WASHINGTON (AP) — In the most ambitious U.S. effort to stave off the worst of climate change, President Joe Biden signed executive orders to transform the nation’s heavily fossil-fuel powered economy into a clean-burning one, pausing oil and gas leasing on federal land and targeting subsidies for those industries.

The directives aim to conserve 30 percent of the country’s lands and waters in the next 10 years, double the nation’s offshore wind energy, and move to an all-electric federal vehicle fleet, among other changes. Biden’s sweeping plan is aimed at staving off the worst of global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.

But his effort it also carries political risk for the president and Democrats as oil- and coal-producing states face job losses from moves to sharply increase U.S. reliance on clean energy such as wind and solar power.

“We can’t wait any longer″ to address the climate crisis, Biden said Wednesday at the White House. ”We see with our own eyes. We know it in our bones. It is time to act.″

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -– The Ministry of Public Infrastructure is critical in helping the government achieve its national goals, such as a good transportation infrastructure such as roads, according to Director of the Public Works Department in St. Kitts, Cromwell Williams.

“The Ministry of Public Infrastructure is extremely important in building a transportation infrastructure which includes a good road network,” explained Williams. “Roads are critically important for persons to move.

“If you focus on transportation, in the morning you go to work,” he said. “You move from Saddlers to Basseterre, you need to have a functional road network that is functional. If the average is to take you 20 minutes from Saddlers to Basseterre, then the road conditions should be such that you are able to complete that journey and do so safely, and do so without much wear and tear on your vehicle.”

He underscored the importance of maintaining and improving public infrastructure because good public infrastructure contributes to economic development. “Good transportation infrastructure is important for the movement of goods and facilitation of services,” he said.

“The road network has direct economic implications because persons have to move from place to place for work,” said Williams. “Goods have to be transported likewise from their place of manufacture, whether its farmers or other persons who are manufacturing stuff, they have to move from one place to the other.”

Williams said that good transportation infrastructure is important to industries, using the example of the tourism industry.

“Once the tourist arrives via the cruise ship, they have to be transported around the island and so that again shows the importance or the dependence of the economy on public infrastructure,” said Williams.

The government began an Island Main Road Rehabilitation Project in 2018 costing approximately EC $70 million, which is estimated to be completed this year. In 2019, the government also started the Old Road Bay Rehabilitation Project to the tune of approximately EC$ 38 million, which should also be completed this year.

Additionally, the government completed phase one of installing traffic lights in Basseterre. It is presently on phase two of installing more traffic lights to help with the problem of traffic congestion and pedestrian safety in Basseterre.

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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Tentative signs of recovery are emerging in Caribbean labour markets, following the unprecedented disruption in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the seventh edition of the ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work.

New quarterly and annual estimates based on the ILO’s ‘Nowcasting Model,’ indicate that 7.7 percent of working hours in the Caribbean were lost during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020. This figure indicates a decrease from corresponding values for the second quarter (24.7 percent) and third quarter of 2020 (11.5 percent) and brings the average loss for the year 2020 to 11.7 percent. The magnitude is equivalent to a loss of approximately 2.1 or 1.7 million full-time jobs in the region depending on whether the 40- or 48-hours-per-week threshold is considered.

“It is safe to assume that summary indicators hide an uneven impact on Caribbean labour markets depending on the worker, business or country considered. For example, previous research indicates how the COVID crisis led to a more than proportional negative impact on youth labour market performance within the region and how small businesses were the first to interrupt payments to social security schemes,” said Diego Rei, Employment and Labour Market Policies Specialist within the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean.

The latest projections for 2021 presented in the ILO Monitor Report show that most countries will experience a relatively strong recovery in the second half of the year, as vaccination programmes take effect but the speed of such recovery is still to be determined.

The report, however, highlights concerns that the path may be “K-shaped” with some sectors and workers recovering timely and fully and others that have been hit hardest being left behind. Particularly concerning is the fact that two high employment-intensive sectors for the Caribbean such as accommodation and food services and retail were the ones most affected and at higher risk of lagging behind worldwide.

“However quick the recovery materializes, it is a reality that some citizens, workers and businesses will be back on their feet later than others. It is our duty to ensure that they are not left behind by addressing the risk of loss of job skills, of weakened labour market attachment and of business disruption. More generally, we need to ensure all Caribbean countries focus on a human-centred recovery. This means prioritizing employment, income and social protection, workers’ rights, social dialogue and accounting for new elements accelerated by the recent crisis. Those include changes related to technology and work arrangements, such as, for example, digitalization and teleworking, as well as the challenges that go with them such as connectivity gaps and digital literacy,” concluded Dennis Zulu, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean.

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The Nevis Water Department (NWD) in the Nevis Island Administration will host a staff retreat for the first time since the NIA was established 37 years ago.

Ms. Tonya Bartlett from Brown Hill, a civil engineer by profession, is the department’s first female manager. She said the event is intended to, among other things, bring staff together and to get them involved.

“We will be having this on February 2 at the Nevis Performing Arts Centre and we are hoping to start around 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.,” said Ms. Bartlett. “The whole objective of this retreat is to discuss plans and the expectations for the rest of the year.

“It will also help us to uplift our staff and show appreciation to them,” she said. “Give them a time to meet each other, interact and share stories or whatever else that they would like to do. I think it will help us start the year on a good foot.”

Ms. Bartlett explained that another objective of the retreat has to do with communication.

“The whole objective is to communicate because we have had some issues in the past with communication,” said Ms. Bartlett. “I think this is something that we need to work on and involve staff more.

“It will help to jumpstart the year, she said, “and the communication process and to have staff involved in the processes in the whole department. That way, they don’t feel like ‘oh we are just here and we just show up to work.’ They actually have an input in the whole department. So it’s our department, not just my department.”

Ms. Bartlett noted that her gender plays no role in how she how she leads the department as the first woman.

“I don’t really play the gender thing,” said Ms. Bartlett. “I see it as a role and I have a plan and objectives of what I would like to see done with the department and where I would like to see us in the next five years.

“So it’s not really gender per se, it’s just this is a job and this is what we need to do in order to serve the people better. So it’s not really gender specific in my eyes. I don’t really see that,” she said.

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — Women on Nevis aged 16- to 30-years old are being urged to take advantage of free pap smear screening on Saturday, January 26, according to Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams, Junior Minister of Health in the Nevis Island Administration.

The annual initiative is directed to stem the incidence of cervical cancer on Nevis.

“In bringing awareness to cervical cancer, the Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs is again embarking on the free pap smear screening,” said Mrs. Brandy-Williams. “This will be done this week on Saturday, January 30 between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. at all the health centres on Nevis.

“I want to appeal to all women to go and get your free pap smear done,” she said. “The focus this year is in the age group 16- to 30-years of age. This group is the most sexually-active age group. We encourage as many women as possible to have their pap’s done.”

Mrs. Brandy-Williams urged managers of large institutions with a high number of women employed to encourage them to get their pap smears done.

She underscored the fact that cervical cancer can be prevented, but women must check themselves regularly for the prevalence of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted infection, some types of which can lead to genital warts cancer.

“I am urging as many women as possible to come out on Saturday, get their free Pap’s done,” said Mrs. Brandy-Williams. “Those women who are going to their private doctors, I am happy that you are doing so but this is for those busy women during the week who do not have the time. So come on out on Saturday and get your free pap smear done.”

The Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs has been offering the free Pap smear screening events for the five years.

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The Nevis Electricity Company Limited management has informed the public of the disconnection schedule for February 2021 will be as follows:

St. Paul’s area — Week of February 1, 2021;

St. John’s and St. George’s areas — Week of February 8, 2021; and

St. James’ and St Thomas’ areas — Week of February 15, 2021.

Please settle all arrears in full on or before the dates specified to avoid disconnection of service.

Please note that a $100.00 re-connection fee will be charged. Reconnection of service will be done within 24 hours of payment.

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The Senate confirmed Antony Blinken to be President Biden’s Secretary of State, the fourth in the line of succession to the presidency, who Biden has tasked with leading the effort to bring the U.S. back to the global stage and rebuild alliances that suffered under the Trump administration.

The Senate voted 78-22 for Blinken’s confirmation, making him the 71st secretary of State and the fourth member of Biden’s Cabinet to be confirmed.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was confirmed on Monday while Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines were confirmed last week.

Blinken’s confirmation vote comes as the Senate is set to begin deliberations over the second impeachment trial against former President Trump, in which Senate leaders have worked to balance the trial of the former president over the need to confirm Biden’s Cabinet picks.

Trump was impeached in the House last week on one article of inciting an insurrection related to the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6 in an effort to overturn Congress’s official Electoral College count affirming Biden as the winner of the presidential election.

Blinken assumes leadership at the State Department amid Biden’s commitment to bring the U.S. back to the global stage by strengthening alliances and America’s involvement in multilateral institutions that Trump criticized and withdrew U.S. participation from.

He’s also tasked with increasing morale at the State Department that Democrats say has suffered greatly under the Trump administration with the departure of experienced professionals in leadership roles, vacancies of senior positions, personal attacks on diplomats and staff and unaddressed reports of political retaliation against career employees.

“The State Department is suffering from a historic crisis stemming from low morale, the departure over the past four years of many of our most experienced diplomats and the lack of accountability for the political leadership at top over the last four years,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Mr. Blinken’s experience and expertise is necessary to begin to repair the damage and rebuild the state department,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who spoke ahead of Blinken’s confirmation vote, offered support for Blinken as the “right person” to lead the department in the post-Trump years.

“Mr. Blinken is just the right person to rebuild and reassert America’s national security prerogatives on the global stage and reestablish the first instrument of American power: diplomacy,” Schumer said on the floor.

“For four years the failed diplomacy of the Trump administration weakened our alliances, strengthened and emboldened our adversaries and tarnished America’s reputation abroad,” Schumer said.

Blinken served as deputy secretary of State during the Obama administration and is a longtime adviser to Biden, having served as staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was chairman. Blinken also served in senior positions on the White House’s National Security Council when Biden was vice president.

In addition to his own service, Blinken’s father served as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, his uncle as U.S. ambassador to Belgium and his wife as assistant secretary of State for educational and cultural affairs during the Obama administration.

Blinken counts this, and his family history of finding refuge in the U.S., as inspiring his commitment to public service. His grandfather fled pogroms in Russia, his grandmother fled Communist Hungary and his stepfather survived the Nazi concentration camps.

During his confirmation hearing last week, Blinken committed to cooperating more closely with Congress on U.S. foreign policy decisions and further said increasing diversity at the State Department is one of his most primary responsibilities, committing to the president’s push for promoting racial and gender equity.

“I will view it as a significant measure of whether I succeeded or failed, however long I’m in the job, whether or not we have finally put in place the real foundations to make sure that we have a workforce and State Department that looks like the country it represents,” Blinken said during his confirmation hearing last week.

The newly confirmed secretary is tasked with taking a stronger position against adversaries like China, Russia and North Korea and navigating a pathway to diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear program that Republicans oppose and senior Democratic leaders are cautious about.

Menendez offered full-throated support of Blinken’s confirmation but had earlier raised his “fear” over the Biden administration’s pursuit of rejoining the Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from in 2018, if it fails to address Tehran’s other malign activity.

Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), the current chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he supported Blinken’s confirmation despite being on opposite sides of the issue with Iran.

“Iran is a very wide disagreement that we have. In my judgement the JCPOA [Iran nuclear deal] was a colossal failure and a real blunder for American policy overseas. In talking with Mr. Blinken, he does not share that view,” Risch said in his remarks on the Senate F

“Again, this is one issue out of the many, many issues we discussed. There was very little, in fact no daylight between us on some of them,” he added.

Yet Republicans largely offered support to Blinken’s confirmation and offered cooperation on areas of agreement and engagement on conflicts.

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Palm Beach County Vice Mayor Robert Weinroth has called on county and state health officials to fix the “glaring” inequities in the county’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

Since Dec. 29, just 7 percent of the county’s Black and Hispanic eligible population had been inoculated compared to 70 percent of whites, according to statistics presented to the Palm Beach County Commission on Tuesday. Consistent with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order, Palm Beach County is only vaccinating long-term care facility staff, persons 65 years of age and older, and healthcare personnel with direct patient contact.

“Seventy percent versus 7 percent? I think we can do much better,’’ he said. “We can’t lose sight of the fact that we have a whole underserved population.’’

Palm Beach County has vaccinated 130,027 people. That’s 8.7 percent of the county’s population, a higher percentage than Miami-Dade (5.7 percent) and Broward (6.4 percent) counties.

Weinroth challenged county managers and state health officials to “re-double the efforts as far as these underserved communities are concerned because it really is a glaring disparity we cannot accept. Shame on us for allowing this to continue this way.’’

Efforts have been made by churches to offer vaccinations to underserved communities. While the vice mayor applauded those efforts, he said more needs to be done by local government to wipe out the virus.

“We also have to do something about people who don’t trust us. There is a tremendous lack of trust and we have to make people feel that this vaccine is not going to kill them. That’s what’s apparent in these numbers,’’ he said.

Weinroth joins Daniella Pierre, the President of NAACP Miami, as public figures who have recently been pushing for equitable vaccine access in South Florida. The region is home to the largest percentage of Caribbean-Americans and Black population in Florida. At a recent press conference, Pierre called for educational outreach in the Black community via avenues besides the typically used churches and supermarkets, which could include hair salons, laundromats, or public transit stations.

Additionally, Weinroth joined commissioners in calling for improvements to the appointment reservation system.

“I think we all agree it’s been a case of ‘whack a mole’ where people have been going in one direction and then rushing in another,’’ he said.

“We need to have one unified vaccination reservation system where people feel equity, feel fairness and feel that if they get on the list on a certain date, their place on the list will be preserved and someone is not going to jump ahead of them because a site opened up with a couple of hundred doses.”

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