Data Privacy

Delaware residents get new rights and controls over their data privacy

Staff WriterBusiness, Government & Politics, Headlines

The Delaware Personal Data Privacy Act, which gives residents new rights over their personal data and strengthens online privacy protections, took effect January 1, 2024, following its passage by the General Assembly in 2023. Here are the key provisions of the new law: Opt-In: Businesses must get consent before using or sharing sensitive data like health conditions, race, religion, location, …

Adolph Jay Pakorny

Maligned Wilmington Landlord Adolph Jay Pokorny agrees to leave the business

Peter OsborneDelaware Nonprofits, Government, Headlines

WILMINGTON — Has Attorney General Kathy Jennings finally closed the books on Adolph Jay Pokorny, arguably one of the worst landlords the city has seen in the past 50 years? Jennings secured a settlement on Tuesday from Pokorny to end his nearly 50-year tenure as what many lawmakers, renters, and others have described as a slumlord — and worse. Jennings …

voting supreme court ruling absentee ballot

Del. Supreme Court vacates lower court absentee ballot ruling

Betsy PriceGovernment, Headlines

The Delaware Supreme Court has thrown out a lower court ruling on absentee ballots in a unanimous vote, saying neither of the plaintiffs had standing to sue. While Democrats celebrated the decision, Republicans pointed out that the decision said nothing about the merits of the case, which focused on whether the state director of elections could choose voting by machine …

ChristianaCare Hospital Wilmington

ChristianaCare to pay $7.6M to settle Medicaid false claims charges

Betsy PriceBusiness, Delaware Arts, Headlines

  Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Friday that ChristianaCare Health System will pay $7,666,379 to Delaware’s Medicaid program to settle federal and Delaware false claim allegations. The case, which was initiated by a whistleblower, alleges that ChristianaCare provided free or below-market value support services to non-employee doctors, who then referred patients to the health system. These referrals in turn led …

Google will pay out $630 million in restitution to consumers.

Delaware involved in $700 million settlement with Google Play

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Government

Delaware is part of a national  $700 million agreement with Google in its lawsuit about Google’s anticompetitive conduct with the Google Play Store. The settlement involved Attorney General Kathy Jennings and a bipartisan group of 52 other attorneys general. Google will pay $630 million in restitution, minus costs and fees, to consumers who made purchases on the Google Play Store …

The court order is in response to the illegal student loan practices of Prehired.

Delawareans included in $30M Prehired student loan settlement

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

The First State is one of 12 involved in a national $30 million order against a student lender for malpractice.  Attorney General Kathy Jennings’ office worked with the federal Consumer Protection Financial Bureau and 11 other states to crack down on the bankrupt student lender Prehired. A Delaware bankruptcy court approved a stipulated judgment that requires Prehired to pay more …

Delaware trooper charged with assaulting, injuring two teens

Betsy PriceGovernment, Headlines

A Delaware State Trooper has been charged with two felonies, including Delaware’s first use of a Deprivation of Civil Rights statute, for punching a teenager and fracturing his orbital socket in response to an apparent prank. Trooper Dempsey Walters, 29, is suspended without pay and was indicted Monday on six counts: Deprivation of Civil Rights, a Class B Felony, for …

Car wash

Camden mayor resigns after actions at car wash

Betsy PriceGovernment, Headlines

Camden Mayor Justin King on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and no contest to a third and then resigned because of a physical confrontation at a car wash he owned. King, 41, confronted two male victims, both 19, in February at a car wash he owned, accordiong to a press release from the Delaware Department of Justice. He claimed …

opioid settlement

Delaware to get $68.9 million from opioid settlement

Sam HautHeadlines, Government

Delaware is set to receive $68.9 million out of a $17.3 billion settlement from drug makers Teva and Allergan and pharmacies CVS and Walgreens. The money will be spread out over the next 15 years, according to a press release by the Delaware Department of Justice. The defendants will start releasing funds to a national administrator later this summer, with …

Elsa Olofsson, marrijuana in workplace

Still work to do, say marijuana advocacy groups

Sam HautGovernment, Headlines

Marijuana advocacy groups who worked to help legalize marijuana in Delaware say there is still work to do. That includes urging Attorney General Kathy Jennings to drop all pending cannabis offenses, making sure that testing positive for pot won’t get someone’s parole or probation revoked, allowing marijuana to be grown at home and bird-dogging the process and progress of regulations …