2021’s Top-Paid Private-College President Received a Record Payout

The former president of the University of Pennsylvania was the highest-paid leader of a private college in 2021, according to The Chronicle’s annual analysis of executive compensation at private nonprofit institutions. It is the highest payout documented since 2008, when The Chronicle began collecting data on such compensation.

In her last year at the university, before stepping down in early 2022 to become the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Amy Gutmann received almost $23 million in total compensation. About 89 percent of that amount came from deferred compensation, set aside over the course of her 18-year tenure as president. In its Form 990, filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the university states that the compensation was “in recognition of Dr. Gutmann’s outstanding service as Penn’s president, as well as for retention purposes.” In 2020, Gutmann also received a $3.7-million loan from the university, on which she has not made any payments, according to the university tax forms.

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Fall-Enrollment Trends in Distance Education: a Snapshot

How did distance education change at colleges from 2019 to 2021? The U.S. Department of Education defines distance ed as “education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor.” Those technoloiges support “regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or asynchronously.”

This statistical snapshot, based on Education Department enrollment data for the fall of each year in this sample, provides a sector-by-sector look at overall distance-ed enrollment for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the enrollment in different types of distance education.

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How to Get a Development Loan

If you need financing for real estate you might consider a development loan. Learn what it is and how to get a development loan.

Real estate development requires deep pockets and a well-connected network, but there are ways to finance a real estate business without using your money. The primary option is a real estate development loan. Here’s how to get a property or residential development loan, what it is and some alternatives.

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Whose Pandemic-Era Graduation Rates Beat, or Fell Below, the Average?

With the release of preliminary federal data in November, a clearer picture is starting to emerge of how two years of pandemic-era operations have affected colleges’ graduation rates.

The Chronicle analyzed U.S. Department of Education data for more than 1,300 public and private four-year institutions and found that six-year graduation rates in 2020 and 2021 were 1.26 percent higher, on average, than they were in 2018 and 2019. That incremental rate of increase from year to year has been fairly consistent in recent decades.

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How to Get a Development Loan

If you need financing for real estate you might consider a development loan. Learn what it is and how to get a development loan.

Real estate development requires deep pockets and a well-connected network, but there are ways to finance a real estate business without using your money. The primary option is a real estate development loan. Here’s how to get a property or residential development loan, what it is and some alternatives.

Read the full story here.

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Glendale company's ex-controller sent to over 7 years in prison for embezzling $2.8 million from employer

A controller for a commercial printing company sentenced for embezzling close to $2.8 million from his employer and failing to report the stolen funds as income to the Internal Revenue Service.

A federal court judge for the Central District Court of California handed 87 months in prison to 63-year-old Sean Edin Talaee of Glendale on Monday.

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Stolen 40 years ago, rare Christopher Columbus letter recovered by Delaware investigators

After arriving in the Americas, Christopher Columbus penned a letter about his find to Spain's King Ferdinand, a letter that would later be published to spread the news throughout Europe.

For the fourth time in the past four years, federal agents and attorneys in Delaware have recovered a stolen copy of that historic letter, now worth up to $1.3 million.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware and Homeland Security investigators, who specialize in the recovery of stolen rare books and historic artifacts, announced the find this week.

The rare letter, which has been missing for over 40 years since being stolen from a library in Venice, Italy, was found in the hands of a private collector.

"As with the previous letters, strong investigative work and excellent collaboration led authorities to locate the letter," said Kim Reeves of U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

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Coronavirus and communities: How will Wilmington corner stores fare?

The streets of Wilmington's Hedgeville neighborhood are eerily quiet.

The usual flow of residents into Sunrise Groceries on Chestnut and South Franklin has slowed to a trickle.

Corner stores found in many of Wilmington's neighborhoods are often the life force of those communities, whose residents have limited access to traditional grocery stores.

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Coronavirus has a greater impact on Delaware's Latino community

On a late afternoon last week on North Van Buren Street in Wilmington, parents filed into the Latin American Community Center to collect their children from day care.

The center also handed out food to members of Delaware's Latino community, which faces higher health and economic risks from the coronavirus epidemic.

"I'm grateful they're doing this," one parent said as he received food while picking up his children.

The nonprofit had to expand its food pantry hours to serve dozens of families seeking food donations, and they care for 131 children whose parents are essential workers, Director of Development Casey Davis said.

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The decline in Delaware gas prices shows signs of slowing

A spike in crude oil prices and rumors of a cut in oil production may slow the decline in First State gas prices.

Nationally, the gas price average dropped to $1.91 a gallon on Tuesday and AAA expects it'll go to $1.75, with several East Coast states reaching $1.99, by May.

In the First State, average gas prices dropped 44 cents since March 1 to $1.88, the lowest price since 2016, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

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Delaware's first fentanyl indictment: New Castle man sentenced to 24 years in prison

A 31-year-old New Castle man will spend 24 years in prison for selling a Pennsylvania woman fentanyl-laced heroin that resulted in her death.

Donte "Half" Jacobs was the first person from Delaware to be charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl that resulted in the death of another person. A federal jury found him guilty in September following a three-day trial.

Prosecutors are increasingly using that charge nationwide in the fight against heroin and opioid addiction.

The purpose of the charge is largely to target those supplying people with drugs and the deadly effects of this distribution.

"I know the pain that her family feels," Jacobs said Friday morning during his sentencing hearing.

Jacobs' sentence was the longest fentanyl-related sentence in Delaware's federal court. The previous longest was 20 years, prosecutors told the court.

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Families of loved ones killed in I-95 crash in September sue driver, trucking company

The families of a 9-year-old Newark girl and a 61-year-old Middletown man who died in a multi-vehicle crash on I-95 south near Newark in September have filed lawsuits against a trucking company and one of its drivers.

Linda Asamoah and Patrick Owusu of Newark filed their lawsuit in federal court Tuesday. Their daughter, Roselyn Adjei-Owusa, died in the crash, along with 61-year-old Albert Frankel of Middletown.

Frankel's family filed a lawsuit on Oct. 29 in Delaware Superior Court.

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Delaware's obesity rate got worse in 2018

The First State's obesity rate got worse in 2018.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America’s Health's reported Delaware's obesity rate rose to 33.5% in 2018 from 31.8% in 2017, making it the 18th highest in the country.

The obesity rate measures the percentage of adults whose body mass index is above 30.

The rate among Delaware adults has more than doubled since 1990 when it was 14.4%.

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What the W: All About the Revival of NYC's W Train in 2016

Written for Untapped Cities

Recently, we reported that the MTA had added the Second Avenue Subway to the subway map. Part of the changes included the resuscitation of the W line from Astoria-Ditmars Blvd to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue. The MTA aims to relieve train congestion and boost Astoria’s population, at an estimated cost of $13.7 million annually, according to a MTA press release.

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