2017 Update–August 31st to September 8th.

On Thursday the 31st I had a meeting to explore steps needed to improve our state’s system for funding public education. On Friday the 1st I attended the EID celebration at the Chase Center sponsored by the Islamic Society of Delaware. I was pleased to have been able to offer a brief greeting on behalf of the General Assembly. That night I joined the UD Police for a ‘drive-along’ from 9pm to 3am, seeing first-hand the hard work provided on behalf of the students, staff, and community. Thank you, Officer Barker, for showing me the ropes.

On Monday the 4th, I joined the Wilmington Labor Day Parade, marching with AFSCME, and afterwards attended the AFSCME picnic at Banning Park. On Tuesday the 5th I met with the Governor and several legislative colleagues to discuss the state of public education, with a special focus on students with the greatest needs in the city of Wilmington. On Wednesday I hosted my monthly constituent coffee, at Caffe’ Gelato. After this I met with a state employee and a colleague, to explore their concerns. On Thursday the 7th I attended a healthcare summit to explore how to reduce the growth rate for healthcare costs in our state. That evening I attended the weekly meeting of the UD College Democrats. On Friday morning I met with a constituent to discuss their concerns regarding school-based health care. 

Emails–In the past week or two I have had several emails. Some related to the proper calculation of funding to be transferred from school districts to the districts/charters where students choice into, about an upcoming presentation by a speaker who is sharply biased against medical aid-in-dying (he believes that doctors always know better than their patients), about the recent release of an analysis on what went wrong in the prison uprising at the Smyrna prison in early February, about bringing leading stakeholders together to consider the best path for Delaware when the federal ICE agency requests redirecting our state employees to fulfill ICE’s mission (see the link on Massachusetts act to ensure safe communities), about a federal proposal to increase consumer protections when ordering contact lenses, striving to obtain a concession from DelDOT on signage on DelDOT roads for local non-profits, assisting a local company in becoming certified by the Office of Supplier Diversity, reporting to DelDOT a street which requires shoulder maintenance, reaching out to New Castle County Government regarding an ongoing nuisance property in Chapel Hill, asking the Office of Animal Welfare about which DE shelters were assisting in placing animals evacuated from Hurricane Harvey, discussing a recent court case regarding manufactured housing communities, and discussions on Amazon’s call for proposals for locating a second headquarters in/near Delaware.