Albert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer

Coleen Lyn (right),vice-president, Colfax Mart Ltd, a division of Digicel, outlines features of the SMART Lab to teachers and students following its presentation to Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College recently.
16 Jan, 2026 0

Sam Sharpe TC gets SMART lab to boost teacher training

WESTERN BUREAU: Dr Ricardo Bennett, principal of Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College (SSTC) in St James, says the institution’s ability to prepare teachers for modern classrooms has been significantly…
Everton Fisher, councillor for the Balaclava Division, St Elizabeth.
14 Jan, 2026 0

Fisher presses for promised Balaclava Fire Station

WESTERN BUREAU: Everton Fisher, councillor for the Balaclava Division in the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation (StEMC), is again demanding answers on why the long-promised fire station for Balaclava…
The Black River Fire Station in St Elizabeth.
14 Jan, 2026 0

Black River Fire Station relocation suggested after Melissa crippled operations

WESTERN BUREAU: Mark Edwards, the assistant superintendent at the St Elizabeth branch of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), is raising concerns about the location of the Black River Fire Station after it…
Christopher Williams, councillor for the Santa Cruz Division in St Elizabeth.
12 Jan, 2026 0

Hurricane relief alarm

WESTERN BUREAU: Councillors at the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation are raising a growing concern that the government’s move away from traditional care packages, towards a voucher-based assistance…
Independence Park in Black River, St Elizabeth, covered with debris cleared from the township of Black River during the emergency response phase following Hurricane Melissa.
10 Jan, 2026 0

UPDATE: Black River councillor wants to see end to dumping of debris at Independence Park

WESTERN BUREAU: Black River’s Councillor Dwight Salmon has condemned the continued use of the town’s Independence Park for the dumping of debris in the ongoing clean-up in the aftermath of Hurricane…
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness (left) and Chief of Accompong Richard Currie in conversation at the 288 Maroon Treaty celebration in Accompong Town, St Elizabeth, on Tuesday.
08 Jan, 2026 0

From resistance to republic: Holness, Currie talk sovereignty

WESTERN BUREAU: Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has delivered one of his most pointed declarations on sovereignty and democratic accountability, telling Maroons that his authority flows directly from…
Dr Mark Nicely, secretary general of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association.
06 Jan, 2026 0

From financial turmoil to ownership

WESTERN BUREAU: Dr Mark Nicely, secretary general and a former president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), says the purchase and opening of the organisation’s Western Regional Offices came…
From left: Mark Smith, immediate past president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA); Mark Malabver, president of the JTA; and Evelyn Tugwell, retired JTA western regional officer, cut the ribbon to reopen the JTA’s Western Regional Office in Mon
05 Jan, 2026 0

‘If not now, when?’

WESTERN BUREAU: President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Mark Malabver says the long-running dispute over teachers’ salaries and conditions of service is not simply an industrial issue but…
Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew, CARICOM chair.
03 Jan, 2026 0

As geopolitical fault lines test CARICOM unity, new chairman urges one voice

WESTERN BUREAU: Incoming Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chairman Dr Terrance Drew is warning that rising geopolitical pressures and external policy shifts affecting Caribbean nationals are testing the…