ST. CROIX - The territory joined the nation on Tuesday in honoring fallen law enforcement officers as part of the annual Peace Officers Memorial Day.
In accordance with proclamations from President Barack Obama and Gov. John deJongh Jr., flags representing the Virgin Islands and the United States were flown at half-staff as family members of fallen officers, retirees and others gathered outside the Violet Damideaux Pavilion.
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St. Croix
Officer Cuthbert Chapman
Officer Wilbur Francis
Officer Leopold Fredericks
Officer Dexter Mardenborough
Officer Akeem Newton
Officer Patrick Sweeney
St. Thomas
Officer Richard Callwood
Officer Ariel Frett
Officer Steven Hodge
Officer Rudel Parrot
Officer Leroy Swan
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ST. THOMAS - The Senate Human Services, Recreation and Sports Committee will take up a bill today on severing parental rights.
The V.I. Code contains language that allows the Family Division of the V.I. Superior Court to terminate parental rights. The bill to be considered today, sponsored by Sen. Louis Hill, amends the existing statute to expand the requirements for severing parental rights.
According to existing law, if a child has been removed from the home because of abuse or neglect and placed in out-of-home care for at least six months, but in that time efforts to ensure the child's safety have not been successful, the court can terminate the parent's rights to that child.
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ST. CROIX - Defendants in the V.I. Superior Case filed on behalf of six of the seven members of the St. Croix Board of Elections say they are ready to defend themselves against charges of defamation of character and to deny they created a scandal.
The members of the Board of Elections - Rupert Ross Jr., Lisa Harris Moorhead, Dodson James, Anita Davila, Carmen Golden and Raymond Williams - filed suit in V.I. Superior Court against members of the V.I. Action Group, fellow Board of Elections member Adelbert Bryan and others who the board members say are trying to ruin their reputations.
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The V.I. Labor Department is getting some federal help - in the amount of $7.8 million - to assist workers who lost their jobs in the recent closure of the HOVENSA oil refinery on St. Croix.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, $3,631,937 of the $7,842,250 grant will be released to the Virgin Islands immediately.
"This is one of the first major funding to be received by the territory in the wake of the HOVENSA closing," Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen said. "I would like to thank Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and the Obama administration for keeping their promise to provide timely assistance for the territory as it faces a major economic challenge."
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ST. THOMAS - The prosecution continued to build its case Tuesday in the murder trial for Maliek Ostalaza and Jevern Phillip, accused of killing 26-year-old Kevin James in 2010.
Ostalaza and Phillip are facing multiple charges including first-degree murder. The case is being tried in V.I. Superior Court Judge James Carroll III's courtroom.
On the morning of March 6, 2010, James had just left Jaguar's nightclub with two other people in a Jeep when shots were fired at their vehicle as they near the basketball court in Hospital Ground.
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Island Action 
