New Providence road work on schedule

Read storyThe contractor for the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP) is on schedule and should begin work this month or next month according to the project's coordinator.

Khader Alikhan said Jose Cartellone Construction of Argentina has submitted a plan and that it is under review.

In addition, Cartellone is locating underground utility pipes, some of which may have to be redirected.

The first two projects expected are Corridor 5 (Bethel Avenue) and Corridor 18 (West Bay Street near Saunders Beach).

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Security guards no help during Green Parrot attack

Read storyA group of six men beat a customer and sliced his neck open at Green Parrot bar Friday night.

The victim told The Tribune that security guards did nothing while the men attacked him. Instead a female companion with him was hurt trying to defend him.

The men left after they cut the man's neck and the guards came over to help the young woman get her friend in the car.

The injury required 60 stitches in and outside the man's neck and could have easily cost him his life.

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

Former minister succumbs to cancer

Read storyFormer Member of Parliament for Long Island James "Jimmy" Knowles died at home on Saturday.

Knowles had been fighting cancer for four years but returned home when doctors said they had done all they could.

An attorney by trade, Knowles served as minister of transport, minister of works and minister of agriculture and fisheries.

Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette said:

“Jimmy was very strong minded. He was firm on his convictions and he had a great sense of humor and it was always a pleasure to work with him."

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Bahamians are optimistic according to CoB study

Read storyA College of the Bahamas survey shows that citizens are optimistic about the economy.

This month, economics lecturer Randy Forbes and a team of college students collected in-person responses from 1,500 Bahamians.

The answers to five questions, including "Is this a good time to spend $3,000 or more?" and "How will the general economy be in the next six months?" Showed a general optimism, Forbes said.

Forbes is calling the research the Economic Society of The College of The Bahamas Consumer Confidence Index, or the ESOCOB CCI, modeled after its American counterpart.

He has collected the information for the past five years but has only published the results this year.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Two killed in car crash

Read storyTwo people were killed in a three-car collision at about 1.50 Sunday morning.

A 23-year-old driver and his 27-year-old passenger were killed when the car they were drigin collded with an SUV at the corner of East Street and Cox Way. The car then spun around and hit another car.

The 36-year-old woman who was driving the SUV was taken to hospital in an ambulance although she was responsive and her condition was said to be non life-threatening.

The 34-year-old woman driving the third car to be hit injured her ankle but was otherwise unhurt.

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Architect is taking legal action over cancelled straw market

Read storyThe architect who designed the cancelled straw market facility has joined the project's contractor in complaining that government has not paid for work that was done.

Michael Foster said he has taken legal action to collect the money he is owed for designing the $23 million facility that the FNM government cancelled saying it was too expensive.

Foster also defended his design, saying it could have generated $2 million a year. He said he did not see how a $10 million dollar structure could do the job.

Ashley Glinton of Woslee Dominion Construction recently expressed concern that the government has not met its obligation to him.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Police kill male shooter after car chase

Read storyPolice shot and killed a man after a chase near Fire Trail Road Sunday night.

An unidentified caller spoke to police around 9pm to say he had been hit by a white Cadillac that did not stop. The driver said he followed the car along John F Kennedy Drive.

Police saw the car and tried to intercept it on Fire Trail Road but it turned onto Allen Drive stopping on a mound of dirt at the end.

Two men got out and one shot at police. Officers shot back, hitting him in the torso and killing him.

Police recovered a 12-guage shotgun and launched a search for the other man that was still going on yesterday.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here Page 1

Bahamians sentenced to 4 years in jail in Turks & Caicos

Read storyTURKS AND CAICOS: A Bahamian couple was sentenced to four years jail time after pleading guilty to cocaine smuggling.

Spence Dean, 39 and his girlfriend, Mary Sawh asked for leniency after admitting to taping more than four kilograms of cocaine to their bodies.

But Magistrate Clifton Warner gave them each four years, one year shy of the maximum.

The couple were stopped by police trying to board a Bahamasair flight at Providenciales International Airport.

Full Story in The Tribune here

New legal lecture series starts Thursday

Read storyThis Thursday, Sir Orville Turnquest will be the first lecturer in the Eugene Dupuch Law School's “Distinguished Lecture” series.

The series is meant to promote discussion of current legal issues among lawyers and members of the public.

The lecture starts at 7.30pm at the Wyndham Nassau Resort and
Crystal Palace Casino.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Woman attacked after fake call

Read storyGRAND BAHAMA: A woman was attacked after a man lured her out late Saturday night.

Police said the woman, a 27-year-old clothing vendor, got a call from a man at about 9.40pm. He asked her to come out to the Summerville Drive area so that he could buy some of her products.

When she got there, the woman was attacked by a masked man. He raped her, took her belongings and her van.

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

More than half the capital's water supply goes to waste

Read storyMore than half of the water bought by the government is never paid for, doubling the cost of supply while cutting revenue in half.

Minister of State for Public Utilities, Phenton Neymour, said the Water and Sewerage Corporation is dealing with several challenges, such as not changing the cost of water since 1999, before expensive reverse osmosis technology was started.

The corporation loses $2.2 million ever year because it charges less than water costs and more than half the water is either stolen or lost through leaky pipes.

Bad pipes also mean rusty water for some residents, especially on the Eastern Road.

Neymour said government is waiting on a report from an Inter American Development Bank study. He hopes the report will help the WSC become self-sufficient.

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

Couple worried about mile-wide oil patch off north coast

Read storyA couple fishing on the northern coast ran into a patch of oil about one square mile are worried that authorities don't seem to care.

After running into the patch of oil, Alex Callendar and her husband reported to the Department of Environmental Health.

“The man who they said was responsible for that area said he did not know anything about it and he didn’t seem too bothered,” said Mrs Callender.

Minister of the Environment, Earl Deveaux, and a member of the country’s national Oil Spill Contingency Response Committee, said Port Authority controller Captain Anthony Allen has primary responsibility for organising a response to such incidents.

On Friday, Allen had still not responded to messages left from him on Tuesday.

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

Witness said hospital staff killed man, not fall

Read storyNegligence by hospital staff caused the death of the man who fell from the Queen's Starcase last week, according to an eyewitness.

Pastor Kevin Cooper said he ran over to the man as soon as he fell, which was around 3pm last Tuesday. The man's identity is still not known.

Cooper said blood was pouring out of the man's broken body while he called 911, eventually running to the nearby hospital.

Staff, including the doctor, seemed in no hurry to help and took their time heading to the man, Cooper said.

Paramedics came 15 minutes later, making the total amount of time after the man fell 45 minutes.

“It wasn’t the fall that was fatal," Cooper said, "it was their negligence, and slow response that killed the man.”

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

30 new trees for South Beach

Read storySeveral organizations and a local nursery planted 30 natives trees and cleared 15 bags worth of trash, just the beginning of their efforts in the country's million tree campaign.

The Rotaract Club of East Nassau, the Rotary Club of East Nassau
and the Nature Conservancy worked with the Native Sun Nursery to plant silver and green buttonwood plants along the coast at South Beach last week Saturday.

Full Story in The Tribune here

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Bahamas says goodbye to its first ambassador

Read storyThe country held a state funeral for its first ambassador last Thursday, saying goodbye to Livingston Basil Johnson.

Johnson became the country's first ambassador after independence. An attorney, he partnered with Sir Lynden Pindling, with whom he formed a close friendship and was the best man at his wedding.

He was described as a meticulous worker with excellent judgment, conservative and dignified.

Full Story in The Tribune here

Man murdered in food store parking lot

Read storyA man died in hospital a day after he was admitted with head wounds.

Bradley Smith, 46, was in the Wulff and Village Road area around 6 p.m. last week Tuesday when he was injured.

Police say they are still not sure what happened but were searching the Wulff Road area on Thursday evening.

Family members say Smith was attacked in a food store parking lot and have asked anyone with information about the attack to come forward.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

Full Story in The Tribune here (Page A1)

New road too close to homes

Read storyResidents are upset about the impact a new road might have on their homes and property value.

The road, currently going by the name Corridor 18, will alter West Bay Street near Saunders Beach.

Several residents complained that it will bring traffic too close to their homes, bringing dirt, noise and invading their privacy.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

PMH says it checked in patient before it lost track of him

Read storyHospital officials said they had checked in Lloyd Whyms before he went missing.

After checking the 54-year-old's condition, staff decided his condition "posed no threat".

Whyms was found about 10 hours after he was brought to the hospital by ambulance and is still in a coma.

Whyms' daughter, Latheria Johnson, said a doctor told her that her father had a bruise on his head from a fall. He didn't go to the hospital for that, so I don't know how it got there," Johnson said .

His family is upset that the staff lost track of their relative and the way they were treated during the search.

See other CBN stories about this subject here

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here

New regulator will control media

Read storyThe government is considering creating a new regulator that would control electronic communications, including the Bahamas Telecommunications Company and Cable Bahamas.

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) would control the content of electronic media and prevent companies from dominating the market.

It would have the power to fine up to $500,000 or 10 percent of a license holder's turnover.

Under the terms of the proposed law, Cable Bahamas and BTC would fall into the Significant Market Power Category and automatically subject to regulation.

A company would have up to one year to appeal characterizations that it was unfairly blocking competition.

Full Story in The Nassau Guardian here