Lovely View

81 degrees in Crown Bay St. Thomas

81 % humidity.

29.93 Barometric Pressure – rising.

Mostly East Wind at 14 MPH.  

ONE point 61 inches of rain in the last 24 hours  - We have had 17.47  inches of rain so far this year.

No rain in the last 24 hours 

Doppler radar shows – lots of showers in the immediate area

Satellite photo shows – more Rain on the way.

National Weather Service says: Overcast with 30%  Chance of thunderstorms and rain showers. High of 84F. Breezy East wind at 15 to 20 mph.  An area of moisture will continue streaming across the Lesser Antilles to the northwest of the Virgin Islands. Scattered showers can be expected for the next several days. Winds may be gusty near showers and there is a chance for thundershowers. Showers will become a little less frequent beginning on Sunday.

Cruise Ship News

No Ships Today

At the top of the news on Friday May 18

We always like it when the USVI is #1. US News and World report ranked the US Virgin Islands as the Best Spring Vacation Destination of 2012. #1!   The editors were looking among hundreds of destinations for “Fun locations with plenty of things to do without breaking the bank” and we won. #1.  How were we ranked in other categories?  #2 in best relaxing getaway.  #2 in Best beaches.  #5 most romantic getaway.  #5 best Caribbean vacation. #5 best honeymoon destination.  #7 in best US Vacations, #9 in best family vacations.  #10 in best islands in the world and #12 in best places in the world to visit. 

Delegate Dr. Donna Christiansen got her day before US House of Representatives Natural Resources Subcommittee. She spoke in favor of a bill to create a Chief Financial Officer for the Virgin Islands. The Delegate called HR 3706, “an evolution.” She introduced it because a significant number of Virgin Islands residents believe that “the operations of the Government of the Virgin Islands are not as transparent and accountable as they should be.” She called for a five year experiment with a CFO.  Her bill does not allow the CFO to disapprove specific appropriations or items of spending.  

First Lady Cecile deJongh is working on healthy babies.  We told you before about Text4Baby where an expectant mother uses her cell phone to text the word BABY to 511411 – then she starts to get health tips on pregnancy and baby care. Now the First Lady has added a contest to the plan.  Sign up for text4baby between now and October 22 and submit an online form and you are in line for a contest to win a savings bond in baby’s name or other cool prizes for baby. The contest forms are at the Governor’s web site, and paper forms are available at the Department of Education or HPR or Human services of Department of Labor Some 1,748 babies are born each year in the Virgin Islands.  14% are premature births. 9% have low birth weight. And 12 will not live to their first birthday. Text4Baby is all about having healthier babies.

 Hearty Congratulations to the Rocketry Club of Elena Christian Jr. High School for qualifying for the 2012 Team America Rocketry Challenge. The 100 qualifying teams including the two teams from St Croix will be honored at Capitol Hill at a Congressional Reception hosted by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shabeen. Senate President Ronald Russell says “Students from St. Croix will be honored on a national scale for their talent and hard work. They will have the opportunity to interact with students and dignitaries from all across the United States.” Students were required to build a rocket and launch two raw eggs at an altitude of 750 feet with the rocket remaining in the air for at least 42 seconds.  How did our kids do? Ah they did not win,  they weren’t last place either. Elena Christian Junior High School team 1 was 63 overall and team 2 was 69 overall – out of 101 teams.

Lovely Vista

84 degrees in Crown Bay St. Thomas

80 % humidity.

29.98 Barometric Pressure – rising.

Mostly East Wind at 22 MPH.  

ONE point  13 inches of rain in the last 24 hours  – We have had 15.86  inches of rain so far this year.

No rain in the last 24 hours 

Doppler radar shows – lots of showers in the immediate area

Satellite photo shows – more Rain on the way.

National Weather Service says: Overcast with 50% chance of thunderstorms and rain showers this , then partly cloudy with rain showers in the afternoon. High of 84F. Breezy East wind at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

An area of moisture will continue streaming across the Lesser Antilles to the northwest of the Virgin Islands. Scattered showers can be expected for the next several days. Winds may be gusty near showers and there is a chance for thundershowers. Temperatures will average out in the mid 80′s and showers will become a little less frequent beginning on Sunday.

Cruise Ship News

No Ships Today

At the top of the news on Thursday May 17

Health Commissioner Mercedes Dullum met with the leadership team of the Department of Health to announce her decision to resign as of May 28. Dullum cited personal reasons for the decision. She thanked the Governor and her staff at the Department of Health. AND the Governor thanked Dr. Dullum for her service and wished her well in her future endeavors. Dullum was appointed in November of last year and was sworn in on March 15 of this year. The Governor named Darice Plaskett as Acting Health Commissioner. She has held leadership positions at the Juan Luis Hospital and Medical Center on St. Croix since 1994. Plaskett is also an Adjunct Professor of Nursing at the University of the Virgin Islands.

CFO bill is on the agenda as the US House of Representatives Natural Resources Subcommittee meets today at 2 pm. Federal legislation sponsored by our Delegate to create a Chief Financial Officer for the Virgin Islands will be heard. Delegate Dr. Donna Christiansen will give an opening statement and ask questions of the witnesses. Assistant Interior Secretary for Insular Affairs Anthony Babauta is scheduled to testify. While the delegate has proposed various versions of the CFO idea, this bill does not give the CFO the power to disapprove specific appropriations and items of spending.  The new bill is modeled after the CFO in Washington DC. Christensen says the Washington CFO has given credibility to the finances of Washington.

Primary election coming up Sept 8th.  Board of Elections St. Thomas – St John says we only have enough funds to open one polling station per island. One at Oswald Harris Court Community and one at the Julius Sprauve School St John. It costs a quarter million dollar to hold an election. We can’t afford a full scale primary election.

The Senate Committee on Human Services, took testimony on Bill relating to the termination of parental rights. Many foster parents, family law attorneys and Human Services staff don’t like the existing law that offers only very specific circumstances to terminate parent’s rights. If this proposal becomes law, any interested party to bring a court case to terminate parental rights if: 

- it is in the best interest of the child;

Or a child has been abandoned for more than six months;

Or reasonable efforts for reunification have failed;

Or if the child has not been with their parent for 15 of the last 22 months;

Or if the parent has committed aggravated child abuse or the parent is incarcerated

Or the parent is convicted of killing the child’s other parent or guardian;

Or if the parent has failed to comply with child support obligations.

The bill was approved by committee and sent to the Rules committee for further consideration.

180 degree rainbow on May 16 - two pots of gold!

81 degrees in Crown Bay St. Thomas

82 % humidity.

29.99 Barometric Pressure – rising.

Mostly East Wind at  8 MPH.  

Point  07 inches of rain in the last 24 hours  - We have had 14.72  inches of rain so far this year.

No rain in the last 24 hours 

Doppler radar shows – Mostly Clear Skies but showers in the immediate area

Satellite photo shows – Rain showers on the way.

National Weather Service says: overcast with 20% chance of rain showers. High of 84F. Breezy ENE wind at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 20%

Cruise Ship News

 Allure of the Seas at Austin Monsanto Marine Terminal:

At the top of the news on Wednesday May 16

Fresh federal Funds because of the HOVENSA closure.  The Department of Labor in Washington DC is sending 7.8 million dollars to the Virgin Islands – Immediately. The National Emergency Grants will help fund the response to the HOVENSA closure. Paying for employment related services to 1,235 displaced workers on St Croix.  Most of the funds are for training the workers for new occupations.

Meanwhile the local Worker’s Compensation fund has dried up and people on disability have not received checks for 6 weeks.  Senator Hansen says she is angry about this and working on getting funding for the worker’s compensation.

Senator Celestino A. White is proud of his bathrooms.  The one at Brewers beach was his work. So was Lindberg Bay bathrooms and now the one at Coki Point is ready to use. White says, “The state of the art facility at Coki Point is complimented with a vendor’s mall, life­guard on duty and a permanent Facility Manager to insure that the facility remains clean, safe and an inviting place for residents and visitors alike to enjoy. The senator wants a regular police presence at Coki Point.

A challenger for Delegate Dr. Donna Christiansen?. St. Croix attorney Stacey Plaskett announced her plans to challenge Delegate Donna Christensen in the Democratic Party primary later this year.

A handful of supporters, friends and family gathered in Frederiksted’s Buddhoe Park to hear Plaskett make her case for the office. She earned her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., she worked in the district with then-Delegate Ron de Lugo, she worked for a D.C. lobbying firm then went to law school at American University College of Law while working full time with three small children She was counsel to the House Ethics Committee and worked for United Healthgroup, on government insurance, Medicaid and Medicare.Plaskett said “My knowledge of economic development , project finance, public funding, federal grants and other tools for growth give me wider range and depth of skill sets which meet the needs of the Virgin Islands at this time in Washington.”

Family Resource Center extends an invitation to everyone who’d like to help re-establish services to address domestic violence, sexual assault and other violent crimes on St. John. The Family Resource Center is working on an office on St. John within the next 30 days. Big Thank You to the Law Enforcement  Planning Commission Victims of Crime Grant, and the Myrah Keating Smith Health Center and the center’s Staff.  There is a meeting at the Myrah Keating Smith Health Center this evening at 5:30 pm. For more information call 776-3966

Governor John DeJongh had a sauté for an aviation giant as the Governor noted the invaluable contribution of retiring airline industry veteran, Peter Dolara of American Airlines to the development of tourism across the territory and the region. Governor de Jongh thanked Mr. Dolara, American Airlines’ Senior Vice President for Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America, for his commitment to the hospitality industry in the US Virgin Islands for decades, as well as for his personal affection for the island of St. Croix. “We wanted to personally thank you for all that you have done.”

Graduaiton !

Spoony and Loony talking with their friends in Texas

81  degrees in Crown Bay St. Thomas

83 % humidity.

29.97 Barometric Pressure – rising.

Mostly East Wind at 15 MPH.  

Point  45 inches of rain in the last 24 hours  – We have had 14.08  inches of rain so far this year.

Doppler radar shows – Mostly Clear Skies

Satellite photo shows – Rain showers on the way.

National Weather Service says:

Mostly cloudy with thunderstorms and rain showers. High of 86F. Winds from the East at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Cruise Ship News

No Ships Today

At the top of the news on Friday May 11

Changes are coming  to St Croix Schools as restructuring was on the table last night. First is to assign students to the school that is nearest to their home. Bus routes are getting rearranged.

But no ride for students who are out of the local school district. The goal is to reduce bussing costs, improve school attendance and balance class size and reduce over crowding. Officials are expecting some 300 to 500 new students in the St Croix Public schools without HOVENSA’s support for private education.

A group of high school seniors took to the streets – or at least the parking lots – to do their part in combating the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, and to get others to pledge to do their parts as well, cleaning up the environment one shopper at a time. The students, juniors at the Good Hope School, were distributing shopping bags made from recycled materials. The bags were free to anyone who wanted one. were in the parking lot of Stop & Shop near Frederiksted. With the permission of the store’s manager, Amad Abdelghani, they were offering the bags to customers All the shoppers had to do was sign a pledge to use it when they go shopping. Manager says the store goes through pallets of plastic bags – tens of thousands of them – every month. Good News to use reusable bags. Better when they are free.

Good News from our Junior High School students – Some of our own will hundreds of middle school students from the nation and other countries who will be taking college courses this summer courtesy of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University. Elena Christian Junior High School seventh grader Habeeba O’Neill and eighth grader Maryam O’Neill, and eighth grader Alyssa Grouby and seventh grader Ryan Hodge of John H. Woodson Junior High School were scored high on the  Talent Search test administered in March.  Some 78 other local students also took the test. The students’ high scores earned them full participation in CTY’s summer program, which offers a close up look at the college environment and the opportunity to enroll in “challenging and inspiring courses”.  Johns Hopkins CTY’s Talent Search program was introduced into the public schools this year by Education Commissioner Dr. LaVerne Terry and funded by an anonymous donor.  Participating students were referred to the program by school officials.

The Second Annual Rotary Sunrise Kid’s Triathlon will take place, Saturday, May 12th at Magens Bay. Age groups are 5to8, 9to11 and 12to15. Competing in three triathlon sports: swimming, biking and running.. Last year more than 100 students from St. Thomas and St. John participated.

New rules this year. Athletes will no longer be allowed to put their feet down while in the water, but they will be provided with life vests for floating and will not be disqualified if they should stand. Last year, several children jumped onto their bikes without stopping to put on proper shoes or a helmet. This year, children must wear sneakers or closed-toe shoes and a fastened helmet. The signature sponsor is Scotiabank along with other sponsors Virgin Islands Orthopedics, Merchants Bank, and the Virgin Islands Source on-line and new sponsors Glacial Energy and Frenchman’s Reef; nevertheless – it is the parents who are the biggest supporters.  If your business would like to sponsor or if you’d like to volunteer – Call Shaun Pennington at 777-8144.

The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) will conduct its 48th Annual Commencement Exercises on Saturday and Sunday. The Commencement keynote address will be given by Spelman College President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. St. Thomas will begin at 7 pm on Saturday at the Sports and Fitness Center. Attendance is by ticket only. The Commencement marshal is UVI Professor of English and Linguistics Dr. Vincent O. Cooper. St. Croix Commencement will begin at 4:30 pm on the grounds of the Albert Sheen Campus on Sunday, May 13. The co-marshals are Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson and Professor of Business Dr. Gabriel O-gun-mo-kun. How many diplomas – 279 for the students and three more honorary degrees. President Tatum and noted physician Dr. Alfred Heath will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree  and our Delegate to Congress Dr. Donna Christensen will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.