US Senate approved a continuation of the rum cover over tax
rebate to the territory and defeated the effort to have all of the rum revenues
given to Puerto Rico. HR-4213 extended various
taxes to various states and included the continuation of our rum tax
rebate. The original law gave the Virgin
Islands 10.50 of the tax collected on every gallon of rum produced here, in
1999 this was extended to 13.25 and that additional rebate has to be renewed
each year. The version approved is for one year. The Amendment offered by Florida
Senator Lemieux was not approved though they may try to revive it later. Because
of difference in the House and Senate versions of the – the bill has to go to a
conference committee and a final version will get voted in both houses before
going to President Barack Obama.
Supreme Court Judge Rhys Hodge officiated at the swearing in
of Superior Court Judge Adam Christian on St. Thomas yesterday. Christian was formerly the Governor’s Legal
counsel and now will serve in the Superior court. His sister Delegate Dr. Donna
Christensen is Delegate to Congress, his late father was Almeric Christian a
judge in the District Court. He grew up
on St. Thomas and took his bachelor’s degree at the University of Virginia and
his law degree from the College of William and Mary.
Attorney General Vincent Frazer announced plans to get
tougher on gun crimes. He is planning to stop offering plea deals in gun crimes
except when he has personally reviewed the case. The idea is to remove some of
the haggling over sentencing and there will be one offer and it will come from the
Attorney General and for less serious offenses, the plea deals will be reviewed
by the Criminal Chief William Campbell. What will be the effect – probably more
cases will go to court where defendants will have the chance of getting off
altogether rather than take the plea deal.
Senate budget hearings – how much does the University need –
Dr David Hall was on the budget hot seat. He says same as last year. No
increase. And he pledged to use the money in a thoughtful and caring manner. Meanwhile Schneider Hospital needs more. but wait – the new CEO is coming in April –
let her work on the budget.
Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs did a gasoline survey
– bargain gas on St. Thomas Stop in Surgar estate, Race Track and Giant in
Mandela Circle all with 3.11 for regular gas.
St. Croix the bargain gasoline is at Everybody’s, Five corners and One
Love gas all with 2.54 per gallon. St. John E&C has the low cost gas at
3.17.
Who won the Foreign Language Quiz bowl – Ivanna Eudora Kean
School team members Ashanie Lockhart, Tiffany Smith, Jerell James, Karon Green
and Mekesha Connor. Second place CAHS and 3rd place gift hill school
of St. John.
WAPA is asking residents on St. Thomas to welcome
technicians from Osmose Utilities Services to come on your property to gather
field data about utility poles, meters and other parts of WAPA’s electrical
system on your property. The technicians
will be using video cameras and other devices to perform the survey. You will be able to tell they are from WAPA
because they will be wearing Gold colored WAPA shirts and all will carry WAPA
identification badges and have WAPA decals on their cars. They are working with
the Global Information System to get accurate data about WAPA’s grid and
service points.
GERS is having a series
of Town Hall Meetings on March 11 on St. Thomas at Ruth E. Thomas Auditorium –
all meetings at 6 to 9:00 PM. Topics include the reform act, the unfunded
liability and GERS Investments.
Senate budget hearings
continue today with Department of Education and Department of Public Works and
Waste Management Authority on the budget hot seat.
Dept. of Agriculture is having a farmers workshop today at
the UVI Recreation room on the St. Croix campus. The workshops are at 6:00 PM.
St. Croix Rotary Club West is looking for a trailer to help
move supplies they collected for Haiti to that country. They have collected a lot of items for Haiti
and need help moving it all – call Vivian at 773-3085.
Veterans are reminded that the US Automobile Association is
now available to anyone who served honorably in the armed forces. USAA offers
highly competitive automobile insurance rates. Contact Senator Nellie
Rivera-O’Reilly
Big Thank You to HOVENSA for donating a specially equipped
vehicle to the Animal Welfare Center on St. Croix – the vehicle will transport
animals to the shelter. It has six individual compartments for dogs or cats of
whatever creature needs a ride to the animal shelter. Big Thank You to Antilles
Leasing for taking car of the vehicles registration, Crowley for delivering it
to St. Croix and Prima-isla for mounting the special equipment in the truck.
Good News Maker of the Day are the folks who have started
using solar panels on their houses to generate electricity right at home. Yesterday
the Silverberg’s invited the press to come see their home with its net metering
system that allows the electricity they generate in their solar panels to be
feed back into the WAPA electrical grid.
This saves the family some $7,500 over the last two years. The panels cost 65,000 so it will take some
time to pay for them with the savings but now there are tax breaks and incentives
to buy solar panels that cut their costs in half. Are there others doing
netmetering – yes – some 22 on St. Croix and a dozen on St. Thomas