Delaware Online stories that made a difference in 2022

Dear readers,

The traditional print media has long been called The Fourth Estate. That term generally refers to the power of the press in its ability to advocate for people or a cause, and question those in power.

It’s a responsibility the reporters, photographers and editors at Delaware Online/The News Journal take seriously.

Over my 35-year journalism career, I have watched the industry navigate sweeping changes. Not all have been good as we struggle with revenue challenges. But our ability to reach people through digital, social and print is at its highest point ever.

Delaware Online/The News Journal has more people reading us each month than the total population of Delaware. Our digital-only subscriber audience – those who pay for our exclusive content online – is now double that of our print circulation.

How we reach people is changing. Our mission has not.

So what we do with this power to reach so many people remains critical. The staff at Delaware Online/The News Journal has made a commitment to focus on stories that matter. The staff goes beyond the press releases and public statements to hold those in power accountable.

That isn’t always easy. Delaware’s open records laws lean heavily in favor of the state, which makes it very difficult to get information to the public. Local, county and state officials often ask for fees in the hundreds and thousands of dollars to prepare information supported by tax dollars.

But the staff pushes through those challenges to keep you informed.

Our work detailed decades of sexual harassment in the New Castle County Police Department, leading to a settlement of a federal lawsuit and brought an apology from county leaders.

Our reporting uncovered that the state failed to release results that showed high levels of lead in school water sources for more than a year, and we’ve been pressuring officials to explain the breakdown in communicating with schools, parents and the community.

When a Georgia sheriff defended his deputies who stopped, boarded and searched a bus of Delaware State University student-athletes, our reporters got to the truth. We obtained and reviewed body camera footage that contradicted what the sheriff told reporters.

These are just a few examples of what you will find in this report.

This is our first of what will be an annual report on the impact of Delaware Online/The News Journal and its journalism. It’s not a comprehensive list of all our best work. Instead, it represents a selection of our stories that reflect our core mission.

We do this to test ourselves, to be sure we are remaining true to our obligation to be our very best every day, to get after the stories that matter in the First State. And we do it to share with you our most important work.

I thank you for your support in keeping local journalism strong in Delaware.

Mike FeeleyExecutive EditorDelaware Online/The News JournalMid-Atlantic Editor, USA Today Network

County apologizes, settles lawsuit after Delaware Online work

More than a year after Delaware Online published a blistering investigation into one of Delaware's largest police departments, the County Council approved a $1.7 million settlement.

The May 2020 probe detailed stories from six women with a combined 132 years of experience on the force who said the former New Castle County police deputy chief sexually harassed women for decades while high-ranking superiors and county officials looked the other way.

In addition to the settlement, County Executive Matt Meyer issued a formal apology, the former deputy chief will pay an undisclosed amount of money to the women and a monitor will review sexual assault and harassment personnel complaints for the next three years.

THE FALLOUT:NCCo settles suit over sex harassment, cover-up inside Police Department

ACLU files suit after Delaware Online looks inside allegations of prisoner abuse

At least a dozen prisoners in the past seven years filed lawsuits related to one Delaware Department of Correction officer.

Delaware Online's review of these documents plus inmate interviews show the officer has repeatedly been accused of escalating situations by provoking prisoners.

The reporting is a particular challenge because the state Department of Correction can withhold information from personnel files, investigations, complaints and surveillance video.

We also found another story of alleged abuse in which correctional officers are accused of slamming a prisoner's head into a glass security window. They then charged him, saying he escaped and head-butted the window on his own.

Our reporting was followed by dozens more prisoners filing suit with representation by the ACLU as well as a departmental review of violence by officers in the prison.

TAKING ACTION:Prisoner lawsuit claims beatings, 'pattern of excessive force' at Sussex Correctional Institution

Delaware officials admit to 'missteps' in lead testing; EPA investigating

In late summer, the state Department of Education released an email letting the public know that the lead issue in several Delaware schools' water supplies was mostly remediated. It's the kind of email we all get many times a day.

Any amount of lead in water, especially in communities of children, can pose serious health threats. We started reporting the story and quickly came to some shocking discoveries:

• A little more than a year before, lead testing had shown elevated levels of lead in school water supplies, many in faucets where water was consumed by students.
• The schools were never made aware of the lead levels, and none of the water supplies were turned off while any remediation was done.
• Staff, parents and students were never informed of the lead levels and continued using the water.

If it wasn't for The News Journal's reporting on the lead testing performed in Delaware schools, the public may never have been alerted to the nearly 50 schools that had elevated levels of lead.

The newspaper's initial reporting on the testing along with continued coverage revealed how the state ignored the basic requirements and best practices for testing for lead in water.

The missteps and lack of communication to the public on the results prompted residents to petition legislators to hold a joint legislative hearing on the issue. The virtual hearing drew more than 500 angry parents.

Our stories got the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency (the federal department that doled out the grant money for the testing), which is now looking into how poorly Delaware officials handled the testing and adhered to the provisions of the grant.

READ THE STORY:How Delaware's handling of lead water testing put thousands of students and staff at risk

Reporting by The News Journal helps free man unjustly convicted of murder

In the fall of 2021, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction from 16 years before of a then-16-year-old named Mark Purnell because prosecutors withheld evidence that could have exonerated him at trial.

He was not released from prison then because prosecutors said they wanted to retry the case. Months went by with little movement in the case. Purnell was denied temporary release to visit his dying mother, then denied release to attend her funeral.

We wrote about prosecutors telling the court that Purnell should not be released on bail because he would pose an extreme danger to the community. But quietly, behind the scenes, and in order to avoid a civil suit, they had offered Purnell a deal that if he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, they would free him immediately.

The story also included new revelations showing that ever since the Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors and investigators were still withholding evidence, specifically a police interrogation where another person confessed to the crime.

The day after that story published, prosecutors dropped all charges and released Purnell in the middle of the night.

READ THE STORY:Delaware man's decade-old murder conviction overturned; release from prison may follow

Landlord ordered to take down ad listing condemned property as being available

In May, seven apartments in Wilmington were condemned because the landlord had for several years failed to make repairs and improvements, even after city inspectors had issued warnings.

The condemnation forced seven families out of their homes and into emergency homeless shelters and motel rooms. As of September, many were still there because there was no available affordable housing.

Yet, just a couple weeks after the condemnation, before any repairs had even started, the landlord had the condemned apartment advertised as "available" and "for rent." Our story revealed what the landlord was attempting to do, seek new tenants for unlivable apartments where people who had paid rent had been displaced.

That provoked the city's chief of staff and the Licensing and Inspections Department to meet with the landlord and make sure the ads were taken down and that no tenants could step foot in the homes until all repairs were performed and approved.

THE REPORTING:Amid state probe, Wilmington landlord advertises apartment for rent in condemned building

Delaware attorney general refers incident to U.S. Justice Department for civil rights review

After Georgia sheriff's deputies stopped a Delaware State University women's lacrosse team bus in south Georgia, the county sheriff insisted, multiple times, that none of the HBCU players' personal items were searched.

The sheriff defended the stop, pushing back on allegations by students and community leaders that it was racially motivated. But after reviewing the deputies' body camera footage that shows the men rifling through players' items, Delaware Online/The News Journal broke the story that the sheriff's statements were not accurate.

The story prompted an outcry from DSU leaders, state officials and NAACP leaders in both Delaware and Georgia, and Delaware's attorney general referred the incident to the U.S. Justice Department for a federal civil rights review.

IMPACT:Delaware attorney general asks for federal civil rights review of DSU bus incident

Plan to expand eminent domain powers shelved

A bill that would give Wilmington officials the ability to take vacant property for "community development" if it remains unoccupied for three years or longer was quietly passed out of a Delaware House committee in late June, stirring concerns of government overreach, a lack of transparency and gentrification.

The measure was sent for a House vote, with just nine days left in the legislative session, giving lawmakers little time to read and research the measure (especially while the budget and loads of other bills were in front of them).

In addition, there was no discussion or public input sought by the committee. A day after we published our story revealing the lack of transparency, public outrage was swift and the bill was pulled from the docket and shelved.

READ THE IMPACT:Wilmington vacant property seizure bill off the table following a heated community meeting

City apologizes, takes closer look at family struggling with sewer leak

For years, the foul smell of raw sewage had come and gone inside the Loflands’ Wilmington home in the 800 block of N. Monroe St. Despite complaints to the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections Code Enforcement and other local officials, the family never saw follow-up, resorting to wearing masks in their home to reduce the stench.

But when a Delaware Online/The News Journal reporter began asking questions about the issue of the odor and who was responsible, the city publicly apologized in a statement from the Wilmington mayor's office, admitting to a yearlong delay in addressing this issue.

The city also sent code enforcement out again to gain access to the vacant property responsible for the leak and determine how to proceed. This reporting exposed the challenges of enforcing violations and brought to light how difficult it can be as a resident to have your problems heard and addressed.

READ:Why a family's pleas about a bad sewer leak in their house was ignored for a year