The number of mortgage foreclosure complaints in Delaware is expected to total over 6,000 in 2009 and estimated to exceed 7,000 next year. This is an alarming number, frightening for those homeowners and devastating to the economic stability of the state. But help is available through a new program, so talk to your lender about it, or tell someone you know is in trouble about this program.

Here is the complete speech President Barack Obama made as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today, Dec. 10, in Oslo Norway.

I believe that the proposed cuts to the Library budget for the coming fiscal year will be a mortal wound, from which our Library will not recover. I believe elected officials voicing a lack of support for the library would receive indignant tirades from every sector of their constituency. The outcry from our community would be long and loud. However, by quietly pounding away at the annual operating budget of our Town Library, Council has brought our Library to the brink of extinction.--Jennifer Merrill, Ph.D., Board Member, Smyrna Public Library Guild

Smyrna resident David C. Pleasanton asks: With private businesses forced to layoff employees, reduce pay and benefits and take other drastic cost-cutting actions in order to remain in business, why should government bureaucrats and employees be exempt from the same requirements?

Smyrna Councilman William C. Raynor urges town residents to speak up about the proposed budget at the Dec. 7 council meeting, or be prepared to pay up later.

President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress Wednesday night in a speech about healthcare reform proposals. He said, "I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.... Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to a breaking point.... I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it."

Dover Post editors sat down with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) Aug. 21 to discuss health care reform, ask some questions about where he stands on the issue, and what direction Congress should take when the legislative break is over. Carper serves on the 23-member finance committee, which oversees health care.

It's time for President Barack Obama to start printing the banners: "Chaos accomplished." Like George W. Bush in a flight suit on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln under a "Mission Accomplished" banner announcing the end of major combat action in Iraq six years ago, Obama should don a pair of scrubs and announce the end to any realistic chance to pass significant and effective health care reform. And he only has himself to blame.

“The present healthcare system mistreats Americans as individuals and serves the country badly. We cannot continue in the present healthcare system,” said U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman (D-Delaware) in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday, August 6.

State shouldn't delay the implementation of table games at casinos, according to Representative Bill Carson (D-28th District) of Smyrna. The start of table games will raise more revenue for the state. It also will create hundreds of good-paying jobs at the casinos.

I am searching for common decency, respect for our fellow man…basic principles of trust and ethics, that were once the fabric of our small Town of Smyrna. We have a long and rich history that is going the way of strip malls, crime and corruption, and will ultimately leave us with very little to cling to…our culture. It is being lost here in Smyrna, in Dover and in so many small towns across America.

No one group should be burdened with the reckless overspending of the Delaware Governor and Legislature. State workers do not deserve a paycut and Delaware citizens do not deserve a tax increase. There are many others ways to balance the FY10 budget that will not only help short term but long term as well.

Unemployment statistics are continuing to rise in the Unites States, and the jobless rate may affect more than the adults in the community. Teens, who would normally take a summer job to make some cash for fun and for the upcoming school year, may find themselves in a tight spot. Parents know that kind of behavior can lead to boredom, bad habits, and low self-esteem, and they worry. What can parents do to support their teens through what may be a summer of unemployment, so that the family may continue to enjoy the season?

The process of considering the design and construction of a new Town Hall has been thorough and open to the public. There has, however, been little consideration given to how this can be paid for. The Town has never taken on a project or obligation of this magnitude. Doing so without a thorough evaluation of our finances is irresponsible. Let your Council know this.

We're in a recession and you're out of a job. That's the bad news. The good news, says author Jon Gordon, is that by making a few key decisions you'll not only make your job search a thousand times more pleasant, you'll actually make it successful.