3rd Worst State for Fraud

hat would be Delaware, and the kind of fraud that is being compared here is consumer fraud: identity theft, mortgage fraud, debt collection fraud and other types of scams focused on consumers. Only Florida and Colorado are worse, according to this piece from 24/7 Wall Street. New Jersey is ranked 10th, with Washington, Georgia, Virginia, Arizona, and Maryland ranked 9th through 6th. The stats for Delaware:

Hearings Today on the DART Plan to Move the Rodney Square Bus Hub

Those hearings are at 11:30AM and at 5PM at the Carvel Building in downtown Wilmington. The current DART plan remove all of the bus stops at Rodney Square and then scatter them around on King, French, Shipley, Ninth and 12th streets. Which makes it very difficult for people to transfer between lines and provides a real disincentive for people to use the buses.

Arizona Criminalizes On-Line Flame Wars

You read that right. Arizona H.B. 2549 would make it a crime to be lewd or annoying on the Internets. This bill is on the Governor's desk for signature. And isn't interesting that these wingnuts have found one more bit of the Constitution that they want to undermine?

This is How Overturning Citizens’ United Starts

States and towns all over the US are taking to their legislatures and city councils to call for the repeal of Citizens' United -- to remove the corporate personhood fiction and to prioritize the voices of non-Corporate Americans in the political process:

Insurance Commissioner Debate Tomorrow!

The first (I think!) Insurance Commissioner Candidate Forum will be held this Monday among the current officially filed Democratic candidates for the office: Insurance Commissioner Candidate Forum Monday March 26th, 2012 7:00 pm Marbrook Elementary School 2101 Centerville Road Wilmington, DE

Delaware Gets a C- on the Corruption Risk Report Card

The State Integrity Investigation has conducted a year-long study of the effectiveness (or even existence) of each state's laws and operating procedures in place to deter corruption and promote government accountability and openness. This report is done and published as of yesterday (19 March 2012) and Delaware gets an overall grade of C-, ranked #22 in terms of least corruption risk out of all 50 states. The state that came in the best? That would be New Jersey, with a grade of B+. Take a look at Delaware's report card:

The Delaware DREAM Act Introduced Today

This is very positive news -- Senator Robert Marshall and Rep. Helene Keeley (or Rep Joe Miro according to the NJ) are the lead sponsors on a bill announced today at the LACC that would allow undocumented children to qualify for in-state college tuition rates and scholarships. If it gets passed, Delaware would be the 12th state that would level the playing field for these children.