1

Delaware First Media, Delaware State University, and the University of Delaware today announced a historic collaboration to launch WDDE-FM 91.1 Dover, the first-ever Delaware-focused public radio station. WDDE will begin broadcasting into all three counties this summer on 91.1 FM, serving a Delaware audience of more than 800,000 on-air and online listeners with nonpartisan local, national, and international news. ...More

Delaware Leadership Project: On the job training for prospective principals

Reshid Walker strides through the halls of Cape Henlopen High School with a sense of purpose. With every step, he’s learning. Walker is part of the Delaware Leadership Project (DLP), a program that is preparing candidates to work as principals or assistant principals at public schools serving high-risk students in Delaware. ...More