Unhappy about the size of your paycheck?
A lot of folks in Delaware probably are.
Its nickname may be “the Diamond State,” but it’s the only state in the U.S. where nominal wages dropped between 2009 and 2014,according to The Economist.
That means people are earning less money even before inflation is taken into account. Wages are down 2 to 3 percent, according to the chart accompanying the British newsmagazine’s article.
Read more:
Wilmington is becoming quite the hot spot for young professionals.
In Delaware’s largest city, about 30 miles south on I-95 from Philadelphia, the downtown is expanding with several hundred apartments on the way.
These new apartments, profiled in a New York Times article this week, are aimed at millennials who are “driving increased demand for city-center living, car-free commutes and transit oriented development in cities around the country,” the article states.
To build these residential units, developers are taking vacant or underused buildings and either demolishing or renovating them.
DuPont Co. says it is consolidating its headquarters offices, located since the World War I era in a high-rise complex fronting the north side of Rodney Square in the heart of Wilmington, to the company’s suburban Chestnut Run Plaza complex west of the city, effective July 1.
NEW: The company plans to move between 800-1,000 workers from the DuPont Building out to Chestnut Run; another 800-1,000 will remain, for the time being, with DuPont’s Performance Chemicals business, spokesman Daniel A. Turner told me. DuPont is spinning off that unit as part of a new company, Chemours (they say it “KEM-oars”), which has not yet chosen a permanent headquarters. Company statement here.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/DuPont-pulling-HQ-out-of-Wilmington.html#XDMgTWZSU6ZmDILo.99
Weeks ahead of schedule, Delaware officials Thursday afternoon reopened the southbound lanes of the I-495 bridge that spans the Christina River in Wilmington.
The bridge’s concrete piers had started to lean sideways after a construction company stored 50,000 tons of dirt at its feet, compressing the soft, underlying soil.
Contractors have been working night and day to fix the problem since early June, first removing the dirt, then drilling 150-foot shafts to accommodate new underground concrete supports, and finally erecting steel towers so the bridge could be jacked back into a level position.
The northbound lanes are expected to reopen within two to four weeks after additional repairs are made, said Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for the Delaware Department of Transportation.
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
POTTSTOWN, PA – A man who spent thousands of dollars renovating a High Street building to house a business now faces 41 counts of theft after allegedly withholding money from his clients to keep that business afloat.
Brian Warren Patrick, 35, of Delaware, owes 10 clients more than $30,500 in security deposits and rental income after he closed his business Affinity Property Management & Rental LLC in May of last year.
Patrick, in partnership with his wife Lori, managed rental properties in the region from their High Street office.
Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20140601/rental-management-company-owner-charged-with-theft
The U.S. Census Bureau released new data today, showing the “subcounty” population figures for the year that ended July 1, 2013. That means every municipality in the country, no matter how small, can see how many residents it gained or lost in that period.
Census figures for counties and metro areas were released earlier this spring, with Philadelphia’s population standing at 1,553,165 residents, a 0.29-percent increase from the previous year.
The new numbers show which municipalities in the area gained or lost residents at the fastest rates between July 2012 and July 2013, and since the 2010 Census.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillylists/Philadelphia-area-municipalities-gaining-losing-residents-fastest.html
It looks like the storm we have been watching for days will take on a similar track as the one two weeks ago, when most of the snow fell across southeast New Jersey and Delaware. This storm should generally follow the same path.
Computer models for the last several days have differed largely on the outcome for this storm. Ranging from the North American model blasting us with heavy snow, the global forecasting model ejecting the storm off the Florida coast and the European and Canadian models painting a swath of heavy snow just east of Philly.
Then a wild swing with the global models put Philly back into the heavy snow as the North American model completely went the other way – with no snow for Philly.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Bolaris_Models_align_for_a_brush_with_snow.html#LLxlhBm6vi7G5wU7.99
English: Delaware Counties map (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
New Castle County employees who earn minimum wage will soon receive a pay increase to $10.10 an hour under a new plan approved by County Executive Tom Gordon.
Gordon is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday that increases the hourly wage from the current $7.25. Gordon’s move follows President Barack Obama’s executive order last month that increased the minimum wage to $10.10 for thousands of employees who work under federal contracts. Obama is urging Congress to increase the national hourly minimum wage for all Americans to the same level.
Gordon’s executive order will cost the county about $100,000 a year, Chief Administrative Officer David Grimaldi said Monday. At any given time, between 20 and 50 employees in the county’s 1,950-person workforce earn the minimum wage. Many of them are part-time or seasonal workers.
“It’s hard to do anything while earning the minimum wage, let alone raise and feed a family,” Gordon said. “It’s just the least we can do.”
Map of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
HOW YOU feeling, Bunkie? Something got you down?
In the annual Gallup poll measuring Americans’ sense of well-being, also known as the happiness poll, Pennsylvania was No. 36 in 2013, down sharply from 29 the year before. (Thank you, Gov. Corbett?) Since Philadelphians are the single biggest geographic group of Pennsylvanians, our civic angst probably drags down the ranking.
We have a schools crisis and send in a hothead as a healer. Crime by criminals is down but crime by cops is up. Buildings collapse, water mains explode, the mayor adds deputy mayors and bike lanes. Poverty is up, employment is down, as are the Phillies, Sixers and Flyers. No wonder we’re not happy.
Do I hear laughter from across the river?
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140303_Don_t_be_glum__chum.html#yTgJ8HAsd3rKLEHi.99
So, no, there are no signs of a break in this vicious winter.
However, we will — thank goodness — miss a mega-storm this weekend, which should help in the recovery process of restoring power to many homes still in the dark.
Over the upcoming weekend, a storm system well off the coast, combined with energy racing across the upper Ohio Valley, could produce a period of snow showers from Saturday night into Sunday morning. The region is should expect light accumulation, from a possible coating in most places and up an inch or two. The most likely areas to see accumulation is coastal Cape May County, N.J., and Central and Southern Delaware.
After snow subsides early Sunday, the rest of the day will be windy and cold. Earlier in the weekend, starting Friday, temperatures will be hard pressed to crack the freezing mark.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Bolaris_Snow_this_weekend_Probably_Mega-storm_No.html#rtzT92yoXuz0uHmZ.99
An American Airlines Boeing 757-223 landing at Vancouver International Airport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Finally, it’s a done deal.
American Airlines AMR Corp. and US Airways Group Monday officially announced the completion of their merger to form American Airlines Group Inc., the world’s largest airline.
At 7:40 a.m., the secretary of state in Delaware, Jeffrey Bullock, filed a certificate of merger. The new company is incorporated in Delaware.
US Airways CEO Doug Parker, who will lead the new American, will ring the opening bell on the Nasdaq stock market at 9:30 a.m. eastern time, signifying the the opening of trading of the new American’s shares on Nasdaq. Ticker: AAL.
The region’s first serious winter storm – one that took forecasters by surprise with its intensity – has caused at least one death in the region.
A motorist was struck and killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike shortly after noon when he got out of his car after a minor crash, a spokesman for the turnpike commission said. Detours between the Downingtown and Morgantown exits of the turnpike are ongoing.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia International Airport is experiencing substantial delays as the day’s heavy snow – up to 10 inches in some parts of South Jersey – is expected to transition to sleet and then plain rain by morning.
A winter storm warning will be in effect until midnight, the National Weather Service said Sunday afternoon.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20131209_Snow_has_begun__icy_mix_to_follow.html#BkXWkQX6eWGAtwOE.99
Map of Delaware (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Shares of DuPont Co. rose modestly this morning to above $65.50 — a 13-year high — after last night’s announcement that the Wilmington-based chemical giant plans to spin off its profitable but volatile Performance Chemicals business, and its related fluorochemicals and titanium-dioxide (white-paint-base) factories, including a TiO2 plant at Edge Moor, Del., over the next year and a half. The new company will have sales of around $7 billion a year, vs. $28 billion for what’s left of DuPont.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/DuPont-rises.html#O1lLQVZKVo1HmYO2.99
Stranded motorists needed rescue from flooded roads this morning, as heavy rains caused havoc around the area, disrupting airport and SEPTA service.
Montgomery County reported about 30 calls to assist motorists from vehicles on flooded roads, with about eight to 10 involving threateningly high water, according to a 911 supervisor. No injuries were reported.
Stranded cars were also reported in Southampton, Bucks County; Gloucester City, Camden County; and Woodbury and Deptford, Gloucester County, according to the Breaking News Network, a tip service.
Part of a roof collapsed at the Virtua Center for Health & Wellness in Washington Township, Gloucester County, spurring evacuation of the building.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/Thunderstorms_bring_tornado_alert.html#70IEl9w79bJ7LSrU.99
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Formerly known as Pier 53, Washington Avenue Green is located at Washington Avenue, just south of the Coast Guard station and behind the Sheet Metal Workers’ Union Hall, 1301 South Columbus Boulevard. The one-acre site on the long-abandoned pier is one of the few tracts along the Delaware riverfront that is owned by the City of Philadelphia. It is the first of the public parks to be created by the Action Plan for the Central Delaware. Because there has been no commercial activity at that location for decades, the pier that originally had welcomed ships and freight carriers has deteriorated, and both native and non-native trees and plants took hold and flourished.
The rotted piers and eroded shoreline have become a nursery for migrating fish and a permanent home for several species of mussels.
This newly discovered habitat is being exploited and informs the park’s unique spirit. Delaware Avenue Green has been redesigned and reconstructed as a public space on the interim trail that is planned for the southern section of the Central Delaware.
Read more: http://washingtonavenuegreen.com/
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Police today charged a 24-year-old Wilmington man with abducting and murdering a Brandywine Hills woman Monday morning while she was walking her dog.
Dwight L. Smith of the 200 block of W. 36th St., told police he ‘clicked on’ Monday and decided he “wanted to kill someone,’’ a police arrest affidavit said.
So while driving a few blocks from his home, he struck 65-year-old Marsha Lee with his red Hummer SUV and shoved her inside while she pleaded for mercy, a police arrest affidavit said.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Manufacturing grew in the Philadelphia region in October after contracting for two straight months, a sign factories are recovering after a sluggish summer.
An index of regional manufacturing activity jumped to 8.7 from -17.5 in September, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday. It marked the best reading in six months. A positive reading suggests growth…
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2011/10/20/business/doc4ea07ba7e65ca412945682.txt
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This venerable Delaware bank started by the du Pont family has fallen on hard times. After sustaining some large losses over the last several quarters, the bank started looking for a buyer. M&T Bank has acquired Wilmington Trust and will inherit a strong presence in Delaware.
Wilmington Trust is a casualty of the recession – low investment earnings and the housing market grinding to a halt have affected the bank’s ability to make enough revenue.
At present, no member of the du Pont family sits on the bank’s board, although some family members are depositors. One of Wilmington Trust’s specialties is wealth management. They have a number of clients with a $10,000,000+ in liquid assets for a total of $58.4 billion.
Sadly, this is another more or less “local” bank that’s being gobbled up by a super-regional player. M&T Bank has bought up smaller banks and expanded their presence. Delaware will expand M&T’s market to ten states, primarily along the East Cost. M&T Bank, based in Buffalo,NY, has reported profits for 34 years in a row.
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Governor Corbett has asked President Obama to declare eleven Pennsylvania counties disaster areas, which would begin the process of applying and qualifying for federal aid.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said Monday the list so far includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Pike, Wyoming and Wayne counties. More counties may be added.
Governor Corbett and Lt. Governor Cawley are touring areas of the state ravaged by Hurricane Irene.
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All SEPTA Services To Be Suspended During Hurricane Irene. Operations to Halt at 12:30 a.m. Sunday; Services to Resume Mid-Day Sunday, As Conditions Permit.
PHILADELPHIA, PA (August 26, 2011)
In the interest of public safety, with a hurricane of historic proportions approaching the region, SEPTA will cease all transportation operations at12:30 a.m. Sunday.
All trips scheduled after 12:30 a.m. Sunday will be cancelled. Service is not expected to resume until at least mid-day Sunday, following damage assessments and repairs. Service will resume on a route-by-route basis, based on conditions.
SEPTA strongly urges all customers who normally ride the system during this time period to make arrangements to go to your destination well in advance of the storm and be prepared to remain safely at that location until the storm has passed and service has resumed.
Announcements regarding the resumption of service will be announced through the Office of the Mayor of Philadelphia and SEPTA’s Website, www.septa.org.
All SEPTA employees normally assigned to work during the period of the shutdown or who are assigned to emergency duty are required to report to work at their assigned locations.
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