Home Care In New Castle, DE

Last night’s encounter between Manchester City and Newcastle Castle was a pure nail-biter. Thanks to Kevin De Bruyne, Pep Guardiola‘s side rose from the ashes to make a comeback and clinch an emphatic 2-3 victory at St. James’ Park. While Cityzens continue to celebrate the win, France legend Frank Leboeuf has shockingly asserted that the Belgian sensation is ‘definitely the best‘, even better than Lionel Messi, while lauding the 30-yard aerial match-winning assist by the Belgian.

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In a recent episode of ESPN FC’s Extra Time, the host presented a netizen’s question of whether Kevin De Bruyne is the closest player to Messi in terms of vision, reading from the game, and passing from this current generation. Interestingly, Frank Leboeuf replied, “In terms of seeing the game, I would say that he’s [De Bruyne] even better than Messi. Messi was capable of doing something special, but in long ranges, I never saw Messi giving like 30-yard passes to somebody in the air.”

Leboeuf insisted that Messi’s pinpoint accuracy was rather shorter passes than De Bruyne’s. “It was more like feeling the thing in a 16 Yard Box and delivering something special, but De Bruyne is definitely the best for me,” he added. It seems that last night’s performance against Eddie Howe’s side has left a profound impact on the pundit. Notably, after Bernardo Silva’s cheeky back-heal finish put City ahead, Newcastle was suddenly on a goal-scoring spree, with Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon scoring twice within two minutes.

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As the second half began with the Magpies’ leading, Kevin De Bruyne came on in the 69th minute, replacing Silva. The 32-year-old made an instant impact minutes later, equalizing with a neat finish. In injury time, the Belgian used his eagle eye to deliver a perfect ball inside the box to Oscar Bobb, who clinched the winner. Notably, the veteran midfielder was also highly praised by Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola deemed Kevin De Bruyne a ‘legend’ after heroics at Newcastle

Pep Guardiola expressed immense joy after witnessing a remarkable performance. While insisting he wasn’t confident enough to give KDB the full 90 minutes after a 5-month exile, he said, “His tight impact from the last 30-35 minutes, you know for the goal for the assist and how many times arriving at the byline for the crosses, so isn’t a special player, he’s a legend.”

Professing Real Madrid Dream, Manchester City Loanee Names Cristiano Ronaldo as His Idol

Yesterday’s match-winning contribution propelled Kevin De Bruyne to become the third-highest assist provider in the English Premier League, boasting a total of 103. Likewise, the win has brought Manchester City to second place. They are now two points behind Liverpool. Now that the sniper is back, Pep Guardiola and Co. are certainly back on track.

The New Castle County office for Social Security Administration is temporarily closed due to HVAC issues, according to administration officials Monday.

The office, located at 920 W. Basin Road in New Castle, is closed for "in-person services," according to the federal Social Security Administration website. It has been closed since at least Thursday.

A concerned citizen alerted Delaware Online/The News Journal to the office's closure on Monday after visiting the office earlier that morning and discovering the place was closed. The Delaware resident said there were several other "elderly people" at the office who had discovered the same thing.

Officials with the office did not say when offices were first closed, nor did they indicate when the HVAC issues would be addressed,

"The office will remain closed until the HVAC issues are resolved," said a spokesperson from Social Security Administration's Philadelphia Regional Communications Office. "People may check the status of their local Social Security office by visiting our Office Closings and Emergencies website."

Check local office closures through the federal Social Security website.

How to access Social Security services

Employees from the New Castle office are able to assist the public via phone by calling 1-866-667-7221.

For those who need to conduct their business in-person, the following offices remain open:

Social Security office hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. during weekdays.

Most services can be accessed via online at www.ssa.gov, or by dialing 1-800-772-1213. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call Social Security’s TTY number at 1-800-325-0778.

People can create personalized accounts to access Social Security benefits, start or change direct deposit, and confirm proof of benefits, among other services, at www.ssa.gov/myaccount.

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As the Delaware convenience store wars continue to heat up, a new Wawa will come into being Friday.

The new Wawa, in Glasgow at the still-under-construction Pencader Corporate Center, will celebrate its grand opening Friday, Dec. 15.As at every Wawa grand opening, the doors will open at 8:00 a.m. and the first 100 customers will get free T-shirts. Free coffee will flow. A ribbon shall be cut at 8:30. And a Hoagie for Heroes fundraising contest will ensue among local first responders.The new Wawa at 120 Corporate Blvd. is part of an ambitious plan by developer Reybold Venture Group for a 125-room, five-story hotel, a three-story office building, a restaurant and retail building and a daycare between Corporate Boulevard and Executive Drive. The most recent plans were recorded in May.

A number of additional Wawa plans are still in the works.

A Wawa is under construction as part of a new commercial and office center on Naamans Road in Brandywine Hundred. The center is replacing Kirkwood Fitness. Wawa is also planning to build at the former Leon's Garden World and Ewing Towing at Elkton and Otts Chapel Roads near Newark.

In September, Wawa abandoned plans for a standalone drive-thru store that would have replaced the closed Boston Market on the west side of Route 896 at Welsh Tract Road in Newark.

Plans continue for a Wawa on Route 896, however, in place of the Friendly's in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn on the east side of the road. A Wawa is also part of a planned redevelopment of the Astro Shopping Center next to the Newark Farmers Market and across from Western YMCA on Capitol Trail in Milltown. Cannon's Bakery recently closed at the center, saying Wawa construction required them to to move to a different location in the same center.

This month, the New Castle County Council made an unexpected declaration: They’d like to get back together with the managers of the state’s largest airport.

The Delaware River and Bay Authority, a quasi-governmental organization that has operated the county-owned Wilmington Airport since 1995, had essentially received an eviction notice back in 2020.

That’s when a New Castle County airport task force recommended that the county not renew DRBA’s 30-year lease ending in 2025, and instead request proposals from other suitors. DRBA, in turn, said it refused to apply for a job it was already doing

For the intervening three years, the future of the airport has remained in uneasy limbo.

But in a resolution introduced by Councilman George Smiley on Dec. 12, the New Castle County Council unanimously approved a mash note to the DRBA. The resolution declared it would be "in the best interests of New Castle County Government and the residents of the Tri-State area" if DRBA continued to run the airport.

Notably, no new deal had been struck. And negotiations were still in progress. But the council resolution nonetheless authorized the "rescission of the non-renewal of the lease."

In other words: "We take it all back. Don't go."

A week later, at its board meeting, the DRBA sent a love letter right back: We accept.

“We’re pleased that New Castle County leadership made the decision to rescind its termination letter of June 24, 2020, and reauthorize the Delaware River and Bay authority to continue to be the sponsor of the Wilmington Airport for the next 30 years,” wrote DRBA commission chair Samuel Lathem in a statement released after its Tuesday meeting.But neither resolution has any legal authority. And the county and the DRBA have not agreed on the terms of a renewed 30-year lease. So what’s really going on? Here’s what we know.

Wait, back up: What is the DRBA and why was it running the airport in the first place?

The DRBA is a quasi-governmental transportation agency — analogous to transit agencies like SEPTA or DART.

But instead of trains and buses, the DRBA operates bridges, ferries and airports in Delaware and New Jersey. The agency is self-supporting aside from federal grants, meaning it takes no funds from either state — but rather covers its operating costs with tolls and fees and tickets.

In the case of Wilmington Airport, the County owns the 1,287-acre plot upon which the airport sits. Since 1995, the county has been leasing the land to DRBA for the princely sum of a dollar.

In exchange, the DRBA runs the airport on behalf of the county and takes its operating income in the form of FAA grants and fees.

How did the DRBA lose its lease in 2020?

In part, the county had to terminate the lease to negotiate new terms, said Councilman George Smiley, who sat on the airport task force that eventually recommended that the DRBA lose its lease.

The lease required that the county give five years' notice to terminate the lease, and unless the County terminated the lease in 2020, the DRBA would have automatically gotten 30 more years under the same terms, Smiley said.

And at the time, the airport was at a difficult crossroads. The Wilmington Airport had so far been a revolving door for commercial airlines. First Delta, then Skybus and Frontier, had started and then stopped service at the airport. (Frontier did so again in 2022.)

The county and DRBA had been at public loggerheads in 2018, over who would get the money from the proposed sale of a parcel of airport land.

County Executive Matt Meyer convened a task force in 2019 to examine the options. The County hired a consultant to lay out the best potential paths forward, and offer recommendations.

Smiley, along with the rest of the task force, recommended that the county not renew the lease. And so in June 2020, a few months into a worldwide pandemic, New Castle County told DRBA their lease would be kaputt.

“When that notice was given that we weren’t renewing, planes weren’t even flying,” Meyer said. “There was uncertainty about whether it would start in a matter of weeks or years, and what impact that we have on airplanes.”

After a request for interest from other potential airport operators, five private companies declared interest. And as mentioned above, the DRBA wasn’t among them.

So what changed in the meantime between New Castle County and the DRBA?

In part, said Meyer, the DRBA and the county have had productive talks since then.

But also, nothing breeds success like success.

“The bigger story is this,” said Meyer. “A few weeks ago, the airport just sent its first commercial flight outside the continental United States…. We are working to grow the airport as a hub.”

After starting service at the airport this year, carrier Avelo Airlines has broken record after record for commercial service at Wilmington Airport. The airline announced this fall that it had recently surpassed 200,000 served customers, surpassing a previous airport milepost set nearly 10 years ago.

The onetime leader of the airport task force, former Delaware Economic Director Alan Levin, said he's impressed with the current success of the airport.

“I was not aware that Council took this action, but based on what is happening at the facility I’m pleased they did,” Levin said. “All we wanted to see was that the facility be the economic driver it could be for the County.”

Will DRBA get a new 30-year lease under the same terms?

Not so fast, said Meyer.

The resolution “rescinding the non-renewal” is non-binding, Meyer said.

He has no plans to restart the lease under the same terms, but is confident that DRBA and the County will reach an amended agreement for another 30 years.

Many of the points of contention revolve around reporting responsibilities to New Castle County, and the rights of the County to make decisions about the airport, he said.

“The lease is going to be changed in some important ways to make sure our county has the rights that we believe it should have as the owner of the airport,” said Meyer.

In a statement, DRBA said it “looks forward to continued negotiations on new lease language to strengthen our relationship.”

Still, say both sides, they have not yet reached an agreement for a new 30-year term.

If the DRBA and the County haven’t reached an agreement, why are they making announcements?

Money. Specifically, potential millions in federal money.

Councilman Smiley said that as the end of the year approached, he saw trouble brewing on the horizon.

“In the beginning of the new year, the FAA starts considering grant funds — funding for airports and others,” Smiley said.

The New Castle County airport would be potentially eligible for millions in grant funds in 2023, according to Smiley. But if the FAA believed that the DRBA’s lease for the airport was ending, they might be unwilling to release the funds.

The FAA had sent a letter saying as much, County Executive Meyer told Delaware Online/ The News Journal this month.

The resolution in County Council this month had a very specific audience: FAA administrators with control of the purse strings.

“Basically we wanted to send a message to the FAA that that the DRBA should remain in consideration for funding,” Smiley said.

In reciprocating, DRBA likely sent a similar message to the FAA.

But as much as it's a signal to the federal government, Smiley said the resolution is also an expression of faith that the DRBA is the right steward for the airport.

"If I didn't have a comfort level, I would have never put out the resolution," Smiley said. "I value my reputation and my opinion, when I put it out there."

Matthew Korfhage is business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all the things that touch land and money, and the many corporations who call the First State home. A longtime food writer, he also tends to turn up with stories about tacos, oysters and beer. Send tips and insults to [email protected].

The number of vacant properties in New Castle County peaked in 2017 at 1,350, according to county officials. Since then, the Vacant Spaces to Livable Places initiative has worked to reduce those vacant locations with much success. In six years, the number of vacancies has dropped 53%.

This week, County Executive Matt Meyer celebrated the completion of the latest vacant property to be transformed under the program, a spot in Minquadale that will be used as a transitional home for young women aging out of foster care.

“There are over 700 properties we’ve now done like this on my watch,” Meyer said. “This starts by identifying a problem, a problem of delinquent housing stock in neighborhoods not just here in Minquadale, but across the county, really the city of Wilmington, the state, and to some extent the country.”

Due to its condition, property buyers overlooked this space. The partially collapsed roof held a considerable liability, and the expensive delinquency rate discouraged buyers.

According to Meyer, the Department of Purchasing decided to run a bid and sell the property for zero dollars to bring a change to the community. The buyer was a nonprofit called Duffy’s Hope, run by CEO and founder Duffy Samuels. He plans to use the location to help address homelessness in line with mission.

“I’ve seen a lot of homelessness with teenagers and kids over the age 18, young adults, so it was mainly my focus to try to help with the homelessness here in the state of Delaware,” Samuels said.

Four young women aging out of foster care will take up residence in the space, working closely with case managers to develop a plan to get them on their feet and learn the ways of independent living.

“Our goal is to help them get their GED or a high school diploma, also help them get an education in college, and help them prepare for the workforce. And then also help them with their mental health,” Duffy said.

In addition to help from Duffy’s Hope, the young women will have the opportunity to pursue a college education tuition-free at Wilmington University.

Part of the money generated from the county’s efforts to transform vacant properties into contributing to the tax base will go to school districts across the county.

“The 700 properties have generated over $3.4 million of revenue for the government,” Meyer said of the program’s financial impact. “$1.7 million has gone to help our schools.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony and the official opening of the transitional house are scheduled for September.