US Report said Bahamian schools overcrowded

Read storyA report by the US State Department said prejudice towards Haitians was common, discrimination against homosexuals was evident and that ZNS favored government candidates in the 2007 election.

• The report, released Thursday, highlighted a number of areas of concern, including:
  
• The large and expanding backlog of court cases, presently more than 8,000 A lack of legal aid for those who could not afford a lawyer
  
• Insufficient funding for child welfare and education, including a lack of basic educational materials and overcrowding in public schools
  
• A lack of proper consideration for immigrants seeking asylum 

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

Jones Communications owes government $400,000

Read storyJones Communications owes government $400,000

The head of Jones Communications has pled guilty to owing more than $430,000 in National Insurance payments.

Wendall Jones, CEO of Jones Communications, said he was negotiating with the agency to come to an agreement.

Sources at magistrate's court told The Tribune that Jones has agreed to pay 40% - $180,000 - up front and the remaining $250,000 over the next two years.

Reports in The Guardian the 40% down payment is normal in these cases and that employers are usually given two years to pay the balance.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here
The Tribune

Half a million in Freeport development

Read storyGRAND BAHAMA: Minister of Works Neko Grant signed contracts for $673,000 worth of projects Thursday, including:

• $212,000 for a new 1,900 square-foot ferry terminal at the McCleans Town dock that will include a post office and police station
• $256,809 to repair the air conditioning at the Freeport Post Office
• $136,950 for road paving and between Freeport and Eight Mile Rock
• $42,500 for line markings and reflectors along the highway between Seagrape and West End
• $25,000 to repair graves and tombs at the Holmes Rock Cemetery that were damaged during Hurricane Wilma
  

The Nassau Guardian

The Tribune

Canadian tourist drowns in Eleuthera

Read storyCanadian tourist Beatrice Chapman drowned while snorkeling in Eleuthera Thursday.

Chapman, 71, was a passenger on the SS Maasdam cruise ship.

Police reported that Chapman was snorkeling in the Half Moon Cay area around noon when she drowned.

The Nassau Guardian

Immigration officers terrify Bahamian mother and daughter

Read storyA woman and her daughter are trying to get back to normal after a terrifying encounter with the Immigration Department.

Violet Hanna said she thought someone was trying to break in when she heard banging on her door early Tuesday morning.

She realized it was the Immigration Department after she saw more than a dozen armed men and women in green uniforms outside her front and back doors.

Hanna said the officers started counting down, threatening to break her door if she did not open it quickly. Her 7-year-old daughter, Amber, was so scared she started crying and throwing up, she said.

Hanna told The Tribune that officers never identified themselves and did not apologize for breaking her gate to get to her back door.

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A01)

Bahamas may borrow $200m

Read storyThe Bahamas government wants to borrow $200 million to make up for a lack of revenue in the 2008-2009 financial year.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced the decision, which will have to be approved by parliament, during a budget report on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister said given the present economic difficulties facing the country, it makes more sense for the government to absorb losses rather than reduce government spending.

The money would come from several banks and be used for a stimulus programme.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A01)

Incest victims not getting support

Read storyReports of incest from the Family Islands will mean island to island travel by social workers who want to hear from victims.

Chairman of the National Child Protection Council, Pastor Gil Maycock, said reported cases probably account for a third of total incidents.

"We've gotten reports. It's not just one or two. We have gotten reports. We've put some emphasis on certain islands over other islands,” Maycock said.

The chairman said the situation is made worse by relatives that are not willing to support victims because they are afraid of the shame it will mean for their family.

Maycock said with only a "miniscule" amount of government funding, the council will need donations to tackle the problem, which will mean traveling to the out islands.

Full Story in The Tribune here

CLICO customers worried

Read storyPolicyholders concerned about their investment were asking questions at Clico (Bahamas) Wednesday, a day after the government moved to liquidate the company.

Several customers were reassured that their money was safe; one said he was told to check back on Thursday (yesterday), another that he should not worry because the company will be bought and his life insurance policy was re-insured.

Another client was "seething" as she left the office because she was told she would have to wait two weeks for the liquidators to pay and that there was no guarantee she would get her money back.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

Less overtime for customs officers = lower duty prices

Read storyThe government plans to change the way customs officers work to reduce overtime payments and lower the cost of importing goods.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said high overtime payments has for a long time meant high costs for airlines that come to The Bahamas and discouraged business.

Better management of customs is one of the ways the Ministry of Tourism hopes to lower the cost to travel to The Bahamas and attract more visitors.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Full Story in The Tribune here

Eleuthera school celebrates sustainable technology

Read storyThe Island School* in Eleuthera, which uses solar panels to power dorms and makes its own biodiesel, shared its 10th anniversary with some special speakers.

Students heard from College of The Bahamas president Jayne Hodder as well as Dr Eddie Widder, senior scientist at the US-based Ocean Conservation and Research Association, during anniversary celebrations this month.

The Island School is one of four entities funded through the Cape Eleuthera Foundation. The other three are:

• The Deep Creek Middle School
  
• The Cape Eleuthera Institute - a scientific research and technology site
  
• Cape Systems - installs sustainable technology around the island
  

*Open link in Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox

Full Story in The Tribune here

Bahamians owe hundreds of millions in property tax

Read storyBahamians owed more than $363 million in real property taxes up to June last year.

About $80 million of this figure came from 2006/2007 and the rest from previous years.

The Auditor General, who prepared the report, recommended that government take action immediately to collect money owed by taxpayers.

The money is especially important as the government considers ways to make up for lower national revenue.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Gas prices heading up again

Read storyGas prices have risen along with increased oil costs, making some fuel as much as 20 cents more.

Esso is up to $3.56 from 3.26 per gallon, Shell is at $3.34 and Texaco at $3.36. On other islands the price is as high as $3.75.

Diesel is about $2.73 a gallon in Nassau and as high as
2.82 in the Family Islands.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

TED: Check this out! (not sad)

Read story

No, this is not Bahamian or about The Bahamas. It is inspiring. Every day I'm going to try and post something educational at the bottom of the page, usually a video.

The only thing it won't be (hopefully) is boring.

If you have something inspiring that you want to share (especially Bahamian things) send them to:


(click on image)

Amnesty wants Detention Centre investigated

Read storyDespite a quick assurance from the Department of Immigration (DoI) that inmates at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre are not abused, Amnesty International wants an independent investigation.

Hours after a Tribune story detailed abuse claims (links at the end of this post) the Immigration Department released a statement saying it did not know of a planned hunger strike and that "at no time were detainees mistreated or beaten".

But Amnesty International said the claims were similar to reports it has gotten over the years including: "miniscule" amounts of food for inmates, inadequate medical and bathing facilities and limited access to the outside world.

The Immigration Department's statement said inmates are given quality food three times a day and that menu choices consider the different nationalities at the facility.

The statement said that angry detainees sometimes try to tarnish the names of workers at the facility.

Click here to read an interesting take on the DoI's statement by Tribune Editor Paco Nunez.

See other CBN stories about this subject here

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A01)

The Nassau Guardian

Child abuse up 24%

Read story

Reports of child abuse rose by 24% in 2008, according to statistics from the National Child Protection Council (NCPC).

The NCPC released the findings at a press conference Tuesday.

NCPC chairman Gil Maycock said abuse falls into six categories:

1. Abandonement
   
2. Neglect
   
3. Incest
   
4. Emotional abuse
   
5. Sexual abuse
   
6. Physical abuse
   

Maycock said neglect is by far the largest category, and includes children left alone at night, not fed properly and living in unsanitary conditions.

He said the NCPC expect abuse cases to increase this year, along with the bad economy.

This is especially true of neglect she said, as people work several jobs to make ends meet.

Judge concerned that evidence not consistent

Read storyOfficers who chased Lincoln Forbes until he was shot and killed by a fellow policeman gave their versions of the night's events.

But Magistrate William Campbell pointed to a number of inconsistencies that have clouded details of Forbes's 2004 death.

Detective Sergeant Rubin Stuart told the court that he and two other officers had stopped Forbes and his friend Trevon Stevens after chasing their car.

Stuart said Forbes ran out of the car and the other two officers chased him. Soon after, he told the court, the suspect came running from between some houses and fell on his face, shot.

Officer DC Martin, one of the officers who chased Forbes, testified that the third officer, named Ranger, shot Forbes when he turned and pointed his weapon at them.

A firearms expert testified earlier in the case that Forbes's weapon was actually a toy gun.

Magistrate Campbell asked why the officers had said that Forbes fell face down when crime scene photos showed him face up.

Stuart said that emergency medical workers had moved him but Campbell said the photos should have been taken that way.

The Magistrate also said it was unfortunate that Stuart's Uzi Submachine gun was not tested by police to see if it was fired on the night of the shooting.

Stevens testified that Stuart shattered their car's windshield with the Uzi during the chase. But Stuart said he had not fired the gun "at all".

The case resumes in April.

See other CBN stories about this subject here

Full Story in The Tribune here

Former officer said police would not come to help

Read storyFormer police officer Rupert Moxey said despite calling police three times, no-one came to help him stop a man who was throwing rocks at his home and threatening his life.

Moxey, 58, said at around 11 o'clock Friday night, he saw a young man fighting outside his home. The man turned on him after he told him to put down a rock.

The attacker came to his yard and said "I'll kill you, I'll **** you up."

Moxey called the police emergency number. When no one came he called back and was told to call the Carmichael Road Station. They told him there was no-one available.

Meanwhile, the man was throwing rock after rock at Moxey's house, damaging his friend's car and breaking his front gate.

After a sleepless night, he called back the next day and the following Monday but no one has gone to see him.

"I really just want the police to come so I don't have to deal with this on my own.

He threatened to kill me when he threw the first stone and I was really afraid."

Assistant Superintendent of Police Walter Evans said he would look into the incident.

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A01)

Ross University means $10m for Grand Bahama

Read storyGRAND BAHAMA: Ross University is expected to bring $10 million to the Grand Bahama economy over the next year.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was recently at the Freeport Campus for the school's launch.

The university is expected to pump $10 million as staff and students pay for housing, food, transportation and living expenses.

The Bahamas campus will serve as the clinical site of Ross University's medical programme in Dominica. Two hundred students have enrolled at the Freeport Campus for this year's courses.

Man ordered to give $5,000 to AIDS group

Read storyMagistrate Renae McKay ordered Travis Crossgill to pay $5,000 to the AIDS Foundation after he pled guilty to possession of 13 bullets for a 9mm handgun.

The guilty plea meant police dropped charges against the five people arrested with Crossgill, 20.

The Nassau Guardian

Man on bail charged with second murder

Read storyA man on bail for murder was charged with another murder in court Tuesday.

Dior Johnson is accused of shooting Ignacio Smith to death in front of his home on January 28.

Johnson was on bail for the October 2006 murder of Jason Rolle, who was stabbed to death.

The Nassau Guardian

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A01)