Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
This was in the Source today. . You can read it here if you want. Or you can skip it totally.
Seaborne Airlines is ramping up the comfort level and its service between the territory and San Juan with the anticipated arrival of a Saab 340B before the end of the year. Flights aboard the 34-seat plane will start in January.
Seaborne expects to acquire two more of the same planes by March 2013.
The new planes will be used on airport to airport routes for the Seaborne Shuttle, not on the routes where planes land on water. The 340Bs will replace those used on the San Juan to St. Thomas and St. Croix routes and supplement those used between St. Thomas and St. Croix.
“The Saab is the perfect blend of comfort, speed, fuel efficiency and size,” said Seaborne President and Chief Executive Officer Omer ErSelcuk in a press release.
“While smaller aircraft tend to miss on comfort, we believe the Saab is the best aircraft to help us grow our existing and new planned markets,” he said.
The new aircraft has double the 17 seats on the Twin Otters now flying its shuttle service between airports, according to Seaborne marketing consultant Angelia Hanne.
The new planes also go faster, “325 mph,” Hanne said, adding that it will cut 15 minutes off the flight times from San Juan to St. Thomas and St. Croix.
Hanne said that with American Airlines ending flights out of San Juan to St. Thomas and St. Croix, Seaborne expects to fill in the gap.
The new planes are part of Seaborne’s expansion program, and Hanne said the airline will start San Juan to Tortola services in October and plan to double the number of flights between St. Thomas and St. Croix.
“We’re hoping to grow 150 percent,” she said.
Hanne said that on Saturday Seaborne will launch its online booking system, which allows travelers to check in and print out boarding passes at home. The airline also has interline agreements with other airlines that allow passengers to check bags through when they connect from Seaborne to other airlines.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
What in the world is dickface hardgrove thinking when he is pressing for an electronic flashing billboard to be permanently installed at mongoose where dickfuckheadfuckface can sometimes be found with an egg hitting him? Yes, an egg thrown as hard as I can throw it. He's gonna get it even worse as soon as we move.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
This was in the St. John Source today. You can see it and other stories at St. John Source. Or, you can rent a villa at St. John Villa Rental.
That would be a good thing to do today -- rent a St. John villa.
Christensen's CFO Bill Moves Out of Committee
By Source Staff — June 7, 2012
Federal legislation to establish a chief financial officer for the Virgin Islands was voted out of the Natural Resources Committee on Thursday by unanimous consent, according to the office of Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen.
The committee amended the bill, which was sponsored and long-championed by Christensen, to reflect changes suggested by Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Anthony Babauta when he testified before the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs on the bill last month.
The committee also added an amendment recommended by President Barack Obama's administration to clarify that the duties of the CFO include preparing, as well as certifying, the annual spending limits of the government, Christensen said in a statement. It "seeks to end this acrimony and restore trust by the public that the revenue projections of their government will be made without political consideration,” Christensen said before the subcommittee last month.
The measure, which has been a pet project for Christensen for a decade now, is controversial, with some supporters looking to it as a way to rein in the worst excesses of local government and ensure tax dollars are spent properly. Critics, including Gov. John deJongh Jr., have objected to the potential encroachment upon local governance.
"The principles so central to the philosophy of the majority – limiting to the greatest extent possible the intrusion of the federal government into the affairs of state and local governments — are violated by this proposal," deJongh said while testifying before the committee in May.
The bill is expected to reach the floor of the House for a vote before the August recess, according to Christensen's office. If it is approved there, then it must be sponsored and approved in the Senate, then signed by the president to become law.
Related Links
Delegate, Governor Disagree on CFO Bill
DELEGATE SAYS FISCAL REALITY BEHIND HER CFO BILL
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
News from The Source. Read other stories at The Source.
Once again, the dysfunctional leading the dysfunctional. These people are not allowed to rent a villa on St. John from St. John USVI Villas.
Senate Approves Budget to Keep School Buses Running (Note: At least "buses" is spelled correctly.)
By Bill Kossler — June 1, 2012
Helping to ensure St. Croix school buses do not stop running again this fiscal year, the Senate approved an Education Department request to transfer $2.4 million from budget line items for personnel costs, materials and supplies, with $1.4 million for busing and $1 million for maintenance.
Abramson Inc., the school bus company owned by former Public Works Commissioner Ann Abramson, stopped running school buses April 30 and May 1 because the department had fallen $628,000 behind on a nearly $4 million bus service contract.
This transfer, along with separate legislation coming soon that would reprogram $2 million currently allocated to setting up a longitudinal data system, will pay bus service through the rest of the fiscal year, according to Management and Budget Director Debra Gottlieb, who testified before the Legislature voted on the measure.
The bill also provides $50,000 to the Department of Health to hire a consultant to write a five-year strategic plan for the division of mental health and the two hospitals in the territory required by a 2009 court settlement.
The bill was also used as a vehicle for non-germane amendments from senators, allowing them to effectively propose new legislation while bypassing the usual committee hearing process.
One amendment from Sen. Usie Richards allows companies with Tax Increment Financing agreements with the V.I. government to pursue renewable energy, and if it can produce enough to sell, requiring it to sell to the V.I. Water and Power Authority rather than to private customers.
"We do not want someone with a TIF certificate to produce power and compete with WAPA,” Richards said. “This measure says they can only sell to WAPA, thereby assisting consumers by driving down the cost per kilowatt hour. That is the intent," he said before the Legislature voted to approve the amendment.
Another, from Sen. Neville James, defines when public school semesters begin and end. It effectively replaces a bill meant to require schools to end the first semester before Christmas holidays, which was vetoed by Gov. John deJongh Jr.
That act had incorrect language, accidentally requiring the second semester, rather than the first, to end before Christmas, James said, adding that "it was an honest error, and the language is offered as an amendment here, rather than move for an override, enacting known faulty legislation."
The amendment says the school year shall begin no later than the second Tuesday after the second Monday in August and end no later than the first Friday in June, so long as the calendar includes at least 1,080 hours of instruction and the first semester ends by Dec. 23.
If signed into law, the change must be implemented no later than the 2013-14 school year.
The Senate also approved amendments:
- from Sen. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, allowing the V.I. National Guard to use existing 2012 funds to pay William Nisbett $43,000 for renovations completed in 2011 to the Guard's Gramboko Building Post Exchange and $21,000 to Caribbean Cooling Company for installing a five-ton air conditioning unit, wiring, transformers and other pars done in 2006 at the Guard's Sprat Hall site on St. Croix;
- from Dowe, amending an act appropriating $70,000 for transmitting video of the Legislature's hearings and sessions, to clarify that the money may be spent to purchase equipment;
- from Sen. Alvin Williams, amending an act he sponsored requiring the Education Department to establish prekindergarten programs by mandating the program begin in the 2013-14 school year;
- from Richards, changing several road construction project appropriations to reflect an additional $200,000 in available federal funding, freeing up local funding to speed up or expand several projects;
- and several technical amendments that clarify legislation without changing its substance.
Voting to approve the heavily amended bill were Dowe, Hansen, James, Richards, Williams, Sens. Shawn-Michael Malone, Terrence "Positive" Nelson, Ronald Russell, Patrick Sprauve and Janette Millin-Young. Sen. Craig Barshinger voted nay. Sen. Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O'Reilly abstained. Sens. Louis Hill, Sammuel Sanes and Celestino White were absent at the time of the vote.
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