O-Wrap: OUR tells JPS to fix outages…$800m agriculture loss…Missing 3-y-o dead
In case you missed it, here are OBSERVER ONLINE’s top 10 stories for today:
1. OUR tells JPS to fix issues identified in August 2016 power outageThe Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has ordered the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to ensure that adequate measures are introduced to forestall and prevent the recurrence of identified problems associated with the all-island power outage in August 2016.
2. Court blocks senior cops as witnesses in Patrick Powell trialThe prosecution in the trial of businessman Patrick Powell this morning denied the request of the defence to call Assistant Commissioner of Police Ealan Powell and investigating officer Superintendent Frank Buchanan as witnesses.
3. Teen boy drowns in St Catherine
A trip to the river turned deadly on Monday, after a 13-year-old boy who had gone swimming with a friend in the small community of Rosehall district in Linstead, St Catherine drowned.
4. Body of missing 3-y-o found in water tank
Tragedy struck in Dunrobin district, Manchester on Sunday when the body of a three-year-old boy, who went missing the night before, was found in a water tank near his home.
5. 9-y-o girl dies after being hit by van
A 9-year-old girl died on Monday as result of injuries she received in a motor vehicle accident along the Frome main road in Westmoreland.Dead is Nicoya McCullum a student, from Frome district.
6. Jamaica AIDS Support chides MPs over criticisms of FFP housing
Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) has given its support to charity organisation Food for the Poor and is also challenging recent claims made by Members of Parliament, Mikael Phillips and Leslie Campbell.
7. May rains cost agriculture sector $800m
Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Karl Samuda is reporting that the heavy rains in mid-May resulted in close to $800 million in damage to the agriculture sector.
8. Gov’t to spend $100m per annum to improve schools’ safety and security
The government plans to spend $100 million per annum, beginning next year, to improve safety at schools deemed to have inadequate security arrangements.
9. PNP calls for the immediate release of poverty intervention fund
Opposition spokesman on labour and social security, Dr Fenton Ferguson, is calling on the Government to immediately release the first tranche of the short-term poverty intervention fund to assist small farmers, micro businesses, shut-ins, and the disabled, affected by recent flood rains.
10. Hurricane rains could be a blessing or curse — forecaster
A regional climatologist is predicting above normal activity this hurricane season, which they say will be a blessing to countries that have been experiencing very long drought, but have warned of the dangers associated with heavy rainfall.