Special Appointments
Permanent Secretary:
- Desiree Lewis - Ministry of Health
- Athenee Harvey - Ministry of Finance
- Clara Gardiner - Ministry of Home Affairs & Communications
- Wesley Clerveaux - Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports
- Susan Malcolm - Ministry of Immigration, Labor & Border Control
- Cherylann Jones - Ministry of Tourism, Environment, Culture & Heritage
- Ian Astwood - Ministry of Infrastructure
Deputy Secretaries are:
- Arthur Been - Trade
- Shonya Been - Ministry of Tourism
- Amin McCartney - Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports & Library
- Althea Been & Sharon Taylor - Ministry of Immigration
- Tamara Howell - Ministry of Health
- Russel Cox & Bridgette Newman - Ministry of Home Affairs & Communications
- Desmond Wilson - Ministry of Infrastructure
House of Assembly:
- Director of Governors Office - Tito Lightbourne
- Clerk to the House of Assembly - Tracey Parker
- Deputy Clerk to the House of Assembly - Lydia Ewing
Head of Secretariat:
- (vacant) - Office of Premier
- Cynara John - Border Control
- Mary Lightbourne - Ministry of Youth, Sports & Library
- Renessa Williams - Ministry of Health
- Kathy Hawkins-Walkin - Infrastructure
- Kamla Roberts (acting) - Ministry of Home Affairs, Transport & Communications
Finance:
- Chief Economist - Ubaldus Raymond
TCIG Directors:
- Wilhelmina Kissoonsingh - Agriculture
- Xavier Malcolm - PWD
- Desmond Ewing (acting) - Gaming
- Edgar Howell - Education
- Dr. Nadia Astwood - Health
- Terron GilChrist - Director for Health Policy and Planning Unit
- Ramon Andrews - Tourism
- Judith Robinson - Sports (acting)
- Ludwina Fulford - Culture
- Angela Brooks (acting) - Public Prosecutions
- Aldora Robinson - Aids
- Kermitt Williams - CPU
- Thomas Swann - Civil Aviation
- John Smith - Airports Authority
- Dudley Lewis - Elections Office
- Kenrick Neely - Environmental Health
- Gerald Anthony - Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs (DEMA)
- Eugene Otuonye - Integrity Commission
Larry Mills- Immigration- Michelle Gardiner - Labour
- Art Forbes - Labour Tribunal
- Mark Butler - Animal
- Dexter Gordon - Plants
- Jasmine Parker - Youth
- Tiffany Thomas-Brown - Social Development
- Malike Cummings - Electricity Commissioner
- Andre Mills - Computer Unit
- Paul Madgwick - Land Registry
- Juanita Williams - Library
- Omawalley Harvey - Water
- Danier Lightbourne - Planning
- Valerie Forbes - Postal Services
- Anika Talbot - Printing & Publishing Department
- Sigrid Lightbourne - Registrar General
- Cynthia Castillo - Wineglass-Revenue Control Unit
- Alanzo Malcolm - Road Safety
- Leroy Charles - Survey & Mapping
- Milicent Hughes - Accountant General
- Joanne Williams - Treasury
- Elena Williams - Telecoms
- Virginia Clerveaux - Disaster Management
- Chris Jarrett - Radio Turks & Caicos
- Ronlee James - Office of the Premier
- Betty Ann Been - Special Needs
- Walter Gardiner - National Insurance
Commissioner of Police:
- James Smith
Labour Appeal Tribunal - Work Permit Board Zone 1:
- Wayne Williams - Chairman April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2018
- Gladys Kennedy - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2019
- Vanessa Forbes - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2018
- Patrice Thomas - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2019
Labour Appeal Tribunal - Work Permit Board Zone 2:
- Devon Walkin - Chairman April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2018
- Ashwood Forbes - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2019
- Wendy Been-Handfield - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2018
- Sakera Cook - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2019
Labour Appeal Tribunal - Immigration Appeals Tribunal :
- Sharlene Gardiner - Chairman April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2019
- Glenda Lightbourne - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2019
- Robert Been Jr - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2018
- Carlos Ariza - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2019
- Tanya Parnell - Member April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2018
- Natasha Hall - Secretary April 1st 2017 - March 31st 2018
Prison Categorization Board
- Terrence Astwood - Chairman
- Superintendent of Prison - Member
- Wilbert Jennings - Member
- Noreen Williams Mckoy - Member
Parole Board
- Steve Barrett - Superintendent
- Sharon Whittaker - Chairman
- Eddie Smith - Member
- Edith mesa - Member
- Charles Hall - Member
- Permanent Secretary - Ex-Officio
- Director of Social Development - Ex-Officio
- Superintendent of Prison - Ex-Officio
- Kamala Roberts - Secretary
Prison’s Visiting Committee
- Perry Missick - Chairman
- Leo Selver - Member
- Marionette Hinds - Member
- Tanya Wright - Member
- Beverly Ann Simmons - Member
- Kenneth Hamilton - Member
- Carolyn Lightbourne - Member
- Permanent Secretary - Ex-Officio
- Director of Social Development - Ex-Officio
- Superintendent of Prison - Ex-Officio
- Kamala Roberts - Secretary
Adoption Committee
- Tiffany Thomas-Browne - Chairman
- Judy Knowles - Member
- Betty Ann Been - Member
- Desiree Downes - Member
- Ian Astwood - Member
- Carolyn Dickenson - Member
- Marjorie Bassett - Member
- Carol Durham - Member
- Kacy Ann Higgs - Member
- Karen Higgs - Secretary
Fisheries Advisory Committee
- Director of DEMA - Chairman
- Craig Been - Member
- Bertha Belle - Member
- David Phillips - Member
- Harold Walkin - Member
Tourist Board
- Norman Hamilton - Chairman
- Tendra Musgrove - Member
- Kimberly Cox - Member
- Gordon Lightbourne - Member
- Derek Been - Member
- Patricia Eke - Member
- Kendra Parker - Deputy Chair
- Permanent Secretary - Ex-Officio
Public Health and Environment Board
- Lorne Robinson - Chairman
- Adelphine Pitter - Deputy Chairman
- Dr. Nadia Astwood - Ex-Officio
- Kenrick Neely - Ex-Officio
- Leroy Adams - Member
- Lewis Astwood - Member
- Kendrick Simmons - Member
Shadow Minister of Foreign Trade House Motion (October 2014)
There is an increasing and long term problem of children being born in the Turks and Caicos Islands to parents who are not Turks and Caicos Islanders and those children who may have not been born in the Islands but have been here all of their lives. While recognizing this as a problem our country has struggle to keep up with these occurrences and has no doubt failed to create a viable solution. A number of these children have now past through all levels of our education system and benefited tremendously from our education and healthcare system, the latter, most time at the cost of tax payers. As the Turks and Caicos Islands continues to be affected by under population and a growing pressure to increase our franchise or in more layman’s terms create more permanent residences and Turks and Caicos Islanders, we must seek sensible ways in which to fill our needs that will allow these children to be fully assimilated with the results being a true benefit to our country.
The simple fact of the matter is that the children are here and they are not going anywhere. With this in mind, on August 8th 2014 I as Deputy Leader of the Peoples Democratic Movement submitted a Private Member’s Motion to the House of Assembly with the sole purpose of addressing this issue.
I hope that the discussion will ignite solutions. We must address these issues head on and once and for all seek to implement recommendations made since 2004 by the people of this country in this critical area.
Private Members' Motion
Statement from the Hon Vaden Delroy Williams (October 2014)
Whilst we are hoping to see some level of repairs for the 14 Government Schools around the Islands, focus has also been turned to the state of the Department of Education in Grand Turk where the administrators of our Schools are to operate and where the Minister of Education and Deputy Premier ought to frequently visit.
I am disappointed with the condition of Government Buildings on a whole and the lack of attention that is being paid to them. This is obvious by the lack of funding allocated and approved in the recent Budget.
Recently a disgusted Grand Turk resident highlighted the state of the Department of Education Building in Grand Turk by posting photos on a social media site and the state of this Building is sadly the norm for too many places where Civil Servants are expected to work at high levels of productivity. The building is in a dangerous state and is in urgent need of repairs. Yet day after day, staff is expected to enter the Building and is expected to feel safe. I cry shame of this Government whose priorities are just not in favor of the safety and well - being of its people.
I am equally concerned at the state of affairs where Schools are expected to open on September 1, 2014 and there is no evidence to date of any repair works beginning. The Government boasts of $350,000 for repairs for all schools – a nominal unrealistic sum, but still a start and yet nothing is being done.
I am concerned as to the readiness of the Schools for the new year. The health, safety and well - being of our students is of paramount importance to us and one cannot underestimate the importance as well of cosmetics which can motivate positive activate. My colleagues and I over the next few weeks will continue to visit Government Schools and speak to the authorities in an effort to see how we can help in the process. During my visit to Oseta Jolly, I note with appreciation the ongoing works being carried out by Amanyara Resort.
The Government must show greater concern for our children and the civil servants’ safety and well – being and once again we are calling on the Government to review all of its buildings and prioritize its funding in favor of those that are in need of urgent repair.
Facebook: We're still experimenting on users, but now it's less creepy
Facebook says it's making changes after an uproar over its mood manipulation experiment.
Not among those changes? Ending experiments.
The announcement marks Facebook's fullest public acknowledgment yet of problems with the study, conducted unwittingly on some 690,000 users for one week in early 2012.
Some people in this group were shown a higher number of positive posts in their News Feeds, while others were shown more negative posts, in an attempt to gauge their emotional responses. But the study generated a backlash when it was published earlier this year, with Facebook (FB, Tech30) accused of manipulating its users' emotions without consent.
The experiment also drew the attention of regulators in Europe, who questioned whether it had broken data protection laws.
"Although this subject matter was important to research, we were unprepared for the reaction the paper received when it was published and have taken to heart the comments and criticism," Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer said in a blog post Thursday. "It is clear now that there are things we should have done differently."
But Schroepfer defended the importance of user experimentation generally, saying it "helps us build a better Facebook."
"Like most companies today, our products are built based on extensive research, experimentation and testing," he wrote. "It's important to engage with the academic community and publish in peer-reviewed journals, to share technology inventions and because online services such as Facebook can help us understand more about how the world works."
Schroepfer said Facebook is introducing a series of reforms to its research process in response to the study, though his post was short on specifics.
The reforms, he said, include expanded research training for new engineers, as well as new guidelines and an enhanced review process for potentially sensitive research.
"We want to do this research in a way that honors the trust you put in us by using Facebook every day," Schroepfer wrote.
User experiments are commonplace on the Web, where companies routinely conduct tests to improve their services.
The most common kind of user experiment is called an "A/B" test. That's when a company provides a different Web experience for a small subset of customers. If you're part of an A/B test, your screen may look different than your neighbor's even when you're both on the same website.
By their very nature, A/B tests are manipulative. If you're part of a test, you might click on something you otherwise would have ignored, buy something you wouldn't otherwise have purchased or feel something you wouldn't otherwise have felt.
But the fact that some users in the Facebook experiment were deliberately made to feel less happy, without their explicit consent, raises ethical questions for many observers.
Schroepfer said Facebook wanted to conduct the experiment in response to studies published the previous year suggesting that people felt worse after seeing positive posts from their friends.
Facebook's own research concluded that users who saw positive posts were likely to respond positively themselves.
"We thought it was important to look into this, to see if this assertion was valid and to see if there was anything we should change about Facebook," Schroepfer said.
The Interview
In the action-comedy The Interview, Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show “Skylark Tonight.” When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As Dave and Aaron prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-un.
Two Night Stand
A no-strings-attached, online hook-up turns into a morning after disaster for twenty-something New Yorkers Alec (Miles Teller) and Megan (Analeigh Tipton). When a paralyzing blizzard hits the city, trapping them in Alec’s cramped Brooklyn apartment, they are forced to get to know each other far beyond the confines of a typical one-night stand.
Inherent Vice
“Inherent Vice” is the seventh feature from Paul Thomas Anderson and the first film adaption of a Thomas Pynchon novel. When P.I. Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a looney bin… well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the '60s, paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is one of those words going around, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s way too overused—except this one usually leads to trouble. With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists... Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp—all Thomas Pynchon.
Miss Meadows
Miss Meadows is a school teacher with impeccable manners and grace. However, underneath the sweet exterior hides a gun-toting vigilante who takes it upon herself to right the wrongs in the world by whatever means necessary.
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