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CommunityVI Government

CONGRESSWOMAN PLASKETT PRESENTS $42.4M CHECK TO DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES HEAD START PROGRAM

by Daniel E. Ottley
written by Daniel E. Ottley

CROIX, USVI – Congresswoman Plaskett, a Member of the House Ways and Means, Budget and Agriculture Committees released the following statement after presenting a check to the Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner and the DHS Head Start program team:

“I am thrilled to celebrate a grant in the amount of $42.4 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Virgin Islands Department of Human Services Head Start program. This funding is for construction grants and will require zero local match to fund the construction and restoration of facilities territory-wide.”

DHS Commissioner Kim Causey-Gomez shared, “The part that I love the best about being Commissioner is being able to serve all the populations of the Virgin Islands. We start with our little people in Head Start and our office of Child Care and we go all the way through every population. If we don’t do this right for our children, we will not be right for our community. Providing access to Head Start supports children’s growth by providing a positive learning environment through learning and development, health, and family well-being, all which have a positive impact on children’s preschool readiness. The Territory embraces this opportunity to effectively leverage the Federal dollars that will impact the early childhood education environment for the children of the Virgin Islands for generations to come. We are actively recruiting children for Head Start school year 2022-2023. Sign-up today!”

Also present were several other representatives from the Department of Human Services, including DHS Assistant Commissioner Carla Benjamin who stated that the grant funds will ensure that DHS is able to renovate, upgrade and build new facilities so that the territory’s children are able to learn in a rich environment. DHS Head Start Administrator, Masikia Lewis also shared that the landmark amount of funding that the territory’s Head Start program has been awarded will help construct state of the art, mega, multi-purpose head start centers around our territory.

The Director of the Office of Disaster Recovery, Mrs. Adrienne Williams-Octalien also shared, “We here at the Office of Disaster Recovery take deep pride in rebuilding the Virgin Islands. We call it a legacy of resilience.”

The Head Start program was launched in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as an eight-week demonstration project designed to help break the cycle of poverty. The program promotes the school readiness of infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children in a variety of settings including centers, family childcare, and children’s homes. Furthermore, this vital program engages parents or other key family members in positive relationships, with a focus on family well-being, and creates opportunities for participation in leadership roles, including feedback on program operations.

At the check presentation event, Congresswoman Plaskett also stated, “I would like to extend a special thank you to DHS Commissioner Gomez, Assistant Commissioner Benjamin and Head Start Administrator Masikia Lewis for the excellent work they do to support the children in our territory. We must remain unwavering in our commitment and in our advocacy and support for our next generations.”

Click here to view a recording of the check presentation event.

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CommunityPress ReleasesVI Government

Governor Bryan’s Executive Order Declaring a State of Emergency to Mitigate Sargassum

by Daniel E. Ottley
written by Daniel E. Ottley

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS — Governor Albert Bryan Jr. issued an Executive Order declaring a State of Emergency in the Territory to mitigate the impact from the unusually high amounts of Sargassum seaweed piling up on USVI shores and having a negative impact on water-production capabilities on St. Croix.

Governor Bryan also has sent a request to the Biden Administration to declare a federal emergency on St. Croix regarding the Sargassum inundation, and teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are expected to be on the ground in the Territory on Sunday, July 24, to assist the Government of the Virgin Islands (GVI) in coordinating a response.

Because of the Sargassum build-up, maintenance efforts have increased to keep the water intake for the desalinization plant on St. Croix clear from seaweed and biological debris resulting from the ecosystems associated with large Sargassum blooms. In addition, reduced water production could also create a negative effect on the V.I. Water and Power Authority’s power-generating capacity.

While there currently are no negative impacts regarding public health resulting from the Sargassum build-up, Governor Bryan is advising residents of St. Croix to conserve water as the GVI takes steps to resolve the issues caused by the seaweed.

“I want to assure St. Croix that we don’t anticipate any impact on public health from this annual invasion of Sargassum in our waters, including the stench that we all, unfortunately, have learned to live with every summer,” Governor Bryan said. “However, the seaweed overrunning our beaches also brings the potential for disruption to businesses and other negative financial impacts to our economy. I have assembled a team that includes primary public agencies, including Health, DPNR and VITEMA, and the semiautonomous agencies that have been meeting to coordinate efforts with FEMA and other federal partners.”

The Executive Order that Governor Bryan issued designates Department of Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Jean-Pierre Oriol as the incident commander and directs VITEMA to activate the Emergency Operation Centers; directs the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs to institute relevant price freezes on certain goods and services; directs all agencies under the direction of the Governor to fully cooperate with DPNR’s efforts; and suspends certain procurement requirements relevant to mitigating the issue.

While the immediate threat from the Sargassum is specific to St. Croix, pre-emptive efforts also are underway on St. Thomas to prevent adverse impacts to water-production capabilities in that district.

DPNR is monitoring the National Oceanography and Atmospheric Administration’s Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System to track and forecast Sargassum blooms and potential impacts, and the seaweed is forecast to affect Caribbean waters into mid-October.

The Bryan-Roach Administration is investing in the Territory’s people, infrastructure and future through transparency, stabilizing the economy, restoring trust in the government and ensuring that recovery projects are completed as quickly as possible. Visit transparency.vi.gov

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LegalWorld

Gensler has to act soon’: Congress, Wall Street await more SEC action amid crypto meltdown

by Daniel E. Ottley
written by Daniel E. Ottley

With crypto platforms going bankrupt and investors unable to withdraw funds from some crypto outfits, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is calling on the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to act.

“Congress needs to act, but the SEC has a responsibility to use its authorities to put guardrails in place and crack down on crypto actors that break the rules,” Senator Warren told Yahoo Finance.

“I’ve been ringing the alarm bell on crypto and the need for stronger rules to protect consumers and financial stability,” Warren added. “Too many crypto firms have been able to scam customers and leave ordinary investors holding the bag while insiders make off with their money.”

It’s not just members of Congress — analysts are also baffled as to why SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has not been more aggressive.

“Gensler has to act soon,” says Cowen analyst Jaret Seiburg. “Otherwise, we expect progressives and conservatives will blame him for why average investors have lost money in crypto.”

‘We have rules in place’

Under Gensler’s leadership, the SEC has been reluctant to propose rules to regulate crypto or apply existing securities laws. And this after Gensler has repeatedly said over the past year and a half that nearly all cryptocurrency tokens are securities, and platforms that trade those tokens are exchanges.

A lobbyist speaking on a condition of anonymity says it seem much of the agenda at the SEC is coming from the chair’s office while career folks at agency aren’t playing the role they have historically.

More enforcement action is expected, according to one crypto industry lobbyist, who also says a significant amount of the crypto industry is afraid to proactively engage with the SEC over fears of enforcement actions.

When asked by Yahoo Finance in an interview on Thursday why the SEC hasn’t acted more aggressively to write rules to protect investors, Chair Gensler said he rejected the premise

“We have rules in place for what it means to be an investment company, like a mutual fund, when you put your money in,” said Gensler.

Gensler also pointed to enforcement actions the Commission has taken against crypto firms that violated securities laws, specifically, crypto company BlockFi.

‘Article by :yahoo finance

 

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Sports

Drew leagues starts ,Kyrie Irvin Not Playing?

by Daniel E. Ottley
written by Daniel E. Ottley
Dave McMenaminESPN Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 42 points in a successful return to the Drew League while teaming up with DeMar DeRozan for a 104-102 win in L.A.’s famed pro-am basketball league Saturday.

Longtime Drew League commissioner Dino Smiley told ESPN he expected Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving to play in the game preceding James and DeRozan’s, but that did not occur.

“We still have a couple games left today and then six tomorrow, so we’ll see,” Smiley said late Saturday afternoon.

Smiley said Irving playing Saturday “sounded like it was going to be a sure bet, but I don’t know what happened.”

While  the Drew League’s Saturday slate was being played near Compton, California, some 55 miles away in Thousand Oaks, a participant at Los Angeles Lakersassistant coach Phil Handy’s girls’ basketball skills camp posted a video of Irving working with the campers to her Instagram account.

Handy coached Irving for five seasons when they were both a part of the Cleveland Cavaliersorganization.

The Drew League game Saturday marked the first public glimpse of the 37-year-old James playing basketball in more than three months. He missed seven of the Lakers’ final eight regular-season games in the spring because of a left ankle sprain and missed 26 games in all of 2021-22, which ended up being one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.

“I’m 100 percent healthy,” James told ESPN during the first half of action.

He finished with 42 points on 18-for-36 shooting (2-for-13 from 3), 16 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists. DeRozan, a Drew League staple who invited James to play on his and fellow Southern California native Casper Ware’s team, scored 30 points on 9-for-23 shooting with 14 rebounds.

James and DeRozan’s team, called the MMV Cheaters, trailed team Black Pearl Elite by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before storming back.

DeRozan’s feed to James for a two-handed, rim-bending dunk with 1:22 remaining put MMV up by six and seemingly in control. But BPE followed with a 3-pointer and a layup created by stealing an inbounds pass, and James was suddenly in jeopardy of losing his first game back at the Drew League in more than a decade.

Following a timeout, MMV inbounded the ball to James, who was fouled with 4.5 seconds left, sending him to the free throw line with his team up 103-102.

He made the first. And then things got interesting.

“I walked up to LeBron up the end, and I told him, ‘Hey, I need one [miss],'” Mike Nwabuzor of BPE, who plays professionally overseas, said afterward. “And he actually smoked the free throw. So that was probably the best moment. But the whole game was fun. Great competition. It’s just great to share the court with him.”

James missed the second free throw, but Ethan Alvano of BPE put up a potential game-winning 3 at the buzzer that fell short, and James raised his fist in victory.

“I thought we really could have pulled it off,” said Alvano, who recently signed a two-year contract to play in South Korea. “We had some mistakes down the stretch. But, man, that’s a lifelong dream to play against, with, whatever with LeBron James. Someone that I grew up watching, someone I grew up idolizing. So it was an honor, it was a blessing to share the court with him.”

It was James’ first appearance at the Drew League — which was founded in 1973 and has seen a pilgrimage of NBA players descend on the Charles Drew Junior High School gymnasium during the summers for decades — since the NBA lockout in 2011.

“When that first happened it was a surprise because Baron [Davis] brought him in to play, and I think he was coming just to watch, and then he got excited seeing the crowd and the game and then he wanted a jersey,” Smiley said. “So, that’s how that one took place.”

Davis was one of about a dozen former or current NBA players on hand to watch Saturday, a group that also included Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors; Montrezl Harrell of the Charlotte Hornets; and Kendrick Nunnand Talen Horton-Tucker of the Lakers.

Irving’s absence erased much of the intrigue for the day surrounding James and his former teammate.

Irving recently picked up his $36.5 million player option for the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets, and James is in the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, although he will be eligible to sign an extension with L.A. starting next month.

Los Angeles has engaged Brooklyn in trade talks in recent weeks to attempt to acquire Irving in a deal that would send Russell Westbrookto the Nets, sources told ESPN. Thus far, those talks have not progressed toward an agreement.

Instead, the focus was on the court, with James — four years into his Lakers tenure — ingratiating himself with the L.A. basketball scene.

“For him to be here and come to the middle of the ‘hood where regular people are every day that look up to him, he’s a superstar so for him to come here and grace these people with his presence, I think it’s super dope,” Alvano said. “I’m glad he did it and it’s great for the community.”

Added Smiley: “It was just an epic, epic afternoon of basketball.”

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Sports

Tim Duncan inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

by Daniel E. Ottley
written by Daniel E. Ottley

Tim Duncan took his rightful place in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday evening, not just as an inductee, but as one of the greatest of all time.

He started his speech by saying that this was the most nervous he had ever been, which tracks. He’s not known for public speaking, but his memorable speech left few dry eyes.

Duncan told his story, not by talking about himself, but about the people who helped him along the way. It’s the story of a swimmer from the islands who lost his mom at 14, the same age he picked up a basketball. Standing at the podium Saturday, he talked about the poem and work ethic his parents instilled in him.

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.”

“They told me, and made me have pride in everything I did. Be the best at everything I did. Be happy with what your role is, or where you are, and try to be the best at that, and I’m here because of them,” he said.

Duncan’s voice broke as he talked to his children, telling them they were special human beings and he can’t wait to see what’s next for them. He got just as emotional when he talked about his basketball family.

“I can’t wait to see you guys up here, and for me not to be up here,” Duncan said to Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. “It was an honor sharing the court with you guys. Thank you for everything, thank you for your friendship, thank you for your brotherhood, thank you for all the experiences we shared on that court, thank you.”

His voice wavered as he addressed coach Gregg Popovich, last but not least.

“After I got drafted you came to my island, you sat with my friends and my family, you talked to my dad. I thought that was normal, it’s not,” Duncan said. “You are an exceptional person. Thank you for teaching me about basketball, but even beyond that, teaching me that it’s not all about basketball. It’s about what’s happening in the world, about your family.”

The Big Fundamental needs no introduction to fans of the game, especially not fans of the beautiful game, but his resume is so absurd it’s worth reading over a few times just to remember the history he was able to put on the books.

  • Five-time NBA Champion (1999, 2003 2005, 2007, 2014)
  • Three-time Finals MVP (1999, 2003, 2005)
  • Two-time NBA MVP (2002, 2003)
  • 1998 Rookie of the Year
  • 15-time All Star
  • 15-time All-NBA selection (tied for most all-time with Kareem and Kobe)
  • 15-time All-Defense (most all time)
  • 26,496 career points (15th all-time)
  • 3,020 career blocks (5th all-time)
  • 15,091 career rebounds (6th all-time)
  • 9,370 playoff minutes (most all-time)
  • 1,001 wins (3rd all-time)

He accomplished all that, became the only player to start for a title-winning team in three different decades, and fans in San Antonio know he was so much more. Nobody would argue that any of the accomplishments listed above, or even all of them together, is the reason that Duncan is being enshrined this weekend. That’s less about what he did and more about how he did it.

His textbook post moves, his patented bank shot, and his ultra-disciplined defense all made him unstoppable on the court and provided a model for big men after him to learn from. His game wasn’t the sexiest, but it was beautiful to purists and brutal to opponents. That’s also not why he’s being inducted.

Tim Duncan is a Hall of Fame basketball player because he is a Hall of Fame person. He was the rock-solid foundation of a 20-year dynasty not because of his prodigious skill, but because of the work ethic he used to sharpen those skills. He wasn’t just the leader because he was the best player, he was the best player because he was a tremendous leader.

“He’s the most selfless individual I’ve ever been around,” said coach Gregg Popovich. “All he really cares about is being a good guy, living his life, doing the right thing, it kind of leaks into over  basketball which was his job for so long. He just wanted to do the best job he possibly could, but mostly to win, to help this program be the best, to help teammates be better. His humor, his leadership, just his demeanor and his way of living his life made all of our lives so much easier, that’s just who he is.”

Those who try to diminish the on-court accomplishments of Duncan often point to the (future) Hall of Fame coach he spent his whole career with, or the multiple current and future Hall of Fame players he played with like David Robinson, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. However, all of those people will tell you how centrally important Duncan was, and how he was able to bring the best out of them without being a jerk about it. They’ll also tell you that at his peak, he was as unstoppable as anybody else with a bust in Springfield.

Robinson had been an NBA scoring leader and played for some good teams in San Antonio, but the arrival of a spindly Wake Forest graduate ushered in the Twin Towers era in San Antonio and made the Spurs title contenders. They won it in 1999 behind a Finals MVP performance from Duncan, and played Starcraft as a team between games and on the plane ride home.

A threepeat by fellow inductee Kobe Bryant and prime Shaq was ended by a Spurs team led by Duncan, who had just won his second MVP award in a row and put up 28 points, 12 boards and 5 assists per game in that series.

That 2003 Spurs roster has some recognizable names looking back, but Robinson was about to ride into the sunset and Parker and Ginobili were still quite young.

Duncan averaged 24 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks and a steal per game in the Finals, capping it with a 21-20-10-8 game that those who watched the tape will tell you was actually a Finals-clinching quadruple double.

That’s wildly impressive, but it’s arguably more impressive that he had a legitimate argument for another Finals MVP award over a decade later after publicly vowing to avenge the previous year’s defeat. His longevity is nearly unparalleled in the modern game, and his greatness is the common thread tying San Antonio’s championships together.

“On a professional level, the most concise way to put it is, ‘no Duncan, no championships.’ And on a personal level, I love the guy,” Popovich said.

“With his teammates, he set the quiet example of competing every day,” Pop said. “He always took the lead, even Manu and Tony looked toward him, and he gave of himself in a very humble and quiet way. As far as the teams were concerned, the championship teams were all kind of different. New guys kept coming in to round it out, and he was the guy who welcomed them all. He was the one who made them all feel comfortable and let them know what he expected of them. His standards were really high, he suffered no fools, but he gave everybody an opportunity to commit to the role and fulfill it.”

He was a coach on the floor beyond the X’s and O’s, and when his playing days ended, he didn’t stop being a leader. He stayed around the practice facility, putting the young guys through their paces and eventually serving as an assistant coach for a year. Lonnie Walker IV tells a story about the time the retired Duncan worked him out so hard he puked, then they kept going.

It wasn’t even just his teammates. Multiple opponents have told stories about Duncan giving them pointers mid-game about how he was beating them, and how they could do better against him next time down the floor.

Take the brash, cocky, ‘I know I’m the man and you can’t stop me’ greatness of Larry Bird telling opponents how he’d beat them before doing it, and replace the trash talk with the genuine care of a special kindergarten teacher. Duncan didn’t talk like that to get in his opponents heads and intimidate them, he actually wanted to teach the game while playing it, even if it gave his competitors an advantage, maybe because he knew he could still beat them.

Sean Elliott told a story about how he invited Tim to his house and showed him how to play Mortal Kombat, and within five minutes Duncan was beating him on the machine in Elliott’s home. That’s when Elliott says he learned that you could show him something you’ve been doing for years, like Timmy did to those kids in the league, but he’d turn around in 10 minutes and be better than you.

Elliott learned on the morning of his induction that Duncan actually mastered Mortal Kombat at college, meaning that he sat through the lesson while suppressing a smile and thinking about the hit combos he was about to unleash. He could have smack talked his new teammate, but let his game do the talking instead.

That’s Duncan the competitor, the quiet assassin, the one who loves to win and hates to lose, even at videogames.

He’s a kid from the islands who kept a promise to his mom. Gregg Popovich made a promise to Duncan’s father too.

“He told me in his last days, pulled me over and said, ‘My boy better not change, you cannot let my boy change, I want him to be the same person he is today,” Pop said. “He is.”

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