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WESTERN BUREAU: Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels is accusing a church in the Hanover capital of squatting, saying the building it is occupying is owned by the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), which needs it to establish a tourism training centre. “Right now, the building is captured by a church, and we need that building because we have plans for the youth within the parish. We are to put in place there a training centre in collaboration with the Grand Palladium Hotel and HEART/NSTA Trust,” Samuels said at Thursday’s HMC monthly meeting.

Warning of the threat the ongoing Middle East conflict poses to the Caribbean’s food and economic security, Wendell Samuel, assistant secretary-general (ASG) of CARICOM, is calling for stronger regional coordination to enhance resilience, bargaining power, and capacity to absorb external shocks.

An autopsy has been scheduled for April 28 to determine the cause of death of a newborn at Cornwall Regional Hospital as grieving mother Shandale Ballentine has launched a crowdfunding campaign to assist with funeral expenses for her son, Ramontay Rakai Ranger. Ballentine said the decision to seek public support came after family and friends, aware that both she and her partner are currently on unpaid leave, encouraged her to create a platform for donations. A distraught Ballentine told The Gleaner that she does not want to burn her son’s body.

WESTERN BUREAU: Vendors at the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay are once again crying foul against the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) over the market’s conditions and accusations of unfair treatment by the municipal authorities, following the confiscation of several vendors’ carts and other items on Friday morning.

WESTERN BUREAU: A man believed to have been the mastermind behind Tuesday’s murder of deejay Roger ‘Jaggy D’ Walker, a police source told The Gleaner, was shot and killed in a gunfight with the Hanover police early Friday morning. The deceased man, who was of Bamboo address on the outskirts of Hopewell, where Walker was killed, was identified by relatives as 30-year-old Romaine ‘CJ’ Humphrey.

The capacity of Jamaicans to claim positions of leadership while breaking barriers internationally has long been documented, so Angelita Graham, freshly minted president of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) is in illustrious company. The first woman of colour to head the influential organisation, Graham rose from a modest home in a close-knit community off Waltham Park Road in Kingston, to the pinnacle of global leadership in her field.

WESTERN BUREAU: Residents in Westmoreland are being assured that efforts to clear garbage, bulky waste, and storm debris are being intensified, despite ongoing challenges faced by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA). Speaking with The Gleaner, NSWMA Regional Manager Dramaine Jones explained that while the agency is actively involved in clean-up operations, some aspects fall outside of its direct responsibility.

The Very Reverend Canon Collin Dave Reid, rector of the Cathedral of St Jago de la Vega in Spanish Town, is suffragan bishop-elect of Montego Bay. Reid secured 96 per cent of the votes by lay representatives and 94 per cent of clergy votes at an online Elective Assembly held Wednesday morning during the business session of the 155th Synod of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (Anglican). He succeeds the Right Reverend Leon Golding, who was elected bishop of Jamaica and The Cayman Islands in March 2025.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the removal of individual heads at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) will do little to cure a “dysfunctional culture” that has metastasised within the institution for decades. His comment comes amid an unfolding scandal at the teaching hospital triggered by the findings of a report from the Auditor General’s Department.

A US federal court has confirmed a US$43.7-million arbitration award in favour of Jamaican-Canadian investor Michael Lee-Chin, rejecting the Dominican Republic’s bid to overturn the ruling. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the District of Columbia issued the decision last month, siding with Lee-Chin after the Dominican Republic asked the court to throw out the award. The court said it would adopt “Magistrate Judge Faruqui’s well-reasoned report and recommendation in full”.

Jamaican News