News Articles

M.A. Dworkin Weather Alert: Heavy Dust, Severe Drought, Tropical Wave The Saharan Devil Dust plume will be heavy over the next few days in the USVI, sweeping over the Territory like a dark suffocating blanket. All vulnerable residents should stay in doors as much as possible and protect against adverse respiratory effects....NOAA reports that extreme drought conditions persist across the USVI and may continue into the early Fall....A burgeoning tropical wave

M.A. Dworkin Washington, D.C. - The Trump Administration is looking to reopen closed oil refineries, including the embattled one on St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, amid high gasoline prices spurred on by the Iran war. A White House official confirmed to several news sources that the Trump Administration “would like to see refineries across the country reopen, especially the St. Croix refinery,” stating that the St. Croix refinery is of particular interest because

M.A. Dworkin USVI - Governor Albert Bryan Jr. expressed disappointment with the 36th Legislature’s decision to once again delay action on the revised horse racing agreement he presented to Senators, calling it a failure of leadership that wasted public and private resources and denied Virgin Islanders the up or down vote that would have put the matter of horse racing in the USVI in forward motion or back to square one. “Today was the day to hear the agreement, debate it

M.A. Dworkin USVI - In what could be one of the most shocking slaps-in-the-face from the federal government to the USVI, the Trump Administration has suspended the USVI’s Housing Finance Authority (VIHFA) from receiving further federal funding after the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) disclosed in a letter that has accused the VIHFA of practicing years of alleged financial mismanagement, falsifying audit findings, along with the conviction of a former execut

M.A. Dworkin Washington, D.C. - In a major blow to President Donald Trump’s attempts to circumvent the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, definitively rejecting President Trump’s attempt to limit the constitutional right of babies born on U.S. soil. In a landmark 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that babies born on U.S. soil - including undocumented parents or those on temporary visas - are automatically American citizens un

M.A. Dworkin USVI - Eight major airline carriers have submitted a joint letter and objected to the Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA) proposed remodeling plans, a public-private partnership (P3), claiming it would make flying in and out of Henry E. Rohlsen Airport and Cyril E. King Airport more expensive than competing regional airports. In a June 3, 2026 letter to Governor Albert Bryan Jr. and VIPA Interim Executive Director Ava Penn, the USVI Airlines Airport Affai

M.A. Dworkin St. Croix - Given the current position of the Trump Administration on maximizing American fossil fuel production, it appears the future of the refinery on St. Croix has shifted decidedly in favor of an inevitable restart. “You’ve probably heard that refineries are closing down. We are going to be starting one back up,” said David Johnson, Director of Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation (PHRT) on St. Croix. “Our plans are to successfully restart the

M.A. Dworkin USVI - Governor Albert Bryan Jr. is welcoming recent Presidential Determinations issued under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act as an important federal recognition of the national value of domestic petroleum production, refining, fuel logistics and energy infrastructure, in which the Governor sees as a meaningful boost to ongoing efforts to responsibly restart refinery operations on St. Croix. The Determinations recognize domestic petroleum product

UPDATE!! Club Med to Take Over Carambola!! M.A. Dworkin St. Croix - What was once one of the iconic resorts in the Caribbean, the Carambola Beach Resort in St. Croix, is closing down in lieu of a reported $50 million in a sorely needed rebuild and renovation project spearheaded by an internationally known hotel chain. Update!! The St. Croix Times has received information from reliable sources that the Internationally famous resort Club Med will be the new owners of Carambo

M.A. Dworkin St. Croix - After previous contractors withdrew from the process, the Virgin Islands Office of Disaster Recovery (ODR) has executed a contract for the demolition and reconstruction of the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center (JFL) on St. Croix. The contract was awarded to Suffolk Construction and signals the start of the initial phase - including preconstruction services and early work packages - which are capped at just over $142 million (spe

M.A. Dworkin Caribbean Sea - As the Department of Planning and Natural Resources celebrates Coral Week in the USVI, by hosting a number of engaging events, the worldwide consensus of opinion seems to be we are killing off the planet one species at a time, with coral reefs in the early gunsights of the effects of climate change. Think of Coral Reefs as the caged canary being led into the coal mine to act as an early warning system to detect poisonous gases like carbon mo

Neil Weare and Edoardo Ortiz Public debate about U.S. territories is often shaped by unsupported assumptions or even outright falsehoods—especially on the issue of taxes. Addressing these myths is important to de-normalize the undemocratic colonial rule of more than 3.6 million people in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Tax Day gives us a timely opportunity to address some common misconceptions, which we