When the Housing Minister, Michael Finnegan made his contribution to the budget debate, he began by by giving thanks to Cuba and Venezuela on behalf of the people of Mesopotamia. According to Finnegan healthcare and education have been areas in which his division has benefit the most. Poor Mesop. residents have been afforded scholarships in […]
The increase in GST was the term most referred to in today’s debate of the budget for 2010/2011. The budget was presented to the House on March fifteenth and the Prime Minister announced that the deficit would fall short of sixty-four million and that he hoped to raise sixty-one point five in new taxes measures […]
As the debate continued, Minister John Saldivar called out the PUP Leader, John Briceño for complaining about the zero rating of luncheon meat, potted meat and a few other canned goods. But he didn’t’ stop there. He also spent a lengthy time blaming Area Representative for Albert, Mark Espat, for being the architect of the […]
Albert Area Representative and Deputy Party leader for the PUP, Mark Espat, did not take the blame for the country’s financial woes lightly. He felt that all of Saldivar’s posturing was in hopes of getting elevated to a powerful portfolio after a cabinet reshuffle, which is expected after village council elections in June. But on […]
When the other PUP Deputy Party Leader Cordel Hyde made his contribution to the budget debate, he was impassioned and unimpressed with what he said was in store for Belizeans. Hyde was highly critical in particular of the cuts to the budget of National Security. Every department including the B.D.F. and even the administration for […]
Harold Crooks, the man who wrote the famous Crooks Report for the Belize Police Department, is still in hiding. On Tuesday, we reported that Crooks was wanted by law enforcement in Jamaica for sex related offences and today it is now known that Crooks has absconded from the island. Today’s issue of the Jamaica Observer […]
The Prime Minister introduced the Sixth Amendment Bill to the constitution on April twenty-fifth of 2008. In that bill fundamental rights and freedoms that are shared by Belizeans would have been altered. The bill in its original form would have also characterized serious crimes as terrorism and additionally would have seriously eroded the rights of […]
Shoman also spoke about the property rights issue. It was an issue that was challenged in court by a group of landowners, an effort heralded by Sir Barry Bowen, who recently passed away. On the twenty-eighth of July 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that there should have been a referendum, but according to Shoman, a […]
The Barrow bond and budget debate gets underway in the House of Representatives this Thursday morning. Sparks flew between the current and former prime ministers during the presentation a week ago when Prime Minister Dean Barrow bestowed on former PM, Said Musa, the “J” word taken from Khaled Hosseni’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. While the […]
On Tuesday we posed the question: Do you agree with Minister Heredia that Creoles should be profiled before visiting San Pedro? An overwhelming number of persons who answered generally thought that they could not support that stance. One response by IMS said that the Minister needs to apologize and others opined that he should tender […]
Most people would recognize the name Harold Crooks, he is the man who gave a damning report and recommended over a hundred ways to fix the police department. In fact the Minister of National Security, Carlos Perdomo, and the police hierarchy often pull out the report when questioned about how to deal with the rampant […]
But will the allegations have any bearing on the famous Crooks Report? The Commissioner of Police, Crispin Jeffries, was busy most of today, but the Police Press Officer, Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood says Crooks’ problems should not affect the credibility of the report. Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer “If he is being sought in Jamaica […]
There’s another suspect on the run but here in the city. He is wanted for a shooting that has ended in murder. Shots rang out on Ebony Street just before ten on Monday night and one man was wounded. Hours late he succumbed while at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. But witnesses say Anthony Burgess, […]
And in the south, an accident on the highway Monday night left three persons dead and five others hospitalized. It happened around eleven p.m. at mile two on the Southern Highway when a white pickup and a grey sport utility vehicle collided. At the scene of the wreckage it seems as if it was a […]
Our segment on questions and reflections has picked up considerable steam from our viewers who have been texting and writing in their comments in reaction to the issues of huge national importance. The questions are aired on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the response is presented on Wednesdays and Fridays. This week’s question is: Do you agree […]
Just before news this evening a bomb threat was called in to Scotia Bank Albert Street Branch. Bank employees were already leaving work when someone called in a bomb threat. The bomb expert arrived on the scene shortly after and the threat turned out to be a prank. A thorough search of the building yielded […]
The Great Escape, the luxury yacht, that damaged Belize’s pristine barrier reef on November thirtieth, 2009 is gone but not forgotten. There were reports that it was leaking fuel into the sea and that it would have been moved. Well, the yacht is no longer at the site where it grounded. It wasn’t a salvage […]
By now you may have heard the extremely controversial remarks made last week Thursday by Manuel Heredia, the Minister of Tourism, about one potential plan to deal with crime on the island of Ambergris Caye. Heredia said that potential visitors should fill out a questionnaire at the water taxis asking them why they decided to […]
Racial profiling has been a tactic that was once practiced by some police departments in the United States that led to costly lawsuits. So it was shocking when a Minister of Tourism made comments interpreted as profiling while he holds a portfolio that implies the importance of cultural diversity. Our blog on the News Five […]
The comments were made after the shooting death of Corporal Gavin Sanchez and today Sergeant Paulino Reyes, the cop who shot and killed him has been placed on administrative leave. Reyes is not exactly on interdiction or half pay, but neither is he on active duty. And according to sources in the department, there were […]
The change of weather at the latter part of the weekend did not change course for some people who had already made plans to be heard against crime. More specifically, the organizers and members of the newly formed Belizeans for Justice proceeded with a peace march and rally. The event had a full agenda, with […]
The Court of appeal concluded its sitting today, but before it did the justices delivered a landmark decision just before noon. The Court handed down a ruling that involved one of its own justices, newly appointed Denys Barrow. The appeal was brought by the Belize Electricity Limited against the Public Utilities Commission. The utility company […]
Sir Barry Bowen died tragically in a plane crash on February, twenty-six in the San Pablo area of La Isla Bonita. But this morning the written decision on a landmark case that he had taken before the courts was handed down by the Court of Appeal. It had to do with the Sixth Amendment Bill […]
When we caught up today with Attorney Eamon Courtenay, who is attorney for the Citrus Growers Association, we also asked him about a decision handed down on Thursday in the Supreme Court by Justice Minnet Hafiz. The judge ruled in favour of the C.G.A. that the Citrus Processing and Production Act as it stood contravened […]
And our question to viewers on Thursday was: “Do you think G.O.B. should invest more to solve crime? Most persons who responded thought definitely so. One participant thought that that GOB should invest more in crime prevention because children are afraid to go to school. While another touched on the issue of tourism saying “we can’t […]
