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Local Government, Community Development and Sport Minister, Portia Simpson Miller today (Nov. 15) signed a contract for $7.6 million, to carry out rehabilitative work at the York Park Fire Station on Orange Street. The contract has been awarded to Island Woods and Development Limited and the work, which will begin at the end of this month, is expected to last...

Four Jamaican authors will be participating in the 22nd Annual Miami Book Fair International on the Wolfson Campus, at Dade Community College, in downtown Miami this weekend Friday (Nov. 18) through Sunday (Nov. 20). The authors include Opal Palmer Adisa, Garfield Ellis, Geoffrey Philp and Eunice Heath Tate. All four writers will read from their works during the presentation of...

Jamaicans are being challenged to take back the nation from criminal elements and to place focus on the family as the basis for development. The call has come from Gillian Scott, Public Relations and Administrative Officer for Hands Across Jamaica For Righteousness. She was speaking to JIS News prior to the start of the Jamaica Homecoming 2005 Family Expo, held...

A Bill to provide for the establishment of a Medical Laboratories Council to regulate and control the activities of medical laboratories and collection centres across the island is now before the Upper House for consideration. Piloting the provision on Friday (Nov.11) Information Minister and Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator Burchell Whiteman said the provision was geared towards...

Jamaica is two months away from cheaper access to high speed broadband Internet. FibraLink Jamaica Limited, one of two Government approved undersea fibre licencees, will begin construction of its fibre optic cable network this week, with completion scheduled for the end of January 2006. Minister of Commerce, Science & Technology, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, announced today that the operation would take...

The ODPEM has received reports that the phenomenal rise in water levels experienced in Manchester has resulted in further flooding to the Comfort Hall Main Road in Mile Gully. A pond located in the area has risen to road level. The area has been rendered unsafe for vehicular traffic until the water recedes. The situation is compounded by a gully...

Correctional officers are now better equipped to execute search and detection operations at the island's penal institutions, having participated in a two-week training course at the Caribbean Search Centre in Twickenham Park, St. Catherine. Thirty-one senior level correctional officers participated in the Advanced Search and Detection Management course, complementing an earlier two-week programme for lower ranked officers. Deputy Director of...

Scores of volunteers from various organizations within Spanish Town and its environs participated in the 2nd annual clean up and beautification of the town on Saturday and Sunday. The event was organized by the St. Catherine Parish Council in collaboration with the Social Development Commission (SDC), with the Parish Council and the Jamaica Volunteers Association, INC. (JVA) contributing US$10,000 towards...

Denham Town Primary and the Wolmer's Girls' and Boys' Schools will receive various commendations and prizes on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day for their outstanding performances in the United Nations sponsored 'My Community, Our Earth' competition. GIS Day is being observed on November 16 with the presentation of awards scheduled for the Assembly Hall at the University of the West...

Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas, has charged the Community Relations Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force to work to increase the number of Neighbourhood Watch groups across the island. Commissioner Thomas was speaking at the 18th annual National Neighbourhood Watch conference held at the Ebony Park HEART Academy in Clarendon on Saturday, November 12. "I am charging the Community Relations...

Come next year, another 2,300 Jamaicans living with HIV/AIDS will be provided with antiretroviral drugs, under the National HIV/STI Control Programme. Health Minister, John Junor, made the disclosure in Parliament last week, during his contribution to the debate on the report of the Human Resource and Social Development Committee on HIV/AIDS. He noted that some 1,200 persons afflicted with the...

The first round of celebrations for 'Jamaica Day,' will be held at the Buff Bay High School in Portland on November 18. Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, Maxine Henry-Wilson made this disclosure at a special launching ceremony held at the auditorium of the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) in Kingston recently. The celebrations, to be held under the...