Tag: Puerto Rico

U.S. Coast Guard rescue crews searched Tuesday for possible survivors of a boat that capsized Sunday in the Mona Passage near Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico.

With the recent announcement that U.S. Virgin Islands AT&T cell customers are now Liberty Puerto Rico cell customers, Virgin Islanders have been lighting social media and email threads on fire with questions.

In a heated election season that will leave millions of Americans who are residents of U.S. territories on the sidelines because they don’t have the right to vote for president, two St. Thomas attorneys have joined a lawsuit seeking to redress that wrong.

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said Friday he remains determined to find a solution for government retirees facing imminent pension cuts after his bond debt refinancing plan was derailed in court -- and he warned that some who sowed seeds of doubt about the legislation are eager to see the Virgin Islands end in bankruptcy, just like neighboring Puerto Rico.

While tropical storms Paulette and Rene turn north toward the central Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center gave a system that is expected to move off the coast of Africa on Thursday afternoon a high chance of tropical development and suggested it might blow more directly westward, toward the Caribbean.

A new species of Caribbean clam shrimp has been discovered in the unassuming pond of the Herman E. Moore Golf Course at the University of the Virgin Islands’ St. Thomas campus, according to a UVI press release. 

The U.S. Coast Guard declared Port Condition Yankee for the U.S.Virgin islands and Puerto Rico Thursday afternoon, and expects to declare Port Condition Zulu at 8 a.m. Friday, closing the port in anticipation of a near pass by Tropical Depression 13.

Tropical Storm Josephine continued passing some 200 or more miles north of St. John, the National Hurricane Center reported Saturday night, far enough north that it posed no danger to the Virgin islands, although the agency advised residents to keep an eye on the storm.

The time is more than 100 years overdue for the unincorporated territories of the United States to have the rights of full citizenship – including the ability to vote for president – witnesses told a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

Advocates for territorial voting rights are inching closer to achieving their goal as a House subcommittee meets Tuesday for a hearing on the disenfranchisement of U.S. territories – “a historic first,” according to Neil Weare, founder of Equally American.