BAR FIGHT - Defence lawyers says ‘unrelenting’ push for gun law reform about fairness, justice The Advocates’ Association of Jamaica (AAJ) and Jamaican Bar Association are dismissing what they described as “narratives being peddled” to distort their campaign for amendments to the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act. Chief among them, they say, is the notion that the groups want to do away with the statutory mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years under the act, which took effect in 2022.
Official urges CARICOM to strengthen regional food economy WESTERN BUREAU: With the Caribbean importing more than half of its food, CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Dr Wendell Samuel says the situation poses a major threat to the region’s economic resilience. “For a region where more than 60 per cent of the food consumed is imported, and where some member states import up to 80 per cent of their food, the imperative for action became undeniable,” Samuel said, while addressing the opening ceremony of Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 in Trelawny on Sunday.
Deputy clerk resigns amid ‘retaliatory’ environment at Parliament Describing the treatment he faced during his two-year tenure in office as “retaliatory”, former Deputy Clerk to the Houses of Parliament Christopher Cowan has listed a series of concerns among the reasons for his resignation with immediate effect yesterday. Cowan’s five-page letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Juliet Holness described a “contentious” environment in which he said he was made to operate, the removal and denial of privileges, as well as the “retaliatory approach” of Clerk to the Houses Colleen Lowe.
Witness: Cop approached me amid Pathways siege A policewoman whose gun was allegedly used by now-deceased church leader Kevin Smith to fire at police during a deadly October 2021 service, had reportedly approached a senior officer after members of the security forces arrived at the location and told her that she had “information”.
Holness pushes for faster, more strategic regulation in regional agriculture WESTERN BUREAU: Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says bureaucracy is strangling agricultural investment in the Caribbean, requiring faster and more strategic regulation to help Jamaica and the region modernise farming to open the door to attracting technology-driven investments. Holness outlined that position while addressing Sunday’s opening ceremony of the 20th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) at the Ocean Coral Spring Resort in Trelawny.
Muschett High contemplating digitising library books after Hurricane Melissa experience WESTERN BUREAU: Almost one year after Hurricane Melissa damaged library books and equipment at Muschett High School in Trelawny, the institution’s administration is considering digitising its reference materials for students to use, an option that was being reviewed before the Category 5 storm slammed the island last October.
Overhaul Caribbean’s agricultural transportation system, Green urges WESTERN BUREAU: Agriculture Minister Floyd Green is calling for an overhauling of the Caribbean’s agricultural transportation system, warning that the region cannot achieve food security if food cannot be moved efficiently and affordably between countries. Green, who was speaking at Sunday’s opening of the 20th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA), which is taking place in Trelawny, said the high cost and difficulty of transporting agricultural commodities across the region remain a major obstacle to building a more resilient and self-reliant Caribbean food system.
BACK TO SQUARE ONE.....Herbert Morrison faces uphill climb to restore student records, library WESTERN BUREAU: The St James-based Herbert Morrison Technical High School is facing a significant challenge to recover past students’ records and library materials lost during the passage of the Category 5 Hurricane Melissa last October. The school, located in Bogue – near Catherine Hall – in Montego Bay, sustained extensive infrastructural and flooding damage to several of its classrooms, laboratories, and administrative areas as a result of the hurricane’s impact.
School labs struggling to recover while students adapt WESTERN BUREAU: Several high schools in western Jamaica are still working to restore their hurricane-ravaged laboratories, some of which were completely destroyed and lost valuable equipment last October. Muschett High School in Trelawny has its clothing and textile, and electrical science labs flooded and extensively damaged during the hurricane. Its motor vehicle was also badly damaged. The school’s metalwork, plumbing, and home economic labs are still undergoing renovation.
POWERING UP AGAIN - Western schools looking towards solar installations post-Melissa WESTERN BUREAU: At least two western Jamaica high schools that were damaged during Hurricane Melissa last October are looking to expand the solar-power facilities they had prior to the category-5 hurricane as a means of providing long-term renewable energy to power their operations. Muschett High School in Wakefield, Trelawny, and Herbert Morrison Technical High in Montego Bay, St James, were among hundreds schools pounded by the hurricane on October 28 last year. It wrecked the small solar-power infrastructure they had in place at the time.