Local news

The issue of child sexual abuse has received a lot of public attention in recent weeks because of two high profile cases with Virgin Islands connections. The Source decided to look behind the titillating headlines at the dangerous realty of crime committed against children.

The body of a man who had been shot repeatedly was found Tuesday morning on the shoulder of North Shore Road on St Croix, the V.I. Police Department reported. Next of kin identified the deceased as 56-year-old John “Smiley” Silcott of Castle Burke.

The Virgin Islands Marine Advisory Service jumpstarted its annual Coastweeks cleanup Saturday at John Brewers Bay Beach on St. Thomas, collecting more than 4,400 pieces of trash. The initiative mobilizes volunteers to help remove debris from the territory’s shorelines.

The V.I. Department of Health reported Tuesday evening that a 51-year-old male from St. Croix became the 69th person in the territory to die COVID-19, just hours after announcing a 61-year-old St. Thomas woman had become the USVI's 68th COVID fatality.

Sen. Marvin Blyden issued an apology late Monday for flouting V.I. Health Department quarantine rules to attend a gathering on St. Thomas Saturday despite testing positive for COVID-19 just four days earlier, calling it a “terrible lapse of judgment” and blaming his “workaholic” tendencies and “pandemic fatigue.”

The danger of COVID-19 to a pregnant woman is far greater than any potential danger posed by the vaccines to battle the pandemic, according to a pediatrician from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who is visiting the territory.

The Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections confirmed Monday that an inmate at the John A. Bell Adult Correctional Facility in Estate Golden Grove was found unresponsive and pronounced dead on Friday.

V.I. Health Commissioner Justa Encarnacion said Monday that Pfizer's COVID vaccine will be administered as a booster to anyone 65 years of age and older, healthcare or long-term care facility workers and those vulnerable to severe COVID-19.

While Tropical Storm Peter makes its closest pass to the U.S. Virgin Islands Tuesday morning, bringing the potential of rain and dangerous currents to the territory, a robust tropical disturbance over the far eastern tropical Atlantic designated Invest 98-L, shows potential for tropical development.

Edgar Iles, a lion of Frederiksted who served his country at war, served in the V.I. Legislature, in the V.I. government and served his community for decades, has passed.

Over the last few years, people have been noticing wire sculptures, mosaics and other art springing up on the streets of Frederiksted.

Human bones had been observed in a trench that was being excavated by contractors working for the V.I. Water and Power Authority on the western tip of the historic district of Cruz Bay on St. John.

The U.S. Justice Department has again cited the Insular Cases, widely seen as bluntly racist, to deny equal rights to residents of U.S. territories.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Organizations and individuals across the U.S. and around the world are raising awareness by changing the conversation from suicide to suicide prevention, to actions that can promote healing, help and give hope.

A system meteorologists have been tracking since it left the coast of Africa early last week developed into Tropical Depression 16 Friday night and, while no coastal watches or warnings are in effect for the Virgin Islands, it may still impact territory as it passes to the north on Monday or Tuesday.

The St. Croix Foundation Nonprofit Consortium celebrated five years of service with a virtual community presentation via Zoom on Thursday. Although the celebration was virtual, participants toasted, created signs, and shared celebratory stories and chants throughout the live event.

Police are looking into whether two crime scenes on St. Thomas – leaving one man burnt, another shot and a third dead – are related. V.I. Police Commissioner Ray Martinez said at this point there’s not enough proof to confirm, but there are similarities between the victims that are being investigated.

Sporadic power outages are a fact of life for U.S. Virgin Islanders. Castigating the Water and Power Authority for unreliable, expensive power is a territorial tradition. But St. Thomas in particular recently has seen a wave of outages.

Limetree Bay Refining on Friday laid off more than 200 employees, three months after the company had announced it would suspend its plans to restart the refinery.

The U.S. Virgin Islands Senate Friday passed the 29 bills that encompass the territory's budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, but the rules governing the session prompted one member to complain that “something is fundamentally wrong” with the government’s budget process.