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FOUR POLICE CHARGED OVER SUSPECT’S DEATH

By PAVEL BAILEY

FOUR police officers were charged with manslaughter yesterday in connection with the shooting death of Danrico Alexander Carey.

Officers Archibald Miller, 29, Thomas Thurston Jr, 30, Lee Dormeus, 29, and Kevin Greenslade, 29, appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence A Rolle Davis to answer to the manslaughter charges relating to Carey’s death on November 13, 2021 in Nassau Village.

According to an official police report released after the incident, officers were responding to reports of

a suspect in possession of a firearm near an establishment on Alexandria Boulevard shortly after 3am.

Once on the scene, the suspect was identified and he was approached by officers as he was getting into his car. The officers then tried to have the suspect stop and get out of his vehicle with their service weapons drawn which caused the man to speed off in his vehicle towards the officers, the police report alleged.

Fearing for their lives, the officers discharged their weapons at the car, but the suspect was able to evade the shots and flee the scene.

SEE PAGE FIVE

THE union representing National Insurance Board employees has renewed calls for the government to finalise its outstanding industrial agreement which it says expired over two years ago.

Cassandra CartwrightLewis, president of the Public Managers Union, told reporters yesterday that terms outlined in the new industrial agreement were mostly approved by NIB board members with the exception of “only two items” that are still being discussed.

While she refused to say what those “items” included, Mrs CartwrightLewis said the union has come to understand the contract must now secure approval from Cabinet, a situation she described as puzzling. She also explained this does not fall in line with current protocols.

“Never in the history have I heard that once the board has made a decision that the agreement is forwarded to the minister for Cabinet’s approval to bring resolve to the industrial agreement,” the union president said.

SEE PAGE THREE

- SEE PAGE EIGHT

DAVIS: WE’LL INTERVENE TO OFFSET RISING COSTS IN a meeting with stakeholders yesterday, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis indicated his administration’s “readiness to make critical policy interventions” to offset rising costs brought on by global inflation.

This is according to a press release from the Office of the Prime Minister.

SEE PAGE FOUR

UNION PUZZLED WHY DEAL NEEDS CABINET SIGN OFF

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FRONT PORCH: MIXED SIGNALS WHEN BOLD ACTION NEEDED

TRAVEL VISA SCHEME HAS AUDITOR’S APPROVAL

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PLEASE, TAKE YOUR MEDICINE US Chargé d’Affaires Usha Pitts and Minister of Health and Wellness pictured with 32,400 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses that arrived in The Bahamas yesterday. This is the third shipment of Pfizer doses received from the US, according to the US Embassy. See PAGE FOUR for the full story.

Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

‘PLEDGE SUMMIT WAS UN EVENT, NOT OURS’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis says when people mock the 2020 Hurricane Dorian pledge conference, they are in fact knocking the work of the United Nations Development Programme, not his administration.

“First of all, the pledges were not organised by The Bahamas government so don’t try to chastise (The)

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis at the pledging conference in 2020.

Bahamas government. The UN, the United Nations that we all know about, they were the ones that organised the pledge, they

do that throughout the world anytime there is a catastrophe. So when you attack, you are attacking the UN, not us,” he said yesterday.

However, the UNDP in a press statement after the conference, did not claim unilateral responsibility for the event - it said the event was organised by the government of The Bahamas in partnership with the UNDP. SEE PAGE FIVE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

THE Office of the Auditor General commended the Ministry of Tourism for its implementation of the Bahamas Travel Visa Programme, an initiative the Progressive Liberal Party criticised last year.

Auditors found some discrepancies in accounting records for the programme and concluded the Ministry of Tourism opened a Bank of the Bahamas account with payment processing SEE PAGE TEN

STATESIDE WHICH OPTION WILL PUTIN TAKE?

- SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Thursday, February 17, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

BLAZE RIPS THROUGH ABANDONDED BUILDING ON CUMBERLAND ST

THE CHARRED building after the fire on Cumberland Street.

Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff A FIRE ripped through an abandoned building on Cumberland Street, just north of Government House, on Tuesday night.

Director of Fire Services Chief Superintendent Kendrick Morris told The Tribune that there were no bodies found in the structure nor injuries reported.

“The Fire Department received reports of a building fire on Cumberland Street just north of Government House and they responded with three appliances,” he said yesterday.

“Upon arrival, they met a two-story stone abandoned structure engulfed in flames and it was quickly

extinguished; however, the scene was left completely destroyed by fire.”

CSP Morris said due to windy conditions Tuesday night, firefighters responded proactively to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby buildings. An investigation is continuing into the cause of the fire.

MARCO Alert BAJA WHOPPER final testing ‘in NE W

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coming weeks’

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By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

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Nassau

THE Ministry of National Security in partnership with Bahamas Telecommunications Company yesterday conducted the final testing of the MARCO Alert system, with full rollout of the platform expected “in the coming weeks”.

Speaking during a press conference at the ministry’s headquarters, ACP Zhivago Dames told reporters that the testing exercise was one of many carried out by the ministry in preparation for full deployment.

While he could not give a timeline for when the system will become fully operational, the assistant commissioner said officials are hoping it will be soon as other phases have already been completed.

“This is actually a test today,” ACP Dames said.

“We have already mentioned the launched phases of the MARCO Alert like the billboards and the main framework with our local vendor Multimedia (Technologies). We would have done some testing already.

Today is just a test with BTC to ensure and to show the public that the system can work... Based on what we would have seen thus far, in the coming weeks we will roll the system out officially.

“So, we are at a good space today where we have tested and know that the system is actually already to go with the other phases that have already been installed.”

The MARCO Alert, which stands for Mandatory Aggressive Action for Rescuing Children Operation (MARCO), was established after the murder of 11-yearold Marco Archer in 2011.

Young Marco went missing near his home and was found dead days later.

The system is designed to alert citizens across The Bahamas electronically when a child goes missing to heighten public awareness and increase the chances of recovering them safely.

However, the platform also will be utilised for other purposes, including sending emergency messages about approaching hurricanes among other things.

Yesterday, Marco’s sister, Tancia Humes described the initiative as long overdue.

“Every time we get a call to attend one of these (events), it brings back a lot of feelings,” Ms Humes told reporters. “It puts us back right where we were before in terms of thinking about it and memories coming back and just hearing everything mentioned over again, but like I said, it’s long awaited and this alert was definitely necessary based on our experience.

“We felt as if it’s something that would help and now it’s here and we just hope that people speak up and say something and we can get the ball rolling and catch these monsters.”

For his part, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said he was happy with the progress made so far.

He also explained how the system will work once fully implemented, adding the process will first begin with a report being made to police.

He added: “A family upon determining that their child is missing and likely to have been abducted will make a report to a police

officer who has a duty to enter it in the police system and direct the same to the Central Detective Unit.

“The investigator will determine whether on the report there is cause to believe whether the child may have been abducted and in the words of the regulation - ‘there’s reasonable cause to believe the child is in danger of serious bodily injury or death.’

“Once that has been determined, the protocols for an alert having been met, the Commissioner of Police will initiate the system to get the information on the missing child broadcasted and published by the media and other partners and also on the MARCO Alert billboards that are set up in New Providence and some Family islands.”

Mr Munroe said determining the alert’s frequency among other things will be his responsibility alone.

He also revealed that in cases where children are found, “the director of social services will be notified to ensure necessary care is provided for the child”.

“The intent of this alert system is to ensure that no family will have to suffer the heartache and trauma of being told they have to wait 48 hours before a search can begin for a missing child,” the minister added, noting the system is just one of many tools available to protect children in the country.

Meanwhile, BTC CEO Andre Foster described yesterday as a “momentous” day for the company.

He also reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to assisting in the national effort to protect children and those most vulnerable in Bahamian society.

Mr Foster added: “We have worked with the ministry very closely to ensure that we bring to life (the) MARCO Alert system.

Today we are demonstrating our commitment to make sure that children of The Bahamas are safe,” he said.

“Today for the MARCO alert, we realise that this is about protecting children and at BTC and Liberty Latin America, our parent company, we have taken a very strong stance against gender-based violence and protecting those that are most vulnerable.”

Testing exercises of the system have also been successful on other communication providers.

Last November, ALIV, a company under Cable Bahamas’ umbrella, said it stood ready for the launch of the alert system.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 3

Union puzzled why deal needs Cabinet sign off from page one “I’ve never heard of it and so we’ve had discussions. We’ve advised the board that that is not the normal protocol, okay. The board has indicated that they want to bring it to a closure quickly and amicably but what does quickly and amicable mean? If the board is in place and has made certain decisions, why can’t we have the agreement completed, signed off and registered?”

Her comments to reporters came after she met with union members outside NIB’s headquarters yesterday, updating workers on the status of their expired labour contract.

She said workers are now fed up and just want the matter resolved as soon as possible.

She also urged the Davis administration to live up to its promises outlined in last year’s Memorandum of Understanding with union leaders, in which

MEMBERS of the NIB union protest yesterday.

Photo: Racardo Thomas/Tribune Staff it committed to ensuring long-standing labour issues are resolved.

“It was agreed by way of the old Memorandum of Understanding back in 1997 - having been amended on the 26th of August 2021 that the relationship with the unions will be more positive and matters relating to industrial agreements will be addressed immediately forthwith.

“We have given seven months to the new administration. Seven months... We

have said we understand the economy and economic crisis, but if the board can get together and make a decision on matters as it relates to employment, new hires and promotions and the likes, how is that our industrial agreement which has been outstanding for 26 months has not gotten the same priority as all the other matters?

“We are asking the National Insurance Board to bring this matter to an end. The previous

presented within the first quarter of this year.

“The latest thing is that you would note that in our blueprint we touted that we would increase the minimum wage or we would move the minimum wage to a liveable wage,” he told reporters following the morning sitting of Parliament.

“We currently are working very closely with the Office of the Attorney General and we are anticipating that the legislation will be ready very soon and we’ll be able to present it very soon in this Parliament.”

Asked to reveal what wage was being proposed, he said: “Well again we call it a liveable wage because we anticipate that we will be removing the minimum wage and again that is a decision for the Cabinet to determine. It obviously has financial implications, significant, and so we would have to wait until (for) what the Cabinet determines.”

Meanwhile, a promised honorarium for Bahamas Department of Immigration officers is still in the works, although it has not yet gone before Cabinet. The officers

were promised the payment after an unprecedented number of migrants were apprehended in Inagua last September.

“There has been some progress in that respect and again that is a decision for the Cabinet to make but you’ll recall that was unprecedented and I do believe that they ought to be properly compensated in some way and we intend to do that.”

Mr Bell also said: “The process is as you would appreciate all of these things have financial implications and so the appropriate thing to do would be to communicate with the Ministry of Finance to see where it is because this isn’t money that was necessarily budgeted for and so we want to make sure that I don’t necessarily speak out of turn and act out of turn and that the monies are there and then we can move from there.”

Regarding a job fair over the weekend, the minister said 86 people made redundant from the British Colonial Hilton had been hired on the spot. He told

administration allowed it to run on for their time.

The new administration has made a commitment to the trade unions of the country to have these matters addressed.”

She added: “What is so interesting are there are only two items to either say yes or no to bring this industrial agreement to a conclusion, two items that have been outstanding now for the past five months and so we’re asking them to make a decision and let’s get them done.”

Asked yesterday if the union plans to take action if the agreement is not concluded, Mrs Cartwright-Lewis did not give a definitive answer.

“I’m not getting to that yet,” she replied. “I am hopeful that this agreement will be resolved, and we need not get to that, but I assure you whatever matters must be addressed outside of that, we have the full support of the thirtyseven affiliates of the Trade Union Congress and other

affiliates from the NCTU.” Similar comments were echoed by officials from the Commonwealth of The Bahamas Trade Union Congress, who were also present at yesterday’s meeting.

“We will not allow any administration to disrespect or abuse any of our affiliates,” said TUC communications director, Fred Munnings.

“All of us stand squarely behind the position of our Lewis that was articulated this morning. Get it done and get it done now because we were tired of being abused by the former administration for four and a half years and we will not allow this administration or any other administration to disrespect our organisations.”

In a statement issued yesterday, NIB said it appreciates the employees’ decision to agitate for a new agreement and said the agency looks forward to the date when a new document will be signed.

NIB said the old agreement expired December 31, 2019, and that the entity and the PMU have been in “amicable dialogue” for the past 12 months to settle a new agreement.”

In the two short months since being constituted, the present board members extended the olive branch to the employees and today’s actions will not change that,” NIB said.

“Discussions have been productive with some matters successfully concluded.

There are two matters to be settled before NIB and the PMU can conclude a new agreement.

“In the meantime, NIB will continue to work towards improving delivery of services to the public.

PMU members are members of the NIB family. Our goals are similar and we will continue to work collaboratively for one common objective. We reiterate that NIB will continue its best efforts to conclude an Agreement with PMU in the very near future.”

reporters he was awaiting a final tally of the number of hired people.

“I cannot give you the final numbers but up to the point when I was there they hired 86 persons on the spot and that was earlier in the day and so I’m just waiting on the final numbers from

the department and Sandals personnel, which I should get hopefully between today and tomorrow but I want to commend again Mr Whitehead and the fine team at Sandals and certainly the Department of Labour for the outpouring for their commitment for

their organisation. It was well oiled and the people turned out in significant numbers. Not only the persons from the Hilton Hotel, but also other persons from off scene and they too took advantage of the opportunity and some of them were hired.”

MINIMUM WAGE PROPOSALS READY FOR PARLIAMENT ‘VERY SOON’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

IMMIGRATION and Labour Minister Keith Bell said officials anticipate that legislation for a new minimum wage will be ready to present to Parliament “very soon”.

It is the government’s intention to have the minimum wage of $210 per week replaced by a higher wage that could be around $250 per week.

The Progressive Liberal Party promised to revise the wage before winning the September general election.

However, Mr Bell said it was not yet known what the new wage will be as this was a decision that carried financial implications and is up to the Cabinet to decide.

Tribune Business reported yesterday that the National Tripartite Council would be forwarding its recommendation to Cabinet “within the month” on what it believes the new minimum wage should be.

Mr Bell said he was optimistic that legislation to set the new minimum would be

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PAGE 4, Thursday, February 17, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

US delivers 32,000 Pfizer doses

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE United States delivered 32,400 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses to The Bahamas yesterday.

This represents the third shipment of Pfizer doses the country has received from the US, according to the US Embassy in Nassau, which is evidence of America’s continued support of the Bahamian people in the fight against the pandemic.

This donation, through the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), adds to the 263,250 vaccine doses delivered to The Bahamas in 2021.

While at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), US Chargé d’Affaires Usha E Pitts said this donation will bolster The Bahamas’ vaccination campaign.

“So this is a really great day. It means The Bahamas will be able to continue their vaccination campaign, which is so important as we are still working through

this pandemic. I think we all know that if you want to get back to normal, the way to get there is through widespread vaccinations,” Ms Pitts said.

She added: “Today, we

have 32,000 vaccines and we’re looking for a total of 395,000 vaccines and so we’re about 100,000 vaccines out. So we expect additional deliveries or deliveries in the future to

ensure that any Bahamian at any time who wants to get vaccinated will have the opportunity to do that.”

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said that nearly 50

percent of the eligible population are vaccinated. Of this figure, he said 31 percent are in the age group of 12 to 17.

Asked about access to paediatric vaccines, he said: “We’re pushing very hard paediatric vaccines. We are in the diplomatic circles trying to find countries that would assist us and we’re hopeful, but there has been no definitive answer as yet.”

Asked if he was pleased with the uptake of vaccines yesterday, he said: “We’re concerned because we’re working very hard through our social mobilisation programme to get more vaccines in arms. We met the PAHO expectation which was 40 percent for 2021. We want to go as far as we can. We’re looking to achieve a goal of about 70 to 80 percent before the end of the year.”

He said if the country finds itself to have a surplus of vaccines, there is a plan that is already in place where “we can distribute to people or countries in the region”.

a five-day test window for vaccinated people looking to enter the country.

“We are mindful to do some things,” he said, when asked about possible loosening of restrictions. “As a matter of fact as we speak, our EOC is now looking at ways on how we can loosen a bit, particularly at our borders and other areas within the country. But I made it very clear yesterday (Tuesday) that the numbers is one area, but we have to look at our hospitals. Our hospitals are challenged and so when we make decisions, we need to make decisions as it relates to

both, not just the numbers.”

Asked to elaborate, Dr Darville said: “Well at the borders we have testing modalities in place. We are mindful that as it stands right now individuals who are vaccinated who are trying to get into the country, they need to do a rapid antigen test within 72 hours.

“We have a plan locally when you arrive, particularly those who are involved in the travel visa, that they would be tested within 48 hours and that was changed to 72 hours and now it may go back to five days.

“So I would know exactly what the outcome of the

EOC would be today and there will be modifications to the Health Services Rules to reflect some of the changes that will take place.”

According to current rules posted on bahamas. com, “fully vaccinated persons travelling to The Bahamas from other countries will be required to obtain a negative COVID19 test. . .taken no more than three days (72 hours) prior to the date of arrival to The Bahamas.”

Asked about plans to relax rules for events, Dr Darville said this is one of the areas being looked at, but suggested current

hospital figures don’t support a need for change in this area at the moment.

“Well of those things we’re taking into consideration,” he said. “We need to get other sectors of the economy open and events are one of those areas that we’re looking at. We don’t think our hospital numbers are at that point right now and the challenges we have at the hospital, particularly with the fatigue of the staff as well as some infrastructural challenges and manpower resources. We’re looking to resolve those problems and once they are in place we know that we

FROM left, Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan, US Chargé d’Affaires Usha Pitts, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville, Dr Gina Archer and Nurse Ruth Bastian.

Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

For her part, Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan explained: “As it relates to the plan that we have in place, we have worked closely for quite awhile with PAHO as well as CARICOM CARPHA Caribbean Public Health Agency and so what we did when we realised that we had vaccinations that would be expiring we sent a note out saying to them that we have these vaccines and whether or not you know any of our sister countries would actually benefit from them.

“We’ve had a very good response. I think it’s about almost 30,000 doses that we will actually be getting to our sister countries - Jamaica, St Kitts, Grenada. Those are the ones that are right on the tip of my tongue, but that helps because if we were to be in a similar position we can also reach out.”

Dr McMillan noted that the doses will not have expired when they get to these countries.

would be in a better position if we do have a spike to handle the case load.”

This comes as the COVID-19 daily case count remains low, with the Ministry of Health reporting that 33 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded on Tuesday, while two additional deaths were reported.

These deaths were previously under investigation.

Seven hundred and sixtyeight people have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Forty people are in hospital with the virus, three of whom are in the intensive care unit.

MINISTRY CONSIDERING LOOSENING TESTING RESTRICTIONS

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said the Ministry of Health’s Emergency Operations Centre is looking at “loosening” the country’s border testing restrictions.

His comment to reporters came a day after he suggested no loosening of restrictions was imminent due to ongoing challenges in the healthcare system. Dr Darville reiterated the issues in the health system yesterday, but said officials were contemplating reinstituting

$1.3M A MONTH TO SUPPORT 11,300 PEOPLE IN NEED

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

SOCIAL Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe said his ministry is spending $1.3m each month on social assistance for 11,300 people and he expects this number to grow.

At the same time, he said there is also a growing number of requests from people for places to live.

“We are now responsible for 11,300 per month and we are spending about $1.3m per month ensuring that those who are in need are being taken care of,” the minister told reporters yesterday outside the House of Assembly.

“I think it is imperative to appreciate that the number will grow, we expect it to grow and no one is going to be left out. The Prime Minister has made it very clear that no one is to be left behind and so our intention as always is to ensure that every single Bahamian or individual at the present time who is in search of needs and we are going to meet those needs.

“Our greatest problem however is shelter. We’re discovering that more and more people are requiring shelter. So, we’re trying to secure additional shelter in eastern and western New Providence and also in Grand Bahama.”

When the Minnis

administration’s National Food Distribution Task Force was disbanded last year, its remaining dependents were absorbed by the Department of Social Services.

Initially there were 18,000 families or 72,000 individuals depending on assistance through the task force.

The minister said the number fell drastically because times were different at the height of the pandemic.

“I think the circumstances were different.

There were many because of the curfew, many because of the closures were on the list at the time. I think now the number is even lower but I am sure there must be more out there because of

the many who speak with me on a daily basis, but at the present time we are providing (assistance to) 11,300.”

The ministry is also in the process of providing debit cards to people on the assistance programme, but this

portion of the programme ran into some delay.

“The cards are being distributed,” Mr Wilchcombe said. “We’ve had a delay because of the source that provides the cards but for the most part we’re able to keep up and when we can’t

cut the cards, of course provide the voucher.

“In Grand Bahama the Promise programme that was introduced several years ago is now in Grand Bahama where individuals are applying online for their assistance.”

DAVIS: WE’LL INTERVENE TO OFFSET RISING COSTS from page one

It was released after Mr Davis, along with senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Consumer Protection Commission, Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation, and the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute, met with stakeholders in the shipping, wholesale, retail, and petroleum industries to discuss rising costs caused by global inflation.

According to the release, Mr Davis underscored his government’s “commitment to growing the economy and finding ways to keep prices low for Bahamians” during this period.

Mr Davis spoke of “the government’s readiness to make critical policy interventions to offset rising costs to the industries to benefit Bahamian consumers.”

“The Davis administration welcomed the industries’ willingness to support local farmers in buying locally,” the release noted. “The Prime Minister indicated his (administration’s) policy to strengthen the agricultural industry’s capacity through BAIC and BAMSI to address the growing levels of inflation.

“The Prime Minister conveyed that this is an all-hands-on-deck exercise to protect Bahamian families during these difficult economic times. The Davis administration understands the importance of consulting with industry partners to ensure the government responds adequately to the Bahamian people’s challenges,” the release said.

Speaking in the House of Assembly last night about the issue, Mr Davis said until the country can sustainably feed itself, it will be at the mercy of global tradewinds.

“Our country remains challenged by this inflationary period,” Mr Davis said.

“Rising shipping and fuel costs, the breakdown of the global supply chain, and other economic and logistical challenges have exposed a core vulnerability in our national development model. Without the ability to contribute in a meaningful way to feeding our people, we are entirely at the mercy of global trade winds when importing food into our country.

“As these costs have risen internationally, Bahamians have seen prices rise locally. What’s even scarier than the costs of being dependent on international forces beyond our control

is that the supply itself is dependent. Should an international crisis ever occur that delivers a crippling shock to the global shipping industry, we would be hardpressed to bring in enough food to feed our nation over the short-to-medium term.

“While this is an extreme scenario, we live through a revolutionary method right now in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we emerge from this pandemic, we must take lessons away from this crisis to mitigate the impact of future problems should they occur.

“The lessons of price inflation and supply issues have shown us that the time for talk to grow our food is over. This is a time for action. The role of BAMSI, BAIC, and the Ministry of Agriculture must be to advance domestic industries to fill the gaps for bringing Bahamian grown produce to market to offset the cost to Bahamian consumers. This means that we must find sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective ways to get this done so that our products can be competitive in the local market, both at a cost and quality level. Government policies and funding priorities will go a long way towards realising this reality.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 5

‘MAJOR WIN’ FOR BAHAMAS ON GDP RULE CHANGE OVER NATURAL DISASTERS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

AFTER Bahamian representatives at COP26 insisted that using gross domestic product was not a realistic means in determining countries’ need for financial assistance following natural disasters, the Global Environment Facility has indicated the decision to move away from using GDP as the primary economic indicator.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis made the remark in Parliament yesterday when he provided the nation with an overview of gains made at the United

Nations climate change conference. It was held in Glasgow last October.

Mr Davis called this a “major win” for the country.

“Every country’s economy is vulnerable to environmental shocks,” Mr Davis said.

“In recent years, our annual hurricane season has demonstrated the extent of that vulnerability.

“However, Hurricane Dorian, unprecedented in its size, duration and ferocity, showed how these single events could completely cripple our country.

Against this backdrop, the use of GDP to determine the level

of financial assistance offered to our country is not reasonable.

“Therefore, our delegation consistently made interventions throughout COP26 that drew attention to this stark reality.

“We forcefully drove home this argument in discussions with the Global Environment Facility, a significant financial donor for environmental programmes. I am thrilled to report that at the recent global meeting of countries in January, the Global Environment Facility indicated that they would be moving away from using GDP as the primary economic indicator.

“Currently, the funding available to The Bahamas through the Global Environment Facility for 2022-2023 is approximately $7m. The Global Environment Facility is now proposing to use two indices: an economic and environmental vulnerability index or EVI and a human development index or HDI. EVI indicators would capture economic and environmental shocks, while HDI indicators would consider the country’s health and living standards.

“This is a major win for The Bahamas and other Caribbean small island developing states or SIDS. These new indicators are

better suited to convey our countries’ realities and are likely to increase the mobilisation of climate finance.

This change will also aid in amplifying the continued efforts of SIDS to move toward the much-needed multi-dimensional vulnerability index or MVI. “Most SIDS are considered middle or highincome countries and are currently ineligible for concessional financing due to the present GDP income classification. This change will help secure the muchneeded financial support to address the adverse impacts of climate change.”

Mr Davis said officials also met with

representatives of the Green Climate Fund to discuss financial support for matters relating to health and building a sustainable resilient infrastructure. The Bahamas is presently conducting a Green Climate Fund health-readiness project, managed by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, with a capital value of approximately $800,000, Mr Davis said.

Once completed, The Bahamas would be ready to develop and submit a complete health project to address the healthcare infrastructure needs within the country, which is estimated to cost approximately $300m, he said.

‘Pledge summit was UN event, not ours’ from page one Nonetheless, Dr Minnis said: “What (people) also fail to remember is that when we had the conference, that was in January. Yes individuals throughout the world, different countries would have made pledges. In February, the world was hit with COVID and therefore everybody had to look again at their economy because there were lockdowns so a lot of things could not have been done.”

Dr Minnis’ comments come as the work of the Disaster Reconstruction Authority has been put under the spotlight, with DRA Executive Chairman Alex Storr saying a forensic audit of the agency is underway after an operational review pointed to “gross incompetence”.

Mr Storr also said the pledge conference was nothing more than a public relations exercise.

Dr Minnis said the Davis administration has more pressing issues to address.

“We had moved about 3.5 million cubic yards of debris,” Dr Minnis said. “They are well stockpiled in various

locations. Over the next six months, the government should be concentrating on how they are going to move those to another entity, be it off the island altogether.

That’s what they should be concentrating on because if a hurricane comes again and catches them with a dumpsite in certain locations, the government can hold themselves responsible for a disaster moving forward so they should be concentrating on that.”

Mr Storr said yesterday that all the debris is where the Minnis administration left it, adding: “They left no plans in place to have the situation remedied despite spending tens of millions of dollars and circumventing DEHS (Department of Environmental Health Services) which should have been given the lead in dealing with this situation.”

Mr Storr said the authority is moving to address the matter.

As for the forensic audit, Dr Minnis said: “When they talk about misappropriation of funds and everything, the government has the right to do anything. They are in charge, they have a right to audit, they have a

right to investigate and, if they choose, they should do that.”

He added: “I don’t think a lot of people understood what had to happen after Dorian. First of all, FEMA, a US agency, categorically stated that it takes about 15 years to rebuild after a hurricane. We would have experienced one of the most devastating hurricanes ever.

“Also recognise that in terms of hurricanes it takes anywhere from one to three and a half years for the first home to even start being built. When we got hit with Dorian, Dorian was so devastating the entire government structure in Abaco was destroyed.

There was no governance. The security system had subsequently broken down. We had to seek help from the Jamaican government who sent their soldiers down.

We sought help from Barbados and Trinidad, all who assisted with security on the island.

“We had to rebuild the governance structure in terms of the different agencies, ministries, etc. The electrical system was completely bad. We had to

THEN Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis at the Hurricane Dorian pledging conference at Baha Mar.

FOUR POLICE CHARGED OVER SUSPECT’S DEATH from page one During their subsequent pursuit of the suspect’s vehicle, the man crashed into a vehicle on Matthew Street and came to a stop.

As officers approached the suspect after the crash, they claimed he brandished a firearm leading them to shoot at him.

Carey was hit and later pronounced dead at the scene by Emergency Medical Services.

The four officers have been suspended from duty

since December 2021 as an official investigation into the incident was underway.

In court, the officers were told that due to the nature of their charges they would not be required to enter a plea at this time.

The senior magistrate told the accused they have the right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

Until it is granted to them, they will be remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services to await trial.

Their next court date is set for April 25.

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invest $61m just to rebuild the electrical system in Abaco. Four thousand poles were completely destroyed.

The water system was completely destroyed. Abaco was split in half. The homes were

completely destroyed.

“So we look at the homes, domes were selected for a particular reason. It was only a temporary fix. The idea was the domes would be placed in individual yards so they could stay

in the domes temporarily while they rebuild.”

Dr Minnis said officials had a plan for other domes that were never used but said COVID-19 and the economic fallout that followed disrupted those plans.

PAGE 6, Thursday, February 17, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

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A rush to criticise, but slow to exonerate YOU may remember the political row surrounding the health travel visa and the selection of payment processing company Kanoo to handle payments for the visa.

For a time, it made a lot of headlines, with the company subject to criticism on social media and suggestions of wrongdoing, despite the company owners’ protestations of having handled things above board.

Even Wayne Munroe, then candidate for Freetown and now Minister of National Security, got in on the discussion, asking: “Can they tell us who awarded them the contract? Can they produce the contract, and can they produce audited numbers?”

He said: “These are young professionals, so they should be bright enough to know that they should expect to provide answers.”

It’s always interesting to see politicians who demand answers in opposition to compare their zeal for the same when in office, but Mr Munroe and the government now has answers on the health travel visa – and it’s overall good news.

The Auditor General, Terrance Bastian, delivered a report on the implementation of the programme which was tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday and, while there were some discrepancies in accounting records, the auditor had rare words of praise for the scheme.

There were no signs of fraud or grave mismanagement, and Mr Bastian said: “We want to commend the Ministry of Tourism for its vision and implementation of the Bahamas Health Travel Visa. It assisted The Bahamas in monitoring the movement of people travelling during the pandemic. During such extraordinary times, government needs to be creative, flexible without jeopardising good governance (transparency and accountability).”

We would hope those who criticised Kanoo would now be as quick to praise them and the government for the scheme now that the report has arrived.

And yet, it all seems to be a bit quiet.

Is this to be the way of things? To be loud in criticism, but silent when the criticism proves unfounded?

Or was this all a political gimmick on the campaign trail at the expense of those same young professionals Mr Munroe referred to?

At the time, Kanoo’s chairman said this kind of sniping highlighted why talented Bahamians chose to remain abroad and not come home, and that the company was another victim of black

crab syndrome where “too often in this country we tear down people who are making inroads”.

It is hard indeed to say he is wrong.

Pledge conference Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis would have us believe that the pledge conference to raise funds in the wake of Hurricane Dorian was nothing to do with the government.

Oh no, he says, it was a United Nations event. Not my administration, honest.

That would be the same Dr Minnis pictured on our front page today at the conference.

It would also be the same Dr Minnis whose administration was named in a press release saying the event was organised by the government of The Bahamas in partnership with the UN Development Programme.

It is also the same Dr Minnis who led the administration including members who discussed the outcome of the pledge conference, notably Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness Iram Lewis.

Strangely, Dr Minnis wasn’t distancing himself from the conference immediately after the event, saying that critics of it were making “silly, confused and uninformed statements”.

He added at the time: “The Bahamas has never experienced a storm like Dorian. As a result, we have not had a high-level pledging conference of this nature.”

That word “we” there seems notable.

It would perhaps be disingenuous of Dr Minnis to pretend this was nothing to do with him, just as it is disingenuous of Disaster Reconstruction Authority chairman Alex Storr to criticise the amount pledged at the conference as it was always clear that the government would need to sort through the pledges afterwards to see what was useful, and what was not – and the overall amount was distorted by one particularly huge pledge that made up the lion’s share of commitments.

The conference might not have raised a huge sum of money, but it was certainly worth trying. Anything that came out of it would be more than we had before it, and given the state of Abaco and Grand Bahama after the storm, every cent was needed.

So stop with the games on both sides, and stop treating people like fools.

What about minimum hours worked?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

YOUR editorial Wednesday, as well as other news items, including Peter Goudie on the Tribune Business page are all abuzz with talk of “Minimum Wage” and whilst there is no doubt that there are many justifiable cases, I wonder why we never see any news items or discussion about minimum hours or basic work ethic.

These are chronic

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problems across the Bahamas, both in the Private and Public sectors.

I visited a government office yesterday at about 3:30pm and was told that the office was closed and I should come back tomorrow.

I guess like the web shops, the government was unable to control them so they just legalised them.

School run was the de facto end of day across The Bahamas and since no one returned to work, I suppose the government just decided to legalise a 3pm end of day.

When I returned to the same Government office today at 9:30am and having signed in and told to wait to be called, the panoply

of debutant employees, dressed to the nines, continued to roll in until after 10am.

They all had their government-issued identity badges on so there was no mistaking any of them for a public customer.

And as I and the several other people sat waiting to be called, so chronic is the problem that the waiting customers would comment periodically that “they got to eat breakfast before they start work you know”.

So maybe we can discuss a little more of what the minimum wage is being paid for please.

MONKEEDOO Nassau, February 16, 2022.

Underground abortion inudstry EDITOR, The Tribune.

BAHAMIAN evangelical Christians must play close attention to the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) impending policy announcement on abortion.

According to The Nassau Guardian, Health Minister Dr Michael Darville stated that this is a matter that the Davis administration intends to confront. Darville’s reluctance to publicly state which side of the fence he is on regarding abortion on demand underscores the sensitivity of the subject in the Roe vs Wade case.

Maybe his reticence is due to his profession as a medical practitioner, although there are prominent physicians who have publicly declared their opposition to abortion on demand.

For example, the Americans Dr C Everett Koop, Dr Ben Carson and Dr James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Koop and Francis Schaeffer wrote a polemic, “Whatever Happened to the Human Race?” which was an evangelical response to the US Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade ruling. The Roe v Wade ruling declared that the US Constitution gave women the freedom to abort their unborn babies without restrictions from the federal government.

Between 1973 and January 2021, there has been an estimated 62 million abortions in the US - over ten times the number of Jewish Holocaust victims murdered by the German Nazis.

The United Nations (UN) is headquartered in New York. I suspect that the PLP government is facing mounting pressure from the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to emulate Roe v Wade.

The matter of abortion cases emanating from incest and rape is a thorny issue.

Both forms of sexual violence can scar the victim emotionally and psychologically. Ministries such as the US-based Focus on

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net the Family and Jeff Durbin’s Apologia Church in Arizona have extraordinary outreach ministries for women with unwanted pregnancies. Foster homes are sought for the babies of rape and incest victims.

This is a far better alternative than ending the life of the unborn baby.

I believe Bahamian ministries with deep pockets and influential parishioners should emulate the ongoing work of Focus on the Family and Apologia Church. The call by the CEDAW for the Bahamian government to “decriminalise abortions in all cases” is really a call for abortion on demand, which is already an unspoken rule in this jurisdiction.

Abortion procedures, such as medical abortion, vacuum aspiration, dilation and evacuation and labour induction are routinely carried out in the lucrative Bahamian underground abortion industry.

Young Bahamian women, some who are adolescents, are given abortion medications such as misoprostal and mifepristone. These young people are engaging in unprotected recreational sex with multiple partners. A pregnancy, in many instances, is unwanted, especially if the suitor is an undesirable.

Hence, a thriving underground Roe v Wade industry. One of the dire side effects of abortion is heavy virginal bleeding.

Another is infection in the uterus. The dilation and evacuation procedure can also cause significant injury to the uterus. Many of those seeking to terminate the life of the unborn baby usually do so within the first trimester, which is from conception to 12 weeks. Under the guise of reproductive healthcare for women, prochoice advocates such as the CEDAW and Planned Parenthood usually seek to

downplay the significance of the side effects, injuries and emotional trauma abortion causes.

Bahamian women who have terminated the lives of their unborn babies are guiltridden, knowing that what they have done is murder, according to the Sixth Commandment in Exodus 20.

The UN and its CEDAW are walking contradictions.

While the UN has no qualms ending the lives of innocent unborn babies, it opposes capital punishment for convicted murderers and rapists.

In an address to the seventh World Congress against the Death Penalty in February 2019, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that “the death penalty has no place in the twenty-first century”.

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah was told

by Yahweh that he was sanctified and called to be a prophet in the womb of his mother (Jeremiah 1:5).

In Galatians 1:15, the apostle Paul said that Yahweh had set him apart from his mother’s womb. Obviously God views the fetus, from moment of conception, as a human being created in His image. Whatever legislation the PLP enacts, Bahamian lawmakers must bear in mind that there will be eternal ramifications. I can assure Parliamentarians that the Nuremberg excuse will never fly before God’s tribunal.

The state hasn’t carried out an execution in over 22 years, yet it might regulate the Roe v Wade industry. Something has to be wrong with this. Bahamian evangelical Christians must continue to submit to the civil authority, which today is the Davis administration.

However, any law that subverts biblical law must be respectfully rejected unanimously by the church. The PLP should instead focus its attention on ending the underground abortion industry.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama February 16, 2022.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 7

US pair accused of false declarations to officers at airport

By PAVEL BAILEY TWO Americans were accused of making false declarations to US officers at Lynden Pindling International Airport.

Travis James Janovich, 48, of North Carolina appeared before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney yesterday on charges of making false declarations to a US officer in the preclearance section of LPIA on February 15.

The court was told that Janovich falsely told the officer that he was carrying $45,000 on him when he was in fact in possession of $51,830 in US currency.

In court, Janovich pleaded guilty to the charges against him.

His lawyer pointed out that his client had no prior accusations against him and gave further explanation as to his client’s actions.

He informed the magistrate that Janovich had come to The Bahamas to attend a Super Bowl Party at Baha Mar over the weekend. It was there that the he won a jackpot at the casino which accounted

for the cash found in his possession.

He also explained that at the airport, after Janovich had been very generous with his winnings to his taxi driver and entourage, that his client freely admitted to airport officers that he had an excess of over $10,000 cash in his possession. He said it was because Janovich had won so much money recently and wasn’t allowed to count it before he was detained that he wrongly declared that he had $45,000 in his possession instead.

Considering these circumstances and the fact that Janovich is a millionaire that invested heavily in The Bahamas with property in Abaco, as well as his early plea of guilt, Janovich’s lawyer asked the court to be lenient in sentencing.

Magistrate McKinney took these factors into consideration and sentenced Janovich to a fine of $500 or three months in prison.

Janovich’s lawyer asked for an absolute discharge so the charges would not affect his client’s financial interests, but the request was

denied, thus the charge will still appear on Janovich’s record.

In a separate matter, Anne-Marie Macchione, 40, of New Jersey, also appeared before Magistrate McKinney on charges of making false declarations and failing to declare money to US officers at LPIA. The court heard that while at US pre-clearance at LPIA, Macchione falsely stated to US officers that she only had $5,000 in her possession when she had $28,593 in US currency.

This led to her secondary charge of failing to declare money in excess of $10,000 to a US officer.

In court, Macchione pleaded guilty to both charges.

Magistrate McKinney sentenced her to a fine of $500 or three months in prison for the first count of making false declarations, but granted her a discharge for the second count of failing to declare.

Upon payment of her fine, Macchione was allowed to freely leave the Bahamas.

AMMUNITION AND DRUGS FOUND

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@ tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Police discovered illegal ammunition and dangerous drugs this week in the Freeport and Eight Mile Rock areas.

According to Assistant Superintendent of Police Stephen Rolle, the first discovery occurred shortly after 2pm on Tuesday in Coral Gardens, Freeport.

He reported that officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit, acting on

intelligence, went to a track road in Coral Gardens, where they discovered a black microwave. When officers checked the appliance, they found (33) .357 live rounds of ammunition and a quantity of suspected marijuana.

ASP Rolle said no arrest was made and the items were taken to the Drug Enforcement Office for further investigation.

In a separate incident yesterday, he said a team of officers from Predator Unit,

acting on information, went shortly after 4pm to a bushy track road in Seagrape, Eight Mile Rock where they searched the area and discovered under a tree stump, a large black plastic bag, containing a quantity of suspected marijuana.

Mr Rolle said no arrest was made in the incident and the drugs was taken to the Drug Enforcement Unit for further investigation.

Police are continuing investigations into both matters.

PAGE 8, Thursday, February 17, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Mixed signals and confusion when bold action is needed THERE have been mixed signals on taking action over marital rape, with different statements from Minister of Works Alfred Sears and Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis.

“So, it has to be a multidimensional approach and the government and the Prime Minster has emphasized to all of us right across the board in all of our ministries to take affirmative action and to be very clear in the policy we implement that there is a recognition that we have to reverse this legacy of patriarchy and discrimination.”

- Alfred Sears, Minister of Works OUTLAWING marital rape is a clear and easy moral call. It is about upholding the innate dignity and corresponding equality of women, including spouses, mothers, daughters, sisters, friends and colleagues.

The matter is generally only complicated in the minds of those do not view women as equal and who are still shackled by patriarchal conceits and power, and the need to maintain their control and domination of women.

A nation should protect the human rights of all women regardless of marital status. A jurist advises: Our rape laws effectively provide an exemption for spousal rape. Moreover, they betray a deeply religiously fundamentalist worldview and are a legacy of a colonial and pre-modern mindset.

Outlawing spousal rape can be fairly easily done legislatively and without recourse to a referendum.

The vast majority of countries in the region and the world have outlawed such violence against women.

We do not need a “national conversation” on the matter that may just become a talkfest without action. In quite a number of countries where spousal rape was outlawed, it was done despite the majority of citizens objecting,

believing, erroneously, that a man cannot rape his wife.

But the political directorates acted to outlaw spousal rape because it was ethically the right thing to do and good public policy, and despite the majority of citizens not supporting removing the marital exemption.

Throughout history, governments have acted to improve societal and evolving global norms despite majoritarian opposition because of prejudice, superstition and outdated mindsets. What is politically popular is not always ethically right.

DISGRACEFUL

It is disgraceful and ridiculous that a cabinet minister says he prefers not to give his position on the matter because he has to lead certain symposia.

Would this be his position on other clear moral calls such as rape in general or child abuse?

Minister of Works, Alfred Sears, a progressive, noted the Davis administration’s commitment “to reverse this legacy of patriarchy and discrimination” and a “multidimensional approach”.

The overwhelmingly male cabinet might begin with a compelling example of this determination by vigorously championing in word and deed the equality of women by outlawing marital rape. This is a test of its commitment to gender equality.

One cannot boast of “affirmative action” in some areas if one glaringly and inconsistently fails on the question of spousal rape, which would run counter to a “multidimensional approach”. This is a matter of basic social justice.

Mr Sears also stated: “As you know, the first attempt to remove those offending provisions of our constitution was taken by our party and government…” One cannot imagine to what the former Attorney General is referring.

It was the Free National Movement that held the first referendum “to ensure that Bahamian women and men are treated equally in their ability to confer nationality to children and spouses”. The PLP Members of the House of Assembly voted in support of the changes.

Then, in what many viewed as political expediency to curry favor with the electorate in the leadup to the 2002 general election, the party’s leadership reversed course and opposed the referendum on the grounds of “process”, which many deemed a convenient red herring.

VIOLENCE

Rape is a pernicious and heinous tool of violence. It was used by slave traders and masters against male and female slaves. It has been used in wars and conflicts as an instrument of control. It is one of the most brutal experiences feared by women.

Outlawing spousal rape is about the protection of women and fostering a

greater consciousness of the official said…” the dignity and equality of Mr Davis also stated: women in the minds of men “The unfortunate factor and women. is that on two attempts, In a recent story in this how our legal construct, journal, Prime Minister our constitution and Davis offered additional other consequential laws, thoughts on marital rape domestic laws to ensure and gender equality. His gender equality – the comments were perplex- Bahamian people voted ing and confusing. He once against it. again seemed to be parsing “We had two referenhis words on this matter. dums and what is so ironic “I think the question about that fact is that we about gender equality is have more females on the much wider than just the voting registrar than males narrow concept of what I but yet still we have on two call a description of vio- occasions and an attempt lence. I call it descriptive to amend our constitution because it says marital rape to entrench the concept of but that’s violence in a dif- gender equality fails. ferent form and what the “So we have to devise and controversy this is what this arises because ‘Outlawing government is of the manner doing. So, lookin which we spousal rape can ing at domestic describe it. laws and seeing be fairly easily “We just done legislatively how we can need to say level the playwhat it is. and without ing field so as It’s a domes- recourse to a to ensure that tic violence referendum. The there is gender that requires equality.” attention and vast majority The vote by the laws are of countries many women there for that in the region against advancpurpose and ing equality is perhaps it just and the world not “ironic”. It needs clarity have outlawed is another sad in definition. example of how such violence That in and of those who are itself is not suf- against women.’ often bound ficient for us to by certain reach our goal of gender strictures find it difficult equality.” to liberate themselves and The Prime Minister’s their consciousness. circumlocution suggests Mr Sears further noted: equivocation. The gov- “Also, the Prime Minisernment is sending mixed ter has been personally signals and seems con- committed to this and it’s fused. A February 4 story reflected in the number in The Tribune left the of females who are in our country even more con- Cabinet… and also the fused: “The Ministry of number of female memSocial Services and Urban bers who are legislators of Development has drafted the country. a proposed bill that “So, it has to be a multiaddresses gender violence dimensional approach issues, including marital and the government and rape, Minister of State for the Prime Minster has Social Services and Urban emphasized to all of us Development Lisa Rah- right across the board in ming has said. all of our ministries to “However, a government take affirmative action official previously said the and to be very clear in the proposal Ms Rahming ref- policy we implement that erenced does not speak to there is a recognition that marital rape. It speaks to we have to reverse this abuse in various relation- legacy of patriarchy and ships including marriages, discrimination.”

EMPOWER

All of these measures and more women in office are critical. In order to change the culture, to empower more women, to let girls know they are equal, to stem gender-based violence we must also outlaw marital rape.

There is a lack of moral clarity on this issue by many, including many in cabinet. Prime Minister Davis has an opportunity to do something all of our former Prime Ministers failed to do.

Yes, the politics of this is difficult. But what is the purpose of power and high office if one fails to meet some of the greater moral tests of the times?

In “When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife”, Meena Kandasamy, the Indian poet and writer, offers: “Good women don’t have bad things happen to them – in order to be raped, I need first to be made into this caricature of a bad woman.

This male psycho-sexual logic looks at penetration as punishment.

“This is the rape that disciplines, the rape that penalises me for the life I have presumably led. This is the rape that tames, the rape that puts me on the path of being a good wife.

This is the rape whose aim is to inspire regret in me.

“This is the rape whose aim is to make me understand that my husband can do with my body as he pleases. This is rape as ownership.”

Throughout his public career, Alfred Sears often spoke of using the fleeting time we have and the opportunity to serve in government, to do big things, to right historical wrongs and to help in the long march for equality.

Those who seek to bend the moral arc of justice and to advance the rights of women have a compelling responsibility, a moral obligation, to outlaw spousal rape, now!

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 9

UKRAINIAN Army soldiers at a Day of Unity in Odessa, Ukraine, yesterday.

Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP

Options on the table - which one will Putin decide to take?

WHAT’S going to happen with Ukraine? The ominous Eastern European crisis has people on edge all over America and especially, throughout Europe.

It’s been over 75 years and three generations since Europe has been wracked by a major armed conflict. No one seems to have much of an appetite for what Vladimir Putin is now threatening. Analysts predict if his Russian army (and navy) conduct a full-scale assault on Ukraine, potentially hundreds of thousands of civilians will be killed.

There would of course be many other costs as well.

In many minds, there are three possible outcomes from what we’re now witnessing. Putin, apparently still holding all the high cards in this evolving poker game, can pull back his forces and avert a war, opt instead for a partial land grab, or push all his chips into the centre of the table and occupy the entire country. There are knowledgeable experts who support each of these outcomes. Which one is likeliest?

Let’s start with the full-bore invasion and occupation option. Many retired military analysts compare this with the American invasion of Iraq, featuring a quick military triumph and subsequent occupation of that country in 2003. They recall the swaggering moniker for that operation: Shock and Awe. Remember? Every night there would be televised, Star Wars-like, video game style displays of awesome military prowess. Tracers would arc in every direction behind the correspondents perched on rooftops. Thundering explosions would follow.

But that initial spectacular triumph led to years of bungled American occupation of Iraq from which that country may or may not be finally emerging now – not necessarily as a US ally. This foolish invasion also positioned Iran firmly in the Middle East driving seat by eliminating its chief regional rival – Iraq’s vicious dictator Saddam Hussein.

What does that have to do with Russia and Ukraine now? According to a popular analysis, if Russia does launch a full-scale attack on Ukraine - as it has been methodically preparing to do for over a month - the result will likely be a rout on the ground similar to the American and allied military triumph over Iraqi forces nearly 20 years ago.

Then, as the Americans did, the Russians will discover, as General Colin Powell once famously said, that “if you broke it, you bought it”.

The Russians would then have “bought” Ukraine, a nation of 45 million people the size of Texas. Most of

STATESIDE

with Charlie Harper

those people would resist their occupation. Granted, Russia itself is the largest nation on earth. But their centralised, corrupt and inefficient economy could not support such a persistent drain, especially under the pinching burden of Western sanctions. In some minds, Putin would be repeating the Soviet mistakes of 1979 in its own fatally ill-advised invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, in addition to learning little from America’s 2003 folly.

Are circumstances now so different in Moscow and the world that Putin could feel certain a full-scale invasion of Ukraine would be a good idea? Many observers are sceptical. But they could also be wrong. Putin clearly has put in place the pieces to overwhelm Ukraine at any time.

A second option would be to use those military pieces to occupy and annex some of the most Russian parts of Ukraine, as Putin did eight years ago in Crimea. Parts of Eastern Ukraine, like Crimea, are more Russian than Ukrainian linguistically and culturally, and a separatist fight has been ongoing in the “Donbass” (basin of the Don River) region for years. Some speculate this could be followed by occupation of a land bridge sliver of territory linking the Donbass with Crimea and severely reducing or even eliminating Ukrainian access to the Black Sea via the Sea of Azov.

US President Joe Biden has consistently said that in the view of NATO, such a limited occupation would be viewed in the same way and elicit the same Western response as Option One, the overwhelming assault and conquest of Ukraine.

It’s not clear why Putin would believe that, especially since Biden was Vice President in 2014 when Russia seized Crimea and the West barked but didn’t bite hard enough with sanctions to dissuade Putin from doing what he’s doing now.

In choosing Option Two, Putin would generally be following his own playbook in 2008 when Georgia and NATO were heavily flirting with each other. Putin sent in Russian forces, and 14 years later, they still occupy a couple of Russia-oriented districts that were part of Georgia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Still, Putin has to be impressed by the solidarity

NATO is displaying, especially after the corrosive Trump years when the American President regularly disparaged the alliance that is still the fundamental element of US national security policy. If the most draconian sanctions being openly discussed in the West were applied to Russia in response to their annexation of territory they largely control now anyway, it’s hard to imagine Putin would find that an attractive bargain.

So what about Option Three? That would be a diplomatic settlement of this crisis, as both Biden and Putin have been declaring is their objective for weeks.

Under this option, the Russian President would pull back his forces, end all the invasion dress rehearsals his army and navy have been undertaking along Ukraine’s borders, and see what concessions he could extract from Biden and the West in exchange.

The key to a negotiated settlement for Putin would have to be Western assurances that Ukraine would not be admitted to NATO and thus acquire its mutual defence protections against military attack. Those assurances would presumably have to be more explicit and binding than they were when George H W Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev were Presidents of the US and USSR. Then, as they were negotiating transformative issues like the reunification of Germany over 30 years ago, the Soviets heard from American negotiators a guarantee against NATO admitting Ukraine to full membership.

The Americans deny it now. Robert Zoellick, a long-time Republican foreign policy expert who rose in the Bush 41 administration to be Secretary of State James Baker’s second in command and later was elected president of the World Bank, told a private audience recently that no such American guarantee was ever given. Zoellick should know, because he was there when Baker and Gorbachev were chatting about NATO expansion – then as now an obsession in Moscow.

In recent remarks at a Washington think tank, Zoellick reiterated that no NATO expansion guarantee was made. He was responding to continued Russian insistence that Baker told Gorbachev in

February 1990 that NATO would not move “one inch forward” after accepting most of the former Warsaw Pact countries for full membership. That remark meant no NATO membership for Ukraine, and that’s how

Gorbachev and the Russians understood it then and still do today.

But just months later, the USSR, US and their Eastern and Western European allies all signed the Treaty of Conventional Forces in Europe, which stipulated that “all parties agreed that all countries are free to join their own alliance,” as Zoellick reminded his interviewer. (Putin pulled Russia out of the CFE in 2015.)

That’s at the heart of this dispute. Putin and the Russian government want their buffer against Western

aggression, for very good historical reasons. Ukraine and Belarus constitute that buffer. The West, now clearly led by Biden, won’t lightly tolerate Russian armed aggression against independent Ukraine.

Both the French President and the German Chancellor have recently visited Moscow and Kyiv.

From their visits and other signs, there is a path to a diplomatic solution. Russia withdraws and NATO effectively commits not to admit Ukraine. Good for everyone – except Ukraine.

PAGE 10, Thursday, February 17, 2022

‘BAMSI in disrepair’

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

AGRICULTURE Minister Clay Sweeting in Parliament yesterday.

Photo: Racardo Thomas/Tribune Staff

DESPITE an increase in the budget for the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute, certain portions of the facility fell into disrepair, according to Agriculture Minister Clay Sweeting yesterday.

The minister described the situation as “shocking”, adding that the entire farm looked like an “eerie scene from a horror movie”.

This came as he moved the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute Bill, 2022 in the House of Assembly. The debate also saw Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis take a jab at former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis who mentioned the 2015 BAMSI dorm fire and the fact that the building was not insured in his contribution to the debate on the bill.

Mr Davis said he did not understand what the fire had to do with what was now before the House and questioned whether Dr Minnis knew who started

the blaze seven years ago.

The bill is being implemented to lay the educational foundation for the future of agriculture and marine science. It provides the legal framework and guidelines for the operation of the institution. Upon the passing of this bill, BAMSI will be able to operate at 100 percent functioning capacity.

The legislation once passed will give the president, and board of directors of the institution autonomous control over the affairs of BAMSI, aligning it on par with other institutions nationally and internationally.

Mr Sweeting said: “Over the past four years there has been a considerable increase in budget at BAMSI but we have not seen where this increase has led in any way towards increasing our growing capacity. I’ve said in this place before that upon coming to office we met BAMSI in a poor state.

“Over the period of four and a half years, and despite an increase in budget, there were several shocking

THE TRIBUNE

realities. The beautiful buildings constructed were without electricity; to facilitate the tour of the campus, the generator had to be turned on; all the furniture to equip the buildings laid on the floors, in the same boxes they were shipped in catching dust.

“The once thriving aquaponics site looked abandoned; brood stocks were drastically reduced; and the entire farm looked like an eerie scene from a horror movie.”

He said when BAMSI is at its fullest potential, it will have an economic impact on our country.

“BAMSI and the affiliate farmers programme have shown us only a small bit of her potential thus far.

Our annual food import bill from America alone continues to be in excess of $620m, almost $1bn globally. This is a high price tag! Imagine being able to reduce this bill and reinvesting the savings in the growth of agriculture, mariculture, through science and technology,” Mr Sweeting said.

TRAVEL VISA SCHEME HAS AUDITOR’S APPROVAL from page one

company Kanoo in contravention of the law, which requires that the Minister of Finance approve any such action that involves public funds.

However, Auditor General Terrance Bastian did not uncover evidence of fraud or grave mismanagement.

He offered rare

commendation in his report, saying: “We want to commend the Ministry of Tourism for its vision and implementation of the Bahamas Health Travel Visa. It assisted The Bahamas in monitoring the movement of people travelling during the pandemic.

During such extraordinary times government needs to be creative, flexible without jeopardising good governance (transparency

and accountability).”

The PLP criticised the Minnis administration’s decision to give a no-bid contract to Kanoo for the travel visa programme last summer. At the time, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, then the opposition leader, accused the Minnis administration of helping FNM insiders with the contract award. Dr Nigel Lewis, a co-manager of the Free National Movement’s

general election campaign, was associated with the company.

The Auditor General’s report on its examination of the programme was tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday.

According to the report, several companies were engaged to help with the programme. Think Sample completed the software for the online platform; CG Atlantic Insurance provided travel insurance to visitors; Ports International provided Rapid Antigen Tests on day five of arrival; Alpha Tango managed the approved testing labs and Day 5 tests and Kanoo executed payments to vendors monthly based on Ministry of Tourism instructions.

Auditors found that the contracts were not executed in accordance with the Financial Regulations 1975, which requires that all contracts for supplies, workers and services by the government in excess of $250,000 be approved by cabinet.

There was no competitive bidding and services initially began with a verbal agreement only, not written contracts. Tourism officials justified this by emphasising

time constraints.

Data from the Ministry of Tourism indicated 906,171 users applied for the visa, including 704,868 visitors and 201,303 residents. A net amount of $10,784,204 was sent to the consolidated fund for the tenth month period of the programme, which began in November 2020.

“Management acknowledges that net revenues were not transferred to the consolidated fund on a timely basis,” the report says. “Reconciliations and transfer of funds to the consolidated fund were not done on a timely basis. In the absence of performing reconciliation functions in a timely manner, errors, fraud and/or irregularities could possibly go undetected.”

Auditors also concluded that there was excessive time between the revenue collection and accounting for transactions in the Treasury Financial Management System.

“COVID-19 necessitated some realities that are not reflected in the financial regulations,” the report says. “The Ministry of Tourism failed to comply with the regulatory requirements

for the procurement of goods and services. Seeking competitive bids is a mechanism intended to provide some assurance as to the reasonableness of costs of goods and services. Considering the cost of the travel insurance to CG Atlantic of $16,782,895, representing 48.7 percent of total revenue, it would have been prudent to test the marketplace by seeking at least one other quote despite the pressing time limitations.”

The report adds: “Controls and the accuracy and reliability of accounting and reporting needs to be improved. Controls such as timely reconciliations, risk assessments, documentation of vulnerabilities and assigning ownership and responsibility for corrective action can go a long way in reducing risks to acceptable levels. The accounting records are producing some differences/discrepancies of up to $62,471 in understatement of revenues which management deems as immaterial, but the reciprocal of this essentially can represent up to 2000 visitors which may indicate a need to examine the cause of this and improve operational practice.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 11

MORE VIRUS RULES FALL AS CDC HINTS AT BETTER TIMES AHEAD

RUSSIAN army tanks are loaded onto railway platforms to move back to their permanent base after drills in Russia in this image provided by the Russian Defence Ministry.

West sees no sign of Russia pullback KYIV, Ukraine Associated Press UKRAINIANS defied pressure from Moscow with a national show of flag-waving unity yesterday, while the West warned that it saw no sign of a promised pullback of Russian troops from Ukraine’s borders despite Kremlin declarations of a withdrawal.

While a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine yesterday did not materialise, the United States and its allies maintain that the threat remains strong, with Europe’s security and economic stability in the balance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled he wants a peaceful path out of the crisis, and US President Joe Biden promised the US would continue to give diplomacy “every chance,” but he struck a skeptical tone about Moscow’s intentions. Biden also insisted that Washington and its allies would not “sacrifice basic principles” respecting Ukraine sovereignty.

Russia has massed about 150,000 troops east, north and south of Ukraine, according to Western estimates. Moscow denies it has any plans to invade, and this week announced a pullback of some forces and weapons. While details are scarce and the withdrawal is only partial, the Russian statements have lowered the political

temperature following weeks of escalating tensions.

Russian Defence Ministry video showed a trainload of armored vehicles moving across a bridge away from Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

It also announced that more tank units of the Western Military District were being loaded on trains to move back to their permanent bases after training exercises.

But at the same time, Russia is continuing war games near Ukraine’s borders and across its vast territory.

The US and Europe are maintaining threats of harsh sanctions. Trust between East and West remains elusive.

“We haven’t seen a pullback,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News. “He (Putin) can pull the trigger. He can pull it today.

He can pull it tomorrow. He can pull it next week. The forces are there if he wants to renew aggression against Ukraine.”

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US had seen “more Russian forces, not fewer”.

Asked why Russians would claim to be withdrawing when government intelligence, commercial satellite photos and social media videos showed no evidence of that,

Price said: “This is the Russian playbook, to paint a picture publicly… while they do the opposite.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance also had not seen “any withdrawal of Russian forces”, as did multiple European governments. Before chairing a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels, he said: “If they really start to withdraw forces, that’s something we will welcome, but that remains to be seen.”

In the meantime, the alliance is examining this week how and when to rapidly dispatch troops and equipment to countries closest to Russia and the Black Sea region should Moscow order an invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy similarly dismissed the Russian withdrawal claims.

“What is this? Rotations, withdrawal, returning back again,” he said on a visit to the southeastern city of Mariupol. “It’s too early to rejoice.”

The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly sought to project calm as well as strength during the crisis, declaring yesterday a “Day of National Unity”.

“We are united by a desire to happily live in peace,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation earlier in the day. “We can defend our home only if we stay united.”

THE nation’s leading health officials said yesterday that the US is moving closer to the point that COVID-19 is no longer a “constant crisis” as more cities, businesses and sports venues began lifting pandemic restrictions around the country.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing that the government is contemplating a change to its mask guidance in the coming weeks.

Noting recent declines in COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions and deaths, she acknowledged “people are so eager” for health officials to ease masking rules and other measures designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“We all share the same goal – to get to a point where COVID-19 is no longer disrupting our daily lives, a time when it won’t

be a constant crisis – rather something we can prevent, protect against, and treat,” Walensky said.

With the Omicron variant waning and Americans eager to move beyond the virus, government and business leaders have been out ahead of the CDC in ending virus measures in the last week, including ordering workers back to offices, eliminating mask mandates and no longer requiring proof of vaccine to get into restaurants, bars and sports and entertainment arenas.

The efforts have been gaining more steam each day.

Philadelphia officials yesterday said the city’s vaccine mandate for restaurants was immediately lifted, though indoor mask mandates remain in place for now. At Disney World, vaccinated guests will no longer have to wear masks at the Florida theme park starting today.

...WHILE CHINA URGES HONG KONG TO GET CONTROL AS CASES SURGE PATIENTS lay in hospital beds or open-air tens amid record numbers of infections as Hong Kong doggedly adheres to its “zero-COVID” strategy, and China’s leader Xi Jinping said the local government’s “overriding task” was to control the situation.

Hong Kong is facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, topping 2,000 new COVID-19 cases each day this week. The city government has instituted strict rules banning gatherings of more than two households.

But health facilities are beginning to overflow, and the city’s Caritas Medical Centre was forced yesterday to treat some patients in beds outside the building. Others were waiting in tents.

“The reason why our society has become chaotic like this today is all

because of this policy. The organizational skill of the government has made Hong Kong people feel so hopeless,” said Daisy Ho, a 70-year-old homemaker.

Xi directed Vice Premier Han Zheng to express to Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam the concerns that Chinese Communist Party leaders have about the city’s ongoing outbreak, according to Wen Wei Po, a pro-Beijing news outlet.

Zheng said the Hong Kong government “should earnestly assume the main responsibility and regard the rapid stabilisation and control of the epidemic as the current overriding task,” the report said.

China’s central government agencies and neighbouring Guangdong province will provide Hong Kong with resources to fight the outbreak.

SPORTS PAGE 18

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Ayton erupts for 23

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

D

eandre Ayton and the Phoenix Suns head into the All-Star break with the NBA’s best record, while Chavano “Buddy” Hield and the Indiana Pacers snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Hield finished with 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds in a 113-108 win over the Washington Wizards at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, last night.

It was the first win for Hield since he joined the Pacers roster in a six-player deal just before the trade deadline and was the first win for the franchise since January 31.

Ayton and the Suns head into the All-Star break with the league’s best record at 48-10 after last night’s 124-121 win over the Houston Rockets at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

He concluded the first half of the season with a game high 23 points and nine rebounds. They increased their lead to 5.5 games over the second place Golden State Warriors.

The Suns return to action against the Thunder on February 24.

Buddy Hield scores 15 in win over Wizards Injuries and illnesses have kept Ayton in and out of the lineup for 21 games this season and the Suns have gone 18-3 in those games.

Ayton has missed six games in the NBA’s health and safety protocols for COVID-19, he also missed three games with a non COVID-related illness, five games with a right leg contusion and seven games with an ankle injury.

Ayton is averaging 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game on 63 percent shooting from the field. He has 19 double doubles in 36 games this season.

Hield’s four-game run included a season high 36 points on 14-20 shooting, 8-12 from three-point range, in Tuesday night’s 128-119 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Hield’s historically hot shooting effort followed an abysmal performance on Sunday in a 129-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves when he shot 6-19 and just 1-13 from three-point range.

“I was struggling a bit, I had to call coach Jenny

SUNS centre Deandre Ayton, right, in action last night. TOP RIGHT INSET - Pacers’ Buddy Hield in the first half last night in Indianapolis. (AP Photos) [Boucek] to get some shots early that morning, stayed for an hour, got after it.

After a game like that where I went 1-13 I had to fix some things, go back to basics,” Hield said.

Hield has averaged 20 points, six rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in his four appearances with the Pacers. He is shooting 45 percent from the field and 34 percent from three.

The veteran guard said he

continues to settle into the adjustment process with the third team of his NBA career.

“Getting familiar with coaches, getting familiar with the plays, and getting used to the playing style.

I think the playing style is fun. I think Rick [Carlisle] does a good job of letting us be free, keeping space, keeping the structure but still being able to freelance.

Everyone is moving with

continuity,” Hield said.

“You see the ball is popping out there and I like it when the ball is popping.

Everybody gets to touch it, everybody gets to feel comfortable, everybody is in rhythm, and it’s not an offence where everybody is predicated on one man trying to make a play for everybody, everybody is making plays for each other so it’s fun to be out there.”

The Pacers return to action on February 25 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said the team’s new free-flowing offensive strategy has accompanied its recent roster turnover.

“I love the way we’re playing right now from the standpoint of ball movement and sort of playing a pure version of the game,” he said.

“Not much playcalling, a lot of cutting, a lot of reading off one another, unselfish play, and that’s what we have to continue to do going forward.”

TALLULAH FALLS GIRLS WIN REGIONAL TOURNAMENT TITLE

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net SEVERAL Bahamian student athletes led the Tallulah Falls varsity girls’ basketball team to the Regional Tournament title.

Denika Lightbourne, Veronaye Charlton, Miracle Bain and Tanisha Seymour led TFS to a 47-38 win over Prince Avenue Christian Tuesday night in the Region 8-A Private Championship in Monroe, Georgia.

Lightbourne led TFS with a game-high 14 points, while Charlton scored seven and Seymour scored four.

TFS clung to a threepoint lead and were in the midst of an 8-0 run when Lightbourne answered with a three pointer to make the score 36-30.

After a PA score, Lightbourne would have another clutch moment down the stretch when she converted a conventional three-point play with 1:54 remaining.

It was the second consecutive regular season region title for TFS and the first-ever girls’ basketball regional title.

TFS will host the first round of the state playoffs on either February 22 or

REGIONAL TITLE: The Tallulah Falls varsity girls’ basketball team, which includes several Bahamian student athletes, has won the Regional Tournament title.

23, with the opponent to be determined. They head into the state playoffs with a 13-4 record.

They began their playoff run with a 42-28 win over George Walton in the semifinals to advance to their second consecutive title game.

Charlton scored a game high 21 points in the

semifinals while Lightbourne scored nine.

Bahamians also play a prominent role on the TFS varsity boys’ baseball programme. Locals on this year’s roster includes seniors Norman Bastian and Joel Miller from New Providence and Malique Charlton and Kristian Williams from Grand Bahama.

The other Bahamians on the team are junior

Frankey Moree from New Providence, sophomores Zaiden Cox from Grand Bahama and Caden Walker from New Providence, and freshman Danny Grant from Grand Bahama.

Miller is expected to be a big piece back for the lineup, as he hit .250 with 13 RBI and had five doubles along with 21 runs scored. He will be joined

by Moree (.239) who had

TOTAL

1.

Norway

13

7

8

28

2.

ROC

4

8

12

24

3.

Germany

10

6

4

20

4.

United States

8

7

4

19

5.

Canada

3

4

11

18

6.

Austria

6

7

4

17

7.

Italy

2

7

6

15

8.

Netherlands

6

4

4

14

9.

Sweden

6

4

4

14

10.

Japan

2

5

7

14

Source: IOC & Sportradar

Updated Feb. 15 at 10:08 p.m. EST

15 RBI and scored 10 runs and Bastian, a transfer student, to help lead the charge for the Indians.

They began the season with a dominant 12-0 home opener over Rabun County at the Higgins Baseball Complex in Rabun Gap, Georgia, on Tuesday night.

The Indians needed just seven hits to tally 12 runs, and Bastian finished with a team-high three RBI and Miller had four runs.

Miller got the offence going in the first with a leadoff single and Bastian eventually produced a runscoring groundball after a fielding error.

In a four-run second inning, Charlton hit another lead off single and promptly stole second.

Bastian was able to drive in another pair of runs and Moree highlighted his day with an RBI single to left to take a 5-0 lead.

The Tallulah Falls School, based in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, is an independent, co-educational boarding and day care school serving more than 500 students from grades 5-12.

Woods, Page 21

NETS COME BACK FROM 28-POINT DEFICIT TO STUN KNICKS, 111-106 NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie Cam Thomas led Brooklyn back from a 28-point deficit with 16 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, and the Nets stunned the New York Knicks 111-106 last night.

Thomas hit a deep 3-pointer to clinch it with 6.8 records remaining, a shot that had Kevin Durant dancing far off the bench in delight. The Nets didn’t have Durant or Kyrie Irving, but it didn’t matter with Thomas doing a good impression of either All-Star.

Just 2 for 11 through three quarters, Thomas sparked the 15-0 run in the fourth that gave Brooklyn its first lead of the game with just under 4 minutes remaining.

Seth Curry added 20 points and Andre Drummond grabbed 19 rebounds, most by a Nets player this season, in their second game with the Nets after coming with Ben Simmons in the trade for James Harden.

TRAIL BLAZERS 123, GRIZZLIES 119 MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Jusuf Nurkic had 32 points and eight rebounds, Anfernee Simons added 31 points and six assists and Portland overcame Ja Morant’s 44-point performance to beat Memphis.

Josh Hart added 22 points, six assists and seven rebounds for the Trail Blazers. They have win four straight.

Morant matched his career high in scoring as Memphis had its six-game winning streak halted.

Desmond Bane scored 30 points.

PISTONS 112, CELTICS 111 BOSTON (AP) — Jerami Grant hit the winning basket and scored 24 points to help Detroit end an eight-game losing streak and Boston’s ninegame winning streak.

Jayson Tatum had a chance to send the Celtics into the All-Star break on a 10-game roll, but his jumper from the top of the key bounced high off the rim.

Tatum scored nine of his 22 points in the fourth quarter.

Cade Cunningham scored 20 points and had a key lock in the final minute in the Pistons’ first victory since January 30.

Grant completed the scoring with a jumper from 10 feet with 19.1 seconds left. Cunningham blocked a shot by Jaylen Brown with 8.9 seconds left and the Pistons survived after Boston’s Derick White broke-up the inbounds play, giving the Celtics one more shot to extend their streak.

BULLS 125, KINGS 118 CHICAGO (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 38 points and broke an NBA record set by Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain to help Chicago beat Sacramento.

DeRozan, who made 16 of 27 field goals, became the first player in NBA history to score 35 or more points and shoot 50% or better in seven consecutive games.

Chamberlain did it in six straight twice — during the 1960-61 and 1962-63 seasons.

Chicago moved a halfgame ahead of Miami for the Eastern Conference lead. Coby White set a season high with 31 points and matched one with six 3-pointers. De’Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 33 points and nine assists.

SEE PAGE 22

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 19

WHAT TO WATCH: VALIEVA’S FREE SKATE, BOWE ON THE OVAL

FROM left, Johannes Strolz, of Austria, silver, Clement Noel, of France, gold, and Sebastian Foss-Solevaag, of Norway, bronze, celebrate after the medal ceremony for the men’s slalom at the 2022 Winter Olympics yesterday in the Yanqing district of Beijing.

By NOAH TRISTER AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — The women’s figure skating event ends today — the competition portion, at least.

It remains to be seen how much longer it will be adjudicated.

Kamila Valieva is in first place after the short programme. That part isn’t a surprise — but the 15-yearold Russian’s path to this point has been anything but smooth. And there’s no indication that will change anytime soon.

Valieva’s positive drug test from an event in December put her participation in doubt, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that she could compete while officials conduct a full investigation.

The free skate could be a big draw in the US, even though no American is higher than eighth after the short programme.

NBC plans to show the free skate in prime time.

For the early risers, USA Network will air it live at 5am.

Thursday’s coverage also includes the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe and women’s speedskating. The men’s hockey tournament is also winding down.

• Here are some things to watch (all times Eastern): FIGURE SKATING If Valieva finishes in the top three, the International Olympic Committee has said there will be no medals ceremony. The Russians have a chance to sweep the top three spots, with Anna Shcherbakova second and Alexandra Trusova fourth after the short programme.

Valieva’s free skate is to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” — a popular skating tune that ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean famously performed to at the Sarajevo Games in 1984.

HALFPIPE The freestyle skiing halfpipe is the final event for Eileen Gu, the US native who won gold in big air and silver in slopestyle while competing for China.

Both NBC and USA Network will have live coverage of the halfpipe final in prime time.

SPEEDSKATING Brittany Bowe already made a big contribution to the US medal haul when she gave up her spot in the 500 metres so teammate Erin Jackson could compete. Jackson then won the event.

Bowe, a fine skater in her own right, finished 10th in the 1,500 and 16th in the 500. She is the world record holder in the 1,000, which she’ll compete in today.

(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

STRIKING GOLD IN BEIJING BEIJING (AP) — A roundup of gold medals from Wednesday, Feb. 16, at the Beijing Games: ALPINE SKIING MEN’S SLALOM French skier Clement Noel put down a blistering second run to win the slalom by a large margin.

Noel moved up from sixth following the first leg to beat first-run leader Johannes Strolz of Austria by 0.61 seconds after posting the fastest second run.

World champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag of Norway held his position and picked up the bronze, finishing 0.70 behind.

BIATHLON 4x6KM RELAY Elvira Oeberg anchored the Swedish team to Olympic gold in the four-person biathlon relay, skiing fast and shooting clean to win her third medal.

Oeberg, who also won silver in the sprint and pursuit races in her Olympic debut, put the Swedes across the line in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 3.9 seconds.

Russian biathlete Uliana Nigmatullina trailed Oeberg by about 24 seconds after the final shooting range and ended up finishing 12 seconds behind for silver. Denise Herrmann finished third to give Germany bronze, 37.4 seconds behind Oeberg.

Herrmann also won gold in the individual race.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING MEN’S TEAM SPRINT CLASSIC Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo completed a second straight cross-country double yesterday by teaming with Erik Valnes to give Norway the gold medal in the team sprint race at the Beijing Games.

Klaebo won the individual sprint and has become the second man to win both the team and individual sprint twice. He did

Roundup of Olympic gold medals from Wednesday, February 16

GOLD medalist Choi Min-jeong, centre, of South Korea, stands on the podium with silver medalist Arianna Fontana, left, of Italy, and bronze medalist Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands, following the women’s 1500-meters final during the short track speedskating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) the same in 2018. Klaebo and teammate Erik Valnes skied to the win in 19 minutes, 22.99 seconds.

Joni Maki of Finland stayed ahead of Alexander Terentev of the Russian Olympic Committee to take silver, 2.46 seconds behind Norway.

Terentev took the bronze 4.29 seconds back. Maki was partnered with Iivo Niskanen, who won gold in the 15-kilometer classic race. Terentev’s teammate was Alexander Bolshunov, who won gold in the skiathlon.

WOMEN’S TEAM SPRINT CLASSIC Cross-country skiers Victoria Carl and Katharina Henning of Germany won gold in the women’s team sprint.

Their time was 22 minutes, 9.85 seconds. Carl

outpaced Swedish sprint champion Jonna Sundling, who won silver with Maja Dhalqvist .17 seconds back.

Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia crossed the line just behind Sundling at .71 seconds. She and Yulia Stupak won the bronze medal.

FREESTYLE SKIING MEN’S AERIALS China’s Qi Guangpu finally flipped his way onto an Olympic podium in men’s aerials, winning a gold medal after near misses in Sochi and Pyeongchang.

Qi cleanly landed a quint-twisting triple back flip in the medal round Wednesday night, when five of his six competitors tried the same trick and only he did it clean.

Qi earned 129 points, easily beating defending champion Oleksandr

Abramenko of Ukraine at 116.5.

Ilia Burov of the ROC downgraded to a quadtwisting triple as the event’s last competitor, knowing that a clean back full-full-double full would be enough for the podium.

He earned bronze at the second straight Olympics.

MEN’S SLOPESTYLE Freestyler skier Alex Hall led a 1-2 American finish in the men’s Olympic slopestyle competition with a trick on his first run where he completely stopped his rotation midair and went the other direction.

Hall’s opening run earned a score of 90.01 and it stood up throughout the competition. His teammate Nick Goepper turned in a creative run on his second pass to earn silver. Jesper

Tjader of Sweden took home bronze.

The Americans have now earned six of nine Olympic medals since the event made its debut in 2014. Goepper has three of them, including silver from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze from the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

ICE HOCKEY WOMEN’S BRONZE MEDAL MATCH Finland claimed its fourth Olympic women’s hockey bronze medal with a 4-0 win over Switzerland.

Today, the defending Olympic champion United States and Canada meet in the gold-medal game for the sixth time in seven tournaments.

SHORT TRACK SPEEDSKATING MEN’S 5,000-METRE RELAY Canada won the 5,000metre relay in short track speedskating.

The team of Charles Hamelin, Steven Dubois, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Pascal Dion skated cleanly last night to take their nation’s eighth gold medal in the 45-lap race with a time of 6 minutes, 41.257 seconds.

South Korea earned silver. Italy claimed bronze.

WOMEN’S 1,500 METRES Choi Minjeong of South Korea successfully defended her Olympic title in 1,500-metre short track speedskating. She won in 2 minutes, 17.789 seconds.

Arianna Fontana of Italy took silver by two-thousandths of a second over Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands.

Valieva case boosts drive to raise age limit at Olympics

By JAMES ELLINGWORTH AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — The doping case involving Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has led to many more questions than answers.

Some skaters think it’s time to ask another: Should a 15-year-old be in the Olympics at all?

“You want these athletes to have an opportunity to have this be a profession, not a one-year run at it,” Mariah Bell, at 25 the oldest US national champion in nearly a century, said after skating Tuesday.

“If we had an age (minimum) limit, I think it would promote that idea of longevity and somebody being 25 wouldn’t be shocking at an Olympics.”

Valieva was allowed to skate Tuesday in the short programme partly because her age gives her extra rights as a “protected person” in a doping case.

It comes as some skating officials push to raise the minimum age for her event from 15 to 17 in time for the 2026 Milan-Cortina

Olympics. Bell suggested a minimum of 18.

Reformers argue a change would protect the well-being of child athletes and reduce the risk of injuries from straining the body into ever-more spectacular jumps.

“I think that (the Valieva case) really will push this forward and hopefully it will also put this question forward to other sports federations,” Norwegian Skating Federation president Mona Adolfsen, who supports the change, told The Associated Press.

Valieva, she added, “is a child, so whatever happened, we feel sorry for her.”

The issue is expected to go to a vote at the International Skating Union congress in June. It’s unclear if it will pass. Russia is opposed and the United States and Canada declined to say how they’ll vote.

The Valieva doping case has put the spotlight on Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze, who transformed the sport with a “Quad Squad” performing risky but high-scoring quadruple jumps. Her skaters often

KAMILA VALIEVA, of the Russian Olympic Committee, competes in the women’s short programme during the figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Tuesday in Beijing.

(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) have blink-and-you’llmiss-it careers, and it’s not unusual to retire at 18 or 19, sometimes with severe injuries. Almost all quads ever landed in women’s international competitions were performed by under-18s.

“If they raise the age, the motivation to create a skater who has longevity is higher,” Swiss skater Alexia Paganini said. “You are forced to think about a technique that can be maintained throughout your entire adult career.”

Others argue younger skaters deserve the

limelight and shouldn’t have to wait for an Olympic chance. Raising the minimum could mean more cases like that of Alexandra Trusova, now one of Valieva’s teammates in Beijing. Trusova won the world junior title in 2018 at the age of 13, and her score would also have won the senior world title that year, but she wasn’t eligible.

Figure skating has long struggled to balance artistic performances against athleticism in its oftendisputed scoring system.

Adolfsen argues the artistry

is what connects best with the public, and that comes with experience.

“I hope that the development will be that it’s possible to learn the quads also for the women later, but maybe in the big picture that’s not the most important thing in figure skating,” Adolfsen said.

“They remember (1984 and 1988 Olympic champion) Katarina Witt still, and that’s not because of the difficult jumps. It was because of the performance.”

Age affects male and female skaters differently.

Men tend to develop later and have longer careers, but still face injury risks.

Only six of 30 skaters in the women’s short programme Tuesday were also at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. The men’s event had twice as many returnees from four years ago, and Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic skated at his fourth Olympics.

Adolfsen is concerned about other sports, too, and would ideally like the same minimum age for all Olympic athletes.

That might face opposition from the International

Olympic Committee. It eagerly promoted the youngest athletes at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, like 13-year-old skateboarding medallist Sky Brown, who competed a year after suffering a fractured skull in a training accident.

Different sports set their own minimum ages. Women’s gymnastics requires competitors to turn 16 in the year the Olympics are held — though some teams have faked gymnasts’ ages.

Olympic boxers must be at least 18.

Bell believes a higher minimum age would allow skaters more time to become known to a wider audience and could give figure skating back the high public profile it enjoyed in the United States when she was a child.

“If you look at (2006 Olympic silver medallist) Sasha Cohen and (five-time world champion) Michelle Kwan, they were competing at a time where they did it for so many years they had people that can back them,” Bell said. “I think it gave a great outlook for the sport because people could really follow their careers.”

PAGE 20, Thursday, February 17, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

All-Star debut moment? Look to Morant, Ball for highlights

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer THE NBA All-Star Game seems to be tailormade for Ja Morant and LaMelo Ball.

The flashy point guards are sitting atop the leaderboard when looking to see which of the seven firsttime All-Stars will deliver a memorable moment during the league’s annual showcase on Sunday.

“Melo’s game is perfect for an All-Star Game,” said Miles Bridges, who has been on the receiving end of numerous highlight reel, no-look passes from his Charlotte Hornets teammate the past two seasons.

“He does All-Star Game type moves in (regular season) games, so I can’t imagine what he’s going to bring out for All-Stars. I’m excited to see what he does with the best players in the league.

“It’s going to be fun.”

Joining Ball and Memphis’ Morant as first-time All-Stars are Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins, Toronto’s Fred VanVleet, San Antonio’s Dejounte Murray and Cleveland’s Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen — who

BROOKLYN Nets (95) guard DeAndre’ Bembry. (AP)

BUCKS SIGN FORMER NETS FORWARD DEANDRE’ BEMBRY MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks have signed forward DeAndre’ Bembry less than a week after the Brooklyn Nets waived him.

Bembry averaged 5.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1 steal and 19.8 minutes in 48 games with the Nets this season. He shot 56.8% from the floor and 41.7% from 3-point range.

The 6-foot-5 Bembry has played a total of 288 regular-season career games with the Atlanta Hawks (2016-20), Toronto Raptors (2020-21) and Nets. He has career averages of 6.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists.

Atlanta selected him out of Saint Joseph’s with the 21st overall pick in the 2016 draft.

will be playing in front of their home fans.

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins believes Morant will put on a show.

“If you’re going to talk about the most entertaining players in the NBA and those at the top of the list, I think Ja has to be up there with a small group,” Jenkins said. “There is a lot of entertainment in this league and obviously the All-Star game is the ultimate highlight for that, and I think Ja will fit in perfectly.”

Morant and Ball are routinely at the center of jaw-dropping plays with their ability to create shots for themselves and others.

Fans enjoy watching them slice through traffic to the rim, make defenders loose their footing with a step-back 3-pointer or cross-over dribble, and setting up teammates for dunks with their impressive court vision.

“As fan, I would be excited to watch him play in this type of game,” Hornets coach James Borrego said of Ball, last year’s NBA rookie of the year. “It’s a free-flowing, highlight reel, play-making game that he’s fit for. So he’s going to bring

GRIZZLIES guard Ja Morant (12) guards Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (2) during the first half on Saturday, February 12.

(AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman) a lot of excitement to the going out and putting the game and to his teammates. rim down and getting dunks going…I knew I would fit This is right up his alley.”

Ball is the fourth-young- in though. My whole life I est NBA All-Star behind thought I could be an AllKobe Bryant, LeBron Star, I saw the game and James and Magic Johnson, thought I could play in and his swagger adds some that.”

Morant, the NBA rookie spice to a game that will be missing perennial All-Stars of the year in 2020, may like Kevin Durant, James get more opportunities to Harden and Draymond showcase his skills after being named a starter in his Green due to injuries.

For Ball, and others, third pro season.

Jenkins expects Morant playing in the All-Star game is the realisation of a will have a “significant imprint” on the game. childhood dream.

“He’s one of those great “I liked the jerseys and my parents would always playmakers that can do it have the game on and himself — get to the rim, maybe make some cook- play in the paint, knock ies,” Ball recently told down the 3-point shot and ESPN. “But I remember get out in transition. And

HORNETS guard LaMelo Ball (2) drives on Pistons guard Cory Joseph (18) in the first half on February 11.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya) you then you see the level his NBA career in the G of creativity he has with League, could prove to be a the lobs to his teammates, popular player among fans. kickouts for 3s. ... From an “I think Fred is the ultientertainment factor he is mate underdog and people going to be one of the ulti- always want to root for the mate keys to the All-Star underdog,” Raptors coach game’s success on Sunday.”

Nick Nurse said.

Morant was able to be Bridges has some advice with his family when he was for Morant and other selected to his first All-Star All-Stars playing with his Game.

Hornets teammate on “Getting the All-Star Sunday. starting nod and being with “Always be ready,” (family) when my name Bridges said with a smile was called, obviously was when talking about Ball. something I wanted to do, “That was my mistake and I was able to do that,” when I first started playing Morant said. with him — just not being VanVleet, who is just the ready. Still to this day I fifth undrafted player in don’t see some of his passes.

NBA history to be named as So just keep your head on a an All-Star and beginning swivel.”

NBA to honour 75th anniversary team at All-Star halftime CLEVELAND (AP) — Some of the players who gave the NBA its global bounce will be in attendance when the league celebrates its 75th anniversary team during a special halftime ceremony at Sunday’s All-Star Game.

Members of the diamond anniversary team will be inside Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for the ceremony as the league honours its best players and the cornerstone moments since the NBA was founded.

The official list of players has not yet been announced. There are 61 living members among the players selected to the 75th team.

In 1997, the league hosted the 50th Anniversary Team during All-Star Weekend in Cleveland and 47 members were on hand.

R&B performer Usher, director Spike Lee and actors Tiffany Haddish and Anthony Anderson will narrate the ceremony, which will conclude with Grammy Award-winning group Earth, Wind &

FORMER Los Angeles Lakers player Magic Johnson, left, Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan and former Boston Celtic Larry Bird pose for pictures during a photo session with the Legends of the NBA on Saturday, February 8, 1997, in Cleveland. Some of the NBAs most iconic players will be in attendance when the league celebrates its 75th Anniversary Team during a special halftime ceremony at Sunday’s All-Star Game.

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan) Fire performing their hit Macy Gray, another include performances by “Shining Star.”

Ohio native, will sing Mary J Blige, who was Before the game, Cleve- the national anthem and part of last week’s Super land native Machine Gun Toronto native Ryland Bowl halftime show.

Kelly and producer DJ James will perform “O Blige is expected to D-Nice will introduce the Canada.” perform along with Lil 2022 NBA All-Stars. FourThe All-Star Satur- Wayne, Gunna, Migos, Lil time Grammy winner day Night activities will Baby and DJ Khaled.

T-WOLVES SIGN BEVERLEY TO 1-YEAR, $13M CONTRACT EXTENSION MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves signed guard Patrick Beverley to a one-year, $13 million contract extension yesterday.

Beverley is in his first season with the Timberwolves, who acquired him in a trade last summer with Memphis just nine days after he was dealt to the Grizzlies by the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Timberwolves traded guard Jarrett Culver and forward Juancho Hernangomez for the 33-year-old Beverley, who is averaging 9.2 points and a career-best 4.9 assists per game in his 10th season in the NBA. He has started 35 of 39 games for Minnesota, providing a needed boost in defense, leadership and toughness.

The 6-foot-1 Beverley is sixth in the league with 15 drawn charging fouls. He has missed 19 games this season, including absences for ankle, groin and adductor injuries.

UTAH JAZZ LIFTS VACCINE RULES AS LAWMAKERS PUSH TO BAN SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test will no longer be required for fans wanting to see the Utah Jazz play at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, the team said in a statement on Tuesday.

Spectators have been required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test for events at the arena since September. The lifting of the rule will take effect Feb. 25. Other event organizers may choose to impose COVID-19 protocols including mask or vaccine requirements, the statement said.

Vivint Arena was one of only a few venues in Utah to require proof of vaccination. Its lifting of the requirement comes as cases, hospitalizations and deaths fall in the state after an omicron variantfueled surge. It also comes as state lawmakers move forward on a proposal to block private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination for customers and employees — a policy that would have applied to Jazz games.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 21

The stars are out in LA for a major-like field at Riviera

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — All the best players in the world are gathered on a course rich in heritage and esteem.

And the Masters is still seven weeks away.

The Genesis Invitational wraps up the West Coast swing at Riviera with a field so strong that it attracted everyone from the top 10 in the world ranking. It’s the first time in 15 years a regular PGA Tour event has all of the world’s top 10.

It even has Tiger Woods, even if he’s at Riviera as the tournament host while recovering from injuries to his right leg from a car crash in Los Angeles nearly a year ago.

“It’s sort of turned into a can’t-miss event on the

PGA Tour,” said Rory McIlroy, who checks in at No. 5. “All the top 10 are here this week, and I think that speaks volumes for what we all think of this event. It’s one that you don’t want to miss.”

Riviera has never looked better, thanks to a recent dry spell in California and a blast of heat during Super Bowl weekend. The greens already are firm and fast, and they have enough subtlety to make them difficult even in moist weather.

McIlroy is making his US debut after playing twice during the European Tour’s swing through the United Arab Emirates.

With so many top players in the field, Collin Morikawa at No. 2 and Patrick Cantlay at No. 3 have a mathematical chance to replace Jon Rahm atop

the world ranking. It’s almost enough to divert the attention away from the endless rumblings of a Saudi-financed “Super Golf League” that has yet to announce the signing of a player. Most of the attention is on Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, neither of whom are at Riviera. “Not so Super League,” is what McIlroy called it, suggesting it would be more like a pre-Champions Tour than a league of the best players.

Among those who have said they aren’t interested are McIlroy and Rahm, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and most recently Morikawa.

Rahm said nearly two years ago he was opposed to the idea, and he took time out yesterday to again say whatever legacy he

leaves in golf will come through the PGA Tour and that money is not his sole motivation. “They throw numbers at you and that’s supposed to impress people,” Rahm said.

The more pertinent numbers at Riviera come through the world ranking.

Much of that has to do with Riviera, and a tournament with Woods as the host that is referred to as “elevated status.” The prize money is $12 million, the same purse the PGA Championship offered last year.

Cantlay, who lost in a playoff to Scottie Scheffler last week in the Phoenix Open, has driven up to Riviera from his home in Long Beach since he was a kid.

He had said two weeks ago that Pebble Beach or Cypress Point would be the course he would love to

play with friends. For tournament golf, he felt Riviera was the best in the country.

“I think it defends par without getting tricked up better than any golf course I’ve ever been to,” Cantlay said. “They rarely grow any rough. There’s basically no rough out there, there’s no water, you only can really hit it out of bounds on the 12th hole. And yet 13, 14, 15, 16 under wins pretty much every time.”

And that’s with a par-5 opening hole that Cantlay can reach with a 3-wood and a 7-iron.

Max Homa won last year in a playoff after finishing at 12-under par. “I think it’s an amazing test of golf,” Cantlay said.

Of course, having all the top 10 players doesn’t guarantee one of them will be there at the end. The

RORY McIlroy tees off on the 17th hole during the Genesis Invitational pro-am yesterday.

(AP Photo/Ryan Kang) leaderboard was strong in Phoenix, with five players from the top 10 in the world finishing among the top 10 at the TPC Scottsdale.

Scheffler (now No. 9) was at No. 15 when he won in Phoenix. That was the highest-ranked player to win on the PGA Tour since McIlroy (No. 14) in Las Vegas at the CJ Cup. Two players from outside the top 100 in the world have won in the six tournaments to start the year. This isn’t the first time Morikawa has a shot at No. 1. He was poised to get to the top at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December until losing a five-shot lead in the final round.

Woods back on the PGA Tour but only as a tournament host

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — From a balcony on the clubhouse, Tiger Woods could see Riviera in all its glory yesterday under a blue sky, a sliver of the Pacific Ocean visible over the tops of trees and below him a course reputed to be as good as any on the PGA Tour.

He’s expecting the course to be firm and fast, with the plan for the greens to get increasingly difficult.

And then he interrupted himself with a realisation Woods has come to accept.

“Well,” he said with a smile, “I can’t tell you guys the plan because I’m not playing.”

He is the tournament host of the Genesis Invitational, nothing more. And that’s all he will be until his legs are healed enough from a harrowing car crash a year ago about 20 miles away from Riviera.

At best, Woods figures he would only be able to play a few events each year.

But that starts with being able to compete while walking. Most frustrating is not knowing when that will be.

He said his golf has been limited since playing with his son two months ago in the PNC Championship, where he could ride in a cart.

“My leg was not in very good position there about a year ago and I’ve had to work through a lot of different operations and a lot of different scenarios,” Woods said yesterday. “It’s been tough, but I’ve gotten here. I’ve gotten this far and I still have a long way to go. Each and every day’s a fight and I welcome that fight.”

It was the Tuesday after the Genesis Invitational last year when Woods was driving along a winding road in the Los Angeles suburbs.

JON Rahm gestures after putting on the eighth green during the Phoenix Open golf tournament on February 10 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

(AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

TIGER Woods speaks during a news conference for the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, yesterday in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

(AP Photo/Ryan Kang) His SUV was going around 85 mph when it ran over the median and tumbled down a hill.

Bones were shattered in his right leg and foot, injuries so severe that Woods said doctors contemplated amputation at one point.

“I think at this point we’re all just happy that he’s around and moving well, and he’s able to be a dad, just be this tournament’s host and do all that sort of stuff,” Rory McIlroy said.

Woods inspired hope he could return when he played the PNC Championship with his son. He and Charlie finished one shot behind. Overlooked in the performance was Woods was in a cart on a flat Florida course. “Being a weekend warrior is easy.

That’s not that hard,” Woods said. “Hit your ball,

hop in a cart, ride, barely step out of the cart, grab your club and hit the next one. And the longest walk you have is probably from the cart to the green and back. But walking a golf course? That’s a totally different deal.”

He also mentioned how difficult it was to get loose after his four back surgeries, a remarkable recovery made complete when he won the 2019 Masters for his 15th major.

He was recovering from a fifth back surgery when he crashed his car.

Not to be overlooked is Woods is 46. The older he gets, the longer it takes to heal. “I’ve got a long way to go,” he said, repeating a theme he mentioned in the Bahamas and in Florida, the other two times he has been in the public eye since the accident.

Augusta National is the toughest walk of the four majors.

And it would seem unlikely Woods will play.

He didn’t sound interested in playing the Par 3 tournament (a short walk, but still a walk), though he likely will be at the Masters for the champion’s dinner.

For now, he spends time reading (most Dean Koontz), playing video games and spending more time — he has plenty of that — on his foundation.

He made it clear in December he would never again play a full schedule.

That hasn’t changed. Now it’s a matter of when he can play at all.

Woods didn’t offer specifics on the shape of his right leg except to smile and say, “My right leg does not look like my left, put it that way.”

Whenever he returns, for however long, anticipation will be as great as ever. Adam Scott thought back to the news from the February 23 crash last year and recalls the shocking reports. “You couldn’t help but think really, ‘Will he ever play again or walk?’

We just didn’t really know,” Scott said.

“So it was brilliant to see him play at the back end of last year and pretty good, to be fair, for a guy who’s had to recover from such a serious accident. That’s on a positive note.

“Hopefully, he’s going to be able to play a little bit more,” Scott said. “It will be a sad day whenever the day comes when we don’t see him play at all, but it seems like he’s hinted that he’s going to play here and there. I think we should all enjoy that.”

RAHM VOTED EUROPEAN TOUR’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR 2ND TIME VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Jon Rahm was voted as the European tour’s player of the year for the second time in three seasons yesterday.

The top-ranked Spaniard won the 2021 award after a year in which he captured his first major — the US Open — and spent 27 weeks at No. 1.

Rahm was also Europe’s leading points scorer at the Ryder Cup, with 3½ from his five matches, and had top-eight finishes in the other three majors.

Rahm, the tour’s player of the year in 2019, too, received the newly named Seve Ballesteros Award after a vote by his fellow professionals.

“It is very unique to be recognised by your peers like this,” Rahm said. “It is a true honour to be able to win this award for a second time.”

PAGE 22, Thursday, February 17, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Yadav leads India to 6-wicket win over West Indies in T20 KOLKATA, India (AP) — Suryakumar Yadav smacked 34 off 18 balls as India beat West Indies by six wickets in the first Twenty20 yesterday.

Yadav was unbeaten as he hit five fours and a six to rescue India from a precarious 95-3. He put on 48 off 26 balls with Venkatesh Iyer (24 not out) to seal the game with seven balls to spare.

That was after Nicholas Pooran scored 61 off 43 balls to take West Indies to 157-7. In reply, India finished with 162-4 in 18.5 overs.

“The outfield was quick because of dew and it gave us an advantage,” Yadav said. “It was an

important partnership with Venkatesh. When he came in the difference (in scores) was just eight runs. We decided not to play fancy shots, just good cricket shots. I am really happy the way he played.”

Chasing 158, Rohit Sharma provided a quick start to the Indian innings by smacking 40 off 19 balls, including four fours and three sixes.

Sharma and Ishan Kishan (35) put on 64 off 45 balls for the first wicket but the skipper holed out off Roston Chase (2-14) in the eighth over and the innings came unstuck.

Chase also accounted for Kishan, who played an uncharacteristic knock off

INDIAN players stand in a huddle yesterday ahead of their first Twenty20 international cricket match against West Indies.

(AP Photo/Bikas Das) 42 balls. Virat Kohli (12) Yadav and Rishabh Yadav and Iyer came excited (on debut),” he struggled to get going again, Pant (8) pushed the score together to salvage a win. said. caught in the deep off past 100 before Cottrell Iyer hit two fours and a six, “I just tried to bowl Fabian Allen as India was accounted for Pant. the latter to finish the game. stump to stump as the ball reduced to 95-3 from 64-1 India’s chase became Earlier, Pooran’s half- was skidding a bit. I did not in the space of five overs. a struggle at 114-4 when century powered West want to give them room to Indies to a challenging total clear the boundary with on a slow Eden Gardens power.” pitch.

Three overs later, West Indies lost Bran- Deepak Chahar took a don King (4) early to sharp return catch to disBhuvneshwar Kumar but miss Akeal Hosein as West Kyle Mayers and Pooran Indies was reduced to 90-5 then added 49 runs off 36 in 13.5 overs. deliveries for the second Pooran counter-attacked wicket. and led the West Indies’ India’s spin power came resistance as the visitors into focus thereafter. Yuzv- scored 67 runs off the last endra Chahal (1-34) got rid 6.1 overs. of Myers, trapping him lbw.

He hit four fours and five Debutant Ravi Bishnoi sixes, completing his halfstruck twice in the 11th century off 38 balls. Kieron over, trapping Roston Pollard scored 24 not out Chase lbw and then off 19 balls to push the Rovman Powell holed out. score past 150.

Bishnoi was named man The second T20 in the of the match after picking three-match series will be up 2-17 from four overs. played on Friday at Eden “I was both nervous and Gardens again.

AUSTRALIAN STATE IN BID TO HOST 2026 COMMONWEALTH GAMES MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian state government of Victoria says it has entered into “exclusive negotiations” with the Commonwealth Games Federation to host the 2026 version of the games in regional centres in the state.

The Commonwealth Games are held every four years involving 70-plus countries from the British Commonwealth of nations.

It was scheduled to be held in Durban this year, but Birmingham, England stepped in when financial constraints meant the South African city had to pull out of its hosting plans.

If Victoria gets approval for 2026 it would be the second time in eight years that Australia hosted the games after the Gold Coast in Queensland held them in 2018. Melbourne hosted the games in 2006 while other Australian editions included those in Sydney (1938), Perth (1962) and Brisbane (1982).

Commonwealth Games Australia’s chief executive officer Craig Phillips says Victoria’s bid will be submitted to the CGF in mid-March with official approval likely in April.

NBA

FROM PAGE 18

Domantas Sabonis added 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in his fourth game since a trade from Indiana.

HAWKS 130, MAGIC 109 ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — All-Star starter Trae Young had 22 points and six assists and Atlanta routed Orlando.

Young played only 25 minutes after scoring 41 points in Atlanta’s home victory over Cleveland on Tuesday night. Bogan Bogdanovic led Atlanta with 23 points. The Hawks made 18 of 32 3-point shots and shot 50% overall.

Cole Anthony led Orlando with 23 points and seven rebounds.

RAPTORS 103, TIMBERWOLVES 91 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gary Trent Jr scored 30 points in his home state,

Phillips said regional facilities included housing and sports venues would be upgraded or built for the 2026 event and Australia’s sixth hosting of the games.

“One of our strategic pillars for our organisation is hosting great games,” Phillips said. “We know how important it is at one level, for our athletes and member sports, that we bring the games back to Australia on a regular basis.”

“And right now ‘26 becomes important in a broader context because of the runway to Brisbane in 2032,” he said, referring to Brisbane’s hosting of the Summer Olympics in 2032.

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive officer Matt Carroll said he welcomed the announcement.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for sport in Australia,” Carroll said.

“With Brisbane hosting the 2032 Olympic Games, we now have a second major home Games in prospect.

The Olympic and Commonwealth Games share so many member sports.”

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games this year are scheduled for July 28 to August 8.

Pascal Siakam added 17 points, eight rebounds and nine assists and Toronto beat Minnesota.

Trent went 5 for 12 from 3-point range and had 10 points in the fourth quarter to help the Raptors win for the ninth time in 11 games.

Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

SPURS 114, THUNDER 106 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Keldon Johnson scored 22 points and San Antonio beat Oklahoma City.

Jakob Poeltl had 20 points and 17 rebounds, All-Star Dejounte Murray had 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Lonnie Walker IV added 17 points for the Spurs.

Josh Giddey had his third straight triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Thunder.

Tre Mann scored 24 points.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 17, 2022, PAGE 23 SPORTS TOURISM: SHOWN, from left to right, are Kelsie Johnson, Varel Davis, Jerome Gomez, Mario Bowleg, Glenn Smith, Jeff Rodgers and Eugene Horton.

Hoopfest in Paradise seeks to bring elite prep basketball programmes to Bahamas

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE Hoopfest in Paradise initiative seeks to bring elite programmes from the American prep basketball circuit to The Bahamas over the upcoming winter holiday.

Event stakeholders, which include the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture along with Offshore Sports Group, and Hoopfest Basketball, officially announced plans for the inaugural event at a press conference yesterday.

Local All-Star teams from both New Providence and Grand Bahama will compete against several nationally ranked visiting programmes from the United States, December 16-17 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

Confirmed participants thus far include the Duncanville Panthers (Duncanville, Texas) and Sunrise Christian Academy Buffaloes (Bel Aire, Kansas).

The Buffaloes are ranked No.1 and the Panthers are at No.3 in the latest edition of ESPN’s SCNext Top 25 - which ranks the top high school basketball programmes in America.

Glenn Smith, the founder and president of Hoopfest, created his brand in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area as a recruiting analyst, a talent evaluator and a tournament director.

His organisation hosts the Thanksgiving Hoopfest in Dallas and the Holiday Hoopfest in Miami, Florida.

Both showcases feature elite prep basketball talent.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to do something in a beautiful place like [The Bahamas]. For the past 14 years we have done the Thanksgiving Hoopfest, we’ve added two other events. In each year the talent has gotten better,”

Smith said. “Pre-COVID we set a record for high school basketball in the state of Texas where we put about 13,000 people in the arena to watch four high school games. I’ve always wanted to do something different like this. I know The Bahamas has had collegiate events but I think it’s time to focus on the youth basketball and high school events because, in my opinion, that’s the foundation of sports, where they learn character and skill development.”

Smith said that in addition to showcasing the incoming talent, it will also provide exposure and opportunities for local Bahamian talent.

“I have four really good teams that are going to be here as well as two Bahamian teams and I really would like to give the Bahamian players an opportunity to not only compete but to also be scouted by a lot of the people that will be here,” Smith said.

“Traditionally at my events I have not only media, but collegiate and NBA scouts as well.”

To date, Hoopfesst has featured over 50 McDonald All-American players, 60 state champions and 23 current NBA players, including Trae Young, De’Aaron Fox, Julius Randle, Marcus Smart, PJ Washington, Jaylen Brown, RJ Hampton, Tyrese Maxey, Emmanuel Mudiay, Terrance Ferguson, Jahmi’us Ramsey and Damyean Dotson.

Local high school basketball has not been played since the pandemic began in March 2020, but despite these struggles, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg said The Bahamas will field the best competition possible.

“The tournament is expected to be extremely competitive,” Bowleg said.

“We are looking forward

to bringing the best talent from around The Bahamas to represent the country to ensure that we give them the proper exposure and experience at this time.

“There will be scouts in attendance, who I am sure will be looking for talent to play at the collegiate level. This is definitely an awesome opportunity for our young basketball players. This is the best of the best of the US and for that reason we must find the best of the best in The Bahamas.”

Varel Davis, the president of the Government Secondary School Sports Association, said her organisation is committed to participation.

“The GSSSA is very excited to be asked to participate in this event.

“I can assure you that we will field the best senior boys’ all-star teams from across the government schools,” she said.

“This year my theme is opportunity, we want to give our kids every opportunity to get some type of scholarships to help them along the way. We know how big sports is for our kids looking for a way for higher education or to find their career path.”

Jerome Gomez, president of Offshore Sports Group, said Hoopfest in Paradise plans to become a mainstay of the Bahamian sporting calendar.

“Hoopfest in Paradise is expected to be an annual event in The Bahamas. So we welcome the support of the government,” he said.

“As we have seen in the past we have a number of college tournaments, the Battle 4 Atlantis, Baha Mar Hoops, but no high school events so we are looking to make sure we have a premier high school event in this country with the anticipation that Bahamian athletes will have any number of opportunities.”

LIVERPOOL EARNS 2-0 WIN IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MILAN (AP) — When a breakthrough is proving elusive, Liverpool can still prosper from a set piece.

After 75 minutes of caution — even tedium — in the Champions League at Inter Milan, Andy Robertson swung in a corner that was met at the near post by Roberto Firmino glancing in a header, with his back to goal.

It was Liverpool’s fifth goal from a set piece in the Champions League this season, ranking first in Europe just like in the Premier League.

Once Mohamed Salah found the net in the 83rd minute it ensured the six-time European champions secured a 2-0 win in the round of 16 first leg yesterday.

It was a free kick from Robertson that created the opening for the second at San Siro as Liverpool scored from the game’s only two shots on target.

The hosts only partially cleared before the ball found its way back to Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose cross into the penalty area was nodded down by Virgil van Dijk. Salah was primed unmarked centrally to produce a shot that deflected past goalkeeper Samir Handanovic for his 10th goal in his last 12 Champions League appearances.

By securing a fourth successive away win in Europe for the first time since 2006, the 2019 Champions League winners gained a crucial cushion to take back to Anfield for the second leg next month. “I think we both took a lot of risk

LIVERPOOL’s Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal yesterday during the Champions League, round of 16, first leg soccer match against Inter Milan at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy. (AP) in the pressing,” Van Dijk told CBS. “It’s about the hard fight, the battle when you have the ball — be brave, make the right decisions and keep it tight at the back.”

Inter Milan didn’t manage a single shot on target in the 90 minutes and now faces missing out on a first quarterfinal appearance since 2011 in European football’s elite competition.

“In the Champions League small details make the difference,” Inter defender Milan Škriniar said. “We have created a lot, but we did not manage to score.”

How differently it might have turned out for the Italian champions had Hakan Calhanoglu’s first-half shot from a tight angle not hit the crossbar.

“We don’t have much hope now,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said. “But we will go Anfield to play the best possible match and we will see.”

It was a night when Alexander-Arnold lost his place in the Liverpool record books as the team’s youngest-ever Champions League player as Harvey Elliott was handed his first appearance in the competition at 18 years, 318 days.

Elliott played for the first 59 minutes, during which Liverpool were largely underwhelming and came closest to scoring when Sadio Mane headed over in the first half.

The only blot on the trip was Diogo Jota being forced off at halftime with an ankle injury, although that paved the way for the arrival of eventual scorer Firmino.

“Firmino needed time to get into the game,” Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said on BT Sport.

“After his goal you could see the confidence back. All of a sudden, the ball was our friend again and we won the game.”

The night’s other first leg produced a far tighter result with Bayern Munich needing a goal from Kingsley Coman in the 90th minute to recover a 1-1 draw at Salzburg.

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