Edris O’Neal, who was the wife of the territory’s first premier, died Sunday morning at her McNamara home after an illness, prompting an out-pouring of condolences and praise for her work in the community and religious organisations across the Virgin Islands. “They really cared a...
May 29, 2020
May 29, 2020
With no known Covid cases, opening speeds up
In recent weeks, Martin and Lucy Whitrod, a father and daughter who own and manage Beans Coffee Shop in the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park, had been offering only to-go service as required by territory-wide restrictions designed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. When they...
May 29, 2020
Caribbean islands prepare for tourism
When the doors of the Virgin Islands reopen to tourism, the territory’s leaders say, they intend to be ready. Some competing countries and territories in the region have announced plans to welcome visitors as early as next week, but the VI and many others have...
May 28, 2020
Premier, governor trade jabs over Protocols
“How much money do we allow for Covid-19?” Premier Andrew Fahie asked last Thursday during a press conference. “That, no one can answer. How much are we going to put aside for hurricanes? That, no one can answer. How much money are we going to...
May 28, 2020
Cops: 153 residents caught breaking curfew
Police have caught at least 153 people breaking the curfew since it was first imposed by government on March 27 to restrict residents’ movements and stymy the spread of Covid-19 in the territory, according to statistics provided by Police Information Officer Akia Thomas. Of these...
May 26, 2020
How to communicate in a pandemic
Circumstances have changed dramatically for Virgin Islands businesses in recent weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some may have gone from encouraging employees to work from home to shutting down completely to reopening under a drastic new set of rules, all while figuring out how...
May 25, 2020
New coral disease is here, experts say
A highly infectious coral disease that has been spreading rapidly through reefs in the northern Caribbean has reached Virgin Islands waters, biologist Dr. Shannon Gore confirmed this week. On Sunday, Dr. Gore, the managing director of the Association of Reef Keepers, photographed a specimen from...
May 24, 2020
Worship in the time of Covid-19
Sunday, May 10, was the first day leaders at the Cane Garden Bay Baptist Church were allowed to return to the sanctuary, and Pastor Dr. Michael Turnbull said their reunion was emotional as they met to plan their next moves. “We hadn’t seen people for...
May 22, 2020
Government crypto partner declares closure, then quickly retracts
LIFELabs, a United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency company that partnered with the Virgin Islands government last year with plans to develop a digital currency known as BVI~LIFE, said last week that it planned to close. Then it quickly retracted the statement. Though BVI~LIFE apparently never launched, thousands...
May 22, 2020
Opposition proposes stimulus package
Opposition members criticised the government on Monday for delaying an economic stimulus package and they proposed a plan of their own, but Premier Andrew Fahie clapped back the next day, accusing them of misleading the public by offering a “magic-potion plan” that is neither affordable...
May 22, 2020
$1m to kick off work at admin complex
In 2017 hurricane winds permanently stuck pieces of paper to walls and doorframes, and piles of unusable chairs and desks remain on every floor in a wing of the Ralph T. O’Neal Administration Complex. Though the structure itself withstood Hurricane Irma, much of the building’s...
