~ In the mold of a Colmado and Bodega ~ ST. PETERS — The district of St. Peters and surrounding neighborhoods will benefit this week from the opening of the area’s first mini-market with a focus on daily home essentials. Teo’s Superette is a mini-market in its truest form and in the mold of the well-known neighborhood Colmados of the Dominican Republic and Bodegas of New York City. No bigger than an average bedroom, Teo’s may be mini in size but packs a big punch in terms of daily essential inventory. It opens on Tuesday, August 4. The brainchild of…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Former Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs (TEATT) Stuart Johnson actively frustrated an investigation by the Ombudsman into the procurement policy at the Princess Juliana International Airport. This appears from the Ombudsman’s 2019 annual report. The Ombudsman initiated a systemic investigation into the procurement policy in the third quarter of 2018; it was completed in April 2019. On November 19, 2018, Minister Johnson wrote to the Ombudsman that there were “serious legal objections to the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction in this matter.” Johnson also claimed that the procurement policy is “an internal confidential document.” The Ombudsman notes in her report…
GREAT BAY — The Princess Juliana International Airport’s opening will continue as scheduled for August 1, despite the concerns by the government representatives on the French side of the island. Minister responsible for Tourism, Ludmila De Weever, confirmed at the Council of Ministers Press Briefing that there would be a reduced schedule of flights from the United States to St. Maarten. She said that Delta Airlines had reduced its schedule flights to three times per week. Jet Blue Airlines has reduced its flights to once per week out of New York, American Airlines one flight per week from Charlotte North…
BALTIMORE / PHILIPSBURG – Countries need knowledgeable leadership and they must make evidence-based medical decisions. That is the message from Lt. Colonel Dr. Leonard (Lenny) Richardson, a COVID-19 researcher from Anguilla who currently works at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. “The corona-virus is not new; however, COVID-19, also known as SARS-CoV-2 is novel and new to man. We are not COVID-free,” Richardson says. “But the question is: do we keep the world out or do we open up? How else will our economy survive?” “There is a lot of misinformation about this virus. Some say that it is man-made.…
~ Press release from the soon-to-be-established Bar, Restaurant, Casino and Night Life Association for immediate publication ~ SIMPSON BAY — About 30 representatives of the bar, restaurant, casino and night life industry met on Monday to discuss implementing stricter COVID-19 measures and formalizing an association for legally established industry members. The bar, nightlife, restaurant and casino industry had come under scrutiny after an unsubstantiated recent viral message claimed that a cluster of COVID-19 infected persons was identified at a local club. Images of filled-to-capacity entertainment venues also surfaced online resulting in increased public scrutiny. While acknowledging that some in their…
Whilst Caribbean economies claim to be looking out for opportunities to diversify their economies, in practice, they have been slow to grab the opportunity that is presented by yachting. By Robbie Ferron The yachting industry is a more complex industry than stay-over accommodation or cruise ships and this complexity is a big part of the reason for the slow take-up. The yachting industry is also highly stable and offers high paying employment when the appropriated skills are offered, something that is often mentioned as a criterion for new industries to be considered in the Caribbean. Much of the employment also…
The words of an insider: “We have met the conditions to get liquidity support via the 1st tranche and via the 2nd tranche. To get the 3rd tranche, we have to give up the country.” This seems to the general sentiment within the corridors of the Government Administration Building here on St. Maarten, but is that really the case? StMaartenNews.com brings you an extensive recap of the Caribbean Reform Entity as it is outlined in the proposal documents sent to the CAS-islands of Curacao, Aruba and St. Maarten. You be the judge for yourself. Click here to start your own…
PHILIPSBURG – The number of corona-virus infections has pushed attention for the Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE) to the background – but it is still there. Since Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs left the most recent meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers firmly refusing to accept the CRE as a condition for continued liquidity support there have been no further developments, at least not publicly. But the spokesman for State Secretary Knops confirmed to StMaartenNews.com that talks continue.
PHILIPSBURG – Revenue from the road tax fell sharply in the first quarter of the year – from 9.1 to 5.7 million guilders it appears from a mini audit conducted by the General Audit Chamber. The report was submitted to Parliament last Thursday, July 23. The government points to the outbreak of the corona-virus crisis as the main reason for the drop, but the Audit Chamber questions this: the due date for the payment of the road tax was March 19, therefore before the lockdown went into effect on March 22. The government extended the due date from February 29…
By Hilbert Haar The explosion of corona-virus infections on our island should not come as a surprise: it was expected. One reason is, according to a press release issued by Prime Minister Jacobs, the “systematic analysis of contact tracing” by the Department of Collective Preventive Services (CPS). The department managed to identify “more cases in a short period of time.” The latest number of new infections is unofficially reported as 69, including ten nurses. But are all these cases just the result of contact tracing? That is the big question. But maybe we know the answer already. Prof. Dr. Jaap…
