We are disappointed that Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley has decided to sidestep the advice of his own Minimum Wage Advisory Committee and increase the baseline hourly wage only to $7.25 …
May 8, 2025
May 1, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (May 1, 2025)
Don’t bank on it Ten months have passed since regulators warned Virgin Islands banks to get their act together and cut the customer lines. Spoiler alert: The lines have grown …
May 1, 2025
COMMENTARY — The Wagners of Trellis Bay, part 33
I explained in part 32 of this series, which was published on April 3, that I wanted to make Mabel Wagner’s book Lest I Forget better known. Many of the …
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April 28, 2025
EDITORIAL: Another Library Week with no national library
We are glad the government celebrated Library Week, and we don’t doubt that the public officers organising school visits and promoting digital services did their best. However, it is shameful …
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April 24, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (April 24, 2025)
Mud Croc The newspaper took a casualty Monday when a Beaconite leaped across a drainage ditch on Virgin Gorda onto what he thought was solid ground. He was covering the …
April 24, 2025
COMMENTARY — In ‘MAGA’ age, VI advised to keep low profile
Has the United States gone rogue? The stories coming out of the shining city on the hill are alarming. Every morning, there is news that makes the heart skip a …
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April 22, 2025
EDITORIAL: Security recs mostly sound, but UK power grab not okay
The recently completed law-enforcement review offers an extensive 10-year plan to solve appalling security failures caused by decades of underfunding and other neglect by the United Kingdom and Virgin Islands …
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April 17, 2025
EDITORIAL: Let there be less light
The city of Flagstaff, Arizona may seem like a peculiar place for the Virgin Islands to look for inspiration on public policy. Nearly 300 miles from the ocean and an …
April 17, 2025
COMMENTARY — Trump tariff war blasted
The whole world is watching with trepidation the puppet-show in the halls of power in the United States. The US remains the global hegemon, with President Donald Trump the puppet …
April 17, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (April 17, 2025)
Jail takes A Beaconite went to prison last week. Fortunately, he was only at the Balsam Ghut facility for an hour to observe a tour of the site by Governor …
April 10, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (April 10, 2025)
Award Beaconites are proud to announce that an important honour has been awarded to a cross-border series on sargassum seaweed published last April in the Beacon and several other partnering …
April 10, 2025
COMMENTARY — The Caribbean’s US-China ‘dance’
United States hegemony is on steroids with the election of Donald Trump last November. The Monroe Doctrine is back. Might is right. The West is the US’s vassal until Europe …
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April 9, 2025
EDITORIAL: ‘Minister of state’ plan is half-baked
Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley appears to be getting ahead of himself in his haste to lure opposition members to the government bench. He should slow down. When announcing recently that …
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April 3, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (April 3, 2025)
Sweating in style As the temperature climbs, a Beaconite is thankful for the trade winds that are keeping his house cool and comfortable for now. But if recent trends are …
April 3, 2025
COMMENTARY — The Wagners of Trellis Bay, part 32
Before Polish Captain Wladek Wagner died, he and his English wife Mabel had intended to write “his” and “her” versions of their story. So she drew on his large trove …
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March 31, 2025
EDITORIAL: High time for a human-rights watchdog
Consider a worker who is victimised because of his race or religion. Or an expatriate whose employer confiscates her passport in order to control her movements. Or a woman who …
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March 27, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (March 27, 2025)
On the court When passing through Huntums Ghut in recent weeks, a Beaconite has often noticed the recently refurbished basketball court being put to use. She is happy to see …
March 27, 2025
COMMENTARY — ‘Angry young men’ seen to need guidance
There is a proverb that states, “A good father is worth 100 teachers.” A key component of the grave and sometimes fatal misbehaviour of Caribbean males is anger. When there …
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March 26, 2025
EDITORIAL: Online law portal a long time coming
To follow the laws of the land, you must be able to access and understand them. And here in the Virgin Islands, that has been far too difficult for far …
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March 20, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (March 20, 2025)
Countdown So the bottom half of the Joes Hill road is paved now, right? A Beaconite hopes so, but he has a strong hunch that the work carried out over …
March 20, 2025
COMMENTARY — The Wagners of Trellis Bay, part 31
I began these commentaries on July 20, 2023, to celebrate the construction of the original airfield on Beef Island by Wladek Wagner, a Polish sea captain, as recorded in the …
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March 19, 2025
EDITORIAL: Virgin Islands women, girls deserve better
The Virgin Islands has made much progress toward empowering women and girls in recent decades, but International Women’s Day this month was a timely reminder that much remains to be …
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March 13, 2025
COMMENTARY — Christian group blasts Vybez Kartel show
The BVI Christian Council issued the following after the March 4 election of its new executive committee, which includes President Paul Ricketts, of Sanctuary of Hope New Testament Church of …
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March 13, 2025
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK (March 13, 2025)
Water, water — nowhere? A Beaconite feels as though the forces of the universe — or at least the forces of poor governance — are conspiring against him. For six …
March 6, 2025
EDITORIAL: Yachting reforms need more work
Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley is absolutely right in seeking to raise yachting fees and otherwise reform the 33-year-old rules governing the territory’s marine industry. But stakeholder protests here and abroad …
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