Their home is no longer a sanctuary – it’s a prison of fear. At any moment, their mentally ill relative could strike and, for Sharon Burgess* and her elderly mother, that day could be fatal. Burgess’ brother lives with them and, over the years, his...
James Harvey*, 54, still moves as though he is standing behind a towering sound system. Sometimes he rocks from side to side, blurting intros to dancehall hits as if the speakers are still thumping behind him. Nearby, Keith Dempson*, 62,...
A shortage of labourers, building materials, and shrinking cash flow is slowing repairs to public institutions hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa. Suppliers and contractors are scrambling to prioritise projects and compete for limited resources as...
At least nine primary schools are now under review for possible consolidation, with decisions pending on the future placement of their students, after extensive hurricane-related damage further weakened already struggling rural institutions with...
What began as a temporary emergency response to Hurricane Melissa has evolved into a sustained healthcare crisis at Mandeville Regional Hospital, where patient numbers now far exceed capacity and exhausted staff struggle daily to keep pace. Though...
A simple share or a single click is all it takes for an online meeting to be turned into a digital crime scene. From classrooms to government webinars, uninvited intruders continue to crash poorly secured virtual gatherings, flooding screens with...
A Westmoreland family is caught between grief and survival in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. On Friday, as they gathered to lay their brother, Cleveland Wayne – affectionately called “Gramps”— to rest, they faced the agonizing reality that...
In West Albion – where several Hope River survivors were resettled after Hurricane Gustav – residents say they are no longer sitting ducks on the riverbank, but the relocation has brought its own set of challenges. Patricia Wallace, 62, who lost...
Residents of Kintyre and Tavern in St Andrew say they are “running out of ground” after Hurricane Melissa’s fierce rains chewed deeper into the Hope River’s banks, exposing foundations, toppling fences, and renewing longstanding fears that their...
In a journey that wound from New Market in St Elizabeth, through Beaufort, Darliston, Wihthorn, Petersfield, Williamsfield, Shrewsbury, Bluefields, and Petersville in Westmoreland, the devastation left in Hurricane Melissa’s wake was impossible to...
Before Hurricane Melissa made landfall, administrators at Edwin Allen High School decided to send home some 120 students who boarded on campus. Now, in the aftermath of the Category Five storm – which left more than half of those students homeless...
Devastation, desperation, and the acrid stench of death and despair – that was Black River, the capital of St Elizabeth, two days after Hurricane Melissa’s rampage. The scene was apocalyptic. Buildings lay in heaps of rubble, vehicles were...
For over 30 years, Dorey McPherson sold goods at the Morant Bay Market in St Thomas, stepping countless times on the deteriorating manhole cover beside her stall – always without incident. But last December, her luck ran out. The cover gave way...
The Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA) is facing a race against time as it scrambles to find $200 million to relocate more than 500 animals after losing its long-time home at 10 Winchester Road in St Andrew. Managing...
Several students have been left in limbo after Quality Academics, a long-standing private educational institution with more than 200 pupils on roll, announced its sudden closure at its 77 Half-Way Tree Road location in St Andrew. The school’s lease...
Jamaicans, particularly those impacted by restrictions from the National Water Commission (NWC), are being forced to endure worsening drought conditions as rainfall remains scarce and water levels drop to critical lows across the island. With...
Grave-digging is a significant communal activity in St Ann South Eastern. Visiting these sites is a show of respect for the dead and their grieving relatives, and fosters solidarity among peers committed to completing the job, regardless of how...
PORTLAND: Two Portland women are gearing up for a fight to reunite with their Haitian husbands, who were deported earlier this year to Haiti – a country plagued by violence, instability, and poverty. The men were returned without papers, tools, or...
Dozens of fishermen are lost at sea each year, and in most cases they are ushered home quickly by local marine security. In other instances, much like the case of three fishermen who have been missing at sea for more than a week, they are not so...
They are not all troublemakers – at least, that’s what they are quick to clarify. Most of them are older men from nearby communities, disheartened by life’s hardships, who feel their only choice is to manage public parking spaces and wash cars in...
A new drug has entered the market to help combat the spread of HIV, expand prevention options, and challenge the stigma often faced by those living with the virus. However, as with other HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications, concerns...
All 19 exotic animals discovered alongside nearly 4,000 rounds of ammunition during a police raid in Westmoreland earlier this month have been disposed of, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has confirmed. The animals were part of...
They are the quiet warriors – the fathers who stay. The ones who promise to be there through sickness and health, and truly mean it. Because raising a child with a disability demands more than just presence – it demands strength, sacrifice, and...
While the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) accepts that there is still work to be done in tackling crime islandwide, it insists that the steady decline in murders is reason enough for voters to return the party to Government in the next general election...
By 9 a.m. on a typical day, Devon Duke*, a seasoned butcher at the Ocho Rios Market, would have cleaned and prepped over two dozen pigs for weekend sale. But last Wednesday, with fewer customers around, he had only managed six. Not far away, also...
