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Stories by Ryon Jones

Special training needed - CISOCA, CDA among groups found wanting in dealing with the disabled

Published:Saturday | May 13, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Two counsellors who work extensively with the special-needs community are calling for training to be provided for stakeholders and personnel within the various agencies who have to interact with children with disabilities.Counsellors the Reverend...

Heading down the wrong road - Experts warn State about public-private partnerships

Published:Saturday | May 6, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Experts in the local building industry are raising concerns about how contracts are being awarded under the public-private partnership programme (PPP).Addressing a Gleaner Editors' Forum last Friday at the media house's North Street, Kingston,...

Wrong priority? - Architects question need for new Parliament building

Published:Saturday | May 6, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

The debate surrounding plans to create a new building to house the Parliament in the vicinity of National Heroes Circle in Kingston has taken another twist, with one of the island's leading architects questioning the decision.Fellow of the Jamaican...

Magnificent Mona - Students and administrators welcome disabled in specially constructed school

Published:Thursday | May 4, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Andre Coleman is one of a number of students who have benefited from the disabled-friendly environment at Mona High School.Fourteen-year-old Andre was born with the birth defect spina bifida due to his mother being diabetic. This resulted in both of...

State slackness! - Children absconding from Government facilities at will

Published:Thursday | May 4, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

With at least 50 of the nation's children having gone missing from 10 child-care facilities between February 2016 and March of this year, head of the Office of the Children's Registry (OCR), Greig Smith, has admitted that the situation is...

St Thomas is Zika country - Health ministry urges continued vigilance as virus is here to stay

Published:Friday | May 5, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

With residents of Portmore, St Catherine, reporting an increase in mosquitoes in recent weeks, the Ministry of Health is urging Jamaicans not to drop their guard against the pesky insects which have been spreading the Zika virus (ZIKV) across the...

On the Corner | Fiscal what? GDP who? - Maryland residents get simple language

Published:Friday | April 28, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Terms such as 'primary surplus' and 'fiscal space' were replaced with 'spending more than you earn' and 'financial well-being of a government' as Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) co-chairman Keith Duncan went On The Corner in the rural...

Gunman's bullets stop storybook album - Empty pages where a mother had planned to put pictures of her only child

Published:Saturday | April 29, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Members of the police force spent yesterday in mourning as news spread that a second colleague had died from injuries he received at the hands of the marauding criminals loose in the society.The cops were still coming to grips with the death of...

'Stop blaming us' - China’s Ambassador to Jamaica rejects claims of unfair practices by Chinese firms in Jamaica

Published:Thursday | April 20, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

China's Ambassador to Jamaica, NIU Qingbao, is urging local contractors to stop complaining about the number of Chinese companies landing big contracts in Jamaica and instead work on making themselves more attractive."I strongly believe...

Free up the weed! - US researchers urge Jamaica to make ganja fully legal and readily available to tourists

Published:Friday | April 21, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Two years after Jamaica's Parliament passed amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Act making it no longer a criminal offence to posses two ounces or less of marijuana, two United States-based ganja advocates are calling for further changes to make the...

1,644 work permits granted in 120 days - Ministry of Labour and Social Security defends process as unions cry foul

Published:Friday | April 21, 2017 | 11:48 AMRyon Jones

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has granted 1,644 work permits to foreigners in the first four months of this year while rejecting one application, but it has still rejected claims that it has been too free in the approval process.With...

PM, speed up the weed - US based professor warns Holness Jamaica could be forced to import medical ganja

Published:Saturday | April 15, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

A leading international proponent of marijuana policy reform is calling on Prime Minister Andrew Holness to take the reins in developing the country's legal ganja industry or risk embarrassment.According to founder and outgoing head of the United...

Messy marriage - Government moving to divorce regulatory authority from Bureau of Standards

Published:Saturday | April 15, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Karl Samuda, the minister of industry, commerce and agriculture, is moving to tidy up an untidy situation that now exists, with the National Compliance and Regulatory Authority (NCRA) being part of the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ).In 2015, the...

One child and adolescent psychiatrist in public-health system

Published:Friday | February 17, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton might have to go cap in hand to the finance ministry for more money to increase the personnel allocated to the Community Mental Health Services.That is one of the recommendations of the Mental Health and...

PNP unity, Phillips priority

Published:Sunday | April 9, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

He might have taken over the leadership of the People's National Party (PNP) without the bitter battles that his predecessors P.J. Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller faced, but Dr Peter Phillips is under no illusion that there is no one in the...

Plastic banana! - Some chips manufacturers say no to new strain of the fruit being introduced locally

Published:Friday | April 7, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Manager of the leading banana chips making company in western Jamaica, Robert Chambers of Maroon Pride, is expressing displeasure with a new strain of banana which is being introduced as a possible saviour for the local industry.The FHIA strain of...

Banana chips shortage - Manufacturers take a hit as higher prices push farmers to tourism

Published:Friday | April 7, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Some local banana chips manufacturers are unable to meet demand for the popular snack due to a shortage of the fruit.Manager of the leading banana chips manufacturer in the west, Robert Chambers of Maroon Pride, said despite planting a portion of...

'Clean up the rat nest now!' - Salvation Army given seven-day ultimatum to get rid of rodents at Mannings Hill Road facility

Published:Friday | April 7, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

The Kingston and St Andrew Health Department has given the Salvation Army seven days to clean up its rat-infested facility on Mannings Hill Road in St Andrew.The ultimatum was issued after officials of the health department and representatives of a...

Married couples do it better - Help children by giving incentives for Jamaicans to wed, say experts

Published:Thursday | March 30, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

The government is facing fresh calls for incentives to be provided to encourage Jamaicans to get married, based on benefits to be derived by children born in wedlock."There is no doubt that marriages in which two people are really committed to each...

Rats invade kids’ haven - Salvation Army Basic School and children’s home being overrun by pesky rodents

Published:Thursday | March 30, 2017 | 12:32 PMRyon Jones

Rats are running riot at the Salvation Army facility on Mannings Hill Road in St Andrew, which is home to a nursery catering for children as young as three months old, a basic school, a children's home, a school for the blind and visually impaired,...

Music clampdown - KFC, Burger King among those facing possible court action for ‘playing without paying’

Published:Friday | March 31, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

The Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP) is stepping up its efforts to clamp down on business establishments which violate the copyright of musicians by playing music without paying.Two...

Gov't considers moving juvenile centre from 'war zone'

Published:Thursday | March 30, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

Consideration is being given to relocating the Metcalfe Street Secure Juvenile Remand Centre less than six years after it was officially opened.Correctional officers and civilian workers have, for years, been calling for the facility to be moved...

'Sky Climbers'! - Risky ride to clean high rise buildings

Published:Thursday | March 16, 2017 | 3:51 PMRyon Jones

It is not a job for the faint of heart, but it is one which Rudolph Murray and Sherman Anderson enjoy, so much so that they have been doing it for at least 10 years each.Murray and Anderson are among a handful of Jamaicans who call themselves 'sky...

Coffee ready for revival - JAS urges government to pump money into declining sector

Published:Friday | March 17, 2017 | 8:11 AMRyon Jones

President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Norman Grant, believes that while Jamaica's coffee production has declined sharply over the last 25 years, the time is ripe for the industry to grow.Grant said 25 years ago approximately 4.5...

Dubai excites, homecoming disappoints - Teacher peeved by local response after she misses out on US$1m bounty

Published:Friday | March 24, 2017 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones

She might not have won the US$1 million on offer by the Varkey Foundation, but Tracy-Ann Hall returned from Dubai feeling every inch a winner."The way I look at it is there were 10 of us in the competition and one had to win. And if I had won I...

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