Genevieve Whitaker

A dozen AARP VI volunteers joined AARP VI State Office staff bright and early on Wednesday, September 11 th to participate in the 12 th recognition of AARP’s National Day of Service. They gathered to work on “Operation Paperback”; a special project that provides reading materials to soldiers overseas.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

AARP VI wants you to know that some in Washington are pushing a proposal that would reduce the cost-of-living allowance for Social Security, cutting benefits not just for future recipients, but for current ones, as well. It’s called the chained CPI (Consumer Price Index), and it’s a terrible idea – and especially harmful to women, who rely more on Social Security to meet their basic needs.

New jobs and new revenue streams were all part of the focus of the discussions held on the UVI campus in St. Thomas as Judith Enck, Regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator took part in a recycling stakeholder meeting in late February.

On Saturday, February 16, 2013 AARP VI staff met with Delegate Donna Christensen at her St. Croix Ag Fair Booth to urge her to oppose cuts to our state’s Social Security COLA and veterans’ benefits that would occur if a measure known as Chained CPI were adopted. The visit by AARP VI follows weeks of letters, events, advertisements, petitions, a new Chained CPI Calculator, e-mails and phone calls asking Congress not to cut Social Security benefits and to have a separate conversation about Social Security’s future.

AARP Virgin Islands is once again making preparations for a major volunteer event! That event is officially known as the St. Croix Agricultural and Food Fair or Ag Fair to most. It is the ultimate good time for both young and old alike. “Ag Fair,” according to AARP State Director, Denyce Singleton, “Is the event everyone plans to attend. Whether it is to volunteer at the AARP VI booth or to take advantage of the sights and sounds of the fair, there is truly something for everyone.”

Where should the line be drawn on the Legislature funding itself? What are legitimate Legislative expenses? Unfortunately, there is no system of checks and balances to oversee the Legislature’s financial practices. There is no way to assure that the public’s interest is being served by the expenses created by the Legislature’s budget for itself.

Few retirees of the VI Government Employees' Retirement System (GERS) were aware of the multitude of changes proposed in Bill 29-0099 submitted to the Legislature for consideration back in August. However, toady many concerned current employees and retirees are now trying to learn more about what can be done to help the system achieve solvency.

Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) Chief Executive Officer Hugo V. Hodge, Jr. and Karl Knight, Director of the VI Energy Office (VIEO) are always combining their efforts to identify new and innovative ways to reduce the vast multitude of energy issues facing the territory.So it was no surprise when Hodge sought approval from the WAPA Board for the two to team up and seek a grant worth more than $10 million to create a solar micro grid system on the island of St. John. The project, formally known as the Solar Distributed Generation and Intelligence Grid (DG+IG), will form a partnership between WAPA, VIEO and the Clean Coalition. The Clean Coalition, a company based out of Palo Alto, has as its mission the creation of programs to aid in the development of cost-effective renewable energy solutions.Under the grant proposal submitted by the VIEO, the plan is to create a demonstration system on the island of St. John which will produce 25 percent of the island’s energy needs from a newly installed solar system. In addition, there will be a storage system associated with this new grid which will help to “smooth out” the quality of the electricity available on the grid.“By including the storage element in this plan,” Hodge stated during the Board meeting, “Intermittent electrical dips possibly caused by changes in cloud coverage will be avoided. The battery system will help to regulate the quality of the current throughout the system.”