The United States recorded 1,635 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 77,178, according to the latest real-time tally Friday reported by Johns Hopkins University.

Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee and former US vice president Joe Biden alleged on Friday that President Donald Trump utterly failed to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic and said...

The United States recorded 1,635 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 77,178, according to the latest real-time tally Friday reported by Johns Hopkins University.

Ivanka Trump's personal assistant has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus, making her the third White House staff member to be infected from COVID-19, a media report said on Saturday.

Britain is to introduce a 14-day quarantine period for almost everyone arriving into the country to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday.

Delaware One Stop is a convenient, centralized transactional platform created to help business owners work through the necessary steps to begin operation in Delaware.

Victorien Barbet, Juliette Rouchier, Noé Guiraud and Vincent Laperrière: We present a model showing the evolution of an organization of agents who discuss democratically about good practices. This model feeds on a field study we did for about twelve years in France where we followed NPOs, called AMAP, and observed their construction through time at the regional and national level. Most of the hypothesis we make are here either based on the literature on opinion diffusion or on the results of our field study. By defining dynamics where agents influence each other, make collective decision at the group level, and decide to stay in or leave their respective groups, we analyse the effect of different forms of vertical communication that is meant to spread good practices within the organization. Our main indicators of the good functioning of the democratic dynamics are stability and representativeness. We show that if communication about norms is well designed, it has a positive impact on both stability and representativeness. Interestingly the effect of communication increases with the number of dimensions discussed in the groups. Communication about norms is thus a valuable tool to use in groups that wish to improve their democratic practices without jeopardizing stability.

Volker Grimm, Steven F. Railsback, Christian E. Vincenot, Uta Berger, Cara Gallagher, Donald L. DeAngelis, Bruce Edmonds, Jiaqi Ge, Jarl Giske, Jürgen Groeneveld, Alice S.A. Johnston, Alexander Milles, Jacob Nabe-Nielsen, J. Gareth Polhill, Viktoriia Radchuk, Marie-Sophie Rohwäder, Richard A. Stillman, Jan C. Thiele and Daniel Ayllón: The Overview, Design concepts and Details (ODD) protocol for describing Individual- and Agent-Based Models (ABMs) is now widely accepted and used to document such models in journal articles. As a standardized document for providing a consistent, logical and readable account of the structure and dynamics of ABMs, some research groups also find it useful as a workflow for model design. Even so, there are still limitations to ODD that obstruct its more widespread adoption. Such limitations are discussed and addressed in this paper: the limited availability of guidance on how to use ODD; the length of ODD documents; limitations of ODD for highly complex models; lack of sufficient details of many ODDs to enable reimplementation without access to the model code; and the lack of provision for sections in the document structure covering model design rationale, the model’s underlying narrative, and the means by which the model’s fitness for purpose is evaluated. We document the steps we have taken to provide better guidance on: structuring complex ODDs and an ODD summary for inclusion in a journal article (with full details in supplementary material; Table 1); using ODD to point readers to relevant sections of the model code; update the document structure to include sections on model rationale and evaluation. We also further advocate the need for standard descriptions of simulation experiments and argue that ODD can in principle be used for any type of simulation model. Thereby ODD would provide a lingua franca for simulation modelling.

Governor Markell has ordered the American and Delaware flags lowered to half-staff for the passing of former State Representative Charles P. West.

Governor Markell has ordered the American and Delaware flags at state buildings and facilities lowered in honor of former State Representative Benjamin Ewing.

With the passing of State Representative Harold J. “Jack” Peterman yesterday, Governor Markell has ordered the American and Delaware flags at state buildings and facilities be flown at half-staff beginning the morning of Friday, August 12 as a mark of respect for Representative Peterman and his service to Delaware. Representative Peterman served in the Delaware […]

With the passing of former State Representative V. George Carey on September 11, 2016 Governor Markell has ordered the American and Delaware flags at state buildings and facilities be flown at half-staff beginning Tuesday morning, September 13th as a mark of respect for Representative Carey and his service to Delaware. Representative Carey faithfully served the […]

With the passing of former State Representative Jay Wingate on October 12, 2017, Governor Carney has ordered the United States and Delaware flags at state buildings and facilities be flown at half-staff beginning at the close of business this Friday afternoon, October 20 as a mark of respect for Mr. Wingate and his service to […]

Governor Carney has ordered the United States and Delaware flags at state buildings and facilities be flown at half-staff beginning Friday morning, December 1 to mark the passing of former Delaware Representative John Van Sant. Mr. Van Sant served the people of the Thirteenth District in the Delaware House of Representatives for twenty four years. […]

With the passing of former State Representative Howard Clendaniel on March 19, Governor Carney has ordered the United States and Delaware flags at state buildings and facilities be flown at half-staff on Friday, March 23, as a mark of respect for Mr. Clendaniel and his service to Delaware. Mr. Clendaniel was elected to the State […]

Governor Carney has ordered the United States and Delaware flags at state buildings and facilities be flown at half-staff beginning today, July 19 to mark the passing of former Delaware Representative Katharine Jester. Representative Jester served the residents of the Middletown area  and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1980 and served until […]

Board presents recommendations across focus areas to improve efficiency and accountability in state government WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Thursday released the second annual report of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board. Governor Carney established GEAR by Executive Order in February 2017 to identify ways for state government to operate more […]

Governor Carney has ordered the U.S. and Delaware flags lowered to half staff beginning the morning of Friday June 7 through Monday morning June 10 in remembrance of former State Representative Robert Powell and former Delaware State University President Dr. William DeLauder. Mr. Powell was first elected to the Delaware General Assembly in November 1972 […]

Delaware releases its Annual Report on State Planning Issues. This year, a visual and interactive Executive Overview was created.  This provides an easy reading experience.  A brief overview is provided for each section of the report.  The sections are: Economy, Communities, Health, Conservation, Schools, Transportation, and Data.  Additionally, links to story maps provide more detail […]

Gov. Carney ordered the United States and Delaware flags at state buildings be flown at half-staff. Flags are to be returned to full staff at the close of business on Friday, October 18.

Governor Jack Markell, DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara and Delaware Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee joined Delmarva Wellnet Foundation-EDEN Delmarva members to celebrate the success of the foundation’s food recycling project REPLENISH.

With hurricane season about to begin, Delaware agricultural authorities are urging farmers and pet owners to plan ahead and prepare for weather emergencies. Hurricane Preparedness Week runs from May 26 to June 1, with hurricane season beginning June 1. The Department of Agriculture’s Delaware Animal Response Program works with state emergency officials and animal welfare organizations to assist animal owners with preparation, sheltering in place and evacuation. “Preparing and acting early can save animals’ lives,” said Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee. “The time to take action is now, before storms create disaster conditions.”

The Governor released a statement on USDA Report Showing Positive Impact of Farming Practices in Chesapeake Bay Region.

Delaware hog owners, veterinarians and laboratories are now required to report suspected cases of two rapidly spreading swine diseases to the Delaware Department of Agriculture. Delaware has had no cases of either disease reported to date.

Agricultural entrepreneurs who want to produce certain foods in their on-farm kitchens can receive food safety training and become certified under Delaware law at an upcoming workshop. The eight-hour Food Safety for Entrepreneurs program will be Saturday, Feb. 28, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Department of Agriculture offices near Camden, 2320 South DuPont Highway.

Agricultural entrepreneurs who want to produce certain foods in their on-farm kitchens can receive food safety training and become certified under Delaware law at an upcoming workshop.

A wildfire crew led by the Delaware Forest Service is near completion of a two-week assignment on the Fork Complex Fire, a 28,736-acre blaze near Hayfork, California in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Almost 2,400 personnel are battling the fire that is currently 26 percent contained. The Fork Complex is one of several large wildfires in Northern California that together cover more than 223,000 acres, one of the major factors that prompted the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) to increase its National Preparedness Level today to the maximum of 5 on a 5-point scale.

Livestock owners should prepare now for possible weather effects from Hurricane Joaquin, Delaware agricultural authorities said Thursday. "Being prepared is never wasted effort," said Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee.

Agricultural entrepreneurs who want to produce certain foods in their on-farm kitchens can receive food safety training and become certified under Delaware law at an upcoming workshop.

Agricultural entrepreneurs who want to produce certain foods in their on-farm kitchens can receive food safety training and become certified under Delaware law at an upcoming workshop jointly sponsored by the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension and the Delaware Department of Agriculture. The eight-hour “Food Safety for Entrepreneurs” program presented by Dr. Sue Snider of the University of Delaware will take place Saturday, March 25, at the Delaware Department of Agriculture, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

DOVER – The Delaware Supreme Court, by decision dated Dec. 7, 2017 in the matter of Bridgeville Rifle & Pistol Club, LTD, overturned a Superior Court ruling and ended a ban on visitors’ possessing firearms in Delaware’s state parks and state forests. Pursuant to the ruling, visitors may now possess firearms unless they are prohibited by law due to a past conviction for a violent crime, active Protection from Abuse Order, or mental health commitment. Following the Court’s decision to invalidate the existing regulations limiting firearms in state parks and forests, and some Division of Fish & Wildlife properties, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) anticipate issuing interim firearm regulations. The interim regulations would respect the State Constitutional provisions on firearms cited by the Court, by implementing the State’s interest in ensuring the safety of the public in a less restrictive manner.

About 1 in 6 Americans gets sick every year from foodborne illnesses. Under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), FDA and the USDA work closely to trace the cause and origin of these illnesses. Traceability is key so the origin is quickly detected, and a recall enacted, preventing others from becoming ill. Preparation and planning are necessary for produce growers and businesses in the supply chain to successfully navigate a product recall. The Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Produce Safety Program will present the United Fresh Recall Ready Workshop on January 22, 2020 at Dover Downs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 Monthly reporting by Portfolio Managers

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