ST. THOMAS - Federal agents arrested a high-ranking DPNR official at the Red Hook ferry dock on Friday after they said they saw him using a DPNR boat for drug trafficking and found him in possession of 7 kilograms of cocaine.
Roberto Tapia, chief of enforcement for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, was armed and wearing clothing bearing the DPNR insignia and in possession of a bag containing more than 15 pounds of cocaine, according to a statement issued Saturday by U.S. Attorney Ronald Sharpe.
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A graduating senior at Good Hope School on St. Croix has accepted an offer to enroll at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Jaleel Christopher, 17, signed a letter of acceptance to the academy during a ceremony at Friedensberg Moravian Church in Frederiksted on Sunday.
"When I got the acceptance, it was a great honor for me," Christopher said of receiving an acceptance letter from V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen.
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A federal judge has given preliminary approval to a proposed settlement agreement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the V.I. government that requires the territory to fix conditions at the St. Thomas jails so that they meet constitutional standards.
The 26-page agreement would settle a 19-year-old court case over inhumane conditions at the St. Thomas jails by forcing the territory to remedy the situation.
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ST. CROIX - A number of convicted murderers and rapists - as well as Alric Simmonds, a high-ranking staff member for Gov. Charles Turnbull who was convicted of embezzling more than $1 million - are scheduled to stand before the V.I. Parole Board next week to be considered for release.
The extensive list of 39 inmates up for parole, plus six inmates facing revocation of their parole, was released last week and comprises people convicted of murder, serious assaults, attempted murder, rape, robbery, gun charges and a few property crimes.
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Malcolm Adolph 'Butch' Jackson
Services will be Tuesday for Malcolm A. Jackson, 64, also known as Butch, who died May 7 on St. Thomas. A former police officer and seaman, Malcolm loved the water. He lived on it and died on it, and, at his request, his ashes will be returned to it.
This first service will be held at 9 a.m. at Turnbull's Funeral Home on St. Thomas, after which the body will be sent to Puerto Rico for cremation. A second service and disposition of the ashes is planned for July on St. Croix.
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ST. THOMAS - The resilience of the Little Switzerland building on Main Street, which smoldered for almost 16 hours April 29 and 30 but remains structurally intact, is because of architectural features historically rooted in a series of devastating fires that razed Charlotte Amalie's trade centers in the early 1800s.
Although it was built in 1946, the Little Switzerland building retained steel columns from when it was the Center Theater from 1946 to the early 1970s, and its metal roof is an example of one feature adopted in response to a series of major fires in the early 1800s, said Sean Krigger, acting director of the Virgin Islands State Historic Preservation Office.
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Island Action 
