JetPages

Repairs to more than half of the schools severely damaged by Hurricane Melissa should be completed by the end of the year, Dr Kasan Troupe, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, has disclosed. Addressing yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew, Troupe said renovations at 57 of the more than 300 schools that were extensively damaged by Hurricane Melissa last year have been completed. A further 95 should be completed by the end of October, while an additional 34 are expected to be repaired by December.

Lorraine Narine was at a grave digging in St Mary yesterday when she was jolted by a loud sound and given the news no mother wants to hear – her son had been shot. Her son, 22-year-old Sazaree Clarke, whom she described as a “mama’s boy”, was shot and killed along with 60-year-old bar owner Marlon James and 42-year-old mason Peter John Fagan, all of Robins Bay.

Western Bureau: Acting Commissioner of Police Clifford Blake is warning criminals against confronting members of the security forces after two policemen and a policewoman were shot and a wanted man killed during an early-morning operation in Mount Salem, St James, yesterday. Twenty-nine-year-old Romario Brown, otherwise called ‘Jerry’, was shot during a confrontation with members of the Area One Fugitive Apprehension Team (AFAT) along Crawford Street shortly after 3 a.m.

Jamaica’s primary regional referral facility, the 579-bed University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), is urging members of the public to seek alternative care as a massive influx of patients overwhelms its emergency services. The hospital, in a release yesterday, advised the public that it was “currently experiencing patient volumes beyond its normal capacity”.

WESTERN BUREAU: One week after the tragic death of engineer Clifton James, who was killed on the new Montego Bay Bypass Road, Works Minister Robert Morgan says the public will be notified whether the project, which is now on pause, will meet its end-of-September deadline.

Children’s advocacy group Fi Wi Children Foundation (FWCF) has chided Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness for suggesting that Jamaican students forced to learn under trees following Hurricane Melissa are “learning closer to nature”. Speaking at Tuesday’s launch of the Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC), Holness cited media reports of children learning under trees because their school in western Jamaica had not yet been repaired.

WESTERN BUREAU: Residents of Cacoon in Hanover have established a Community Development Committee (CDC) office to open new doors of opportunities for them in the rural district. The office, which is expected to benefit adjoining districts as well, was established through financial assistance from several government agencies and other organisations.

WESTERN BUREAU: Law student Wayne White of Salt Spring, St James, who had asked Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon for $20,000 to help him clear an outstanding law school bill, got more than he bargained for. White was recently presented with a $100,000 scholarship from the Mayor’s Charity Fund. In addition to being able to cover the existing bill, he is now in a position to meet expenses for his final year at the Norman Manley Law School.

The Supreme Court has imposed an injunction that temporarily blocks the country’s environment regulatory authority from evicting at least 40 people from the Jacob Taylor Beach lands in Duncans, Trelawny. Justice Andrea Thomas granted the injunction on Tuesday at the end of an application by attorneys for four of the 40 residents. The application forms part of a lawsuit they have filed seeking judicial review of a move by the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) last month to serve them with eviction notices.

Four years after Jamaica implemented the Disabilities Act, structural and communication barriers continue to hamper members of the disabled community, according to inclusion advocate Alister McLean. McLean said inconsistencies in public infrastructure remain a major concern, particularly for wheelchair users who face difficulty accessing sidewalks.

Jamaican News