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  • Man City ease past Palace to keep pressure on Arsenal

    Man City ease past Palace to keep pressure on Arsenal

    MANCHESTER, U.K. — With two matches left in one of the most tightly contested Premier League title races in recent memory, Manchester City’s rotated squad delivered a comfortable 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Wednesday, pulling the defending contenders to just two points behind league-leading Arsenal. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola opted to shake up his starting lineup, making six adjustments from the side that secured a 3-0 win over Brentford over the weekend. Star forwards Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku were held in reserve for the Etihad Stadium clash, while Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner also made several changes to his own starting eleven.

    Goals in the first half from Antoine Semenyo and Omar Marmoush put Manchester City in full control of the match under damp Manchester conditions, with a late third goal from Savinho putting the final polish on an impressive team performance.

    The title momentum had swung firmly in Manchester City’s direction over the preceding weeks, until a costly 3-3 draw at Everton last weekend handed the upper hand back to Arsenal. Just two days before City’s clash with Palace, Arsenal fans held their breath as a late stoppage-time equalizer from West Ham United was disallowed following a VAR review, allowing the Gunners to hold on for a critical 1-0 win that preserved their lead at the top of the table.

    City broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion in the 32nd minute. Phil Foden crafted the opening with a perfectly weighted backheel pass that put Semenyo clear on goal, and the winger finished calmly past Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson into the far corner of the net. Eight minutes later, Foden picked up an assist once again, playing a simple touch into the path of Marmoush, who slotted home his third Premier League goal of the campaign to double City’s lead.

    Towards the end of a low-key second half, fan-favorite defender John Stones — who will leave the club at the end of the current season — entered the match as a substitute to a warm standing ovation from the home crowd. Minutes after Stones’ introduction, Rayan Cherki dribbled the ball from his own half to create a third goalscoring chance, setting up Savinho who curled a finish past Henderson to put City three goals up.

    The three points move City up to 77 points, two points behind first-place Arsenal with two games remaining. Crucially, City hold a one-goal advantage in overall goal difference over the Gunners, and have scored seven more goals across the season, giving them a key tiebreaker if the two sides finish level on points.

    Up next for City is a FA Cup final clash with Chelsea at Wembley Stadium this Saturday, where the club will be chasing a domestic cup double having already lifted the League Cup trophy earlier in the campaign. Speaking before Wednesday’s kickoff, Guardiola defended his decision to rotate his squad, noting that the congested end-of-season schedule requires every member of the first-team squad to contribute. “When the schedule is so tight, everybody is fit, everybody needs to help,” Guardiola said.

    Despite the narrowed gap, Arsenal remains the clear favorite to claim its first Premier League title since 2004, under manager Mikel Arteta. If Arsenal gets three points against already relegated Burnley next Monday, City will be forced to take all three points against Champions League-chasing Bournemouth the following day just to keep the title race alive heading into the final day. On May 24, the final matchday of the season, Arsenal travels to face Crystal Palace, while City — currently on a 14-match unbeaten run in the league — hosts Aston Villa at the Etihad.

    Foden, who was integral to Wednesday’s win with two assists, emphasized that the title race is far from over. “It’s a team game at the end of the day. If you want to win titles and trophies it’s about a full squad and everyone playing their part,” Foden told Sky Sports after the match. “The aim is to keep pushing and keep them on their toes. We’ve seen a lot of things can happen on the final day. I’ve experienced many times when the game doesn’t go your way. We just have to keep pushing and doing our part.”

    For Crystal Palace, all attention is now turning to their upcoming UEFA Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig on May 27. The match will mark Glasner’s final game in charge of the south London club, as he prepares to step down at the end of the campaign.

  • Community newspaper executive Marva Brodie is dead

    Community newspaper executive Marva Brodie is dead

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s local media community is mourning the loss of a pioneering community journalism figure this week, after Marva Brodie, co-founder and long-serving director of beloved local outlet The News, passed away from a heart attack at her Havendale residence on Thursday, May 7. She was 82 years old at the time of her death.

    Ben Brodie, Marva’s husband and a veteran Jamaican journalist who co-founded The News alongside his wife and serves as the publication’s managing editor, confirmed the news to local outlet Jamaica Observer Online. According to Ben Brodie, his wife experienced a sudden seizure shortly after waking on the morning of her passing. Emergency responders transported her quickly to a nearby hospital for urgent care, but medical staff pronounced her dead on arrival.

    Originally launched under the name Boulevard News before being rebranded as The News, the community newspaper has served local Jamaican audiences for decades, shaped in large part by Marva Brodie’s commitment to elevating hyperlocal stories and connecting neighborhood residents. A public funeral service to honor Brodie’s life and legacy has been scheduled for 10:00 a.m. this Saturday at St Richard of Chichester Roman Catholic Church, located at 126 Red Hills Road in Kingston.

  • JTA explores critical illness insurance plan

    JTA explores critical illness insurance plan

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Facing growing financial distress among educators coping with severe health conditions, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) is developing a new critical illness insurance scheme in collaboration with Sagicor Group to expand support for its members, JTA President Mark Malabver has announced. Malabver shared details of the proposed initiative during an interview with JIS News on May 12, at the launch of the annual JTA/Sagicor National Athletics Championships held at Kingston’s WBC Ben Hawthorne Conference Room, noting that the project grew directly out of feedback collected from JTA members across the country.

    The coverage is designed to deliver an extra layer of financial protection for participating educators who receive a diagnosis of any covered critical illness, Malabver explained. When the association surveyed its members to gauge interest in the plan, over 90 percent of respondents confirmed they were ready to join the program if it launched, reflecting strong demand for this type of support among the teaching workforce.

    Negotiations and program design discussions between JTA leadership and Sagicor Group are currently underway, with the association holding an optimistic outlook that the plan will be fully operational no later than this September. “We will continue the dialogue with Sagicor, and we are optimistic that by September the latest, this will be up and running,” Malabver told reporters.

    The push for the new insurance plan comes amid a marked rise in the number of JTA members requesting emergency financial aid from the association to cover costs associated with serious illnesses, most notably cancer. These growing requests have placed significant unplanned financial strain on many Jamaican educators, as out-of-pocket medical costs for critical conditions often far exceed what standard insurance or existing association support can cover. “We have recognised that there has been a significant uptick in our members being diagnosed with some illnesses and it has created a financial strain on our members,” Malabver said.

    Malabver clarified that the new insurance partnership will complement, rather than replace, the JTA’s existing goal to expand its in-house critical illness fund. The association has long worked to build up this internal support fund, but the Sagicor-backed insurance plan will create an additional, scalable avenue to deliver broader protection to members facing life-altering medical diagnoses. “We do have a critical illness fund that we are seeking to build out, but we also recognise that this will be another avenue to provide that level of support for our members, in addition to the critical illness fund that we are pursuing as well,” he added.

  • Land title boost

    Land title boost

    On Tuesday, Jamaica and South Korea officially kicked off a transformative multimillion-dollar initiative designed to modernize Jamaica’s outdated land administration system, cutting red tape to help thousands of Jamaicans secure formal titles for the land they occupy and work on.

    At the launch ceremony held at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Andrew, Jamaica’s Minister of Land Titling and Settlements Robert Montague revealed that just 55 percent of all land parcels across Jamaica currently hold formal, registered titles. He framed the project as a catalyst for nationwide prosperity, noting, “You should all have your names entered in the titles book. If you do that, prosperity will run from Morant Point to Negril Point.”

    Jamaican Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness outlined the core motivations driving the collaboration, highlighting a suite of expected benefits that extend beyond streamlined titling: expanded financial access for citizens and the government, increased systemic transparency, reduced interfamily land disputes, and a more inclusive formal economy. For decades, Holness explained, Jamaicans have grappled with a land administration process that is slow, opaque, and prohibitively difficult to navigate. “We are determined to change that. We are building a system that is faster, more accurate, more accessible, and more responsive to citizens, investors, planners, and communities,” he said.

    Holness emphasized that formal land titling creates cascading economic benefits across all segments of society: working families can access mortgage loans to build or improve homes, smallholder farmers can use their land as collateral for agricultural investment, and outside investors can pursue development projects with clear legal certainty. Drawing on South Korea’s own successful land reform history, he noted that in the 1950s, South Korea overhauled its agricultural land tenure system, eliminating absentee landlordism and transferring ownership to active cultivating farmers. Jamaica now seeks to build a similar equitable, effective framework to resolve a long-standing national gap: thousands of Jamaicans have lived, worked, and raised families on the same plots of land for decades, some more than 50 years, without any formal proof of ownership.

    “This gap between possession and title is not a bureaucratic inconvenience only, it is a barrier to finance, security, to inheritance, and to the formal economy. A land title is more than a document, it is a platform for opportunity. This project is about building that platform at scale,” Holness added.

    Officially named the Land Administration Capacity Enhancement Project, the initiative is a three-party collaboration between Jamaica’s National Land Agency (NLA), the Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), which is providing a $9 million grant to support the work. The project’s central goal is to accelerate Jamaica’s land registration rate by upgrading both the sector’s digital infrastructure and workforce expertise. It will roll out in three sequential phases over the coming decade.

    The first phase, running from 2026 to 2027, will lay institutional groundwork for the new Land Administration Innovation Centre (LAIC), which will be based at 84 Hanover Street. This phase will focus on building the centre’s capacity to deliver specialized training for future land administration professionals through intensive, hands-on preparation courses. From 2028 to 2029, the second phase will expand the LAIC into a fully functional national training hub, offering specialized technical courses, field-based practical training, instruction in geographic information systems, advanced data management, and ongoing trainer development. Beginning in 2030, the NLA will take full operational control of the LAIC, with continued targeted technical support from South Korea under a train-the-trainer model designed to embed long-term expertise within Jamaica. Myoengso Eo, President and CEO of the Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation, emphasized that robust land administration is a foundational pillar of national development. “[It] serves as the foundation for the development of roads, railways, airports, urban planning, tax, etc. Korea has achieved a rapid economic growth based on effective land management,” he explained.

    Project organizers outline a broad range of expected outcomes from the initiative: faster land registration processes, legally secure property ownership, increased public revenue from land-related taxes and fees, more orderly national development, creation of skilled local jobs, and accessible digital land services for all users. Joongkeun Oh, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Jamaica, framed the project as a testament to the two countries’ deep collaborative partnership. “Providing this foundation for economic self-reliance remains a testament to the sincerity of our collaboration,” he said.

    Oh added that the combination of new digital infrastructure and a trained local workforce will empower Jamaica to systematically leverage its land resources to advance two key national goals: achieving greater food self-sufficiency, and generating the critical geospatial data energy companies need to design efficient, modernized national energy grids. He also confirmed that South Korea, in partnership with the United States, stands ready to support Jamaica by facilitating consultations with major international financial institutions including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to unlock additional financing for the project’s implementation. “We are prepared to collaborate closely in exploring practical financing and implementation strategies for this advanced system integration,” he said.

    Across all stakeholder discussions, the project is consistently framed as a partnership built for long-term Jamaican self-reliance, designed to drive sustainable national progress by strengthening local public institutions, building domestic expertise, and establishing a resilient, inclusive land administration system for decades to come.

  • New trial ordered for US lawyer convicted of murdering wife, son

    New trial ordered for US lawyer convicted of murdering wife, son

    One of the most high-profile criminal cases in recent U.S. history has taken a dramatic legal turn, as the South Carolina Supreme Court has thrown out the double murder conviction of disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh and ordered a new trial. The 57-year-old, who comes from a powerful local dynasty of judges and legal professionals, had been serving a life sentence for the 2021 killings of his 22-year-old son Paul and 52-year-old wife Maggie at the family’s remote hunting property.

    In a unanimous ruling released Wednesday, the state’s highest court found that Murdaugh was denied his constitutional right to an impartial trial, after court clerk Rebecca Hill exerted improper influence over the jury during his 2023 original trial. Post-trial interviews with jurors revealed that Hill actively encouraged panel members to closely scrutinize Murdaugh’s body language during his testimony, and warned them not to be swayed by evidence presented by the defense team. The justices wrote in their opinion that Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice”, irreparably compromising the integrity of the original jury process.

    The ruling also faulted the original trial’s presiding judge for allowing prosecutors to introduce an excessive volume of evidence related to Murdaugh’s unrelated financial crimes, which the court concluded unfairly prejudiced the jury against the defendant. Prior to the murder trial, Murdaugh’s long-running pattern of financial fraud had already come to light: he is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence (corrected from the original report’s 40-year) for stealing millions of dollars from his own law firm and vulnerable clients, a scheme he ran to fund a crippling secret opioid addiction that cost him an estimated $50,000 per week at its peak.

    Prosecutors had argued during the first trial that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son to distract from and gain sympathy for himself as his years of embezzlement were on the verge of public exposure. Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense, admitting to his financial crimes, long-term drug addiction, and repeated lies about his activities, but he has consistently maintained his innocence in the killings. Physical evidence from Paul Murdaugh’s cell phone placed Alex Murdaugh at the dog kennels where the shootings occurred just minutes before the murders, a key detail that helped secure the original guilty verdict.

    The original trial received widespread national media attention, with gavel-to-gavel televised coverage drawing millions of viewers across the United States. Streaming giants Netflix and HBO capitalized on the public’s fascination with the case, releasing popular docu-dramas examining the Murdaugh family’s decades of local influence and the details of the murders just months after the original conviction.

  • Club Kingston named best airport lounge in Latin America, Caribbean by Priority Pass

    Club Kingston named best airport lounge in Latin America, Caribbean by Priority Pass

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a landmark win for Jamaica’s travel and hospitality sector, Club Kingston has secured the coveted title of “Lounge of the Year” for the Latin America and Caribbean region from Priority Pass, outperforming over 350 competing airport lounges across the area to claim the top honor.\n\nThis industry recognition lands at a pivotal juncture for Jamaica, which has been working steadily to rebuild and revitalize its tourism sector following the widespread disruption caused by Hurricane Melissa. Beyond celebrating the high quality of Jamaica’s hospitality offerings, the award serves as a powerful vote of global confidence in the country as a travel destination, underscoring its ability to deliver world-class experiences to visitors from around the globe.\n\nAs the world’s preeminent airport lounge and curated travel experience program, Priority Pass boasts an extensive network that spans more than 1,800 lounges and unique experiences across 725 airports in over 145 nations. The program’s awards draw directly from feedback collected from its millions of global members, who submit more than 700,000 independent reviews and customer surveys each year. This data-driven, traveler-centered approach has made the Priority Pass awards one of the most respected and credible honors in the international travel industry.\n\nFor the 2024 cycle of awards, global travelers placed Club Kingston firmly at the head of the regional rankings, with consistent top ratings across all key service and experience metrics.\n\n“This recognition is incredibly meaningful because it does not come from an industry panel—it comes directly from the travelers we welcome and serve every single day,” explained Tanya Beckford, Chief Executive Officer of VIP Attractions Limited, which operates both Club Kingston and Jamaica’s popular Club Mobay lounge. “To be recognized by global passengers in this way is a tremendous honor, not just for our entire team, but for the whole of Jamaica. It reflects the warmth, resilience, and unwavering commitment to excellence that define our people and our national tourism product.”\n\nAt the official award ceremony held Tuesday in Kingston, Jeremy Dalkoff, Vice President of Partnerships at Priority Pass, echoed Beckford’s remarks and praised the lounge’s standout achievement. Dalkoff emphasized that the award reflects unfiltered, authentic sentiment from travelers across the world.\n\n“Club Kingston consistently delivers a standout, memorable experience for our Priority Pass members,” Dalkoff noted. “What makes this win especially significant is that it is 100% driven by direct, unedited feedback from the travelers who use the lounge. Earning the top spot across the entire Latin America and Caribbean region is a remarkable accomplishment, and it speaks volumes about the entire team’s relentless dedication to service excellence.”\n\nFor the Club Kingston staff and leadership, the award carries deeper meaning than just industry acclaim: it offers a ongoing platform to showcase the best of Jamaican hospitality and culture to international visitors before they even leave the country.\n\n“Every guest who walks through our doors gets an authentic taste of the legendary spirit of Jamaica long before they board their departing flight,” Beckford added. “This award proves that those small, personal moments of hospitality leave a lasting impact, and that matters more than anything.”\n\nThe honor comes as Jamaica ramps up national efforts to boost traveler confidence, expand international air connectivity, and upgrade the full end-to-end visitor experience for guests. This award will further solidify Jamaica’s competitive position in the crowded Caribbean tourism market, while reinforcing the value of strategic investment in high-quality guest experiences across every touchpoint of a traveler’s journey, from arrival to departure.

  • Social media shield

    Social media shield

    Jamaica is set to embark on a comprehensive, research-backed effort to develop potential age-based regulations for children’s social media use, addressing growing public health concerns about the platform’s harmful impacts on young people’s mental wellbeing. Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton outlined the initiative Tuesday during his 2026-27 Sectoral Debate address to Jamaica’s House of Representatives.

    The full scope of the two-year project falls under the government’s Community Arranged Response Efforts (CARE) Agenda, a $500-million initiative dedicated to addressing pressing family and community health challenges across the island. Beyond social media regulation, the agenda will also tackle other critical public health priorities: a rapidly aging national population, declining fertility rates, and unmet needs in women’s health.

    “We will examine the threats and opportunities for new and emerging policies to support holistic health, to protect the vulnerable and enhance quality and longevity of life,” Tufton told lawmakers. “We will start with our CARE Agenda to highlight and influence critical determinants of better family and community health.”

    Turning to the specific crisis of unregulated youth social media access, Tufton called on Parliament to first acknowledge the role lawmakers themselves play in amplifying toxic online content. “In this House we encourage it at times. We go on some of these programmes, we promote some of the toxicity that is being promulgated; the hate, the vitriol and, unknowingly, maybe… we’re doing harm not just to ourselves but to those we’re trying to provide leadership for,” he said.

    Tufton stressed that the time for inaction has passed, noting that Jamaica currently lacks any coordinated national response to what he frames as a growing public health threat. The first step in the government’s roadmap will be a national study to capture public perceptions of social media regulation for minors. Once that research is complete, the administration will move to develop a formal policy framework, weighing regulatory options and engaging a broad range of key stakeholders—including parents, educators, youth representatives, and major social media platform providers.

    “The time has come to use research-based policy formulation to determine age-based regulation, platform accountability, national digital health guidelines, school-based digital wellness education, expanded youth mental health services, public awareness campaigns for caregivers, and a national surveillance system to track usage patterns and mental health outcomes,” Tufton said. “We will translate these evidence-based findings into a clear policy framework… to ensure that any measures introduced are balanced, practical, and in the best interest of our children.”

    Citing recent national data, Tufton underscored the urgency of action: social media usage is widespread across Jamaica, with more than 1 million users on Instagram and roughly 1.6 million on Facebook as of late 2025, with usage highest among the 25 to 34 age demographic. While the minister acknowledged that social media has delivered tangible benefits—revolutionizing communication, expanding professional networks, and creating new entrepreneurship opportunities—he emphasized that it has also triggered measurable social and psychological harm, particularly for young Jamaicans.

    Local data shows 64% of children aged 0 to 14 report negative impacts on their mental health from social media use, while 47% of 15 to 19 year-old adolescents report similar harms. The risk grows with usage: children spending more than three hours daily on social media are twice as likely to experience mental health challenges. Across the broader Caribbean region, rates of cyberbullying, non-consensual explicit messaging, emotional distress, and suicidal ideation linked to social media have risen sharply, cementing the issue’s status as a regional public health crisis rather than a purely technological concern.

    Jamaica’s push for regulation aligns with a growing global trend of government intervention to protect minors online. Multiple countries have already implemented formal age restrictions: Australia requires users to be at least 16, while Denmark, France, and Indonesia have set a minimum age of 15. Other nations including Spain, Greece, Norway, and Austria are currently evaluating similar policies. Broader regulatory regimes, such as the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act, already mandate that platforms remove addictive design features like infinite scrolling and autoplay, enforce age verification, and actively monitor harmful content, with steep financial penalties for companies that fail to comply.

    Right now, however, Tufton described Jamaica’s current social media landscape as a “free-for-all”. Recent 2025-2026 local research confirms a strong causal link between heavy social media use and rising rates of anxiety, depression, and digital addiction, with young people and professional content creators disproportionately affected.

    Jamaicans under 24 spend an average of six hours per day on social media—double the average three hours for senior citizens and two hours more than the average for adults. For full-time content creators, the harms are even more pronounced: 42% report clinical anxiety, 38% experience depressive symptoms including persistent low mood and irritability, and 47% suffer from burnout driven by constant pressure to maintain an engaging online persona and secure income through content output.

    Tufton also highlighted the cultural harm of unregulated social media in Jamaica: 36% of local content creators produce material centered on physical altercations, while 29% engage in aggressive online behavior, contributing to a national cultural shift toward normalized vulgarity and harmful content.

    To move the entire CARE Agenda forward, the Ministry of Health and Wellness will open a call for proposals on June 15, 2026, inviting civil society and research organizations across Jamaica to partner in the initiative to address these growing societal risks.

  • Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity returns in first post-COVID show

    Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity returns in first post-COVID show

    After a years-long pandemic pause, one of Jamaica’s most anticipated charity entertainment events is set to return to the stage on June 21, blending surprise performances from top public and private sector leaders with a mission to lift up vulnerable children across the island.

    The Powerful Women and Men Perform for Charity show, which has raised more than JMD $80 million for local nonprofit Mustard Seed Communities (MSC) over its history, will welcome a mix of veteran performer-participants and exciting first-timers when it kicks off at 7:00 pm at the Jamaica College Auditorium.

    Headlining the roster of debut performers are two of the country’s top political figures: Opposition Leader Mark Golding and Minister of Tourism Ed Bartlett, who will take the stage for the first time. They will be joined by another new talent, Dr. Maria Myers-Hamilton, Managing Director of Jamaica’s Spectrum Management Authority. Leading the returning cast is House Speaker Juliet Holness, who is making her triumphant comeback to the event’s stage after previous appearances. Other returning fan favorites include Cordel Green, Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission, who will reprise his beloved comedic role as the outrageous “Bling Church pastor”, and Hugh Falconer, Commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations, who has built a loyal audience following for his vocal performances in past shows.

    All told, dozens of high-profile leaders from across Jamaica’s public and private spheres have signed up to showcase their hidden entertainment skills for the night, all to generate critical funding for MSC. The organization currently provides full-time care and support to nearly 500 children across 12 residential facilities spread across the island.

    Behind the scenes, the 2024 event draws on top local creative talent: award-winning designers Kevin Rettie and Delano McFarlane are handling the stage’s custom set design, while local production firms Viva Events and Kinematix/Bloozick will manage all audiovisual production. Ewan Simpson, Chairman of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association, will serve as the show’s official Musical Director.

    Founded by Thyra Heaven, a former MSC fundraising director, the charity gala has long occupied a special spot on Jamaica’s events calendar. For thousands of regular attendees, it has remained a must-attend engagement, drawing crowds eager to see the unexpected sides of the country’s most prominent business, political and civic leaders. After going on hiatus when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down large public gatherings, organizers have revamped the program and recruited a slate of fresh talent to deliver an even more engaging experience for this year’s comeback.

    For Father Garvin Augustine, Executive Director of MSC International, the return of the event is a momentous occasion for the organization. Beyond the critical operating funds the show generates, Augustine noted that the event’s strong brand has played a key role in raising public awareness of MSC’s work, motivating individual donors from Jamaica and abroad, as well as major Jamaican corporate entities, to contribute to the nonprofit’s mission.

    “We are excited and grateful for the return of the show, and we look forward with renewed interest to the support we will get to care for the nation’s vulnerable,” Augustine shared in the lead-up to the performance.

  • Four STETHS schoolgirls charged after series of fights

    Four STETHS schoolgirls charged after series of fights

    In the southwestern Jamaican parish of St Elizabeth, a wave of unruly violent clashes at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) has led to legal action and major campus disruption, leaving school leaders and local law enforcement grappling with how to address youth violence in local education settings.

    Local police authorities have confirmed that four current STETHS students are facing charges of assault occasioning bodily harm, connected to a brutal attack on a 15-year-old fellow student carried out last Wednesday. The four accused include two 14-year-old girls, alongside a 16-year-old and a 13-year-old student, whose genders have not been released to the public.

    The charged assault was not an isolated incident: it unfolded amid a string of successive brawls that broke out across the STETHS campus between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm that same day. Earlier in the morning, an initial confrontation had already left one student injured, requiring police officers to be called to the campus to intervene. Unconfirmed reports from local sources indicate one of the Wednesday clashes involved a student carrying a knife, a detail that amplified safety fears across the school community.

    Following the initial violent outbreak, additional fights broke out across the school grounds – some even occurring directly in front of senior school administrators. In response to the widespread disorder, STETHS principal Keith Wellington made the decision to suspend all regular classes and close the campus to most students for two full days, limiting access only to students sitting external standardized exams and those preparing for upcoming competitive sporting events.

    Wellington immediately notified parents and guardians of the shutdown, explaining that the extreme measure was implemented to protect the physical safety of every student, teacher and staff member on campus, and to give school leadership time to reestablish order and enforce campus discipline. In an interview with Jamaica Observer Online earlier this week, Wellington noted that school officials would be compiling multiple detailed reports for education oversight bodies, and that any further disciplinary action against students involved in the brawls would only be decided after those reports are reviewed.

    Campus operations have since resumed for all students, with school administrators expressing cautious optimism that normal order has been restored. This latest outbreak of school violence has sparked renewed local conversation about student safety and conflict resolution in Jamaican secondary schools.

  • Fathers who cook for mothers a huge success

    Fathers who cook for mothers a huge success

    On Mother’s Day Sunday, the 10th iteration of Lodge Portmore’s beloved annual ‘Fathers Who Cook for Mothers’ charity gathering unfolded at Ham Stables in St Catherine, drawing widespread acclaim as a resounding community success.

    This decade-old Mother’s Day tradition doubles as a fundraising initiative, and this year’s event directed all proceeds toward covering operational costs for Clifton Basic School, a local primary education institution serving the St Catherine region. Roughly 700 community members turned out to support the cause, and they left fully satisfied after sampling an extensive spread of flavorful, expertly prepared dishes crafted by the participating fathers. Attendees also enjoyed lively entertainment throughout the day from performer Dwight Richards.

    Several standout moments marked the celebration, including a gift presentation where Leighton McKnight awarded a set of custom pillows to Phyllis Scott, with Courts Brand Ambassador Suthania Henry on hand to share in the joyful occasion. In a highlight of the culinary portion of the day, McKnight also took charge of preparing a large, hearty pot of soup for the gathered crowd, showcasing the hands-on spirit that defines the annual gathering.