ST. THOMAS - For local artist and chef Tony Romano, the closure of his namesake restaurant in 2012 represented not just the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new venture.
With a feature story in this season's issue of "Venü Magazine," a bimonthly arts and culture publication, Romano, 58, looks to become known just as much for his artwork as his cooking.
"It's been great. I'm getting a lot of exposure," Romano said.
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ST. THOMAS - For local artist and chef Tony Romano, the closure of his namesake restaurant in 2012 represented not just the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new venture.
With a feature story in this season's issue of "Venü Magazine," a bimonthly arts and culture publication, Romano, 58, looks to become known just as much for his artwork as his cooking.
"It's been great. I'm getting a lot of exposure," Romano said.
(read more)
ST. THOMAS - Banco Popular now is offering customers same-day service at all of its Virgin Islands branches.
Beginning last week, Banco Popular began processing transactions the same day, with withdrawals and deposits immediately reflected in customers' balances.
The changes affect all Virgin Islands locations, according to Banco Popular spokeswoman Gabriela Maldonado.
Previously, the bank had taken another day to process transactions made after 3 p.m. because all items had to be collected and shipped to Puerto Rico before being sent to a federal clearing house. Newly installed scanners allow the electronic processing of transactions, eliminating the need for couriers and flights to Puerto Rico, said Oran Bowry, Banco Popular's vice president of operations for the Virgin Islands.
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The winner of the 2013 Junior Achievement 14-week competition of high school students aspiring to be upcoming business owners and entrepreneurs was team RATED Biz, which developed a successful business by producing the restaurant coupon book, "Discounts in Paradise."
The business plan the team created included the students interacting with business owners on St. Thomas, producing the product themselves, as well as selling their product to the public and donating a portion of their net profits to the Family Resource Center.
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Island Action 
