DL Open Thread: Wednesday, June 3, 2026

The New Medical School Is A BFD.  I think this is a win-win, and, yes, a coup for Gov. Matt Meyer:

Delaware will soon have its own medical school, a first in the state’s history.

The state is partnering with Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University to establish a regional campus of Sidney Kimmel Medical College. It would create a four-year medical school that would accommodate 40 students when it opens in 2028.

The school will be housed on the University of Delaware campus in Newark until a long-term home is found.

Delaware is one of only a handful of states without a medical school. Gov. Matt Meyer has advocated for one as a way to combat health care provider shortages, especially in rural areas in southern Delaware and meet the needs of an aging population.

Meyer said one of the goals is to increase the pipeline of doctors choosing to practice in Delaware.

“This medical school is about training physicians here, keeping talent here and delivering better care in every corner of our state,” he said. “Especially in those communities that need it the most.”

Jefferson CEO Joe Cacchione said with this new investment, they are committed to helping make sure all Delawareans have access to primary care and specialists.

“It’s a turning point for students who want to become physicians without leaving their home state, and it’s a turning point for Delaware as it takes a decisive step toward building a stronger, more sustainable health care workforce,” he said.

Delaware officials said medical students will start their classroom instruction at UD and then do their clinical training at offices and health care systems in Kent and Sussex counties, where the shortage of doctors is most acute.

Did I say ‘win-win’?  There’s an exception:

However, ChristianaCare, which has its own partnership with Jefferson, is not participating. The state’s largest health care system was part of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s unsuccessful bid to operate the school. In a joint statement from ChristianaCare and PCOM, the two organizations expressed disappointment with not being part of the consortium of higher education institutions and healthcare organizations.

“The path forward raises genuine questions about whether the school’s goals can be fully realized without ChristianaCare’s meaningful participation in its clinical training mission,” it said. “The success of any four-year medical program depends not just on an academic institution, but on a true and committed partnership with its clinical partners — one built on shared mission, mutual investment and trust developed over time.”

So. Delaware’s healthcare behemoth, which had already killed a Hospital Care Cost Containment Board, and had emasculated a piece of legislation that would have had a pretty significant impact on controlling hospital costs, is having a sad.  You’d think that they’d done enough to make healthcare less affordable and available for one legislation session.  You’d think wrong.  ChristianaCareCorporate is an enemy of progress.

One more thought.  Say what you want about Meyer–and I’ve said a lot–it sure helps to have a Governor who has the ‘vision thing’.  Beats merely occupying a vacant office because it’s there.

Delaware Adds Funding For Homeless Families:

Lawmakers on Delaware’s powerful Joint Finance Committee included an $800,000 line item into the state’s supplemental budget last week that would pay for homeless Delaware families with school-aged children to move into stable housing.

The introduction of the item – pushed by Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton) – followed an announcement last month from Delaware budget forecasters that the state would collect nearly $200 million more in revenue during the next fiscal year than previously estimated.

It also follows news from earlier this spring that Williams could face a primary election challenge from progressive Will Imbrie-Moore, whose platform calls for increases in affordable housing spending. Imbrie-Moore launched his candidacy in March, but has not yet officially filed as a candidate. 

In other words, Will has already had a positive impact on Delaware w/o having been elected yet.  

Williams said she decided to push the initiative forward after the nonprofit Action for Delaware’s Children reached out to her.

“These children and families often do not have a strong voice in the legislature, and we need to help them be that voice,” Williams said last month.

The newly budgeted housing money would help 50 Delaware families move out of shelters and motels and into rental housing. Lawmakers will pass the state’s operating, capital and supplemental budgets later this month.

Trump Dumps Unqualified National Security Head, Appoints Even More Unqualified National Security Head:

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters “we don’t need a weaponized” director of national intelligence when asked about President Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte, the homebuilder and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), to serve as acting head of the nation’s intelligence services.

Thune pointed out that Pulte, who has come under sharp criticism from Democrats for pulling up mortgage information to investigate Trump’s political opponents, would have to undergo the Senate confirmation process to permanently take over as director.

“If they nominate him to take the position permanently, he’ll have to go through a confirmation process and hearings and everything else, so we’ll see,” Thune told reporters.

When asked whether he has concerns that Pulte would “weaponize” the position given the role he has played during Trump’s second term in plumbing mortgage records to see whether Trump’s political adversaries have committed fraud, Thune said: “We don’t need a weaponized DNI; we need professionals there.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, blasted Pulte’s appointment to serve as acting director of national intelligence as a terrible choice.

“Americans have already seen Mr. Pulte use the powers of his office at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to pursue the president’s grievances and lend credibility to dubious prosecutions of President Trump’s perceived political opponents,” Warner said in a statement.

“Elevating him to oversee the Intelligence Community makes clear that this president is not looking for an intelligence leader who will follow the facts or speak truth to power, but rather someone who will be willing to shape intelligence around the president’s wishes, regardless of the cost to the American people,” he said.

Iowa May Elect A Democratic Governor–And Senator:

For Iowa Democrats, a decade-long drought may finally be coming to an end.

The economic turmoil of the past year-and-a-half has been felt acutely in Iowa, where the agriculture-heavy economy has been jolted by tariffs. Medicaid cuts in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act are ransacking rural health facilities, Democrats say, and several clinics in the state have closed. And the Iran war has spiked prices for fertilizer and diesel — critical supplies for the farm state.

“You go into these rural communities, the word that I hear the most is ‘betrayal,’” Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, told POLITICO in an interview late Tuesday night after winning his primary. “We’re leading the nation in farm foreclosures. Farm suicide rates skyrocketing. And so the Trump signs and Trump flags are coming down, because they say we’ve been betrayed.”

Even some Republicans are sounding the alarm.

“The reality is, if voters do not trust Republican elected officials and candidates with the future of the economy, they’re not going to vote for them this November,” said Drew Klein, an Iowa-based regional vice president of Americans for Prosperity. “That is what is going to decide the election in November.”

Turek, a Paralympic gold medalist, cruised to victory Tuesday in the primary for U.S. Senate, a victory for national Democrats who backed his campaign and will be eager to support him in November. He’ll run statewide with Rob Sand, the current state auditor and rising star within the party, who ran unopposed in the gubernatorial primary.

Democrats’ optimism starts atop the ticket: Sand will take on Republican Zach Lahn, who won his primary with less than 40 percent of the vote over Trump-endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa).

Sand — an avid hunter who is the only statewide-elected Democratic official — has gained popularity in conservative Iowa for his independent, fiscally moderate streak. “They know him and trust him,” said Emma O’Brien, deputy campaign director for Sand. “He has bucked the Democratic Party and told them he disagrees where he has disagreed, and has given props to the other party when they do the right thing.”