The Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Amendment Act, 2026 was passed in the Senate in January and signed by Governor General Sir Patrick Allen on February 20. In addition to the reform is the automatic expungement in certain older, non-custodial matters, where the sentence was imposed and completed prior to January 1, 2005, and the individual has not been convicted of another offence. Such individuals automatically benefits from expungement without being required to undergo the application process.

WESTERN BUREAU: From the quiet hills of Adelphi in St James to the corridors of power at the Pentagon, Jamaica-born Mark Denton is poised to make history as the first Black man to lead the Cadet Corps at Norwich University in its more than 200-year existence. Denton, who migrated to the United States (US) at age 10 and is now an American citizen, has been selected as the 57th Commandant of Cadets and Vice President of Student Affairs at the prestigious private military institution in Northfield, Vermont, founded in 1819.

Onion importers are pushing back against suggestions that their business is killing local farmers, now experiencing a glut. Since the first round of reaping began following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Melissa, local farmers have been howling about their inability to sell their produce, resulting in hundreds of pounds rotting in the field. From St Elizabeth to St Thomas, they have pointed the finger of blame at importers of foreign-produced onions.

Courtney Anderson would have been relieved when an assault case against him was dismissed in 1996, but little did he know that 30 years later he would still be experiencing the recurring nightmare of trying to get his police record cleared so he can move forward with his life unencumbered by the case. Jamaica’s expungement law allows eligible individuals to have certain criminal charges and/or convictions removed from their records, providing them with an opportunity for a fresh start.

Customs officials have implemented a new policy that mandates employees to detain all three-dimensional or 3D printers imported into Jamaica, pending an internal verification of the end-user, a leaked internal memo has revealed. The move by the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) comes amid fears that Jamaican crime syndicates have gained access to the machines and are using them to print component parts used to make so-called ‘ghost guns’.

Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States, Major General (Ret’d) Antony Anderson, last Tuesday reinforced a commitment to the Caribbean’s regional defence and security cooperation, as he addressed defence and security professionals from 16 nations at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington DC.

Western Bureau: A simple act of care, which was sparked by a newborn baby wrapped in a worn towel, has blossomed into a meaningful donation for mothers and babies at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland. On Friday morning, the hospital’s maternity department received more than 200 receiving blankets from the United States (US)-based Support Your Girlfriends Foundation, an initiative led locally by returning resident Vanessa Moore. Moore said the effort began after witnessing a close friend struggle during an emergency delivery.

WESTERN BUREAU: Nickeisha Black, the 34-year-old mother of three children who is battling Stage-3 colorectal cancer, says she is placing her fate in the hands of God and the prospective kindness of others, as she continues to seek help amid mounting medical and financial challenges

WESTERN BUREAU: Days after a devastating fire left Hanover mother Natalee Watson homeless and clinging only to her faith, the outpouring of support has begun to transform despair into hope. Watson, whose story of loss and her plea for a Bible, moved readers across the island, is now set to have her modest two-bedroom board house rebuilt through a coordinated effort involving Hanover Charities, her member of parliament, and private-sector support.

Future leaders in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are being warned to rethink the popular view that “knowledge is power”, as approaching leadership in this way can be dangerous and risk failing those they are meant to serve. Instead, drawing on the wisdom of his father, a former policeman, Professor Densil Williams said knowledge should be seen as freedom.

The Government will be eliminating additional tuition fees at the HEART/NSTA Trust in an effort to broaden access to skills training. Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Holness, has announced that beginning in fiscal year 2026/27, fees for all programmes up to Level Five will be removed. He made the announcement during his contribution to the 2026/27 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Thursday,

A Portmore, St Catherine man who pleaded guilty to breaking into a church twice and stealing items was on Thursday sentenced to two years and six months’ imprisonment. Robert Barnett, otherwise called ‘Mogo’, was charged with one count of sacrilege and one count of housebreaking with intent. During sentencing, Senior Parish Court Judge Desiree Alleyne read his social enquiry report and described it as very unfavourable. It was noted that despite his mental health history, the report indicated that he was fit to plead.

Signalling that delays in the implementation of critical national investment projects will soon be a thing of the past, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has indicated that his administration is advancing two powerful and complementary reforms – one aimed at building public infrastructure and the other focusing on accelerating and attracting transformational private investment. After making his contribution to the 2026-2027 Budget Debate in Parliament yesterday, the prime minister tabled legislation to establish the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA).

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’s assertion that gender is limited to male and female has sparked both backlash and praise, with critics contending that his remark points to a shifting global attitude towards the LGBTQIA+ community. “The comment is disappointing and unnecessary,” Glenroy Murray, executive director of Equality for All Foundation, told The Gleaner.

The Government has been ordered to pay almost $80 million to a man with dozens of fraud-related convictions after he languished in prison for six years and 11 months or 2,504 days in excess of his sentence mainly because of an administrative error by prison authorities. The Supreme Court yesterday ordered that Ray Morgan be paid $60 million or an average $23,962 per day in compensatory damages, $10 million in vindicatory damages, and $9 million in special damages, ending a lawsuit he filed against the State.

Veteran trade unionist John Levy has poured cold water on Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’ announcement of a reduction in housing interest rates for some civil servants, arguing that the National Housing Trust (NHT) is being misused. Levy, general secretary of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), told The Gleaner yesterday that successive administrations have “tinkered” with the Trust in ways that satisfy only a limited group of the population.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has sought to counter a growing argument that Jamaica abandoned Cuba when his administration ended the 50-year medical cooperation programme earlier this month, insisting that the Government has stood up for its Caribbean neighbour. Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, while making his contribution to the 2026-2027 Budget Debate, Holness reiterated the Government’s position that aspects of the programme, including how medics were being paid, run counter to local laws and several international conventions.

Signalling that delays in the implementation of critical national investment projects will soon be a thing of the past, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has indicated that his administration is advancing two powerful and complementary reforms – one aimed at building public infrastructure and the other focusing on accelerating and attracting transformational private investment. After making his contribution to the 2026-2027 Budget Debate in Parliament yesterday, the prime minister tabled legislation to establish the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA).

WESTERN BUREAU: Sandals Resorts International is turning disruption into opportunity, announcing a US$200-million (J$32.4-billion) investment to transform three of its flagship Jamaican properties in what executives describe as a rare chance to “dream bigger” following the impact of Hurricane Melissa. The sweeping redevelopment will see Sandals Montego Bay, Sandals Royal Caribbean and Sandals South Coast undergo a comprehensive ‘Sandals 2.0’ reimagination, with phased reopenings set for late 2026.

Just months after losing her entire pumpkin crop to Hurricane Melissa, 30-year-old St Elizabeth farmer Sherka Graham is facing the same predicament once again. This time, the culprit is a fungus, causing black rot to appear on the crop. It has destroyed the more than 8,000 pounds of pumpkin on her five-acre farm.

A forensic crime scene investigator (FCSI), called by the Crown as a witness in the ongoing Clansman Gang trial, yesterday gave brief testimony linking his role to the escorting of evidence in the murder case involving William Christian. Christian, a government worker and businessman, was killed in April 2020. Defendants Michael Wildman and Lamar Rowe are charged with Christian’s murder on count 19 of the 32-count indictment.

Dwayne Pitter, a resident of Bay Farm Villa in St Andrew, is the person who allegedly used a fictitious name to get mortgage loans totalling $352 million from four commercial banks over a one-month period in 2024, law-enforcement authorities have charged. The loans, all in the name ‘Odain Anthony Lawes’, were used to ‘buy’ upscale St Andrew properties that had been secretly and “fraudulently” transferred from their legitimate owners, The Sunday Gleaner reported last month, citing claims made in a lawsuit filed against one of the banks.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness comes to the proverbial wicket today to make his 11th contribution to the yearly Budget Debate at a time when the country is said to be transitioning from recovery to reconstruction post-hurricane Melissa. Jamaica also, like many other countries, now faces mounting threats to its fiscal targets with the intensifying conflict in the Middle East and its related impact on oil prices.

Outgoing Commissioner of Customs Dr Velma Ricketts Walker says one of the most important achievements during her tenure was the ongoing transformation and strengthening of the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) into a modern, professional, and resilient organisation. Over her near decade-long leadership of the JCA, Ricketts Walker said modernisation efforts were advanced, governance and integrity systems enhanced, intelligence-driven enforcement boosted, and trade facilitation processes improved to better support Jamaica’s economic growth and national security.

An older couple from the Norman Gardens community in Kingston is among many Jamaicans left frustrated and disappointed by the departure of Cuban medical personnel who have served on the island for five decades. “My husband is one of the beneficiaries of the Cuban medical professionals. He had one of his eyes done at St Joseph’s Hospital and was supposed to get the other one done, but when he went back, they sent him to KPH (Kingston Public Hospital) because the Cubans have gone home,” the man’s 61-year-old wife, who gave her name as Joy British, told The Gleaner.

WESTERN BUREAU: Retired Brigadier Radgh Mason, the commissioner of corrections, says a new rehabilitation programme for sex offenders, aimed at giving those individuals a chance to change their behaviour and making it easier for them to reintegrate into society, is set to launch this year. Mason, who was speaking at last week’s opening of the Montego Bay Probation Office, said the new facility would be crucial in safeguarding vulnerable members of society.

A sharp courtroom clash over the alleged videotaping of defendants set the tone for proceedings in the Supreme Court yesterday,before a police prosecution witness later identified two of the accused men in connection with the 2020 murder of William Christian. Tension first surfaced around claims that police officers were seen capturing images of the men as they were being transported from court last week, an issue defence attorney Tamika Harris insisted was both real and serious but which the prosecution dismissed as a “distraction”.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding is proposing a digital dragnet that he says could cut tax leakages and pump approximately $70 billion into the Government’s coffers while describing the Holness administration’s $18-billion tax package as “unimaginative”. Golding, who was making his contribution to the 2026-2027 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, said yesterday that the proposal, which “urgently needs to be pursued”, is an alternative to the Government’s incoherent plan put forward to fund the Budget.

WESTERN BUREAU: Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon wants the Auditor General’s Department to provide an update on the post-Hurricane Melissa arrangement between the Government and the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to restore electricity, citing concerns about the lack of working street lights in several sections of St James.

WESTERN BUREAU: Superintendent of Police Coleridge Minto, the commander for St Elizabeth, is raising concern about the fact that some 400 students from across the parish have not returned to school since the passage of Hurricane Melissa last October. According to Minto, who was addressing last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, the figure was derived from checks conducted by members of the police’s Community Safety and Security Branch at schools across the parish.

The absence of several defence attorneys in the fraud trial involving former Education Minister Ruel Reid and his co-accused forced an adjournment of the matter in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday. The case was scheduled to resume with the cross-examination of a senior Ministry of Finance official by attorney Hugh Wildman. However, when the matter was called up, none of the defence lawyers were present, prompting the court to briefly stand down to allow attempts to contact the attorneys.

A relative of slain businessman William Christian took the witness stand on Monday in the ongoing Clansman Gang trial, identifying items belonging to the deceased and rejecting suggestions that the former Ministry of Transport employee was involved in questionable activities. The evidence-in-chief surrounds count 19 of the 32-count indictment where Michael Wildman and Lamar Rowe are charged with the April 2020 murder of Christian. Both men pleaded not guilty.

Despite not being able to implement policy decisions from his position in Parliament, much is expected when Opposition Leader Mark Golding makes his presentation this afternoon in the 2026–2027 Budget Debate at Gordon House. Golding, the third speaker in the annual debate, will take the floor after Opposition finance spokesman Julian Robinson spoke last Thursday in response to Finance Minister Fayval Williams, who opened the debate last Tuesday.

It is costing Caribbean nations a combined US$190 billion to deal with the effects of crime and violence, an official at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has revealed. Jason Wilks, senior sector specialist at the IDB, says this accounts for 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product for countries in the Caribbean. Despite this, Wilks said Caribbean countries are spending “maybe US$15 billion to US$20 billion” on compliance.

WESTERN BUREAU: While environmental activists are seemingly not thrilled about Sandals International’s proposal to build overwater suites in proximity to its Sandals Montego Bay property, some residents of the nearby Flanker community have no issue with it.