In The News

JPMorgan Chase announces $4 million investment in collaborative effort to revitalize ‘left behind’ Wilmington neighborhoods

From Delaware Business Now

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a $4 million, three-year investment in Equitable Wilmington, a collaborative aimed at promoting growth in Wilmington’s West, East and Northeast neighborhoods.

The collaborative includes Cinnaire Lending Corporation, True Access Capital and NCALL Loan Fund and will use the funds to support affordable housing development, small businesses and community facilities while addressing social determinants of health—including access to healthy foods, and health care facilities—through partnerships with the healthcare sector.

“We’re very proud to make this investment in Wilmington, a community that’s so important to JPMorgan Chase,” said Tom Horne, JPMorgan Chase market director for Delaware. “This city has been making meaningful progress but we know there’s still a lot of work to be done. We want to show up in a big way to help address the challenges and we’re excited about the great work that this collaborative will do.”

“We have worked hard in Delaware to support new affordable housing and small business development, and these investments in Equitable Wilmington will build on progress we’re seeing across our city,” said Gov. John Carney. “This is the kind of collaboration that can create real positive change in Delaware communities, and I want to thank everyone involved for their commitment to the City of Wilmington.”

Read more:

https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2019/10/jpmorgan-chase-announces-4-million-investment-in-collaborative-effort-to-revitalize-left-behind-wilmington-neighborhoods/

21 Delaware employees made more than 200K last year — none were the governor

From the News Journal

Twenty-one people who work for Delaware state government made more than $200,000 in 2018, and at least 13 are on track to make a similar amount this year.

Mark Brainard, president of Delaware Technical Community College, tops the list, according to a database of state employee salaries provided by the state Office of Management and Budget.

Brainard, who topped last year’s list, earned $266,540 in 2018. He made a base salary of $245,000 along with $20,585 listed as “other” earnings, according to the state budget office data.

Delaware state employees can make “other” earnings in more than 140 ways, ranging from stipends, health care cost supplements, coaching a school sports teams or serving on the state police scuba diving unit.

Brainard could end up making an even bigger paycheck in 2019, since his salary has been bumped to $249,900 this year. He’s still making less than his predecessor Orlando George, who collected a nearly $371,000 in salary when he retired in 2014.

More than half of the employees who topped the list worked for the health and homeland security departments last year. That includes police, nurses, psychiatrists and forensic examiners. The list also includes a couple of New Castle County school superintendents.

Read more:

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/30/these-delaware-employees-made-more-than-200-k-last-year-none-were-governor/4020677002/

Pharma start-up gets state grant; plans call for hiring up to 49 biotech positions

From Delaware Business Now

Prelude Therapeutics, a privately-held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, plans to add up to 49 biotech positions by 2022 and invest $5 million in expanded lab and office space in the Wilmington area.

Prelude conducts research focused on key drivers of cancer cell growth, survival, and resistance. The company has two clinical trials in progress, with more pre-clinical development candidates in the pipeline.

The company is outgrowing its current locations, split between the Delaware Innovation Space (located on the site of the former DuPont Experimental Station) in Wilmington and nearby overflow office space.

Read more:

https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2019/10/pharma-start-up-gets-state-grant-plans-call-for-hiring-up-to-49-biotech-positions/

Gov. Carney’s office won’t say whether Paradee sister did legal review for DE Turf bill

From the News Journal

Gov. John Carney’s office would not comment Monday whether Jacqueline Mette, deputy legal counsel to the governor and Sen. Trey Paradee’s sister, conducted the legal review for her brother’s controversial DE Turf hotel tax bill.

Mette serves on Carney’s four-person legal team that reviews all bills passed by the General Assembly before the governor considers them.

The hotel tax bill, should Kent County officials approve it, could benefit a proposed development championed by John Paradee, brother of Trey Paradee and Mette.

John Paradee also sits on the board of DE Turf, a private sports complex near Frederica that would receive all of the tax revenue, estimated to be about $1 million a year.

Trey Paradee, a Dover-area state senator, sponsored the bill, which was pushed through the Legislature during its final hours in June.

More than half of legislators who voted in favor of the bill and responded to Delaware Online/The News Journal said they would have reconsidered their yes vote had they known of the potential conflict. Many others said they would have pressed for more details.

Read more:

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/28/gov-carneys-office-wont-say-whether-paradee-sister-did-legal-review-de-turf-bill/2483634001/

Why the DE Turf vote has some Delaware lawmakers second-guessing

From the News Journal

Some members of the Delaware General Assembly are second-guessing their yes votes on a bill that allowed Kent County to tax hotel stays and give the resulting $1 million in revenue to DE Turf, a sports complex near Frederica.

After learning the tax could benefit a proposed development championed by John Paradee – brother to the lawmaker who sponsored the bill – Sen. Cathy Cloutier, R-Heatherbrook, is one of the lawmakers who thinks there is a conflict of interest.

“It doesn’t look good,” Cloutier said.

Bill sponsor Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, said he had “no idea” about his brother’s involvement in the development or that he sat on DE Turf’s board.

But in 2014, when plans for the sports complex began to move forward, The News Journal reported that John Paradee was one of the developers of Asbury Square.

Read more:

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/18/why-some-delaware-lawmakers-second-guessing-their-vote-de-turf-bill/2049336001/

Report recommends raising visibility of Delaware’s tech sector as way to attract, retain workers

From Delaware Business Now

Tech Impact released a report that explores best practices in attracting developing and retaining skilled talent for Delaware’s technology jobs.

Read more: https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2019/10/report-recommends-raising-visibility-of-delawares-tech-sector-as-way-to-attract-retain-workers/

Big Delaware-based breweries are picking other states to expand. This is why

From the News Journal

When commercial real estate agents brought Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant officials a possible location for a new brewpub, the site looked promising.

It was the former home of Don Pablo’s Mexican restaurant near the Christiana Mall, which closed in late 2018 after a 19-year-run.

Not only was the site in a high-traffic area, but the brewery had previously converted a former Don Pablo’s restaurant in South Carolina and it wasn’t a big job, thanks to Don Pablo’s brick buildings, which fit Iron Hill’s aesthetic.

But Iron Hill, which got its start on Newark’s Main Street in 1996 and has grown into a regional chain with 19 locations in five states, couldn’t pull the trigger on the deal for one reason: Delaware law.

Delaware Code states that a licensee is limited to three brewpubs in the state. And since Iron Hill already had spots in Newark, Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, they were forced to expand elsewhere.

Read more: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/life/2019/10/10/legislators-looking-change-delaware-code-brewpubs/3906398002/

Economic changes push need for new workforce training

From Delaware State News

DOVER — The future of work is changing.

People born in 2019 will probably have very different career paths than their grandparents or even their parents.

Globalization, automation, computerization — the economy of the 21st century is shaping up to be dramatically different than the one that emerged after World War II and led to prosperity for so many Americans in the second half of the 1900s.

If the newest generations are to be successful, business leaders, education officials and policymakers will have to keep an eye to the future and make changes, several people said Tuesday at a conference on workforce development.

The event, hosted by the State Chamber of Commerce, was intended to shine a spotlight on issues companies face in finding qualified workers.
Despite the unemployment rate falling to pre-recession levels (including, earlier this year, the best months in that regard in 50 years), the state still has a scarcity of workers in many fields, especially blue-collar ones such as construction and autowork.

While it’s unknown what Delaware’s economy will look like in 20 years, it’s safe to say it probably won’t be predicated on the four Cs — chemicals, credit cards, cars and chickens — that have been so important to the state for decades.

Read more: https://delawarestatenews.net/news/economic-changes-push-need-for-new-workforce-training/

Iron Hill opts for production location in Exton, PA after inaction by General Assembly

From Delaware Business Now

After an unsuccessful effort to change a Delaware law that limits the number of breweries owned by one company, Wilmington-based Iron Hill has signed a lease to build a production brewery in Exton, PA.

The brewery is expected to open in the summer of 2020 at The Shops on Eagleview Boulevard (240 Eagleview Boulevard).

The location will be known as Iron Hill Brewery & Taphouse.

Iron Hill has three breweries in Delaware and needed a change in the law that limits it to that number. The state’s liquor laws also ban supermarket sales, while limiting the number of liquor stores owned by one entity to two.

Pennsylvania, while maintaining a system of state-owned liquor stores, has loosened regulations on sales of beer and wine at grocery and convenience stores.

Read more:

https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2019/09/iron-hill-opts-for-production-location-in-exton-pa-after-inaction-by-general-assembly/

Despite improvement, Delaware’s 2018 taxpayer burden still gets an F

From The News Journal

Most people have budgets to manage their money, pay their bills and save what is left.

Spending more money than you bring in can cause problems, and that’s why the Chicago-based think tank Truth in Accounting analyzes every state’s expenses and how much revenue they bring in.

Delaware is one of nine states to receive a grade F for its taxpayer burden. Those nine states would need additional money from taxpayers to pay off its bills.

Delaware would need an additional $27,100 per taxpayer to fully pay its bills each year, according to 2018 data released by TIA.

The taxpayer burden lowered to -$27,100 in 2018 from -$30,400 the year before. TIA calculated taxpayer burden by the state’s bills divided by the number of taxpayers.

“Though it got better,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO at TIA, “Delaware is more of an outlier because they don’t put enough money towards retirees’ health care liability and pension liability.”

Weinberg says Delaware saves 3 cents for every dollar for retirees’ health care liability. The only worst state is New York at 1 cent.

Read more:

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/30/despite-improvement-delawares-2018-taxpayer-burden-still-gets-f/2370396001/