Reducing the Size of Wilmington City Council

The NJ reported on this proposal by Councilman Bud Freel to reduce the size of City Council from 13 members to 9 on Monday. This evening, there will be a City Council meeting where there will be a debate and vote on a Resolution (pdf) from Charles Potter that opposes any reduction. His resolution has 7 co-sponsors, meaning that any plan to reduce the size of the City Council is probably dead. That doesn't mean that there won't be fireworks tonite.

Farewell — Bob Herbert’s Last NYT Column

Bob Herbert has spent years writing about lives and challenges of those increasingly voiceless and often invisible in our society.   He has been a fiercely moral voice writing about the immorality of torture, killing, institutional injustice against the poor, or working people or minorities -- always making the case that you can't be a great nation by demonizing and dehumanizing those who aren't so fortunate.  There is alot to commend about his career -- I probably remember best his writing against torture and his dogged effort to not let the people of Tulia targeted by law enforcement out of control get out of our sight.

The Wilmington State of the City Tantrum

Last night, Mayor Jim Baker of Wilmington was scheduled to deliver his annual State of the City Address to the City Council and the public. As always, he had prepared remarks and started with an overview of the state of the city's budget and his plan to deal with the budget shortfall. He pretty quickly abandoned those remarks to deliver an explosive tantrum at the Wilmington City Council, castigating them (and blaming them) for the increased tensions and difficulties in getting administration initiatives passed.

Save the Working Class Rally

This event happens TOMORROW - The rally is being held to support the working class in Delaware, the blue collar people who build the cars, repair the homes and who plow our roads.

Governor Markell on the WaPo Editorial Page

Yesterday, Governor Jack Markell had an editorial published in the OpEd section of the Washington Post. Titled Taxes are the wrong focus for economic growth, he makes the case that businesses want to be in places with a good quality of life -- where talented people and their families want to live:

Guest Post from DFA — Netroots Nation Scholarship Competition Launches

Most of our regular readers know about Netroots Nation and believe it or not, that time of the year is coming up again. I've never been and I *really* want to go -- the schedule has just never quite worked. In any event, Democracy for America sponsors attendees to this conference every year by providing scholarships to progressive bloggers and activists who couldn't otherwise go.