DNREC will offer youth fishing opportunities in each county in early April commemorating and celebrating Earth Month. The angling outings are to be put on by educators from DNREC’s Aquatic Resources Education Center through the Take A Kid Fishing! program. One youth fishing event will be offered in each county during the first full week of April to coincide with many schools’ annual spring break.
The DuPont Nature Center at the Mispillion Harbor Reserve welcomes visitors for the 2026 season when it reopens Wednesday, April 1. The DNREC facility, managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays in April, adding Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from May through August.
DNREC is set to begin the annual spring spraying of woodland pools to control aquatic immature (larval) mosquitoes as soon as Friday, March 20 – with the spring spray campaign carrying on as late as mid-April, weather permitting. Targeting larval mosquitoes limits the emergence of biting adult mosquitoes later in the spring coming from these habitats.
Dover Motor Speedway’s Fan Zone, consistently recognized as NASCAR’s best, will once again be packed with free entertainment, interactive attractions and family-friendly fun during the 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race weekend. Open throughout the weekend, the Fan Zone will be buzzing with live performances, roaming entertainers, hands-on activities and larger-than-life photo opportunities designed to keep the energy high from gates open to the checkered flag on Sunday. From over-the-top attractions to unexpected surprises around every corner, the Fan Zone adds another layer of excitement to an already unforgettable race weekend, with even more entertainment still to be announced. “Hosting the NASCAR All-Star Race is an honor, and we’re thrilled to welcome the sport’s biggest stars and our loyal fans back to Dover,” said Mike Tatoian, President of Dover Motor Speedway. “With race weekend just 62 days away, the countdown is officially on.
Continue reading “2026 NASCAR All-Star Race weekend at Dover Motor Speedway”
A controlled burn is planned for Brandywine Creek State Park in March to help clear meadows to encourage the growth of native wildflowers and seasonal grasses and to create habitat for grassland birds and pollinators.
JEER — To the landlord who treated East Thompson Avenue like a dumping ground
A landlord on East Thompson Avenue left an unsightly pile of trash at the curb six days before the scheduled pickup — a heap that sat there blowing around the neighborhood like a slow‑motion insult. Just a few steps away on South Burdsall Avenue, another pile of recyclables was dumped directly in the street instead of being placed in a proper recycling bin.
Gloucester City’s trash ordinances couldn’t be clearer: household waste and recyclables must be placed at the curb no earlier than 7 PM the night before pickup, and only in secure, watertight containers. The rules also spell out weight limits, container‑cover requirements, and fines that can reach $2,000 for repeat offenders. These aren’t suggestions — they’re laws meant to keep neighborhoods clean, safe, and livable.
WHY IT MATTERS
Community pride begins at home. When someone leaves trash out for nearly a week, it doesn’t just create an eyesore — it chips away at the dignity of the block. It tells your neighbors their street isn’t worth respecting. It invites rodents, scatters debris, and sends the message that Gloucester City is a place where standards don’t matter.
And here’s the real frustration: the City already has ordinances on the books to prevent exactly this kind of behavior. If those laws aren’t going to be enforced, then what’s the point of having them? Residents who follow the rules shouldn’t have to live with the consequences of those who don’t.
Cleary’s Notebook News photos
CHEER-To the Gloucester City Lions Club and the Gloucester Little League organization for replacing the torn American Flag and the POW Flag at the LL field and at the Johnson Blvd Jogging Park. Kudos also to Bruce Parry for his help.
WHY IT MATTERS Continue reading “Cleary’s Notebook News March 2006: Cheers & Jeers”
As Delaware’s landscape changes from winter dormancy to vibrant spring growth, local arborists are urging homeowners to start pruning their trees now. In the next four to six weeks, you can shape and strengthen trees like never before. This is one of the best times of year to do it before the heavy leaf canopy grows and the risk of bad weather rises.
Strobert Tree Services, a Wilmington-based company with 25 years of experience serving Delaware and Southeast Pennsylvania, reports a noticeable uptick in pruning consultations this month. Their team of arborists has been busy evaluating properties from Newark to Middletown and across the Pennsylvania line, helping residents understand which cuts will improve tree health and structural integrity for the year ahead.
Continue reading “Delaware Tree Experts Highlight March as Prime Time for Professional Pruning”
DNREC encourages Delaware non-profit organizations, conservation districts, community organizations and homeowners’ associations to submit project proposals to be considered for grant funds from DNREC’s Community Water Quality Improvement Grants program.
| Image courtesy of https://www.adn.com/newsletter/ Hi, ADN Iditarod fans, It’s the first full day of the 2026 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, as mushers and their sled dog teams ascend into the Alaska Range after departing Willow in the race restart on Sunday afternoon. As of Monday afternoon, top competitors had reached the checkpoint of Rainy Pass, led by defending champion Jessie Holmes who arrived there shortly after noon. He was followed over the next few hours by several top teams, including Matt Hall, who finished second last year, Paige Drobny, who finished third in 2025, and Travis Beals of Seward. |
| The stretch of trail teams are currently navigating is among the most technically challenging of the entire route. There are several ice bridges that cross open creeks, plus a 200-foot downhill section into the notorious Dalzell Gorge. No teams had scratched from the race as of Monday. This year’s field has no shortage of tough competition. There are four previous winners, including Holmes, and a host of perennial contenders who have regularly finished in the top 10. [54th Iditarod officially begins, with stiff competition at the top] “Everybody who’s been in the top 10 before, been in the top five, everybody has a shot at winning. Everyone shows up here very hungry to do well,” 2019 winner Pete Kaiser of Bethel said ahead of the race. Mille Porsild of Denmark, Wade Marrs of Willow, Drobny and Hall, among others, are angling for strong finishes this year. |
| Defending Iditarod champion Jessie Holmes drives his dog during the restart of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow on Sunday. (Bill Roth / ADN) This year’s smaller field of 37 mushers reflects a trend of declining participation in the race over the last several years. Costs to run the Iditarod— both as a musher and from an organizational standpoint — have ballooned, making the race more challenging than ever. Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach said costs have doubled in the past three years. The organization continues to pursue new income sources (with this year’s inaugural Expedition Class being an example) and is working to stay solvent while making the race viable for a new generation of mushers. But it’s not easy. For mushers, training, transportation, gear, drop bags and more add up quickly, putting the total cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000. Some, like veteran musher Gabe Dunham, have ongoing concerns about how long they can sustain a race career. |
On the organization side, the situation is much the same. Line items like fuel, insurance, aviation costs and the hundreds of bales of straw for dogs to rest on at trail checkpoints have gone up in price, according to Urbach. The Iditarod’s new Expedition Class program, which allows mushers to run the race noncompetitively and under a different set of rules, is one of the organization’s efforts to seek new streams of revenue. As the first musher in this category, billionaire businessman Kjell Inge Røkke contributed more than $300,000 to this year’s race. That helped lower the entry costs for mushers and also increased the race purse. |
continue to read https://www.adn.com/newsletter/ |
Electric vehicles are the future — but they’re not some far-off dream like flying cars. Rather, they represent the present as well as the possibilities to come. And they have a history that’s far deeper than you were likely aware.
In 2024, 10.5% of all new cars sold or leased in Delaware in 2024 were EVs, just above the national average. Battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles may have accounted for just 1% of all Delaware vehicles in 2023, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, but this figure is expected to increase. By the end of the decade, we could have well over 100,000 cars on Delaware roads running mostly or solely on electricity.
Many manufacturers are shifting to EVs in response to consumer demand motivated by a mix of environmental concerns, a desire to save money on gasoline and an interest in cutting-edge technology.
Continue reading “How Electric Vehicles are Going Mainstream (Again)”