There is a delayed start for schools in the St. Thomas-St. John District due to severe weather conditions, the V.I. Education Department reported around 7 a.m. Wednesday. Heavy rains, thunder, and lightning have been reported, prompting VIDE officials to prioritize the safety and well-being of students, faculty, and staff.
All schools in the St. Thomas-St. John District will open on a delayed schedule, with school operations starting at 10 a.m., according to the press release. “This delay will allow for the safe arrival of students, considering potential disruptions to roadways caused by the inclement weather. Essential workers are required to report for their normal times to assess schools and prepare student arrivals,” it said.
VIDE officials were informed by Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency officials that weather conditions for the St. Thomas-St. John District are expected to persist throughout the morning. However, conditions are anticipated to improve later in the day.
“It is imperative that the safety and well-being of our school communities remain our top priority. Therefore, VIDE urges all stakeholders to exercise caution and remain vigilant while traveling to and from school,” the release stated.
Notably, all schools in the St. Croix District will remain open as scheduled, as they are not affected by the current weather conditions, it said.
VIDE will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as necessary.
Virgin Islands Track and Field Team member Rachel Conhoff excels at the Bill Hayes Invitational held in Indiana. Sofia Swindell placed first in the 100m dash as well as the 100m hurdles at the Ed Poreda Invitational meet in New Jersey.
Rachel Conhoff (Submitted photo)Rachel Conhoff
Congratulations to Virgin Islands Track and Field Team member Rachel Conhoff, a graduate student at Indiana State University, who has achieved a remarkable feat by setting a new Virgin Islands record in the 1500m!
On May 3, during the Bill Hayes Invitational held in Bloomington, Ind., she out performed her own Virgin Islands record. She finished the 1500m race in just 4:26.72, shaving a full 4 seconds off her former record. This outstanding performance also puts her at the 5th fastest time ever recorded in Indiana State University’s track history.
Conhoff is now gearing up for her next competition, the Missouri Valley Conference Championship, taking place in Terra Haute, Iowa, from May 10-12.
Sofia Swindell (Submitted photo)Sofia Swindell
On May 1, Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation (VITFF) team member Sofia Swindell competed with The Lawrenceville School at the Ed Poreda Invitational meet in Lawrenceville, N.J. Swindell placed first in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.20 seconds, which is also the qualifying time for her to compete in the U20 World Championships in Lima, Peru, this August. She also placed first in the 100m dash, setting a personal record of 11.96 seconds.
On May 4, Swindell competed with The Lawrenceville School in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Championships in Hightstown, N.J. She placed first in all four of her events, contributing 40 points to Lawrenceville’s championship win. She ran the 100m hurdles with a time 14.67 in the final; she ran the 100m dash final in 13.05 seconds; and she ran the 400m hurdles in 1:04.99. Swindell also competed in the triple jump, achieving a mark of 36’10.75.” It was an action-packed day for her, participating in five individual races (preliminaries and finals included) and three jumps within a span of just 90 minutes!
USVI Cup Tennis at Buccaneer Resort (Submitted photo)
USVI Cup 1 is underway with some great matches at the Buccaneer Resort on St. Croix. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Tournament is an opportunity to continue the development of tennis in the U.S. Virgin Islands, with local players in the main draw alongside peers from around the world.
Top ranked USVI player and fifth seed Yared Alfred won a great second round match, defeating Ignacio Garnier (CRC) in two sets, by 6-1, 7-5. Alfred also moves on in doubles where he and his partner, Ozzy Odom, face Peyton Barret (USA)/Benjamin Linehan (IRL) at noon.
Girls top seed Laurence Demers (CAN) moves onto the next round as well, defeating Isabela de Mattos Silva (BRA) by 6-3, 7-5.
For the rest of the week, boys and girls will be vying for very valuable International Tennis Federation ranking points to improve their world rankings.
Players, coaches and parents are excited to spend a few weeks in the USVI and are already enjoying the restaurants and activities around the island. Tournament organizers and the island look forward to hosting players and tournament officials from around the world (tournament supervisor Tano Cruz of Mexico and tournament director Andrei Alexe of Canada).
Public Works Derek Gabriel pointed out that though VITRAN and parking lots generate revenue, they operate at a loss. (Screenshot from Facebook live stream)
Residents tuning into the Facebook broadcast of the 2024 Spring Revenue Estimating Conference had reasons for hope and concern.
Most of the territory’s revenue-generating agencies and some private-sector stakeholders presented the audience with historical data about revenue collection and gave future predictions.
This fiscal year’s downturn in revenue generated so far could warrant concern. Department heads’ predictions that major FEMA projects will reach the construction stage and pump millions upon millions of federal dollars into the territory’s economy in the coming year could also warrant hope.
Finance Commissioner Kevin McCurdy said that, as of April 26, the territory had $461 million in total operating revenues when it had been predicted that revenues would be $530 million at this point.
Revenues were $506 million at this point in the 2023 fiscal year and $556 million in 2022. McCurdy said this brought the territory’s revenue back to its 2019 level. At this point in 2019, revenue collections were $451 million.
Office of Management and Budget Director Jenifer O’Neal, who hosted the conference, said, “We have kind of tapped out our revenue sources.”
McCurdy said the territory needed to get its significant projects going to have money flowing into the territory.
Public Works Department Commissioner Derek Gabriel predicted just that in his presentation.
Residents of the West End of St. Croix have been waiting long for projects for which Gabriel said he would invest millions over the next couple of years. Projects he said DPW would invest $22 million this year and $40 million next year include Mahogany Road, Frederiksted streets, Vincent Mason Pool, and Paul E. Joseph Stadium.
Gabriel also spoke about his department’s income from VITRAN, cemeteries, and parking lots. In 2023, those operations brought in $698,000. He predicted that in 2025, they would bring in $845,000. VITRAN rates have increased, and government parking lots that have been free will have charges again.
He added that the department is contemplating raising fees at the cemeteries and that half the territory’s cemeteries are running out of land.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. praised revenue projections but urged fiscal restraint at the Spring Revenue Estimating Conference Tuesday. (Screenshot from Facebook live stream)
Government agencies predicted continued strong revenue collections in the territory in 2025 but Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. urged a conservative approach, warning Tuesday that expenses were also on the rise.
While the U.S. Virgin Islands’ prime economic indicator — the Tourism Department — projected a positive finish to 2024 and robust 2025, Bryan warned inflation across the U.S. economy and a growing labor shortage locally could eat away at perceived gains.
“We’re in a place where I can tell you our revenues are going to continue to increase for the next, I would say, the next five to 10 years. We’re going to have positive revenue growth every single year, guaranteed. I’m telling you. You heard it right here first time,” Bryan said at the annual Spring Revenue Estimating Conference on Tuesday. “But that’s not the problem. What we need to have is an expense-estimating conference.”
Inflation — which reduces a dollar’s buying power — has slowed recently but less in the Virgin Islands than on the mainland. Bryan said mainland inflation was at roughly two percent, but St. Thomas was around 14 percent. In 2019, USVI inflation was estimated at 3.8 percent. In 2022 it was 9.8 percent but fell in 2023 to 8.4 percent. Goods and services cost more. It’s rapid economic growth in the territory that has caused inflation to surpass the national average, the governor said.
“We’ve invested in a lot of things in our economy and they’re starting to pay off,” he said. “In Education alone right now, there’s more than $850 million in projects on track. So what we’re going to see is increasing revenues but those revenues eaten away.”
The cost of insurance, fuel for power plants, and union-negotiated wages continue to rise as well, he said.
“The priorities for us as an administration are the expenses. How do we manage expenses not only for us but for our residents,” Bryan said. “The expenses are real and they’re not going down any time soon”
On the positive side, tourism to the territory has exceeded its pre-pandemic levels, by some measures, and rivals the anomalous COVID year where the Virgin Islands was one of the few places on Earth welcoming visitors, said Tourism Commissioner Joseph Boschulte.
In February, the Virgin Islands collected nearly $16.48 million in hotel taxes, just shy of the roughly $16.66 million collected in 2022 and significantly up from 2023’s $13.35 million. Overall in 2022, the territory collected $57,872,462 in hotel tax, which dropped in the post-pandemic year of 2023 to $40,885,692. In 2024, Boschulte predicted $43,307,034 in hotel taxes — and projected more than $45 million in hotel tax collections in 2025.
Vacation rentals like Airbnb and VRBO also remained strong. From March 2021 to March 2022, roughly 3,243 rooms in the so-called sharing economy brought in $382,828,220 in taxes. The same 12-month period a year later brought in $421,708,390 from 3,593 available rooms. And March 2023 to March 2024 brought in $364,178,750 from 3,721 available rooms.
This coincided with hotel re-openings. The balance of room rates and room availability continues to shift with new hotels expected to come online in 2025 and beyond. The Hampton by Hilton will add 126 rooms to St. Thomas in 2025. Hotel on the Key is scheduled to open 78 rooms in 2026 on St. Croix, where the Hibiscus Hotel would add 100 rooms in 2027. Boschulte said only Anguilla and St. Barths rival the Virgin Islands in high room rates.
Boschulte projected a 23 percent increase in non-stop flights from the mainland in 2024 over 2023 — which is 56 percent above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. A 25 percent increase in passenger seats flying into St. Thomas from the mainland and a 17 percent increase in seats flying into St. Croix were also predicted for 2024’s tally.
Cruise arrivals were up too, increasing 600,000 over 2023, Boschulte said, to reach an estimated 1.6 million. Tourism predicted 1.7 million cruise passengers in 2025.
While often maligned for increasingly stingy spending habits on Main Street, cruise passengers actually spend more per person per day in the USVI than anywhere else in the Caribbean, Boschulte said. But their tastes have changed. Modern cruise passengers are far more apt to buy tours than jewelry.
“They think differently. Their buying habits are more around experiences than about timepieces,” the commissioner said. “You have to diversify your product.”
He praised bars and restaurants opening in cruise passenger-heavy districts.
The annual conference where various revenue-generating government departments project the upcoming year’s take is a far cry from the perennial structural deficits of the early 2000s, Bryan said. Back then, former Gov. Charles Turnbull and former Congressional Delegate Donna Christensen had been at odds over a plan to appoint an independent financial overseer to approve spending.
“We don’t talk about it anymore, and when people say the Virgin Islands has come a long way, we’ve come a long way in terms of our finances and what we do,” Bryan said.
In early 2006, Turnbull told Washington he had purged 20 percent of government jobs over seven years and increased revenue by 35 percent while limiting expenditures to a four percent increase.
Jobs are again a problem in the territory but this time it’s a severe labor shortage, Bryan and other officials said.
Labor Department Commissioner Gary Molloy said only 685 people had applied for the 1,937 open jobs in the territory as of Monday. While most of those open jobs were for office and administrative support roles, food services, and healthcare, Bryan worried a dearth of qualified construction workers would put a crimp in the territory’s vast building plans. Schools, hotels, and housing all need able bodies, he said.
The Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department predicted a modest increase in collections in 2025, up nearly $180,000 for a total of $5,607,477. As licenses dip slightly, Director Horace Graham predicted fines for noncompliance may rise.
Likewise, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources saw a dip in building permit applications and anchoring fees and projected more fines would be issued. Total revenue collected by DPNR rose from $7 million in 2022 to $7.9 million in 2023 and was projected to plateau at $7.3 million at the end of 2024. Almost all that money comes from various permits and leasing submerged lands now filled, like Crown Bay.
Property tax collections were projected to remain flat from 2023 to 2024 at $61 million. That could change in 2025, rising to $64 million.
The Office of Management and Budget predicted property lease revenue of $3,775,853 in 2024, which would increase to $3,94,646 in 2025.
Students on St. Croix were also pinned at UVI Albert A. Sheen, Great Hall. (Photo courtesy Juan F. Luis Hospital Facebook page)
It’s a week of celebration for the University of the Virgin Islands as they kicked it off Monday and Tuesday evening with the Nurse Pinning Ceremony for the Albert A. Sheen Campus and the Orville E. Kean Campus.
The ceremony is a significant tradition that marks an important milestone in the journey of nursing students. The ceremony is usually held at the end of the semester or academic year and is a symbolic rite of passage for students who have completed their nursing program.
The ceremony on St. Thomas represented a few firsts and lasts. It represented the last pinning ceremony for Dean Mary Beverly A. Lansiquot who has been in her role for 10 years. It also represented the first for Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. who was in attendance as a guest.
Lansiquot, who helped organize the school of nursing, is retiring. In her speech, she reflected on how the nurses learned firsthand experiences required to pursue their studies, all due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even after COVID it affected so many of our nurses emotionally and socially and impacted our health system. You persevered and that speaks quite a bit. You did all this while you were also managing your many life’s challenges. What a journey this has been,” she said.
Bryan, who did provide some words, congratulated the class and told the nurses that they had chosen a “noble path”.
“It is one of the most difficult jobs because you have to be your strongest when you meet people mostly at their weakest. The love and encouragement, the joy that you bring, the simple word of comfort to those patients and their loved ones means so much,” Bryan said.
Nurses were pinned on St. Thomas at the Laverne E. Ragster Administration Conference Center. (Screenshot from Facebook live stream)
Suzette Lettsome, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing for the past eight years, was the keynote speaker.
Lettsome said, “Nursing has a rich legacy and history in the Virgin Islands, Caribbean and around the world.”
Lettsome also quoted Horst Schulze, who said, “Don’t just go to work. Instead, go to your place of work to create excellence.” She added, “In addition, I would say execute your duties as future nurse leaders. I challenge you to where there the process, they’re none, create them. Where you don’t find a path, blaze a trail. Make a mark in your communities that echoes around this world and giving up is not an option.”
During the ceremony, students were presented with a nursing pin, which is a symbol of their hard work, dedication, and commitment to the nursing profession. Each student received a traditional nursing pin that marks their transition from a student to a professional nurse.
Nouzie Aubin, pinned by her mother, said, “Nursing school was the hardest thing I have ever done, but God never let me down, and I survived,” quoting a bible verse.
“There were moments when I felt overwhelmed. The sleepless nights and the early mornings. Through all the challenges I persisted,” she said.
President of the nursing class, Demore Wallace Cole, who was pinned by his mother and father, said, “When I look back on the journey it took to make it to this point, it is true what they say: time moves fast. Those long days, late nights, early mornings have come together to create what you see before you.”
President of the nursing class, Demore Wallace Cole, with his parents during the pinning segment. (Screenshot from Facebook live stream)
The pinning ceremony was then accompanied by an oath-taking – the Florence Nightingale Pledge and candle-lighting ritual, where students pledged to uphold the values and ethics of the nursing profession.
WAPA plant personnel in front of GT20 at the Richmond Power Plant on St. Croix. (Photo courtesy WAPA)
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority said Tuesday that a series of outages in both districts last week and through the weekend were the result of extreme weather conditions, coupled with its aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance due to financial constraints.
The announcement comes after a week of heavy rains, with the National Weather Service in Puerto Rico reporting that as of Saturday morning, areas of both territories had received nearly five inches of precipitation.
It also comes as WAPA has struggled with financial shortfalls that spurred Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. to declare a local state of emergency on April 22 to secure critical funds for the utility — specifically, approximately $11 million in past-due bills owed by the territory’s hospitals and the V.I. Waste Management Authority, that has left WAPA financially strapped. WAPA officials later confirmed that the overall debt owed by all agencies, both central government and semi-autonomous, was currently in the neighborhood of $25 million.
The blackouts also highlight the need to accelerate the move to more renewable energy resources, said WAPA, adding that several major solar projects are slated to be completed this year and wind power projects are in the pipeline for 2025. It is expected that over 50 percent of sourced energy in three years will be renewable energy throughout the territory, it said.
Boosting that effort, the federal government last month announced $62.5 million for the USVI for residential community solar and power storage projects. Awarded through the Solar for All grant program, the funding is meant to allow the Virgin Islands Energy Office to develop long-lasting solar programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from solar power.
The recent blackouts affected residents and businesses in both districts, including an island-wide outage Friday afternoon on St. Croix that lasted several hours, while throughout the St. Thomas-St. John district, including Water Island, several feeders experienced electrical service interruptions, WAPA reported.
St. Croix’s island-wide outage occurred around 4:40 p.m. on Friday and was initially caused by extreme weather conditions that resulted in a loss of generation, WAPA said. “After further investigating, WAPA Plant personnel identified that a fault was detected on the transformer which initiated the protection scheme, which is designed to protect WAPA’s assets from damage. WAPA personnel are gathering data for the root cause analysis to make a final determination on the cause of the outage and necessary steps to prevent future outages,” according to the release.
On Sunday at around 1 a.m. there was a major electrical interruption caused by the activation of the “Emergency Shutdown Protocol” at the liquid propane gas, or LPG, terminal facility — a safety mechanism to protect the Richmond power plant, WAPA said, adding that “the Authority is working with its partners to establish the cause of the ESD protocol activation and corrective actions.”
Later Sunday morning on St. Croix, at approximately 7:11 a.m., several feeders experienced a 12-minute outage due to the loss of generation from GT20. After conducting thorough diagnostics, WAPA Personnel identified that the generator tripped due to poor power supply in the turbine control system, according to the release.
In the St. Thomas-St. John district, Unit 23 tripped during heavy rains, leading to further electrical interruptions.
“Though it is commonly known that torrential weather can impact the safety of our linemen, similarly flooding and other wet/high wind conditions can create an extremely hazardous work environment for employees at the power plant,” WAPA said. “Despite the delays caused by the weather, diagnostic assessments were conducted to identify and address the underlying issues that caused the loss of generation.”
The existing electrical infrastructure across the territory has faced challenges as a result of aging components and deferred maintenance due to financial constraints, WAPA said. “This has contributed to the frequency of equipment failures and service interruptions,” it noted.
However, it said that as part of WAPA’s overall efforts in overcoming these challenges, it has been implementing the following measures:
Emergency Repairs/Continued Maintenance: Immediate repairs and replacements of damaged infrastructure to increase the integrity of the grid and reduce frequency and impact of electric outages.
Infrastructure Upgrades: Plans for upgrading and modernizing the electrical grid are in place to improve reliability and resilience against future disruptions, including acquisition of VITOL, completion of the Wartsila project on St. Thomas, and increased efficient generation units on St. Croix.
Accelerating Renewable Energy Resources: By diversifying our energy portfolio with renewables such as solar and wind power, WAPA aims to enhance the reliability and resilience of the grid, ensuring a sustainable and secure energy future. Several major solar projects are slated to be completed this year and wind power projects in the pipeline for 2025. It is expected that over 50 percent of sourced energy in three years will be renewable energy throughout the territory.
“The Authority understands the importance of a reliable electric grid for the well-being and prosperity of our communities and apologizes for any inconvenience caused by these recent outages,” the press release concluded.
For further information and updates on plans towards sustainability, visit WAPA’s strategic plan website.
Secret Harbour Beach Resort receives Travelers’ Choice Award 2024 (Photo courtesy Tripadvisor)
Secret Harbour Beach Resort is rated number one of 25 hotels on St Thomas and rated in the top 10 percent of hotels worldwide, according to Tripadvisor.
The family-friendly resort features 64 condominiums nestled around a superb swimming beach with full amenities and has received the prestigious Travelers’ Choice award for 14 consecutive years, according to the press release.
Rankings are based on traveler reviews and are a testament to traveler satisfaction of Secret Harbour Beach Resort, the press release stated.
The Travelers’ Choice award celebrates businesses that consistently deliver extraordinary hospitality to travelers around the globe, having earned excellent traveler reviews on Tripadvisor over the previous 12 months, the release stated.
The all-condominium property features spacious studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units nestled around the beach and hillside, plus top-rated amenities, including an idyllic beach for swimming and snorkeling, freshwater pool, fitness center, tennis court, and gift shop. Also on the property are the popular Sunset Grille and The Patio restaurants, as well as Aqua Action watersports, scuba diving, and charter boat excursions, it said.
Secret Harbour’s General Manager, Cory Santana, said that Secret Harbour Beach Resort is “honored to receive this award of excellence based on guest reviews” and to be ranked in the top 10 percent of hotels worldwide on Tripadvisor. “Our entire team is focused on creating a welcoming and enjoyable guest experience with friendly and attentive staff throughout the property so guests feel truly welcome, appreciated, and inspired in our peaceful beach paradise.”
For more info visit www.secretharbourvi.com@secretharbourvi, #secretharbourresort
The St. John School of the Arts is teaming up with the University of the Virgin Islands to offer a program in dance for middle school students attending the Julius E. Sprauve School and the Gifft Hill School.
Middle school students at the Julius E. Sprauve School pose with instructor Elle Nielson at the St. John School of the Arts. (Photo courtesy St. John School of the Arts)
And as part of the School of the Arts’ community arts program, UVI dance instructor Elle Nielson will also be teaching classes in salsa dance which are free and open to all.
The master class for adults will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The class for youngsters (age six and up) will be held Thursday at 3:30 pm. Both classes will be held at the St. John School of the Arts studio/performance space in Cruz Bay.
Nielson is an instructor in dance at the St. Croix campus of UVI which began offering a fine arts program with a major in dance two years ago. Nielson grew up on St. Croix where she was named Miss St. Croix in 2016-17.
Students at the Gifft Hill School line up with their partners. (Photo courtesy St. John School of the Arts)
Nielson received her BFA in dance and graduated Cum Laude from Jacksonville University; following that, she obtained a master’s degree with a concentration in studio and related studies and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Florida State University. Recently, she received her Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Fine Arts from Kingdom Truth University.
For further information, call SJSA at 340-779-4322 or email info@stjohnschoolofthearts.org.
Misbehavior at Carnival land two in Magistrate’s Court. (Shutterstock image)
Superior Court Magistrate Division heard two cases with apparent ties to recent Carnival events held on St. Thomas. One case involved a visitor from Oregon; the other, a pedestrian trying to cross the route of the Carnival Adults’ Parade.
According to records filed with the court, the officers who arrested Portland visitor Brysen Uhalde said the defendant told him he had personal items — including his wallet — stolen while he was enjoying Thursday’s J’ouvert celebrations. Witnesses who summoned police the next day said Uhalde appeared at the Tap and Still Restaurant in Havensight shortly before 10 a.m. the following day.
A server at the restaurant said the man walked in, took a seat, and said he was waiting for someone to meet him there to bring some money. After waiting a while and ordering $146.32 worth of food and drinks, a witness said Uhalde said he was going out to get some money and come back to pay the tab.
Court documents said police received a call asking them to travel to the restaurant, but en route were directed to the nearby Dog House Pub. Upon arrival, they found a man fitting the description given by the person who initiated the call.
Police then escorted Uhalde back to the restaurant where the day manager identified him and said all she wanted him to do was pay the bill. While authorities looked on, the defendant tried to use a payment app to meet the obligation but did not succeed.
The restaurant manager told police she wanted to make a citizen’s arrest.
After making an appearance before Superior Court Magistrate Paula Norkadis, the defendant paid a $500 bail set at the time of his arrest.
* * *
A second defendant from an unrelated incident had to pay a $1,000 bail after he was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer and refusing to obey a lawful order. Details contained in a probable cause fact sheet set the scene of the alleged assault along the route of Saturday’s Carnival parade.
The arresting officer said the incident took place around 5 p.m. when accused assailant J’moi Francis attempted to pass a barricade and enter the parade route. The officer said he blocked entry and informed the defendant he could not cross at that time, but after the second admonition, Francis allegedly tried to force his way past the officer.
A scuffle ensued; nearby National Guard personnel and some parade spectators joined the fray. The defendant was eventually restrained and placed in handcuffs.
The arresting officer said he had his whistle strap torn off and the suspect managed to swing a fist in his direction.
After making an appearance at an advice of rights hearing, Francis was ordered to appear for arraignment on May 24. He was granted release after paying bail and a court fee.
