May 24, 2020

USVI Will Allow Bars and Restaurants to Reopen to Dine-In Customers Beginning Next Week; Some

USVI Will Allow Bars and Restaurants to Reopen to Dine-In Customers Beginning Next Week; Some Restrictions Apply


U.S. Virgin Islands bars and restaurants have permission to reopen to dine-in patrons beginning next Tuesday, May 26th, with certain restrictions, Governor Albert Bryan announced Thursday. The decision further sets the stage for a full reopening of the territory to tourists in June.

“Tuesday (May 26th) will allow a soft opening of restaurants and bars so they can understand what their service is going to look like, have an opportunity to call employees and properly space their tables, chairs, and to make sure they have the proper equipment to sanitize and keep the people visiting those restaurants and bars safe,” Mr. Bryan said during the regular Government House COVID-19 update.

The restrictions placed on establishments will include:

• Employees are required to wear facial coverings at all times. Governor Bryan told the Consortium while patrons are not required to wear the masks at the restaurants and bars, "it is strongly recommended."
• Establishments must provide “sanitization stations” for customers and employees.
• Restaurants and bars can only operate at half of Fire Marshal-approved seating capacity, or host a maximum of 50 customers. “That is 50 percent of what the Fire Marshal said you can put in there or 50 customers — whichever one is less,” Mr. Bryan said.
• Tables must be placed at least six feet apart.
• Establishments cannot cater to parties larger than six people. Larger groups can be split up among multiple tables that are properly spaced apart.
• Bar stools must be “spaced out as much as possible. … We know that’s going to be difficult, but we are encouraging you to do that.”

Mr. Bryan said more detailed guidance will be made public prior to Tuesday. He said the instructions to the food and beverage industry will be based on guidance by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Restaurant Association.

Read more: https://viconsortium.com/vi-business/virgin-islands-usvi-will-allow-bars-and-restaurants-to-reopen-to-dine-in-customers-beginning-next-week-some-restrictions-apply

May 24, 2020

Gov. Bryan Casts Some Blame for VI's Economic Woes on G.E.R.S. Court Order for $63 Million Payment

Governor Albert Bryan pointed to a court order forcing the central government to pay $63 million to the G.E.R.S. for poisoning the well for bank loans needed to survive the coronavirus economic meltdown.

Speaking during his Monday press briefing on the virus, Mr. Bryan spoke of the economic headwinds facing the territory, as revenues from the tourism sector have dried up. Exacerbating the downtown, over 8,000 Virgin Islanders have filed unemployment claims since the pandemic — an unprecedented number with long-lasting repercussions.

“Another part of this … that did us harm was the judgment by Judge [Curtis] Gomez that wanted us to pay $9 million a month to the G.E.R.S.,” said the governor. “Banks want to be assured that they get their money.”

The Bryan administration went to the well of FirstBank and Banco Popular for $60 million in loans to help bridge the short-term side-effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pushed back on some of the loan terms.

Read more: https://viconsortium.com/vi-economy/virgin-islands-bryan-casts-some-blame-for-territorys-economic-woes-on-g-e-r-s-court-order-for-63-million-payment-

May 24, 2020

Last stand for WIPR employees--Union leaders and station workers protest privatization of the CPB

Union leaders and station workers protest privatization of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting


A caravan composed of more than 50 automobiles carrying more than 100 demonstrators in total drove Thursday from WIPR headquarters in Hato Rey to the Capitol building in Old San Juan as a show of opposition to the order to turn over the government-operated Puerto Rico Corporation for Public Broadcasting into private hands.

WIPR, as it is commonly known, was ordered to be turned over to private hands by the federal Financial Oversight and Management Board. Although the island government has missed several deadlines to do so, Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced said last week that they already had a proposal
to do so and that her administration would comply with the oversight board order.

Gerson Guzmán, president of the General Workers Union, said the more than 80 union employees at WIPR are feeling saddened and stressed by the difficult situation.

“There is a total sense of uncertainty. We don’t know how they [the government] are planning to do it, or when, or what will happen with the specialized personnel who work at the station,” Guzmán said. “There is no reason to turn the station over to private industry hands.”

Read more: http://www.sanjuanweeklypr.com/pdf/May-22-20/local.pdf
(Page 4 of 5)

May 24, 2020

Puerto Rico government challenges fiscal board's authority in US Supreme Court

Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced has recently challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court the scope of the federal Financial Oversight and Management Board’s (FOMB) authority over the island’s fiscal decisions.

The brief filed May 15 seeks to overturn lower court rulings that upheld the oversight board’s prohibition of the “reprogramming” of funds in the 2019-2020 fiscal plan and budget.

The case deals with the interpretation of certain statutes in the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), and the ability of the government to make fiscal decisions.

“Because of Puerto Rico’s territorial status, Congress was able to enact a law that altered Puerto Rico’s framework of self-government. Yet in doing so, Congress was not seeking to eliminate Puerto Rico’s self-governing structure,” the government’s filing said in the case Wanda Vazquez Garced vs FOMB. “Congress carefully calibrated PROMESA to balance the oversight board’s considerable fiscal powers against the political powers of the island’s elected government.”

Read more: http://www.sanjuanweeklypr.com/pdf/May-22-20/local.pdf
(Page 2 of 5)

May 24, 2020

Gov. DeSantis calls children's illness tied to coronavirus 'extremely rare'

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday called a childhood illness tied to COVID-19 extremely rare, despite reports of at least eight confirmed cases in Florida. He also said parents can decide about whether they think their children are potentially at risk.

“I think it’s something parents should consider. It is extremely rare,” DeSantis said of the illness known as “multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children,” or MIS-C. DeSantis, who held a news conference in Jacksonville to announce that he is lifting coronavirus-related restrictions on youth activities, initially deferred questions about MIS-C to Bonnie White, a Ponte Vedra Beach pediatrician who treats his children and appeared at the news conference.

“It’s my understanding that we haven’t seen any cases, that Wolfson (Children’s Hospital) is monitoring seven kids for symptoms of it, but as of yesterday they haven’t had any cases,” White said.

But Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville confirmed Thursday that it had two patients with cases of MIS-C. Also, Mobeen Rathore, a physician and chief of the University of Florida’s Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology who works at the children’s hospital, said 12 patients in the Jacksonville area have been treated at Wolfson since mid-April who are now suspected to have had MIS-C.

Read more: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/335258-gov-desantis-calls-childrens-illness-tied-to-coronavirus-extremely-rare

May 24, 2020

Florida man dives into Bass Pro Shop fish tank, posts video on Facebook, deputies say

A Florida man is a fish out of water and on the run from the law after jumping into a Bass Pro Shop’s native fish tank Sunday and posting it on Facebook.

Lee County Sheriff’s deputies say they’re looking for Daniel Armendariz, 27, who faces a charge of trespassing.

Deputies say Armendariz can be seen in a Facebook video jumping over the fenced barrier at the chain’s Estero location and diving head first into the aquarium.

The diver lingers for a moment, swims to the surface and exits the pool.

Read more: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-florida-man-jumps-into-bass-pro-fish-tank-20200515-m2qgwyavfvanpjni5g2atew4b4-story.html

Bass Pro Shop will have to spend $3,000 to decontaminate the water.

May 24, 2020

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf charged with domestic battery

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor domestic battery on Friday afternoon in Palm Springs, Calif., about 110 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Leaf was released late Friday night from Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility on $5,000 bail. He is due back in court on Sept. 25 to answer to the charges.

It is unclear who the alleged victim is in the case.

It wasn’t immediately known if Leaf had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Leaf, 44, one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history, has dealt with drug, legal problems and mental health issues since flaming out of the league by the time he was 25.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/sports/bucs/2020/05/23/former-nfl-quarterback-ryan-leaf-charged-with-domestic-battery/

May 24, 2020

Ousted manager was told to manipulate COVID-19 data before state's re-opening, she says

Going further than previous comments that led to her ouster this week, a former data manager for Florida’s Department of Health said Friday that a top official directed her to change data to downplay the threat of COVID-19 in rural counties leading up to the reopening of the state.

In text messages to the Tampa Bay Times, Rebekah Jones said the Deputy Secretary for Health, Dr. Shamarial Roberson, directed her to “manipulate” data used in the state’s plan to lift stay-at-home orders.

That reopening plan was first presented by Gov. Ron DeSantis during an April 29 news conference. Jones said the manipulated data was included in that presentation.

“Shamarial Roberson, Deputy Secretary (for) Health, asked me to manipulate the data to mislead the public to support reopening mostly rural counties after the preliminary plan was already drafted and about to be presented,” Jones said in the statement.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/05/22/ousted-manager-was-told-to-manipulate-covid-19-data-before-states-re-opening-she-says/

May 23, 2020

Judge keeps suit alive against state of Florida over unemployment compensation system

A Tallahassee judge Friday shot down a request to dismiss a lawsuit against the state alleging it failed to maintain its online unemployment compensation application system.

Circuit Judge John Cooper told attorneys for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), which oversees unemployment benefits, that he wants to examine evidence in the case, filed on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Floridians who lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic.

The suit was lodged earlier this month by Tallahassee attorneys Marie Mattox and Gautier Kitchen. It names over a dozen individuals who say they were unable to complete the application because of flaws in the software used and bureaucratic red tape.

Mattox and Kitchen want the judge to order DEO to fix the system within 48 hours and immediately award compensation to more than 400,000 applicants who have had their claims rejected or on appeal.

Read more: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/22/judge-denies-request-scuttle-lawsuit-over-florida-unemployment-system/5244060002/

May 23, 2020

Hot spots in Lake Worth, Belle Glade threaten progress against coronavirus

Even as Palm Beach County emerges from its coronavirus shutdown, hot spots have emerged in Belle Glade and Lake Worth, sickening hundreds, cramming the intensive care unit at the Lakeside Medical Center and threatening the county’s overall progress against the deadly virus.

As of Friday morning, a combined 598 people in Belle Glade and Lake Worth zip codes had tested positive for coronavirus, according to figures released by the state Department of Health. Those 598 cases represented 12.3 percent of the county’s entire caseload.

Commissioners, public health and civic officials say a variety of factors - language barriers, poverty and distrust of the government - have contributed to a sort of perfect storm that has led to the hot spots in Lake Worth and Belle Glade.

The county has begun to add additional resources to the fight against the virus in those communities, including more mobile testing and the distribution of masks.

Read more: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20200523/hot-spots-in-lake-worth-belle-glade-threaten-progress-against-coronavirus