A swift verdict after decades of waiting

This was a swift decision by the jury of seven men and five women.

They took nine hours over two days to reach a verdict, meaning they must have been fairly united in their examination of the evidence.

Right before the verdict was read, a handful of R. Kelly’s fans blasted his music outside the courthouse. I asked them how they felt after he was found guilty. They were visibly sad and told me they still supported him.

On the other hand, R. Kelly’s victims are feeling some measure of comfort.

One – who remained anonymous throughout the trial – issued a statement saying she felt like she could now start the healing process. This verdict no doubt hinged on their testimony and willingness to recount personal trauma.

For decades these black women kept asking when they would be heard, when their voices would matter. This conviction is their Me Too victory.

During the federal trial, the court also heard how Kelly had illegally obtained paperwork to marry under-age singer Aaliyah, who died in a plane accident in August 2001 after marrying Kelly at age 15.

Kelly’s lawyer Deveraux Cannick told reporters the singer did not expect to be found guilty.

“The government cherry-picked their version that they thought would support the continuation of the narrative,” said Mr Cannick. “Why would he expect this verdict given all the inconsistencies that we saw?”

Kelly is separately facing trial in Chicago on child pornography and obstruction charges. He is also due to face sex abuse charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

At least two former Kelly associates have pleaded guilty in separate cases related to attempts to silence Kelly’s accusers.

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US President Biden receives his COVID-19 booster shot on Monday afternoon, the White House said.

Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on live television in December of last year and received his second dose publicly the following month.

Biden, who is 78 years old, falls within the pool of individuals that the CDC recommends receive boosters of the Pfizer vaccine.

The White House said previously that Biden would receive his booster shot publicly once the third dose was recommended.

The CDC last week recommended boosters of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans over age 65, nursing homes residents, individuals with underlying medical conditions and people whose jobs put them at high risk for contracting the virus.

In a rare move, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky diverged from an advisory panel in making the recommendation for people at risk of COVID-19 infection because of their jobs.

Walensky defended the decision during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” over the weekend, saying it was a “scientific close call” as to whether individuals in high-risk job setting should be eligible for a third dose of the vaccine.

“Because of that close call and because of all the evidence we reviewed both of the FDA and at the CDC, I felt it was appropriate for those people to also be eligible for boosters,” Walensky said.

“So, who are those people? Those are people who live and work in high-risk settings, that includes people in homeless shelters, people in group homes, people in prisons, but also importantly are people who work with vulnerable communities. So our health care workers, our teachers, our grocery workers, our public transportation employees,” she said.

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More hospitals forced to ration care amid delta surge

© Getty Images

While the focus over the past few days has been the rollout of boosters, they won’t help solve the hospitalizations of the unvaccinated.

Coronavirus patients are straining hospitals across the U.S., particularly in Western states, where administrators are being forced to ration care as facilities are pushed to their breaking points by the delta variant.

Alaska this past week joined Idaho in adopting statewide crisis standards of care that provide guidance to health care providers making difficult decisions on how to allocate limited resources. Several hospitals in Montana have either activated crisis standards of care or are considering it as the state is pummeled by COVID-19.

Under the guidelines, providers can prioritize treating patients based on their chances of recovery, impacting anyone seeking emergency care, not just those with COVID-19.

Triage mode: Typically, crisis standards of care involve a scoring system to determine the patient’s survivability, sometimes including their estimated “life years” and how well their organs are working. Such guidelines do not call for factoring in vaccination status, much like emergency rooms don’t prioritize certain car crash victims based on whether a driver was drinking.

Still, the vast majority of COVID-19 patients overwhelming hospitals are unvaccinated, months after the vaccine became widely available to U.S. adults.

As of last Friday, the ICUs in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and Texas all exceeded 90 percent capacity. The ICUs in Alaska and Montana, meanwhile, were 84 percent and 77 percent full, respectively, according to federal data.

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Chile to lift state of emergency as vaccines beat back COVID infections

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Elderly people wait to receive the Pfizer BioNTech or AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine as Chile starts a booster vaccination campaign for those inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine, in Valparaiso, Chile, August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

SANTIAGO, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Chilean authorities announced on Monday the end of a state of emergency in force since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a sign of life returning to normal following a sharp decrease in cases in the South American nation.

The state of emergency, an extraordinary administrative measure approved by Congress early in 2020, had allowed the government to impose night-time curfews and forced quarantines on hard-hit districts amid the worst of the outbreak.

“During the last three months…the health situation …has evolved favorably, with a very significant reduction in infections, active cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” President Sebastian Pinera told reporters.

Chile has spearheaded one of the world’s fastest and most successful vaccination drives, with nearly three-quarters of its population fully vaccinated, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have plummeted as a result.

The government said it would also relax restrictions on movement, liberalize limits on capacity at events and public spaces and earlier this month re-opened its borders to tourists.

The announcement comes the same day as the health officials began vaccinating children between 6 and 11 years old with China’s Sinovac vaccine, which received approval for emergency in September.

Neighboring Argentina last week also unveiled plans to ease coronavirus pandemic restrictions, including loosening strict border controls, allowing more commercial activities and getting rid of the mandatory wearing of face masks outdoors.

Chile reported 640 new cases on Monday, with a positivity rate of about 1.08% in the past 24 hours.

Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Dave Sherwood Editing by Alistair Be

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Nevis- Mrs. Palsy Wilkin was one of 11 Nevisians honoured, during the Federation’s 38th Anniversary celebration,  for her contributions to the development of the nation.

Mrs. Wilkin, who was an educator for 44 years, was presented with an award by Her Honour Mrs. Hyleeta Liburd, Deputy Governor-General on Nevis during an awards ceremony at Government House on September 20, 2021.

In her profile, she was described as one of Nevis’ unsung heroes, who believes in giving her best without expecting any accolades to be bestowed on her.

Born in Brick Kiln Village to the late Cyril and Susana Brandy, Mrs. Wilkin is the third of six children. She was born and raised in a close-knit family and received her early education at the St. James’ All Age School, commonly known as the Old White Hall School, up to the College of Preceptors level.

She entered the Charlestown Secondary School in 1972 at the 5th Form level and graduated in 1973, having successfully passed four GCE subjects.

Her world of work began with a brief tenure at the General Post Office in Charlestown before she entered the teaching profession. Her teaching career began in 1974 at the St. Thomas’ Primary School under the headship of retired Education Officer Mrs. Violet Nicholls. Mrs. Wilkin subsequently completed three years as an Untrained Teacher prior to attending the St. Kitts-Nevis Teachers’ Training College in 1977. She graduated two years later with a Certificate in Education from the University of the West Indies.

While at college, Mrs. Wilkin taught at the Basseterre High School and Girls School respectively, where her teaching skills were assessed as part of the requirement for certification.

On her return to Nevis, she joined the staff of the Combermere Primary School, which was later renamed the Violet O. Jeffers-Nicholls Primary School, before she was transferred to the St. James’ Primary School where she taught for the next 20 years. During her tenure there she had the opportunity to engage in multi-grade teaching while assisting younger teachers with their classes, and taught all grades at the primary level.

During summer in 1980 and 1983, Mrs. Wilkin was trained as a “Trainer of Trainees” at the Antigua State College and the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. This Advanced Regional Training in the teaching of Reading was offered by the Organisation for Cooperation in Overseas Development (OCOD) and sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDRA). She subsequently worked as Tutor and co-tutor for Reading with OCOD for several years.

In 1999, Mrs. Wilkin represented Mrs. Hyleeta Liburd, then Principal Education Officer (PEO) as her designated OCOD liaison person at a Strategic Planning Session in Winnipeg. She received training in Needs Assessment and Results Based Management Planning.

Later from 1984 to 2014 she taught the Prospective Teachers Course and the Induction Programme for new teachers. She also facilitated workshops for Primary School Teachers at all Grade levels, sharing her knowledge and expertise in best practices in the teaching of Reading.

Mrs. Wilkin enrolled with the University of Miami through a special arrangement made by the then Nevis Island Administration (NIA). On completion of her studies, she gained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education with special emphasis on Early Childhood Development in 1993.

During the summers of 1999 and 2000 she pursued training in the “Theory and Practice of Teaching Dyslexic Pupils” at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic Center, in Barbados now the Samuel Jackman Institute of Technology with sponsorship from the Caribbean Dyslexia Association and The British High Commission.  She was awarded a certificate in “Teaching Dyslexic Pupils-Specific Learning Difficulties.”

In 1999, Mrs. Wilkin was promoted to the position of Reading Resource Officer at the Department of Education with the mandate to provide Resource Services to the Primary Schools in Nevis.

Her responsibilities included, but were not limited to, Assessment and Diagnostic Instruction of students, Staff Development Sessions, working with teachers one-on-one and conducting training workshops for focus groups of parents and teachers.  In 2000 she was appointed as Education Officer with responsibility for Reading Resource.

During the period September 2002 to July 2003, Mrs. Wilkin pursued training as a Reading Recovery Tutor at the University of London – Institute of Education. In part fulfilment of the programme, Mrs. Wilkin undertook the task of overseeing two Reading Recovery Labs, one at the Irish Town Primary School in St. Kitts and the other at Marion Heights in Nevis.

She introduced and successfully implemented the Reading Recovery – Early Intervention Programme in St. Kitts and Nevis in September 2006. Nine teachers in St. Kitts and six in Nevis were trained to deliver the Early Intervention Programme to the lowest achievers in the 6- to 7-year-old age group.

Training was done at the Reading Recovery Centers and monitoring was done at all 15 schools.  For five years Mrs. Wilkin travelled to St. Kitts two to three days per week. She worked at schools including St. Paul’s, Saddlers, Cayon, and Tucker Clarke Primary.

Following the implementation of The Reading Recovery Programme, Mrs. Wilkin submitted her report to the University of London which was the final requirement to completing her Masters’ Degree.  In 2008 she graduated with a Master’s Degree in Literacy Learning and Literacy Difficulties.

In 2009 Mrs. Wilkin enrolled with The University of The West Indies Open Campus and satisfactorily completed the requirements of the Certificate in Supervisory Management Course, and received certification in January 2010.

She was subsequently appointed to the post of Principal Education Officer at the Department of Education from September 2013, with responsibility for all Pre-schools, Primary and Secondary Schools in Nevis.  She held the position until her retirement in August 2018.

Notwithstanding all her achievements, the most rewarding part of her career has been those years spent working the hardest to teach children on a one-on-one basis and training teachers and parents in St. Kitts and Nevis

“She has a special place in her heart for all the students in the Federation who have difficulties in reading. Her mantra that all children should be able to read is best demonstrated when she attends graduation ceremonies and hears the names of students with whom she worked in the Reading Recovery Programme graduating with one and up to eight CXC subject passes.

“She has shed joyful tears on these occasions as it signifies that child can learn given the appropriate instruction in an environment that is conducive to learning,” the profile said.

Mrs. Wilkin is described as a family-oriented person who has been married to Mr. Pearlievan Wilkin for the past 34 years. The mother of two children, Asuredé and Akil, with the help of her husband, she has been able to balance her dedication to her family and her commitment to her career.

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