Sunday Open Thread [12.15.13]

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Third Way stalwarts Tom Carper and Chris Coons sniff at the ongoing tug-of-war between Progressive groups and the Third Way. While Senator Warren pushes back on the Third Way bamboozlement, we have Carper and Coons responding thusly:
Carper and Coons dismissed the flap, with Coons calling it a “tempest in a teapot.” “This does not strike me as the kind of thing that deserves the sort of attention I understand it’s getting,” Coons said. Carper agreed. “There’s a lot going on that I am focused on,” he said. “This is not one of them.”

Saturday Open Thread [12.14.13]

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One year ago today, 26 children and their teachers were gunned down in their school in Newton, CT. There are quiet memorials going on all over the country -- the most important one probably being remembering to hug your kids tight today. Especially since there have been 20 school shootings in the US since Newtown and it is apparent that we (not sure if that includes the shooting in Colorado yesterday -- two kids wounded and the shooter killed himself), as a nation, are just fine with the fact that our kids may not return after a school day because of more gun violence. I hope everyone is thinking about all of the families whose children did not get a chance to grow up today.
Charter Schools To Get City of Wilmington Bond Funding?

Charter Schools To Get City of Wilmington Bond Funding?

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Inside we have the proposal that is on the agenda for tomorrow's City Council meeting -- an authorization for the City to help with the financing of the MBNA buildings that are supposed to be converted to Charter Schools. But take a look at this: Charter Schools that the City will have no control of and can't ask for any accountability from are looking for financial help from the City. Even though City residents certainly are paying school taxes already and provide additional funding via the income taxes we pay to the state. Besides, I thought that these schools are meant to operate more cheaply that public schools -- which apparently won't be asked for here, since they are asking for Bond funds from the City to get started.
Please, Wilmington City Council, Do More Than This!

Please, Wilmington City Council, Do More Than This!

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Last night, one more young person was shot and killed in Wilmington. It is one more tragedy in a city that can't really take much more of this. But the other thing that the city really can't take more of is its leadership not facing this issue head on. Last Thursday, the Wilmington City Council passed a resolution asking for the CDC to come to Wilmington to study the causes of violence here.
Jobs in Delaware

Jobs in Delaware

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The NJ on Sunday begins a series looking at the state of jobs in Delaware, pointing out what we already know -- that very low wage jobs are increasing, jobs in the middle are disappearing (or taking much less money) and there is employment in the upper end if you have the right education and skill set. And while the Governor and Alan Levin have been working at "economic development", there's been little increase in the kinds of jobs that are most needed here immediately. It is difficult to say that the Governor and his DEDO Director haven't been working hard at this -- I think they have. But most of what passes for economic development since the Great Recession pretty much everywhere is a numbers game -- figuring out how to boost the number of jobs in your state without paying much attention to either the quality of those jobs or the ROI any taxpayer subsidy might provide for Delaware taxpayers. Governments are chasing the same limited pool of jobs and working at a classic race to the bottom strategy to get them. Almost all of them are providing taxpayer subsidies to get those jobs in their states, and clawback provisions in case the employer doesn't fulfill promises are still too rare.