Senate President Milton Potter announced Saturday morning that a legal review of the already-implemented executive branch pay increases would be conducted (Photo courtesy of the VI Legislature)
Senate President Milton Potter announced Saturday that the Legislature has begun a formal legal review of the salary increases recently processed for the governor and lieutenant governor, saying the move raises serious constitutional questions about executive authority and legislative oversight.
The announcement comes the morning after Senate Vice President Kenneth Gittens called the raises “shameful and unjust,” demanding immediate legal action to stop what he described as an illegal pay hike carried out without legislative approval. At a heated Senate Budget Committee hearing Friday, lawmakers confirmed that the raises were processed last week and made retroactive to Dec. 2, 2024 — increasing the governor’s annual salary from $150,000 to $192,000 and the lieutenant governor’s from $125,000 to $168,000.
“This is simply unconscionable,” Gittens said in a statement Friday night, pointing to long-standing delays in retroactive wage payments to government workers and retirees, as well as emergency funding for hospitals that has yet to be disbursed. “We have debts to our employees, our vendors, our hospitals. And now, the top two executives are getting pay raises? It’s indefensible.”
In January, the Source first reported that Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. had accepted the recommendation of the now-defunct Public Employees Compensation Commission to increase executive salaries. But a legal opinion issued weeks later by the Legislature’s chief legal counsel concluded that such raises would violate Virgin Islands law, which requires legislative action to adjust the compensation of the territory’s top elected officials.
Despite the opinion, Personnel Director Cindy Richardson testified Friday that the raises were implemented — retroactive to early December — without any legislative appropriation or debate. Months ago, the governor said there would be no additional appropriations, or supplemental, to the government’s already-approved budget, but rather adjustments from personnel cost savings.
Gittens and others called for the immediate filing of a temporary restraining order to block the payments.
Meanwhile, a separate bill passed Friday seeks to rein in the long-term cost of the raises by capping the retirement annuities of future governors and lieutenant governors. Under current law, the annuity is calculated as 80% of the sitting salary after two terms. With the new pay scale, that would push the annual pension for a two-term governor to more than $150,000 — a scenario Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vialet called financially reckless.
The bill passed 6-1 but drew criticism from the administration for targeting only two positions instead of pursuing broader retirement reform. Still, for many senators, Friday’s developments were the last straw.
“If we can’t control executive compensation, we’ve lost our power as the first branch of government,” said Sen. Hubert Fredericks. “This whole thing makes the public question whether we’re really serving them at all.”
The Legislature’s legal review is expected to be swift, Potter said Saturday.
The Senate Budget, Appropriations, and Finance Committee, chaired by Novelle Francis, passed a measure Thursday proposing to cap retirement annuities for future governors and lieutenant governors. (Screenshot from V.I. Legislature Facebook livestream)
A measure limiting retirement payments to future governors and lieutenant governors passed the Senate Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee Friday despite pushback from testifiers.
Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vialet, who sponsored the bill, said the existing law entitles those who have held the territory’s highest offices in the executive branch to 40 percent of their annual salary if they served one term and 80 percent if they served two.
Vialet said the bill seeks to control that amount, because “monies that are utilized for the governor and lieutenant governor annuity comes from the General Fund. It’s a line item in the budget, and funds are appropriated not from GERS but from the General Fund to pay this particular obligation.”
“There was never any language that had a cap as to what you could use to be able to apply that 80 percent to,” he said. “So if the salary increased to $192,000 — like proposed in the Compensation Commission study — the retirement package of the governor would raise to $153,000 per year for the rest of their natural life.”
Responding to questions from Vialet during Friday’s committee meeting, V.I. Personnel Division Director Cindy Richardson said the raises proposed by the VIPOCC were processed last week and retroactively took effect beginning on Dec. 2. If enacted, Vialet’s bill would cap the salary used to calculate future governor and lieutenant governor’s retirement annuities at $150,000 per year or $125,000 per year, respectively. Vialet repeatedly stressed that current and living former officeholders would not be impacted by the change.
“We’re going through frugal times. We’re looking for austerity measures. The government is not now one of plenty, and while many might say ‘this is minuscule,’ every little bit adds up,” he said.
Richardson testified on behalf of the central government, which opposed the measure’s targeted scope.
“Good public policy should be rooted in evidence, designed to solve specific challenges and develop through structured processes,” she said. “In this case, it has not been clearly communicated what urgent or systemic issue this bill addresses. If the issue before us is retirement reform or long-term fiscal responsibility, then those are valid and important goals; however, such reform must be approached holistically and equitably, not through legislation targeting a single class of individuals.”
Later, Richardson noted that the legislation targeted two offices without proposing to similarly reform other high-cost pension positions like territory judges and senators.
“It is inequitable to address fiscal concerns by capping retirement for only two positions without a standard or plan to address a broader retirement reform and raises legal and ethical concerns with respect to fairness in governance. Moreover, the proposed caps fail to account for fundamental economic considerations,” she said, like inflation and cost-of-living adjustments.
The measure eventually passed 6-1.
Several lawmakers used Friday’s meeting to revisit long-simmering grievances, including failed previous attempts to payout funds appropriated for retroactive wages and the implementation of raises recommended by the Compensation Commission. Senate Vice President Kenneth Gittens called the raises “shameful and unjust” and questioned why millions appropriated last month to keep the territory’s struggling hospitals afloat hadn’t been received. Finance Commissioner Kevin McCurdy said that money would be going out “either today or … definitely before May 30.”
Gittens said it should have already happened and called on his colleagues to take the administration to court.
Sen. Hubert Fredericks said he was “set back” by Friday’s discussion before endorsing the bill, noting that if the Legislature couldn’t oversee executive compensation “as per statute,” at least it could control their annuities.
“Right now we seem like we’ve lost control as a body, the first branch of government, to limit or to control the compensation for the governor and lieutenant governor,” he said. “That was our task, and now I see this Compensation Commission — that’s now defunct — and that the former head of it, who’s Dr. [Haldane] Davies … he’s now part of the Cabinet.”
Fredericks said it’s no wonder that Virgin Islanders are so frequently upset with their government.
“Because everything we do makes people question the legitimacy of us professionals,” he said. “And this does not look good. I am very, very, very disappointed that it came out looking like this.”
Addressing the Compensation Commission, Richardson said that its members became “null and void” once the report was submitted, “so the hiring of Haldane Davies — that was definitely done within the Governor’s purview … I don’t see any relation in regards to the compensation study versus his qualifications for that position.”
More than $3 billion in federal funding is in motion to overhaul the territory’s aging wastewater infrastructure, according to Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority Interim Executive Director Daryl Griffith — part of a long-term plan that includes the replacement of pump stations, underground sewer lines, and critical emergency bypass systems across St. Croix and St. Thomas.
On St. Croix, the first phase of pump replacements is set to begin following board approval in June. Griffith said the goal is to order equipment immediately, with delivery expected within two months and installation to follow, starting with the most vulnerable stations. St. Thomas is following closely behind, with funding secured in January and a full inventory of pump systems now being compiled in preparation for a request for proposals. The agency is also working with the Office of Disaster Recovery, Public Works, and the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority on a unified “one-dig” strategy, bundling design and construction contracts to limit disruption and accelerate progress. Another key priority is separating stormwater from wastewater lines to protect pump infrastructure during heavy rains, which often send rocks, debris, and runoff into the sewage system and trigger equipment failure.
The need for long-term investment came into sharp focus Friday, when months of behind-the-scenes tension between VIWMA and one of its main contractors boiled over. Tony Adibe, president of SD&C Inc., had threatened to pull rented bypass pumps from active sites on St. Thomas by 5 p.m. Friday if the government failed to make good on more than $6 million in unpaid invoices, some dating back years.
The equipment, which keeps raw sewage from backing up into populated areas while infrastructure remains in flux, had become a financial burden SD&C said it could no longer carry without compensation. Adibe said earlier Friday that he had reached his limit after years of delays and unfulfilled promises from VIWMA. But by late afternoon, Adibe confirmed he had been working throughout the day with Public Works Commissioner and VIWMA Board Chair Derek Gabriel, who committed to having a partial payment released next week.
Bypass pumps remain in place, according to Adibe, who spoke with the Source after 5 p.m. Friday. He credited Gabriel for stepping in directly and opening the lines of communication to help move things forward. “Derek reached out and got people talking,” Adibe said. “It made a difference.”
In emails sent to Griffith and other officials, Adibe outlined $6.1 million in outstanding payments — including $1.5 million for Savan Gut work that VIWMA says has FEMA approval and is currently being processed, and $1.3 million more pending a final walk-through scheduled for Monday. Griffith also said questions surrounding the Krause Lagoon project are close to being resolved and added that all outstanding items are tied to federally funded programs that require additional processing steps, including drawing from a line of credit and reimbursement by the central government.
“We’ve gotten some relief – we’re working to get him some of the payment he’s been requesting,” Griffith said Friday. “It’s not instantaneous, but the approvals are there.”
Vincent Richards gave the Property and Procurement Department’s view of the leases. (Photo courtesy V.I. Legislature)
Members of the Senate Committee on Budget, Appropriations, and Finance approved leases for a helicopter pad and a weather tower fixture Friday, but held the one requested by the WSTA radio station in committee.
The lease for parcels the WSTA Radio station uses in Submarine Base substantially differs from the lease agreement the station previously had with the territory.
Sen. Kurt Vialet was among the senators who praised testifier Peter Ottley, president of WSTA Radio, for keeping the radio station on the air during hurricanes. Sen. Ray Fonseca said the station has comforted residents during storms.
However, senators disagreed on how to proceed with the lease of a third of an acre of government land at No. 121 Submarine Base, St. Thomas, for $30,000 annually.
According to the post-audit report presented to the senators, “The lease agreement presents several internal inconsistencies that warrant closer examination, particularly regarding provisions related to assignment, transfer, and subleasing. Subsection (a) of Section 3.01 stipulates that in the event the Lessee assigns or transfers the lease, the annual rent shall increase from $30,000 to $90,000 — a 200% escalation.” It added that this “appears to deviate from standard leasing practices historically administered by the Department of Property and Procurement”
As for the helipad lease, the post audit report said it “represents a forward-thinking initiative to enhance emergency medical response and interisland transportation within the Virgin Islands.”
Several senators question why Caribbean Buzz, an established, FAA-approved helicopter operator, did not already have agreements with local medical facilities regarding medical transportation.
Vincent Richards, assistant commissioner of the Property and Procurement Department, testified that though Caribbean Buzz might someday have such transportation agreements, that discussion “was not what we are here for today.”
Charlotte Van Heurck, whose parents founded Caribbean Buzz, testified, “This lease is more than a land-use arrangement – it represents a vital solution to a long-standing challenge faced by residents, visitors, and emergency responders on the island of St. John.”
The lease is for part of No. 3B Estate Susannaberg, Cruz Bay Quarter, St. John, to operate and manage a helicopter transportation service at the existing helipad.
Few questions were asked about the lease agreement between the government and NOAA for a portion of the telecommunications tower located on Parcel R-22 of tract 1, Estate Nazareth, No. 1 Redhook Quarter, St. Thomas. The lease is for 20 years, at an annual rent of $1,200. NOAA shall use it to receive and transmit weather information.
Sens. Novelle E. Francis Jr., Marvin A. Blyden, Angel L. Bolques Jr., Dwayne M. DeGraff, Alma Francis Heyliger, Hubert L. Frederick, Ray Fonseca, Kenneth L. Gittens, Marise C. James, Franklin D. Johnson, Milton E. Potter, and Kurt A. Vialet attended the hearing.
Cruise ships docked at the West Indian Company Ltd. at Havensight on St. Thomas. (Source file photo)
While 2025 numbers are down slightly, the cruise industry is going strong and on track to reach record highs in 2026, West Indian Company Ltd. CEO Anthony Ottley told a meeting of the agency’s board of directors Friday.
“I’m pleased to report that the cruise industry is healthy, booming and getting better. Fiscal year 2025 is projected to receive 280 ship calls with 938,000 passengers. To date, this season, 223 ships have brought 712,000 passengers — an expected 7% decrease compared to the same time last year,” said Ottley.
Much of the decrease is attributed to WICO’s regular high-capacity ships going to dry dock for public space upgrades, cabin additions and suite redesigns in the second quarter of the year, he said. However, “we see an immediate and significant rebound next fiscal year with a return of those ships to St. Thomas, along with added traffic,” Ottley said.
“We are projected to have 360 ship calls carrying over 1.13 million passengers,” in 2026, he said. That’s a projected 20% increase over this year and a 14% increase over fiscal year 2024, which Ottley characterized as “amazing news for the territory.”
“The last time we saw this many ships was in fiscal year 2016, prior to Irma and Maria,” he said, though he cautioned board members that the numbers could fluctuate depending on changes in ship calls during the year due to weather, operational challenges with vessels, or changes in itineraries.
Additionally, the global cruise fleet is poised to grow another 30% over the next eight years, said Ottley, which is great news for the Virgin Islands but also presents challenges as ships grow in size, he said.
“The larger ships entering the market continues to create challenges for many ports in the Caribbean with their limited berthing capacity and restrictions and St. Thomas is no different. This trend is evident with partners such as [Norwegian Cruise Line], which has ordered four ships that will be over 1,200 feet, beginning in 2030. This challenge, along with ship timing, conflicts, and the unfortunate delay of the Charlotte Amalia dredging project continues to cause incremental loss of ships for WICO,” said Ottley.
The long-awaited St. Thomas Harbor dredging project is critical to facilitating larger cruise vessels at the dock in Havensight. The project will be funded with $17 million from the V.I. Public Finance Authority via legislation submitted by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and $1.5 million from the Community Facilities Trust Fund.
Ottley has said previously that it’s important to get the project done as soon as possible. While St. Thomas might be Plan A, if a ship can’t safely navigate the harbor it will go to Plan B or C and the territory will lose out on additional revenue, he said at a V.I. Port Authority “Industry Day” last August.
Responding to questions Friday from board Chairman Jason Charles about canceled calls this fiscal year, Ottley said there have been 14, but only two were because WICO couldn’t accommodate berthing due to excessive lengths. Otherwise, two calls were canceled due to weather and 10 because of itinerary changes, he said.
Cruise lines generally book their berths 24 to 30 months in advance and cancellations — which can occur if there is a problem with a ship, or if they have to move the ship to the western Caribbean, for example — are a headache, said Ottley, “because now it opens a berth at our dock that we had closed off. There are challenges with that for us because it’s within maybe a year or 18 months, it would be hard to market that space to another ship that may have had interest in coming to St. Thomas,” he said.
To help mitigate the fallout from cancellations in the future, WICO is revising its new, upcoming contracts with wording “to utilize the space as efficiently as possible and be able to pivot to offer other lines that space in the interim,” said Ottley.
The CEO also gave a brief rundown of the agency’s participation at the Seatrade Cruise Global conference last month in Miami, considered the industry’s leading annual event.
“WICO and USVI government officials attended with 120 other countries and more than 70 cruise line brands. Pivotal and collaborative meetings were held between the USVI contingency and cruise lines to explore emerging trends, guest experience enhancements, infrastructure development, and strengthened partnerships with the cruise industry leaders,” Ottley told the board.
Among the agencies promoting the U.S. Virgin Islands to cruise partners and attendees were the Tourism Department, Port Authority and Government Employees’ Retirement System, which owns the Havensight Mall property, said Ottley.
“The U.S. Virgin Islands trade show presence was considered one of the most dynamic and culturally engaging with musicians, moko jumbies and traditional dancers. WICO also held a small reception to give our local senators the opportunity to meet with several of our crews and excursion partners. Representatives from Carnival Corporation, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Disney Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Virgin Excursions, among others, attended and were able to have fruitful discussions with our attending legislators, further strengthening our partnerships,” he said.
“Our executive team also met with our cruise partners to discuss operational challenges, berthing schedule conflicts, and possible property development opportunities,” said Ottley.
In other business:
Finance Committee Chairman Hugo Hodge Jr. told the board that WICO is on solid financial footing, with revenues up and expenses slightly down, which he called “a good combination.” The company has seen an increase in operating profits and net income, though the numbers for fiscal 2025 are “still fluid,” and assets are unchanged and liabilities remain the same. “The company is heading in the right direction,” he said. “We are definitely on the road to getting the company to where we want it to be.”
A project to replace the property’s water line infrastructure that is more than 60 years old, and an oil tank demolition project, should begin this summer, with permit approvals from the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and its Coastal Zone Management division expected “any week now,” said Ottley.
The building that formerly housed the butterfly farm has been leased, WICO is in negotiations with a potential tenant for a vacant office space, and is also in talks to lease a portion of the company’s concrete yard for parking, Ottley said.
WICO passed its 2025 Coast Guard inspection with no deficiencies and submitted its security plan, which is pending Coast Guard review. Routine camera maintenance is ongoing and replacement backup batteries have been ordered, he said.
Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett warned a House bill passed early Thursday could gut programs vital to the territory. (Source file photo)
A bill passed by House of Representatives Republicans early Thursday slashing Medicaid health care could leave millions of Americans without insurance coverage, including roughly 21,000 Virgin Islanders, Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett warned.
Every Democrat in the House, hoping to preserve Medicaid coverage, voted against the measure. They were joined by two Republicans on the opposite end of the political spectrum, Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4) and Rep. Warren Davidson (OH-8), who opposed the legislation because they wanted to see further federal funding cuts, Plaskett said in a written statement late Thursday.
“This bill includes the largest cuts to health care in American history,” she said. “In Medicaid alone, funding is cut by more than $730 billion, which will leave 7.6 million people uninsured. The Virgin Islands presently has 21,000 Medicaid enrollees presently, many of whom will be impacted through loss of service or disenrollment.”
The bill didn’t stop at Medicare cuts, targeting nearly $1 trillion in federal funding, including the Social Services Block Grant that provides more than $4.2 million to the Virgin Islands. The bill eliminates federal funding for the Virgin Islands’ Meals on Wheels Program and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program until 2034, Plaskett said.
The bill also cut $35 billion in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, which includes children, working families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. This includes a $1 million cut to the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT Program), which gives food assistance to children when they cannot rely on school lunches.
“This will impact the more than 15,000 Virgin Islands residents who rely upon SNAP for access to nutritious food for their wellbeing,” the delegate said.
Puerto Rico was hit even harder by the bill’s potential impact. The $35 billion cut includes a $1 billion decrease in funding for the Nutrition Assistance Program in Puerto Rico despite efforts from the island’s lobbyists, led by Republican Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon and Congressman Pablo Hernandez,” Plaskett said.
“Republicans’ reconciliation bill will make everyday life more expensive for Americans and removes programs which gave opportunities and support for a better life. It is estimated that more than 4 million students will see a reduction, or elimination, of their Pell Grants,” she said.
The bill also took aim at efforts to lower energy costs, increase clean energy manufacturing and jobs, and economic assistance for communities facing the first wave of the climate crisis, Plaskett said. Funding could be yanked from the Virgin Islands Solar for All Program, which provided $62.5 million for homes and businesses.
The all-important rum cover over rate, needed to fund the Government Employees’ Retirement System, did not get a hoped-for increase. Plaskett has gathered bipartisan support for the program but it was ultimately not included in the bill.
“During an 18-hour markup in the Ways and Means Committee for the tax provisions of the reconciliation bill, Congresswoman Plaskett offered an amendment to increase the rate of the rum cover offer, to publicly demonstrate the bipartisan support for this provision. Both Democrats and Republicans emphasized the importance of the increased rum cover over rate. The Ways and Means Chairman, Jason Smith, publicly stated that he would work to advance this, and the Committee is expected to craft a bipartisan tax bill this summer,” Plaskett’s office said in a press release.
“It is unfortunate that at the last minute while trying to find additional funds, the Republicans attempted to remove duty drawback – an export-promotion program that American alcohol and tobacco companies rely upon for a refund of duties paid at the time of import when similar goods are exported. That program saves the alcohol industry alone approximately $30 billion. Because of that concern, the full push of the rum industry was not present for rum cover over as the industry prioritized its efforts on safeguarding duty drawback which represented direct dollars to their industry. It’s also important to recognize that many discretionary provisions that made it into the bill were included to secure the necessary votes to advance the legislation – which ultimately was not the case with the provision for an increased rum cover over rate.”
The U.S. Senate is anticipated to draft an entirely different bill that proposes fewer cuts to critical programs. Then, the Senate bill and House bill will likely be negotiated on a version that can be passed in both chambers of Congress and then be signed by the president, Plaskett said.
“This bill is a wholesale betrayal of the working class and the future of America. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the bottom 10 percent — working- and middle-class Americans will be 4 percent poorer in household wealth under this bill, with most of the benefits going to the top 10 percent of Americans. Not only does the bill make the largest health care cut in our nation’s history, it also makes the largest cuts to food assistance, energy projects and Pell grants. All to give additional money to the wealthiest Americans – an average of $278,000 per year, $762 per day, to the top 0.1 percent of Americans. This bill is cruel, shameful, unfair and unamerican,” Plaskett said.
2025 Skill Center class valedictorian, Jessica Gibs, addresses her classmates during their commencement ceremony. (Screenshot from V.I. Education Department Facebook livestream)
On Thursday, the Raphael O. Wheatley Skill Center held its annual commencement ceremony for students who have received training and certifications for a number of technical education classes, celebrating the graduation of 152 students.
The graduation at the Charlotte Amalie High School auditorium was filled with graduates eager to apply their new skills and supporters ready to champion them.
After an eloquent invocation rendered by nail technician graduate, Kezia Corbett, speaking of courage and wisdom, Mario Francis, principal of the school, spoke about the accomplishments the center has made recently that the 2025 class experienced. From changing facilities, to creating a record high for male enrollment and graduation rates, to an increase in job placement rates, the 2025 class helped to create new earmarks for the school.
“We have been steadfastly working to make certain we are keeping up with the times and we are preparing students for the workforce,” said Francis.
According to the principal, a little more than 50 percent of the students have been offered jobs in their concentrations. Fields such as hospitality, health care, and housing development are areas of placement anticipated for the graduates.
To the graduates, Francis quoted from the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11, and told them, “From the time that you filled out your first application with us, until the time you took your last exam, God of creation was leading you to the plan that He has for you.”
Remarks by Career and Technical Education State Director Monique Faulkner, Board of Education member Arah Lockhart, and Insular Superintendent Stephan Jurgen were given, encouraging the graduates on their new journeys.
The 2025 class salutatorian and electrical graduate, Denry Blake, then addressed the audience and was grateful to his family, education staff, and supporters for assisting him during his schooling. He gave his classmates an acronym to remember while engaging in the workforce.
“Before you step into the working world with your new skill, I would like to make the word ‘skill’ an acronym that you would remember on your journey,” said Blake. He identified ‘s’ and told his classmates they are special, ‘k’ reminding them to be kind, ‘i’ for them to improve their trades, ‘l’ to listen and learn, and the last ‘l’ for laughter and leisure.
Skill Center 2025 class salutatorian, Denry Blake, encourages his classmates to use their “S-K-I-L-L” after graduation. (Screenshot from V.I. Education Department Facebook livestream)
Jessica Gibs, valedictorian and a clinical medical assistant graduate, was also thankful to her family, co-workers, classmates, and the education staff.
To her class, she said, “Let us continue to learn, continue to rise, and continue to succeed, because success is just not about reaching the top. It is also about reaching back, reaching within, and reaching out.”
Education Department Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington told the graduates to “Stay committed to lifelong learning,” and added, “You are all winners, you have all proven that you have what it takes. It’s just up to you to prove it and show this world who you really are.”
After Wells-Hendrington, Qian Harrigan Thomas serenaded the class. Then, speaking in place of Lt. Gov. Tregenza Roach, Senate President Milton Potter commended the graduates on their perseverance.
Keynote speaker Leslie Comissiong spoke to the graduating class about overcoming challenges and lessons to reflect on for their careers.
“I think the Raphael Wheatley Center is one of the best-kept secrets in the Virgin Islands,” she said.
Keynote speaker, Leslie Comissiong, addresses the Raphael Wheatley Skill Center class of 2025. (Screenshot from V.I. Education Department Facebook livestream)
Comissiong encouraged the graduates to meditate daily, “feel the fear and do it anyway,” to not get comfortable, and to know that “this too shall pass,” among many other affirmations. “Learn to see things from all angles and leave room for other perspectives and scenarios,” she added, as well as encouraging the graduates to give back to your community.
Comissiong concluded by informing the class to be on time.
After, there was a musical selection by Elijhaie Brathwaite who played the steel pan before the distribution of certificates.
Before the recession of the graduates, an anecdotal benediction was provided by Kellijah Lettsome, alluding to a time when he wanted to become a rapper in school and has now changed course to becoming an emergency medical technician, graduating with the 2025 class.
More information on the Wheatley Skill Center can be obtained by calling the Education Department at 340-774-0100.
Dr. Gemaine Owen signs copies of her book “Caregiving is No Joke” for guests. (Source photo by Diana Dias)
Family physician Dr. Gemaine Owen, a St. Croix native, has long balanced her passions for science and the humanities. A lifelong poet and a Johns Hopkins University alumna, Owen has recently turned her attention to a deeply personal and universal subject — caregiving.
On Thursday, Owen officially launched her latest book, “Caregiving is No Joke,” at the Cane Roots Art Gallery in Christiansted Town. Owen draws from her own experiences caring for her 92-year-old mother and her professional insights from years of performing home and office visits.
“It was important for me because I do home visits. I get a unique look at what’s happening in the home — a lot of doctors do not,” Owen said. “I can see the frustrations, and I can see the struggles. It’s a very difficult task. I thought a lot of people did it well, but until I had to do it myself, I couldn’t fully flesh out all the aspects.”
Owen emphasizes that caregivers often experience their own silent suffering, sometimes to the detriment of their health.
“We have an aging population who are living longer,” she said. “The caregiver sees somebody different than the person they are taking care of every day. A lot of people are suffering from depression due to caregiving. Some die before the people they are taking care of,” she said.
Guests listen as Dr. Gemaine Owen discusses her book. (Source photo by Diana Dias)
In addition to practical advice, Owen also touched on the power of forgiveness for the person you are providing care to.
“You have to give that person forgiveness whether they ask for it or not,” she explained. “You giving it is a favor to you. Don’t hold out — love them regardless. Do your best.”
Owen has always been passionate about people and uses her experiences to help others navigate the challenges of caregiving.
“It makes you passionate when you can spare somebody something that you went through personally, that someone else went through, or that your mom is going through,” she said. “I want to spare somebody from saying, ‘I wish I had known.’”
Dr. Gemaine Owen answers guests’ questions on her book “Caregiving is No Joke.” (Source photo by Diana Dias)
Owen is also the author of “Doc, What Would You Do in My Shoes? How to Circumnavigate a Cancer Diagnosis,” a guide that similarly blends medical knowledge with empathy and real-world experience.
Through her writing and work, Owen continues to be a compassionate voice for patients and caregivers alike, offering not just clinical support but human understanding.
A wave of package delivery delays across the territory — particularly on St. John — has been traced to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection audit, not new tariffs or customs taxes, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett’s office said in a statement Friday.
The delays have prompted a flurry of complaints, which led Plaskett’s office to meet with CBP officials this week. According to CBP, the issue stems from an audit that revealed private carriers such as DHL, UPS, and FedEx had not been fully clearing their incoming shipments through customs, according to the statement.
The new requirement now mandates that all shipments be cleared by CBP before delivery, the statement said.
“This is not connected to any recent policies from the Trump administration or changes in customs taxing or procedures,” the statement clarified.
Residents seeking further information are encouraged to contact the congresswoman’s local offices on St. Croix at 340-778-5900 or on St. Thomas at 340-774-4408.
Two armed suspects robbed a local jewelry store on St. Croix at gunpoint Thursday afternoon, assaulting the victim before fleeing the scene, the V.I. Police Department reported.
The incident occurred around 12:34 p.m., when the 911 Emergency Call Center received reports of a robbery in progress at HAA Jewelers on Strand Street in Christiansted. According to police, the male victim told officers that two men dressed in dark clothing entered the store and held him at gunpoint. One of the suspects struck the victim with the firearm before both fled on foot toward the Government Parking Lot.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau is actively investigating the case. “Anyone who was in the area and saw what happened or has any information is urged to contact 911, the CIB Tipline at 340-778-4950, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS,” the department said in a press release.
No arrests had been made as of Friday afternoon, police said.
