This week, Delawareans in the city of Wilmington and throughout the state bid farewell to former Wilmington mayor Mike Purzycki. Purzycki died last week at the age of 80 and in the days following his death and at his funeral this week, much of the discussion about his impact understandably focused on his two terms as mayor and his 10 years spent shaping the massive development of Wilmington’s Riverfront as Executive Director of the Riverfront Development.But there is more to Purzycki’s legacy that those two things. Among them is his work on the Wilmington Hope Commission, which has focused on re-entry services and recidivism. And it’s that part of Purzycki’s story that three people who worked with him on the Hope Commission focused on in a piece they co-authored last week after his death.This week, host Tom Byrne sat down with those three people – Delaware State Univ. President Tony Allen, who served with Purzycki as the group’s founding co-chairs, former Hope Commission Executive Director Charles Madden and Darryl "Wolfie" Chambers, founder of the Center for Structural Equity, and a volunteer and advisor to the Commission – to discuss their piece “He Was “Enough”: Remembering Mike Purzycki."

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1st.NOAA’s National Hurricane Center predicts a below normal season with 8-14 named storms, of which 3-6 are hurricanes, including 1-3 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher). An average season has 14 named storms with seven hurricanes, including three major hurricanes.But predicting and tracking hurricane activity is only one part of the equation. When storms hit, they can do major damage. With that in mind, research at the University of Delaware is trying to improve work to model what damage from a storm could look like.Thomas Florio – who graduated from UD last week with his degree in Meteorology & Climate Science – has been working with assistant professor of meteorology and climate science Shuai Wang to improve hurricane damage simulations. And Florio recently joined host Tom Byrne to discuss his work and its implications.

Delaware sometimes seems to live in the cultural shadow cast by our neighbors - places like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC. And, sometimes the state gets a certain reputation - small, boring, the kind of place where nothing happens.But Paul Campagna and Chris Haug are pushing back on that with a new and growing project - the Delaware Music History Archive. It's an ambitious undertaking, involving thousands of newspaper clippings and hundreds of concert flyers and photos tracking more than eight decades of the state's surprisingly rich musical history. And that collection is growing every day.On this week's Arts Playlist, DPM's Martin Matheny learns more about the project, an upcoming talk Chris and Paul are participating in in Dover, and why you shouldn't sleep on the First State's role in American music history.

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State lawmakers voted last year to create a new position - an independent Inspector General - designed to detect fraud, waste and abuse in state government.Gov. Matt Meyer signed that bill into law last August and last month, he nominated Robert Storch to be the state’s first IG. Storch previously served as inspector general in the federal government with the Department of Defense and National Security Agency - as well as holding senior positions with the Dept. of Justice.Storch was confirmed by the State Senate this month and is now getting down to the business of building the office from the ground upAnd this week he sat down with Delaware Public Media political reporter Bente Bouthier to discuss delivering an Office of Inspector General to the First State.

This week is Delaware’s first Heat Awareness Week. And it seems especially well-timed.This week saw higher than average temperatures for this time of year. Maximum temperatures this week averaged over 80 degrees with the first three days seeing highs over 90 degrees, including record breaking highs in Wilmington and Georgetown.The creation of Heat Awareness Week in Delaware is the culmination of an effort by a group of Univ. of Delaware students in a class taught by Vaishnavi Tripuraneni, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences. Two of them - Katherine Turner and Jennifer Barbour - joined Delaware Public Media’s Jay Shah to explain why heat awareness matters and efforts to address heat-related issues.

The Wilmington Drama League closes out its current season with a musical adaptation of the hit movie "Sister Act."On this week's Arts Playlist, Delaware Public Media's Martin Matheny speaks to two people involved with the production - Patrick Murray, the show's director and choreographer, and Kathy Buterbaugh, a cast member and the Wilmington Drama League's production manager.

A University of Delaware graduate student created a new belly binding garment for postpartum mothers using expertise across multiple disciplines.Belly binding for postpartum mothers has been used for centuries across different cultures. It involves wrapping the abdomen with specialized bands or long strips of fabric after childbirth to support shifting organs, stabilize the pelvis and relieve lower back pain while core muscles naturally heal.Casey Tyler is a master’s student in Fashion and Apparel Studies in UD’s College of Arts and Science, and they used their experience with help from an assistant professor, a doula and a spacesuit designer to create an updated version of this garment to improve its form and functionOn this edition of Enlighten Me, Delaware Public Media’s Joe Irizarry chats with Tyler about the new garment, the knotted belly bind.

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A 2011 study published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetlands Inventory found that 25% of Delaware is wetlands. Some of those are considered freshwater or nontidal wetlands - and are located further inland.Although they’re vital to the ecosystem, Delaware does not have any statewide regulations to protect these habitats.A new bill aims to change that. Senate Bill 9 would fill gaps left by federal laws governing what humans can or can’t do in protected areas.This week, Delaware Public Media’s Jay Shah sat down with the bill’s sponsor, State Senator Stephanie Hansen and Emily Knearl, Director of Public Policy at The Nature Conservancy to understand what this legislation would do and why it matters.