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- Absentee ballot bill saved so it can be voted on again in 2022 A bill that would take absentee ballots out of the Delaware Constitution and allow people to use them without specifying a reason stays alive until next year. It’s alive! It’s alive! The bill that would allow absentee ballots to be used for any reason will not die, but will be able to come back before the Delaware House of Representatives in 2022, thanks to some little used political machinations. Because House Bill 75 would alter the state’s Constitution, it must be passed in two separate sessions of the General Assembly. It passed easily in 2019 in the 150th session. But when it came up for a vote last week — now in the 151st session — it failed. House Republicans voted it down, even though the bill had bipartisan support in 2019. Several Republicans said that removing the ballots from the Constitution would mean that absentee ballot rules could be changed by a simple majority vote in the legislature. That could mean the ruling party could make changes that would favor its party in elections, they said. When the bill did not pass, House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, switched her vote from yes to no. Then she asked Speaker of the House Peter Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, to end the session with three Republican bills left on the agenda. Longhurst’s switch put her on the prevailing side of the vote — the nos — and gave her the right to ask for the bill to come back up instead of letting it die. On Thursday, Longhurst did that. When Schwartzkopf allowed the bill to come back, Longhurst tabled it. That will allow it to be heard again during this session, which continues in 2022, which is still the 151st session of the Delaware General Assembly because its sessions are spread over two years. “By restoring it, rescinding the vote and tabling it, it resets the bill and stops the clock,” said Joseph Fulgham, communications officer of theDelaware House of RepresentativesRepublican Caucus.“It will be eligible to be worked through the 2022 legislative.” The three Republican bills that were not heard on last week’s agenda have not shown up on a House agenda this week ... Read More
- Sign up now to help with 2022 Coastal Cleanup The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is seeking volunteers to help with the 35thannualDelaware Coastal Cleanup Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. to noon. The cleanup will take place at 41 sites statewide on that Saturday. Volunteers may now register to participate at de.gov/coastalcleanup. The cleanup is a popular event for families and groups who want to help Delaware’s environment, and even earn some volunteer hours to meet school or group requirements. “The Coastal Cleanup is a great reminder that volunteers of all ages can make a difference, whether they sign up for the Sept. 17 statewide cleanup event or choose their own time, date and place to pick up trash,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. For the Sept. 17 coordinated cleanup, volunteers should sign up by Wednesday, Aug. 31 for their choice of sites. Site captains with supplies will be on site to sign in volunteers and provide trash bags and directions. Although gloves, paper data cards and pencils will be available upon request, volunteers are encouraged to bring their own gloves and to use the online Coastal Cleanup reporting tool, when it goes live Sept. 1, to share their findings. Walkups are not encouraged due to volunteer site capacity limitations. Volunteers in the Sept. 17 event can post photos on facebook.com/DelawareDNREC for a chance to win a 2023 Delaware State Parks pass and a prize bag by posting photos. Coastal cleanup results All volunteers also should also report their findings and are invited to share photos through the Coastal Cleanuppage. Last year, nearly 600 volunteers filled about 400 bags, cleaning up 5,500 pounds of trash from waterways, wetlands and other natural areas. The top five trash items collected were: 7,671 cigarette butts; 2,921 plastic and glass beverage bottles and cans; 1,785 food containers; 846 plastic bags; and 381 balloons. Cleaning up locally makes a big difference statewide and keeps trash from entering waterways and making its way to beaches and beyond. DNREC suggests several ways to help make a difference all year long: Pick up trash near your home to keep your neighborhood clean. Follow a carry-in/carry out plan and take all trash with you when visiting outdoor spaces, including federal, state, county or local parks. Pack a bag and rubber gloves when you take a walk, go for a hike, go hunting or fishing, etc., to collect and carry out trash you find along the way. Recycle applicable items through in-home recycling or designated drop-off locations. Learn more atde.gov/recycling.... Read More
- Tree-climbing school offers mental, physical challenges Winterthur is helping folks channel their adventurous side this week with the state’s first tree-climbing school. In a culmination of mental fortitude meets physical endurance, the three-day event, ending Wednesday, will train 27 people to safely climb trees, while also teaching the basics of proper pruning techniques. Pruning is a practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds or roots. The climbers are outside in the heat – and Canadian wildfire smoke – from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. “I think one challenge is just staying hydrated on a tree,” said Kadine Mohomed, a Bear resident who works as a materials scientist at W.L. Gore in Maryland. “We don’t usually take our water up with us, and hydration and making sure you get those electrolytes before being up there is important.” The three-day course is a new cooperative program between University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, Penn State Extension and Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. “There’s climbing schools, but most of them are, ‘Here’s how you do it, now go home and do it.’ said James Savage, the lead instructor. “We show you how to climb, watch you and help you do it and show you what you’re doing wrong.” Savage is an assistant professor of arboriculture at Penn State University. The class he teaches is for arborists, landscapers, new or inexperienced climbers and others who work in and around trees. “It’s a unique educational experience for anybody who shows up,” he said. “It’s really different because we have people that have never climbed trees. They show up and we give them equipment. By tomorrow at noon, they should be going to the top of a 60- or 70-foot tree tree, working out the branches safely and able to get back to the ground.” This is the sixth class Savage has taught this summer, and the first in Delaware. He plans on teaching more in Delaware in the future, specifically in the south to attract participants from Maryland and Virginia. “We had one in York [Pennsylvania] four weeks ago, and we actually had people from Illinois, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,” he said. “I mean we have people from all over the country that fly in for the week to do this.” A small group of participants in the inaugural school were from Washington, D.C. “We have companies that send their new employees to teach them how to do it because it might be part of their job and it helps with production,” Savage said. “At the end, they’re going to know if they like climbing…. It takes skills that 99.99999% of the population do not want or care about, but it’s a very unique skill to know how to do.” His passion for trees has taken him around the world, teaching classes and doing research in Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Mexico, Canada and more. “It’s weird… I’ve made a life out of climbing trees,” he said. “I didn’t plan on it, but it happened.” The course covers tree terminology, tree removal, safety and safe climbing practices, equipment and use of hand tools, tree disease and insect diagnosis as well as culture and pruning. The knot used to tie themselves to a tree securely is called the Blake’s Hitch. The class costs participants $300 for the class, or $100 a day, but they don’t have to pay for equipment, food or water. “I spend a lot of time outdoors and I maintain a lot of the wetlands in my neighborhood, and that’s just something fun to do,” Mohomed said. “It helps me to disconnect from people and work and just relax.” She rock climbs and power-lifts but had not climbed a tree before this week. “It was advertised by the University of Delaware and when it came across my newsfeed I was excited to try because I get to be outdoors, I get to climb – which I love to rock climb – and I also get to use the strength I’ve developed from lifting for the past year.” She said learning to properly prune is helpful to her family because she has children that play outside and she doesn’t want loose branches or wood falling on them or around the yard. “If it’s windy, I don’t let them go out into the woods,” she said, “but if they’re playing, I’d like to at least bring down some of those dead branches, and this was a good starting point to knowing how to do that.” It’s great to set goals that are difficult, but achievable, Mohomed said. “Something that I’m feeling pretty proud of is when I show my kids pictures when I go home at the end of the day. They get excited,” she said. “It’s nice for my boys to see that as a woman in my 40s with teenage boys, I could accomplish things that they don’t typically see women doing.”... Read More
- Mount Pleasant’s robotics team heads to world championships Mt. Pleasant’s Vex Robotics team is, from left, Madison Viola, Martiana Olsen, Cadentz Orbanus (kneeling, Fereydoun Stout and Alexander Amores, show off their Viper robot and the bins it’s expected to move. The Mount Pleasant High School Junior Reserves Officer Training Corps checked off a lot of wins before earning a berth in a world robotics championship. Regionals – CHECK. States – CHECK. Nationals – CHECK. The team’s next stop is Dallas, Texas, this week to compete in the VEX Robotics World Championship, where they will use their machine named Viper in a “capture-the-flag” tournament. The team, overseen by Senior Army Instructor Ivan Montanez, qualified for the world championships in both the high-school and JROTC categories. They belong to the United States Army’s fourth brigade, along with 300-plus other robotic programs, and they are the only team that qualified for both categories. The team credits its road to the championship to dedication that increased as the project went on. Martiana Olsen, a junior, said the robotics team started out meeting only on Wednesdays, but as the team members became increasingly invested in their creation, they started meeting after school on Mondays as well as texting and calling outside meetings to discuss Viper. The team believes working together on robotics has helped them in their JROTC training, too. “We’ve realized this has really helped our communication skills,” said junior Cadentz Orbanus. “When it comes to our battalion, we can effectively communicate what we need with them, how we want to run things, what we would like to see – and even just in class if you’re leading a class or presentation, these skills help.” “I’m most proud of the relationships they have developed with each other, a bond that will last way after these competitions and their high school years,” said Montanez. “Camaraderie and esprit de corps of citizenship” is what the Mount Pleasant JROTC team promotes. It’s a common saying in the Army that expresses how that camaraderie makes its members like family. “This entire team is a true representation of that,” said Montanez. The NCAA’s March Madness tournament has nothing on the Dallas Vex Championships – more than 7,000 teams will compete this week, broken up into 64 divisions in a bracket-style competition. JROTC competitions will be Tuesday, May 3– Thursday, May 5, and the high school competitions will be Thursday, May 5–Saturday, May 7. VEX Robotics is a global STEM organization that uses robotics to inspire students to participate in hands-on learning while creating something with technology. Each year, the organization publishes a new challenge, in the form of a game that requires students to create robots that will compete throughout the year. This year, VEX created “Tipping Point,” a game played on a 12-foot-by-12-foot field with four teams broken up into two alliances, red and blue. This is the Vex Robotic game board for its international competition. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing alliance by grabbing rings, dropping them into bins and moving the bins into territory controlled by your team, called the base. The two teams in each alliance have to coordinate first to see what their robot brings to the table. They also strategize to see how their robots can complement each other to win the game. One person operates Viper at a time, but all the team members help strategize. The matches are quick. Each has a 15–second period in which the bot has been programmed to function on its own, followed by a one minute, 45-second period in which a team member drives the bot. The team is constantly exposed to new robots and teammates that they have to work with, a kind of STEM speed-dating. “Right away, you have a buddy that you can strategize with and it’s exciting to quickly meet people and put together a game plan while keeping the strengths of each teams’ robot in mind,” said sophom*ore Fereydoun Stout, the only team member that had previous VEX experience. After playing around with designs for months, the team landed on a “forklift” type of robot that can move and elevate bins to bring to different zones. Mount Pleasant’s Vex Robotics Team, clockwise from top left, Madison Viola, Martiana Olsen, Cadentz Orbanus and Fereydoun Stout at a match. The breakfast club of team members never knew each other before embarking on their robotic endeavors. “We’ve been able to bond and become friends and work well as a team,” said junior Alex Amores. Orbanus said her family has been extremely supportive, but keeps asking if she plans to go into engineering now that she’s proven her STEM abilities on a global scale. It’s not her top priority, she said. Her grandfather is her biggest supporter. “My grandfather has cancer and we aren’t sure how much time he has left. He’s very proud of me,” she said. “He keeps making nerd jokes and asking me when I’m going to get a pair of glasses.” Amores said the team’s accomplishment set in when he and his team were congratulated for qualifying for the world championships during the televised morning announcements at school. Teachers and students he didn’t know came up to congratulate the team on their success. “You really notice just how big of a deal this is,” he said.... Read More
- Plant shoots through the roof of Longwood conservatory A plant that’s towering over its landscape as it’s flowering has made Longwood Gardens remove a pane of glass from the conservatory roof of its Silver Garden to give it room to grow – and grow and grow. It’s called the century plant (Agave americana). Though once believed a century-long wait was needed for flowering, Agave americana typically blooms after 10 to 25 years. When it does, a single flowering stalk emerges from the center of its leaves, adorned with greenish-yellow flowers in branched clusters, towering to heights of 15 to 30 feet or more. Staff members removed the pane of glass to ensure optimal conditions for the flowers to develop and bloom over the span of four to five months. RELATED: Longwood’s restored Orchid House will show even more blooms This perennial succulent is monocarpic, meaning it only blooms once before it dies. Following the bloom, the main plant will be removed, making way for another specimen to take its place. Two century plants have previously bloomed at Longwood Gardens, in 1997 and 2007. “Many visitors like me came just to see and photograph this rare blossoming,” fan Roger Walck recalled a few years after seeing the 2007 event. RELATED: Longwood gets bit more du Ponty by adding Granogue estate Horticulturists at Longwood typically take the mature size of plants into consideration when adding them to a permanent display. Since Agave americana blooms so seldomly and only for a short time, Longwood accommodates it by removing a panel of glass in the roof. How Longwood found new homes for some plants In 2021, Longwood relocated 55 plants from their previous West Conservatory locations to Main and East Conservatory display spaces in preparation for Longwood Reimagined. One plant that made its way to its new Longwood East Conservatory home is a rabbit’s-foot fern (Davallia fejeensis ‘Major’), which has been part of the collection for nearly 70 years and weighed 1,380-pounds at the time. It required a very carefully planned and implemented move from the Tropical Terrace to the Camellia House. A blog post offers fascinating details and photos.... Read More
