The Delaware Division of the Arts Mezzanine Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of original work by Michael Quattrociocchi from April 2 – 24, 2015. The Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located in the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington. (The Gallery will be closed on April 3, 2015 due to a state holiday.) A reception will be held for the exhibition where the public can meet the artist on Friday, April 10, 2015 from 5:00-8:00 p.m.

The exhibition, titled Point of View – Imaginative Fine Woodworkiing, presents a selection of fine wood craftwork. Quattrociocchi expands on traditional craft and artisanship through the use of narrative and figural accents married to traditional casework types. His work includes small chests and sets of drawers that are enhanced through the use of decorative wood species and sculptural figurative additions.

Michael Quattrociocchi is an award-winning wood craft artisan based in Milford, Delaware. He has shown his work throughout the state including at the Rehoboth Art League and The Biggs Museum. He has been featured on WHYY’s First program and received numerous awards and recognition for his outstanding work.

Commissioner Stewart Also Reports $94.6 Million Collected in Premium Taxes in Fiscal 2014

​Dover, DE – The Delaware Department of Insurance recovered more than $2.1 million for policyholders in calendar year 2014, and helped business owners save nearly $9.3 million in workers’ compensation insurance costs. DOI also collected over $94.6 million dollars through fees, fines and insurance premium taxes during fiscal year 2014, distributing most of those dollars to fire companies and ambulance services, the police pension fund, and the state’s general fund.

These numbers are highlights of the presentation made to the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee last month by Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart and her staff.  “I would especially like to thank the staff members here at the DOI who assist consumers with their insurance-related inquiries all year long. Their expertise helps resolve numerous questions and concerns from policyholders, often helping to correct smaller problems before they become bigger complications. The Department’s staff and employees work throughout the year to fulfill our mission of protecting Delawareans by educating consumers about their rights and responsibilities.”

DOI’s annual appearance at Legislative Hall differs from most state agencies’ presentations to the JFC. Instead of relying on the state legislature for financial support, the Insurance Department covers its own operating costs with a portion of revenue obtained through insurance premium taxes and other fees and fines. Pursuant to state law, DOI then makes contributions through the State Treasurer’s office to various state and local accounts. During fiscal 2014, the Department provided $35.1 million of the tax revenue to Delaware’s volunteer fire companies, the City of Wilmington fireman’s pension fund, ambulance service providers throughout the State, and the police pension fund. More than $3.6 million was transferred to the workers’ compensation assistance fund, and $1 million went to the reserve fund for victims of insurance fraud.  The remaining $54.9 million was deposited into the general fund, for use as the State deems appropriate.

In addition to premium taxes, the Department generates revenue by advocating for consumers during disputes with insurance companies. DOI’s Consumer Services Division recovered $1,259,634.92 for individual Delaware consumers last year while handling 5,610 formal complaints and inquiries. Moreover, the Department facilitated arbitration hearings requested by, or on behalf of, consumers which led to awards totaling $843,035.00.

The Department of Insurance also succeeded in saving money for Delaware businesses through its Workplace Safety Program, which allows employers to earn discounts of up to 19 percent on their workers’ compensation insurance premiums by meeting certain safety requirements and undergoing voluntary inspections. The 1,496 businesses enrolled in the program in 2014 saved $9,296,878.00, according to Delaware Compensation Ratings Bureau estimates. The DOI continues to work with employers and insurers to promote the benefits of the program.

The Department of Insurance is also home to the Delaware Medicare Assistance Bureau (DMAB), formerly known as ELDERinfo. DMAB staff assists Medicare recipients with questions related to Medicare, Medigap (Medicare supplement) insurance, Medicare Part D (prescription medication plans), Medicare Advantage plans, and other financial assistance programs. In 2014, DMAB serviced over 6,535 beneficiaries through telephone calls, face-to-face meetings, and e-mail. DMAB’s partnership with the Division of Medicaid & Medical Assistance helped saved beneficiaries $609,000.00 in 2014.

If you need help with insurance matters, call the Department at (302) 674-7300, or (800) 282-8611 for Consumer Services. For more information on the Workplace Safety Program, call 302-674-7377. Visit our website www.delawareinsurance.gov  for more resources and links.

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Delaware Department of Insurance: “Protecting Delawareans through regulation
and education while providing oversight of the insurance industry to best serve the public.”

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Jerry Grant

(302) 674-7303

When it comes to family history, those books, papers and photographs we all keep stored away do more than just record the past — they connect us with our loved ones and ancestors, and often tell us as much about our present and future as they do about our history.

Join the Delaware Public Archives (DPA) to learn how to preserve these artifacts for future generations. On Saturday, April 4, at 10:30 a.m., the Archives will show you how to properly handle and store your family’s treasures to protect those irreplaceable memories and ensure long term preservation. Archives staff member Sarah Denison, coordinator of the historical markers program, will present information on the preservation of paper documents and photographs and will address digital preservation and changing technology. Managing memories for the future requires careful action and consideration of cost and longevity. This program will highlight some of the cost-effective steps every home archivist can take to preserve their precious family records.
Before taking over the historic markers program, Ms. Denison worked as a processing archivist at DPA and worked on a number of collections, including the Small Manuscript Collection’s Civil War letters; Board of Education photographs; Sussex County Orphans Court Records; the Caley Postcard Collection; and the Vietnam Mailbag Collection. Ms. Denison is currently pursuing her master’s degree at Drexel University in Library and Information Science with concentrations in Archival Studies and Digital Curation.

The workshop is free to the public and will last approximately one hour. No reservations are required. For more information, contact Tom Summers (302) 744-5047 or e-mail thomas.summers@delaware.gov.

For more information about the Delaware Public Archives, please visit the website at http://archives.delaware.gov. Follow us on facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram, and the DPA blog.

The Delaware Public Archives is located at 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard North in Dover. The Mabel Lloyd Ridgely Research Room is open to the public Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. On the second Saturday of every month the research room is open from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

WILMINGTON–The Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission will be meeting Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at  Bayard Elementary School (200 South DuPont Street  19805). The meeting will start at 5:30PM.

The Commission is tasked with carrying out a rapid, fact-based, intensive examination of public safety strategies in the City and offering recommendations to address Wilmington’s significant problem with violent crime. Lewis Schiliro, Secretary of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, and Joseph Bryant, Jr., Director of Public Safety for New Castle County are the Commission chairs.

This will be the final meeting of the Commission.

Anyone interested in providing public comment should watch the State’s public meeting calendar and other notices for any updates to the dates and times of particular meetings. The calendar is available at https://egov.delaware.gov/pmc/

Dover- April is national Distracted Driving Awareness month and from April 10 to 15, 2015. Delaware will join law enforcement across the nation to crack down on handheld cell phone use and/or texting by motorists using a combination of traditional and innovative strategies. This effort is a part of the national U Drive. U Text. U Pay high-visibility enforcement campaign that combines intense enforcement of anti-texting laws with advertising and media outreach to let people know about the enforcement and convince them to obey the law.

Delaware law enforcement will also expand their crack down on handheld cell phone use to April 23-27. Participating agencies include Camden PD, Delaware City PD, Dover PD, Georgetown PD, Middletown PD, Milford PD, Millsboro PD, New Castle County PD, Newark PD, Wilmington PD, Wyoming PD, and Delaware State Police. Delaware law enforcement have issued over 54,600 cell phone tickets since the law went into effect on January 2, 2011. Enforcement will be coupled with paid media ads and awareness activities.

Delaware’s handheld cellphone law bans texting while driving as well as bans the use of hand-held cell phones.  Drivers are required to utilize hands-free technology in order to use a cell phone while driving.   It also bans the use of pagers, blackberry’s, PDA’s, laptops, games, or the use of any other electronic device by someone while driving. If you have to make a call, pull over to a safe place to use your cell phone or use a hands free device like a blue tooth.

If a police officer observes you using a handheld device while driving they can pull you over and give you a ticket. The fine and fees for a first offense cell phone violation is $106. If you get caught again penalties increase and can go up to $300.

The trauma department at Nemours/Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children will be offering a free distracted driving event on April 1^st from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Visitors can see the consequences of distracted driving first hand when they try to navigate the distracted driving simulator. Individuals can also take the pledge to not drive distracted and receive a free gift. Visitors will also have the opportunity to hear from a local family about how a distracted driver took the life of their daughter just before her upcoming wedding.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report looking at crash data involving thousands of teen drivers. The report finds that distracted driving contributes to 58% of teen driver vehicle crashes nationally and shows that distracted driving is more than just texting. It also highlights the importance of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws and passenger restrictions for young drivers.

According to a 2014 special article in the New England Journal of Medicine, the risk of a crash or near-crash among novice drivers increased with the performance of many secondary tasks, including texting and dialing cell phones.

The University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute’s 2012 “Teen Driver Distraction Study” reports that a quarter of teens respond to a text message once or more every time they drive, and 20 percent of teens and 10 percent of parents admit that they have extended, multi-message text conversations while driving.

“Texting and driving requires motorists to take their eyes off the road, hands off the wheel, and mind off the task of driving. It greatly enhances the likelihood of crashing and puts everyone on the road at risk,” said Jana Simpler, director for the Delaware Office of Highway Safety.

The successes of the Click It or Ticket and Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaigns have proven that the combination of tough laws, targeted advertising, and high-visibility enforcement can change people’s risky traffic safety behaviors. This strategy was implemented as part of the Phone in One Hand. Ticket in the Other distraction demonstration effort in Hartford, Connecticut, and Syracuse, New York, in 2010 and 2011, and then in Delaware and Sacramento County in 2012 and 2013. In both projects, texting (and cell phone use) declined dramatically. Based on these encouraging results, the U.S. Department of Transportation developed the U Drive. U Text. U Pay national campaign.

For more information, please visit www.distraction.gov, http://www.ohs.delaware.gov/distracted.shtml, http://www.dmv.de.gov/services/driver_services/teen/index.shtml, www.teendriving.aaa.com/DE/.