St Maarten Government News

Central Committee of Parliament regarding approval composition delegation and provisions for Members of Parliament to participate in Parlatino
https://stmaartennews.org/central-committee-of-parliament-regarding-approval-composition-delegation-and-provisions-for-members-of-parliament-to-participate-in-parlatino/
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten- The House of Parliament will sit in a Central Committee meeting on February 2, 2022.

The Central Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 13.00 hrs. in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is:
Approval composition delegation and provisions Members of Parliament to participate in Committees, Board of Directors meeting and General Assembly of Parlatino from February 9-12, 2022 (IS/350/2021-2022 dated December 3, 2021, IS/370/2021-2022 dated December 13, 2021, IS/374/2021-2022 dated December 14, 2021, IS/421/2021-2022 dated January 3, 2022, IS/444/2021-2022 dated January 12, 2022, IS/456/2021-2022 dated January 18, 2022, IS/457/2021-2022 dated January 18, 2022, IS/486/2021-2022 dated January 24, 2022, IS/490/2021-2022 dated January 24, 2022 and IS/497/2021-2022 dated January 27, 2022)

Due to measures taken to mitigate the coronavirus (COVID-19), the House of Parliament is only allowing persons with an appointment to enter the Parliament building.

The parliamentary sessions will be carried live on TV 15, SXM Bulletin (Cable TV 120), via SXM GOV radio FM 107.9, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the internet www.sxmparliament.org, and www.pearlfmradio.sx

#

Unauthorized use of KPSM logo can have legal consequences

SINT MAARTEN (PHILIPSBURG) – The Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM is aware of the unauthorized use of its logo in a short film circulating via social media and shared via messaging apps.
The logo of the Police Force is an official instrument of law enforcement thus its use carries certain restrictions.
KPSM warns against the use of its logo and other symbols of its ranks by unauthorized parties.
Additionally, KPSM condemns the callous and tasteless compilation of video footage for the serious accident. There is creativity and then there is lack of concern and grasping of the gravity of the seriousness of the accident and the events prior to and after the occurrence of the incident. (KPSM)

Coast Guard starts investigation of Royal Caribbean ship that caused SpaceX scrub

A Coast Guard investigation is underway after the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Harmony of the Seas was responsible for Sunday evening’s scrub of a SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The ship veered into the exclusion zone along a Falcon 9 rocket’s flightpath just before the 6:11 p.m. EST launch, forcing SpaceX to stand down from the mission and prepare for a 24-hour turnaround. Harmony of the Seas is the world’s third-largest cruise ship at 226,963 gross tons. It has 2,747 staterooms, a passenger capacity of 6,687 and a crew of 2,200.

In a statement issued Monday, U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson David Micallef said: “We can confirm the cruise ship was Harmony of the Seas. The Coast Guard is actively investigating Sunday’s cruise ship incursion and postponement of the SpaceX launch.”

“Our primary concern is the safety of mariners at sea, and we will continue to work with our federal, state and local port partners to ensure safe and navigable waterways,” Micallef added.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson did not respond as of Monday afternoon to a request from FLORIDA TODAY for comment.

Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray said: “Port Canaveral fully supports the space industry in our region. This, unfortunately, was an isolated incident that happened outside of our control. The Coast Guard is conducting a full investigation, and we look forward to continuing to work with them and our space partners to ensure the continued success of this important enterprise.”

Launch engineers waited as long as possible for the Coast Guard to resolve the situation, but ultimately ran out of time to meet the instantaneous window’s deadline. It marked the fourth delay for the mission that was previously scrubbed due to inclement weather around Launch Complex 40.

Teams then targeted 6:11 p.m. Monday for the fifth attempt at launching an Italian Space Agency Earth observation satellite, and it launched at that time Monday.

Sunday’s launch was slated to fly toward the southeast, a corridor that went unused from 1960 to 2020. New technologies have enabled SpaceX to resume north-to-south polar launches from Florida, which fly almost parallel to the coast, but also mean pilots and mariners need to be on the lookout for different exclusion zones.

Hazard areas, designed to mitigate risks to people in the event of a rocket failure, are issued before every mission.

Earlier in January, Space Launch Delta 45 issued a statement and warned pilots and mariners that there would be upwards of five polar launches in January alone. Sunday’s scheduled launch marked the fourth.

“The 2022 launch pace is going to be exceptionally busy, with up to five polar, and seven total launches, projected for the month of January alone,” Space Force Maj. Jonathan Szul said in a statement. “Due to the unique southerly trajectories, there will be a larger potential impact to air and sea traffic along the southeast coast of Florida.”

“We ask that all pilots and mariners double-check their Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) and Notices to Mariners (NOTMAR) to ensure they are fully aware of all pending launch activities in this historic month on the Space Coast,” Szul said.

Sunday’s scrub also pushed a SpaceX mission originally slated for Monday: Yet another Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A will have to wait a little longer for its task of launching the company’s 37th batch of Starlink internet satellites. 

The Harmony of the Seas sailed out of Port Canaveral on Sunday for a seven-night cruise, with stops at St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Perfect Day at CocoCay, which is Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas.

In the first month of 2022, 15,877 people tested positive for Covid-19 and had to go into isolation. In total, the laboratories performed 83,233 tests. 19.1 percent turned out to be positive.
This is evident from a compilation of the government’s daily figures.
The center of gravity of the fifth wave, which now seems to be on its way back, was on January 5 and 6 and exactly a week after that on January 12 and 13, with an average of more than 1,100 active infections.
On January 21 and the four days after that, most people were allowed to end their isolation. On average 1,500 per day.
Curacao Medical Center
In January, an average of 39 patients with covid were hospitalized, of whom an average of 11 were in intensive care. Peak day was January 24 with 57 patients. Four days earlier, on January 20, the intensive care unit was busiest with 17 patients. On average, slightly less than one in three patients who are admitted is in intensive care (29 percent).

43 people died from the effects of Covid-19 in January. 35 in hospital and eight in a care home or at home. Fifty people have died since the arrival of Covid on December 15. Omikron is therefore responsible for almost 22 percent of all deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.