Weight Loss Clinic in Bear, DE

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Bear down! It's not just a mantra but something the Bears defense has apparently taken to heart as of late, giving up an average of 12 points over their last two contests.

CBS 2's Matt Zahn had the latest on a big blow to a defense playing its best football all season.

The Bears defense, which has been performing great in recent games, will play the rest of the season without defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.

Ngakoue, who's recorded two sacks in the last four games, broke his ankle against the Detroit Lions and needs season-ending surgery.

"He brings a different type of speed and agility to the game," said defensive tackle Justin Jones. "[Montez Sweat] is the more powerful guy....Yannick is more speed an agile coming off the edge. We're missing that."

So how does head coach Matt Eberflus plan to compensate for the loss of Ngakoue to his defense?

"Blitz every snap," Eberflus said, engendering laughter during his press conference. "It's everybody just step up and step into their roles and lean into it. When you have injury, you have an opportunity for people."

Quarterback Justin Fields admitted he's frustrated that opposing defenders aren't getting flagged for a seemingly excessive amount of hits on him after the whistle. That's odespite his efforts to bring such hits to the officials' attention.

"I talk to them before every game," Fields said. "Literally talk to refs before every game. It happened on the first play of the game and didn't get a call. So I can't really do anything about it."

An improved pocket presence has helped Fields avoid some of those hits. As he put it, last year, he would just escape the pocket or run for no reason.

This year, he said he has a better feel for the pocket and his own mental clock.

Matt Zahn

Matt Zahn joined CBS2 Chicago in October 2016 as a sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor, and what a time to come to Chicago. Matt arrived just as the Cubs won the World Series.

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Delaware Gov. John Carney was supposed to deliver the final State of the State Address of his administration Thursday afternoon, but his office sent word early today that he was postponing the speech because he’s sick.

“The Governor has a fever and mild symptoms, but is in good spirits,” their statement said.

While it’s not clear exactly what exact symptoms Carney is suffering, he’s not alone.

State health officials say there’s been a noticeable uptick in respiratory illness cases. Health officials and providers are carefully taking action to address and manage the growing health concerns.

At Beebe Healthcare in southern Delaware, infectious disease physician Bill Chasanov said they’ve seen an increase in respiratory illnesses observed across their hospitals and wellness centers.

“What we have noticed over the past couple months is that we have had an increase in the number of visits for respiratory illnesses that include the flu, that includes COVID, that includes RSV,” he said. “And then others are the respiratory viruses that we expect to see during what we call respiratory season for this time of the year.”

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Nationally, the slow rise in COVID cases is evident in current hospitalization numbers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In early November, about 15,000 people nationally were hospitalized, compared to nearly 36,000 in the beginning of January.

Chasanov also emphasizes that, in addition to the observed trends, they have been monitoring the increase in illnesses through various metrics. On a state level, Delaware is mirroring those national trends.

Approximately 12 weeks ago, there were around 48 people hospitalized statewide with COVID. As of Jan. 6, that number is up to 144.

“We keep a close eye on the metrics that are published by the state of Delaware and public health and epidemiology offices around the number of cases of flu, the number of cases of COVID, to understand where Delaware is when it comes to those respiratory illnesses,” Chasanov said. “We also use that with our other data in our other assessment of what’s happening in our county, along with our healthcare organization, our community, to really help guide us about what’s going on.”

“We have had an increase week over week in the number of flu cases reported throughout the state of Delaware and then obviously through each county of the state of Delaware,” he added.

Chasanov noted that in the coming weeks, given the current influx of walk-in visits and hospital admissions, the rate of flu cases is projected to rise significantly.

“We expect to see an ongoing rise in the number of flu cases for the next several weeks. We expect COVID numbers to remain about the same for the next few weeks. And then we actually are expecting our RSV to start to decrease over the next few weeks,” he said.

In response to the anticipated surge in flu cases, Beebe Healthcare has taken proactive measures to ensure the safety of their staff members and patients. That includes reintroducing masking requirements in Beebe Healthcare offices, wellness centers and hospitals.

“A few days ago, we actually decided to move back to requiring masks in our healthcare facilities to try to increase the safety of our patients, our visitors, our team members and ultimately our community. Because if we can stop the spread of someone getting one of these viruses, then hopefully that breaks the chain and stops the further spread of other people getting it,” Chasanov said.

The commitment to safety extends beyond Beebe Healthcare, as TidalHealth and Bayhealth are also now mandating masks.

As the Delaware Division of Public Health closely watches the impact of COVID-19, RSV, Flu, and other respiratory viruses, officials urge Delawareans to follow safety measures in the following areas:

“This is the first season that we have vaccines available for not only flu, and not only COVID, but certain individuals in our community. There are recommendations for those individuals to actually get an RSV vaccine,” Chasanov said. “There have been other treatments for RSV that have been around for a while. But this is really the first year that we have had an RSV vaccine for more of our population.”

As for Carney, he posted on social media that he’s following the advice he’s given to state residents since the early days of the pandemic.

“Since 2020, we’ve said stay home if you’re sick. So, out of an abundance of caution, that’s what I’m doing. I look forward to giving my State of the State Address at a later date,” he said in the online statement.

A makeup date has not yet been set.

More than two years after Lidl received approval to build its third Delaware store, it's still unclear when the German grocer's Bear location will open.

Construction of the store has appeared complete since the middle of last year, but the store is "still in the planning phase," according to company spokesperson Chandler Spivey.

Spivey said Lidl expects to "have more of an update over the coming months."

The nearly 30,000-square-foot store took the place of the Countryside Nursery and Garden Center at Pulaski Highway and Salem Church Road. The store's signage and other details, such as shopping cart corrals and some landscaping, have been in place for several months. A "coming soon" sign was recently placed along Route 40.

At one point, Lidl planned for the store to open in July 2020, according to New Castle County planning documents. At that time, the company was still in the process of gaining county approval.

DELAWARE GROCERY STORES: Delaware's first Wegmans is taking shape. The store will be smaller than Concordville one.

The county eventually approved the project in May 2020. Months later, the Bear store appeared on a list of 50 Lidl stores expected to open by the end of 2021.

Today, 45 of those 50 stores have opened.

Lidl pushed the timeline for the store's opening back by a year to fall 2022 when asked about apparent construction progress in September 2021.

"Like thousands of businesses, we have seen that COVID-19 has put pressure on the materials supply chain and that does impact our planning," Will Harwood, Lidl's director of communications, said at the time.

Lidl still needs to pass a final county inspection before it can open. County planner Janet Vinc said there are "several interior fit-out items that need to be addressed and all required landscaping needs to be installed." Once those items are addressed, the company can request a final inspection for a certificate of occupancy, which is needed to open the business.

Lidl received its commercial building permit in December 2020. After getting an extension in January, the permit is due to expire June 10. Vinc said the land use department generally allows two permit extensions "provided that the project is still advancing towards completion."

If Lidl receives a second extension, its building permit would expire near the end of the year.

Lidl bills itself as a low-priced, high-quality alternative to traditional "cookie-cutter" grocery stores. Similar to its German counterpart Aldi, Lidl's offerings are more limited than traditional grocery stores and are displayed in the boxes they were shipped in. Around 90% of Lidl's products are produced by its own private-label brands.

Both companies have more than 10,000 stores worldwide, but Aldi has a much larger presence in the U.S. With more than 2,000 stores, Aldi is the third-largest grocer in the U.S., according to JLL data. Lidl has about 150 stores in the U.S. concentrated on the East Coast.

In the time since Lidl announced its Bear location, Aldi has added more stores in Delaware, located in the Christiana Town Center off Route 273 and off Coastal Highway in Rehoboth Beach. The company has plans for another location in Millsboro, which would bring their Delaware count to eight.

Lidl has stores off Middletown Warwick Road in Middletown and on Route 13 in Dover.

Like knowing what stores, restaurants and developments are coming and going in Delaware? Join our Facebook group What's Going There in Delaware and subscribe to our free What's Going There in Delaware newsletter.

Tractor Supply Co. has plans for a new store in Governors Square on Route 40 in Bear.

The store would be in the building previously occupied by Kmart, according to plans submitted to New Castle County. Its outdoor display area would be on the east side of the building adjacent to American Signature Furniture.

Tractor Supply spokesperson Darias Collins said the store will open next fall. It will employ about 15 people, Collins said. Collins declined to comment on the store's location or layout.

The Kmart in Governors Square has been vacant since it closed in 2019. All of Delaware's Kmarts closed by February 2020.

In some cases, real estate brokers have had to divide the spaces Kmart left behind to fill them. The former Kmart in the Pike Creek shopping center, for instance, will be split into at least two businesses with Pike Creek Community Hardware due to take about half the vacated space. Work on the building began this month.

It appears Tractor Supply Co. would take only a portion of the Governors Square Kmart, which is listed at about 90,000 square feet in advertising materials. The plan sent to New Castle County shows a sales floor, indoor display and stockroom covering more than 15,000 square feet in addition to the almost 9,000-square-foot outdoor display. It is subject to county review.

The Bear location would be the seventh Tractor Supply Co. in Delaware, joining stores in Middletown, Smyrna, Dover, Milford, Seaford and Millsboro.

Tractor Supply describes itself as the "largest rural lifestyle" retailer in the country. Its products include workwear and boots, pet supplies, zero-turn and riding mowers, garden supplies, power tools and fencing.

The space it plans to repurpose in Bear is one of the last vacancies left by Kmart. The German grocer Aldi opened a store in the former Kmart off Coastal Highway in Rehoboth Beach in November. Some retail will remain in the former Kmart in Newark's College Square as the shopping center morphs into a new mixed-use development.

In Elkton, Maryland, Ollie's Bargain Outlet replaced part of the Kmart in the Big Elk shopping center along Route 40.

Like knowing what stores, restaurants and developments are coming and going in Delaware? Join our Facebook group What's Going There in Delaware and subscribe to our What's Going There in Delaware newsletter.

BEAR – When the former owner of IMS Chemblend, a specialty chemical blending and packaging company, sought to retire last year, the small firm faced an uncertain future.

All of that changed after former customer the Royale Group, a collection of specialty chemical companies, along with an investment partner acquired IMS Chemblend in September.

New owners John Logue and Gene Fatula have since renamed the company to AWSM Solutions Delaware (pronounced Awesome), and are looking to expand the company through a $1 million investment in equipment, machinery and upgrades to the existing Porter Road building, as well as the addition of 17 new jobs.

On Jan. 25, the state’s investment board, the Council on Development Finance, unanimously approved a $129,750 incentive package for their effort, including a $99,750 job performance grant for the creation of the new positions and a capital expenditure grant of $30,000.

Logue’s Royale Group has been successful in recent years, even earning the 2019 Distributor of the Year award from the National Association of Chemical Distributors, but he said they are seeking to adjust their business model.

“A couple years ago, we decided to start changing our business model from a traditional import-export chemical distributor to more of a manufacturing company,” Logue told CDF members. “The reason is that supply chains out of Asia and other countries were getting very difficult to manage, not only on the supply chain, but in the quality, the stewardship and other influences.”

AWSM Solutions will continue its former Chemblend operations, while adding in some lighter manufacturing products that it used to source overseas, Logue said.

Among its corporate customers are major industry names like Dow, 3M, and PPG, and it produces raw materials used in anesthesia and chemicals that are a part of electrostatic antiseptic spray, which have become more common in the fight against the COVID-19 virus, Logue said. At the other end of the product spectrum, AWSM Solutions also supplies the Delaware Transit Corporation with cleaner, disinfectant, and even windshield wiper fluid for every DART transit bus on the road.

“We really want to expand our specialty high-end formulating and we see Delaware as a great place to do it,” he added. “And we believe that what is made in Delaware should be used in Delaware.”

Having already hired 11 employees at the Bear site, Logue said that he expected to reach the 17-hire quota by the end of 2021, although the incentive package offered by the state gives the company several years to fulfill that mark. Fatula noted that the majority of the remaining hires will come through the addition of a second shift after the build-out and training period.

“We’ve already instituted a $15 an hour minimum wage; we think that’s a very crucial part of our model. We don’t want unskilled workers, we want very skilled chemical operators,” Logue said, noting that investment leads to better safety, quality and productivity.

In a statement, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer welcomed the company’s expansion and said the county was “looking forward to working with ASWM to create quality job opportunities in our communities.”

As part of the expansion efforts, AWSM Solutions is moving its corporate office from Paramus, N.J., down to the Bear site. The company did reportedly look at relocating to other sites, including in Pennsylvania, but the principals decided that the First State was the best fit.

“The location in Delaware was very strategic for us, due to the base of the business, the business environment in Delaware, cost of living, skill set of employees, and the resources offered by the state of Delaware and DPP sealed the deal,” Logue said.