St. John TW

The territory has recorded its 97th death related to COVID-19, a 77-year-old man on St. Croix, the V.I. Health Department announced Monday. The death is the sixth in just under a week, with three fatalities announced Jan. 18, and two on Jan. 21 as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has led to a surge in cases.

It may indeed take some magic to avoid the pitfalls of previous attempts, but supporters of the move to establish yet another Constitutional Convention are hoping the sixth time proves the charm.

The Board of Land Use Appeals upheld a minor permit granted to John Patrick Yob, the owner of Maho Crossroads, to operate a "tiki bar" at Maho Bay on private land within the boundaries of Virgin Islands National Park.

After nearly four years of planning, construction has begun for projects totaling $27 million on 2.8 acres on Lind Point within Virgin Islands National Park, according to Park Superintendent Nigel Fields.

Pediatric vaccines are safe and effective, officials for the Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, and a vital tool in preventing severe illness from COVD-19. As V.I. children return to in-person learning Monday, vaccines become more urgent than ever.

Starting in 1971 as the Nazareth Bay Secondary School, 50 years later the Government Operations and Consumer Affairs Committee has advanced a resolution commending what is now Ivanna Eudora Kean High School teachers and students.

In the early morning hours of January 15, 2022, an underwater volcano near the South Pacific island of Tonga erupted. The enormous explosion accompanying the eruption created an acoustic shock wave in the earth’s atmosphere analogous to the pebble in the pond.... That shock wave expanded until it encircled the earth.

With the opening of Love City Ice at the former site of the Old Lumberyard Complex in Cruz Bay, St. John residents once again have a storefront to refill their water jugs and buy ice made with highly filtered water.

The National Park Service is seeking public comment on an initial set of concepts for the redevelopment of Caneel Bay, the iconic resort at Virgin Islands National Park on St. John’s renowned north shore that has been closed since the hurricanes of 2017.

The attorney general of the Virgin Islands says in spite of a recent verdict against an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, it is still up to the territory's Justice Department to win their civil case in court. Attorney General Denise George recently issued a statement about the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell in federal court on Dec. 29.

Kristen Carmichael-Bowers, the director of the St. John Recovery Choir, has a plan to "blow out the pandemic cobwebs during the next three months."

Friends of Virgin Islands National Park have published "Here, St. John," an oral history about Virgin Islands National Park and St. John that serves to give voice to the heritage, culture and natural history as told by born St. Johnians and resident scientists.

Sir Clive E.C. Banfield, 88, of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, a much loved and well respected “citizen of the world,” passed away on Dec. 26, 2021.

A partnership with Ocean Surfari has given the Friends of the V.I. National Park the chance to offer an on-the-sea classroom experience, with residents and travelers learning how to safely interact with and protect local marine life while swimming alongside them in the cool blue Caribbean water.

For decades the predicted crash of the Government Employees' Retirement System has hung over the territory. The crash would profoundly affect 16,000 households.

If you find yourself with an hour to spare in Cruz Bay, and you don’t feel like shopping, bar hopping or people watching, the St. John Historical Society has provided yet another option.

Increasing voter confidence is on the docket for the V.I. Legislature as senators and other government officials engaged with U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois during his “Faith in Elections Project” tour in the territory Tuesday.

Four years after a group of Pacific islanders from a U.S. territory began fighting for full rights as citizens, the fight is heading to the Supreme Court. Civil rights advocates say that even as they lost the latest round of court challenges, they are encouraged by the words of some federal judges appearing in recent opinions.

While hopeful that positive COVID-19 cases will continue to plateau, Gov. Albert Bryan, Jr. announced Tuesday the need to assess available staff and vaccinate as many students as before opening public schools in-person. On Jan. 10, he said, all public school students will instead return virtually, with the goal of resuming in-person by Jan. 24.

As the pandemic drags on and the year ends much as it started – with masks, social distancing, myriad COVID-19 precautions, and another canceled Crucian Christmas Festival amid yet another surge – it’s easy to forget that 2021 started in dramatic fashion.