First for Friday, January 23, 2015

State of the State

First Look this week is the First State’s message from Governor Markell. We are in Legislative Hall to review the speech and provide reaction. Markell spoke to a joint session of the General Assembly from the Senate chambers.

Health tale of two businesses

We turn our focus to the ever changing health care system. How businesses deal with the affordable care act is becoming clearer. Some businesses are experiencing some pretty painful transitions. This story involves companies with fewer than 50 employees. To help illustrate the situation, we bring you the tale of two companies.

First Person: Delaware Education Secretary Mark Murphy

We talked with Education Secretary Mark Murphy about some of his big policy initiatives, including priority schools. Those are the six struggling schools in Wilmington the state wants to turn around. We asked Murphy if the state is moving too fast to push these reforms through.

Power of the pen

Nowadays, it’s easy to send care packages and letters of support to our troops overseas, but that was not always the case. It used to be, soldiers could only receive mail specifically addressed to them, but one Dear Abby letter from a Delawarean changed all that.

First Experience: Upstairs at the Del. Museum of Natural History

What’s in your attic? Old photos? Decorations? Old clothes? The Delaware Museum of Natural History has you beat. They house one of the largest natural history collections in North America. The collection is in demand by museums and researchers around the globe. It’s a unique collection, and so is this week’s First Experience as we go upstairs for a tour.