Albert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer

Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

Dalrymple-Philibert: No Jamaican will be denied access to justice despite hurricane damage

WESTERN BUREAU: State Minister Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert has vowed that no Jamaican will be denied access to justice despite Hurricane Melissa’s crippling blow, which damaged courthouses and justice…
Sergeant Arleen McBean, chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation.
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

$40m relief fund activated for storm-hit cops

WESTERN BUREAU: The management committee of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Welfare Fund has activated a $40-million humanitarian allocation to assist police officers whose homes and families…
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton (centre), is guided on a tour of the Barbados Field Hospital in Westmoreland by Barbados Defence Force Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Leader, Lieutenant Commander Anderson Goodridge, and Clinical Medical
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

No cholera detected

WESTERN BUREAU: Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton says Jamaica has no confirmed cholera cases after Hurricane Melissa, though leptospirosis has surfaced in several parishes,…
From left: St Andrae Sinclair, regional director, Western Regional Health Authority; Dr Christopher Tufton, minister of health and wellness; Lt Comm Anderson Goodridge, commander of the Barbados emergency medical team; and Captain Dr Ayana Crichlow, clini
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

Westmoreland field hospital to open this week

WESTERN BUREAU: The country’s third field hospital – a Type 2 full-service medical facility gifted by Barbados – will be fully operational before the end of this week on the grounds of the…
Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie.
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

McKenzie: New building code coming next fiscal year

WESTERN BUREAU: Local Government and Community Development Minister Desmond McKenzie has said that the country’s new building code, which has been in gestation for nearly two decades, is scheduled for…
Local Government and Community Development Minister Desmond McKenzie (left) leading a clean-up session at the St Elizabeth Infirmary on Thursday.
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

Gov’t moving to rebuild, relocate infirmaries after hurricane

WESTERN BUREAU: Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie has issued his strongest warning yet in the wake of Hurricane Melissa’s catastrophic impact, declaring that “nowhere in Jamaica is safe…
The frame of Alson Hughes’s house in Darliston, Westmoreland, after Hurricane Melissa.
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

Hurricane Melissa wrecks Christmas for W’land families

WESTERN BUREAU For thousands of Jamaicans, the warmth of Christmas will be more than a memory this year. Hurricane Melissa, now recorded as the most violent storm ever to strike the island, has left…
Seiveright
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

Seiveright hails corporate Jamaica’s massive post-Melissa response

WESTERN BUREAU: Delano Seiveright, state minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, is applauding what he describes as “one of the strongest private-sector mobilisations in recent…
Keith Wellington, ISSA president and principal of the St Elizabeth Technical High School.
December 9, 2025 by Albert Ferguson

Not again!

WESTERN BUREAU: Principal of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), Keith Wellington, says the emotional toll of yet another disruption on students cannot be overlooked, especially for those…