Store owners hit back after press secretary blames them for prices
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
IT’S NOT OUR FAULT, WATSONMR
BAHAMAS Power & Light’s top executive last night revealed the troubled utility’s mammoth $535m refinancing and New Provi dence power plant deal with Shell are both “in abeyance”.Shevonn Cambridge told Tribune Business that while “nothing has been taken off the table” when it comes to solving the stateowned utility monopoly’s woes, “no active work” or negotiations are taking place on either the Rate Reduction Bond (RRB) or outsourcing New Providence’s baseload generation needs to Shell North America.
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
PINTARD: FNM WILL NOT TOLERATE AGGRESSION
SEE PAGE FIVE SEE PAGE TWOFULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS PLUS PAGE THREE FRIDAY HIGH 90ºF LOW 79ºF i’m lovin’ it! Volume: 119 No.190, August 26, 2022 THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1 Established 1903The Tribune CARS! CARS! CLASSIFIEDS TRADERWEEKEND The Tribune Monday, February 8, To Advertise Call 601-0007 or 502-2351 Starting $33.60 Biggest And Best! LATEST NEWS ON TRIBUNE242.COM 6pcCheeseburgerHamburgerHappyPOKEMONMeals:Nuggets HamburgerHappyPOKEMONMeals: Cheeseburger 6pc Nuggets
FOOD retailers yes terday hit back over assertions that some mer chants have not passed the Budget’s tariff cuts on to consumers via reduced prices, adding: “You can’t point the finger of blame at Philipus.” Beneby, the Retail Grocers Asso ciation’s president, told Tribune Business the industry was an easy target and scapegoat after Clint Watson, the Prime Minister’s press secre tary, made a thinly-veiled suggestion that not all stores have passed the anticipated savings on to foodWhileshoppers.providing no names or evidence, Mr Watson said the sector has “a responsibility to pass that relief on” to Bahamians and called on the public to hold the food retail and wholesale industry “accountable” for the prices they are charging now the tax cuts have been effect for some two months, adding: “That’s a good question for them to answer.”
FNM leader Michael Pintard.
DIANE HERSURPRISESWOMANPHILLIPS:WITHUPSLEEVESEEPAGENINE
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
PRESS secretary Clint WatsonPhoto:yesterday. Moise Amisial
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BPL: LONG-TOUTED SHELL DEAL NOW ‘IN ABEYANCE’
THERE was a 15 percent increase in the number of BGCSE candidates who received a C or higher in five or more subjects this year, according to Direc tor of Education Marcellus Taylor.Mr Taylor also high lighted a decrease in this year’s BGCSE candidates as only 4,906 candidates registered by comparison to last year which had more thanHe5,000.presented the statistics during a press con ference at the Ministry of Education.Henoted that 4,906 can didates registered to sit the examinations in 2022, com pared to 2021 when a total By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
‘15 PERCENT RISE’ HAILED AS EXAM RESULTS RELEASED
FREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard said his party will not tolerate “blatant dis respect” or any other form of aggression after a Free National Movement Meri torious Council Member was assaulted by another party member at a meeting earlier this week. The attacker is said to be a supporter of former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. Discussions on whether to ban the member from future meetings were expected to be raised at the FNM’s executive com mittee and the central council’s end of month meeting yesterday. The incident occurred at the FNM’s Golden Isles Constituency Association meeting at Gerald Cash Pri mary School on Tuesday. FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands said the man who was assaulted required medical attention
He said it was probably a case of someone who went fishing and faced some challenges such as their freezer going bad which caused them to dump the fish overboard. Mr Carey said: “If you look at the fish you can see that there are a number of fish that have been cleaned and gutted. Fish that have been caught and processed by humans.”Hesought to clear up specula tion that the scores of dead fish were caused by an act of nature, red tide, chemical poisoning, or other ideas people have been coming up with. He said he assumes the little fish that were found on shore were prob ably being used as bait fish by the fisherman. FROM CATCH THAT WAS DUMPED’ from a video circulating on social media showing dead fish on Delaporte Beach.
“While we recognise the pockets of improved performance in the BJC and BGCSE examinations when compared to 2020 and 2021, we also are aware that greater efforts must be made by all stakeholders in order to recover the learn ing loss which has occurred since March 2020,” Mr Taylor said. rise’ hailed
IMAGES
MARCELLUS TAYLOR A VIDEO of scores of dead fish scattered ashore on Delaporte Beach made the rounds on social media yesterday causing concern. However an environmentalist Eric Carey, Bahamas National Trust’s executive director, told The Tribune based on his assessment the dead fish on the beach were from a catch that was dumped.
as exam results released from page one
‘15 percent
DEAD FISH ‘LIKELY
PAGE 2, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE of 5,147 candidates regis tered, which resulted in a 4.68 percent decrease. As a result of the decrease in candidates, the number of awarded grades decreased by comparison to lastAccordingyear. to Mr Taylor, there were 17,546 grades awarded this year, which represents a decrease of 2.03 percent compared to 2021, when a total of 17,909 students were graded. Despite this, the direc tor said 83.58 percent of the grades awarded ranged from A-E. “It is interesting to note that again this year more than 80 percent or 83.58 percent to be exact, of the grades awarded continue to range from A-E, which is now becoming the recur ring accomplishment,” the director said at the press conference.MrTaylor said there was a “significant” increase in the grades awarded to candidates.“There are significant increases at A-C. In fact, 10.38 percent at grade A is the highest for the 20182022Whenperiod.”compared to last year, there was a 15 percent increase in the number of candidates who received a C or higher in five or more subjects. “In 2022, a total of 633 candidates received a grade of C or higher in five or more subjects. This repre sents 12.9 percent of the overall candidature and a 15.09 percent increase when compared to 2021. There were 550 candidates in 2021,” Mr Taylor said. He said 952 candi dates obtained a D or higher in five or more subjects by comparison to last year - this is an 8.8 per cent increase. In the subjects math ematics, English language and science, the director said there was a 2.62 per cent increase for candidates who received a C or higher. “In 2022, a total of 392 candidates received at least a grade C or better in math ematics, English language, and a science subject,” he said yesterday. “This rep resents 7.99 percent of the overall candidature and a 2.62 percent increase when compared to 2021. There were 382 in 2021.” A total of 27 subjects were tested, however, English language, biol ogy, mathematics and religious studies were said to be the subjects of choice for the vast majority of candidates.Ofthe 27 subjects, improved performance was noted in 11 subjects when compared to performance in 2021. These include: art and design, chemistry, combined science, English language, food and nutri tion, French, geography, history, literature, key boarding skills and religious studies.Itisnoted that improved performances for BGCSE’s were seen on the islands of Abaco, Andros, Bimini, Crooked Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Inagua, Mayaguana and NewMeanwhile,Providence.as it relates to the Bahamas Junior cer tificate (BJC) test results, Mr Taylor said there was an increase in the total number of grades and candidates.“Thisyear 9,571 candi dates from 113 centres were registered to sit the exami nation. Fifty-one were government schools while 62 centres were independ ent or “Theprivate.total candidature represents an increase of 0.23 percent when com pared to 2021, when 9549 candidates from a total of 112 centres. The total number of grades was 35,340 when compared to 2021. Which was 34,62. This represents an increase of 2.07Thepercent.”total number of grades awarded at A-D increased significantly, while the E-U grades decreased which serves as an indication of an improved performance. The Ministry of Edu cation recognises the improved performances in the BJC and BGCSE results this year, however, officials are aware that more can be done.
PRESS secretary Clint Watson says he wants Bahamians to question retailers and wholesalers on how certain relief measures implemented by the gov ernment to lower food costs have been passed on to con sumers to lessen the impact of rising Yesterday,inflation.Mr Watson was asked about the Davis administration’s plan to help Bahamians cope with the high cost of living given warnings from experts to brace for higher inflation rates.Super Value owner Rupert Roberts recently told The Tribune that the prices of items such as rice, cooking oils, tomato prod ucts and evaporated milk will see an increase in the comingElevatedweeks. costs are expected up until next March, he added.
PRESS Secretary Clint Watson has refused to respond to controversy surrounding a leaked con versation he allegedly had with a Hurricane Dorian survivor over Hurricane Dorian memorial week. Mr Watson was asked to confirm his involvement in a heated conversation with a Dorian survivor after screenshots of a pri vate chat allegedly between him and an angered resi dent from Abaco made its rounds online. The contents of the con versation were about the Dorian Memorial Week, the manner of which the events are being held and the terms used to describe it, specifically the word “celebrations”.“Thisisanational press conference. I don’t want to address something as frivo lous as that,” Mr Watson said during yesterday’s briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister. “If I inboxed somebody regarding their concerns and questions regarding a concert and they chose to post that, that’s a differ ent issue by itself that you chose to post something publicly without some body’s consent and the police are here nodding their heads and so let’s not go into something that was done that’s illegal.”
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 3
Watson
Events planned for the week include a weather symposium, Dorian memorial service, includ ing a wreath laying ceremony and several memorial concerts, which will be held on Abaco, Grand Bahama as well as New Providence. It will observe the third anniversary of Hurricane Dorian making landfall.
“I liken it to what America does with 9/11 because it was their biggest tragedy and regardless of the dif ference of opinions in America, that are many every, every year, on 9/11, you don’t hear it. No matter who you are, as an American, you remember the biggest tragedy that your country experienced.
“The government of The Bahamas decided to do the same thing. We cannot just go on business as usual, as though it was just another hurricane. We cannot do that. There were scores of people’s lives that were lost that we don’t even know about who were swept out to Hesea.”continued: “How do you walk away from that and forget about it and say okay, so then of course it’s September 1, it’s Hur ricane Dorian anniversary and never do anything on a national level.” As for the monetary concerns associated with the event, Mr Watson said many of the private donors sponsoring it have assisted victims on the ground before.“We can’t tell people where they can put their money as a private com pany and guess what a lot of the donors have been on the ground working extremely hard right in the aftermath of Dorian,” he continued.Nonetheless, he said, officials understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that “you will not please everyone on everything.”Hurricane Dorian hit Abaco on September 1, 2019, as a Category 5 hur ricane before barreling toward Grand Bahama. Nearly three years later, the islands remain in recov ery mode.
yesterday. Photo: Moise Amisial
Mr Watson also told reporters that he did not personally see the screen shots of the direct messages in However,question. he admitted that he has responded to victims’ concerns about the memorial event by way of social media in the past, but did not confirm his participation in the leaked conversation.“Ihaven’tseen that social media,” he also said. “I have talked to people who have inboxed me to ask questions and have asked things about Dorian. I’ve tried my best when I’m available to answer them and to explain and on a wider note, we’re going to talk more about how to get to the Dorian section and talk, give more clarification on the Dorianevents.”Memorial Week is scheduled to take place starting today to Septem ber 4 under the theme “The Courage to Rebuild.”
“For three years, there has been no national rec ognition of the biggest tragedy in this country. Nothing on a national level. This is the biggest tragedy with the largest amount of loss of lives that this country has ever seen,” he said.
PRESS SECRETARY: ASK RETAILERS
PRESS secretary Clint Watson at the press briefing
“The government said that they put this relief in place so that Bahamians can feel the relief. That’s a good question for them to answer,” he “Certainlyadded.we can’t answer that. They ought to be able to tell you that ‘yes, we’ve reduced eggs or we have reduced milk.’ “That is the kind of ques tions we want to see people put to these wholesalers and retailers so that they can be accountable to their con sumers who are spending money with them because the relief is being put there by the “Nowgovernment.theyhavea respon sibility to pass that relief on and accepting somebody saying that they’re going to put prices up and not ask them where’s the relief? I think it’s missing a big story and a big disservice to the Bahamian people and I would admonish people to ask these wholesalers to justify where they’re put ting the Surgingrelief.”gas prices and high food costs – largely a direct result of inflation and the ongoing RussianUkrainian war - have been among the list of grievances expressed by Bahamians in recent months. In his budget commu nication in May, Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis announced a series of relief measures aimed to assist Bahamians struggling with the inflationary high cost of living. The proposed measures include increased social assis tance, targeted minimum wage increases for work ers in the public sector, duty reductions on certain food items among other things. He later revealed that the government was consider ing reducing fuel taxes for gas retailers with a view to bringing relief to both retailers and consumers. When questioned on the matter earlier this month, he told reporters that a decision on the issue will be made soon, adding “we’re working on it now”. ABOUT FOOD COSTS
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
ONE of the images of a reported conversation with Clint Watson, left, being circulated on social media.
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net refuses to discuss row with Dorian survivor
Some Dorian survivors believe the funds used for memorial week could’ve been used to further res toration efforts on the storm impacted islands, while others have called the planned activities “insensitive”.MrWatson said the gov ernment does not share those same views, however, and believes that given Dorian’s historical impact, a national memorial is neces sary to remember the lives lost and also celebrate the survivors.Healso urged everyone to put their differences aside “to honour the pur pose of the event.”
However, Mr Watson recalled that certain meas ures like duty reductions on several food items had already been put in place to help lessen the blow for Bahamians and said it is now up to locals to hold retailers accountable. He said: “When the gov ernment announced that there are measures that have been put in place to actually address reducing the burden on the backs of Bahamians and we say, ‘okay, well, here’s what’s happening and at the ports,’ we’ve brought some relief there so that these things can be passed on to the consumers.“Nowwe know there are certain food stores who did bring reduction. We’ve heard about these and we’ve seen those and I believe rightfully, that’s the kind of question and pressures that (should) be put on retail operators and owners.
Friends may pay their respect at Demeritte’s Funeral Home, Market Street on Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday at the church until service time
SISTERS of the boaters who disappeared at sea on Monday are awaiting pro gress in the search for their loved ones who were travel ling from Bimini to Andros. On Sunday, brothers Christopher Mackey, an employee of the Water and Sewerage Corporation, and Jerome Sands, a carpenter and boat engine repair man, went to Florida to retrieve a bright yellow and white used boat for a buyer in Nassau. As they were trav elling, the boat experienced issues with one of its two engines and the hull. Still both men made it safely to Bimini, where they stopped to get assis tance from a relative, Tony Sands, and other relatives on the island, before heading back on the water toward the clos est island Andros, where the brothers had other relatives that were willing to assist Themeiathem.Sands, sister of the missing boaters, said the trip from Bimini to Andros was where the situation turned“Nowgrim.after speaking with Tony, Tony assured me that he told them to try and get a flight out of Bimini instead of trying to take the boat back. To which my brothers thought that they could have made it. So, they repaired whatever part it was and then they left Bimini around the hours of three and four o’clock that Monday afternoon. Mind you, before they left on the boat, they tried to get a plane out, but every thing was full coming out of Bimini. So, they got on the boat and tried to make a voyage on the boat to get to Andros. We haven’t heard from them since,” Ms Sands said.She added, “They were basically travelling on the grace of God and that one boatAnotherengine.”sister, Talinda Rolle said, “They are not fishermen, one of them works for Water and Sew erage and the other one is a carpenter. They frequent the waters often, because my brother Jerome Sands, he fixes boats and he owns one or two vessels as well.” Ms Rolle said, “To my knowledge the last infor mation I received from a relative in Bimini, was that they left Bimini, headed for Andros, on Monday after 3pm. They never reached Andros. They contacted my brother in Andros to be on the lookout for them, because the boat was expe riencing issues. My brother stayed on the dock until two am Tuesday morning, they never arrived. And that’s when we got alarmed.”
Nicholas was a student at the SC Bootle High School. Mr Lubin, who raised his nephew in The Bahamas from the age of five, said the teen was a twin. He was surprised when he got the tragic news. “I was at work when they called me,” he said. According to police, officers at the Treasure Cay Police Station received a report of an alleged drown ing shortly before noon on Tuesday.Assistant Superintendent of Police Stephen Rolle said police were told the boy was attending a beach picnic along with several friends, and while in the water he was discovered foaming from the mouth. He was assisted to the shore and CPR was per formed. He was taken to Marsh Harbour Clinic, where he was examined by doctors and pronounced dead.“Nicholas was a good, good boy,” said Mr Lubin. “I raised him from five years old when his parents went back to Haiti. “He has a twin brother, but the next brother did not go with him,” he said. When asked how the brother is dealing with the loss, Mr Lubin said he is very sad about it. The deceased’s sibling, Nichol Amiscar told The Tribune that his brother was a good swimmer. He said he feels bad about what has happened to his twinNicholbrother.said he did not know that his brother was going to the beach that day.“I knew his friend was going to the beach, but I was not sure he was going. He could swim the best out of all them,” he said.Nichol said that he was told that they were playing soccer on the beach and went into the water to cool off.Whenever the water is shallow, he said they would jump off the dock feet first into the water.
GOVERNOR General CA Smith congratulated Doris Louise Smith on the occasion of her 100th birth day at her residence on Fowler Street, on Tuesday. The Governor General presented her with a letter from the Queen, and a letter on behalf of himself and his wife, Lady Smith. The centenarian also received a gift of a bouquet of flowers.
THE relatives of 17-yearold Nicholas Amiscar who allegedly drowned at a beach in Treasure Cay, Abaco this week have described him as a “good swimmer”.NerilusLubin, the teen’s uncle, said he was at work when he received a call about the tragedy. He said Nicholas’ par ents, who live in Haiti, are in the process of trying to fly to The Bahamas for their son’s funeral.
CELEBRATING A CENTENARIAN Mr. JeromeDwayneBlack, 56 of Breadfruit Street, Pinewood Gardens, will be held at Mt. Pleasant Green Baptist Church on Saturday, 27th August at 11:00 a.m. Officiating will be Bishop Wesley Thompson. Cremation will follow He was predeceased by his parents Merva Higgins and Clifford Black. Grandparents: Ethlyn Mcphee, Omedius and Joycelyn Higgins, Hezekial and Sarah Black. Grand Aunt and Uncle: Florrie and Prestly Virgil. Brothers: Terrence, Jason and Ricardo. Sisters: Barbaramae and Sophia.
PAGE 4, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
17-YEAR-OLD
Obviously it’s lobster season, a large number of vessels are in the vicinity between Bimini, Andros and Nassau. And even if it wasn’t lobster season, that’s a very highly trafficked area. We had multiple aircraft searches and assis tance from the US Coast Guard. Nothing has been seen,” Mr Lloyd said. “It’s a bright yellow boat, if you’re talking to other boats in the area they would remember if they saw it with no difficulty,” he said. Mr Lloyd added that the brothers on the boat had a few emergency items that should have hopefully helped them avoid a truly terrible“Fromsituation.studying the photos, we can see a VHF (very high frequency) radio and there’s no obvious sign of an antenna and there’s no obvious sign of a GPS, but the two men made it from Florida to Bimini, across the ocean. It was reported that there was mechanical damage, but then later after some inves tigation we determined that the vessel had in fact had a compromised hull. They were advised not to travel, put it on the mailboat,” he said.“We do know from the picture, that the boat had a six-pack of life jackets. There was no other sign of any safety equipment, but, if something terrible hap pened each of them would have three life jackets to hold on to, which would be very visible as well from the air and by boat,” Mr Lloyd said.This is the second incident in the last two months involv ing damaged boats at sea. On July 25, 17 migrants died and some 25 people were rescued after a twin engine speed boat sus pected of being involved in a human smuggling operation capsized off New Providence.
Photos: Letisha HendersonBIS/
Funeral Service For
Family waiting for progress in search for missing men at sea
In addition to getting assistance from Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Associa tion (BASRA), the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the United States Coast Guard, Ms Rolle said she also officially reported her brother missing on Wednesday.“Wereached out to the Defense Force and BASRA from Tuesday morning after they didn’t arrive on Monday evening. Yesterday (Wednesday), I went to the Carmichael Road Police Station and officially filed a missing person’s report myself. We also had a number of family and friends who would have gotten airplanes and boats. Over the last two days, they have been searching along the area for them and we haven’t found anything as yet,” said Ms Rolle. BASRA operations manager, Captain Chris Lloyd echoed Ms Rolle’s sentiments. He said that BASRA and RBDF search and rescue officers have found nothing in their searches thus far.
By LETRE SWEETING
Cherished and fond memories will forever linger in the hearts of his, Daughters: Shaneka and Tekia Musgrove, Kadesha Black, and Chrystal Nottage; Sons: Randerville Johnson, Dwayne Jerome Jr., Jerome Dwaye Black, Dameko Nottage, and Clete Major; Adopted Mother: Brendamae Mackey; Step Mother: Alvetha Black; Sisters: Ayhisha Small-Cleare, Janice Black, Susan Roker, Sharise Smith; Brothers: Kevin Tomlinson, Emmanuel Black, Elkenah Black, Kevin Black, Randon Black and Lendraux Smith; Nieces: Tedistine, Pedricka, Bretisha, Samantha, Ariel, Jasmine, Jaynan, Victoria, Kevinique, Jade, Tanesha, Ramonda, Sharonda, Jaquille, Ghandecia, Antonya, Kevinique, Alexis; Nephews: Ted Jr., Dorian, Samuel III, Kanye, Terrance Jr., Tevin, Michael Jr., Bertrun Jr., Tameko, Renaldo, Zhivargo, Deangelo, Jeremy, Andreas, Elkin Jr, Kevin Jr, Donavon, Devon, Lavano; Sisters-in-Law: Delicia and Alice; Brothers-in-Law: Ted Sr., S. Bertrum Sr. and Samuel; Aunts: Paulette Mackey and Adirlda Black; Uncles: Jacob and Nathaniel Higgins, James Mackey, Copland Morley and Livingston Henfield; Other relatives including: The Higgins family, the Black family, the Greenslade family, the Morley family, the Clydes family, the Mackey family, the Henfield family; Special friends: Mary Whylly, Tania Nottage, and Deborah Charlton-Rolle; Other friends including: Bishop Wesley Thompson and The Mt. Pleasant Green Baptist Church Family, Rev. Nelson Mcfall and Family, The community of Charles Vincent Street and Breadfruit Street.
“His friend jumped in first and he told me that my brother’s head hit his back and both of them went underwater,” said Nichol. He said the friend told him that he saw Nicholas coming up and thought he was okay. As they started swimming to shore, the friend said he looked back and saw Nicholas’ body sinking. He said that when he lifted Nicholas up he was foaming at the mouth. The friend said he asked some people on dock for help, but they said no and left them there. He said that some persons on the beach who saw what happened ran over and assisted them. Police are investigating theAsmatter.aresult of recent drownings, earlier this week Minister of Education Glenys Hanna Martin said the government anticipates the introduction of swim ming lessons in the public school system. WHO DROWNED ‘WAS GOOD SWIMMER’
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 5 due to “significant” injuries that included a fractured jaw. He added the matter is under investigation by the police. He said an internal party review is being con ducted to ensure they do not come to any “prema tureForconclusions.”hispart, Mr Pin tard said the Free National Movement is a “microcosm of society”, so it faces many of the same challenges.
“This took place in the margins of an FNM meet ing and we do not condone violence of any kind for any reason and so this was a most distasteful display of a lack of impulse control,” he said.The former Elizabeth MP said a report has been filed with police. However, the FNM also has a disciplinary process that undergirds the order and discipline of their meetings and organisation.
“For us to be engaged in a ‘Stop the Violence, Each One Reach One’ initiative and to see something like this take place, albeit at the conclusion of a regularly scheduled FNM meeting is something that we do not take lightly. It is not toler ated, will not be tolerated, and we will do whatever we can to prevent any such thing from happening again.”Asked if the attacker will be banned from meetings until the completion of the investigation, he answered: “There is a meeting of the executive committee and the central council this evening and this matter will be raised at those meetings.”According to reports, the FNM member was attacked after he made negative comments about Dr Minnis at Tuesday’s meeting. The attack took place in the school’s parking lot. The FNM is battling the public perception of a rift inside the party between those who support Mr Pin tard and those who support Dr Minnis.
FNM WILL NOT AGGRESSIONTOLERATE
FREE National Move ment leader Michael Pintard said Prime Minis ter Philip “Brave” Davis is “lost” on the fiscal impacts of major storms, label ling him “misinformed” on how these natural disasters affected the national debt. In response, the Office of The Prime Minister accused Mr Pintard of downplay ing the economic and fiscal impact of Hurricane Dorian.“Iread with sincere con cern and astonishment the sad attempted rebut tal of the Prime Minister’s report in today’s (newspa per) related to my earnest suggestion to him that he clarify his apparent mis statement on the impacts of climate events in the coun try for the period of 2015 to 2019,” Mr Pintard said in a statement.“ThePrime Minister erroneously stated that the $3.4 billion in estimated economic damage from Hurricane Dorian should be considered as a direct element of the overall national debt. “I am frankly embar rassed to have to point out to the Prime Minister of our country that the $3.4 bil lion sum is the estimate of the total economic damage - including private sector and public sector damage and losses - as estimated by a report commissioned by the
Mrisisnecessary.”correcttoonsourceMinisteraskveryofdebtrelatedencetothatwefrighteningonister$229ofpageThatpublicoftothetolossdebt.addition$3.4commercialtoshareberandDevelopmentInterAmericanBank(IDB)publishedinNovem2019.Indeedthelion’softhatsumisinlossesprivatesectorassetsandactivity.Thatbillionsumisnotantoournational“TheportionofthatthatdoescontributethedebtisthesumthatgovernmentborroweddealwiththeaftermathDorianandthelossofsectorincomeonly.sameIDBreporton148estimatedthelosspublicassetstobesomemillion.“Sadly,thePrimeMinisbadlymisinformedthesubject.Thatisaprospectifarenowtoconcludehispronouncementaninternationalaudiregardingtheclimatecontributionstoourwasbasedonhislackunderstandingofsomesimpleconcepts.WeagainthatthePrimeexaminetheofhisinformationthekeycontributorsournationaldebtandhisstatementsasInresponse,OPMsaiditbizarrethatMrPintardseekingtoundermineDavis’climatechange
advocacy.“Bizarrely, the leader of the Opposition is so deter mined to undermine this advocacy for our country, that he is downplaying the impact of Hurricane Dorian, pretending that the entirety of the impact was measured in a November 2019 IDB report,” OPM said.“But the damages meas ured in that report are only part of the picture. “When hurricanes wipe out homes, schools, hos pitals, businesses, roads, water and sewage pipes – the impact to the econ omy lasts a long time. The people affected don’t pay taxes. Visitor numbers are impacted. The effects cas cade forward, for years afterwards. The costs asso ciated with Hurricane Dorian continue to accu mulate, three years later. “And, of course, there’s the price of our debt – the interest rates we pay. “We have to borrow to rebuild, increasing our debt burden, and the more our debt grows in overall size, the more we pay in inter est to compensate for that increase in risk to lenders. In addition, the risk of future hurricanes is priced in as well -- our interest rates would be lower if those who hold our debt were not worried about the next Dorian or Matthew. “There’s the opportunity cost of rebuilding and adap tation measures – that’s money that could other wise have been used to pay down debt or invest in our people and our economy. And, of course, our risk insurance becomes more expensive.“Ofcourse, there are other important con tributors to our current, outstanding debt, including the very substantial impact of the pandemic and lock downs, but no one could seriously argue about the very harmful impact of cli mate
“Otherchange.leaders in our region understand the sig nificance and are rallying alongside our Prime Minis ter to make this case to the world. The Leader of the Opposition should join us.” Last week, Mr Davis spoke of the country’s $12.131bn national debt at the opening Plenary Session of the Caribbean Regional Heads of Govern ment Meeting (CHOGM) in preparation for the COP27.Hesaid that 50 per cent or more of the sum was connected directly to consequences of natural disasters.Thedisasters, Mr Davis said at the time, occurred between 2015 and 2019, requiring government to borrow money for recovery.
FNM leader Michael Pintard.
from page one
ofimpactonDavisPintard:lostfiscalstorms
“And so we have been sharing consistently the message we have to build relationships that are healthy and wholesome and we ought to commu nicate with each other in a way that we are able to resolve any differences we may have in a peaceful and amicable way,” he told The Tribune “So wherever there is aggression whether in speech or otherwise we condemn it. We want all of our people broadly in this society, in our organisation to lower the temperature. To manage responsibly any anger they may be expe riencing and to deal with each other with respect. Again, this recent event is no different. We want persons to know that we will not tolerate blatant disrespect or any other aggression towards each other,” Mr Pintard said. In a separate inter view, Dr Sands also condemned the assault.
The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master” LEON E. H. DUPUCH, Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH, Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt . Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991 EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972Published daily Monday to Friday Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207 TELEPHONES News & General Information (242) 322-1986 Advertising Manager (242) 502-2394 Circulation Department (242) 502-2386 Nassau fax (242) 328-2398 Freeport, Grand Bahama (242)-352-6608 Freeport fax (242) 352-9348 WEBSITE, TWITTER & FACEBOOK www.tribune242.com @tribune242 tribune news network PAGE 6, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom told state regulators two years ago to adopt a ban on gas-powered cars by 2035, one piece of California’s aggressive suite of policies designed to reduce pollution and fight climate change. If the policy works as designed, California would cut emissions from vehicles in half by 2040. Other states are expected to follow, further accelerating the production of zero-emissions vehicles.
The oil industry believes California is going too far. It’s the seventh-largest oil-producing state and shouldn’t wrap its entire transportation strategy around a vehicle market powered by electricity, said Tanya DeRivi, vice president for climate policy with the Western States Petroleum Association, an industry group.“Californians should be able to choose a vehicle technology, including electric vehicles, that best fits their needs based on availability, affordability, and per sonal necessity,” she said. Many car companies, like Kia, Ford and General Motors, are already on the path to making more electric cars available for sale, but some have warned that factors outside of their control like supply chain and materi als issues make Californians’ goals challenging.“Automakers could have significant difficulties meeting this target given elements outside of the control of the industry,” Kia Corp.’s Laurie Holmes told the air board before its vote. As the requirements ramp up over time, automakers could be fined up to $20,000 per vehicle sold that falls short of the goal, though they’ll have time to comply if they miss the target in a given year.The new rules approved by the air board say that the vehicles need to be able to travel 150 miles (241 kilom eters) on one charge. Federal and state rebates are also available to people who buy electric cars, and the new rules have incentives for car companies to sell elec tric cars at a discount to low-income buyers.Butsome representatives of business groups and rural areas said they fear electric cars will be too expensive or inconvenient.“Theseregulations are a big step backwards for working families and small businesses,” said Gema Gonza lez Macias of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. Air board members said they are com mitted to keeping a close eye on equity provisions in the rules to make sure all California residents have access. “We will not set Californians up to fail, we will not set up the other states who want to follow this regulation to fail,” said Tania Pacheco-Warner, a member of the board and co-director of the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at California State University, Fresno. phasing out gas vehicles
EDITOR, The Tribune. ON DECEMBER 19, 1962, a very signifi cant international event occurred within the gates of Lyford Cay. President John F Kennedy - UK Prime Minister Macmillan and Canadian PM John Die fenbaker met and resulting from this meeting NATO’s military position to the “cold war was established“. This very significant event was memorialised with a plinth and a plaque located at the junction of Blake and West Bay. About three years ago, a vehicle knocked the plinth down... very recently the junction was re-designed following the double tragedy, deaths, works not totally completed after two plus years! Editor, the plinth was reinstated kudos to those responsible, but the question - How on earth do visitors - our children and Joe Public access to view the plinth up close if the plinth was erected in the middle of the new roundabout!Surely,oh surely, some one, yes, a single person had to realise where the plinth was being erected the public will have little of any chance of access unless they put themselves in danger from the traf fic! Couldn’t the plinth have been erected in an accessible location on the grounds of the new com mercial office building Caves Limited erected maybe a lay-by for twovehicles, suitable to accommodate a tour bus? Will cost a little to move, but lord surely, we will not leave the plinth in no man’s land inaccessible safely by the public? Possibly we will. Historical Society. Tourism product develop ment common sense public, please lobby Public Works to move this significant his torical monument to a more accessible location. MOSS AugustNassau, 23, 2022.
STEPHEN
PICTURE OF THE DAY
By KATHLEENAssociatedRONAYNEPress A response to letter of critique LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net California
EDITOR, The Tribune. I AM surprised that a prolific editorial writer, Kevin Evans, who I do not know any more than the man in the Moon, submit ted an extensive drivel about me the other day. With all of the pressing national issues confront ing our wonderful nation, many inflamed by the disjointed policies of the former administration and its hapless leader, Evans could find the time to craft a lengthy critique of yours truly.Ordinarily, I do not respond to abject stupidity. For the record, I have been a proud member and sup porter of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) since theMy1970s.credentials can never be seriously questioned by people who are trying to suck up to the FNM and it’s juvenile leaders. Evans went on to suggest that I received a contract up at ZNS (for which I did not beg or seek) due to my perceived PLP ties. Obviously, he either does not know or chose to ignore the fact that I have been hosting assorted talk shows for more than fifteen (15) years, perhaps while he was still wearing short pants and tennis shoes. I would never offer any sort of advice to Pintard. It is interesting, how ever, that Evans thinks that I am on that sort of run. I always supported the former PM, the Rt Hon Hubert A Ingraham. His personal politics had absolutely nothing to do with this. I support lead ers and not pretenders. I used to believe that Minnis (FNM-Killar ney) was made of prime ministerial material. That belief was quickly dashed to the ground where it remains to this very day. I am a business consult ant in my day job and the Lord has caused me to excel at the same. As an ordained minister of The Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ ensures that my whole wheat bread is buttered and the Guava jam laid on. I do not need to act as a propagandists, unlike some others who have nothing else to do with their liberal time.In future, I would be obliged if misguided people would deal with the real issues. Ortland H Bodie Jr is not, thank God, one of them. Pintard may well become PM but, not in this life time.
ORTLAND H. BODIE, Jr AugustNassau, 25, 2022.
Washington state and Massachusetts already have said they will follow Cali fornia’s lead and many more are likely to — New York and Pennsylvania are among 17 states that have adopted some or all of California’s tailpipe emission standards that are stricter than federal rules. The European Parliament in June backed a plan to effectively prohibit the sale of gas and diesel cars in the 27-nation European Union by 2035, and Canada has mandated the sale of zeroemission cars by the same year.
History of our nation To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394
California’s policy doesn’t ban cars that run on gas — after 2035 people can keep their existing cars or buy used ones, and 20% of sales can be plug-in hybrids that run on batteries and gas. Though hydrogen is a fuel option under the new regulations, cars that run on fuel cells have made up less than 1% of car sales in recent years. The switch from gas will dras tically reduce emissions and air pollutants. Transportation is the single largest source of emissions in the state, accounting for about 40% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. The air board is working on different regulations for motorcycles and larger trucks. California envisions powering most of the economy with electricity, not fossil fuels by 2045. A plan released by the air board earlier this year predicts electric ity demand will shoot up by 68%. Today, the state has about 80,000 public charg ers. The California Energy Commission predicted that needs to jump to 1.2 mil lion by 2030. The commission says car charging will account for about 4% of energy by 2030 when use is highest, typically during hot summer evenings. That’s when Cali fornia sometimes struggles to provide enough energy because the amount of solar power diminishes as the sun goes down. In August 2020, hundreds of thousands of people briefly lost power due to high demand that outstripped supply.That hasn’t happened since and to ensure it doesn’t going forward Newsom, a Democrat, is pushing to keep open the state’s last-remaining nuclear plant beyond its planned closure in 2025 and the state may turn to diesel generators or natural gas plants as a backup when the electrical grid is strained. More than 1 million people drive elec tric cars in California today and their charging habits vary, but most people end up charging their cars in the even ing or overnight, said Ram Rajagopal, an associate professor of civil and envi ronmental engineering at Stanford University who has studied car charging habits and energy grid needs. If people’s charging habits stay the same, once 30% to 40% of cars are electric, the state would need to add more energy capacity overnight to meet demand, he said. The regulations adopted Thursday require 35% of vehi cle sales to be electric by 2026, up from 16%Butnowifmore people charged their cars during the day, that problem would be avoided, he said. Changing to daytime charging is “the biggest bang for the buck you’re going to get,” he said. Both the state and federal govern ment are spending billions to build more chargers along public roadways, at apartment complexes and elsewhere to give people more charging options.
Photo: Khalil Hamra/AP
LIGHTNING strikes over buildings in Istanbul, Turkey, on Wednesday.
CALIFORNIA set itself on a path Thursday to end the era of gas-powered cars, with air regulators adopting the world’s most stringent rules for transi tioning to zero-emission vehicles. The move by the California Air Resources Board to have all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs be electric or hydrogen by 2035 is likely to reshape the US auto market, which gets 10% of its sales from the nation’s most populous state.But such a radical transformation in what people drive will also require at least 15 times more vehicle chargers statewide, a more robust energy grid and vehicles that people of all income levels can afford. “It’s going to be very hard getting to 100%,” said Daniel Sperling, a board member and founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. “You can’t just wave your wand, you can’t just adopt a regulation — people actually have to buy them and use them.”
YESTERDAY, a teenage girl was held in custody until Monday for sentencing after admitting to defrauding a food delivery company of $1,950.The 17-year-old girl, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor, stood before Assistant Chief Magis trate Subusola Swain. She was accompanied by a family member to face a charge of fraud by false pretences.Between August 3, 2021, and May 8 of this year, the girl is accused of defraud ing Gofadis Food Pickup and Delivery Company of $1,950 by means of false pretences.Thegirl elected to continue her matter in Magistrate’s Court after she pleaded guilty to the charge.Inaccepting her guilty plea, Magistrate Swain deferred her sentencing to TheMonday.girl was repre sented by attorney Keevon Maynard.
MURDER ACCUSED ADMITS
A MAN was sent to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services yes terday after admitting to damaging his ankle monitor while on bail for murder. He, with two other men, was also charged in the Magistrate’s Court with drugTravispossession.Thompson, 23, represented by attorney Maria Daxon, faced Mag istrate Shaka Serville on a charge of damage to his electronic tag and smart strapSometime(EMD). between 1.20pm on May 12 to 11.40pm on August 24, Thompson damaged his EMD — worth $841.50 — which is the property of Metro Security Solutions. The accused was ordered to wear this monitoring device as a condition of his Supreme Court bail in connection with the 2018 shooting murder of Stan avio Stanley ThompsonLord.was further charged with Klee Allonce, 25, and Miguel Paul, 22, also represented by Ms Daxon, for possession of dangerous drugs with intent to Insupply.connection with this same offence, Allonce and Paul were charged with money laundering and deceit of a public officer. On August 23, the three accused were charged with being in possession of 3¼ ozs of Indian hemp valued at $200. During their arrest police confiscated $114 from Allonce as it was believed to be the proceeds of Incrime.court, Thompson pleaded guilty to both charges. However, his two co-accused pleaded not guilty to most of their charges, with the excep tion of Paul who pleaded guilty to deceiving a public officer.After consulting with Thompson over his matter, Ms Daxon asked for the court’s discretion on his behalf. In addition to Thompson admitting to smoking the drugs for his own personal use, he claimed that an attempt has been made on his life recently.
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 7
When the magistrate asked why Thompson did not report this shooting incident to police he said that he was afraid he’d be shot on the way to or at the station given his former gangMagistrateassociations.Serville then said that Thompson was lucky not to be charged with bail violation or have had his bail revoked by Jus tice Frazer while he awaits a trial that is set for 2024. While the magistrate told the accused that this kind of behaviour doesn’t have to define him, he still placed Thompson on remand while he considers his case. Thompson is expected to return for sentencing on September 16 when a probation report was also ordered to be prepared. As for the other two accused, there was no objection to bail from pros ecutor Sergeant Deon Barr even with Paul admitting to having a previous drug charge.The remaining accused were each granted $3,500Theirbail.trial is set to begin on November 29.
A WOMAN and a man were arraigned in Magis trate’s Court yesterday on separate charges of assault and causing harm. Jessica Saintelhomme, 23, represented by attor ney Keevon Maynard, appeared before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on a charge of caus ingAroundharm. 7.30am on August 23 on Washing ton Street, Saintelhomme got into an argument with her sister Rosena Sain telhomme over a parking space. This argument esca lated to the point that the accused hit her sister and beat her about her body. Upon Saintelhomme’s arrest she admitted to the offence to police. She pleaded guilty to the charge in court and accepted the facts stated in her case by prosecu tor Inspector Lincoln McKenzie.Duringhis plea of miti gation for his client, Mr Maynard stated that the accused is young and gain fully employed with no charges before the court. Mr Maynard asked the court to be merciful as he said a conviction would pose a danger to a remorse ful Saintelhomme’s current and future employment. In view of this Magis trate Swain placed the accused on nine months probation. If she violates this, she will face a 30-day prison sentence. Saintel homme was also ordered to pay her sister $500 as compensation or risk an additional 30 days in custody.Before leaving court, the accused was informed of her right to appeal her sen tencing within seven days. In a separate case, Shorn Munroe, 50, faced Mag istrate Swain on a charge of assault. He is accused of assaulting Nickya Demeritte on August 19 in New Providence. He pleaded not guilty to the offence in court. He was granted $3,000 bail with one or two Munroe’ssureties.trial is set for September 22.
PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
Though the family is no stranger to death, the murder of his nephew just as he turned 20 left him feeling bitter, Mr Carey said.“Our family isn’t new to death by murder,” he said. “However we are now dealing with this bitter reality of funeral prepara tions for my 20-year-old nephew murdered on his birthday. It is my hope that young persons would learn conflict resolution, rather than taking extreme measures.”MrCarey said that recently the graveyard has become the trending place for many young talented persons who now will miss the opportunity to show case what God has given them.“Something must be done as a community, no one wants to see a family member lying on the ground dead on social media. That’s how I found out, I literally drove past the crime scene early Sat urday morning heading to work not knowing my brother’s son was lying dead in the streets over an argu ment,” he Yesterday,said.police press liaison officer Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings said one man has been taken into custody for this“Weincident.have a suspect in custody. I will have to follow up on that to see what progress is being made,” she said. Seymour died at the scene this weekend after being shot outside Charms nightclub following an argu ment with another person who escaped the scene.
Family calls for killer to be accountableheld By LETRE SWEETING
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
TWO ACCUSED OF CAUSING HARM
DAMAGING ANKLE MONITOR
THE uncle of a 20-yearold man who was shot and killed on Saturday in Cen treville has called for the killer to be “held account able in a way that he or they willDelanoregret”.Carey, a mar riage officer and justice of the peace, released a state ment calling for justice over the killing of his nephew George Seymour Jr. Sey mour was killed after a fight at a nightclub in the area around 4am. “Yes, our loved one was murdered. We want the truth about what happened, and we want the killer or killers held accountable in a way that he or they will regret,” Mr Carey said, adding that no amount of killing will get their loved one back.
A MAN was sentenced to one year in prison yes terday after admitting to breaking into and stealing from a Gavinpharmacy.Johnson, 49, stood before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on charges of shop-break ing and stealing from a shop.Johnson broke into the Prescription Centre Phar macy on Rosetta Street around 3.10am on August 23. He gained entry through a large hole he made in the roof. Once inside he attempted to steal various items, including numerous chocolate bars, toothpaste, flashlights, batteries, body and mouthwash as well as various medications. The total value of the items found in his possession amounted to $331.95. Police arrested John son at the scene where he admitted to the offence. He pleaded guilty to both charges in court. When asked by the mag istrate why he committed these crimes Johnson said that he only stole the items to buy food and drugs. He admitted to having a 20-year cocaine habit. This resulted in him being deported to The Bahamas from the US in 2004 after his family relocated there. Prosecutor Inspector Lincoln McKenzie also revealed that Johnson had a recent drug conviction from August 1, 2018 when he was sentenced to a $2,000 fine or one year in custody. Johnson said he served that sentence on remand. Before being sentenced the accused asked the mag istrate for help with his drug addiction. In view of this, Mag istrate Swain sentenced Johnson to one year in the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for each charge, to be served concurrently. During this time Johnson is expected to attend drug counselling while in custody. He was informed of his right to appeal sentencing within seven days.
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
TEEN GIRL ACCUSED OF FRAUD
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
By
JAILED FOR PHARMACY BREAK-IN
THE CHALLENGE OF REBUILDING OUR MANGROVES
“People can understand dollars a lot easier, espe cially government officials. It’s just one more thing to help people understand the value of our mangroves to us,” said Lewis, The Baha mas Initiative manager of Bonefish and Tarpon Trust. Ms Ingraham of Bahamas Waterkeepers agrees. “We should have always given a dollar value to all our ecosystem services: mangroves, coral reefs, see grass, pine forests. All of these areas should have a dollar value because it’s a product that we’re selling. But we can only count them if they are restored.”
“There are an awful lot of areas to restore. No one organisation can do it all, so we are trying to really make sure that we are spreading out our efforts so that all major areas receive attention,” said Dr Craig Dahlgren, executive director of the Perry Institute for Marine Science (PIMS), a leading ocean research, conservation and education nonprofit.Backin June, Water keepers Bahamas, an advocacy group for “swim mable, fishable, drinkable waters”, feared it would fail to meet its timeline and thus lose funding for its effort dubbed, “Mangrove Mania,” a community out reach program which would see Grand Bahama resi dents and visitors grow and plant 30,000 mangroves in the first phase of the project. After months of waiting, the Department of Envi ronmental Protection and Planning (DEPP) denied the organization’s request for a licence to replant man groves in the nation’s second city. Fortunately, when responsibility for granting permits shifted to another government agency, its application was approved by the Department of Forestry. “We have over 5,000 mangroves already and we have over 10 teams who have their own nurseries. The timeline is to have as many of those seedlings as possible in the ground by November,” explained Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Water keepers Bahamas. The initiative is being carried out in conjunction with Earthcare Bahamas with the assistance of Blue Action Lab and Coral Vita. The plan is to restore and replant a section of Grand Bahama’s northern shore. “We focused on the Dover Sound area because it’s an eco-tourism center on Grand Bahama that really needs revitalisation,” said Ingraham, a University of The Bahamas graduate who holds a management degree with a focus on ecotourism. “A lot of fishermen use that canal system. For now, we’re focusing only on one hectare [2.47 acres] over a phased period. This is a restoration effort where we will begin to see the results of the work that we are doing today five to ten years from now.”
AN EAST Grand Bahama resident and bonefish guide looks out at the dead and dying mangroves he has spent his whole life around. Photos: PIMS via Precision Media
IN THE aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, scien tists and environmentalists leapt into action research ing mangroves on Grand Bahama and Abaco, their health and how those eco systems function. Some collected propagules (another name for man grove seeds) and galvanized communities into establish ing backyard nurseries and burrowing tiny mangrove plants called seedlings into areas hard hit by the Cat egory 5 storm. As Dorian’s anniversary draws near, scientists and conservations are slowly beginning to pick up the pace in remedying the dev astation wrought on these “living shorelines” three years ago come September. Up until the last week in July, no permits were issued to conduct any mangrove restoration work in The Bahamas. The slowdown was linked to the Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Protection and Sustainable Use Act, 2020, which came into force last year.The new law seeks to prevent the country’s natu ral resources from being exploited by foreign inter ests under the guise of research. Ironically, the legislation has made it more challenging for inter national organizations with local ties and even Baha mian environmental groups with foreign partners to execute environmental research and restoration work in the country. It’s a state of affairs that has impacted many wellknown organisations in some shape or form, result ing in very little restoration work taking place in The Bahamas from January 2021 until very recently. There are at least four major players in mangroves restoration efforts post Dorian – the Perry Institute for Marine Science, The Bahamas National Trust, Waterkeepers Bahamas, and Bonefish and Tarpon Trust. Each organisation has its own strands of private and public sector partners help ing them to achieve their goals of bringing back wide swathes of nature’s buffer against hurricane force winds and surging waves.
• Article provided by Precision Media
In the event of another hurricane, oil spill or new proposed development that “before data” could provide a blueprint for policymak ers’ rehabilitation goals. Experts say it’s high time environmental assets such as mangroves, seagrass beds and salt ponds are assigned value, particularly as it relates to their muchpublicized role as potential carbon sinks, providing a vital environmental service not only for The Bahamas but for the entire Earth.
THE PERRY Institute for Marine Science (PIMS) has collected thousands of red mangrove prop agules to plant around Abaco. Over one week in August, the ocean research and conservation group and its partners planted 12,500 mangroves off Grand Bahama.
The BTT’s mission is to “conserve and restore bonefish, tarpon and permit fisheries and habitats through research, stewardship, edu cation and advocacy”. In the wake of Dorian, its initial surveys suggested 73 percent (representing 21,000 acres) of mangrove forests in Grand Bahama and 40 percent (or 20,000 acres) in Abaco were dam aged or destroyed. The organisation launched its Northern Bahamas Mangrove Res toration Project to boost the health of these vital ecosystems which aside from sustaining livelihoods in fisheries and tourism, provide recreational oppor tunities for locals and tourists in search of naturebasedTheirexperiences.workisbeing car ried out in collaboration with the Bahamas National Trust, Friends of the Envi ronment and MANG, a mangroves-inspired apparel brand. The first planting of propagules (mangroves seeds) and seedlings (young mangrove plants) occurred more than year after Dorian, in December 2020. “In Grand Bahama, sur vival rates of the propagules were only 19 percent and 63 percent for seedlings. So, in Abaco we just did seed lings because their survival rates were so much higher. Seedlings survival rates in Abaco stand at 69 percent,” reported Lewis. While PIMS restoration work was stalled due to permit delays, its research has taken off. The institute utilises advanced drone technology to produce hab itat maps and 3D scenes of mangroves nationwide. In 2021 alone, the Perry Institute mapped out 34 sites, encompassing 6,684 acres on two islands. Its work has cleared up common misconceptions which could prove vital to the Bahamian government as it seeks to place a price tag on carbon sinks, like mangroves, which play a cru cial role in extracting from the air the very greenhouse gas emissions responsible for intensifying flooding, droughts and other costly natural disasters taking place across the “Previousglobe.studies only looked at whether the mangrove was healthy or was it damaged or dead. Damaged and dead was a combined category. Using advanced technology and utilizing high resolution sat ellite imagery, we are able to tease out the extent of that damage, seeing if it was indeed totally dead versus significantly reduced in the amount of live mangroves in an area. So, we are get ting a lot more detailed information,” said Dahl gren, a recognised expert in tropical marine ecology in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean region. The good news, the damage is not as extensive as first believed. The bad news, inordinate delays have pushed the Baha mas further away from full recovery since trees take years to mature. “In Grand Bahama,5,233 acres and that is a total of 20 percent of all of Grand Bahama’s mangroves is totally dead from Dorian. Close to 30 percent or 7,776 acres of Grand Bahama’s mangroves were damaged,” PIMS executive director reported.Thattotal is 20 percent less than initial estimates of the island’s dead and dam aged“Inmangroves.thecase of Abaco, which has a lot more man groves, 4,753 acres or 7.6 percent of Abaco’s man groves were damaged while 8,578 acres which is 13.7 percent of Abaco’s total mangroves were dead.” According to the newly released findings, Abaco sustained damage to 21.3 percent of its mangrove population, 18.7 percent less than the 40 percent first floated.Inthe coming weeks, PIMS is set to release The Bahamas’ Mangroves Report Card, a first-ofits-kind assessment of the health and functioning of the mangrove ecosys tems that, at one stage or another, serves as a home to juvenile groupers, snap pers, crabs and crawfish, providing native species with food, shade and pro tection from predators. It will cover Abaco, Grand Bahama, New Providence andTheAndros.mangrove report card isn’t PIMS first foray into this subject matter. Although known for its coral restoration and fisher ies work, the organization’s mangrove research spans 20 years locally. Previously, PIMS tackled site-specific challenges such as man grove creek blockages or locked focused on certain subject matters, like the value of mangroves for the fisheries industry.
Those comprehensive, science driven assessments provide a crucial baseline or reference tool to show where The Bahamas now stands and how it can better realize its vision of where it hopes to go and grow its environmental assets.
PAGE 8, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
The upcoming man groves report card will be similar to PIMS’ coral reefs report card for The Baha mas, which is headed into its third edition. A new one is released every five years.
There is plenty to keep everyone busy. To date, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust (BTT) says it’s planted over 20,000“Themangroves.goalistohit 100,000 mangroves over the next five years,” said marine biologist Justin Lewis. The Grand Bahama native is The Bahamas Initiative manager of the Floridabased organisation.
A woman with a world of surprises up her sleeve
With so many of our historic build ings destroyed by neglect or demolished by trac tor, it was a relief to know that one I thought had been torn down last weekend was actually carefully dissected and its arti factsI’msaved.talking about The Little House, the last remnant of the old Royal Victoria Hotel. It would have taken a tractor only minutes to demolish the strangely beautiful and perfectly proportioned octagonal cot tage at the southwest corner of the property on Shirley Street in downtown Nassau. Even as weeds grew around it over the years and its wrought iron gates to the front entrance on Parlia ment Street showed their age, the Little House maintained its quiet dignity. On Saturday, the tractor did show up, but it was just to clear away the debris. The Little House had been disassembled thanks to the Antiquities Monu ments & Museums Corporation in agreement with The Central Bank.Abaco pine floors, walls, other artifacts were preserved and are beingTherestored.were those who wanted to preserve it as it was, but space required for the new Central Bank created challenges. Pres ervation in part is better than none at all and demonstrates a growing sensitivity to the impor tance even as we lose too much of our past to make way for a future that cannot hold a candle in architectural integrity to what we are trading it for. Once resurrected in its new space wherever that may be, the model of the Little House will be the last living legacy of the Royal Vic. The hotel, built in 1861 in the throes of the Ameri can Civil War at a cost of a little over £20,000 was a risk taken by a government eager to capital ize on the trade the war effort generated and the unexpected bounty for The Bahamas. With the hotel and its stunning gardens, visitors and locals alike danced the night away under the stars while the steel pan band played from platforms strewn among a grand silk cotton tree that had at one time tumbled in a storm and its giant trunks grown up sideways as if meant to be the accidental stages they became. The hotel quickly became the grand dame of social life, the centrepiece of the urban play ground in a burgeoning tourist mecca which boasted as many as 500 visitors a year. A century passed and in 1971 with other properties like the Montagu Hotel providing stiff competition, the downtown Royal Victoria sadly closed her doors.Fire consumed the structure in the 1990s, but miraculously left the Little House in the far corner of the property that had been home to its manager and his family untouched. A descendant still lives in Nassau. We hope she will be able to tell tales of the past when the new version of the Little House is unveiled. A STEP AHEAD OF THE TRACTOR
“The secondrightwasclassroomclad,thepicturingtrimmingrakingcheerfulround-faced,betweenjuxtapositionawomanandandherinroleofstockingsuitedupteacheraholditthereforamoment.”
EUNICE ROSE, above, and, far left, in her garden.
A PIECE OF HISTORY
AN ILLUSTRATION of The Little House and, right, the house itself.
THE first time I met Eunice Rose she had a rake in her hand. She was explaining to her partner in a part-time landscape business the difference between two types of ferns. The partner was tall, strapping, packed with sinew, muscle and eager ness to work but far less knowledgeable about the greenery in front of him than was the woman next to him with the rake who never broke stride even as we“Howspoke. long have you been doing this?” I asked her, showing the middleaged hard-working yard worker the respect she deserved rather than the surprise I first felt. “Oh, this isn’t what I really do, it’s just a parttime thing I enjoy,” she said, smiling. “I’m a teacher.”The juxtaposition between a round-faced, cheerful woman raking and trimming and picturing her in the role of stocking-clad, suited up classroom teacher was a hold it right there for a second moment. Then she told me more and every time I have met her since she sur prises me more and I uncover another layer of this incredible woman named Eunice Verona Rose. She is not just A teacher. At Columbus Primary School, she is the longest-serving teacher. When school resumes, this will be her 25th year. She has taught under six principals.Eunice Rose has taught thousands of young kids. She’s taught fourth, fifth and sixth graders. For two and a half years, she taught art. At times, she taught nearly half the school in her various roles, including librarian, up to 500 young boys and girls. And, by the way, she is also a writer. And a writ ingAscoach.writing coach, she has shown students striv ing for scholarships how to tell their narrative. For four years, every student she coached rose to the top, winning the $1500 scholarship awarded to the Primary School Stu dent of the Year. She did not just help them tell their story, she helped them understand what their story was and who theyShe’swere.also the writer for the Templeton Founda tion’s Laws of Life Essay
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 9
Competition.Alongthe way, she adopted two children, rais ing three altogether, none of whom she gave birth to, but all of them who leaned on her for what wisdom and confidence in themselves she bestowed upon them. She’s the only mother they knew. Today, they are grown -- 18, 20 and 24. One became a lawyer, another a doctor, the third is in college. The extra money she makes raking a yard here and there in addition to teaching and writing and coaching helps pay for that college education. When her own mother died in 2002, the grief unleashed another talent. Rose began writing poetry. “Her death led to an outpouring of emotion within and I just started writing. ‘You were there for me. You grounded me I wish you could see my kids,’ she wrote, though she had none at that time. ‘Most of all, I’ll miss your voice.’ Eunice Verona Rose. If you had not stood there with a rake in your hand, pausing for just a flash to explain the differences in two types of ferns, I might never have gotten to know you. And I would have missed much more than your voice. I would have missed meeting a woman of incredible worth and depth.
By PhillipsDiane
The Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) is the official FEE representative for The Bahamas and manages the Eco-Schools Bahamas and Young Reporters for the Environment programmes.ChengBee Selim-Dela Pena, BMES eco-schools coordinator, said: “I am grateful for our BMES achieve ment. Thanks to the ever-supportive administration - Mrs Sheryl Wood, our principal, and her team, all the organisations who have supported our school throughout these years in our journey as an Eco-school, GEFSGP, Mr Deon Stewart for assisting us with our grant, Keep Grand Bahama Clean, Mrs Nakira Wilchcombe and her team, BREEF - Mr Kevin Glin ton, and his team. Special thank you to the Ministry of Agriculture - Ms Jeri Kelly and her team, Ministry of Education - Mrs Sheryl Bowe, and her team for providing us with our first set of hydroponics. Most impor tantly, the students who have tirelessly worked in the garden and were able to connect with nature during the pan demic. Above all, thank the Almighty God for his divine providence and protection.”BREEF’s executive director Casu arina McKinney-Lambert said: “Congratulations to these students from Grand Bahama and the other winners from around the world who developed great skills and knowledge on climate action and biodiversity conservation. Their work contrib uted to boosting biodiversity, raising awareness on ecosystem protection, and creating meaningful, long-lasting projects. Taking action for biodiver sity is not only essential for sustaining healthy natural areas, but also healthy communities.”
BMES student Trinity McIntosh stated, “The achievement is very important to the Eco-Schools Pro gramme and me. This is because we’ve happily and diligently taken care of our hydroponics garden. Many of us gained the opportunity to not only practice but promote biodiver sity within our school. Using all that we have learned, we can make a posi tive impact on our environment. This accomplishment is truly significant andHydroponicsencouraging.”team member Jamia William said, “The achievement feels amazing. It’s an awesome feeling when something you put your all into gets recognized for something great. It also inspires us as a club to keep doing what we’re doing because our hard work is paying off and it motivates us to do BMESbetter.”student Brianna Bowe added: “Working with the hydropon ics garden every single day brings me great joy to work with the plants and with my classmates. This great achievement means a lot to me and the rest of the team because it will help us to continue working with the hydroponics garden and it will also encourage others to join in on the action!”Kevin Glinton, Eco-Schools Baha mas National Operator, said: “The Bahamas is one of over 79 countries participating in FEE programmes. I am extremely proud of BMES and BREEF’s 39 other Eco-Schools in The Bahamas that continue to show the world that we take environmental stewardship seriously.”
“We have a holistic approach of what we want to launch...and it’s really and truly geared towards the ease of doing busi ness here nationally,” he added.
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
He said civil servants can also track the status of “his or her matter” and urged them to visit ictselfservice. gov.bs.MrWatson said plans are also underway to launch the “digital police character certificate” soon and other similar initiatives.
THE Department of Transformation and Dig itisation, which falls under the remit of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, has launched its new ICT selfservice portal as a part of its efforts to enhance effi ciency in the delivery of government services. The centralised system enables civil servants to request certain services such as technical support electronically.Duringapress briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, Wayde Watson, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, hailed the system’s launch as “innovative” and said it demonstrated the govern ment’s commitment to implementing technologybased solutions. He also revealed the ben efits associated with the online“Civilportal.servants are now able to request the fol lowing services by the centralised portal by visit ing ictselfservice.gov.bs,” he said.“You can now request the following services. You can request for an email, a change in password; request for ICT equipment or hard ware; requests for technical support with conference set up, requests for technical support issues related to the website, internet, software and application solutions; new network requests, request for the business analysts or project manager as it relates to agency ICT projects.“This solution also gives you the ability to request for training, specific train ing or otherwise training related to Microsoft, train ing (for) all issues related to data centre issues or other issues.“Additionally, civil serv ants can also send a special request to the ICT director directly at her desk,” Mr Watson added. He said officials expect that the online portal will be the central point to facilitate requests to the ministry’s digitisation department.“Inthepast, it used to be submitted manually or via email but today we are launching the self-service centralised portal,” the Bain and Grant’s Town MP said.“The implementation of this solution repre sents this government’s commitment not only to the advancement of technology and gov ernment agencies, but also to the provision of technical support and man agement in accordance with international infor mation technology service management protocols and“Westandards.must remember that the technology is a tool used for the efficient and effective execution of government services, whether at ones desk or virtually. Therefore, it is (important) that the tech nology is functioning at 100 percent capacity and when it doesn’t, users require assistance and support.“This solution is geared towards enhancing and improving the level of support to ensure the tech nology works and remains working. To this end, your requests, once received, will be routed to the appro priate technical support officer and tracked so that the unnecessary delays and confusion will not occur.”
PAGE 10, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
Online portal to help civil servants
SCHOOL AND BREEF WIN GLOBAL CONTEST
THE BISHOP Michael Eldon vertical hydro ponics garden.
STUDENTS maintaining their hydroponics system. A STUDENT examining growth in the hydroponics system.
GRAND Bahama’s Bishop Michael Eldon School’s vertical hydroponics garden project has been named as one of five global winners of the Foun dation of Environmental Education GAIA 20:30 Biodiversity Campaign Best Practice Competition. Cyprus, Germany, India, and Spain were the other winners. The competition was organized by FEE’s Learning About Forest (LEAF) programme.
The three regular transmis sion lines at the plant are out of service because of previous war“Anybodydamage. who under stands nuclear safety issues has been trembling for the last six months,” Mycle Schneider, a consultant and coordinator of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, said before the latestUkraineincident.cannot simply shut down its nuclear plants during the war because it is heavily reliant on them. Its 15 reac tors at four stations provide about half of its electricity. Still, an armed conflict near a working atomic plant is trou bling for many experts and people living ThatShellingnearby.fearispalpable just across the Dnieper River in Nikopol, where residents have been under nearly con stant Russian shelling since July 12, with eight people killed, 850 buildings damaged and over half the population of 100,000 fleeing the city. Liudmyla Shyshkina, a 74-year-old widow who lived within sight of the Zapor izhzhia plant before her apartment was bombarded and her husband killed, said she believes the Russians are capable of intentionally caus ing a nuclear disaster. Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “nuclear blackmail” at Zaporizhzhia. Fighting in early March caused a brief fire at the plant’s training complex that officials said did not result in the release of any radiation.While no civilian nuclear plant is designed for a war time situation, Zaporizhzhia’s reactors are protected by rein forced concrete containment domes that could withstand an errant shell, experts say. The more immediate con cern is that a disruption in the electrical supply could knock out cooling systems essential for the reactors’ safe operation.Emergency diesel genera tors can be unreliable. The pools where spent fuel rods are kept while they cool are also vulnerable to shelling, which could scatter radioactive material. Kyiv told the IAEA that shelling earlier this week damaged transformers at a nearby conventional power plant, disrupting the supplies of electricity to the Zapor izhzhia plant for several hours.The atomic agency’s head, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said Thursday he hopes to send a team to the plant within days. Negotiations over how the team would access the plant are complicated but advanc ing, he said on France-24 television.“Kyivaccepts it. Moscow accepts it. So we need to go there,” Grossi said. At a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday, U.N. politi cal chief Rosemary DiCarlo urged the withdrawal of all troops and military equip ment from the plant and an agreement on a demilitarized zone around it. Speaking before Thursday’s incident, one expert explained that power is essential to cool not just the reactors but also the spent radioactive fuel.“If we lose the last one, we are at the total mercy of emer gency power generators,” said Najmedin Meshkati, a profes sor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California. He and Schneider expressed concern that the occupation of the plant by Russian forces is also hamper ing safety inspections and the replacement of critical parts, and is putting severe strain on hundreds of Ukrainian staff who operate the facility.
“I can’t just call my parents for thousands of dollars,” she said. “The only other option to get this money in time was to take out a loan. I did what I had to do to be able to support myself and stay in school.” Headley, who owes roughly $40,000 in student debt, had put off thinking about owning a home or starting a family because she was so focused on paying that off. Now, she expects half of that will be forgiven because she was a Pell grant recipient.
loss of cooling could cause a nuclear meltdown. As a result of the trans mission-line damage, the two reactors still in use out of the plant’s six went offline, Balit sky said, but one was quickly restored, as was electricity to theManyregion.nuclear plants are designed to automatically shut down or at least reduce reactor output in the event of a loss of outgoing trans mission lines. The U.N.’s International Atomic Agency said Ukraine informed it that the reactors’ emergency protection systems were trig gered, and all safety systems remained operational.
Black borrowers on aver age carry about $40,000 in federal student loan debt, $10,000 more than white borrowers, according to federal education data. The disparity reflects a racial wealth gap in the US — one that some advocates say the debt relief plan does not do enough to narrow. One in four black bor rowers would see their debt cleared entirely under the administration’s plan, which cancels $10,000 in fed eral student loan debt for those with incomes below $125,000 a year, or house holds that earn less than $250,000. The plan includes an additional $10,000 in relief for Pell Grant recipi ents, who are more than twice as likely to be black. But more work needs to be done to make higher education accessible and affordable, said Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP Youth & Col lege“WhenDivision.we think about education and higher edu cation, fundamentally, it’s the promise of an equita ble future,” Cole said. “We have so many black gradu ates who go through the system, graduate and are not able to see that future because they disproportion ately risk taking out loans.” Perry faced steep chal lenges to complete her education. Homeless for nearly a year, she had to drop out of school and saw the interest on her loans balloon. She also faced incarceration. Eventu ally, she was able to get her record expunged and earned a master’s in public
While white families are more likely to see a trans fer of wealth from one generation to the next, the opposite is true of black families, where children are more likely to have to support a parent once they obtain some level of finan cial security, said Andre M Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. “For many black women, and black people in gen eral, many middle income people are being missed by this policy,” Andre M Perry said. “We have done every thing that we were asked to do to get ahead. Go to col lege, go to the best schools, we’re told. And as a result, we had to take on debt.”
health from Tulane Uni versity, graduating just in time for the COVID-19 pandemic.Thepandemic-era freeze on student loan payments, combined with raises at work, allowed Perry to achieve a sense of stabil ity for the first time in her life. She was able to pay off her car, help her disabled mother, and start a non profit, the Thurman Perry Foundation, that gives col lege scholarships to currently or formerly incarcerated women and their daughters. “That time with that pay ment pause, it didn’t just build up my life,” Perry said. “It even helped me pull my mother out of pov erty. I got her into a safer place to live. It reverberated for people like me. Because I know that there are other people living worse than what I Blacksurvived.”students are more likely to take on debt to finance their education, and in larger amounts, in part because of the wealth gap that makes it less likely for Black families to be able to finance their children’s education.Inher first months of graduate school, before her fellowship salary kicked in, TC Headley called the uni versity’s financial aid office to ask if there was help to cover the cost of books and supplies. Instead, the woman on the phone told her to call her parents and ask for more money.
PRESIDENT Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt forgiveness Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington
JUDGE ORDERS UNSEALING OF REDACTED AFFIDAVIT IN TRUMP SEARCH
on Wednesday Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
Ukraine alleges Russia is essentially holding the plant hostage, storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it, while Moscow accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing on the facility. On Thursday, the plant was cut off from the electri cal grid after fires damaged the last operating regular transmission line, according to Ukraine’s nuclear power agency, Energoatom.
By FRANK JORDANS and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press
CUT OFF
GABRIELLE Perry, a 29-year-old epidemiologist in New Orleans, expects $20,000 of her $135,000 student loan debt to be wiped out under the plan announced this week by President Joe Biden. She is happy for the relief, but disappointed he isn’t fully canceling student debt that weighs especially heavy on African Americans. For her, it’s discourag ing that Biden isn’t doing more to help a constitu ency that played a critical role in his presidential cam paign. Perry, who cares for and financially supports her disabled mother, said those obligations act as a soci etal tax on black people, preventing the growth of generational wealth. “You are ensuring that your little brothers and sis ters have what they need for school,” Perry said. “You are helping your parents pay off their rent, their house. So your quoteunquote wealth doesn’t even have time to be built because you’re trying to help your family survive.”
Student loan relief shows burden on black borrowers
Ukrain ian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russian shelling and said the plant’s emergency backup diesel gen erators had to be activated to supply power needed to run the“Russiaplant. has put Ukraine and all Europeans one step away from a radiation dis aster,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video systemstionsbeingofplace,anotherlinecoolingneededtricitylineclearatransmission-lineYevgenyinstalledZaporizhzhia’saddress.Russian-regionalgovernor,Balitsky,blamedthedamageonUkrainianattack.BackupItwasnotimmediatelywhetherthedamagedcarriedoutgoingelecorincomingpower,forthereactors’vitalsystems.AbackupsupplyingelectricityfromplantremainedinEnergoatomsaid.ButZelenskyy’smentiontheemergencygeneratorsactivatedraisedquesofwhetherthecoolingwereendangered.A
AssociatedWASHINGTONPress
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THE Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the middle of the fighting in Ukraine was temporarily knocked offline Thursday because of fire damage to a transmission line, causing a blackout across the region and heightening fears of a catastrophe in a country still haunted by the Cherno bylThedisaster.complex, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, has been occupied by Russian forces and run by Ukrain ian worker s since the early days of the 6-month-old war.
UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR PLANT TEMPORARILY FROM POWER GRID
A JUDGE ordered the Justice Department yes terday to make public a redacted version of the affidavit it relied on when federal agents searched the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump to look for classified documents.Thedirective from US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart came hours after federal law enforcement officials submitted under seal the portions of the affidavit that they want to keep secret as their investi gation moves forward. The judge set a deadline of noon today for a redacted, or blacked-out, version of the document.Theorder means the public could soon learn at least some additional details about what led FBI officials to search Mar-aLago on August 8 as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Documents already made public show the FBI retrieved from the property 11 sets of classified documents, including infor mation marked at the top secretSearchlevel.warrant affida vits typically contain vital information about an inves tigation, with agents spelling out to a judge the justifica tion for why they want to search a particular property and why they believe they’re likely to find evidence of a potential crime there. But affidavits routinely remain sealed during the course of pending investigations, making the judge’s deci sion to reveal portions of it in this investigation all the moreThestriking.redactions proposed by the Justice Department are likely to be exten sive given the sensitivity of the investigation, less ening the likelihood that the document will offer a comprehensive look at the basis for the unprecedented search or significant insights about the direction of the probe. Yet even a redacted affidavit can contain at least some fresh revelations about the investigation, which brings fresh legal peril just as Trump lays the groundwork for another presidential run in 2024. Federal agents are inves tigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, trans mitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act, accord ing to documents already made public. The other statutes address the con cealment, mutilation or removal of records and the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations. The Justice Depart ment had earlier contested arguments by media organisations to make any portion of the affi davit public, saying the disclosure could contain private information about witnesses and about inves tigative tactics.
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 11
WASHINGTON Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz throws a pass during practice on August 15 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
While the NBA play ers led the way for Team Bahamas, Thompson, a former NBA player, fin ished with 12 points, while Kentwan Smith added 10. Franco Miller Jr had six, Garvin Clarke Jr, in his debut, had five, Rashad Davis had four, Willis Mackey Jr had three and Lourawls ‘Tum Tum’ Nairn had two. Danrad Knowles and Kadeem Coleby didn’t score and Jaraun ‘Kino’ Burrows didn’t play. For Venezuela, Garly Sojo and Michael Carrera had 17 points in the win. Windi Graterol chipped in with 12 and Nestor Colme nares helped out with 11. Despite the loss, Jones said he was delighted to be playing in front of the Bahamian crowd that included Prime Minis ter Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg and other government offi cials and a cross section of the Bahamian community.
NFL news duringheadlines,dominateseventheoffseason
“It was the best game of my life. From the jump, just coming in and seeing eve rybody out there, people who were there from when I was small, so it was just a blessing,” he said. “I had a lot of gratitude for that. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win, but it was still a huge blessing to play at home in front of such great people.” Team Bahamas got off to a great start as Jones got free for a drive and two-handed slam dunk before Hield Jr canned a three-pointer to push the lead to 5-2. The Bahamas, using a combo of an inside and outside game, surged ahead 29-21 at the end of theUsingperiod.a smaller line-up with a three-guard rotation to start the second quarter allowed Venezuela to surge back for a 33-33 tie. But as the Bahamas got back to
AFTER one of the wildest offseasons in NFL history featuring blockbuster trades, rapid free-agency movement, record-setting contracts and plenty of off-field drama, the regular season is almost here.Are you ready for some football?TheBuffalo Bills visit the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in two weeks to kick off the season in prime time. If the action on the field matches the offseason excitement, it’ll be a season for the ages. NFL news dominated sports headlines throughout the spring and summer. Tom Brady retired in February, returned in March, took an 11-day break from training camp in August and enters his third season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seeking his eighth Super Bowl ring at age 45.
Galloway added 18 points for the Americans, who are likely now just two wins away from qualifying for next year’s World Cup. And they did it with former US coach Mike Krzyzewski — the nowretired Duke coach who led the Americans to three consecutive Olympic gold medals — looking on from a courtside seat. Coach K surely liked what he saw. The US (6-1 in qualify ing) outscored Uruguay 33-13 in the second quarter to take control, that burst fuelled by making 3-point ers on four consecutive possessions. The outcome was never in doubt again.
DaQuan Jeffries scored 16, Dewan Hernandez added 12 and Robert Woodard II had 11 for the Americans, who were 15 for 29 from 3-point range. Esteban Batista and Luciano Perodi each had 14 for Uruguay (4-3), which remains firmly in the mix for a World Cup berth.
The US opened the day tied with Brazil in the Group F standings; there are two groups of six teams in the Americas Region, and the top three in each group — along with the best fourth-place team — will go to the World Cup. The Americans can’t start packing for the World Cup yet. But they can probably start thinking about what to bring.Other than the U.S. and Brazil, Group F also
Team Bahamas will now head to Argentina to play their second game on Monday night and DeMarco said the coaching staff that includes Mikhail McLean and Moses John son won’t be making any changes to the roster. He said they just have to be ready to compete.
free throw on a three-point attempt for an 82-78 deficit. Venezuela, however, worked the ball around in the last minute as they milked the clock. Then on a steal from Hield, Thomp son canned a three-pointer with 10.6 remaining for an 82-81Withdeficit.5.4 on the clock Heissler Guillent hit 1-of-2 free throws on a foul by Hield for an 83-81 lead. Hield got another foul on Gregory Vargas, who also hit 1-of-2 free throws for Venezuela’s 84-81 lead. Out of their timeout, Thompson threw an errant inbound pass as Hield couldn’t get free as Vene zuela got the fast break and a dunk to end the game. “I think in general, when it gets tough, we have to find a way to still com pete,” DeMarco said. “It just seems like it comes in waves when we turn over the ball and take a bad shot. We have to do a better job as a staff to get the right combination out there and go from there.”
By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
By BRENT STUBBS Sports
Evenepoel takes Vuelta’s red jersey as Roglic moves closer
Before a jammedpacked Kendal Isaacs Gym nasium last night, the Bahamas men’s national basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 86-81 loss to Venezuela in the first game of their fourth window of the FIBA Americas World CupTheQualifier.Bahamas got a game high 20 points with 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots from Kai Jones of the Charlotte Hornets in his debut for the team and Chavano “Buddy” Hield of the Indiana Pacers con tributed 19 points with six rebounds, four steals and three assists. But when it counted down the stretch, Venezuela just wanted it a little more and it showed. Holding onto a slim 84-81 lead with less then 10 seconds left, the Baha mas came out of a timeout and with the clamp on Hield, Mychel Thompson Jr made an errant pass that Venezuela picked up and secured the final basket at the other end to seal the deal just before the buzzer sounded.Bahamas head coach Chris DeMarco said it was just a miscommunication on their part that resulted in the turnover that sealed the fate of the team down the“Istretch.thought we played a great first quarter. We had a pretty good lead in the first half,” said DeMarco. “Things didn’t go our way. They got some easy transi tion points. We took some tough shots and made some turnovers. We just have to learn how to close out close games.” Both teams committed a total of 14 turnovers in the game, but after hold ing a slim 17-16 advantage in rebounds at the half, the Bahamas finished one behind Venezuela, who won the battle on the boards, 34-32. The difference in the game, however, was the mini spurts that Venezuela took advantage of in the second half. Trailing by one (60-59) at the end of the third, Jones beckoned to the crowd to cheer on the atheuptheaninBahamasaheadVenezueladeficitabutaboutbasketsVenezuelaforced8:05Bahamasthree-pointerbackthrowsJrHield21totakewentVenezuela,team.however,onamini6-0runtoanearly65-60marginstarttheperiod.Witheightminutesandsecondsontheclock,andFrancoMillerconvertedapairoffreetogettheBahamasintothegame.Hieldhitanothertogivethea67-65leadatasVenezuelawastocallatimeout.Tiedacoupleoftimes,gottwostraighttogoup73-69withfiveminutesleft,Jonesansweredwiththree-pointerfora74-72at4:32.Withanothermini-run,againwent78-72.Eachtimethetriedtogetbackthegame,Venezuelahadanswertostayahead.At1:33,JonesignitedcrowdashepoweredforalayuppointingtoskyasVenezuelacalledtimeout.Hemissedthe
Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net Serena, Page 14 SEE PAGE 14
GOOD EFFORT: Chavano “Buddy” Hield (7) in action for The Bahamas last night in their World Cup Americas Region qualifying game against Venezuela at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The Bahamas lost by five points - P86-81.hoto: Moise Amisial/Tribune Staff
SEE PAGE 13
SPORTS PAGE 12 FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022 NO SHOCKER: US URUGUAYTOPS IN WORLD 105-71QUALIFIER,CUP
Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz and Baker Mayfield were among the quarterbacks on the move. Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, A.J. Brown and Amari Cooper led the list of star wide receivers who also were traded.Deshaun Watson was dealt from Houston to Cleveland but the Browns will have to wait three months for the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback to make his Watsondebut.must serve an 11-game suspension as part of a settlement with the NFL following accusations of sexual misconduct by two dozen women. Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a racial discrimination lawsuit LAS VEGAS (AP) — Things could not have gone better for USA Basketball lastJohnnight.Jenkins scored 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting — including a 6-of-7 effort from 3-point range — and the US had little trouble on the way to a 105-71 victory over Uruguay in a World Cup Americas Region qual ifyingThegame.win, combined with Puerto Rico’s win over Brazil in another qualifier yesterday, put the Ameri cans alone atop of their qualifyingLangstongroup.
SEE PAGE 13
BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Remco Evenepoel took the leader’s red jersey on a wet and cold day at the Spanish Vuelta yesterday, while Jay Wine over came a flat tire to win the sixth stage and defending champion Primoz Roglic moved closer to the top. Evenepoel was second to Wine after a tough final climb, enough to put him 21 seconds ahead of previ ous overall leader Rudy Molard and 28 seconds in front of Enric Mas, who was third in a foggy finish yesterday.“I’mproud to be leader. It’s a big dream come true,” said Evenepoel, who rides for team QuickStep Alpha Vinyl. “This is the reason why I’ve been working so hard for so long. What I showed today is maybe one of the best things I did on a bike. In an uphill finish to put such a strong performance thanks to the team is a dream come true.”Evenepoel is the first Belgian leader of the Vuelta since Dylan Teuns took the red jersey after the sixth stage of the race in Roglic,2019. the JumboVisma rider going for a fourth straight Vuelta title, was more than four minutes off the lead enter ing the sixth stage. He moved to within about a minute of Eve nepoel with a strong run onWine,Thursday. the Aus tralian from team Alpecin-Deceuninck, had a flat tire less than five kilometres (three miles) into the stage but recov ered and made it back to the front to win his first Grand Tour stage. “It’s almost unreal,” Wine“It’ssaid.adream come true. I was able to manage my effort and pace the climb pretty handily. (In the last kilometre) I thought about my wife who’s basi cally done everything for me in the last three or four years to get me to thisJanpoint.”Hirt had to with draw because of a positive test for the coronavirus. The seventh stage will feature a mid-mountain route of nearly 200 kilo metres (125 miles) today.
By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer
Senior
Bahamas suffers ‘a heartbreaking loss’
THE Boxing Federa tion of the Bahamas’ team arrived in Georgetown, Guyana, yesterday for the High School/Junior Boxing Championship.Theteam went from Nassau to Miami, Florida to Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, before they got intoUponGuyana.their arrival, the team went through their light workout sessions before they go through the registration, medi cal clearance, inspection and weigh-in processes today. The competition is expected to start on Satur day and will be completed onTheSunday.team is scheduled to return home on Monday. According to federation president Vincent Strachan, the team is confident and in high spirits. “They are a cohesive unit,” Strachan said.
THE University of The Bahamas men’s soccer team will play its second pre-season scrimmage this weekend at The Roscow R.L. Davies field in the Blue Hills Sporting Com plex against Dynamos FC. The Mingoes won the first pre-season scrimmage against Renegades FC 3-1 August 20 at the same venue.Mingoes newcomer Ron aldo Green scored twice for the team (34th and 53rd minute) and Resean Rolle scored one goal (28th minute).Mingoes assistant coach Adam Miller said the team didn’t stick to the plan in the first half of the match but eventually came around.“Inthe second half we readjusted and started keeping the ball a lot better and moving the ball a lot better,” he said. “We were trying to work with a team that is learning some new concepts while we are bringing in new players so for the very first game I think it was pretty good.” Miller added that the team was able to take advantage on the field and created many opportunities for the “Theteam.chances that we did create were really good,” he said. “From the offensive I think it was pretty good considering we have not worked on anything in par ticular. So it was raw nature of the players and that’s a good sign for us.”
TIP-INS Uruguay: Santiago Vescovi finished with 10 points. He was an All-SEC player at Ten nessee last season and has started 77 of his 81 games for the Volunteers in three years there. ... Batista, who turns 39 next week, was the only player on Uruguay’s roster with NBA regular-season experience. He appeared in 70 games with Atlanta between 2005 and 2007. USA: The Americans have now used 38 play ers in their seven World Cup qualifying games. ... Galloway has reached double-digits in each of his last four World Cup qualifying appearances, the longest such streak among those currently on the US roster. The fifth qualifying window is in November, with the Americans sched uled to face Brazil on November 11 and Colom bia on November 14.
UNIVERSITY of The Bahamas midfielder Oakland Duncan moves the ball during the match against Renegades FC at The Roscow R.L. Davies field in the Blue Hills Sporting Complex.
“We look forward to the annual event as a means to create more opportunities for young players just has it has for “WithKayden.thefull endorse ment and support of the president of the Eleuthera Amateur Basketball Asso ciation - Derek Smith, Cocodimama looks for ward to building something together in partnership with Eleuthera’s youth leaders that can grow and prosper for the kids and community.
UNIVERSITY OF THE BAHAMAS MEN’S SOCCER TEAM TO PLAY SECOND PRE-SEASON SCRIMMAGE
UNIVERSITY of The Bahamas defender Jervane Turnquest fields a ball in their match against Renegades FC.Photos: UB Athletics their bigger line-up, they managed to regain the momentum and a 42-35 lead at the half. At that point in the game, Hield had led the scoring attack with 11 points, while Jones and Kentwan Smith, who played well in spurts, both had 10 points apiece. The Bahamas also held a slim 17-16 rebounding advantage.Venezuela didn’t have a player in double figures at the half, but Graterol paced their attack with eight, while Michael Car rera and Colmenares both contributed seven points. With 7:14 into the third quarter, Hield slipped after Venezuela came back for 50-45 deficit. At 6:12, Thompson drove the baseline for a layup and at 5:14, he canned a three-pointer for a 55-47 lead. At 4:41, Venezuela answered with two consecutive threepointers for a 55-53 deficit. At 3:47, they got another basket for a 55-55 tie and they took a 57-55 lead, prompting the Bahamas to call a Jonestimeout.picked up his third foul within the last minute, but Clarke was left wide open at the other end for a three-pointer to push the Bahamas up 60-59 before Jones got a sky rocket one-handed dunk off a missed Hield jumper at the buzzer, bit it was called off. As they look ahead to Monday’s game, Jones said they just have to have a “forward thinking mindset.”Andjust “put this loss behind them, learn from it, take care of the ball and be more organised in our sets and get good shots as an overall group and continue to stay positive.” He predicted that they will get it together. 86-81 LOSS TO VENEZUELA
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DUKES UP: Members of the High School/Junior Boxing Championship team. Shown, from left to right, in the back row are Jailen Young, assistant coach Vincent Deleveaux, Jaiden Young, Vincent Strachan, Keano Cox, head coach Carl Hield and Elijah Smith. In the front row is Andrew Curtis.
The camps featured guest will be Romad Dean from the Fordham Univer sity men’s basketball team and former student athlete of the Tabernacle Chris tian Academy of Freeport, Bahamas.Thegoal of the camp is to create opportunities for stu dent athletes in Eleuthera, who demonstrate the talent, discipline and hard work ethic that sets them apart from their peers.
THIS WEEKEND
ANNUAL COCODIMAMA BASKETBALL CAMP STARTS TODAY
Boxers arrive in Guyana for High
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 13
This past winter Coco dimama teamed up with Norris Bain and Kevin Clark of the Tabernacle Christian Academy in Free port to create a sponsorship for a student athlete out of Governor’s Harbour by the name of Kayden Bowles. Kayden enrolled at Tab ernacle for the 2022 winter/ spring semester and joined the basketball team, where he not only excelled on the court but in the classroom as “Wewell. see the camp as a platform for coaches to demonstrate how they assist young men in their maturity as students and players.
BAHAMAS SUFFERS HEARTBREAKING
THE Eleuthera Amateur Basketball Association and the Cocodimama Charming Resort have joined forces to establish the first annual Cocodimama Basketball Camp.The two-day camp will take place at the Eleuthera Bible Training Center in James Cistern today and Saturday August 27 and will run from 4:30pm to 7pmCocodimamadaily. will be teaming up with coach Kevin Clark and fellow coaches from Tabernacle Christian Academy in Free port to run the two-day camp in partnership with coach Andrew Johnson (Harbour Island), coach Tanya Lord (Lower Bogue) and coach Laron Taylor (Governor’s Harbour to South Eleuthera).
The Mingoes play Dyna mos FC 6pm August 27 at The Roscow R.L. Davies field in the Blue Hills Sport ingTheComplex.Dynamos club was the last Bahamas Foot ball Association champion before the COVID-19 pandemic.
FIRST IN JAMES CISTERN
WCUP FROM PAGE 12
ChampionshipJuniorSchool/Boxing
includes Puerto Rico, Mexico, Uruguay and Colombia. The other group in the Americas Region, Group E, fea tures Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas andUruguayPanama.led 4-0 after 20 seconds, and that was the lone hurrah for the visitors from South Amer ica. The rest of the night was all US, which got its easiest win yet of this qualifying tournament.
CHAVANO “Buddy” Hield (7) and Kai Jones (23) in action for The Bahamas last night in their World Cup Americas Region qualifying game against Venezuela at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The Bahamas lost by five points - 86-81.Photo: Moise Amisial/Tribune Staff
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“And we thank all of the coaches, who’ve agreed to contribute their time, play ers and expertise to make the camp a success.”
HARTMAN’S STATUS The status of Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman is a story to watch. He was one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in leading a high-scoring offense for a team that won the Atlantic Division and reached the ACC title game, but he’s out indefinitely while being treated for a non-football medical condition. That could mean thirdyear freshman Mitch Griffis or fourth-year sophomore Michael Kern opens the year as a first-time starter.
NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic will not play in the U.S. Open, as expected, because he is not vaccinated against COVID19 and thus is not allowed to travel to the United States.Djokovic announced his withdrawal from the year’s last Grand Slam tournament on Twitter on Thursday, hours before the draw for the event was revealed.“Sadly, I will not be able to travel to NY this time for US Open,” Djokovic wrote, wishing luck to his fellow players, and said he would “keep in good shape and positive spirit and wait for an opportunity to compete again.”Playis scheduled to begin at Flushing Meadows on Monday.Djokovic is a 35-year-old from Serbia who owns 21 major championships, one behind Rafael Nadal for the men’s record. Three of Djokovic’s Slam trophies came at the U.S. Open, in 2011, 2015 and 2018. He also was the runnerup there a half-dozen times, including last season, when his pursuit of the first cal endar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969 ended with a loss in the final to Daniil Medvedev. Foreign citizens who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 are cur rently unable to enter the U.S or Canada, and Djoko vic has said he won’t get the shots, even if that prevents him from playing in certain tournaments.
By MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer
Serena Williams’ 1st opponent at
FOURTH-ranked Clem son is determined to follow a year of change with a return to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tigers saw their six-year run as champi ons snapped last year, then the Tigers lost coordina tors on both sides of the ball to head-coaching jobs. Yet Dabo Swinney’s team is favored again ahead of teams like No. 13 North Carolina State, No. 16 Miami, No. 17 Pittsburgh and No. 22 Wake Forest. “Not many guys on this team had really experi enced anything other than winning championships,” Swinney said. “So we go into this with a different perspective. Is it any easier to win? I don’t think so.” The Tigers’ “stumble” still came with double-digit wins for the 11th straight season, though they lost two ACC games – at N.C. State in double overtime and at eventual league champ Pittsburgh – for the first time since 2014. They return nine offen sive starters, including quarterback D.J. Uiagale lei, and six defensively with a fearsome front featur ing preseason all-ACC picks Bryan Bresee and Myles Murphy. But the people leading those units have changed with the departures of offensive coordinator Tony Elliott (Virginia) and defensive coordinator Brent Venables (Oklahoma), a rare break of continuity from two national-title runs. If Clemson can get back to the top, that will mark its seventh ACC title in eight seasons. That’s would be an unprecedented run, re-kin dling memories of Florida State’s tear through the league in the 1990s. “We were blessed to come out with a 10-win season, win six in a row at the end,” offensive coor dinator and quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter said. “A lot of teams wish they could’ve been in our shoes.”
Pittsburgh won the pro gram’s first ACC title behind quarterback Kenny Pickett as the AP league offensive player of the year and prolific receiver Jordan Addison.“Itseems like forever ago,” coach Pat Narduzzi said.Both are among signifi cant losses at the offensive skill positions, though the Panthers have seven return ing defensive starters that include preseason all-ACC picks Habakkuk Baldonado and Calijah Kancey up front.
NFL FROM PAGE 12
BRIAN
TOP PLAYERS QB Devin Leary, N.C. State: The preseason league player of the year ranked among the national leaders in passing touchdowns (35), yardage and efficiency for a nine-win team.
REIGNING CHAMPS
FILE - Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y., Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. Uiagalelei is among nine returning offensive starters for Clemson.(AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
OVERHAULCOASTAL All four of the league’s new coaches reside in the Coastal Division with Cris tobal, Elliott, Duke’s Mike Elko and Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry. All but Cristobal are first-time head coaches, adding another variable to the withfinalCoastalalways-unpredictableDivisionraceintheseasonfortheleagueitstwo-divisionformat.
Sports
The Packers gave Aaron Rodgers a three-year, $150.8 million contract extension but lost Adams, leaving a major void on offense. Rodgers already criticized the team’s young receivers, saying they need to be more consistent. The Cowboys could emerge into a champion ship contender but Dallas will have a tough time holding off Philadelphia in the NFC East, which hasn’t seen a repeat division winner since the Eagles won four titles in a row fromJosh2001-04.Allen and the Bills are the odds-on favorites in a conference filled with competitive teams. Buffalo has to find a way to get past its playoff failures after last season’s collapse in Kansas City.The Bills have the league’s most talented roster, boasting a dynamic offense and a stingy defense. Winning in Janu ary is the biggest obstacle Buffalo has to overcome. “Nothing we did last year is going to carry over to this year,” Allen said. Like the Packers, the Chiefs traded away their top receiver, sending Hill to Miami. But Patrick Mahomes still has Travis Kelce and other playmak ers around him.
Kansas City’s road through the AFC West has never been more challeng ing. The Chiefs have to go through Justin Herbert and the Chargers, Wilson and the Broncos and Derek Carr and the Meanwhile,Raiders.don’t count out the Bengals. They have to avoid the hangover that often plagues teams coming off a loss in the Super Bowl. If a retooled offensive line protects Joe Burrow, who was the most-sacked quar terback in the league last year, Cincinnati should be in the Eighteenmix. weeks, 272 games and then playoffs. Let’s go.
Potential quarterfinals are Swiatek vs. No. 8 Jes sica Pegula, and No. 4 Paula Badosa vs. No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka on the top half of the field, and Kontaveit — or, perhaps, Williams — vs. Wimble don runner-up Ons Jabeur, and No. 3 Maria Sakkari vs. No. 7 Simona Halep or French Open runner-up Coco Gauff on the bottom half.One fascinating firstround matchup is Naomi Osaka, who won the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020 for two of her four major championships, against Danielle Collins, the Aus tralian Open runner-up this January.Shortly before the draw announcement, some expected news arrived: Novak Djokovic tweeted that he would not be in New York for the U.S. Open.The 35-year-old from Serbia, who owns 21 Grand Slam titles, is not vacci nated against COVID-19. Foreign citizens who have not received the shot are not allowed to enter the UnitedDjokovicStates.is a threetime champion at Flushing Meadows; he lost in the 2021 final to Daniil Med vedev, ending a bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969.Medvedev is seeded No. 1, making this U.S. Open the first major since 2004 without Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer or Andy Murray in that spot. He will start by taking on Stefan Kozlov of the United States. No. 2 Nadal, whose 22 Grand Slam titles are a record for a man, was drawn to face Australian wild-card recipient Rinky Hijikata.Potential men’s quarter finals are Medvedev vs. No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. No. 5 Casper Ruud in what would be a matchup between the past two French Open runnersup, Nadal vs. No. 7 Cam Norrie, and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 8 Hubert Hurkacz.Wimbledon runnerup Nick Kyrgios, who is seeded No. 23, could meet Medvedev in the fourth round. In the first round, Kyrgios will play his fellow Australian, good friend and doubles partner Tha nasi Kokkinakis. US Open is Danka Kovinic
GAMES TO WATCH Clemson at Wake Forest, Sept. 24: The Tigers visit the Demon Deacons in a key matchup for the Atlan tic Division race. N.C. State at Clemson, Oct. 1: The preseason picks as the league’s top two teams meet in Death Valley. Wake Forest at N.C. State, Nov. 5: This instate matchup largely decided last year’s Atlantic race. Miami at Clemson, Nov. 19: The preseason division favorites meet in a potential preview of the league title game two weeks later.
ACC PREVIEW: NO. 4 CLEMSON AIMS FOR RETURN TO TOP OF LEAGUE
Miami: First-year coach Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes are picked as the Coastal favorite with seven returning offensive and defensive starters, including returning Asso ciated Press newcomer of the year Tyler Van Dyke at quarterback.
PRESEASON PICKS ATLANTIC: Clemson, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Louisville, Florida State, Boston College, Syracuse. COASTAL: Miami, Pitt, UNC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke.
NEW YORK (AP) — Serena Williams’ first opponent at what she has indicated will be her last US Open — and, indeed, the last tournament of her career — is unseeded Danka Kovinic. Win that, and Williams could face No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the second round. The brackets for the women’s and men’s singles events were released yes terday by the US Tennis Association.Playbegins Monday; first-round matches will be held that day and Tuesday. There was no immediate word on when Williams will be scheduled to compete. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who turns 41 on September 26, announced this month she was pre paring to step away from her playing career. She did not explicitly say when she planned to stop but made it sound as if the U.S. Open would mark her farewell. Williams has won the hard-court tournament in Flushing Meadows six times.Kovinic has never been past the second round in four appearances at the U.S. Open. She is a 27-year-old from Montene gro who is 80th in the WTA rankings this week and has been as high as 46th. Williams and Kovinic have never played each other in Williamssingles.isjust 1-3 this season, having recently returned to singles action after a year away following a first-round injury exit at Wimbledon in 2021. Her first match back came at the All England Club in late June, and she lost her opener there in a third-set tiebreaker to 115th-ranked Harmony Tan.After winning a match at a tournament in Toronto, Williams was eliminated in straight sets there by Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic, then lost again in straight sets at Cincinnati against reigning U.S. Open cham pion Emma Raducanu. Because Williams has said she’s preparing to wind down her tennis career, her every move will be the focus at the start of the U.S. Open. Fans will pay close attention, because each match could be her last.While Williams has spent more than 300 weeks at No. 1, her lack of activity has contributed to a slide; she is 410th this week. That meant she would not be seeded in New York and could have been placed anywhere in the field — and against any player. Other possible oppo nents for Williams, should she progress through the tournament, include No. 27 seed Martina Trevisan of Italy in the third round and 2021 U.S. Open run ner-up Leylah Fernandez of Canada or 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in the fourth. Williams could face her older sister, seven-time major champion Venus, only in the final, because they are on opposite sides of the bracket. No. 1 Iga Swiatek, a two-time French Open champion, will meet Jas mine Paolini in the first round, while Raducanu will begin her title defense against Alize Cornet.
PAGE 14, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Writer
SERENA Williams practices at Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday before the start of the US Open ten nis tournament in New York. The big event starts on Monday. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
against the league before the end of last season. Miami was penalized for tampering with Brady and coach Sean Payton, who stepped down after 15 sea sons in New Orleans. Dan Snyder’s team got a new name — Commanders — and Washington’s owner finally testified last month before a congressional com mittee investigating the team’s history of workplace misconduct.Thosewere the biggest stories that kept the NFL atop news cycles. Now, attention turns to playing the games and finding out who will hoist the Lom bardi Trophy in Arizona in February.TheRams, Buccaneers and Packers are the top three teams in the NFC, per FanDuel Sportsbook’s Super Bowl odds. The Bills, Chiefs and Chargers are the top three betting favorites in the MatthewAFC. Stafford and Sean McVay will try to become the first QB-coach duo to win consecutive Super Bowls since Brady and Bill Belichick did it in New England in 2003-04. The Rams, however, must replace seven starters, including Von Miller. Brady’s return gives Tampa a legitimate shot to win its second title in three years. But the Buccaneers suf fered major losses on the offensive line in camp. Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen and left guard Aaron Stinnie went down with sig nificant knee injuries. The Buccaneers also have a new coach. Bruce Arians retired and was replaced by defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.“You either get the job done or you don’t,” Brady said. “There’s only one team that is really happy at the end of the year and it is the team that wins.”
USOUTDJOKOVICUNVACCINATEDOFOPEN, CAN’T TRAVEL TO USA
By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
RB Sean Tucker, Syra cuse: The ACC’s leading rusher ranked fourth in FBS (124.7) en route to becoming a secondteam Associated Press ingfourththreat38Louisville:All-American.QBMalikCunningham,Theveteranwithcareerstartsisadual-weaponwhorankedinFBSwith20rushTDs.
THE FAVOURITES Clemson: The Tigers have won 59 of 64 games against ACC opponents dating to the 2015 season. N.C. State: Dave Doeren’s Wolfpack posted the second-highest vote total among league teams to win the title with 17 return ing offensive and defensive starters. But N.C. State must beat out Clemson in the Atlantic to reach the Dec. 3 title game in Char lotte. The Wolfpack’s No. 13 ranking matches the pro gram’s best in the preseason AP poll set in 1975.
WR Josh Downs, North Carolina: A big-play threat at all times, Downs had 1,335 yards and eight touch downs receiving last year while ranking sixth in the Bowl Subdivision ranks in catches per game (7.8).
By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer
THE Bahamas Sailing Association (BSA) has just finished its summer sailing programme which took place over the past six weeks at the Nassau Yacht Club.Almost 60 children aged 8-16 years old participated, the majority of whom were students from a number of Nassau’s government schools. Most of them had never sailed before and the feedback we have received from so many of them is awesome.Thesummer camp is an introductory 2 week course, teaching new comers all the basic skills required to handle a sailboat. Each child is des ignated a boat which they sail and look after for the duration of the course. Once they have acquired a basic level of compe tence, we allow them to race against each other out in Montagu Bay, which is always a popular highlight to the course! Our only entry requirement is that participants have basic swimming skills. Several of them had so much fun, they repeated the course and had almost an entire summer of sail ing, many commenting it was the best summer expe rience they’d ever had and would certainly recom mend it to their friends.
ISTANBUL (AP) — Karim Benzema and Alexia Putellas won UEFA’s player of the year awards yesterday, making it a sweep for Spanish clubs. Benzema had been the heavy favourite for the men’s award after scor ing 15 Champions League goals to lead Real Madrid to a record-extending 14th European title. Putellas won a second straight UEFA women’s best player award after helping Barcelona reach the Champions League final in defence of its title. Barcelona lost to Lyon. She was expected to lead Spain at the European Championship in July but suffered a serious knee injury days before the tour nament started in England. Putellas limped up sev eral steps to the stage to collect her trophy minutes after the men’s Champions League groups were drawn. The coaching awards went to the winners of the two biggest events last season – Carlo Ancelotti of Madrid and Sarina Wieg man, who led England to the Euro 2022 title. Voting was done by coaches whose teams played in European com petitions and selected journalists across Europe. Benzema won from a three-player shortlist that included Madrid goal keeper Thibaut Courtois and Manchester City mid fielder Kevin De Bruyne. Ancelotti again beat Jürgen Klopp, whose Liverpool team lost the Champions League final, and Pep Guardiola of Pre mier League winner Man City.Putellas won her vote ahead of England forward Beth Mead, who was the Euro 2022 joint top scorer with six goals, and Ger many midfielder Lena Oberdorf.
ALMOST 60 children aged eight to 16 years old participated in the Bahamas Sailing Association’s summer sailing programme.
“On the ride here he told me everything about Sara toga and how special it is,” Velazquez said. “The first year I won maybe three races, the second year maybe two races. I was furious, this was not a spe cial place for me. In 1992, I was almost going back home but with the help of a new agent, it got me started again and it went on the right way with steady business.”Someof Velazquez’s big gest career moments have occurred at Saratoga. His 64 victories at the 2004 summer meet was a record at the time. On Sep tember 9, 2001, he won six races in one day to set a record. On July 27, 2013, he won his 694th race to become the track’s win ningest jockey.
“We wish to gratefully thank Mr Wilmott and his team for their invaluable continued support of our sailing programmes. We also wish to thank LGM Maritime Academy,” de Souza“Bahamassaid. Charitable Giving Foundation and a host of private individuals who, through our “Spon sor a Child” initiative, have made this and our year round programs acces sible to so many children who would otherwise be unable to afford the cost of attendance.”Quiteanumber of this year’s summer sailors have already signed up for weekly lessons with our year round program which takes place after school and on Saturdays at The Nassau Yacht Club with the fall term commences on Saturday September 3rd. Anyone interested in registering or receiving further information are asked to contact the BSA at www.bahsailingschool.orgbookavailableFurtherbahjrsailing@gmail.com.infowillbeontheirFacepageandwebsite:
THE Bahamas Sailing Association has finished its summer sailing programme at the Nassau Yacht Club.
BARCELONA GETS TOUGH CHAMPS LEAGUE GROUP WITH BAYERN, INTER
BAHAMAS SAILING ASSOCIATION WRAPS UP ITS SUMMER SAILING PROGRAMME
“This is a proper challenge,” Liverpol coach Jürgen Klopp said. “All of the clubs have quality, they all have pedigree and I would say they all have a chance.” UEFA will announce a fix ture schedule by Saturday. The Champions League starts early this season on September 6 and end five weeks sooner than usual on Nov. 2. That is because of the World Cup in Qatar, which starts Nov.After20. six rounds of games spanning just eight full weeks, a three-month pause is taken before the round of 16 starts in February.
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 15
AWARDSBESTWINPUTELLASBENZEMA,UEFAPLAYER
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — John Velazquez, already the leading career rider at Sara toga, had his 1,000th winner yesterday at the historic track.The 50-year-old Hall of Fame jockey won the eighth race by a neck aboard Pre cursory, who paid $14 to win. The filly is trained by fellow Hall of Famer Bill Mott.“It’s a special number, no matter what,” said Velazquez, who first came to Saratoga from his native Puerto Rico at age 18. Back then, Velazquez travelled with Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr on a flight upstate.
EVEN when it still had Lionel Messi, Barcelona took an epic 8-2 beating from Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfi nals two years ago. And Bayern won 3-0 home and away against Barcelona in the group stage last season as the Spanish giant without Messi had its worse European season since before the Argentina great’s 17-year run in the team. Yesterday, Barcelona landed with Bayern yet again in a tough Champions League draw as coach Xavi Hernández’s team tries to avoid a second straight groupstage exit since losing Messi to ParisStill,Saint-Germain.Barcelona has since recruited former Bayern for ward Robert Lewandowski — the two-time FIFA player of the year who will now face his recent team mates — despite financial turmoil that has affected its ability to regis ter and retain players. “What a terrific story that we’re going to meet Barcelona with Robert Lewandowski,” said Bayern forward Thomas Müller, who played alongside the Poland international for eight years. Inter Milan is another former champion in a group that boasts a combined 14 European Cup or Champions League titles. Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic is the fourth team in Group C where only the top two advance to the round of 16. Real Madrid has 14 titles of its own and will defend the trophy in a group with Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic. Shakhtar hosted Madrid in Kyiv last October — and lost 5-0 — but now cannot play in Ukraine during the Russian military invasion. Shakhtar will play “home” games in Warsaw in neighbouring Poland.UEFA has banned all Russian teams from its competitions. Messi will try for a second year to bring a first European title to Paris Saint-Germain, which landed in a group with a pair of two-time champions — Juventus and Ben fica — plus Maccabi Haifa. Another reunion after a block buster offseason move will see Manchester City’s star signing Erling Haaland going back to his old club Borussia Dortmund. That group also includes Sevilla and Copenhagen.CoachPep Guardiola’s team shapes as the early favourite for a first Champions League title in his seventh season and beat Dort mund — when it still had Haaland — 2-1 in both legs in the quarterfi nals of the 2020-21 edition. Liverpool and Rangers will have a rare England-Scotland clash in the Champions League. Their Group A that also includes Ajax and Napoli and promises a pulsat ing atmosphere in each stadium.
“It’s been tremendous to finally run our summer schedule since the last couple of years which have been badly affected by Covid restrictions and it’s great to welcome so many new sailors to our program,” said head coach Paul de Souza. A presentation was held on Saturday August 20th, each sailor receiving a certificate for completion of the course. Mr Barry Wilmott, Regatta Desk Manager at The Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, presented the certificates.
SARATOGAWINNER1,000THRIDESVELAZQUEZJOHNAT
MOMENTUMBARCELONA’S Barcelona will go for its second straight win when it hosts Valladolid on Sunday. It’s still unclear if the Catalan club will be able to register newly signed defender Jules Koundé in time for the match at the CampBarcelonaNou. needs to clear more salary space to abide to the league’s strict finan cial fair play rules. Valladolid opened with a 3-0 home loss against Villarreal but drew 1-1 at Sevilla last weekend. The club owned by former Brazil great Ron aldo is back in the first division after a year in the second tier. Barcelona’s first home match was a disappointing scoreless draw with Rayo.
MADRID (AP) — It’s been a fun road trip for Real Madrid at the start of the Spanish league season. Madrid is playing its first three matches away from home because of construc tion work at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. But so far so good for the defend ing champions after two wins.Madrid will try to keep its momentum on the road when it visits Espanyol on Sunday looking to stay near the top of the standings. Madrid asked to play away matches in the first three rounds so it could expedite the work at the Bernabéu, which has been undergoing a major renova tion project. It was the same last year, when it also played its first three matches on the road — victories against Alavés and Real Betis and a draw at ThisLevante.season, Madrid defeated promoted Alm ería 2-1 and then Celta Vigo 4-1.Playing on the road hasn’t been a problem for Madrid recently. It is unbeaten in its last six away matches in the league dating to last season, with a draw at Villar real and then five straight victories.Thetimetable for the renovation at the Berna béu was moved up after the team played at the smaller Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium — in the club’s training center — during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, when fans were not allowed in matches. Madrid was back at the Bernabéu last season while the renovation work contin ued. The seating capacity at the venue has been reduced during the construction. The team’s first match at the venue this season will be against Real Betis on Sept. 3. It will be the second home game in a row for Espanyol, which remains winless after opening with a 2-2 draw at Celta and a 2-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano. “We know of Madrid’s potential, but we are not going to be afraid,” newly signed Espanyol forward Dani Gómez told Marca. “We will give everything we have. It wouldn’t be the first time Espanyol defeats Madrid, so we will try it again.”Espanyol has lost five of its last five games against Madrid, but its last victory over the powerhouse was in its home league game last season.
Draw for the third round (matches take place week begin ning November 7)
PAGE 16, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
OTHER MATCHES Villarreal will try to win its third straight when it visits Getafe on Sunday. The two other teams with consecutive victories — Real Betis and Osasuna — face off on Friday in Seville.Winless Sevilla is at Alm ería on Saturday, while Real Sociedad is at Elche. Cádiz, the other team yet to win points along with Getafe, hosts Athletic Bilbao on Monday.
becausewe’refornevertoafacingleastbiggestandCitybydeniedHamForest2-0encouraging.Afteranopening-roundlossatNewcastle,hasbeatenWest1-0andwasonlyvictoryatEvertonalateequalizer.TottenhamvisitstheGroundonSaturdaywillrepresentForest’schallengesofar,atonthefield.BecausethechallengeCooperingettingcompletelynewsquadgelissomethinghehasexperiencedbefore.“We’reenjoyingit,that’ssure,”hesaid,“anddefinitelyfacingitit’sareality.”
STRUGGLESATLÉTICO’S Atlético Madrid will look to rebound from a home loss to Villarreal when it visits Gennaro Gattuso’s Valencia on Monday.Álvaro Morata and João Félix con nected well in Atlético’s opening 3-0 win at Getafe, but the forwards struggled on Sunday and Diego Sime one’s attack was largely ineffective. Some fans were upset and insulted a few players after this weekend’s match, prompting defender Mario Hermoso to confront them in the stands.
Leicester vs. Newport County West Ham vs. MorecambeVillaManchesterNottinghamWolverhamptonBlackburnvs.LeedsForestvs.TottenhamUnitedvs.AstonBournemouthvs.EvertonLiverpoolvs.DerbyCountyBurnleyvs.CrawleyBristolCityvs.LincolnManchesterCityvs.ChelseaStevenagevs.CharltonMiltonKeynesDonsvs.
By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer
REAL Madrid’s Vinicius Junior celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Celta Vigo and Real Madrid at the Balaidos stadium in Vigo, Spain, on Saturday, August 20. (AP Photo/Lalo R Villar)
SPANISH LEAGUE:
And it might not end there for the two-time former European champions, with a week remaining of the transfer window. So, how does Forest manager Steve Cooper explain the team’s move ment in the market? “We’ve had no choice,” heInsaid.short, Forest lacked numbers and players of the requisite quality in the squad to cope in the Premier League, having languished in England’s lower leagues since 1999. Four players who started for Forest in its 1-0 win against Huddersfield in the Championship playoff final in May were on loan and immediately returned to their parent clubs. Many in the squad were viewed as simply not good enough for the top flight, especially since Forest’s promotion came as something of a surprise.Thiswas, after all, a team that began last season with one point from its first seven games — its worst start to a campaign in 108 years.“I really hope every one is looking into why we have made so many signings and not just put ting the narrative out ‘Forest have signed loads of players. Why?’” Cooper said after the arrival of the club’s 16th signing of the transfer window, Morgan Gibbs-White from Wolverhampton.“There’sbeen a real rationale behind it. We’ve had no choice. I don’t mind saying we’d have loved to carry on with our team of last season and made a few additions. Never going to happen.”
MASTERSEUROPEANLEADTWO-SHOTSHARECAÑIZARESLAWRENCE,AT thecardedMigueltournamentancesponsor.insurance($31,130)illearned170-yardstrokeamongRasmus64.ScottEduardoWallace,pistescoursesur-SierreandinforAfrica.Openwhenstartedpeansecondbogeys.afterhole,forAlpspeanfirstshare8-underAlejandroThristonSwitzerlandCRANS-MONTANA,(AP)—LawrenceandCañizaresshotroundsof62totheleadaftertheroundoftheEuroMastersintheSwissonThursday.Lawrencechippedinaneagleathisfinalthepar-5ninth,sixbirdiesandnoHe’sseekingatitleontheEurotourthisseasonthatbackinNovemberhewontheJoburginhisnativeSouthFourplayersweretiedthird,twoshotsback,thebrightsunshinethinairattheCrans-clubwheretheiscoveredwithskiinthewinter.MattLouisdeJager,delaRivaandJamiesonallshotaDefendingchampionHøjgaardwaseightplayersonefurtherback.Ahole-in-oneatthethirdholeAaronCocker30,000SwissfrancsworthoflifeprovidedbyaOnhis32ndappearattheSwissatage58,ÁngelJiméneza73.Jiménezwontitlein2010.
NOTTINGHAM Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi, centre, celebrates with his teammates after scoring against West Ham during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and West Ham United at the City ground in Nottingham, England, on August 14. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
Helping Forest’s ability to comply with financial fair play regulations is the fact that the club can spread the payment of transfer fees over the length of the players’ contracts. And if the team does survive this season, Forest would likely have to balance the books in upcoming trans fer windows, making this summer’s heavy spending a one-off.Relegation would surely guarantee a fire-sale — the likes of Lingard and Hen derson won’t hang around — but Forest is hoping that won’t happen, and the start to the season has been
Lingard’s old teammate at United, Dean Hender son, also moved to the City Ground — on loan — while three players have arrived for fees of 20 mil lion pounds ($23.7 million) or more: Neco Williams from Liverpool, Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin in Germany and then Gibbs-White, an Eng lish attacking midfielder who has yet to fulfil his potential and was signed for a club-record 25 million pounds ($29.65 million). Such is the turnaround that from the starting team in the 1-1 draw at Ever ton on Saturday, only four were at Forest last season. It sure is a gamble from Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, a Greek tycoon who bought a majority share in the club in 2017 to go with his owner ship of Greek champion Olympiakos.Heappears to be bank ing on staying in the Premier League as that will guarantee Forest at least 100 million pounds ($118 million) from this season and the same next season, mainly because of the league’s huge global broad casting deals worth about 10 billion pounds ($11.8 billion) over three seasons.
English
The sheer scale of the spree has been surprising, though. As have some of the names on it. Jesse Lingard stands out. The England midfielder had the pick of clubs after his contract at Manchester United expired — West Ham and Newcastle were among those linked — but he chose Forest, which is reportedly paying more him more than 100,000 pounds ($120,000) a week.
LONDON (AP) — Newcas tle, Leeds and Brighton carried their strong Premier League form into the English League Cup on Wednesday by beating lowerleague opposition in the second round despite fielding lineups con taining fringe players. The draw for the third round was also made and it features seven all-Premier League matchups — including Manchester City hosting Chelsea.Newcastle was pushed the hard est of the three top-flight teams in action Wednesday, needing to come from behind to beat fourthtier Tranmere Rovers 2-1 thanks to goals by Jamaal Lascelles in the 40th minute and Chris Wood in the 52nd.Coming off a 3-0 win over Chel sea in the league, Leeds beat third-tier Barnsley 3-1 after Colom bia winger Luis Sinisterra scored his first goal for the club. Mateusz Klich scored the other two goals for Leeds, one of them a penalty. Brighton has already won away against Manchester United and West Ham in the league and found third-tier Forest Green easy to deal with.Deniz Undav, on his first start for the club since an offseason move from Belgian side Union SG, Steven Alzate and Evan Ferguson were the scorers in a 3-0 victory. Second-tier team Bristol City was the other team to advance Wednes day. Fulham was the only Premier League team to be eliminated in the second round. In the third round, the Premier League teams playing in European competitions enter the League Cup and two of them — City and Chelsea — will meet in the standout match. Other all-Premier League matches include Manchester United vs. Aston Villa and Arse nal vs. Brighton, while Liverpool begins its title defense at home to third-tier Derby.
THE phrase “doing a Fulham” entered the Brit ish soccer vernacular after a spending spree in 2018 when the newly promoted London club splashed out about 105 million pounds (then $134 million) on 12 new players in the summer transfer window. It was a record outlay for a promoted club in a single window and, in time, was met with derision, mainly because of Fulham’s appar ent scattergun approach and the fact that five of the signings arrived on dead line day. Fulham wound up getting relegated with five games to spare, with the worst goal difference of any team in Europe’s top fiveHow,leagues.then, will history judge Nottingham Forest’s trolley dash this summer? It’s making Fulham’s 2018 splurge look miserly. Sixteen signings (so far). An outlay of around $150 million. No. 3 on the list of the heaviest spending clubs in Europe, behind only Barcelona -- marginally -andTalkChelsea.about making your mark after 23 years out of England’s top division.
Big-spending Forest making its mark on return to EPL Premier League teams advance in League Cup, City-Chelsea in 3rd round MADRID TRIES TO KEEP ROAD MOMENTUM GOING
By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer
Top-ranked Jin Young Ko, the winner at Magna outside Toronto in 2019 when the event was last played, shot a 68. Canadian amateur Lauren Zaretsky had a hole-in-one on the par-3 fifth in her 68. The 18-yearold is set to start college Monday at Texas Tech. “My reaction was pretty calm,” Zaretsky said. “I’m surprised. I haven’t had a hole-in-one since 2016 and actually made a joke before this tournament that maybe I’ll have a holein-one on live TV.” Henderson, the 2018 winner at Wascana in Regina, Saskatchewan, closed with a bogey on the par-5 ninth for a 69. She’s from Smiths Falls, south of Ottawa. “It’s the thing with this course,” Henderson said.“When you hit it in bad spots you really pay the price.”Three-time tournament champion Lydia Ko also had a 69, playing alongside Henderson and Kupcho. Lexi Thompson shot a 70.
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Paula Reto shot a course-record 9-under 62 yesterday at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club to take a two-stroke lead in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.“It’s not something I’m familiar with,” Reto said about the low score. Winless on the LPGA Tour, the 32-year-old South African opened with a 6-under 29 on the back nine and added three bird ies on the front nine — the last on the par-5 ninth. She birdied all four par-5 holes. “It was a good putting day,” Reto said. “A lot of putts went in and that kind of makes the round easier. Seeing my lines and the speed was pretty good, so made it a lot easier. I was like, `Just get on the green.’”Reto broke the course mark of 63 set by Canadian star Brooke Henderson in the third round of the 2017 tournament.“Ididn’tknow it was the course record, so kind of finding out after my round takes the pressure off,” Reto said. “So I’m happy about it. You know, I’m hoping to do some more good rounds coming here.”
By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer TO
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 17 WITH the demand increasing on a daily basis for those in need for food, the Bahamas Feeding Net work is making an extra effort to raise at least $100,000 to be able to assist as much as they can by hosting its inaugural Golf Tournament on Sunday, September 25 at the Ocean Club Golf Club. A press conference was held yesterday at the Paradise Island complex where Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg, along with prin cipal sponsors Fidelity Bank, endorsed the event alongside the organisers from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and members of the Bahamas Feeding Network. In his absence, Mario Carey, the chief executive officer of Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, said the idea for the tourna ment is to raise more funds for the Bahamas Feeding Network and to bring more awareness to the public through events like this to try to eradicate hunger in the“WeBahamas.have a real prob lem here about feeding,” said Carey in a video pres entation. “With the cost of living, the cost of food and the idea that children, mothers and families and the elderly can go daily without a meal is not some thing that we seem to be aware of, but the hard work that we do, make sure that every dollar that comes in is adequately spent towards feeding people.”
Paula recordcourse-shootsReto62
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
As a director, Carey said he wanted to find ways to assist the Bahamas Feeding Network and one idea that came to mind right away was the golf tournament. He noted that they are still seeking the support from corporate Bahamas to come on board and make their financial contribution to the Felixprogramme.Stubbs,the chair man of the Bahamas Feeding Network since its inception in 2013, said their organisation sup ports a total of 98 feeding programmes and they are expecting that number to soar to 101 in the next few weeks as they assist in feeding people across the country.“We serve now about 70,000 meals a month and in that, we find that we can’t reach all of the people who are in need,” Stubbs said. “In order to continue to meet this need, we need to find additional resources and so I would like to thank all of our support ers who have been with us from day one financially, morally and spiritually. “But in addition to that, we need to have additional funding, so we’ve looking at this golf tournament. In this tournament, we’re hoping to raise as much as $100,000 and if we could raise that money, that would mean a few thou sand additional meals and families who could go with outStubbshunger.”thanked Fidel ity for coming on board as their title sponsor and will be willing to assist them each year. But this year’s initial tournament is expected to attract about 124 golfers in a two-man scramble at a cost of $500 per team. There are a number of prizes, some of which is being solicited by Fred Paul, who next year will be the president of the United States Golf Association.AnewMercedes car pro vided by Tyreflex will be offered for the hole-in-one shot on the 12th hole and there are two seven-day cruises, one to Alaska and another in the Mediter ranean, both provided by Royal Caribbean Inter national, for the winning teams.There will also be raffle prizes for the public with the top prize being golf at Albany with a celebrity golfer. Additionally, Jason McDowall of Bahamas Local.com will conduct a silent auction with the top prize being a sportsman’s weekend to Dallas for four people with two rounds of golf and a suite to watch a Dallas Cowboys football game, valued at $12,000.
Narin An of South Korea was second after a bogey-free 64. Emma Talley, Robynn Ree and Lilia Vu shot 65. Atthaya Thitikul was at 66 with Perrine Delacour, Peiyun Chien, Wei-Ling Hsu, Nasa Hataoka, Lucy Li, Mo Martin, Elizabeth Szokol and A Lim Kim. Alena Sharp and Maddie Szeryk were the top Cana dians at 67. Nelly and Jessica Korda also were at 67 in a group that included Jennifer Kupcho, Danielle Kang, 2006 winner Cristie Kerr and 2016 champion AriyaNellyJutanugarn.Kordais coming off her first win of the year in the Aramco Series on the Ladies European Tour where she rallied from seven shots behind against sister“TheJessica.greens are defi nitely really tricky,” Nelly Korda said. “They’re hard to read and kind of like in a sense a little too fast for the grass, where you feel like you’re putting on glass.”
“The Government of the Bahamas and other organisers such as the Bahamas Feeding Net work are working hard to bring relief to people, who through no fault of their own, fall through the cracks,” he said. “I applaud the Bahamas Feeding Network through the chairmanship of Felix Stubbs for their incredible work. The food parcels you pack every week and dis tribute now to nearly 100 churches, soup kitchens and feeding centres. I com mend you for providing over two million since your start-up in 2013. You have come a very long way since the first gathering with the handful of churches and of soup kitchens. You have lived up to the promise that seemed so ambitious at the time and now I’m told that you are doing 70,000 a month.”Healso commended Carey for the role he’s playing in leading the charge for the tournament and he confirmed the gov ernment’s commitment to helping to support the event and to help eradicate the need for food hunger in theBowlegBahamas.was joined by Tim Munnings, the director of sports in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, “Golden Girl” Pauline Davis, a consultant at the ministry, Rev Father James Palacious, the new direc tor of the Bahamas Feeding Network and Ashley Bethel, who rep resented Better Homes & Gardens.Entry forms for the tournament are available on the Bahamas Feeding Network’s website and on Better Homes and Gardens MCR Bahamas Facebook page.
“We understand that the needs are great now during this challenging time for most Bahamians,” he said. “We know the programme, we know the people and we know the need, so Fidelity is here.”Bowleg, noting the importance sports plays in the development of the nation, said the benefi ciaries of the tournament will not go to bed fanta sizing about the facilities at Ocean Club, but rather their child or children going to bed having had a proper hot meal.
“Business as usual,” McIl roy said. “Cam and I get on really well — always have done. Again, I keep saying no matter what decisions are made or what choices are made by anyone, it doesn’t make them a bad person. Does it make me disagree with them? Of course it does. But I disa gree with a lot of people that I like and love.” And so began the final leg in the chase for the FedEx Cup and the $18 million prize. Scheffler has had the best year with his Masters victory among three wins against strong fields. He would love nothing more than to finish it off, and he played that way. His 3-iron from 230 yards up the hill to 15 feet led to eagle on the sixth hole. He dropped only one shot, going from bunker over the green at the par-3 ninth and having to make an under stated 10-foot putt to escape withAndbogey.then he had a big finish, capped off by going from the left rough over the water to 30 feet for a two-putt birdie to reach 15-under par (which accounts for his 10-under start).
Crestwell Gardiner, the vice president of retail at Fidelity Bank, said they have always been com mitted to physical and financial fitness.
SHOWN, from left to right, are Recina ‘Scully’ Ferguson, volunteer, Bahamas Feeding Network, Crestwell Gardiner, vice president of lending, Fidelity Bank, Quatrenda Sears, senior administrative assistant, Fidelity Bank, Ashley Bethel, marketing manager, Better Homes and Gardens MCR Bahamas, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg, Felix Stubbs, chairman, Bahamas Feeding Network, Timothy Munnings, Director of Youth, Sports and Culture, Pauline Davis-Thompson, Archdeacon James Palacious, execu tive director of the Bahamas Feeding Network.
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Golf teams feeding the needy in inaugural BFN Golf Tournament
EXPANDSLEADCHAMPSWITHSTARTSSCHEFFLERTOURANDIT
ATLANTA (AP) — Masters champion Scottie Scheffler might have had a roller coaster of an opening round yesterday at the Tour Championship if only he had been paying attention to the Schefflerscoreboards.started with a two-shot lead as the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup. He led by as many as six shots on the front nine. Then his lead was down to two. And when he finished with three straight birdies for a 5-under 65, he was five strokes ahead of Xander Schauffele.“Ididn’t know any of that,” he said. “I was just trying to go out and shoot a goodRorynumber.”McIlroy’s day at East Lake was far more wild. And he knew it. A two-time FedEx Cup champion, McIlroy started six shots behind. He teed off in a downpour and hooked his tee shot over the fence and out-of-bounds. He reloaded and found a bunker. He missed a 6-foot putt and took triple bogey, and just like that was nine shotsAndbehind.thenhe went roughto-rough to make bogey on the next hole. McIlroy had only one par on the front nine and remarkably sal vaged a 67. “Not the best way to start,” McIlroy said. “The golf course is really getta ble, so I knew there was a lot of holes out there that you could birdie. I knew my game was good. It was just one of those things. Not the ideal way to start, but proud of how I bounced back from that.”Equally impressive was British Open champion Cameron Smith, playing for the first time since the opening FedEx Cup play offs event because of a hip injury that gets aggravated in soft conditions. East Lake wasn’t quite a real lake, but overnight rain and the downpour made for a good walk spoiled. He still managed a 67 and joined McIlroy at eight shots back. They were a curious attraction because McIlroy has been the big gest voice for the PGA Tour and its battle with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, and reports indicate Smith will be the next to go. Inside the ropes, it’s golf.
PAULA RETO, of South Africa, attempts a putt on the 15th hole during the first round of the CP Women’s Open golf tournament yesterday in Ottawa, Ontario.(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)
NOTICE
It’s been the setting for market-defining announce ments by the Federal Reserve in past years, and investors are hoping Powell will offer some clarity about where interest rates are heading.TheFed has already raised rates four times this year in its efforts to halt high inflation, with most of them bigger than the usual hike, and investors want to hear how it’s leaning for future increases. Powell will begin speaking at 10 a.m. Eastern time Friday, a half hour after trading begins on WallBesidesStreet. what the Fed will do with its key over night interest rate, Powell may also talk about how the central bank is putting into reverse the “ money printer “ it used during the pandemic to goose the economy.
INTENT
we,
NOTICE is hereby given that ROIDELL MOISE of #6 Shady Hollow Street, Mount Royal Avenue, New Providence, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 19th day of August, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas. Public is hereby advised that Stephen Gordon Dean and Rachael Monette Dean, both of #74 Collins Drive, Faith Gardens, New Providence, Bahamas intend to change name from STEPHEN GORDON DEAN JR. to STEPHEN GORDON DEAN II If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice. TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL PUBLIC NOTICE
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 19
Inflation is driving Americans to bargain chain stores
our minor child’s
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that STEVE STEWART of Tamarind Street, Sir Lynden Pindling Estates, New Providence, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twentyeight days from the 26th day of August, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.
THE NEW York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in New York. Stocks are opening mostly higher on Wall Street, Thursday, Aug. 25, but major indexes remain in the red for the week. Photo:Julia Nikhinson/AP
NOTICE THURSDAY, 25 AUGUST 2022 CLOSECHANGE%CHANGEYTDYTD% BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: 2607.430.030.00379.1917.02 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI52WK LOWSECURITY SYMBOLLAST CLOSECLOSECHANGE VOLUMEEPS$DIV$P/E YIELD 6.985.30 AML Foods Limited AML 6.98 6.980.00 0.2390.17029.22.44% 53.0033.80 APD Limited APD 39.95 39.950.00 0.9321.26042.93.15% 2.761.60Benchmark BBL 2.76 2.760.00 0.0000.020N/M0.72% 2.612.20Bahamas First Holdings Limited BFH 2.46 2.460.00 0.1400.08017.63.25% 2.601.30Bank of Bahamas BOB 2.51 2.510.00 0.0700.000N/M0.00% 6.205.75Bahamas Property Fund BPF 6.20 6.200.00 1.7600.000N/M0.00% 10.057.50Bahamas Waste BWL 9.75 9.750.00 0.3690.26026.42.67% 4.152.82Cable Bahamas CAB 3.91 3.910.00 3,000-0.4380.000-8.9 0.00% 10.655.40Commonwealth Brewery CBB 10.15 10.150.00 0.1400.00072.50.00% 3.652.27Commonwealth Bank CBL 3.45 3.450.00 0.1840.12018.83.48% 8.255.29Colina Holdings CHL 8.23 8.230.00 0.4490.22018.32.67% 17.509.80CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank CIB 16.00 16.000.00 0.7220.72022.24.50% 3.131.99Consolidated Water BDRs CWCB 3.25 3.280.03 0.1020.43432.213.23% 11.288.25Doctor's Hospital DHS 10.26 10.260.00 0.4670.06022.00.58% 11.6711.25Emera Incorporated EMAB 11.62 11.620.00 0.6460.32818.02.82% 10.8510.00Famguard FAM 10.85 10.850.00 0.7280.24014.92.21% 18.3014.05Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited FBB 18.10 18.100.00 0.8160.54022.22.98% 4.003.50Focol FCL 3.90 3.900.00 0.2030.12019.23.08% 11.008.20Finco FIN 11.00 11.000.00 0.9390.20011.71.82% 16.5015.50J. S. Johnson JSJ 15.50 15.500.00 0.6310.61024.63.94% PREFERENCE SHARES 1.001.00Bahamas First Holdings PreferenceBFHP 1.00 1.000.00 0.0000.0000.0000.00% 1000.001000.00 Cable Bahamas Series 6 CAB6 1000.001000.000.00 0.0000.0000.0000.00% 1000.001000.00 Cable Bahamas Series 9 CAB9 1000.001000.000.00 0.0000.0000.0000.00% 1.001.00Colina Holdings Class A CHLA 1.00 1.000.00 0.0000.0000.0006.25% 10.0010.00Fidelity Bank Bahamas Class A FBBA 10.0010.000.00 0.0000.0000.0007.00% 1.001.00Focol Class B FCLB 1.00 1.000.00 0.0000.0000.0006.50% CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI52WK LOWSECURITY SYMBOLLAST SALECLOSECHANGEVOLUME 100.00100.00Fidelity Bank (Note 22 Series B+)FBB22 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00Bahamas First Holdings LimitedBFHB 100.00100.000.00 BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92104.79Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BAH29 107.31107.310.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2014-12-7Y BG0107 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-1-7Y BG0207 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2014-12-30Y BG0130 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-1-30Y BG0230 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-6-7Y BG0307 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-6-30Y BG0330 100.00100.000.00 100.00100.00BGS: 2015-10-7Y BG0407 100.00100.000.00 101.5599.72BGRS FX BGR124228 BSBGR1242282101.55101.550.00 100.2299.98BGRS FL BGRS99032 BSBGRS990326100.50100.500.00 100.4399.96BGRS FL BGRS97033 BSBGRS970336100.09100.090.00 100.43100.43BGRS FL BGRS75022 BSBGRS750225100.54100.540.00 100.34100.04BGRS FL BGRS81037 BSBGRS810375100.34100.340.00 100.23100.00BGRS FL BGRS88028 BSBGRS880287100.00100.000.00 100.0089.62BGRS FX BGR129249 BSBGR129249389.6289.620.00 100.0089.00BGRS FX BGR131249 BSBGR1312499100.00100.000.00 100.9890.24BGRS FX BGR132249 BSBGR1322498100.00100.000.00 100.0090.73BGRS FX BGR136150 BSBGR1361504100.00100.000.00 MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI52WK LOW NAV YTD%12 MTH% 2.522.11 2.520.99%4.22% 4.693.30 4.690.36%5.78% 2.221.68 2.210.67%2.74% 207.86164.74 197.44-2.97%-2.35% 212.41116.70 202.39-4.72%6.04% 1.741.69 1.741.37%3.03% 1.841.75 1.841.19%5.23% 1.831.76 1.831.62%4.13% 1.030.97 0.97-5.25%-6.07% 9.376.41 9.37-0.02%10.36% 11.837.62 11.79-0.33%18.23% 7.545.66 7.540.22%3.05% 16.648.65 15.94-3.89%14.76% 12.8410.54 12.47-1.04%-2.57% 10.779.57 10.740.81%4.20% 10.009.88 N/AN/AN/A 10.438.45 10.433.00%25.60% 14.8911.20 14.897.90%48.70% MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week Change - Change in closing price from day to day EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today NAV - Net Asset Value DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months N/M - Not Meaningful P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | CORALISLE 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333 5.60% 15-Jul-2049 Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Financial Conservative Fund Leno Financial Aggressive Fund Leno Financial Balanced Fund Leno Financial Global Bond Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Equities Sub Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - High Yield Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Alternative Strategies Fund INTEREST Prime + 1.75% MARKET REPORT 31-Mar-202131-Mar-2021 MATURITY 31-Mar-202231-Mar-202220-Nov-202919-Oct-20224.50%6.95% 31-May-202231-Mar-2022 6.25%4.50% 15-Oct-204913-Jul-202821-Apr-205025-Mar-202215-Oct-202226-Jun-204526-Jun-202230-Jul-204515-Dec-204430-Jul-202215-Dec-202131-May-202231-May-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-May-202231-Jan-202231-Jan-202231-Mar-2021 6.25% 31-Mar-202230-Sep-2025FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund 4.25%6.25%4.50%6.25% NAV Date 5.55%4.33%4.31%4.30%4.66%5.69%5.65% 15-Apr-204926-Jul-202817-Apr-203323-Sep-20324.87%4.43% 26-Jul-20377-Sep-2022 (242)323 2330 (242) 323 2320 www.bisxbahamas.com The
NOTICE is hereby given that O’SHANE FRANCIS WALLACE of Farrington Road, Rock Crusher, New Providence, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 26th day of August, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.
INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL PUBLIC NOTICE
DOLLAR Tree and Dollar General reported higher second-quarter sales Thursday resulting from four-decade high inflation driving more customers to bargain chain stores for eve rything from lightbulbs to groceries.Dollar stores tend to sell items in small quanti ties, allowing low-income customers to buy a little at a time. As with previous recessions, higher-income shoppers are returning to bargain chains to cut spend ing where they can. Meanwhile, clothing chain Gap Inc., which oper ates its namesake chain, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta stores, with drew its financial forecast for its current fiscal year, citing economic uncertainty and its continued search for a CEO.Dollar Tree and Dollar General are also grap pling with rising costs that are rippling through their supply chains. Profits are being squeezed as shoppers narrow their focus on necessities like groceries, which have more slim profit margins.Dollar Tree, based in Chesapeake, Virginia, reported second-quarter profits that exceeded expec tations though sales were a bit shy of projections. It cut its profit expectations for the year and narrowed its salesDollarprojections.Treeis still trying to incorporate the Family Dollar business that it acquired in “Inflation2015.isat its high est in decades as shoppers are experiencing higher costs related to food, fuel, rent and more,” Richard Dreiling, the company’s executive chairman, said on a conference call Thursday. “Supply chains have been strained and inconsistent. Inventory levels are higher across retail, and consumer shopping patterns continue to zig and zag.” Dollar Tree Inc. reported a second-quarter profit of $359.9 million or $1.60 per share for the three-month period ended July 30. That compares with $282.4 million, or $1.23 per share in the year ago period. Wall Street had projected earnings of $1.58 per share, according to Zacks Invest mentRevenueResearch.was $6.77 bil lion, which was better than last year, but a sliver short of Wall Street projections. For the current quarter ending in November, Dollar Tree said it expects revenue in the range of $6.75 billion to $6.87 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $6.77 billion.Comparable store net sales for Dollar Tree increased 7.5%. Family Dollar same-store sales increased just 2.0%. The company now expects full-year earnings to be $7.10 to $7.40 per share, with revenue ranging from $27.85 billion to $28.1 bil lion. Previously, earnings per share for full-year were expected to be from $7.80 to $8.20. Consolidated net sales for the year were pro jected to range from $27.76 billion to $28.14 billion. Neil Saunders, manag ing director at GlobalData Retail, said Dollar Tree is a “tale of two companies.”
The Public is hereby advised that I, Bernise Antoine, Cubell Avenue, Murphy Town, Abaco, Bahamas intend to change my minor child’s name from BRAYLON SENDER ANTOINE to BRAYLON SENDER JOSEPH If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.
By DAMIAN J. TROISE AND STAN CHOE AP Business Writers STOCKS rallied Thurs day as the countdown clicked closer to zero for a highly anticipated speech about interest rates. The S&P 500 gained 58.35, or 1.4%, to 4,199.12 for its best day in nearly two weeks. Much of the lift came late in the day as traders made moves ahead of Friday morning’s speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which has long been circled on Wall Street’s calendar. The Dow Jones Indus trial Average rose 322.55, or 1%, to 33,291.78, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 207.74, or 1.7%, to 12,639.27. All three indexes trimmed their losses for the week, caused by Monday’s tumble that was the worst for stocks in months. Treasury yields eased to let off some of the pressure on Wall Street following the release of several reports on the economy. Fewer workers applied for job less claims last week than expected, an encouraging sign for a jobs market that has been the main pillar for an economy struggling under high inflation. A revised reading on the overall economy, mean while, suggested that its contraction during the spring wasn’t quite as bad as earlier thought. It shrank 0.6% on an annual ized basis, according to the government’s second pre liminary reading, milder than the 0.9% given in its initial estimate. The 10-year Treas ury yield, which affects mortgage rates, fell to 3.03% from 3.11% late Wednesday.Thathelped stocks that tend to benefit the most from lower interest rates, such as internet and technology companies. Businesses whose profits closely track the strength of the economy, such as producers of raw materi als, also helped to lead the market.Telehealth services pro viders were strong after Amazon shut down its inhouse telemedicine service for employees. Teladoc gained 4%. On the losing end were several companies that trimmed their financial forecasts for the year. Soft ware company Salesforce fell 3.4%, and discount retailer Dollar Tree fell 10.2%.Several retailers have cut their outlooks recently, even after reporting stronger profit for the latest quar ter than expected. They’re struggling with swelling inventories and higher costs, while their custom ers likewise get squeezed by inflation, particularly lowerincome ones. Wall Street’s focus, though, remains on Jack son Hole, Wyoming, where economists from around the world are gathering for an annual symposium.
By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer
WALL STREET RALLIES
AS COUNTDOWN TO FED SPEECH NEARS END
Estates Common Area Management Company. Lake Cunningham Estates Management’s right to collect maintenance fees had been challenged by one of the subdivision’s residents, Paulette Newton, who had sought Supreme Court declarations that it was “not the lawful home owners association” and, as a consequence, was not entitled to collect main tenance fees. She also demanded the return of fees to-date, and an injunction to prevent Management impeding the entry of her guests to the subdivision. The injunction was granted more than three years ago on March 22, 2019, but Management then moved to have it and Mrs Newton’s wider action thrown out. It denied that it had impeded her guests, adding that the injunction “would render the subdi vision unsafe and open to a wave of crime to be per petrated by those of ill will and super-impose a chill ing effect” on the ability of Management and its members to peacefully and safely enjoy their homes.
“On the evidence pre sented, I am satisfied that the legal and rightful homeowner association of Lake Cunningham Estates subdivision is the Skyline Lakes Association,” Jus tice Stewart found. She also ruled that Management was not a proper homeowners association because it was not formed under the Subdivisions (Local Improvement Associations) Act, and therefore could not charge maintenance fees.“The defendant [Man agement] does not have a sufficient interest or stand ing to demand and/or collect maintenance fees owing by the plaintiff and other residents,” Justice Stewart ruled. “Any pay ments previously made by the plaintiff were made voluntarily by her until she ceased paying them. “The defendant is estopped from demanding and collecting maintenance fees due and owing by the plaintiff and other residents of Lake Cunningham subdi vision. The defendant is not entitled to demand and col lect maintenance fees from the plaintiff as it is not the homeowners association established under the Act or the conveyance to the plaintiff.”Justice Stewart said the injunction would remain in place until Management’s legal structure was regular ised to enable it to collect maintenance fees or both sides agreed to this.
“Weemployees.willbe completed with construction by the first half of next year and we will expect our first customer to walk through the door. This is going to be a super highend store and it’s not going to have the average items. We will be targeting the visitors for Paradise Island but, of course, locals can come over and enjoy the experience.“Wewillhave a coffee bar and deli, and then we will have the regular groceries with the extreme focus on perishables and providing fresh, affordable items.” David Kosoy, chairman and chief executive of Ster ling Global, the Hurricane Hole developer, said: “We started this because we wanted to revitalise Para dise Island, which we’ve done. We wanted a Down town Paradise Island. And to do that, we had to ser vice all of the people that live here. It has put The Bahamas — around Para dise Island, in the marine industry — on the map even more than it was.”
that, by the time the whole salers get it to us, the change in the cost is only pennies sometimes. There’s no big reduction in the price. As a matter of fact, there’s going to be price increases in items moving forward probably for the rest of the year moving into 2023. You cannot buck the global mar kets. We are importers, not producers, of food.” Mr Beneby declined to specify which food items will likely see further price increases, or by how much, although this will further fuel the cost of living pres sures being experienced by many Bahamian middle and lower income families. “We just have to watch the trends and, like they say, go with the flow. Just buy what you need. That’s all we can do,” he Competitionadded.
FROM PAGE A24
The Super Value chief earlier this year told Trib une Business the Budget’s tariff cuts would not be a one-shot cure-all for soar ing food prices but, rather, would help mitigate some of the worst increases. Citing eggs as an example, he added that while the Budget had reduced the rel evant tariff from 30 percent to 10 percent, prices had still shot up because bird flu wiped out millions of egglaying chickens in the US.
FROM A24
Mr Beneby, though, told Tribune Business yesterday that “there’s no question” that the Budget’s foodrelated tariff cuts have been passed on by the Associa tion’s members via lower prices for the impacted foods. And Rupert Roberts, Super Value’s principal, said the 13-store supermarket chain’s computer systems “automatically” passed those savings on in the final prices.Promising that Super Value is seeking to “keep food on the Bahamian table at the best possible price”, he reiterated that as a nation that imports virtually all it consumes this nation is at the mercy of global market factors beyond its control such as the post-COVID supply chain shock, the fall-out from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and high oil/fuel prices that have driven up the cost of both sea and land are[fromeasiesttoblameMrarewholesalerson.providedcerned.about“There’stransportation.noquestionitasfarasI’mconWhatevercostsaretheyarepassedWhatevercoststhepresenttousreflectedintheprice,”Benebysaid.“Theisalwayspassedontheretailers;that’stheway.“Someofthesavingsthetariffcuts],theysominororminiscule
$7.5m PI food store to create 75 posts ourselves is that we provide the lowest prices and we make sure we shop around so we can provide the best prices available.” Sawyer’s Fresh Market’s main com petitor in Grand Bahama is BISX-listed AML Foods through its Solomon’s format, but New Providence offers an expanded con sumer market
However, Mrs Newton asserted that it was Sky line Lakes Homeowners Association - and not Man agement - that was named as the homeowners com pany in the conveyance that enabled herself and her late husband to purchase their home in the subdivision on May 15, 1996. The couple were issued a share certifi cate in Skyline. She added that there was no “conclusive evi dence” that Skyline later assigned its rights to the subdivision’s roadways and verges to Management, which was alleged to only have been incorporated on November 26, 2015, by two other homeowners, Henry Lightbourne and Jayson Sweeting.MsNewton alleged that “immediately” after being formed, Manage ment began issuing invoices for maintenance charges, some of which she claimed dated back to before its incorporation. She refused to pay the maintenance fees, although did pay the monthly gate charge. Sidney Collie, the former FNM MP and Cabinet minister, and a Lake Cun ningham resident, allegedly said at a December 2016 meeting that Manage ment could not charge maintenance fees dating from before it was formed. However, Mr Lightbourne countered that Mainte nance was formed to “act as the de facto associa tion” after the subdivision’s original developer stopped paying for maintenance and the security booth. He alleged that Mrs Newton had acknowledged Management as “the right ful body for the collection of maintenance fees” under an agreement she was said to have executed on Febru ary 11, 2009, although she did not respond to an offer of a 40 percent rebate on maintenance fee arrears. Mr Lightbourne alleged that Management had incurred $481,257 in expenses in the four years and three months to endMarch 2019, with an outside contractor, Seaview Man agement Services, finding there was an accrued bal ance of $391,673 since it was incorporated. He also claimed that Mrs Newton owes $12,675 in mainte nanceJusticefees.Stewart, though, found that Mr Lightbourne in his evidence had admit ted that Skyline was the designated homeowners association for the Lake Cunningham subdivision. Nor was Management named as the homeowners association in Mrs Newton’s conveyance, and there was no evidence that Skyline had assigned its rights to it.
PAGE
Minister’s chief spokesper son referred to the multiple food, construction material and other tariff cuts enacted in the 2022-2023 Budget.
Mr Roberts, meanwhile, said he was unsure who Mr Watson was referring to but added: “It’s certainly not us. They can’t point the finger at us. We’re trying to keep food on the Bahamian table at the best possible price. We don’t control the world. There are certain things beyond our control, but when we find out about them we take certain steps to mitigate them.
PAGE 20, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
between rival food stores should keep prices keen as con sumers can switch from higher-cost merchants that fail to pass on the Budget’s tariff cuts. And, when it comes to price-controlled foods, the Government has the necessary tools and authority to initiate action by the Price Control Commission.
The Paradise Island location will cater to both tourists and Bahamians in what is expected to be a “downtown Paradise Island”. Ms Moss added:
“This project will cost $7.5m. The actual store is 8,000 square feet, and we will be employing 75 perma nent
“There were some unfortunate things that happened at the time when they reduced the duty on eggs from 30 percent to 10 percent,” Mr Roberts explained. “Eggs went up in price by 50 percent in the US because of bird flu. They lost millions of chick ens. Prices took a leap but they’re coming back down. We import eggs three times’ a week. We have 18 perishable containers a week and adjust the prices accordingly.“Weexpect these price increases to go on. Inflation, I think, is going to continue through the first of the year and then start levelling off in the first quarter of 2023. We’ll see creams going up, we’ll see rice going up. I encourage consumers to buy what we offer because we’re offering the national brands but also putting in some private labels that cost considerably less.”
BREAKING ground on the new Sawyer’s Fresh Market on Paradise Island, part of Sterling Global’s Paradise Landing community. Pictured (L to R): Shafayne Allen, human resources director, Saw yer’s Fresh Market; Khaalis Rolle, president, Sterling Global Advisory; Stephen Tiller, chief execu tive and director, Sterling Global Financial; Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investment and aviation; David Kosoy, executive chairman and founder, director, Sterling Global Financial; Learline Moss, chief financial officer, Sawyer’s Fresh Market; Marcus Laing, partner and architect, TDG Architects.
FROM PAGE A24
“Now we know there are certain food stores who did bring reductions. We’ve heard about these and we’ve seen those, and I believe, rightfully, that’s the kind of question and pressures that (should) be put on retail operators and owners,” Mr Watson added. “The Government said that they put this relief in place so that Bahamians can feel the relief. . .That’s a good question for them to answer.“Certainly we can’t answer that. They ought to be able to tell you that, yes, we’ve reduced eggs or we have reduced milk. That is the kind of question we want to see people put to these wholesalers and retailers so that they can be accountable to their con sumers who are spending money with them because the relief is being put there by the Government.”
“Our system automati cally passes that [tax cuts] on. It goes through the computer, the cost of freight and duty, and if it goes up we check it and if the prices decrease we let it go through. We’ve passed on every single one.”
Food retailers: ‘You can’t make us’ tax scapegoat
Homeowners association barred from fee collection
The Government’s view is likely to be that it did as much as it could in the 2022-2023 Budget to ease cost of living and inflation ary pressures given that fiscal squeeze it faces itself. In its food tariff reduction measures, it appeared to target cuts that will have the greatest impact in mitigat ing the cost of living crisis. Besides chicken and eggs, the rate on pork was slashed from 25 percent to 10 per cent, while mashed potato became tariff-free from July 1 as opposed to the previ ous 35 percent rate. Protein powder was cut from 40 percent to zero, while flours of vegetable base saw its 35 percent duty rate com pletelyPreparedeliminated.beef,pork and turkey were dropped from 20 percent to zero, while raw ground nuts (peanuts) exceeding 10 percent also become tariff free. Pre pared salmon, herring and caviar were cut from a 40 percent import tariff to 20 percent - a drop in rate of some 50 percent.
The pricing regulator is presented with wholesal ers’ invoices and import bills of lading, and can cross-check these with their foreign suppliers. “The price-controlled prices come to us from the whole salers,” Mr Beneby added. “They cannot sell above the wholesale prices and margins that Price Con trol dictates and which are passed down. They cannot sell to us above that, and we put our price-controlled mark-up on it.”
‘Critically important’ to slash $3bn trade deficit
Mr Cambridge, mean while, reiterated that BPL’s hedging strategy remains “in place, operating just as it was set up” under the former administra tion despite Opposition charges that it effectively broke down when the nec essary trades or ‘strikes’ in September and December 2021.However, he added: “The market has not been right for the current hedging strategy. There are different strategies that can be used for different market condi tions, and we’re looking at this. We’re looking at all the metrics and trying to make the best business decision. “We’re actively look ing at the fuel mix. We’re looking at things opera tionally where we can try and enhance the efficiency of fuel consumption, and we’re looking at the rev enue side. There are things operationally that can be done to manage the cost better and other matters for how we address the rev enue side.” Mr Cambridge said BPL’s base tariff, fuel charge and hedging were all being assessed. “There are many variables, many, many working pieces. It’s one big balancing act trying to get the best cost out of it at the end of the day,” he added. Asked how confident he was that BPL can be turned around, Mr Cambridge replied: “I am positive we can do it. The will is there to get it done. I am rea sonably confident with the attention being paid to major concerns.” However, he declined to provide a timeframe.Thefailure to yet adjust BPL’s fuel charge for cur rent market conditions runs contrary to the Utilities Regulation and Competi tion Authority’s (URCA) expectations, for whom Mr Cambridge was head of electricity regulation prior to taking up his current post as head of the energy monopoly.URCA said in its 2021 annual report: “In July 2020, BPL commenced its fuel hedging programme which has resulted in the application of a fuel charge of 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) from com mencement to date. “It is URCA’s under standing that the current hedged fuel price will remain in place until June 2022, when it is subject to adjustment in accordance with current fuel prices and an agreed adjustment mechanism. It is noted that the goals of the hedge were not solely financial, but also economic as it was viewed as a means of stabilising the fuel charge component of electricity bills during a period of economic uncertainty and height ened reliance on electricity supply“Whileservices.URCA has moni tored the variance between hedged fuel price and an extrapolated fuel price uti lising pre-hedge indicators, prima facie it appears that the hedge has been benefi cial thus far.”
The only coun try where The Bahamas came close to having a phys ical goods trade balance was the UK, where imports of $24.134m were countered by $20.756m in exports for a deficit of just $3.378m. This nation’s economic model has traditionally relied on services exports, chiefly tourism and finan cial services, to generate foreign currency surpluses to cover the multi-billion dollar annual trade deficits incurred on physical goods.
THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 21 not authorised to speak publicly, have confirmed to this newspaper that the Government is indeed sub sidising its monthly fuel bill to maintain predict able costs for consumers even though such payments were not provided for in the 2022-2023 Budget. “They are, but they cannot do it for much longer,” one con tactThesaid. Opposition has charged that the Govern ment is acting illegally in subsidising BPL’s fuel costs because, under the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (Amendment) Regulations 2020 that were implemented to facilitate its fuel hedging initiative, these all have to be passed on to the end-consumer. Bahamian businesses and consumers, though, are likely to care little as long as energy costs remain predictable and relatively low amid soaring inflation elsewhere.However, Mr Cam bridge’s remarks indicate the Davis administration has yet to determine the way forward for BPL which remains another multimillion burden for the Bahamian people - both as customers and taxpay ers. Asked about the status of the proposed multi-fuel power plant and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Clifton Pier, the latter of which was supposed to be financed and developed by Shell North America, the BPL chief said: “There’s no activeAskednegotiations.”whether this meant the deal was dead, Mr Cambridge replied: “No, that doesn’t meant that. It only means it’s in abeyance at the moment; that’s the best way of put ting it. I’m not aware of any active negotiations.” It was a similar story with regard to the $535m BPL refi nancing left behind by the Minnis administration. “The Rate Reduction Bond, that, too, is kind of in abeyance,” Mr Cambridge told Tribune Business “There’s no active work being done on the Rate Reduction Bond. All alter natives are being explored, including the Rate Reduc tion Bond. Nothing has been taken off the table, but nothing has been final ised. We are looking at the best option given the cur rent“Whethermarket. you look at the fuel market and what’s going on there, the bond market and what’s going on there, that’s going to affect our decision - whether we go with fuel hedging, whether we go with the Rate Reduction Bond, whether we go with a loan. The experts are looking at it, and are going to come back with whatever recom mendations are best.”
“That’s what the new proposed Trade Policy is intended to do - to focus our attention on how that [deficit reduction] is to be accomplished by increas ing exports, looking to find ways to reduce imports and trying to be more efficient in trade activities,” he told this newspaper.“Ithink that is critically important. The trade defi cit is really the difference what we export and what we import, and if we are importing goods to the tune of a net $3bn, it means a lot of money is going out of the country to pay for those and we’re not keeping as much money in the economy to lend to people to buy homes, expand their businesses and invest in capital improve ments like infrastructure.
The 2021 data showed that The Bahamas’ trade deficit, which measures only the import and export of physical goods and does not capture services, increased by 60.8 percent year-overyear as normal global economic activity resumed following the COVID lock down and border closure disruption of 2020. The deficit, which meas ures by how much The Bahamas’ goods imports exceeded exports, jumped to $2.939bn from $1.828bn the prior year, with the latter figure impacted by the pan demic-related interruption to economic activity. It did not quite reach the record $3.004bn mark set in 2017, but was in line with 2018’s $3bn and 2019’s $2.783bn. “Estimates on exter nal or foreign trade show that during the year 2021 the value of commodities imported into The Bahamas totaled some $3.5bn, result ing in a 57.9 percent increase over 2020s’ total of $2.2bn,” the National Statistical Insti tute’s report said. “Mineral fuels, the larg est contributor to imports, totalled some $658m (or 19 percent) of all imports.
“What we ought to be doing, and the Government is seeking to do, is reduce the deficit and allow our selves to do more internally with the funds we collect. That’s why it’s important to minimise and get the trade deficit down. How do we do that? We export more, both in goods and in services.”
FROM PAGE A24
This was followed closely by the category of food and live animals, which accounted for 18 percent or $641m. Other categories that contributed significantly to total imports were machinery and trans port equipment, which accounted for nearly $631m (18 percent of total imports) and manufactured goods, which accounted for almost $480m or nearly 14 per cent of total imports.” Total imports were again in line with the levels recorded for 2017-2019, which stood at $3.478bn, $3.524bn and $3.321bn, respectively. As for exports, the report added: “Total exports (domestic and reexports) for 2021 totaled $543.4m. Domestic exports ($269.2m) accounted for 49.5 percent of total exports, while re-exports ($274.2m) accounted for 50.4 percent. “The major catego ries of domestic exports consisted mainly of food and live animals, which accounted for 21.3 per cent of total exports and chemicals (22.5 percent of total domestic export). Min eral fuels ($184.6m) and machinery and transport equipment ($43.3m) together represented 83 percent of re-exports, accounting for 67.3 percent and 15.8 per centAsrespectively.”forThe Bahamas’ major trading partners, the report added: “The US maintained its position as The Bahamas’ number one trading partner. While The Bahamas did a signifi cant amount of trade with China, Canada, Turks & Caicos and Japan, the US still represented 84.5 percent of total imports and about 75.8 percent of exports.”
The Bahamas’ trade defi cit with the US stood at $2.529bn, although it rep resented the major market for Bahamian exports at $411.741m.
While this system worked reasonably well prior to COVID, the resulting $3.2bn plunge in 2020 ser vices exports created huge shortfalls on both the goods and services sides that com bined for an overall deficit “higher than in any recent years”.The draft National Trade Policy, which is presently out for consultation, said tourism’s “collapse” at COVID-19’s peak “exposed the fragility” of The Baha mas’ current economic model by producing rare twin goods and services trade deficits worth a com bined $1.7bn. It added that the pandemic-induced eco nomic lockdown and border closures virtually wiped out tourism earnings that had produced a $311m total trade surplus just one year before.Asserting that trade will play a pivotal role in repo sitioning the Bahamian economy for the post-pan demic “new normal”, the National Trade Policy report said: “In the pre-COVID period, The Bahamas’ large services trade sur plus was roughly sufficient, and increasingly so, to counterbalance the goods trade
The $133m services trade deficit incurred in 2020 rep resented a major departure from prior year outcomes, which almost always pro duced surpluses - meaning The Bahamas earned more income than what it spent on importing services - ranging from $1.218bn to $2.637bn between 2016 and 2019.
Legislation to give legal underpinning to the Rate Reduction Bond was passed under the last Christie administration, with nowprime minister Philip Davis having primary responsibil ity for it. Had it proceeded, debt securities would have been issued to Bahamian and international inves tors to raise the necessary capital to refinance BPL’s then-$321m debt; pay for key transmission and dis tribution overhauls; and deal with legacy pension deficits and environmental liabilities.Thebond principal, and associated interest pay ments, would have been secured against - and paid by - electricity bill pay ments by BPL’s customers. However, this would have required a tempo rary increase in customer bills until improvements in BPL’s electricity costs kicked in to offset this, and the Minnis administra tion is understood to have declined last June to give the Rate Reduction Bond the go-ahead for fear of its impact on the upcoming election.The financial markets have now moved against the Rate Reduction Bond, with interest rates soaring as the US Federal Reserve and other central banks move to fight inflation. This means BPL’s bond would attract higher rates, leading to even greater electricity prices for consumers, which was why Prime Minister Philip Davis QC indicated previously it was unlikely to proceed.
BPL’s power plant deal, $535m funding ‘on hold’
FROM PAGE A24
Tribune Business understands, too, that negotiations with Shell North America had largely been completed under the former administration but, again, it did not approve the deal before the September 2021 general election. This would have seen the global energy giant acquire some of BPL’s latest Clifton Pier generation assets as part of a 220 Mega Watt (MW) multi-fuel plant that would have supplied Nassau’s baseload generation via a 20-25 year power purchase dealThere(PPA).was talk of the Bahamian government and/ or local investors having a significant minority stake in the power plant, while Shell was also to finance and con struct a terminal that would have enabled the use of LNG and thus lower gener ation costs. This, too, is now on hold with no certainty as to whether it will proceed.
“Thedeficit.strong performance of services, in particular the tourism sector, helped The Bahamas to achieve a combined goods and ser vices trade surplus for the first time in 2019, at $311m. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a collapse in services exports in 2020 to $1.3bn from $4.5bn a year earlier, less than the services imports of $1.4bn in that year.“The impact of the pan demic was thus a dual goods and services trade deficit with a combined value of $1.7bn, higher than any deficit in recent years and exposing the fragility of the country’s current trade model, which is based on a very narrow export base.”
disproportionate and out of keeping with the density of developments typical in Lyford“TheCay.proposed devel opment is intended to comprise 72 units but there are only 467 exist ing households presently in Lyford Cay (370 singlefamily household units and 97 multi-family household units). Whilst there are other condominium devel opments in the community, it is nowhere near the same scale as the proposed devel opment, and it is much less objectionable to residents due to the topography.
By YOURI KEMP Tribune ReporterBusiness ykemp@tribunemedia.net
NOTICE Ravana Company Development Ltd. In Voluntary Liquidation
PAGE 22, Friday, August 26, 2022 THE TRIBUNE
Alongside Sawyer’s Fresh Market, Paradise Landing will feature a restaurant, bars, a clinic and phar macy in addition to other retail spaces as part of the former Hurricane Hole’s second phase develop ment. The project already features a 700 Wines and Spirits store, as well as the newly-opened Hurricane Hole Superyacht Marina. Office space and residences are also involved in a com munity billed as Paradise Island’s equivalent of down townDavidNassau.Kosoy, Sterling Global’s chairman and chief executive, said: “This property was built with 100 percent Bahamian labour and we employed hundreds of people at any one time. “We’ve got two more big restaurants coming, we have more high-rise condominiums coming at the end here, all in due course. The lease has been signed there. We’ve got medical centres coming here to serve the island. We have pharmacies, we have hairdressers. We have everything to service the islands and the boats.” Mr Cooper, meanwhile, added of Sawyer’s Market’s inclusion: “This is a proud day because this is a domes tic investment, and it’s a Bahamian entity driving this development. It’s more than a supermarket that we’re celebrating today; it’s an investment of $7.5m and 10,000-plus square feet of shopping space. So this is a great day for Paradise Island, this is a great day for The Bahamas, a great day for investments, of course, and the tourism product.” The deputy prime min ister reiterated that the Bahamian tourism indus try is rebounding faster than any Caribbean rivals, and predicted that this nation will receive more than 5m cruise passengers for 2022. “Each day you look at the Nassau Cruise Port you can see five or six ships in the harbour,” Mr Cooper added.
By NEIL HARTNELL Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
And he also disclosed that Sterling is revising the development plan for Schooner Bay having taken over the project’s opera tions and management. Mr Kosoy said of the south Abaco community: “We’re changing the old plan to make it more friendly and we’re actually committing to a lot of money as we speak.“There’s over $100m invested in the deal, and there will be more coming in and there will be way more than that at the end of the project, but it’s moving along. The management there have asked us to help them. We know how to do it and we are work ing together was very well for the betterment of all TheSterling,Bahamas.”which is also redeveloping Paradise Island’s Hurricane Hole location, is overseeing all aspects of Schooner Bay’s operations - includ ing sales and marketing - after the project’s pro gress stagnated in recent years. Mr Kosoy was headed to Abaco yester day evening where he will meet with project teams for both Schooner Bay and the $300m Montage Cay development. Speaking to the latter, the Sterling chairman said: “We are building there now. We’ve got on site a lot of people, and it’s going along as we had planned. Vertical is going up and we’re get ting a really high-end resort there with high-end people coming and buying there besides the hotel.” Montage Cay will consist of a resort with 48 hotel rooms, in addition to 28 villas and 20 estate lots with purchase prices starting at $5m. “We’ve sold some already, and the villas are starting around $7m. We’ve sold a lot of those already,” said Mr Kosoy. Abaco project in ‘high eight-figure’ sales
Liquidator Services Ltd. situated at 3rd Floor Whitfield Tower, 4792 Coney Drive, Belize City, Belize is the Liquidator.
A Nassau-headquar tered developer yesterday confirmed it is investing hundreds of millions in Abaco and the surround ing cays via two projects that are progressing “quite well”.David Kosoy, Sterling Global’s chairman and chief executive, revealed that its ultra high-end resort project on 50-acre Mon tage Cay (the former Matt Lowe’s Cay) has gener ated real estate pre-sales in the “high eight figures” although he declined to provide a number.
Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, Ravana Company Development Ltd. is in dissolution as of August 24th, 2022. International Liquidator Services Limited, situated at 3rd Floor Withfield Tower, 4792 Coney Drive, Belize City, Belize is the Liquidator.
Tribune
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L I Q U I D A T O R
Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, SEABREEZE COURT LTD. is in dissolution as of August 16, International2022.
Keenan Johnson, the Town Planning Commit tee’s chairman, told Tribune Business that “after exten sive deliberations” on Tuesday it had decided to allow the development proposed by Eastmor Prop erties, headed by Michael Dingman’s son, to pro ceed to the next stage of the approvals process pro vided the number of units is reduced by 22. He added, via What’s App message, that the Committee also wants the height to be lowered by three storeys although it had deemed the devel opment compatible with the relevant land use and zoning requirements.
LTD. In Voluntary Liquidation
“The
“The occupancy density of the proposed develop ment is at a minimum 80 percent higher than current multi-family densities.... It has been noted that the proposed development would add an additional 216 bedrooms and 360 to 432 possible residents living in Lyford Cay,” the Asso ciation
“I’m delighted that the investors for Sawyer’s and Sterling [Global] saw this for what it could be and not for what it was, and they had a vision. It’s a big dream that’s being realised here today and they’ve put big money into it and, as a result of doing so, it has uplifted Paradise Island.”
NOTICEManagementYellowNOTICEDiamondLimitedISHEREBYGIVEN that pursuant to section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000 the dissolution of Yellow Diamond Management Limited has been completed and the company has been struck from the Register on the 10th day of August 2022. Baird One LiquidatorLimited
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act No. 45 of 2000 FINELAND CORPORATION LTD. (the “Company”)
Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No. 45 of 2000, the Dissolution of FINELAND CORPORATION LTD. has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 28th April, 2022.
LYFORD CAY CONDO DEVELOPER TO MOVE ON ‘FINAL APPROVAL’
Also the minister with responsibility for tourism, aviation and investments, Mr Cooper said: “This isn’t just a supermarket we are launching today. I think this is significant part for the tourism product.
Committee agrees that the proposed use by the appli cant for condominiums is compatible with the land [use],” Mr Johnson wrote. “The Committee consid ers the proposal of nine storeys and 72 units to be an overdevelopment of the site. However, the Commit tee is prepared to accept a proposal of a maximum six storeys and 50 units. The above is subject to the applicant obtaining a Traffic Impact Analysis and a Cer tificate of Environmental Clearance.”TheTown Planning Com mittee’s decision now places the onus on Mr Dingman and Eastmor to determine if they can accept a reduc tion in the project’s size, and whether it can work financially with a reduced number of units for sale. A reduced size could also help lower construction costs. Some may also view the decision as an effort to keep both sides happy - giving Eastmor a way to proceed while addressing some of its opponents’ concerns.
Charles Zonicle, director of physical planning, in an August 24, 2022, letter to Michael Alexiou of Alexiou & Associates, architects for the project, said the Town Planning Committee had come to its decision after reviewing “the scale and density of other develop ments in the vicinity of the project site”. He added that the Traf fic Impact Analysis “should investigate the viability of a second entrance from the Western Road”, and said: “The Committee has resolved to refuse the proposal of a nine-storey building and 72 units as it is deemed to be an overdevel opment of the site.” The project has gener ated significant concerns and objections from the Lyford Cay Property Owners Association and individual residents and homeowners. The Associa tion, in submissions crafted by its attorneys, Higgs & Johnson, alleged that the Eastmor project “could sound the death knell” for the way of life developed in the high-end, exclusive gated western New Provi dence community over the past 50-60 years. It had warned: “The proposed development, if implemented, would result in an extraordinary 15 per cent increase in the number of household units in Lyford Cay on less than 0.5 per cent of the land in Lyford Cay. This is completely
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Developer’s
The Association argued that the project site is sub ject to restrictive covenants that prevent multi-family development such as a condo project, but this was disputed by Eastmor, whose attorney is Allyson Maynard-Gibson QC, the former attorney general. Town Planning upheld the developer’s position. Eastmor said in an earlier statement: “The condominium development presents an attractive prop osition for persons seeking to downsize from their current residence, young professionals, as well as foreign residents relocating to The Bahamas for work purposes.“The high-rise project is expected to provide a tremendous economic stim ulus for the local economy both in the immediate and long-term, creating hun dreds of construction jobs, other spin-off employment opportunities as well as $15-$18m [Mrs MaynardGibson said $30m] to the Government in stamp duty.” Some 40 persons were said to have shown interest in acquiring units.
DAVID Kosoy (left), Sterling Global’s chairman and chief execu tive, is shown at yesterday’s Sawyer’s Fresh Market ground breaking on Paradise Island with Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation DEVELOPER FOR ‘UPLIFTING’ PI
Legal Notice
THE developer behind a controversial Lyford Cay condominium project yes terday said it will move forward to obtain “final approval” despite plan ning authorities requiring that the number of units be slashed by 30 percent. David Dingman, Eastmor Properties’ chief executive, did not directly address this or the Town Planning Com mittee’s stipulation that the condo complex’s height be cut by one-third - from nine storeys to six storeys - in a statement to Tribune Business Focusing on the posi tive, he pointed out that the Committee had upheld Eastmor’s argument that the project site could be used for a condominium development and pledged that the developer will now move to complete the stud ies and other approvals needed.“Eastmor is most appre ciative of the decision of the Town Planning Com mittee, which has affirmed the use of its land as a condominium site,” Mr Dingman said. “It looks forward to completing the studies requested by the Town Planning Committee, speaking with community stakeholders and to obtain ing final approval, so that building may commence. “As well as the positive economic impact antici pated, these condominiums will provide a vibrant Baha mian space for people who wish to enjoy condominium living.” The Town Plan ning Committee gave the go-ahead provided that Eastmor Properties reduces the density, scale and size of the proposed development.
SEABREEZENOTICECOURT
DPM HAILS HURRICANE HOLE
By YOURI KEMP Tribune ReporterBusiness ykemp@tribunemedia.net
THE deputy prime minister yesterday hailed Sterling Global’s multi-mil lion dollar Hurricane Hole redevelopment for “uplift ing Paradise Island” and the wider Bahamian tourism product.Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony for Sawyer’s Fresh Market, which will serve as the food store for the Paradise Landing community that Sterling Global is devel oping as well as visiting boaters, Chester Cooper praised the latter’s work in developing the site into a major marina destination and for involving Baha mian-owned companies.
AFBIBI INVESTMENTS LTD. In Voluntary Liquidation Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, AFBIBI INVESTMENTS LTD. is in dissolution as of August 11, 2022. International Liquidator Services Ltd. situated at 3rd Floor Whitfield Tower, 4792 Coney Drive, Belize City, Belize is the Liquidator.
“Thecontinued.proposed develop ment would appear likely to lead to over 100 additional cars moving around Lyford Cay on a daily or near-daily basis, without even account ing for the ordinary ingress and egress of non-residents in connection with the pro posed development.”
Culture and Employee Quality You are only as good as the weakest member of your team. If you have one person dragging down the culture or attitude, it can become cancerous. High-growth companies that are hiring staff quickly run the risk of sacrificing a solid employee culture and product quality. Focus on building a cohe sive group of like-minded individuals who believe in your company’s mission, and you will be able to punch far above your weight class. The additional headache of creating and managing departments, divisions and units to organise the division of labour is strenuous and challenging. Many make the decision to remain small to avoid this immense bother. The Boutique Route If you have an expertise and are in the client ser vices industry, a boutique is the way to go because you have flexibility and can work on the projects you want to work on. You do not have to deal with multiple head aches involving growth and numerous employees. Stay small and partner with larger com panies or agencies that can offer greater back-end sup port. This will allow you to make more money without all the headaches. Boutique firms can be highly success ful, which people sometimes forget because they are not always expanding or hiring.
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marine Forecast WINDS WAVES VISIBILITY WATER TEMPS. ABACO Today: SE at 6 12 Knots 2 4 Feet 9 Miles 87° F Saturday: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 87° F ANDROS Today: SE at 6 12 Knots 0 1 Feet 6 Miles 88° F Saturday: ESE at 6 12 Knots 0 1 Feet 7 Miles 88° F CAT ISLAND Today: ESE at 6 12 Knots 2 4 Feet 6 Miles 86° F Saturday: ESE at 7 14 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 86° F CROOKED ISLAND Today: E at 8 16 Knots 2 4 Feet 9 Miles 85° F Saturday: E at 8 16 Knots 2 4 Feet 7 Miles 85° F ELEUTHERA Today: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 87° F Saturday: ESE at 6 12 Knots 1 3 Feet 8 Miles 87° F FREEPORT Today: SSE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 9 Miles 88° F Saturday: SE at 4 8 Knots 0 1 Feet 8 Miles 88° F GREAT EXUMA Today: SE at 7 14 Knots 0 1 Feet 6 Miles 87° F Saturday: ESE at 7 14 Knots 1 2 Feet 8 Miles 88° F GREAT INAGUA Today: NE at 8 16 Knots 2 4 Feet 10 Miles 85° F Saturday: E at 8 16 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 85° F LONG ISLAND Today: E at 8 16 Knots 1 3 Feet 7 Miles 86° F Saturday: E at 8 16 Knots 1 3 Feet 8 Miles 86° F MAYAGUANA Today: E at 8 16 Knots 3 5 Feet 10 Miles 85° F Saturday: ESE at 8 16 Knots 3 5 Feet 7 Miles 85° F NASSAU Today: ESE at 6 12 Knots 0 1 Feet 7 Miles 87° F Saturday: ESE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 8 Miles 87° F RAGGED ISLAND Today: E at 8 16 Knots 2 4 Feet 5 Miles 86° F Saturday: E at 8 16 Knots 1 3 Feet 10 Miles 86° F SAN SALVADOR Today: SE at 6 12 Knots 1 2 Feet 7 Miles 86° F Saturday: ESE at 7 14 Knots 1 2 Feet 7 Miles 86° F uV inDex toDay The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 L tracking map Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. NS EW S 6 12 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots NS EW S 7 14 knots NSW S E 8 16 knots NSW E 8 16 knots NS EW S 6 12 knots | Go to AccuWeather.com
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THE TRIBUNE Friday, August 26, 2022, PAGE 23
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Forgoing growth can be major profit boost FERGUSON IAN Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Low:ORLANDO76°F/24° C High: 90° F/32° C Low:TAMPA78°F/26° C High: 89° F/32° C WEST PALM BEACH Low: 79° F/26° C High: 92° F/33° C FT.High:Low:LAUDERDALE82°F/28°C91°F/33°C KEY WEST Low: 83° F/28° C High: 90° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C High: 90° F/32° C Low:ABACO80°F/27° C High: 90° F/32° C High:Low:ELEUTHERA78°F/26°C89°F/32°C RAGGED ISLAND Low: 79° F/26° C High: 88° F/31° C GREAT EXUMA Low: 80° F/27° C High: 88° F/31° C CAT ISLAND Low: 78° F/26° C High: 88° F/31° C SANHigh:Low:SALVADOR78°F/26°C89°F/32°C CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS Low: 79° F/26° C High: 88° F/31° C LONG ISLAND Low: 79° F/26° C High: 88° F/31° C MAYAGUANALow:80°F/27°CHigh:88°F/31°C GREAT INAGUA Low: 80° F/27° C High: 89° F/32° C Low:ANDROS80°F/27° C High: 91° F/33° C Low: 78° F/26° C High: 91° F/33° C FREEPORT NASSAULow: 81° F/27° C High: 93° F/34° C MIAMI THE WEATHER REPORT 5-Day Forecast Showers around in the a.m.; cloudy High: 90° AccuWeather RealFeel 102° F The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day. Mainly cloudy with a thunderstorm Low: 79° AccuWeather RealFeel 88° F Partly sunny with a shower High: 91° AccuWeather RealFeel Low: 79° 102°-86° F Sunshine with a shower in spots High: 90° AccuWeather RealFeel Low: 78° 100°-85° F A stray t‑storm; breezy in the a.m. High: 91° AccuWeather RealFeel Low: 80° 101°-88° F A thundershower in spots High: 90° AccuWeather100°-87°RealFeelF Low: 79° TODAY TONIGHT SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY almanac High 91° F/33° C Low 79° F/26° C Normal high 89° F/31° C Normal low 76° F/24° C Last year’s high 86° F/30° C Last year’s low 69° F/21° C As of 2 p.m. yesterday 0.00” Year to date 39.04” Normal year to date 23.92” Statistics are for Nassau through 2 p.m. yesterday PrecipitationTemperature sun anD moon tiDes For nassau Aug.New27 Sep.First3 Sep.Full10 Sep.Last17 Sunrise 6:48 a.m. Sunset 7:35 p.m. Moonrise 6:02 a.m. Moonset 7:33 p.m. MondaySundaySaturdayToday High Ht.(ft.) Low Ht.(ft.) 7:57 a.m. 2.8 2:07 a.m. 0.8 8:19 p.m. 3.3 2:01 p.m. 0.6 8:35 a.m. 2.9 2:42
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• NB: Ian R Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having com pleted graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing rel evant solutions to their business growth and devel opment issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@ coralwave.com. a.m. 8:55 p.m. p.m. 9:13 a.m. 3:16 a.m. 9:31 p.m. 3:21 p.m. 9:51 a.m. 3:50 a.m. 10:07 p.m. 4:01 p.m. 10:30 a.m. 3.2 4:24 a.m. 0.5 10:44 p.m. 3.1 4:43 p.m. 0.7 11:12 a.m. 3.2 5:00 a.m. 0.5 11:25 p.m. 3.0 5:29 p.m. 0.8 11:58 a.m. 3.2 5:40 a.m. 0.5 6:19 p.m. 0.9
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Growth is a long-term objec tive for most businesses. However, some firms never grow and remain as small businesses forever. Here are a few factors that explain why some businesses do not have growth as the main objective. Control One thing the founders of larger companies have to give up is a certain level of control. If you choose to stay small, you can often have more balance in your life and pursue other inter ests and passions along the way. Profit Staying small and having lower operating costs increases your mar gins, which leads to profit. High-growth companies often negate profit as their goal in lieu of selling their operation as a value-add to another company regard less of unprofitability. If you want your business to con tinually make profit, and give bonuses and good pay, then grow at a logical pace that is sustainable. Niche Domination Sometimes remain ing small can allow for greater expertise in a given field or industry and greater market penetration. Focus ing on one specific area of business not only facilitates a greater measure of growth, but it also strengthens the overall company brand. Remaining small helps to perfect your company’s core competencies. Quality and Efficiency One of the great head aches involved in running a larger enterprise is the enormous cost of overhead expenses and the higher amount of raw materi als and other inputs that are required. Remaining a small, dedicated, focused and, perhaps, home-based business ensures your abil ity to manage quality and efficiency. The strong rec ommendation from many who have expended is to stay small, agile and nimble to stay alive.
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Food retailers: ‘You scapegoatmakecan’tus’tax
• Sector
FOOD retailers yesterday hit back over assertions that some merchants have not passed the Budget’s tariff cuts on to consumers via reduced prices, adding: “You can’t point the finger of blame at us.” Philip Beneby, the Retail dent,Association’sGrocerspresitold
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Tribune Business the industry was an easy target and scapegoat after Clint Watson, the Prime Min ister’s press secretary, made a thinly-veiled suggestion that not all stores have passed the anticipated savings on to food shoppers. While providing no names or evidence, Mr Watson said the sector has “a responsibil ity to pass that relief on” to Bahamians and called on the public to hold the food retail and wholesale industry “accountable” for the prices they are charging now the tax cuts have been effect for some two months. Asked about the Government’s plans to ease the cost of living crisis faced by many Bahamian families, amid surging inflation and widespread price increases, the Prime
business@tribunemedia.net FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022
By YOURI KEMP Tribune ReporterBusiness ykemp@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SEE PAGE A20 SEE PAGE A21 SHEVONN CAMBRIDGE • Top
A Freeport-headquar tered supermarket will break into the New Provi dence market in 2023 via a $7.5m investment at Para dise Island’s Hurricane Hole redevelopment that will create 75 permanent jobs.Lerline Moss, Sawyer’s Fresh Market’s chief finan cial officer, told Tribune Business that the expansion marks the 10th anniversary of a food store chain that was started by its principal selling groceries out of a van. Some 50 construction jobs will be created during the 8,000 square foot Para dise Island store’s build-out, with the company already employing 150 full-time staff.Ms Moss said: “Things are going pretty good. We were able to survive the pandemic, but the food business was something that flourished during the pan demic, and so we are just excited about this oppor tunity to move into the Nassau market. “The Freeport market has its challenges, but the way that we are able to sustain $7.5m PI food store to create 75 posts
THE TRADE Commis sion’s chairman yesterday said it was “critically impor tant” to slash a near-$3bn trade deficit that has rebounded to pre-COVID levels if The Bahamas is to expand its economy faster. Philip Galanis, also man aging partner at the HLB Galanis accounting firm, told Tribune Business that the 2021 trade data released by the National Statistical Institute highlighted “the tremendous opportunity” for The Bahamas to narrow this deficit and keep more of its foreign currency earn ings circulating at home to stimulate greater economic activity.
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The BPL chief, though, declined to confirm if the Government is now actu ally subsidising the utility’s monthly multi-million fuel bill, although there is every indication that it is since the fuel charge on this editor’s latest electricity bill shows the fuel charge still at 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh) - the same level it was at prior to June 2022 when, under regu lations enacted two years ago, it is supposed to be adjusted to account for prevailing global oil prices. “I’m not able to speak to that,” Mr Cambridge said, when asked by this news paper if the Government is subsidising BPL’s fuel costs. “All I can tell you is that the fuel charge has not been adjusted yet.” Asked when this would occur, he replied: “No idea because that has still to be fleshed out with the Government.”Well-placed BPL sources, speaking on condition of ano nymity because they were
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‘Critically important’ to slash $3bn trade deficit
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A LAKE Cunningham homeowners association was yesterday barred from demanding maintenance fees from a subdivision’s residents after the Supreme Court ruled it has no stand ing to levy the charges. Justice Diane Stewart found that Lake Cunning ham Estates Common Area Management Com pany did not have the right to obtain payments from homeowners in the western New Providence subdivision bearing the same name because it was not incorporated as an “improvement association” under the proper Act. Besides being formed under the Companies Act, rather than the cor rect Subdivisions (Local Improvement Associa tions) Act, Justice Stewart found “the legal and right ful homeowner association” for Lake Cunningham Estates was a different entity - Skyline Lakes Asso ciation. This company, albeit inactive, had never transferred or assigned its rights and role - including maintenance fee collection - to Lake Cunningham
BPL’s power plant deal, $535m funding ‘on hold’ executive: ‘No active work’ on either transaction Declines to say if Gov’t subsidising BPL’s fuel costs off the table’ but way forward undecided says it’s an ‘easy blame target’ for high prices PM spokesman hints some not passing tax cuts on Super Value chief: ‘We passed on every single one’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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Homeowners association barred from fee collection
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Power & Light’s (BPL) top executive last night revealed the trou bled utility’s mammoth $535m refinancing and New Provi dence power plant deal with Shell are both “in abeyance”. Shevonn Cambridge told Tribune Business that while “nothing has been taken off the table” when it comes to solving the state-owned util ity monopoly’s woes, “no active work” or negotiations are taking place on either the Rate Reduction Bond (RRB) or outsourcing New Providence’s baseload gen eration needs to Shell North America.Bothtransactions were left on the drawing board by the former Minnis administra tion, which elected to pull the trigger on neither, and they remain on hold under its suc cessor. Mr Cambridge said BPL’s management, Board and the Government were exploring “the best options” for addressing the power producer’s financial and oper ational woes, “but nothing’s finalised” almost one year into the Davis administra tion’s term in office.
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