SILVER SPRING, Maryland: Downtown Silver Spring was transformed into a vibrant Jamaican marketplace on Sunday as the sights, sounds, aromas and spirit of Jamaica filled Veterans Plaza for the fifth staging of Jamaica Fest, attracting an estimated 8,000 patrons from across the Washington metropolitan area and beyond.

Western Bureau: A long-awaited road rehabilitation project in Lucea, Hanover, has been temporarily delayed after seawater affected repair works along the town’s main thoroughfare. The National Works Agency (NWA) had announced that work on Seaview Drive would begin on August 10 as part of a $54-million programme aimed at improving several road corridors across the parish. The works were scheduled to start at 9 p.m., when traffic volumes are typically lower.

Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) President Justice Winston Anderson has rejected allegations that judges at the region’s highest court have been subjected to improper influence or that judicial panels have been manipulated to secure particular outcomes. In a lengthy statement issued against the backdrop of reports of tensions among judges, Anderson said allegations of “panel fixing” and attempts to influence judgments were “wholly untrue”, while acknowledging that some of his own decisions could have been handled differently.

WESTERN BUREAU: Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has described Monday’s mass demolition at Cooper’s Pen in Trelawny as a “humanitarian crisis”, declaring that neither he, his ministers nor the constituency’s member of parliament (MP) had prior knowledge of the operation. Addressing the controversial demolition exercise yesterday, Holness said images of displaced families, including a mother with a newborn baby, were disturbing and that the Government would have to find ways to support those affected.

WESTERN BUREAU: Lothan Cousins, the opposition spokesman on land, is calling on the Government to invoke a decades-old law to halt any further demolition of homes at Cooper’s Pen, Trelawny, arguing that the State has the legal power to protect the remaining residents. Cousins said Section 4 of the Local Communities Amenities Improvement Act provides a mechanism that could be used, pointing to what he described as a similar intervention by the Government at Red Hills in St. Andrew in 2016.

WESTERN BUREAU: Opposition Leader Mark Golding is calling for a national inquiry into how land rights are enforced against vulnerable Jamaicans, arguing that the demolition of homes at Cooper’s Pen, Trelawny, highlights the need for stronger safeguards for longstanding communities. Golding made the call on Thursday as he toured the informal settlement, where several homes were demolished on Monday, leaving families displaced and others fearful that their houses could be next.

The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) said last week’s seizure of drugs at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) was its largest drug seizure since the start of the year. More than two tonnes of cocaine and 256 pounds of ganja were intercepted in operations conducted between August 5 and 7. The seizures, carried out in collaboration with the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division and Specialised Operations Branch, involved approximately 1,813 parcels of cocaine in containers destined for Spain and Florida.

An employee of the state-owned oil refinery Petrojam has been arrested and charged by the police arising from allegations that he was part of a ring that illegally sold bullets and gun parts for high-calibre rifles, law- enforcement sources have disclosed. Vashel Witter, 52, a line engineer based at Petrojam’s Montego Bay terminal, was apprehended in the Freeport area on August 6 during a sting operation in which the police allegedly found more than 200 rounds of ammunition for AK-47 rifles inside his vehicle, sources told The Gleaner.

An elderly St Elizabeth man is appealing for the intervention of Justice Minister Delroy Chuck after a court ordered him to vacate land he has lived on for 41 years by Sunday, insisting that he is not a squatter.

The Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) is better equipped to protect mothers and newborns in communities still recovering from Hurricane Melissa, following a donation of reproductive health and specialised midwifery kits from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Harold Robinson, UNFPA director and representative for the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office, said the donation marks a shift from immediate emergency assistance to longer-term recovery and health-system resilience.

From detecting sick chickens to tracing beef from farm to fork, artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping Brazilian agriculture, with lessons that could help improve productivity and food security in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. The emerging technologies were on display at the International Animal Protein Show (SIAVS) in São Paulo, Brazil, from August 4-6, one of Latin America’s largest poultry and animal-protein exhibitions, where industry leaders demonstrated how AI is transforming different stages of food production.

A recommendation by an opposition lawmaker that children found in possession of a firearm or ammunition should be referred to the child diversion programme rather than placed before the court on gun charges was yesterday rejected by the chairman of the joint select committee reviewing the Child Diversion Act.

Western Bureau: On Tuesday night, Shane ‘Biggs’ Ricketts, whose house was demolished in Cooper’s Pen, Trelawny, earlier that day, could not help but reflect on Bob Marley’s hit song, Talkin Blues, in which the legendary singer declared “ cold ground was my bed last night”. Ricketts, who lost all his belongings in the actions of a demolition crew that flattened some 20 houses using bulldozers, tractors and sledgehammers in a pre-dawn operation that started at 3 a.m., was left with nowhere to sleep.

A Jamaican man who found himself caught in the grip of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colombia says chaos erupted in the stairwell of the 17-storey hotel where he was staying, as panicked guests rushed to the exits amid “terrifying” tremors. Dave Creary said he arrived in Medellín on Saturday for a one-week vacation and was sleeping in his room when an earthquake alert on his cell phone went off early Monday morning. He said that seconds later, at approximately 7:30 a.m., his hotel room on the 12th floor began shaking violently, causing him to run for the exit.

WESTERN BUREAU: Residents of a section of Cooper’s Pen, Trelawny, were jolted from their slumber on Tuesday morning to find a demolition crew flattening their houses in a pre-dawn operation involving bulldozers, tractors, and sledgehammers. When the hours-long exercise, carried out under the watchful eyes of a bailiff and a strong police contingent, ended, 20 predominantly concrete houses lay in ruins as their bewildered owners looked on in disbelief.

Lamenting that allegations surrounding the operations of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) have become “fodder” for those opposed to the regional court, veteran attorney Bert Samuels yesterday argued that the claims have no bearing on the court’s integrity. Speaking during a press conference, Samuels said the allegations do not concern the delivery of judgments, the credibility of the CCJ’s president, or its judges.

As the busiest stretch of the hurricane season approaches, some residents living near the banks of Sandy Gully are worried that floodwaters could rise rapidly and destroy their homes because of the large amount of debris, displaced surfaces, and collapsing walls along the waterway. Sandy Gully is the largest conduit for carrying stormwater to the sea in the Corporate Area. The Gleaner yesterday visited two communities along the waterway where residents are increasingly anxious about the condition of the gully and the potential threat of flooding.

WESTERN BUREAU: A 33-year-old British man sought refuge inside the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, on Monday night after gunmen fired shots into the vehicle he was driving, injuring him. About 9:30 p.m., the man – a forex trader of a Valley Mill address in the United Kingdom – was travelling with his partner and two Jamaican relatives along Queen’s Drive, near the airport, when the attack occurred. According to police reports, after the vehicle stopped at a traffic light, a motor car pulled up alongside it, and the occupants opened fire.

The Supreme Court has stayed proceedings that could result in the dismissal of a St Elizabeth case-management officer over her alleged involvement in partisan political activity ahead of the general election last year. The stay bars the Office of the Services Commission and the Attorney General’s Department from taking further action against the officer, Toni Bailey-Cowan, while she challenges the constitutionality of the proceedings.

More than $75 million in cash and thousands of pieces of counterfeit merchandise carrying the labels of globally recognised brands were seized by law-enforcement authorities during multiple operations on the weekend. The counterfeit merchandise, which includes more than 300 pairs of ‘Nike Air Force One’ sneakers as well as ‘Gucci’, ‘Polo’, ‘Reebok’, ‘Crocs’, and ‘Jordan’ apparel, has an estimated value of $4 million.

Western Bureau: With the September 2026 deadline for the phased opening of the US$354-million Montego Bay Perimeter Road Project fast approaching, steady progress is being reported by Minister of Works Robert Morgan. The perimeter road is a major infrastructure development aimed at easing the severe traffic congestion plaguing the western city while also unlocking new lands for sustainable development. The construction is being managed by the National Road Operating and Constructing Company Limited (NROCC) and is being built by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).

The allegations that have emerged about the operations of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) have not affected the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) stance that it should replace the Britain-based Privy Council as Jamaica’s final court of appeal, party President Mark Golding has declared. In fact, Golding told The Gleaner that the emails cited by Trinidad and Tobago newspaper, the Sunday Express, “disclose an internal environment in which the judges feel free to express their independent and opposing views forthrightly to the president of the court”.

For Councillor Scean Barnswell, there was no time to deliberate when he spotted a man with a six-year-old girl, who had reportedly been abducted from St Thomas More Preparatory School in May Pen, Clarendon, last December. What took over was not a desire to be heroic or any thought that his actions would earn national recognition. It was, he said, a parental instinct to protect a child in danger.

WESTERN BUREAU: The murder of schoolteacher Andre James has rattled the Little London Infant and Primary School community as it mourns one of its most dedicated educators. James, 39, was found dead at a house in Pitini district in Bluefields, Westmoreland, on Sunday afternoon. “This school community will not be the same come September without Mr James,” school board Chairman Councillor Ian Myles told The Gleaner on Monday.

Several parishes will be under water prohibition orders as of this week. The National Water Commission (NWC) announced yesterday that it will issue a water prohibition notice tomorrow, with enforcement measures taking effect on August 17. The decision, which comes on the heels of daily water lock-off measures announced last week, followed a high-level stakeholder meeting yesterday involving the NWC and the Meteorological Service.

As Jamaican businesses confront climate-related disruptions, evolving market conditions and increasing pressure on critical infrastructure, resilience has become more than a business continuity consideration. It is now a strategic imperative for organisations seeking to protect operations, sustain growth, and remain competitive in an increasingly complex environment.

Patients at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) are expected to benefit from faster diagnoses, expanded access to specialist treatment and enhanced critical care services following a major expansion of the hospital’s clinical capabilities and healthcare workforce.

WESTERN BUREAU: Residents of St James are being encouraged to contact the relevant authorities for assistance whenever they see homeless people, including those who may have mental health challenges, roaming the streets of Montego Bay and the wider parish. In recent times, there have been complaints about the actions of certain homeless people in Montego Bay. Reports include one man taking up residence at the Jarrett Park complex and another setting up a living space on the sidewalk near the Decarteret Hotel along Jimmy Cliff Boulevard.

Allegations that have emerged about the operations of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) should be urgently addressed, a former senior regional diplomat has asserted. “It is not a trivial matter, and I am hoping that those responsible for the CCJ itself will in fact treat it with the urgency and the seriousness with which it deserves,” Ambassador Byron Blake, former assistant secretary general of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), told The Gleaner yesterday.

Two Jamaican lottery scammers directed their elderly American victims to deposit millions of dollars into accounts they used to operate separate used-car dealerships in Jamaica, United States (US) authorities have charged. The allegations were detailed in documents filed in a US court in the case against Jordan Trought, the Jamaican lottery scammer who pleaded guilty for his role as a high-ranking member of an international fraud scheme that stole more than US$9 million, or about J$1.4 billion, from more than 200 elderly American citizens through a sweepstakes scam.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) A suspended Catholic priest on a tiny Caribbean island is embracing calypso to make his voice heard on topics including Gaza and sexual abuse within the church. Father Gerard Paul, who hails from Grenada, can no longer officiate masses, funerals, weddings or baptisms after repeatedly criticising the church and clergy. But that hasn’t stopped him from preaching via the lilting rhythms of calypso, an Afro-Caribbean music genre known for its witty lyrics and satirical social commentary.

Heightened security and growing unease gripped Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) on Saturday, a day after a major cocaine bust led to the arrest of eight people and intensified an investigation into an alleged drug-smuggling syndicate with connections to the facility. The Sunday Gleaner has learnt that the container seized during Friday’s operation was scheduled for export and was laden with goods labelled “jerk seasoning”, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

WESTERN BUREAU: They are two Kingston women with different lives and different histories of alleged abuse, but when Karen P.* and Janice Q.* speak about the policeman they say finally listened, the name is the same. Corporal Adrian Cornwall. After years of frustration, fear and what they describe as disappointing encounters with some members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), both women credit Cornwall with giving them something they desperately needed: the feeling that somebody believed their complaints required action. Karen goes even further.

A heavy influx of foreign plastic waste bearing Spanish and French labels is piling up along Jamaica’s eastern coastline, creating a severe environmental hazard that threatens marine life and the food chain. In Holland Bay, St Thomas, the pile-up of largely non-biodegradable debris includes beverage containers, household packaging, and commercial waste from products widely distributed in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Haiti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.

Just 22 minutes apart on July 28, two police officers in different parishes accidentally shot themselves with licensed firearms. A few days later, a policewoman was injured after her Glock pistol was discharged inside her home, an M16 rifle was unintentionally fired at a Kingston police station, a correctional officer accidentally discharged his service weapon while carrying out a prescribed safety procedure, and a one-year-old girl was shot with her father’s police-issued firearm.