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$80,000 Spent On Govt. Christmas Decorations

PHILIPSBURG--During the handling of the draft 2017 budget discussion in the Central Committee meeting on Monday, Member of Parliament (MP) Tamara Leonard requested information on the amount spent by Government for Christmas decorations this year.

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Urgent Parliament Meeting Requested On Pearl Of China

PHILIPSBURG--An urgent public meeting of Parliament has been requested by three Members of Parliament about the Pearl of China project slated for the Belair beachfront.

The request comes two days after the symbolic ground-breaking, about three weeks following the announcement by Finance Minister Richard Gibson Sr. of the 326-room hotel with showroom and 450 executive apartments and less than a week before the September 26 Parliamentary election Read more

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Tamara: Less Revenue From Cruise, But No Plan From Govt.

PHILIPSBURG--The country’s cruise tourism numbers, both in revenue and passenger arrivals, continue to dwindle, but the current National Alliance (NA)-led Government appears to have no plan to save the industry, United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Read more

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Tamara Writes Vromi Minister On Discrepancies In Cleaning Contract

PHILIPSBURG--Discrepancies and duplications between the Solid Waste Collection Contracts 2016-2021 and the still-to-be-allocated District Cleaning 2016-2018 contracts have been raised in a letter from United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard to Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Angel Meyers Read more

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Leonard Submits Questions To Gibson About Moody’S And Airport Meeting

PHILIPSBURG--United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard has submitted a series of questions to Finance Minister Richard Gibson about the downgr Read more

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School Teachers Want Public Education Director Removed

PHILIPSBURG--A majority of public school teachers seem to have an issue with Director of Public Education Glenderline Davis-Holiday, according to information gathered at an urgent gathering of educators in the sector on Thursday morning. Leading the charge is Member of Parliament (MP) Tamara Leonard, who was approached by some teachers.< Read more

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Mps Pepper Ministers With Questions In Budget Debate

Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo (standing) speaks in the budget debate on Monday.

 PHILIPSBURG--The 2016 draft budget was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Richard Gibson on Monday morning in Parliament House. Members of Parliament (MPs), who had up to 90 minutes to speak, peppered the Council of Ministers with a barrage of questions spanning from the budget and Government policies to general topics of interest.

  The seven Ministers, who all made presentations about the working of their Ministries on Monday, will be back in Parliament today, Tuesday, starting at 2:00pm to deliver answers to the questions from MPs Read more

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Tot Is ‘Disruptive’ To Growth, Says Gibson

PHILIPSBURG--The five-per-cent turnover tax (ToT) is “disruptive” and an “impediment to economic growth” due to its “multiplier effect” on the cost of goods and services, Finance Minister Richard Gibson told Parliament on Wednesday.

“We have to do away with it or move it down,” Gibson said of the ToT. He has the same belief about the country’s profit tax. It is tough to enforce the profit tax system, he said Read more

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Four Mps Question Budget Allocations

PHILIPSBURG--Only four Members of Parliament (MPs) have so far questioned the allocation in the draft 2016 budget as its handling started in the Central Committee of Parliament on Monday. Only MP Tamara Leonard (UP) requested information related to the budget in writing prior to the start of the debate Read more

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Urgent Parliament Meeting Requested About Nipa Issue

PHILIPSBURG--An urgent Parliament meeting has been requested about issues related to the National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) by Members of Parliament (MPs) Leona Marlin-Romeo (independent), Read more

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De Weever seeks legal advice, suspends Parliament meeting

PHILIPSBURG--Second Deputy Parliament Chairman Cornelius de Weever took charge of one of the shortest Parliament meetings in the country's history on Tuesday and effectively thwarted the new coalition's move to appoint a new chairperson and two deputy chairpersons of Parliament.
  The meeting for which nine Members of Parliament (MPs) signed in, lasted approximately a minute and nine seconds Read more

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MOU to bring second-chance tertiary education opportunity

PHILIPSBURG--An initiative by I Am SXM Foundation/Education For Us All that aims to bring education opportunities to the youth, in particular those who are hard workers but are disadvantaged through circumstance, achieved a milestone on Friday with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with University of St. Martin (USM).

The MOU was signed in the presence of Education Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs, the initiative’s first applicant Angela Brown and a number of representatives of each party.

The aim is to address a gap between students who may well be top performers and access to higher education, in particular when lack of the Dutch nationality gets in the way Read more

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Talented youths win TelCell Breakthrough competition

MAHO--The Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino’s Theatre Royale exploded with talent on Saturday for the third annual TelCell Breakthrough Talent Show Competition.

Winning the various categories were Aldi Farrell for instruments; Rumari Rogers for rapping; Lian Borsje for dance, Kyanni Atmpawiro for vocals and Paul Brown for “beatboxer.” Special awards were presented to Rogers for Best Team Spirit; Lisha Maduro for Most Punctual; Aldi Farrell for Producers Pick; Celina Monsanto for Most Creative Performance and SMS Campaign winner Leann Richardson.

The TelEm Group said the competition was successfully managed through collaboration of a team of volunteers from TelEm Group and promoter Xtratight Entertainment.

Xtraight Entertainment representative Berteaux “Mr Read more

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MPs question Dennis on Zebec settlement at Port

~ Sarah’s call for more speaker’s time voted down ~

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) fired off numerous questions seeking clarity on the Harbour’s settlement with Zebec Development during an emergency meeting on Monday.

The meeting was adjourned after the first round of questions to give Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson a chance to obtain answers. The meeting will continue at 2:00pm today, Tuesday.

A proposal by Democratic Party (DP) MP Sarah Wescot-Williams at the start of the meeting for the speaking time to be increased to 30 minutes in the first round and 20 minutes in the second round was voted down with eight MPs voting against the proposal and six voting for it.

The vote was called after United People’s (UP) party MP Franklin Meyers said he opposed Wescot-Williams’ proposal Read more

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Editorial - Social accountability

The decision to implement age restrictions for adult-oriented shows in Carnival Village during the 2016 Carnival season (see related story) was the right thing to do. Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard (UP) had touched on the issue in Saturday’s paper.

She pointed to the Children Act of 2012 in Trinidad and Tobago, and called for fining neglectful parents whose offspring are out on the street without adult supervision Read more

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SCDF to implement age restrictions for Village

PHILIPSBURG--The board of St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) has taken a decision to implement age restrictions for Carnival Village. As of Carnival 2016, no one fourteen years old or younger will be allowed entrance to adult-oriented shows in Carnival Village without adult supervision.

The decision was made as part of new operational changes the foundation has been rolling out over the past few weeks.

The only exception to this new regulation will be for the Youth Extravaganza and other youth-oriented shows that are held in Carnival Village Read more

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MP Tamara calls for youth regulations during Carnival

PHILIPSBURG--As preparations for Carnival 2016 are already taking shape, addressing the much-talked-about involvement of young people in adult-oriented festival events must be dealt with for their best interest and development, says United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Tamara Leonard.

“We have all seen very young children out all hours of the night, mothers pushing babies in strollers behind Carnival trucks Read more

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Achievements and lack thereof highlighted as MPs close year

PHILIPSBURG--The achievements or lack thereof in the first Parliamentary year of the second Parliament came into focus as Members of Parliament (MPs) closed off the 2014-2015 legislative year in Parliament House on Monday. The 2015-2016 year opens today, Tuesday, with much pomp and ceremony.

The call to work together was issued by fraction leaders representing the coalition partners while the two opposition fraction leaders MP William Marlin (National Alliance) and Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party) were straightforward with their criticism about lack of action by the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

Destiny impaired

UP fraction leader MP Franklin Meyers laid the blame for the country’s stagnated growth and development in the past year at the door of The Hague saying that government and Parliament have spent the past year battling instructions and financial constraints due to financial supervision Read more

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Tamara urges SZV to work on local specialists referral

PHILIPSBURG--"It is unacceptable for a visiting specialist, who benefits from the needs of St. Maarten patients, to treat those patients like they are less than human," said United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard in a press statement on Sunday.

The MP said she was outraged about reports she has received from patients, who had appointments with visiting specialist Dr Read more

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Officer critical after being shot in neck responding to robbery

~ One robber shot, caught; other on the run ~

By Judy H. Fitzpatrick

PHILIPSBURG--Bike patrol Police Officer Gamali “Benji” Benjamin was shot in the neck and reportedly also the head while responding to an armed robbery at Oro Diamante on Front Street around 1:00pm Wednesday.

Benjamin was in critical condition and clinging to life at SMMC up to late last night andreports indicated that efforts were being made to fly him abroad for further medical attention.

One robber was shot and captured and a second is on the run Read more

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Tamara: Increase Chamber fee to fund surveillance camera system

PHILIPSBURG--Partial funding for the long-overdue camera surveillance system starting in Philipsburg and branching out to the rest of the country can be raised easily through a nominal fee increase for all St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry (COCI) registrants, United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Tamara Leonard proposed in a letter to Parliament dated July 28 in light of the daring daylight robberies in Philipsburg.

   The letter, directed to Chairman of Parliament’s Justice Committee MP Johan Leonard, said Tamara envisioned a collaboration of the Chamber of Commerce, police, St Read more

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I AM SXM arranges zoo cleaning solution

MADAME ESTATE--Garbage collecting and cleaning companies Leonard Enterprise and Soualiga Waste Management, through the intercession of I AM SXM Foundation, have committed to the bi-weekly cleaning maintenance of St. Maarten Zoo. Crews from both companies will work together on a selected day to ensure the zoo is in tiptop shape.

In addition to the bi-weekly cleaning, the two companies will do general maintenance every month. The combination of the cleaning days is expected to keep the zoo in a manageable and beautiful state for its full-time occupants and its visitors.

The cleaning commitment from the two companies to the zoo is for seven months.

St Read more

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Governing Programme presented to Gumbs

PHILIPSBURG--The United People’s (UP) party-led coalition submitted its 2014-2018 Governing Programme, titled “Ready To Work For You” to Government on Thursday. The presentation comes one day ahead of the coalition’s ninth month in office and almost seven months after the Marcel Gumbs cabinet took office.

UP deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers, MP Tamara Leonard (UP) and independent MPs Leona Romeo-Marlin and Cornelius de Weever presented the Governing Programme to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Claret Connor on behalf of the UP/De Weever/Marlin-Romeo/United St Read more

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Minister shares viewpoint, MPs to get GEBE answers Monday

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament’s plenary session on developments at utilities company GEBE, focusing on the ongoing dispute between the Supervisory Board and Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Managing Director Romelio Maduro about his position at the company, was adjourned to Monday afternoon, after Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Marcel Gumbs gave some perspective on Friday, but needed more documentation to answer questions posed by Members of Parliament (MPs).

The meeting was adjourned after Gumbs, as shareholder representative for the Government-owned company, gave a summarised overview of developments on the current dispute and questions were posed by National Alliance MPs William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs and Christophe Emmanuel Read more

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