Five women who were arrested and charged nine years ago in connection with a multimillion-dollar fraud, which the authorities said was uncovered at Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), were exonerated yesterday, ending a case plagued by nearly three dozen adjournments and an abandoned trial.

Airbnb stakeholders in Jamaica are urging the Government to be cautious in its imposition of a general consumption tax (GCT) on the industry, insisting that the move should reflect the reality of the sector, which they say is largely made up of small, independent Jamaican homeowners.

WESTERN BUREAU: The children of the late Montego Bay business Robert Rusell are expanding the family’s Deja Resort brand, with the acquisition of a property in St Ann, which will be added to its flagship hotel in the western city. The acquisition of the former Ambiance Hotel in Runaway Bay, St Ann, was completed just before Hurricane Melissa in October 2025, with the family now pushing to open it in time for the 2025 winter tourist season.

WESTERN BUREAU: Montego Bay businessman Howard Ward is to be immortalised by Anchovy High School after donating $14 million in cash and kind to aid in its post-Hurricane Melissa recovery, his latest contribution to the St James-based institution. School Chairman Nigel Golaub announced that a building at the institution’s Dr Fidel Castro campus in Montpelier is to be named in honour of Ward, who heads the Howard Ward Benefits Foundation.

The Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) is anticipating the outcome of a constitutional challenge brought by Opposition Spokesman on Education Damion Crawford against the Government over its alleged failure to guarantee children their right to quality publicly funded education at the pre-primary and primary levels.

Five women who were arrested and charged nine years ago in connection with a multimillion-dollar fraud, which the authorities said was uncovered at Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), were exonerated yesterday, ending a case plagued by nearly three dozen adjournments and an abandoned trial.

Clarendon has emerged as a national leader in local development planning, becoming the first parish in Jamaica to formally integrate migration into its long-term growth framework—a move officials say signals a fundamental shift in how communities plan for the future. The milestone was marked last Thursday, during a handover ceremony for the Migration Chapter of the Clarendon Local Sustainable Development Plan (CLSDP) at the Clarendon Municipal Corporation (CMC).

The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) carried out a mini dump removal exercise in Kitson Town, St Catherine, last Thursday, as part of a broader push to eliminate illegal dumping across the parish. It follows complaints from residents and local representatives about the spread of makeshift dumping areas. Andrew Gooden, the NSWMA’s parish manager for St Catherine, said the agency had struggled with illegal dumping in recent weeks.

Airbnb stakeholders in Jamaica are urging the Government to be cautious in its imposition of a general consumption tax (GCT) on the industry, insisting that the move should reflect the reality of the sector, which they say is largely made up of small, independent Jamaican homeowners. “Many hosts are small, independent operators, and sudden cost increases could place real strain on their ability to remain active and compliant,” Airbnb Community Leader for Jamaica Sherie-Ann Anderson told The Gleaner.

A symbolic unveiling of a renovated monument at Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine, on Sunday marked 180 years since the arrival of the first East Indians to Jamaica, reinforcing a shared history rooted in resilience, adaptation and cultural exchange. The ceremony, led by Jamaica’s Indian High Commission, revisited the historic site where the first group of East Indian indentured labourers arrived aboard the SS Blundell in 1845.

Amid historic levels of fatal shootings by the security forces Jamaica’s police chief has exhorted cops to exercise self-discipline, describing it as “more important” than the checks and balances that come with oversight. At the same time, Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake has again urged Jamaicans to join the appeal to “violent and hardened criminals” that they should not confront cops with deadly force.

Attorney-at-law and former government minister Leslie Campbell has died. The Gleaner understands that Campbell, who also served as a senator, was battling illness for the past year.

The Jamaica Labour Party is mourning the death of Deputy Treasurer Leslie Campbell. Campbell died on Sunday morning after battling illness.

In an uncommon moment of agreement, both defence attorneys and prosecutors are aligned on the Government’s plan to amend the Firearms Act. But the Advocates Association of Jamaica (AAJ) says the reforms should go further by eliminating the controversial 15-year mandatory minimum sentence altogether.

Rising fuel prices are forcing schools to brace for a possible return to online learning, with at least one Kingston institution already preparing as the Middle East war persists.

Frank Sondern, the Regional Director for RIU hotels in Jamaica, says the Spanish hotel chain will temporarily close the RIU Palace Hotel, in Montego Bay, for four months to facilitate extensive refurbishing, which should take the exercise to the end of August.

Government Senator Dr Elon Thompson has accused some persons online of carrying out what he described as a “digital mobbing” of Speaker of the House of Representatives Juliet Holness in the wake of the kerfuffle over the removal of the mace by Opposition MP Angela Brown-Burke and her subsequent suspension from the sitting by the presiding officer.

Petrojam is strongly dismissing as false a message circulating via WhatsApp and social media platforms warning of a fuel shortage.

Over strong objections by prosecutors and the police, a judge has offered popular St Ann-based attorney Debby-Ann Samuels a multimillion-dollar bail package with strict conditions.

Former Public Defender Arlene Harrison has welcomed Wednesday’s landmark Constitutional Court ruling on the controversial Bengal mining permit, describing it as a pivotal moment in the protection of Jamaicans’ environmental rights.

The cessation of flights by United States budget carrier, Spirit Airlines, is not expected to have a major impact on Jamaica, according to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.

A 53-year-old mason has been arrested and charged following the seizure of a firearm and ammunition during a police operation in St Andrew on Friday night.

Jamaica will receive new direct flights from Canada after Porter Airlines announced expanded service to Montego Bay for the 2026 to 2027 winter season.

Police in Manchester are probing a double murder following the fatal shooting of a man and a woman in Farm district in the south of the parish on Saturday morning.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining is targeting the recovery of the yam industry with a $100 million investment. Portfolio minster Floyd Green said the support is part of a broader strategic response to the agricultural industry, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa. He was speaking on Tuesday during the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) Recovery and Investment Forum held at the ministry’s playing field at Hope Gardens in St Andrew.

After two intense days, more than 30,000 grade six students across the island are breathing a collective sigh of relief after completing the 2026 Primary Exit Profile (PEP), the outcome of which will determine their high-school placements. On Wednesday, they sat papers in mathematics and language arts, and on Thursday, they did the ability test. On Thursday, the poundiing rain drenching the lush vegetation did not put a damper on the energies of the students at Red Hills Primary in rural St Andrew as they waited for their rides home after completing the final paper.

WESTERN BUREAU: Stephen Price, vice-president and general manager of FLOW Jamaica, is endorsing the proposed establishment of the National Regulatory Reform Authority (NaRRA), arguing that Jamaica must urgently remove bureaucratic bottlenecks, which are slowing critical infrastructure rollout.

WESTERN BUREAU: National Security and Peace Minister Dr Horace Changs says body cameras are being dangerously overestimated as a cure-all for Jamaica’s deep-rooted policing challenges. “Bring me one research paper, just one, that shows cameras, by themselves, solve the problem,” said Chang, while speaking at a pipeline project in Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday. “There are many other issues. Cameras don’t stop crime.”

Tributes flooded the airwaves on Thursday as stunned colleagues, listeners, and relatives saluted broadcaster Daniel ‘DT’ Thompson, who passed away after falling ill earlier this week. For 28 years, the St Elizabeth native’s smooth, rich, and velvety baritone was a constant for listeners of Radio Jamaica 94 FM. Through the decades, he worked across every time slot on the station and had his own show.

Before the sun broke through the morning mist last Sunday, the roadway flanked by farmlands in New Forest was already alive. More than 120 runners and walkers – students, teachers, and corporate teams – gathered at New Forest High School (NFHS) for the institution’s second annual 5K Run/Walk, an event with a mission far beyond fitness. The funds raised will establish a staff welfare fund, a direct response to the growing pressures facing educators and ancillary workers within the institution.

The family of seven-month-old Anna-Olivia Gardener has expressed relief and joy after the child, who is affected by Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome), was given a new start date of May 11 to begin early stimulation. In January, Anna-Olivia had been assigned a December 2027 start date for treatment at the Kingston-based, government-run Early Stimulation Programme (ESP), an almost two-year wait. Early stimulation of the brain is a critical part of development for infants affected in the way Anna-Olivia is.

WESTERN BUREAU: Attorneys representing Adam Stewart have welcomed last week’s Supreme Court ruling striking out an application by executors of the estate of Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, arguing that the decision removes a key obstacle to the transfer of shares to the hotelier’s son. “This judgment is significant. Butch Stewart died over five years ago. In his uncontested will, he left a majority interest in the ATL Group to Adam,” said Conrad George, partner at Hart Muirhead Fatta.

When Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Western Dr Angela Brown Burke hoisted the mace from “under the table” while the committee of the whole House examined the controversial National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) bill on Tuesday, there was a predictable outcome – chaos ensued.

WESTERN BUREAU: Despite still feeling the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which devastated Jamaica last October, the 2026 sitting of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations started smoothly across western Jamaica yesterday, with students, parents, and teachers expressing confidence and relief. Dominic Robinson, the 12-year-old head boy at Chetwood Memorial Primary School in St James, told The Gleaner that he felt confident about his chances of passing, despite feeling nervous about the examinations hours earlier.

A domestic dispute between a father and a son turned deadly in a quiet farming community in Mountainside, St Elizabeth, on Tuesday afternoon. Dead is Gary Allwood, a 53-year-old farmer, who was reportedly stabbed multiple times inside his home by his 19-year-old son, said to be mentally challenged. The teenager is now in police custody as investigations continue. Reports are that some time after 1 p.m., an argument developed between the two at their residence after the father reportedly instructed his son to take some prescribed medication.