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Pirates at the Point
76 degrees in Crown Bay St. Thomas
74% humidity.
30.04 Barometric Pressure – rising.
East Wind at 23 MPH.
Point 01 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. We have had 1.81 inches of rain this year – so far.
Doppler radar shows: Cloudy skies with widely Scattered Showers
Satellite photo shows: front passing through
The National Weather Service says: Partly cloudy with rain showers in the morning, then mostly cloudy with rain showers. High of 77°F. Winds from the NNE at 10-20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Next FULL moon is February 7
Cruise Ship News: Ruby Princess at Austin Monsanto Marine Terminal:
At the top of the news on Thursday January 26
The Community Foundation is releasing the 2011 USVI KIDS COUNT DATA BOOK. Good News and Hard news in the Kids Count report. The data is from 2009, which is the last year for which the data is all compiled.
Bad news first. 30% of Virgin Islands families live beneath the poverty line – 35% on St Croix and 24% on St. Thomas. More than 55% of our children live in single parent homes and 8% live in a home without a relative, not father, nor mother nor grandparents. 73% of 7th graders are reading below grade level, 12% of all babies are born to teen age mothers and 49% of our kids lack basic immunizations. The number of children in families getting TANF or SNAP or Women Infants and Children’s State Office benefits is on the increase and the number of school meals served to our children is also up.
The Good News – Infant mortality rate on St. Thomas is 2.2 % much lower than the national average while the infant mortality rate on St Croix is slightly about average nationwide. Birth weight of our babies is improving and in 2009 is slightly better than the national average. Median income is up from about 30,000 per year in 2007 up to 43 thousand in 2009. The teen High School drop out rate is on a steady path of improvement – below 10% for the first time since data has been collected.
And the number of our youth who are earning a college degree is on a steady increase now at 7.6% – the highest since the data has been recorded. 65% are earning a High School diploma, a slight decline. What is worrisome is the percent of teen agers who are not in school or working – now almost 19% of the total of teenagers.
While the juvenile arrest rate has gotten slightly better from 2008, the book shows that approximately 673 out of every 100,000 youths, aged 10-17, are still being picked up for violent crimes.
One interesting trend is the decline in the number of children as a percent of the whole population. As the Virgin Islands population ages, children are about 24% of the total – back in 1990, children were 34% of the whole population. The number of teen agers who die of all causes is down from all prior years – a trend that indicates the success of safety and health campaigns.
This is the 12th year that the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands has presented its Kids Count data, which is done in conjunction with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and partnerships with local nonprofit organizations, the V.I. Police Department, and other government departments such as Human Services, Education, and Health, which help provide the data.
Lieutenant Governor Gregory Francis auctioned the first of the properties in tax arrears. No info on who bought or what was paid, but one on St John was sold at auction; seventeen acres at Frenchman’s Bay and three parcels in downtown Charlotte Amalie along with one in Frenchtown, and one in Fredenhoj. The owners have a year to come forward and pay the taxes and reclaim their property.
Good News Maker of the Day is Antionette Boynes who is at the Univ of South Florida – she was inducted in the Phi Sigma Theta National Honor Society She is the daughter of Anthon and Yvette Boynes abd she is a grad of Ivanna Eudora Kean High School. Now an honors student at the Univ of South Florida. Antionette Boynes you are making good news.
