Janet Silvera

Jamaicans are being challenged to break the culture of silence surrounding the abuse of children, with Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, minister of state in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, declaring that communities often see the warning signs long before the police do.

WESTERN BUREAU: They may be small, some barely old enough for primary school, but Jamaica’s young gymnasts are already making their presence felt internationally. A contingent of budding athletes from First Dance Studios (FDS) in western Jamaica and the Jamaica School of Gymnastics (JSG) returned from the recently staged Yamilet Peña Classic in the Dominican Republic with an impressive 38 medals and an all-around trophy, providing an encouraging glimpse of the talent developing in the sport locally.

The Government has ordered a full investigation into the death of 58-year-old Clifton Archibald James, who was crushed by a truck while working on the Montego Bay Perimeter Road project in St James yesterday.

WESTERN BUREAU: Jamaica Vacations Limited (JAMVAC) is turning to some of its top international cruise sellers to help drive more passengers to the island – and, critically, get them to explore and spend more beyond the ports. The push comes as Jamaica moves to strengthen its position in an increasingly competitive cruise market, with passenger arrivals yet to regain their recent momentum.

WESTERN BUREAU: As thousands of children returned to classrooms across Jamaica yesterday, some sons and daughters of tourism workers were doing so against a very different backdrop – their parents remain off the job months after Hurricane Melissa. The S Hotel Foundation has stepped in with a J$1.5-million back-to-school grant programme targeting children of tourism workers whose properties remain closed and who have been without their regular salaries.

Acting Commissioner of Police Clifford Blake is warning criminals against confronting members of the security forces after two policemen and a policewoman were shot and a wanted man killed during an early-morning operation in Mount Salem, St James, yesterday.

WESTERN BUREAU: Long before the first diner settles into a waterfront seat at Marina Palms, Deidrick Miller may have already been at sea for hours. Some mornings he leaves the dock as early as 5 o’clock, heading into the Caribbean Sea in search of the red snapper that will later appear on his customers’ plates. And Miller is not the chef or the restaurant’s fisherman. He is its managing director. “I do go to sea between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. Depending on the weather, I always try to get off the dock by latest 7 a.m.,” Miller told Food.

Western Bureau: Acting Commissioner of Police Clifford Blake is warning criminals against confronting members of the security forces after two policemen and a policewoman were shot and a wanted man killed during an early-morning operation in Mount Salem, St James, yesterday. Twenty-nine-year-old Romario Brown, otherwise called ‘Jerry’, was shot during a confrontation with members of the Area One Fugitive Apprehension Team (AFAT) along Crawford Street shortly after 3 a.m.

WESTERN BUREAU: International arrivals through Sangster International Airport declined by 23.65 per cent in August against the backdrop of reduced hotel-room inventory across western Jamaica and other challenges confronting the tourism sector. The Montego Bay airport recorded 166,325 international arrivals, 51,524 fewer than the 217,849 passengers recorded in August 2025. The decline comes at a time when a significant number of hotel rooms across the western tourism belt remain out of service following Hurricane Melissa.

WESTERN BUREAU: Evans Tetteh and Dandie Williams conquered the field but not the Montego Bay heat last Sunday, taking the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, at the MBJ Airports Limited 5K Run/Walk at Sangster International Airport. Both arrived seeking victory and faster times, but the heat and humidity had other ideas on a morning when even men’s runner-up Kemar Leslie blamed the conditions for slowing him down.