DL Open Thread: Monday, October 13, 2025
My Thoughts: Thank G-d It’s Over, and Who Will Rebuild Gaza? The orgy of congratulations is at least partially earned, at least on the part of everyone but the genocidal Netanyahu:
“Our enemies now understand just how powerful and just how determined Israel is,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “They understand that attacking Israel on Oct. 7 was a catastrophic mistake,” he said. Netanyahu went on to argue that over time “more and more bought into Hamas’s false propaganda. More and more governments succumbed to the antisemitic mob in their own countries,” referring to Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage. It is a partial telling of history, of course, one that avoids discussion the scale of civilian deaths in Gaza.
…And conflates being anti-genocide to being anti-Semitic.
Oppose Data Centers, Get Sued:
Facing a lengthy court battle, the board folded. It struck a consent agreement this month with Related Digital that clears the way for development to begin while limiting the project’s water use and securing millions of dollars for Saline Township’s fire department, public buildings and farmland preservation.
As tech companies pump hundreds of billions of dollars into infrastructure for artificial intelligence, proposals to build data centers are facing growing opposition across the country. Local leaders are weighing concerns about data centers’ water and electricity use with the hefty community investments that developers often offer to sweeten their deals. Many officials, urged on by skeptical residents, are saying no.
In some recent cases, controversial proposals have led to drastic measures. At least one city has enacted a year-long moratorium on data center development within its limits.
“It feels like there’s been a real shift over the last six months or so in terms of the public just becoming aware of what data centers are,” said Ben Green, assistant professor of information at the University of Michigan. “And becoming increasingly skeptical.”
Data centers — hubs of computer processing power — have long been essential for powering the internet and much of our digital lives. But they were not a nationwide topic of controversy until the recent AI boom began fueling their construction at a feverish pace.
NCC Councilman David Carter Takes The Lead On This Issue:
New Castle County Council heard overwhelming public support for guardrails against data centers in the county its Department of Land Use and Planning Board hearing.
Board members took up the data center issue Tuesday during a hearing that included almost two hours of public comment.
The meeting focused on Councilmember David Carter’s draft substitute for an ordinance that would regulate data centers. Among other things, it calls for the Water Supply Coordinating Council to ensure there’s enough water to support residents and the data center.
“I took an oath of office to protect the health, safety and welfare of New Castle County residents,” Carter said. “This is a land use with huge impacts. These are the level of impacts that we had many years ago when we had heavy industrial proposals coming in.”
BTW, as far as I’m concerned, every elected public official should take Carter’s lead on the following:
An attorney working for a company applying to open a data center spoke during the public comment, Carter said.
“They talked about they really wanted to meet with me and blah, blah, blah, but quite frankly, they can call me anytime,” Carter said. “I hadn’t heard from them, and I’m happy to meet with them in any public forum.”
Carter added he was not open to a closed-door meeting with someone actively seeking a permit from the county.
I Like The Cut Of This James Talarico’s Jib.
Even though he’s as clean-cut as that odious Ralph Reed used to be:
DK: Trump says he’s a nondenominational Christian. How does your faith differ from the expressions of faith put forth by Trump and those around him?
Talarico: I don’t know his personal religious beliefs or practices, but I believe there’s one issue that troubles many Christian voters, especially evangelical voters. That’s how the president has handled undocumented people who have been part of our communities for decades.
We all want a secure border and a sensible immigration system. However, most people also want to respect community members who have been here a long time, built businesses, and contributed to our neighborhoods. There is a strong tradition within Christianity, especially among American evangelicals, of welcoming strangers—probably the most common commandment in our faith and scriptures.
Many evangelicals, including conservatives, do significant work on the border and mission work in Latin America. I believe they are deeply troubled by how this administration has treated the stranger. It is possible to have a secure border while respecting the dignity of all human beings, particularly those who have been in the country for a long time.
If I am elected, I hope to find a middle ground on this issue—pushing for immigration reform and border security while still respecting and welcoming those who are here.
I don’t live in Texas, but that sounds like a message that could resonate.
Nevada state regulators have accused Elon Musk’s Boring Co. of violating environmental regulations nearly 800 times in the last two years as it digs a sprawling tunnel network beneath Las Vegas for its Tesla-powered “people mover.” The company’s alleged violations include starting to dig without approval, releasing untreated water onto city streets and spilling muck from its trucks, according to a new document obtained by City Cast Las Vegas and ProPublica.
The Sept. 22 cease-and-desist letter from the state Bureau of Water Pollution Control alleged repeated violations of a settlement agreement that the company had entered into after being fined five years ago for discharging groundwater into storm drains without a permit. That agreement, signed by a Boring executive in 2022, was intended to compel the company to comply with state water pollution laws.
Instead, state inspectors documented nearly 100 alleged new violations of the agreement. The letter also accuses the company of failing to hire an independent environmental manager to regularly inspect its construction sites. State regulators counted 689 missed inspections.
The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection could have fined the company more than $3 million under the 2022 agreement, which allowed for daily penalties to be assessed. But regulators knocked down the total penalty to $242,800. For example, the bulk of the total possible fine was linked to the alleged missed inspections, but the agency chose to levy just a $10,000 penalty for each of the company’s 11 permits.
“Given the extraordinary number of violations, NDEP has decided to exercise its discretion to reduce the penalty to two $5,000 violations per permit, which it believes offers a reasonable penalty that will still serve to deter future non-compliance conduct,” regulators wrote in the letter.
Wouldn’t want to overly burden a struggling entrepreneur like Musk…
My News-Journal subscription has expired. Here’s today’s top headline:
Smyrna Irish bar gets new owners & more new Delaware restaurants open.
How will I ever fill this void in my life?
Delaware’s Multilingual Learners Face Funding Gap:
This year, multilingual learners, or MLLs, make up 13% of Delaware’s student population. That’s nearly 19,000 students who represent more than 100 different languages and cultures.
“This growth represents something beautiful and that our schools continue to grow and it is not just one population of students,” said Maria Rodriguez, an education associate with the Delaware Department of Education. “Being bilingual or multilingual has brain benefits. It is something that is well documented in science and so we need to honor the languages and the cultures that our students bring into our schools and continue to capitalize on that as an asset.”
To better understand that growth — and where Delaware still falls short — the education advocacy nonprofit Rodel released its third edition of the Multilingual Learner Fact Sheet this year. The updated report tracks who these students are, where they live and what supports to which they have access.
“At a high level, we see this group of students as a huge asset. But despite the fact that this is a really important population of students, the student support is just really not there,” said Paul Herdman, president and CEO of Rodel. “We wanted to document that, try and raise awareness around the need for resources, and begin to look at what the teaching resources need to be.”
Herdman said that while the number of MLL students has surged across Delaware — particularly in Kent and Sussex counties — the level of investment and attention has not kept pace.
The issue? Stop me if you’ve heard this before–‘part of the problem lies in a funding formula that hasn’t evolved in more than 80 years.’
Spotlight Delaware Chronicles One Example Of ICE’s Inhumanity. One with a happy ending. Award-worthy reporting. I won’t spoil it for you. Just read it.
What do you want to talk about?
If you spent less time blogging and more time drinking, you would have a greater appreciation of The News Journal.
The genocide hasn’t ended. Armed gangs backed by Israel are doing a lot of the killing now. Another prominent journalist was assassinated by one of those gangs yesterday. The Israeli army also left behind booby-trapped toys and canned food items and stole everything they wanted before they pulled back (but they’re still occupying large areas of Gaza). Violence continues to increase in the West Bank, too. We have no reason to believe this is over.