Visitors to and from Jost Van Dyke should soon be able to travel in greater comfort with the anticipated opening of the Dog Hole ferry terminal by July 31. “The BVI Ports Authority is making every effort to complete the project,” Premier Andrew Fahie said...
July 1, 2020
June 30, 2020
Virgin Islands marches for black lives
“No justice, no peace!” The cry rang out through Road Town on June 20 as hundreds of residents stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, marching down Waterfront Drive and cheering on speakers at the Queen Elizabeth II Park. The event ended with...
June 30, 2020
National trash plan in the works
As both house-to-house and communal-bin garbage collection continue, plans to launch a national waste management programme are resuming after being delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Health and Social Development Minister Carvin Malone said June 19 in the House of Assembly. “Before Covid-19, it was announced...
June 29, 2020
NGO’s, government join forces to protect coral
With the fast-spreading and highly lethal stony coral tissue loss disease recently reaching Virgin Islands reefs, government, non-profit organisations and businesses have begun meeting weekly to track the disease’s progress and formulate a plan for fighting back, said Dr. Shannon Gore, managing director of the...
June 26, 2020
House of Assembly bumps liquor licensing law again
Business owners hoping to sell liquor currently must contend with a process that allows them an extremely limited number of days to seek a licence in the Magistrates’ Court, according to Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration Minister Vincent Wheatley. With new legislation the House of...
June 26, 2020
Government mulls bill to legalise marijuana
Companion bills designed to legalise medicinal marijuana and expunge criminal records of those charged with carrying small amounts of the drug were introduced for a first reading on June 19 in the House of Assembly. The proposed 42-page Cannabis Licensing Act, 2020, which was Gazetted...
June 26, 2020
House okays gambling
Despite concerns raised by some community leaders and members of the House of Assembly, legislators unanimously voted to legalise gambling in the territory, paving the way for lotteries, casinos, horse-race betting and the “full gambit,” as Opposition Leader Marlon Penn put it. After debating the...
June 26, 2020
Classes to mix online, in-person time
At the start of the new school year, students likely will resume their education with a curriculum that combines in-person teaching with online activities under a shift system designed to facilitate social distancing, according to Education, Culture, Youth Affairs, Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Dr. Natalio...
June 26, 2020
Pay, hours cut for 126 ports workers
Due to reduced activity at Virgin Islands ports as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, work hours for non-salaried employees of the BVI Ports Authority have been reduced from 40 hours per week to 30, which amounts to a 25 percent pay cut, Premier Andrew...
June 26, 2020
HOA passes 9 laws in 12 days, 2 sittings
Liquor, gambling and marijuana were some of the topics legislators debated over the past two weeks as they worked at an unusually fast past to consider 13 pieces of legislation and pass nine of them. During overlapping ninth and 10th sittings of the House of...
June 25, 2020
Dust is the densest in 50 years, expert says
On June 13, a United States NASA satellite captured images of a massive plume of dust swirling up from the Sahara Desert. The particulate cloud eventually began travelling west across the Atlantic Ocean, and by Saturday winds had carried it more than 9,000 kilometres to...
