ST. THOMAS - Two zoning changes were approved by the Senate during Thursday's legislative session.
Both zoning requests were heard in Committee of the Whole on Tuesday.
Grocery delivery service
The first request approved is for Haresh Udhwani for a use-variance to operate a grocery delivery service out of his home, which is currently zoned R-3, residential medium density.
At Tuesday's hearing, Udhwani said the three-story building is under construction now. He plans to live in the upper levels and operate the grocery delivery business out of the first floor.
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ST. THOMAS - The Senate overrode three measures at the start of Thursday's Legislative session, including a bill to fund the territory's primary election.
At the last Senate session in April, the Senate approved two elections bills. Both were vetoed by the governor in May.
In his transmittal letter to Senate President Ronald Russell, Gov. John deJongh Jr. said he vetoed both bills because changes to the territory's election laws cannot be made within six months of an election. The next general election is scheduled for Nov. 6, less than six months away.
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ST. CROIX - The territory's representative to the 2012 Scripps Spelling Bee will be spending the next few days taking in the sights and sounds of the nation's capitol after being eliminated just before the bee's semifinals round Wednesday night.
Yad Bass, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at Ricardo Richards School, said Thursday that despite his elimination from the competition he was extremely grateful for the opportunity to represent the territory and to be among the top spellers in the nation.
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ST. THOMAS - Senators passed legislation Thursday to exempt the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps - JROTC - instructors from the government's 8 percent pay cuts, a move required by the federal government in order to save the program.
At a Senate hearing in March, retired Col. Eddy Charles Sr., senior Army instructor for the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School JROTC program, said the territory's 11 JROTC instructors are paid by the federal government. The federal government submits funds to the V.I. Education Department, which then cuts the checks to the instructors, according to Charles.
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ST. CROIX - Golden Grove Correctional Facility has had a drastic increase in the number of violent incidents reported there in recent weeks that authorities say may be a result of enforcing its zero-tolerance policies.
In the last two months, attacks have included stabbings in which both inmates and Corrections Bureau staff have been injured; an inmate throwing hot tea on an officer; and an inmate choking an officer.
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ST. THOMAS - Legislators approved the governor's reprogramming bill Thursday, giving the V.I. Education Department $2 million to cover the balance of school busing contracts for the rest of the fiscal year.
The reprogramming bill also shuffles $50,000 to fund a mental health consultant, a requirement of a federal consent decree.
School buses
On April 30, school bus service on St. Croix was suspended because the Education Department owed the bus company, Abramson Enterprises Inc., more than $625,000.
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