There is good news tonight for drivers in Belize City. The famous traffic lights at the busy intersection of Douglas Jones Street and Freetown Road, near Cinderella Plaza, are back in operation after several months of being down due to issues with the lighting system. The Belize City Council obtained the necessary equipment earlier this […]
Belizeans across the country are gearing up for the annual Easter vacation and final preparations are being made for travel to various destinations on land and at sea. To ensure the greatest public safety, law enforcement agencies, including the Belize Police Department, the National Coast Guard and the Belize Ports Authority, are putting together a […]
Fire safety is of equal concern this holiday season. Fire Chief Ted Smith provides useful tips for home and property owners during the Easter break, as well as the dry season. Ted Smith, Fire Chief, National Fire Service “During the Easter holidays we are fully aware that the temperatures and the wind are extremely […]
The World Health Organization estimates that three hundred million people worldwide live with this disease. In Belize, there are an estimated fifteen thousand cases – that have been reported. Yet, we don’t talk about this disease very much and many are still unaware of the true causes of this sometimes debilitating illness. That’s why this […]
The Belize Police Department continues its media offensive tonight, in the wake of disturbing footage of officers shooting indiscriminately at residents in San Pedro on Saturday morning. The department has been doing damage control since the video went viral. In the aftermath of the mayhem on Barrier Reef Drive, a press brief was convened by […]
PCs Coye and Madrill are on interdiction following their arraignment in the San Pedro Magistrate’s Court. The gun-toting officers, specifically Police Constable Norman Coye, wounded as many as five persons when he discharged his service firearm unto the pavement during the scuffle. Enfield Henry Garcia was struck in the left eye by fragments of a […]
Amateur video captured by spectators during the disturbance shows an unnamed female patron being manhandled by the responding officers, despite being handcuffed and subdued on the ground. She was hit multiple times to the head and kicked, even as she was manacled while on the ground. She is also seen squirming on the pavement, but […]
Former head of the Gang Suppression Unit, Senior Superintendent of Police Marco Vidal, who has been operating under the radar for some time, returns to Belize City on July first, as Commander of Eastern Division South. He will formally replace Assistant ComPol Chester Williams who is destined for the Professional Standards Branch in Belmopan. The […]
The announcement on Monday that those teachers who did not strike last year will be getting a hefty honorarium is not going down well. The Belize National Teachers Union is calling the move a case of union busting at a time when the treasury is broke. The C.W.U. today told News Five that it is […]
The last time stevedores at the Port of Belize Limited broke off from work was in December of 2015. They held the Port at their mercy for four days over negotiations on their pension plan, in which they asked for increases retroactive to 2004. The matter remains under negotiation, but a different group is bringing […]
This afternoon, the CWU made good on the threat by stevedores, firing off a letter to the Minister of Labor through the Labor Commissioner Ivan Williams and copied to the receivership of the Port of Belize. It’s a notice of pending strike action against the Port by the stevedores. According to CWU President Dale Trujeque, […]
The Christian Workers’ Union has gone through three presidents and multiple executive members in the span of five years, as the old regime of Antonio Gonzalez and James McFoy gave way to Audrey Matura, who was replaced this year by Dale Trujeque. And while other bargaining units of the C.W.U. have had their collective bargaining […]
The stevedores, however, believe that the Port is purposely delaying negotiations of the CBA; it’s been sixteen months since the last round of negotiations. CWU President Trujeque says that an agreement must be finalized and signed off sooner rather than later because in the absence of the CBA, issues of pension payouts, among other remunerations, […]
It’s hard to believe, but it has been five years since the Port of Belize Limited was put in receivership by Ports Investment Limited, seeking to recover loan indebtedness by former owner Luke Espat. The Port is up for sale and, according to receiver Arturo Vasquez, is attracting some interest. News Five is told that […]
News Five’s count of murders since the start of 2017 shows an increase over the same period last year. Thirty-nine murders have been reported up to today, compared to thirty-four at this time last year. January started with four murders in three days, but only nine incidents were reported compared to thirteen last year. In […]
A street figure, Jason Joseph, who has had his own share of run-ins with the law walked free today from a charge of the attempted murder of a Belize City man he was accused of critically wounding in a shooting six years old. Even though the victim, Jeffery Flowers, was left as a paraplegic, he […]
The City Council announced today that it is rolling out some new initiatives. First, the Council signed a MOU between the Council and most taxi associations to improve the overall taxi services for residents and operators. Second, the Council is introducing new city license plates, which will now feature a customized option. These plates are […]
Police Constable Marvin Locke was stabbed and killed by a civilian assailant just a few short steps away from where Minister of Police Elodio Aragon addressed a gaggle of reporters this morning. The unfortunate incident took place at the Raccoon Street Police Station on March twenty-sixth, while PC Locke was preparing to sign off duty […]
The Gang Suppression Unit, the elite strike team within the department, feared for its unrestrained approach to policing, is downsizing. As we reported last week, there won’t be any recruits added to the ranks of the police force this year. Instead, the department will be drawing from existing officers to create another specialized group which […]
Every so often there are news reports about manatees getting caught up in boat propellers, or swallowing garbage that chokes them, or having other kinds of distress that causes them to become stranded on land. What you may not know is that it happens more often than we think and there are hazards associated with […]
There have been heinous murders in the west since the start of the year and tonight, the murder count went up by one. The latest victim is a seventy-nine-year-old pastor from San Ignacio. The brutal beating of Florencio Guillermo Bardalez has left the community in disbelief. On Monday, the soon to be octogenarian, a Pastor […]
Police have arrested and charged a man for the crime of murder exactly one year after the crime was committed. Twenty-three-year-old Marlon Padillo of Selena Village in Cayo was slapped with the charge in connection with the chopping death of Guatemalan national sixty-three-year-old Edgar Alfonso Perdomo Aldana. The incident happened back on April second, 2016 […]
Two cops were arraigned today at the San Pedro Magistrate court. The two were captured on video manhandling a woman and then firing indiscriminately on Barrier Reef Drive where a crowd had gathered after four o’clock on Saturday morning. Five persons were injured in the mayhem. The wild shooting by the cops has sparked outrage […]
As we reported on Monday, Minister of Education Patrick Faber confirmed that a million dollars has been set aside as a “honorarium” for teachers who showed up to work during the industrial action. That announcement doesn’t sit well with the trade union because teachers have been paid, regardless of their attendance during the protest. So […]
According to Palacio, government is being crafty with its description of the payout. That million dollar bonus flies in the face of government’s proposed strictness at the start of the fiscal year. The B.N.T.U. says that the monies could have been used to repair classrooms and school buildings that were damaged during Hurricane Earl. […]
