HRT - Hormone Replacement Therapy in Delaware, NJ

PATERSON — For Jeremy Johnson, a recent trip to three city elementary schools was an opportunity to share his Lenape heritage in a place he calls his “homelands.”

Johnson and the other four members of a delegation from the Delaware Tribe of Indians performed a traditional tribal dance, told a folktale that predated European colonization of the area now known as New Jersey, and presented students with a slide show detailing the cultural symbols and history of the Lenape people.

“It's important to share this so that we are remembered in our homelands, and it’s also a way to get our community members out to share what they know about our people,” said Johnson, cultural education director for the Delaware Tribe of Indians.

“It’s something that needs to be carried on because we have been largely forgotten in our homelands,” Johnson added. “This program is a means for our people to remain attached to our homelands so that we still have a place here to come back to.”

National Park Service partnered with Delaware Tribe, Paterson schools

The National Park Service partnered with the Delaware Tribe and the Paterson school district to make the program happen. Johnson and his group visited fourth graders at School 1, School 2 and School 28 last week.

“The National Park Service is constantly improving the ways we tell the stories of this country,” said Ilyse Goldman, a ranger at Great Falls National Historical Park. “The Indigenous people of this land have not played as prominent a role, but we’re trying to correct that wrong now as an agency. Having a relationship with all of the federally recognized tribes of the Lenape is correcting the myths; it’s remembering that native people were and are here.”

Schools Superintendent Laurie Newell, who attended the School 28 session, talked about the value of the program.

“There are parts of American history that our children must become more familiar with in order to fully appreciate the rich traditions to be found here,” Newell said. "The Lenape people’s words are all over New Jersey as names of towns, cities and streets whose origins have been lost to the general public, and this outreach is a great step in redressing that.”

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Delaware Tribe members traveled from Oklahoma

The Delaware Tribe members traveled to Paterson from their homes in Oklahoma. After many centuries of living on North America’s Eastern Seaboard, the Lenape were sent to Oklahoma in the 19th century as part of the American government’s forced migration of Native Americans.

Among those who made the trip was Johnson’s mother, Laura Maynor.

“It’s very important to us to share what was done in the past and for people to know that the Lenape are still here; we are around,” Maynor said. “I love that my son has a passion for this. He knows a lot, which was learned from his great-grandmother, grandmother, and then me. I’m very proud of him.”

The New Year is starting off with some good news for workers in New Jersey and Delaware - a larger paycheck!

The minimum wage increased in both states on January 1, 2024.

New Jersey increased the state minimum wage to $15.13 per hour for most employees.

"I think it’s amazing to be honest with you because the price of living nowadays is so difficult for anybody, whether they be single, married, or just in a partnership with somebody. To even live without kids it’s hard nowadays, for it to go up, it’s great for people, hopefully it will help," said Ashley Mcaleer of New Jersey.

The raise is $7.88 more than the federal minimum wage in the United States, which has remained at $7.25 an hour since 2009.

The increase is part of a bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2019.

Some workers will see slower increases, both seasonal employees and businesses with fewer than six workers will see their increase go up a dollar from $12.73 to $13.73, with a goal of reaching $15 in 2026.

Agricultural workers are guided by a separate minimum wage timetable and were given until 2027 to reach the $15/hour minimum wage. Employees who work on a farm for an hourly or piece-rate wage will see their minimum hourly wage increase by 80 cents to $12.81/hour, up from $12.01/hour. Additionally, long-term care facility direct care staff will see their minimum wage rise by $1, to $18.13/hour.

Tipped workers’ cash wage will remain at $5.26/hour, with employers able to claim a $9.87 tip credit, an increase of $1. If the minimum cash wage plus an employee’s tips do not equal at least the state minimum wage, the employer must pay the employee the difference.

Murphy said, "Over 350,000 hourly workers will benefit from this much needed boost in earnings— a long and hard fought victory for working families across our state".

"I think that’s wonderful. I think everyone should be able to live in the United States and make enough money to support themselves and their family, it being anything less than fifteen, it’s impossible to do that," said Lauren Hines of New Jersey.

Delaware has also increased their minimum wage from $11.75 to $13.25, with the goal of reaching $15 in 2025.

This increase will be $6 higher than the federal minimum wage.

Both increases are part of in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania in 2024.

22 states have increased their minimum wage, with New Jersey including Delaware.

Across the river in PA, the minimum wage remains at the federal minimum wage of $7.25, a number that hasn’t changed since 2009.

A dollar amount that was a shock to those in New Jersey.

"Excuse me, $7.25, over there, no, no, ain’t no way, it ain’t worth it, I wouldn’t do it," said Peters.

"That’s insane and I think that hopefully changes. I would love to see a Federal push that would force all states to be at least $15 so, hopefully, we get that in the future," said Hines.

Which those in Pennsylvania are hoping for the same thing.

"It’s very unfortunate, I feel like it should go up and should follow what needs to be done to keep everybody afloat nowadays, especially with everybody that is struggling," says Steven Carver of Pennsylvania.

“This is ground zero,” Mike Steiger, a fisheries biologist with Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said one morning last month. Steiger was standing on a wooden walkway in the Russell Peterson Wildlife Refuge, looking over the steel-gray Christina River, a narrow tributary that twists through Wilmington, Delaware and along I-95, eventually spilling into the Delaware River. “This is the first place we found them.”

That first find was a decade ago. In 2013, a recreational fisherman hooked an unfamiliar, 25-inch brute of a fish while casting into the Christina from a boat ramp in the town of Newport, about two miles from where Steiger now stood. The fisherman knew he had a catfish, but it didn’t look like a channel catfish, a common species in the Delaware River Watershed. He snapped a photo and sent it off to the natural resources department.

The department forwarded the image to fishery biologists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who were quickly able to confirm that the fish in question was a blue catfish. The Christina “blue cat” was the first of its kind recorded in the watershed, but it would not be the last. These days, Steiger and his counterparts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are bracing for an invasion that has already upended marine ecosystems in Virginia and Maryland.

At first, the Christina blue catfish appeared to be an anomaly. The Delaware natural resources staff had put out an alert to Delaware anglers, asking them to notify the department of any other blue catfish encounters, but no additional reports surfaced for another five years. “For a long time, we wondered if someone had stocked this one fish here and that the fisherman just happened to catch it,” Steiger said.

How the blue catfish got in

But then, in 2018, during their annual gill-net surveys in the Delaware River, not far from the mouth of the Christina and adjacent to South Jersey’s Pennsville Township, Steiger and his colleagues hauled up more blue catfish. The following year, Steiger finally got what he believes is the answer to the question of how the lone 2013 fish had made it into the Christina: that September, eight big blue catfish were caught in the C&D Canal, the manmade corridor connecting the Delaware Bay with the Chesapeake Bay.

Blue catfish ‘are big, angry, slimy, eating machines.’ — Mike Steiger, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Delaware

The reports have poured in ever since. “I believe the northeast section of the Chesapeake Bay,” Steiger said, “is feeding our infestation.”

Chris Smith, who oversees invasive aquatic species for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, agrees. “We don’t know for sure if the C&D Canal is directly where they came from,” Smith said. “But we can speculate that it’s the most likely pathway the blue cat took.”

Effect on ecosystem

“Invasive” is a tricky label. The channel catfish, which most New Jersey anglers would consider native, was in fact introduced in the state’s waters about a century ago. The largemouth bass, a beloved game species among freshwater fishermen, comes from the Mississippi River basin and the Southeast. At this point in history, when humans have so thoroughly and haphazardly scattered plants and animals across the globe, it is less about a species’ origin than it is about the impact it may have on its new ecosystem.

And blue catfish, Steiger said, “are big, angry, slimy, eating machines.”

In the 1970s, blue catfish — named for their silvery-blue hue — were stocked in Virginia to boost recreational fishing in the Rappahannock, York and James rivers, whose ecosystems had been decimated by decades of pollution. Unlike the rivers’ native species, especially the shad and Atlantic sturgeon, blue catfish and other nonnative species, like the northern snakehead, thrive in the kind of low-oxygen environments that result from poor water quality.

Feasting on native species

Though they are native to the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Rio Grande river basins, blue catfish have also proven to be tolerant of salty water. When they reached the mouths of the Rappahannock, York and James, they had the entire Chesapeake Bay before them. Year by year, they crept north, vacuuming up native species, like menhaden, shad, river herring and blue crab.

Steiger and Smith worry that mature blue catfish may also enjoy eating young Atlantic sturgeon, a particularly worrying preference in the Delaware River and Bay, where fewer than 250 spawning adults remain. Each fall, Steiger and his colleagues conduct net sampling of juvenile Atlantic sturgeon in the Delaware River, about three miles downriver of the Christina’s mouth, and in recent years they’ve found blue catfish in their nets. “We’re only catching little ones, but if a 100-pounder was there, it could definitely eat a juvenile Atlantic sturgeon,” Steiger said. “We haven’t seen it yet, but it absolutely could happen.”

Blue catfish are equally voracious when it comes to reproduction — an aquatic version of the rabbit. During the spawning season, which runs from late May to June, a female blue catfish will produce up to 8,000 eggs per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of her body weight. The species can grow up to 5 feet and weigh over 100 pounds — a size that could yield over 360,000 eggs. (The world record, caught in Kerr Lake, Virginia, weighed 143 pounds.) “Snakeheads actually eat each other, so their numbers are kept down that way,” Steiger said. “Blue cats protect their young, so their numbers tend to explode.”

The Mid-Atlantic Panel on Aquatic Invasive Species brings together state and federal agencies, academic institutions, environmental groups and other stakeholders to develop and coordinate strategies to manage an ever-growing list of destructive invasive species.

In New Jersey, says Smith, word-of-mouth reports of anglers catching blue catfish have made their way to the DEP for the past decade. But it wasn’t until 2021 that the department received a photo of a blue catfish that was caught in Salem County’s Lower Alloways Creek, a Delaware River tributary that is south of the C&D Canal and close to where the river turns into the Delaware Bay.

That the species is heading toward saltier water is a concern for the DEP, Smith said. He used the northern snakehead as a cautionary example. “We’ve confirmed them as far south as the Cohansey River this year, and, most likely, they will continue to expand down to the Maurice River.” Both the Cohansey and Maurice rivers are in Cumberland County.

Anglers not dependable source of data

As of now, though, Smith and his colleagues have not detected any blue catfish below Lower Alloways Creek. But relying on anglers to map the species’ movement through the watershed is problematic. Many don’t bother — or don’t know — to report their catch to the DEP.

To fill that gap, Smith is hoping that, in the coming years, the DEP will invest in eDNA sampling, which is the process of identifying plant and animal species by analyzing the DNA they leave behind in the water column. “It’s a great screening tool,” Smith said. “We won’t have to do electrofishing” — a tool that uses an electrical current to temporarily stun fish — “or put a net in the water. We can just take a water sample and get a better indication of the distribution of species.”

Both Smith and Steiger, along with their counterpart in Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, Sean Hartzell, are part of the Mid-Atlantic Panel on Aquatic Invasive Species, which brings together state and federal agencies, academic institutions, environmental groups and other stakeholders to develop and coordinate strategies to manage an ever-growing list of destructive invasive species. But, Steiger said, “we all get together and update each other twice a year.”

For now, though, the most effective way to stay ahead of the blue catfish’s spread throughout the Delaware River Watershed is regular coordination between Smith, Steiger, and Hartzell. If an angler reports a blue catfish or a northern snakehead or a freshwater drum — another recent arrival to the watershed — the three biologists will add that information to their growing body of research. If one turns up in the Delaware team’s Atlantic sturgeon nets, Steiger will alert the others.

Most importantly, Smith and Steiger said, is that anglers know a blue catfish when they see one, so that they can report it back to their state environmental agency. And then, if they’d like, they can take their catch home for dinner.

PHILADELPHIA - New year, new me is often the motto as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve. However, January 1 also marks the day several laws that could impact your everyday life go into effect.

Here's a look at the new bills signed into law for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware for 2024:

Preferred Organic Program Trademark

The bill will further help farmers further identify which products come from then in local grocery stores.

"Products that earn the PA Preferred Organic brand will give consumers confidence they are getting a quality product that meets the high standards they expect."

Flood Insurance Premium Assistance Task Force

The bill will help homeowners acquire flood insurance, which is now required by the state.

"The task force would issue recommendations regarding potential programs that provide premium discounts, programs that incentivize local governments to support flood mitigation efforts and the implementation of any necessary changes to state statute or policy regarding the administration of flood insurance."

Enforcement of Failure to Stop for School Bus With Flashing Red Lights, Imposing a Penalty and Editorial Change

The bill will "extend and revamp the school bus stop arm automated enforcement program."

Military Personnel - Residency Status for Students

This bill grants limited residency to those stationed at a military outpost in Pennsylvania.

Dog Law - Omnibus Amendments

This bill makes changes to the state dog law, including how licenses are issued, rules for kennels, and reinforces penalties against violators.

Some other laws now in effect in Pennsylvania include felonies for porch pirates, probation reform, and voter registration at the DMV.

Raising the Minimum Wage

This bill increases New Jersey’s statewide minimum wage by $1 to $15.13 per hour for most employees.

Birth Control Coverage

This bill will make birth control available over the counter at participating pharmacies.

New gun trafficking legislation also allows for new first and second degree penalties, as well as the ability to charge out of state traffickers.

Minimum Wage Increase

This bill increases the minimum wage in Delaware to $13.25 an hour.

New HSCA Rate

Businesses subject to the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act (HSCA) will see a decrease in last year’s rate from 0.8389% to 0.675%.

State unemployment insurance (SUI) tax relief

"This Act will continue for calendar year 2024 the temporary relief provided in calendar year 2023 to employers who pay unemployment tax assessments."

Recreational marijuana is also now legal to use and purchase in the state of Delaware.

The start of 2024 is right around the corner. With a new year comes fireworks, resolutions and (for some) wage increases.

Well, some workers in New Jersey and Delaware will be seeing a boost in their paychecks starting on Jan. 1, 2024, but workers in Pennsylvania won't.

Here's a breakdown of each state's minimum wage rates for the new year:

New Jersey workers get an extra buck

Low-wage workers in New Jersey will see their minimum wage rate jump a dollar per hour, from $14.13 to $15.13.

If you're working as a seasonal employee or for a business with as few as six employees, the minimum wage is expected to follow suit, jumping a buck from $12.93 to $13.93 per hour.

Agricultural employees will see a slightly lower 80 cent increase as the minimum wage goes from $12.01 to $12.81 per hour.

For employees who also receive tips, their wages will remain the same at $5.26 per hour. For details on the rights and protections of tipped workers, click here.

Workers in New Jersey who don't see the increase reflected in their paychecks can file a complaint here.

Delaware workers can expect $2 more per hour

The wage increase in the First State is more straight forward.

Workers in Delaware have seen their minimum wage steadily increase each year since 2020 as the state nears its goal of $15 per hour by 2025.

On Jan. 1, 2024, the minimum wage will jump from $11.75 to $13.75 per hour.

The minimum wage does not include workers in agriculture jobs, domestic services, federal government roles, commission sales, fish industry employees and inmates in department of correction programs.

Pennsylvania workers stand pat

Sorry to say, but the state of Pennsylvania is not planning to raise its minimum wage rate as the calendar turns to 2024. The wage currently stands at $7.25 per hour.

But, there is some good news. Over the summer, the state's House of Representatives passed a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026. The bill was then sent to the Pennsylvania Senate.