Your news in a nutshell
- Gov’t to provide funds to rain-affected farmers
- #SaveHeroesPark movement continues
- Workplace safety law coming
- Ja men, women support pregnancy termination in special conditions
- Reid condemns killing of Bog Walk teens
- Time for reparations, says prof
1. Gov’t to provide funds to rain-affected farmers
Registered farmers affected by the recent heavy rains which caused flooding in sections of the country are to receive assistance from the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA). The estimated value of the losses arising from the heavy showers is $76.7 million. See full story on The Gleaner’s website.
2. #SaveHeroesPark movement continues
On Tuesday, May 1, 2018, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) hosted a meeting with local architects to present the revised concept plan for National Heroes Park (NHP) prior to finalising the documents for a competition to design a new Parliament building within the park.The UDC seemed to be somewhat unprepared for the meeting, as the explanations that were given for the decisions made about the redesign of the project were poorly justified. See full story on The Gleaner’s website.
3. Workplace safety law coming
Minister of Labour and Social Security Shahine Robinson yesterday gave the assurance that Government was on track to getting the Occupational Safety and Health Bill passed into law as soon as possible, admitting that its passage was long overdue. The bill, which was finally laid in Parliament late last year, has been subject to intense debate, with the Opposition and Government yet to arrive at a common position. See full story on The Gleaner’s website.
4. Ja men, women support pregnancy termination in special situations
Thirty-five per cent of Jamaican women have said that they supported terminating a pregnancy at any time if the foetus is not able to survive by itself outside the womb. A third of men shared the same view. That’s the finding of an all-island poll conducted by Johnson Survey Research Limited between April 27 and 29 on a woman’s right to choose. See full story on The Gleaner’s website.
5. Reid condemns stabbing of Bog Walk teens
Education Minister Senator Ruel Reid has denounced the stabbing of two teens, one fatally, in Bog Walk, St. Catherine yesterday afternoon. Reid says the ministry sent a trauma team to their high school, Bog Walk High School, on Monday afternoon and again this morning to continue grief counselling sessions with staff and students. See full story on The Gleaner’s website.
6. Time for reparations, says prof
The recently publicised discriminatory immigration measures by the British government against hundreds of Jamaicans and other Caribbean peoples of the Windrush Generation have energised the reparation movement, says Professor Verene Shepherd, director of the Centre for Reparation Research at the University of the West Indies (UWI). See full story on The Gleaner’s website.
