News

AT TOP: Pastor Alexander Wurm and his 22-year-old daughter Serena.
December 9, 2025 by Janet Silvera

‘He was a hero!’

WESTERN BUREAU: The Caribbean relief community is hailing the Cayman Islands-based missionary Alexander Wurm as a true hero, a man whose final flight embodied selfless love and service to Jamaica.
Nicola McCarthy (third right), grade-six teacher, with her students back in school at the Mount Fletcher Primary in Mavis Bank, St Andrew, after Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025 by Karen Madden

Residents rally to keep children in school despite commuting issues

When Hurricane Melissa tore through Jamaica with Category 5 strength, raging floodwaters swept away several bridges, including one at Hagley Gap, on the border of St Andrew and St Thomas, and another…
MSC Divina docked at nearby Reynolds Pier.
December 9, 2025 by Carl Gilchrist

Ocho Rios pier reopens, offering relief for businesses

Under heavy clouds on Tuesday, the Zuiderdam cruise ship became the first vessel in more than a year to dock at the Ocho Rios pier after extensive repairs. The facility had been closed since suffering…
Floyd Green, minister of agriculture, fisheries and mining, addresses the Parliament on the state of the agriculture sector on Tuesday.
December 9, 2025 by Edmond Campbell

$30b bite

Damage to Jamaica’s agriculture and fisheries sector from Hurricane Melissa is estimated at nearly $30 billion. The Category Five storm, whose local death toll officials placed at 45 on Tuesday, tore…
Lucea’s Mayor Sheridan Samuels (left) expressing his gratitude to Portmore’s Mayor Leon Thomas for the supplies he brought the people of Hanover.
December 9, 2025 by Adrian Frater

Portmore mayor delivers relief in hurricane-battered Hanover

WESTERN BUREAU: Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas became an instant hero to scores of residents in Haughton Court and surrounding communities in western Hanover on Monday when he arrived with a truckload of…
Steve Mahon, the caretaker at the Sir Alexander Bustamante Monument in Blenheim, Hanover
December 9, 2025

Blenheim battered but Busta’s monument escapes Melissa’s wrath

WESTERN BUREAU: Amid the widespread destruction left behind in Hanover, one remarkable symbol of resilience remains: the monument to Jamaica’s first prime minister and National Hero, Sir Alexander…
Mayor of Kingston and St. Andrew is Andrew Swaby
December 9, 2025 by Sashana Small

Kgn mayor calls for more resilient construction standards after Category 5 storm

Declaring that Hurricane Melissa has “exposed the need to strengthen national and municipal resilience”, Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby says a good place to start is updating Jamaica’s Small Building…
Delano Seiveright, minister of state in the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Commerce.
December 9, 2025 by Adrian Frater

Seiveright optimistic for winter tourist season, despite Melissa blow

WESTERN BUREAU: While most hospitality workers in hurricane-battered western Jamaica come from communities still without electricity, water, and other essentials, Delano Seiveright remains hopeful…
News
December 9, 2025 by Tanesha Mundle

Blood evidence matches Donna-Lee Donaldson, witness tells court

Blood traces found on several items seized from the New Kingston apartment of police constable Noel Maitland have been confirmed to match the DNA profile of his missing girlfriend, Donna-Lee…