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The Port of Belize may be getting a two hundred million-dollar expansion in the coming years. According to Chamberlain Consulting, Waterloo Investments Holdings, a part of the Lord Michael Ashcroft portfolio, is the project lead. According to Chamberlain Consulting, back in 2016, G.O.B. had asked Waterloo Investments Holding to research the viability of a cruise […]
Written on April 21, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on The Port Loyola Planned Expansion
But with such a big project in a water way, it is expected that there will be some impact on the environment. Chamberlain Consulting told the press today that they have received feedback from some of those consultations and concerns include dredging and waste disposal. Other concerns include the level of inclusion and direct opportunities […]
Written on April 21, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Will There be Impacts of the “Port Loyola Planned Expansion” Project?
There is a report tonight that a police officer has been arrested and charged for violating the curfew regulation. The cop, Patrick Roches, was detained on Monday night. From the reports received, Roches was also granted bail. Apparently Roches and another officer were drinking when they were apprehended.
Written on April 21, 2020 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Cop Arrested and Charged for Violating Curfew Regulation
Local manatee conservationist, Jamal Galvez got another major shout-out from National Geographic. He is being featured by the publication for their Earth Day celebrations, which is being observed on Wednesday. The feature includes a short video and a write up about Galvez’s work and the manatees. The piece helps to raise awareness, as well as […]
Written on April 21, 2020 | Posted in
Environment,
People & Places,
Regional / International |
Comments Off on National Geographic Features Jamal Galvez!
The Government of Belize, as the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, hosted the Placencia Ambition Forum which put together key actors in the climate change discussions around the central idea of increasing ambition, and a focus on safeguarding the Paris Agreement. The forum was planned to take place in Placencia but due […]
Written on April 21, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Placencia Ambition Forum Focuses on Climate Change
High Schools normally close in May followed by primary schools in June for the summer break. But COVID-19 has disrupted every facet of life. The Ministry of Education today announced via webcast, a series of measures that will apply for the rest of the school year. Now classes were initially suspended in March and scheduled […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Education,
Featured |
Comments Off on COVID-19 Disrupts Present Academic Calendar; All Schools Remain Closed
The last confirmed cases of COVID-19 were last week Monday and it is now seven days since the Ministry of Health has not reported a case relating either to community spread or imported cases. Even as no new cases are confirmed, there are sixty-six cases still under investigation so we are not yet out of […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Health |
Comments Off on No New Cases of COVID-19; 66 Cases Under Investigation
Ulysease Roca, a twenty-five-year-old fashion designer, was found dead inside his house in Willows Bank, Belize District on Sunday. Roca’s death is under investigation because of the circumstances. Roca was gay and an HIV patient, two issues that made him a target for threats and bullying. Just before his demise, he posted on social media […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Social Issues |
Comments Off on An Investigation is Launched into the Death of Fashion Designer Ulysease Roca
Ulysease Roca was a fashion designer who suffered from cyber-bullying for being a member of the LGBTI community and for being HIV positive. In a recent post on his social media page, Ulysease questioned his ill-treatment by officers as well as his purpose in life. This was in response to a widely circulated video which […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Ulysease Roca Suffered from Being Bullied
The family claims that Roca was denied access to medical assistance due to his HIV status, saying that a post-mortem was initially refused because of that. Caleb Orosco, the Executive Director of the United Belize Advocacy Movement, also known as UNIBAM, says that the ordeal that Roca endured in the days leading up to his […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Social Issues |
Comments Off on UNIBAM Exec. Dir. Says Police & Community Could Not Identify Mental Breakdown
Just recently, three cops coerced a man to have sex with a mentally challenged woman. That despicable act was recorded on cell phone by one of the rogue cops and released; the trio was charged. The investigation into the death of Ulysease Roca also identifies breaches in policy in the Police Department as it relates […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Featured,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on ComPol Williams: “Police Officers Should Not Record and Make Mockery of People”
Last Thursday evening one hundred and thirty-seven gang members were released from the Belize Central Prison. The men were sent to prison for one month following a series of killings and shootings over the span of forty-eight hours. As you’ll recall, police quickly declared a state of emergency which targeted eight crime-ridden and gang controlled […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Crime,
Featured |
Comments Off on A Gang Update from ComPol
But while the released gang members appear to be keeping the peace, their release from prison has put an added pressure on the Belize Police Department during the State of Emergency. Commissioner Chester Williams says, however, that while it stretches the police resources, the officers have stepped up to the challenge. Chester Williams, Commissioner […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Is the Release of Gang Figures during the COVID-19 S.O.E. Stretching Police Resources?
Police have detained Belize City resident, Roderick Wade who uses the alias, Tape Boss. Not too long ago, the photographer was on social media claiming he had a raped a female. That video went viral and its content was met with widespread condemnation. Reports are that police have Wade in detention and that his house […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Tape Boss Detained by Police Pending Investigation
A new budget for the 2020 fiscal calendar came into effect at the beginning of April, but with the fluid economic situation involving COVID-19, there are concerns as to whether government will be able to meet teachers’ salaries in the months ahead. When asked for assurances to that end earlier today, Minister of Education Patrick […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on Can Government Meet Teachers Wage Bill?
The fiscal allowance for education is the second largest area for recurrent expenditure for government, after the Ministry of Finance. Given the dire state of the local economy amid the coronavirus crisis, it is expected that budgets for all government ministries will be cut. Education, however, remains a key priority and, according to Minister Faber, […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on Education Budget Remains Intact Says Patrick Faber
Ending the school year with home-based learning is a historic first for the education sector when traditionally the months of May and June are reserved for examinations. Whereas BJAT, P.S.E. and CXCs are held in those months, this year those papers have been waived. But what will teachers be doing during this extended period away […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on Ministry of Education Recommends CPD for Teachers on Vacation
On Friday, police officers shut down pantry programmes across Belize City. It has been reported that cops were telling pantry recipients to go home and that didn’t go over well with citizens who had been waiting in lines for hours to get their grocery items. The Minister of Human Development, Anthony “Boots” Martinez was not […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places,
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Policing and the Pantry Programme During the S.O.E.
Over one hundred persons breached the curfew law over the weekend but it did not include minors. On Friday evening, the new curfew regulations for persons sixteen-years-old and younger came into effect. That new law states that these persons must be in their homes by four p.m. everyday and cannot be found in public alone […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Crime,
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on 138 Curfew Breakers over the Weekend!
On Saturday morning, dozens of passengers destined for other parts of the country arrived by sea at the San Pedro Belize Water Taxi Terminal. Many of them had been trapped on Ambergris Caye at the time when the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced on March twenty-third. The weekend arrival of two vessels saw […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on Two Vessels Arrive from San Pedro Over the Weekend
There was an unprecedented event today in the international markets that should have some bearing for Belize. The coronavirus pandemic caused oil demand to drop so rapidly that producers have no space to store the crude oil. With most of the world in lockdown and air and other travel on halt, use of oil is […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on Oil Prices Plunge Below Zero
In other news of a financial nature, Belize’s ratings on Standards and Poor, have taken a hit. The agency has lowered the credit ratings from a “B” negative to a “C.C.C.’’ all due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As you know the tourism industry has come to a screeching halt with airline and […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on Standards & Poor Lowers Belize’s Credit Ratings
Last week, we reported on the impasse between the chairman of the Bullet Tree Village and Livestock Producers who export informally to Guatemala. The Chairman, Sabino Pinelo, held a meeting of the COVID-19 Task Force on Agriculture Committee that farmers cannot expect to traverse through the village if they did not pay a toll. As […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy |
Comments Off on Chamber of Commerce Says Bullet Tree Chairman is Acting Illegally
As you know, there are a number of food programmes for persons who have, in some way, been impacted by COVID-19. Some of these programmes have run into hurdles due to issues relating to social distancing and overcrowding. In respect of the Unemployment Relief Programme, so far a total of seventy-two thousand two hundred plus […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on An Update on the Unemployment Relief Programme
Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says that 7News didn’t break any laws with their Facebook post over the weekend. The media house posted that they received credible reports that a man from Corozal was at the K.H.M.H. showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19. The post went on to say that that the patient was in respiratory […]
Written on April 20, 2020 | Posted in
Miscellaneous,
People & Places |
Comments Off on ComPol Weighs In on Media House Facebook Post
