The Senate has approved amendments to the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act and the Wild Life Protection Act to allow for an increase in fines and related custodial sentences for offences. Piloting the legislative measures in the Upper House on Friday (January 24), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, said they will...

More than 10,000 entries for this year’s National Festival of the Performing Arts 2025 have been registered on the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) new online Awards Force platform. In January 2024, the JCDC introduced the Awards Force, a competition platform that not only allows for entries but also adjudication, feedback to entrants and galleries to showcase visual entries. Entrants...

Several infrastructure improvement projects are on the way for the parish of Westmoreland. Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, in making the disclosure during a visit to the parish on Friday (January 24), said he will provide details of the works to be done in his upcoming Budget presentation. “The parish of Westmoreland needs specific attention as it...

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) continues to prioritise building homes for vulnerable Jamaicans, particularly those with disabilities. Dr. Holness was addressing the handover ceremony for a new one-bedroom unit to visually impaired Jephtah McIntosh, in Town Head, Westmoreland, on January 24. The unit was constructed at a cost of $5.6...

A workshop to teach event planners how to navigate laws, secure sponsorships, engage their audience, and master marketing strategies to elevate their events, was held by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) in Negril, Westmoreland, on January 23. Titled, ‘The Event Playbook’, the workshop was the second to be staged in the West. The first was held in December last year...

Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, is encouraging more young people to pursue careers in health. She noted that the Government is committed to ensuring young Jamaicans are trained and equipped to become highly skilled professionals in the sector. It is for this reason, she said, that the Ministry collaborated with the...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining is taking a multi-pronged approach to combat praedial larceny across the country. Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, outlined aspects of the Ministry’s strategy during the 20th Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Investments and Capital Markets Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, on Thursday (January 23). These include: proof of purchase in...