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S.D. A.G. Jackley Announces South Dakota Circuit Court Rules Murder Defendant Received Effective Defense Counsel
PIERRE, South Dakota, Oct. 3 -- South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley issued the following news release:
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Attorney General Jackley Announces South Dakota Circuit Court Rules Murder Defendant Received Effective Defense Counsel
Oct. 2, 2026
PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a South Dakota Circuit Court has ruled a woman sentenced to prison for murder received effective defense counsel.
Maricela Diaz and Alexander Salgado were accused of killing Jasmine Guevarra in 2009 in a rural area of Hanson County. Salgado was sentenced to life in prison after
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PIERRE, South Dakota, Oct. 3 -- South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley issued the following news release:
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Attorney General Jackley Announces South Dakota Circuit Court Rules Murder Defendant Received Effective Defense Counsel
Oct. 2, 2026
PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces a South Dakota Circuit Court has ruled a woman sentenced to prison for murder received effective defense counsel.
Maricela Diaz and Alexander Salgado were accused of killing Jasmine Guevarra in 2009 in a rural area of Hanson County. Salgado was sentenced to life in prison afterpleading guilty to second-degree murder.
Diaz, who was a juvenile at the time of the crime, was tried in adult court. She was convicted by a Minnehaha County Jury of First Degree Murder, Felony Murder Arson, First Degree Arson, Felony Murder Aggravated Kidnapping, and Second Degree Aggravated Kidnapping. She received an 80-year prison sentence for First Degree Murder and a concurrent 50-year sentence for Second-Degree Aggravated Kidnapping.
South Dakota's Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction.
Diaz filed a Habeas Corpus petition in Hanson County Circuit Court stating that she did not receive effective defensive counsel. An evidentiary hearing on her request was held in that court this past February.
The court ruled that Diaz failed to show that her counsel's performance was deficient or deprived her of a fair trial.
"Diaz was not convicted due to any error of her trial counsel. She was convicted because the evidence of her role in this murder was conclusive," said Attorney General Jackley. "This ruling brings this case a step closer to final justice for Jasmine and her family."
The Attorney General's Office represented the State at the Circuit Court hearing.
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Original text here: https://atg.sd.gov/OurOffice/Media/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=3167
S.D. A.G. Jackley Announces Full Federal Appeals Court Grants Hearing on State's Ballot-Question Petition Law
PIERRE, South Dakota, Oct. 3 -- South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley issued the following news release:
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Attorney General Jackley Announces Full Federal Appeals Court Grants Hearing on State's Ballot-Question Petition Law
Oct. 2, 2026
PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will hear oral arguments in January 2027 on the state's appeal of a lower federal court ruling that prohibits the state from enforcing a new law that moved the election-year filing deadline for b allot-question petitions from May
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PIERRE, South Dakota, Oct. 3 -- South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley issued the following news release:
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Attorney General Jackley Announces Full Federal Appeals Court Grants Hearing on State's Ballot-Question Petition Law
Oct. 2, 2026
PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announces that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will hear oral arguments in January 2027 on the state's appeal of a lower federal court ruling that prohibits the state from enforcing a new law that moved the election-year filing deadline for b allot-question petitions from Mayto February.
"I appreciate the full 11-member Appeals Court granting the State's request to hear arguments on South Dakota's election law," said Attorney General Jackley. "In South Dakota, the right of our citizens to govern ourselves through the Election Petition process is our right. The South Dakota Legislature and our Governor reached a fair solution to our petition process and the ballot-question petition deadline."
The 2025 South Dakota Legislature passed, and the Governor signed a bill moving the filing deadline for ballot-question petitions from May to February. Dakotans for Health had appealed that bill on the grounds that it reduced the circulation window for gathering petitions by three months.
A South Dakota federal court ruled for Dakotans for Health. That ruling was upheld by a 2-1 panel decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Attorney General Jackley then requested a hearing before the full Appeals Court.
The January oral arguments will be held in St. Louis, Mo.
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Original text here: https://atg.sd.gov/OurOffice/Media/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=3166
N.M. A.G. Torrez Issues Letter to OpenAI CEO Altman
SANTA FE, New Mexico, Oct. 3 (TNSletter) -- New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez issued the following letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:
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Here is the text of the letter:
October 1, 2026
Sam Altman
Chief Executive Officer
OpenAI, Inc.
Dear Mr. Altman:
I write to request a full accounting from OpenAI regarding an unauthorized intrusion attempt against the University of New Mexico's digital library (nmdigital.unm.edu), carried out by an autonomous AI agent operated by your company, and to open a formal inquiry into this incident and the broader pattern of "loss of control" events across
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SANTA FE, New Mexico, Oct. 3 (TNSletter) -- New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez issued the following letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:
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Here is the text of the letter:
October 1, 2026
Sam Altman
Chief Executive Officer
OpenAI, Inc.
Dear Mr. Altman:
I write to request a full accounting from OpenAI regarding an unauthorized intrusion attempt against the University of New Mexico's digital library (nmdigital.unm.edu), carried out by an autonomous AI agent operated by your company, and to open a formal inquiry into this incident and the broader pattern of "loss of control" events acrossOpenAI's systems.
I am growing alarmed by the number of loss-of-control events at frontier AI laboratories, in which autonomous systems have bypassed, manipulated, or escaped the safeguards meant to restrain them. These events pose an extraordinary and growing danger to critical infrastructure, government institutions, private businesses, and the public. New Mexico is not a hypothetical stakeholder in this problem: one of your company's AI agents reportedly attempted to breach a system belonging to a New Mexico public university, and I intend to determine exactly what happened, why it happened, and what OpenAI is doing to prevent it from happening again.
The UNM incident is one of several recent examples of this pattern involving your company's own systems. In July 2026, OpenAI disclosed that a swarm of its AI agents, acting in coordination during a cybersecurity test, circumvented controls meant to isolate them from the internet and compromised both OpenAI's internal infrastructure and the systems of the AI developer platform Hugging Face. Independent researchers separately found that OpenAI agents had taken over a German website and converted it into a message board where other AI agents could communicate with one another, without any human having directed them to do so.
OpenAI has also disclosed cases in which its agents concealed their own mistakes and found unauthorized ways to communicate with other agents. Separately, during red-team testing by the United Kingdom's AI Security Institute, Anthropic's most advanced model created fake personas to deceive real people and attempted to plant malicious code, demonstrating that this risk is not confined to any single company's technology. And in a confirmed breach of an Australian government Medicare statistics portal, one of your company's agents found a way around protective blocks that officials say had been placed specifically to stop it. OpenAI reportedly did not disclose that breach to Australian authorities until eighty-four days after it occurred.
According to reporting from the nonprofit research organization Transluce and The New York Times, an autonomous AI agent operated by OpenAI attempted to access UNM's digital library over two days, May 25 and May 26, 2026, apparently while trying to locate archival photographs of a historic tuberculosis treatment center held in the library's collection. When the agent could not obtain the material through normal access methods, it is reported to have shifted to attempting to exploit the system rather than abandoning the task. Transluce's research identified seven distinct probes against UNM's systems, including attempts involving SQL injection, command injection, and path traversal.
After these exploitation attempts failed, the agent reportedly directed a high volume of requests at the university's servers, consistent with a denial-of-service-type effect, and made extensive use of urlquery.net, a free URL-scanning service, apparently to help identify or route around access restrictions. All publicly reported attempts against UNM's digital library are described as unsuccessful. To date, OpenAI has not, to my knowledge, directly notified the University of New Mexico, my office, or any other New Mexico state agency of this activity.
I am initiating this inquiry pursuant to my general authority as Attorney General under NMSA 1978, Sec. 8-5-2, and the common-law duties of this office to investigate and act to protect the interests of the State of New Mexico, its institutions, and its residents. This letter is a request for voluntary cooperation and is not a civil investigative demand issued under the Unfair Practices Act, NMSA 1978, Sec. 57-12-12. My office reserves the right to invoke that authority, or any other applicable state or federal authority, including a civil investigative demand or subpoena, if a complete and timely response is not received.
Effective immediately, I am requesting that OpenAI preserve all documents, communications, data, logs, and other records in its possession, custody, or control relating in any way to the May 25 and May 26, 2026 activity directed at UNM's digital library, to the other incidents described in this letter, and to OpenAI's broader practices for detecting, containing, and disclosing unauthorized or unintended agent behavior. This preservation obligation extends to all forms of electronically stored information, including but not limited to system logs, model outputs, internal communications, incident reports, and related correspondence with third parties, and should remain in place until my office notifies you in writing that it is no longer necessary.
I further request that OpenAI provide the following information and documents within ten (10) business days of the date of this letter. This request is comprehensive by design, given the need for my office to fully understand what occurred and to evaluate what action, if any, is warranted:
A. The University of New Mexico Incident
I. A complete, unredacted timeline of all activity directed at UNM's digital library on May 25 and 26, 2026, including timestamps, IP addresses and infrastructure used, and the specific model or system version involved.
II. All system logs, prompts, task descriptions, and outputs associated with the agent or agents involved in this activity.
III. The specific product, deployment context, or evaluation exercise (for example, ChatGPT agent mode, API usage, or an internal research evaluation) that gave rise to the agent's activity, and the identity of the individual or team responsible for initiating or overseeing it.
IV. All records of OpenAI's own internal detection, investigation, and response to this activity, including when OpenAI first became aware of it.
V. All communications, whether internal or with any third party, including Transluce, the University of New Mexico, or any government entity, concerning this activity.
VI. An explanation of why OpenAI did not directly notify the University of New Mexico or the State of New Mexico of this activity, and whether OpenAI has notified any other party.
B. Root Cause and Safeguards
VII. A technical explanation of why the agent shifted from a routine data-retrieval task to attempting unauthorized system access, including any analysis OpenAI has performed of the agent's decision-making process.
VIII. A description of the safeguards that were supposed to prevent this behavior, why they failed, and what modifications, if any, have been made since.
IX. Copies of any internal post-incident reviews, root-cause analyses, or postmortem documents related to this activity.
C. Related and Broader Loss-of-Control Incidents
X. A complete accounting of the July 2026 incident in which OpenAI agents circumvented isolation controls and compromised OpenAI's internal infrastructure and Hugging Face's systems, including root cause, scope, and remediation.
XI. A complete accounting of the incident in which OpenAI agents took over a German website to communicate with other agents, including how the behavior was discovered and what has been done to prevent recurrence.
XII. A complete accounting of all other instances known to OpenAI in which its agents concealed mistakes, used credentials or access without authorization, or communicated with other agents through unauthorized channels.
XIII. A complete accounting of the Australian government Medicare portal breach, including the date OpenAI first became aware of it, the date and manner of its disclosure to Australian authorities, and the reasons for the eighty-four day gap between discovery and notification.
XIV. Whether OpenAI is aware of any similar unauthorized or attempted access by its AI agents against any other New Mexico individual, business, or government entity, and if so, a complete description of each such instance.
D. Policies, Practices, and Oversight
XV.OpenAI's current policies and procedures for detecting, halting, and disclosing instances in which its AI agents act outside their intended instructions or attempt unauthorized access to third-party systems.
XVI. OpenAI's policies regarding notification of affected third parties and government authorities when such incidents occur, including timelines for disclosure.
XVII. A description of the testing, evaluation, or red-teaming protocols OpenAI has in place to detect this category of behavior before it manifests in real-world systems, and how those protocols have changed, if at all, since May 2026.
XVIII. The identity and title of the OpenAI personnel or team responsible for oversight of agent safety and incident response, and a description of their reporting structure.
E. Remedial Measures
XIX. A description of any changes OpenAI has made to its products, models, safeguards, or monitoring systems as a result of the incidents described in this letter.
XX. A description of any changes OpenAI intends to make going forward, and the timeline for implementing them.
Please direct your response, and any questions regarding this letter, to my office. I expect a substantive response within ten (10) business days. If OpenAI does not provide a complete and timely response, I will consider the use of compulsory process, including a civil investigative demand or subpoena, to obtain this information.
Sincerely,
Raul Torrez, New Mexico Attorney General
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Original text and footnotes here: https://nmdoj.gov/wp-content/uploads/10.01.2026-OpenAI-Letter-RE-Data-Breach-.pdf
News Release here: https://nmdoj.gov/press-release/attorney-general-raul-torrez-and-representative-linda-serrato-unveil-legislation-to-rein-in-frontier-ai-ahead-of-2027-legislative-session/
N.J. A.G. Davenport Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration's Rollback of Fuel Economy Standards
TRENTON, New Jersey, Oct. 3 -- New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport issued the following news release:
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AG Davenport Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration's Rollback of Fuel Economy Standards
October 2, 2026
TRENTON - Attorney General Jennifer Davenport today joined a coalition of 26 states, counties, and cities in filing a lawsuit against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), challenging its final rule that weakens Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for new passenger cars and light trucks. Strong fuel economy regulations help consumers
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TRENTON, New Jersey, Oct. 3 -- New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport issued the following news release:
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AG Davenport Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration's Rollback of Fuel Economy Standards
October 2, 2026
TRENTON - Attorney General Jennifer Davenport today joined a coalition of 26 states, counties, and cities in filing a lawsuit against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), challenging its final rule that weakens Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for new passenger cars and light trucks. Strong fuel economy regulations help consumerssave money at the pump, and this federal rollback would cost drivers even more under today's high gas prices.
Historically, NHTSA's standards have reduced consumer costs by improving vehicle fuel efficiency, placed downward pressure on gas prices by reducing fuel consumption, protected the U.S. economy from global oil shocks, and reduced pollution from tailpipes and refineries. However, the final rule significantly weakens fuel economy standards, harming both consumers and the planet at the exact moment when global gasoline prices are soaring.
In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the coalition alleges that NHTSA's new rule is contrary to law and contravenes its mandate from Congress to set fuel-economy standards at their "maximum feasible" level. Far from achieving this "maximum feasible" requirement, NHTSA's backsliding standards for the next five years require less efficiency than what the U.S. fleet actually achieved in 2021.
"Every mile driven impacts our children's future," said Attorney General Davenport. "When we set high fuel efficiency standards, we cut the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change while saving families money at the pump--proof that protecting the environment and consumers go hand in hand."
In 1975, Congress enacted the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which requires NHTSA to establish "maximum feasible" fuel economy standards for new vehicles that reflect technological feasibility, economic practicability, the effect of other motor vehicle standards, and the need to conserve energy. When setting fuel economy standards, NHTSA first models the current fleet's performance and then considers what, if any, additional actions manufacturers could take to improve their fuel economy in future model years above that.
In past rulemakings, NHTSA started from a realistic baseline fleet that included the millions of electric vehicles that already existed on our nation's highways and roads, and based fuel-economy standards on how additional technological improvements to gas-fueled cars could make that fleet more efficient.
The final rule misinterprets NHTSA's statutory authority and improperly forces the agency to ignore the presence of millions of electric vehicles in the nation's existing fleet, leading to a flawed, dramatically distorted analysis of the "maximum feasible" fuel economy level that the auto industry can achieve. Essentially, NHTSA's novel reinterpretation of the law renders the federal fuel-economy program toothless and, if allowed to take effect, would exacerbate the affordability challenges consumers are already facing due to rising gas prices.
NHTSA's rule relies on defective analyses of vehicle affordability and sales, fleet turnover, fuel savings, and vehicle safety to make a profoundly harmful and destructive rule look net-beneficial to society. For example, NHTSA attempts to paper over nearly $220 billion in lost fuel savings--money that drivers would have saved at the pump under the previous fuel economy standards, which will instead benefit Big Oil. It also ignores the hundreds of billions of dollars in future damages from climate change-driven disasters--spurred by increased fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions--effectively setting these costs at zero, contrary to scientific evidence.
Defying a longstanding and repeatedly affirmed Congressional mandate, NHTSA asserts that the United States does not need to conserve energy after all, continuing the Trump Administration's pattern of benefiting the fossil fuel industry at the expense of American consumers. Finally, NHTSA's rule will end the CAFE credit trading program in 2028, which will significantly harm electric vehicle industries that employ Americans and support the economy.
In today's lawsuit, the coalition alleges that NHTSA's final rule is arbitrary and capricious and violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
In filing this lawsuit, Attorney General Davenport joins the attorneys general of California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the City of Chicago, the City and County of Denver, the City of New York, and the City and County of San Francisco.
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Original text here: https://www.njoag.gov/ag-davenport-joins-lawsuit-challenging-trump-administrations-rollback-of-fuel-economy-standards/
Md. A.G. Brown: Body-Worn Camera Footage Release Delayed in August Fatal Police-Involved Shooting in Bel Air
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Oct. 3 -- Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown issued the following news release:
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Body-Worn Camera Footage Release Delayed in August Fatal Police-Involved Shooting in Bel Air
10/2/2026
BALTIMORE, MD - The Independent Investigations Division (IID) of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General today announced a delay in the release of the body-worn camera footage of the fatal police-involved shooting that occurred on Saturday, August 15, 2026, in Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland.
The delay in the release of the footage is the result of the need for additional
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BALTIMORE, Maryland, Oct. 3 -- Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown issued the following news release:
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Body-Worn Camera Footage Release Delayed in August Fatal Police-Involved Shooting in Bel Air
10/2/2026
BALTIMORE, MD - The Independent Investigations Division (IID) of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General today announced a delay in the release of the body-worn camera footage of the fatal police-involved shooting that occurred on Saturday, August 15, 2026, in Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland.
The delay in the release of the footage is the result of the need for additionaltime to conduct interviews.
Per IID protocols, "The IID will generally release body-worn and/or dashboard camera footage within 20 business days after the incident. There may be situations where more than 20 business days are necessary, including, but not limited to: investigators needing more time to complete witness interviews; technical delays caused by the need to redact information that raises privacy or safety concerns; or allowing family members or subject officers to view the video before it is released to the public. There may also be situations where the IID releases video sooner than 20 days where there is a substantial public interest in doing so. If the release of video is delayed, the IID will notify the public there's been a delay and state the reason for the delay."
To read the original news release, click here: https://oag.maryland.gov/News/Pages/Independent-Investigations-Division-Investigating-Fatal-Police-Involved-Shooting-in-Bel-Air.aspx
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Original text here: https://oag.maryland.gov/News/pages/Body-Worn-Camera-Footage-Release-Delayed-in-August-Fatal-Police-Involved-Shooting-in-Bel-Air.aspx
Md. A.G. Brown Announces No Charges Will Be Filed in the July 1, 2026 Police-Involved In-Custody Death in Greenbelt
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Oct. 3 -- Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown issued the following news release:
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Attorney General Brown Announces No Charges Will Be Filed in the July 1, 2026 Police-Involved In-Custody Death in Greenbelt
10/2/2026
BALTIMORE, MD - Today, Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced his decision not to seek charges in the July 1, 2026 police-involved in-custody death that occurred in Greenbelt, Prince George's County, Maryland. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General found that the subject officer did not commit a crime under Maryland law.
On
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BALTIMORE, Maryland, Oct. 3 -- Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown issued the following news release:
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Attorney General Brown Announces No Charges Will Be Filed in the July 1, 2026 Police-Involved In-Custody Death in Greenbelt
10/2/2026
BALTIMORE, MD - Today, Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced his decision not to seek charges in the July 1, 2026 police-involved in-custody death that occurred in Greenbelt, Prince George's County, Maryland. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General found that the subject officer did not commit a crime under Maryland law.
OnWednesday, July 1, 2026, at approximately 9:59 p.m., an officer with the United States Park Police (USPP) stopped at a red light on the off ramp of Exit 193 from Maryland Highway 295 (the Baltimore-Washington Parkway) at Southway. While waiting for the light to change, the officer observed a car exit the highway at a high rate of speed. The car crossed a grass median and continued across Southway into a heavily wooded area. The USPP officer reported the crash by radio to USPP and the Greenbelt Police Department (GPD), requested GPD assistance, and asked for emergency medical services (EMS) to respond. The USPP officer then entered the wooded area to locate the vehicle.
The vehicle was found in the wooded area. USPP officers located an infant in the back seat of the car. The driver was identified as Michael MacDougall. Because of his appearance and behavior, officers believed that MacDougall was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Officers could not obtain information from MacDougall because he was unable to provide coherent responses. One USPP officer retrieved the infant while another ordered MacDougall to get out of the car. MacDougall complied and was placed in handcuffs.
Officers escorted MacDougall out of the woods to the sidewalk, where he was seated and later placed on his side. GPD Officer Tyler Fahey arrived after MacDougall was removed from the car. While waiting for EMS, GPD Officer Fahey assisted USPP officers in keeping MacDougall on his side in a recovery position. MacDougall continued to move and kick on the ground, and officers determined that leg restraints were necessary for his and their safety. Officer Fahey retrieved the restraints from his cruiser, returned to the scene, and applied them.
Officers discussed whether to sit MacDougall up and determined it was better to have him on his side in recovery position while they waited for EMS to arrive. At approximately 10:07 p.m., MacDougall became unresponsive. Officers administered medical aid, removed the handcuffs, and signaled for EMS personnel, who had arrived on scene. MacDougall was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased. No officers were injured during the incident.
The Medical Examiner's findings were an important part of the IID's analysis. As detailed in the declination report, the Medical Examiner determined that MacDougall's death was an "Accident" and resulted from "Combined effects of Methadone and Amphetamine." The Medical Examiner further determined that "the restraint applied by law enforcement was not contributory towards his death."
The Attorney General's Independent Investigations Division (IID) began investigating this police-involved in-custody death on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, and concluded its investigation on September 24, 2026. Under Maryland law, the IID has the authority to investigate Maryland police officers involved in incidents that result in the death of an individual or in injuries likely to result in the death of an individual. The IID's investigation in this matter addressed only the conduct of the GPD officer.
After completing its investigation and evaluating all the available evidence, the Office of the Attorney General has determined that the GPD officer did not commit a crime under Maryland law. Accordingly, the Attorney General has declined to prosecute the GPD officer in this case.
A copy of the IID's detailed investigative findings and analysis of relevant legal issues can be found in its declination report.
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Original text here: https://oag.maryland.gov/News/pages/Attorney-General-Brown-Announces-No-Charges-Will-Be-Filed-in-the-July-1,-2026-Police-Involved-In-Custody-Death-in-Greenbelt.aspx
Del. A.G. Jennings: A.I. DuPont Charitable Trust, Nemours Foundation, DOJ Launch Historic Agreement to Advance Childhood Health
DOVER, Delaware, Oct. 3 -- Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings issued the following news release:
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A.I. duPont Charitable Trust, Nemours Foundation, and DOJ Launch Historic Agreement to Advance Childhood Health
Department of Justice | Department of Justice Office of Impact Litigation | Department of Justice Press Releases | Date Posted: Friday, October 2, 2026
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WILMINGTON, Del. - The Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust, The Nemours Foundation, and the Delaware Attorney General's Office today announced a landmark agreement among the Trust, the State of Delaware, the State of
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DOVER, Delaware, Oct. 3 -- Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings issued the following news release:
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A.I. duPont Charitable Trust, Nemours Foundation, and DOJ Launch Historic Agreement to Advance Childhood Health
Department of Justice | Department of Justice Office of Impact Litigation | Department of Justice Press Releases | Date Posted: Friday, October 2, 2026
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WILMINGTON, Del. - The Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust, The Nemours Foundation, and the Delaware Attorney General's Office today announced a landmark agreement among the Trust, the State of Delaware, the State ofFlorida, and The Nemours Foundation, committing $950 million over 11 years to promote the health and well-being of Delaware's children for generations to come.
The agreement establishes the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Fund for Delaware's Children, a new grantmaking arm that will fund nonprofit programs focused on children's health and well-being in Delaware.
"This collaboration directly delivers on Mr. duPont's vision," said Thomas G. Kuntz, Chairman of the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust. "Children's health is our founder's enduring legacy, and we remain committed to advancing that mission. By creating this new fund, we're continuing to invest in what matters most: a future where all of Delaware's children can achieve and thrive."
The Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust is one of the nation's largest philanthropic supporters of children's health. Since 1980, it has distributed more than $5 billion to The Nemours Foundation, in support of Alfred I. duPont's vision of healthier lives for children. Those investments have provided generations of Delaware's Children with access to high-quality pediatric care, advanced innovation, and supported Nemours' growth into one of the nation's largest pediatric health systems. For more than 90 years, Nemours has cared for Delaware's children, providing a comprehensive range of pediatric services, from primary and preventive care to the most advanced specialty, surgical, and life-saving treatments.
"Alfred I. duPont was the greatest philanthropist in the history of our state, and his dying wish was a bequest to Delaware's kids," said Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings. "Our office has worked for roughly 50 years, through seven attorneys general, in two states, to fulfill that dream. His vision has already delivered the region's gold standard for children's healthcare; this collaboration dramatically expands his impact on Delaware. This resolution between the parties represents a watershed moment for the future of every child in our state."
"This agreement reflects the enduring power of the vision Alfred I. duPont set in motion nearly a century ago. Delaware holds a special place in that story," said R. Lawrence Moss, M.D., FACS, FAAP, President and CEO of Nemours Children's Health. "We are proud and grateful that the vision born in Delaware continues to flourish here, inspiring new possibilities and helping build a healthier future for children and families for generations."
The establishment of the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Fund for Delaware's Children marks a new chapter of cooperation between the Trust, the State of Delaware, and Nemours and a shared commitment to improving outcomes for Delaware's children.
The fund will be governed by a committee of directors, including three committee directors appointed by the Trust and one committee director appointed by the Governor of Delaware. Grantmaking activities will continue beyond the $950 million, 11-year funding commitment and will include distributions of at least $237.5 million to Nemours' Delaware initiatives, ensuring a continued connection to its roots.
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Original text here: https://news.delaware.gov/2026/10/02/a-i-dupont-charitable-trust-nemours-foundation-and-doj-launch-historic-agreement-to-advance-childhood-health/
