While there is certainly a need for more vigilance, cooperation and enforcement from Police and related traffic entities…is there a need for stronger legislation, or even new legislation? Here at News Five we’ve covered many accidents in which innocent lives were lost because drivers chose to drink. We’ve never heard of one who was imprisoned […]
The Rural Eastern Division today received a very significant donation from the Princess Hotel and Casino. There are thirty-two communities in that zone, spread over many miles. It’s a challenge to not only physically cover that wide an area, but also to maintain effective, real time communications between officers assigned to police the division. That’s […]
Whether you believe in New Year resolutions or not; making a commitment – at anytime in the year – to get healthy is commendable. So if you’re interested in becoming one of the January babies at the gym in 2016, then this segment of Healthy Living will have some useful information for you. Marleni Cuellar, […]
From allegations of rape and sexual assault by Police Officers to glaring footage of nude Police Officers on social media…the Police Commissioner has his share of headaches. Just around Christmas, one Special Patrol Unit officer decided he wanted to masturbate on camera, and that video promptly ended up on YouTube. A few days after, a […]
On Tuesday afternoon, businessman Jack Charles hastily applied for and was granted an injunction by the Supreme Court, restraining the Customs and Excise Department from taking possession of his shipment of rice. While the application did not include the necessary paperwork, earlier today that document was officially filed. The grounds for the application includes the […]
According to Courtenay, the proprietor of Xtra House had been given the option previously to seek damages once the cargo is turned over to customs. Why that alternative has not been pursued is anyone’s guess. Here’s what the attorney had to say. Isani Cayetano “Does it appear to be in any way maybe a […]
Ninety-three-year-old Patrick Grant, a Belize City victim of a brutal home invasion that left him comatose over the Christmas weekend, is on the road to recovery after being badly beaten by a trio of thieves. According to the elderly man, who is hearing impaired and may not have heard the intruders breaking into his house […]
Violence against the elderly is cause for deep concern and so is violence against women. A two-day symposium aimed at preparing organizations, as well as other agencies, to deal with women who are victims of domestic violence culminated today in Belize City. The training workshop, part of the BA1 Project which was formally launched in […]
A former bailiff is being accused of continuing with business as usual even though he was released from the government service at the end of last December. Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith sent out notice today saying that Gabriel Casey is not authorized to conduct any business on behalf of the Belize City Magistrate’s Court […]
There has been a constant cry from Police formations countrywide for resources. It’s no closely held secret that the Department is strapped for vehicles and equipment and even financial resources. But the statistics that crime is down released seem to bear out a theory that the police have what they need, even if they may […]
Much attention has been given to the efficacy of community policing – not only today when statistics were released, but through the second half of 2015. Traditionally when crime has spiralled out of control the department has favoured a paramilitary approach, like the GSU for example. But that is a different approach to community policing. […]
The government announced today that it will be passing on to consumers some savings on diesel. And we say some because on December twenty-eighth, the price of diesel shot up by eighty-one cents per gallon and it is now going down forty-two cents. It means that there is a thirty-nine cents difference from where the […]
There are fifty-six types of snakes in Belize, eight of which are poisonous. But before you go killing every snake in sight, there are ways to tell the toxic from the harmless ones. They are distinguished by the shape of the head and locally one man who is known to have mastered that is Gilbert […]
The health of the Belize District population is at risk. Indicators show that far too many residents are severely over-weight and that in the younger population, more newborns died last year than they did in the same period in 2014. That is the information compiled in a biannual health bulletin released by the Central Health […]
The report also looked at the top five communicable and non-communicable diseases. Interestingly, dengue and malaria did not make the list of most prevalent communicable diseases for the first ten months of 2015. Doctor Javier Zuniga explains. Dr. Javier Zuniga, Regional Manager, Central Health Region “The top five communicable which means transmissible from person […]
In February of 2015, the Founder of World Famous Hummingbird Highway Tamales, Bertha Lisbey passed away at age seventy-eight. But business continued as usual as her daughter, Aurora carried on the tradition at the well known location. But less than a year after, tragedy struck once again because on New Year’s Eve, the popular shed […]
Even in death, controversy seems to surround Pamela Bennett. Late this afternoon, police were summoned to the businesswoman’s residence where irate members of her family were gathered. Their bone of contention is that attorney Audrey Matura-Shepherd, along with someone considered a stranger to Bennett’s siblings, had entered the house on Caesar Ridge Road and removed […]
So far we have reported on the road fatalities, murders and other crimes. But there is some good news that prompted celebrations over at the K.H.M.H. The birth of babies is always a joyful occasion, so when we headed out to the hospital to meet 2016’s firstborn; we also had opportunity to meet the proud […]
In his New Year’s Address, released on Wednesday, Prime Minister Barrow acknowledged that the landscape in 2016 will be different than that of 2015, and a significant feature of that change will surely be spending. At least where government expenditure is concerned, 2015 was a time of plenty because there were four elections, including the […]
Don’t go all melancholy just yet though. Government has successfully campaigned on massive infrastructure works, and Prime Minister Barrow says that for the most part, that will continue in 2016 and beyond. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “There is enough that we have set aside from the PetroCaribe days of plenty, to complete the countrywide […]
An investment agreement between Belize Electricity Limited and the Social Security Board concludes today, ending a three-year preference share purchase. In 2012, S.S.B. infused much needed capital into the cash-strapped utility company by purchasing ten million dollars in stocks. As part of the agreement, S.S.B. was also able to acquire five million dollars in debentures […]
As we approach the final few hours of 2015, it is with the news that at least at this hour there have been no murders reported on the Southside of Belize City for the month of December, and only eight in the last six months. Those are unprecedented statistics, and a stark contrast to early […]
Interestingly, the decline in violence was not a result of strong-arm tactics by the Police, nothing to do with the infamous GSU breaking down doors and bones. Apparently, it’s quite the opposite. According to Commander of Eastern Division South Chester Williams, community police was able to achieve what no show of paramilitary force ever did. […]
At eight o’clock tonight, we will be revisiting the ten most impacting news stories of the past year. Indeed, 2015 was an eventful calendar which included four elections, massive overnight flooding in the city, a string of related murders in the Cayo District and a tragic fire at the Princess Royal Youth Hostel. Despite the […]
But don’t take Williams’ word for it, or be impressed by a title bestowed by a random media house. He says that the statistics don’t lie, across the board, and are testimony to the effectiveness of the new style of policing he brought to the previously violent Southside. Sr. Supt. Chester Williams, Commander, Eastern […]
