Acting Governor Osbert Potter held his second hurricane recovery press conference in Governor Kenneth Mapp's absence, this time at Government House on St. Croix. Keeping with Mr. Mapp's style, Mr. Potter invited department and agency heads, along with FEMA to provide updates on the administration's recovery progress well over two months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Mr. Mapp is expected to return to the USVI after the Thanksgiving break.
This year government employees are required to report to work on Black Friday, which falls on the day after Thanksgiving, Mr. Potter announced. In years past, employees would be given the day off, but with the government losing so many hours because of the storms, the administration is attempting to make up for the lost time.
The Consortium on Wednesday reported on unsanitary conditions at the Central High School (C.H.S.) on St. Croix, a problem caused by low water pressure. The Dept. of Education, which said on Wednesday that the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority would be working through Friday to fix the issue, said C.H.S., Elena Christian Jr. High and the John H. Woodson High schools -- all of which hold classes at C.H.S. -- will not have classes on Friday. All other schools will be open on Friday, however.
Relative to the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called DSNAP, the Department of Human Services said that 27,877 residents had applied for assistance, with over $23 million in funds being issued. But the department said 19 percent of the DSNAP cards had yet to be loaded, and blamed connectivity problems and "infrastructure impediments" for the delay. "We do apologize for any inconveniences because I know it was promised that everybody would have their benefits by Thanksgiving. However, due to these issues, we couldn't load everything at this time," said Evril Powell, assistant D.H.S. commissioner.
Here are the other important updates from the press event.
Advertisements
