News Articles

M.A. Dworkin USVI - Financially strapped, low cost Spirit Airlines, that had been in and out of bankruptcy on two occasions over the past several years finally decided that it was time to leave the flying to someone else. The budget airlines had been in talks with the Trump Administration to receive a $500 million lifeline that would have saved it from going out of business, but apparently the bailout talks collapsed due to a number of irreconcilable points. The

M.A. Dworkin Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett released a statement regarding the U.S. House of Representatives passage of H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. “The Farm Bill is an opportunity to stand with farmers and families who are struggling under the weight of rising input costs, skyrocketing grocery prices, reckless tariffs, and the economic strain of the ongoing war. Unfortunately, the bill passed by House Republicans

M.A. Dworkin St. Croix - Governor Albert Bryan Jr. has transmitted legislation to the 36th Legislature that would authorize an agreement with Southland Gaming of the Virgin Islands (SGVI) to rebuild the Randall “Doc” James Racetrack on St. Croix. The proposed agreement would finally return horse racing to the island, and establish a stronger Territorial framework for the future of the King of Sports in the Virgin Islands. The proposed agreement would allow Southland Gam

M.A. Dworkin San Juan - There is a growing movement in Puerto Rico to break away from the United States and rejoin Spain, more than a century after it parted ways with the European country. There are currently several proposals spearheaded by a movement called Adelante Reunificacionistas, that may sound fringe at first, but its message is gaining quite a bit of traction in the hinterlands of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico fell under U.S. sovereignty in 1898 following the Spanish

A.J. Pike USVI - Colorado State University (CSU) researchers forecast 13 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes in the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane season, with a 35% hurricane landfall risk. CSU sees a potentially strong El Nino developing between June and August 2026, with a 62% chance of it emerging and lasting through the year according to the latest forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center, who are dubbing it

M.A. Dworkin San Juan, PR - The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) has approved a $2.5 billion project to build a 150km, 700 MW HVDC submarine cable that will link the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, allowing Puerto Rico to import electricity from a new Dominican natural gas plant. The project, which recently received a Presidential permit from the U.S. Department of Energy, is expected to start construction in 2027 and be completed in 2031. It will integrate both th

M.A. Dworkin Washington, D.C. - The Justice Department has reclassified/rescheduled FDA-approved marijuana products and products containing marijuana (subject to a qualifying State-issued License) to Schedule III from its previous Schedule I, making marijuana no longer considered to have “No currently acceptable medical use.” The rescheduling permits prescriptions for FDA-approved products and state-licensed medical cannabis. It eases the barriers for medical research

M.A. Dworkin St. Thomas - The Bryan-Roach Administration used Monday’s Government House Press Briefing on St. Thomas to highlight a couple of key developments moving across the Territory, including the upcoming Ghana-U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Mission in July and progress toward issuing tax refunds ahead of the Carnival Holiday. At the onset of the briefing, Government House Director of Communications Richard Motta delivered a message on behalf of Governo

M.A. Dworkin The U.S. Department of Labor through an initiative from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is reinforcing safety and health protections for workers in maritime industries throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico through a local emphasis program. Designed to address high injury and illness rates within maritime industries, the OSHA initiative establishes inspections directed at maritime industries operating on or adjacent to

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