By Seth Miller Nearly six months after parts of the Caribbean were ravaged by Hurricanes Irma & Maria the situation remains far from normal. Or perhaps it should simply be accepted that there is a new normal in place. And that’s not a particularly good thing. St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport was trashed by the storm. The main terminal building is no longer a viable operation. PJIA recently opened a temporary “pavilion” to handle passengers. That tented facility includes check-in counters and some concessions, major improvements to the prior post-storm work. And unlike the “temporary” facility at Dulles airport…
Author: The Publisher
Quito, Ecuador – Thursday, February 15, 2018) – “Still Connecting the Caribbean to the Globe,” is the theme of the Princess Juliana International Airport, SXM, at the 11th Annual Routes Americas conference which is being held in Quito, Ecuador, from February 13 – 15, 2018. Meanwhile, the associated tag line is “SXM Strong – Rebuilding Our Nation.” Both themes appear vividly on the exhibition booth, which is strategically located at the heart of the Routes Americas exhibition hall. The event will allow the SXM Airport team to network with international senior airline decision makers. It also offers the opportunity for…
SMART CONVERSATION, is a fun, thought provoking, interactive, informative and knowledge focused one-hour talk show with two dynamic co-hosts, Dr. Natasha Gittens, Ph.D. and the Real Deal Cuchi the Captain. The show is sponsored by, The Windward Islands Bank Ltd, Training Professionals International Firm and Customer Service Mobile Academy. The show debuts on Friday, February 16, 2018, two days after the well celebrated Valentine’s Day. Considering the holiday, the show will issue special prizes to callers that provide his or her input on that day’s topic: “Does Your Valentine’s Day gift determine the status of your relationship?” The co-hosts are very different…
PHILIPSBURG – Electoral Reform, a pet project of more than one politician since the fall of the second Wescot-Williams cabinet is back on the agenda for two reasons. The first one is that MP Wescot-Williams brought it up on Wednesday; the second reason is a motion MP Frans Richardson – currently detained by the anti-corruption unit for vote buying – submitted in April 2013 to Parliament. Wescot-Williams said that the Parliament is the right place for a debate about constitutional and electoral reform, “A proposal will shortly come to Parliament about the quotations we have from constitutional experts and constitutional…
PHILIPSBURG – Parliament will begin to host a bi-weekly question hour with members of the government after the February 26 elections at the beginning of March, President of parliament MP Sarah Wescot-Williams said on Wednesday. While not everything is set in stone, the idea is to hold these sessions on Monday morning. The meetings will be open to the public. “Members of Parliament will send their questions beforehand to the ministers,” Wescot-Williams said. “During question hour they get two minutes to repeat their question; the minister gets one minute to answer.” After that first round, parliamentarians get another two minutes…
PHILIPSBURG – The draft ordinance containing amendments related to labor contracts to the civil code is not “a watered down version of an initiative-law submitted to parliament in the past,” President of parliament MP Sarah Wescot-Williams said on Wednesday. When parliament was ready to handle to ordinance last Friday, members of the opposition were in the building but they did not sign in to the meeting. Because there was no quorum, the meeting had to be postponed. “What I heard is that we were handling the initiative law of the National Alliance but because it was watered down the NA…
PHILIPSBURG – Oswald Dwayne Sherwood had a prominent presence on the docket of Wednesday’s court session. His name appeared nine times – four times for petty crimes like theft, ill-treatment and trespassing, and five times for demands to execute previous conditional sentences. The court was mild and sentenced the 33-year old to the 242 days that were outstanding from previous crimes. The court saw “no added value” in punishing Sherwood for his more recent criminal activities as well and left it at an unconditional prison sentence of 242 days. The court had postponed an earlier court hearing at the request…
Marigot — With the burning of King Moumou the end of carnival on French St. Martin came to a close. Described by StMaartenNews.com photo journalist, Milton Pieters, as “people with energy to burn”, revellers came out in full force for last lap in Marigot to enjoy themselves as the 2018 carnival fete came to an end while King Moumou went up in flames. Click here to view photos by Milton Pieters aka Robin online on Facebook…
PHILIPSBURG – The anti-corruption unit (TBO) arrested member of Parliament and leader of the United St. Maarten party (USp), Frans Richardson, on Tuesday on suspicion of membership of a criminal organization, taking bribes and tax fraud. Richardson’s criminal organization focused on “recruiting votes for himself,” the public prosecutor’s office said in a press statement.
By Hilbert Haar Will we now have to go through a parliamentary elections whereby the leader of one of the participating parties is in jail? Tuesday’s arrest of Member of Parliament Frans Richardson makes this a realistic scenario. The leader of the United St. Maarten party finds himself in a tough spot. How do you explain such an arrest to the voters?
