NET targets power gaps as schools remain in the dark after Melissa Dozens of schools still without electricity months after Hurricane Melissa are now being targeted for emergency support as the National Education Trust (NET) moves to plug critical gaps with the distribution of generators. The agency is compiling a list of institutions still in the dark and in urgent need of backup power following the storm late last year. Students at several schools in Hanover and Westmoreland – two of the parishes hardest hit – are among those most affected, according to NET Executive Director Latoya Harris-Ghartey.
Sweet comeback Just a week after opening its doors, the Pure Chocolate factory in Ocho Rios, St Ann, was battered by Hurricane Melissa. A massive guango tree lodged in its roof, leaving production at a standstill and causing millions in losses. But since last month, the business has started to bounce back, with staff, chocolate, and some of the island’s cocoa farmers all rising from the wreckage. On top of that, the company was nominated days ago as one of the top three businesses of the year by the St Ann Chamber of Commerce.
ON EDGE WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver is calling on the Government to show greater respect for the nation’s teachers, arguing that educators are not being adequately compensated for the demanding work they do.
GV Service Station pumps $9.2m into Kitchen of Love for 2025 WESTERN BUREAU: The Hanover Kitchen of Love has received a $2.4-million boost from GV Service Station, which is spearheading an initiative to provide 400 hot meals per month to needy persons in the parish. The latest donation brings to $9.2 million the amount of money that GV Service Station has donated to the Kitchen of Love from its 2025 quarterly promotion at its two service stations to generate funding for the project. The latest funds are for the last quarter of 2025.
JC student injured in bust-up withdraws from school The teenage boy who suffered injuries in an incident at Jamaica College on March 26 will not be returning to the Old Hope Road, St Andrew-based institution when it reopens for the summer term next Monday. “I haven’t decided on how to finish the term as he only has a few more months left to complete fourth form, but the short answer is he is never setting foot on that campus [again],” the boy’s mom told The Gleaner yesterday.
Pedestrian, bikers among 5 killed in Easter Weekend crashes Five people died on Jamaica’s roadways over the five-day Easter holiday weekend, raising concerns for the main road safety advocacy group even as road fatalities continue to trend downwards. “Inattention/diverted attention” was listed as the possible cause of three of the four crashes that resulted in the five deaths, according to the respective police reports reviewed by The Gleaner. A pedestrian, 66, and a motorcyclist, 63, were killed in separate crashes in Kingston and Westmoreland on Holy Thursday, the reports revealed.
Veteran DJ ‘Jaggy D’ shot dead in Hopewell Square WESTERN BUREAU: Veteran deejay Roger Walker, popularly known as ‘Jaggy D’, was murdered shortly after midday on Monday in Hopewell, Hanover, when an unknown assailant opened fire, killing him on the spot. Reports are that Walker was speaking to friends at a popular hangout spot when he was shot. The 57-year-old entertainer was among a group of promising deejays who surged to prominence in western Jamaica in the late 1980s.
UTech president wants end to TVET stigma WESTERN BUREAU: Dr Kevin Brown, president of The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), has joined calls for an end to the stigma that currently exists against technical and vocational education and training (TVET) subjects in Jamaica’s education system, saying these subjects are key to becoming a technological leader on the global stage.
NEWBORN HEARTACHE What should have been one of the happiest moments of Shandale Ballentine’s life ended in heartbreak on Good Friday. Instead of leaving the Cornwall Regional Hospital cradling the baby boy she had spent months preparing for, the 33-year-old first-time mother said she returned home “empty-handed”, struggling to make sense of how her long-awaited delivery ended in tragedy. Ballentine said she lost her son, Ramontay Rakai Ranger, during labour at the Montego Bay, St James-based hospital during what she described as the “worst” ordeal of her life.
Jamaica rejects St Kitts’ claim of first legal recognition of Rastafari WESTERN BUREAU: The Government of Jamaica has pushed back against claims that St Kitts and Nevis is the first Caribbean nation to recognise Rastafarianism in law, insisting that Jamaica has long acknowledged the faith within its constitutional and parliamentary framework. Speaking with The Gleaner on the sidelines of the 63rd anniversary of the 1963 Coral Gardens Incident last Friday, Culture Minister Olivia Grange said that Jamaica’s legal system has historically recognised Rastafari as a legitimate religion.