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Volume: 119 No.110, May 2, 2022

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‘FORGIVE THE DEBT OF CLIMATE-HIT NATIONS’ MAN SHOT DEAD IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING

PM wants nation to lead way in call for financial relief

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis wants multilateral organisations to forgive those debts of small countries that are related to climate change.

He told The Tribune yesterday he plans to position the country as a leader in encouraging debt forgiveness for small, developing countries that are most susceptible to effects of climate change and said he will

raise the issue at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt later this year.

Mr Davis, while discussing the issue recently at the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum in Miami, said trying to recover from natural disasters has added $5bn to the national debt in the past five years.

“I don’t know that much attention has been paid to the small island developing states in the world,” he said.

SEE PAGE FOUR

VAT OFF BREADBASKET ITEMS ‘IS NOT FEASIBLE’

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ECONOMIC Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis maintained on Friday that removing value added tax on breadbasket items is not feasible at this time, noting the tax regime was a necessary initiative meant to reduce government borrowing and improve the nation’s overall “fiscal health”.

Mr Halkitis was responding to increased calls for the government to eliminate VAT on breadbasket items, which had been zero-rated under the former Minnis administration.

Since the tax was implemented in January, the government has frequently come under attack from the opposition, which has sought to portray the Davis SEE PAGE FOUR

QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE MISS Teenager Bahamas Flonique Lightbourne pictured on her return to The Bahamas after winning the Miss Teenager Universe title in Panama City, Florida, on Saturday. She has been hailed by Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis as an inspiration. See PAGE TWO for the full story. Photo: Kemuel Stubbs/BIS

ATLANTIS has moved to better enable its guests to “experience the sheer beauty of the Family Islands” with this week’s launch of its partnership with Coco Bahama Seaplanes and Kamalame Cay. Audrey Oswell, the Paradise Island mega resort’s president and managing director, in written replies

to Tribune Business questions said it was moving to “share all of The Bahamas with our visitors” by providing day excursions to the

SEE PAGE THREE

MOTHER DIES IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENT

By PAVEL BAILEY

Andros resort via Coco’s seaplanes.

The three round-trip flights per week, capable of carrying eight Atlantis guests per trip, took off on Saturday from Odyssey Aviation at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) with the resort planning further excursion additions and expansions to give visitors “experiences like no other”.

A YOUNG mother is dead while two children and a man are in hospital following a traffic accident in western New Providence on Saturday night.

Police said officers were alerted to the incident at the junction of Cambridge Avenue and West Bay Street shortly after 10pm.

Officers from the Traffic Division found a white 2007 Nissan Bluebird in the median with extensive damage.

Police also said a man was inside the vehicle in the driver’s seat complaining of injuries while an unresponsive woman was in the front passenger seat.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

SEE PAGE THREE

ATLANTIS FLYAWAY PLAN TO ISLANDS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who was shot while sitting on a wall died in hospital on Saturday, police said.

Police said they were alerted to the sounds of gunshots in the area of Malcolm Road east in New Providence around 12.15am that day.

Responding officers were told that a group of people were sitting on a wall when a dark vehicle pulled up.

An occupant discharged a firearm in their direction.

As a result, a man was shot several times about his body.

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

PAGE 2, Monday, May 2, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

FLONIQUE Lightbourne receiving her crown in Panama.

QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis was among many persons offering congratulations to Miss Teenager Bahamas Flonique Lightbourne who recently won the title of Miss Teenager Universe in Panama City, Florida.

“Lightbourne, a Grand Bahama native, made The Bahamas proud last evening (Saturday), as she

competed for and won the title in Panama City,” Mr Davis said in a brief statement released by his office. “We continue to experience phenomenal success in the area of pageantry and are proud of the milestones made in this country.”

He encouraged local organisations to continue the work they are doing to

groom young women for international success.

The Free National Movement also congratulated the pageant queen.

“Miss Flonique is a great example of perseverance and tenacity,” the FNM said. “She represented her island and country exceptionally well. We are very proud of you and your accomplishments.”

145 MIGRANTS REPATRIATED IN OPERATION ONE hundred and forty-five migrants were repatriated on Friday.

According to the Department of Immigration, a Bahamasair charter left New Providence around 11.43am for Havana, Cuba, with 14 Cubans onboard.

The group consisted of

eleven men and three women.

Around 1.30pm that day, 130 Haitians left New Providence for Port-au-Prince, Haiti, onboard a Bahamasair chartered flight. This group consisted of 107 men, 12 women, and eleven minors.

One Jamaican male was also repatriated to Kingston, Jamaica, onboard Caribbean Airlines at 2.30pm.

The department said its deportation unit led all escorts mandated COVID19 protocols strictly observed.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 2, 2022, PAGE 3

MAN SHOT DEAD IN DRIVE-BY SHOOTING

Mother dies in traffic accident from page one

Two juvenile boys were outside the car.

The man and the boys were taken to hospital for medical attention, however Emergency Medical Services pronounced the woman dead at the scene.

Although police have not released her identity, friends and loved ones identified her on social media as Lashonna Taylor Sands.

Police said that the driver was travelling west along West Bay Street when he lost control of the vehicle. This resulted in him crashing into a tree in the median.

Meanwhile, stunned loved ones took to social media to remember the mother who lost her life in the crash. “I love you in life and I’ll love you even more in death... Today you cut me deep, I’m so angry only God knows, those boys need you but you know we (got) your back…

fly high baby girl we (will) miss you down here,” one woman wrote on Facebook.

Another loved one wrote on Facebook: “If I say I knew where to start I’d be lying. Lord this pain, this pain. Lord this pain. You took my sweet girl away from me and most of all away from her kids. This really cut me deep. This one (has) me weak to my knees.”

RBPF press liaison officer, Supt Audley Peters called on members of the public who may have information about the accident to come forward. He also appealed to drivers to exercise caution.

“The motoring public is admonished to continue to obey the road traffic laws, exercise mutual courtesy towards other road users and to drive with due care and attention. The life you save may be your own,” he said.

Police said the coroner visited the scene and was appraised of the facts.

A NEW ERA FOR PACE GLENYS HANNA MARTIN, Ann Marie Davis and Andrea E Archer unveil a commemorative plaque at a ceremony to mark the renaming of the PACE building as the Andrea Archer Institute.

PROVIDING Access to Continued Education has renamed its East and Plantol Streets building as the Andrea Archer Institute, in honour of its founder.

Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin and Ann Marie Davis, wife of Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, attended Friday’s ceremony.

During her remarks, Mrs Hanna Martin called Mrs Archer a hero. “I personally think Mrs Archer is a hero and I want to say that I am so proud to know you, I am proud of you as a Bahamian woman, I am in awe of your courage... you had to fight against the status quo,” the Englerston MP said.

Mrs Archer said the road

to establishing PACE was not easy, noting it took “courage, stamina and fortitude” in the face of negative criticism and vilification.

The PACE programme is a special school for teenage mothers unable to complete school due to their pregnancy. The school was founded in 1969 by Mrs Archer.

from page one

LASHONNA TAYLOR SANDS

GLENYS HANNA MARTIN, Andrea E Archer and Ann Marie Davis cut a cake.

Photos: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

The victim was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle where he later died, police said.

This comes after a Grand Bahama man was shot dead on Thursday.

Police said the victim, believed to be in his early 40s, was shot and killed outside his home. Police were alerted to the shooting in the Bruce Avenue area shortly after 8.30am that day.

According to reports, a man was at his home when a vehicle pulled up.

One of the male occupants got out of the vehicle, produced a firearm and began firing shots in his direction.

The victim ran towards the home, where he collapsed and died.

The shootings come as police and the Davis administration seek to get a handle on violent crime in the country and after 22 homicides were recorded in March, one of the deadliest months on record in the country.

Anyone with information on these incidents is asked to call police at 919, 5029991 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS(8477).

PAGE 4, Monday, May 2, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

‘Forgive the debt of climate-hit nations’ from page one “Our headroom to be able to do the things that’s necessary for adaptation and mitigation cost money and we look at our GDP to debt ratio and we recognise that our country in particular, and no doubt throughout the Caribbean, most of our debt (is) directly related to the consequences of climate change, hence I just mentioned that the loss of damage from hurricanes over the last five years has added at least $5 billion to our national debt, not to

speak to the disruption that those incidents caused and not speaking to the recovery efforts and the loss of economic activity.

“I think it is important for all small island developing states to take a look at their debt portfolio and to speak to this aspect of it and to call on the major emitting countries to become more responsible and sensitive to this fact and the multi-laterals who feed in the climate funding relating to climate change ought to start thinking about grants and to start thinking about debt

forgiveness in relation to matters that are the consequence of climate change.”

It is not clear which agencies the government will push to provide debt forgiveness.

When contacted by this newspaper yesterday to elaborate on his comments at last week’s forum, Mr Davis said serious debt forgiveness must be given consideration.

“I believe The Bahamas must petition countries and financial institutions to now give a much more thorough consideration to debt forgiveness based

on the fact that we are being affected by climate change,” Mr Davis told The Tribune yesterday in a brief interview.

“When you add Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Dorian, the consequences they have on our economy and the shocks they cause our economy are disrupting our growth, there has to be a more circumspect approach to how we deal with financing and debt because climate change is no fault of our own and we play a significant role as carbon sinkholes for global polluters.”

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis.

BNT DIRECTOR SUPPORTS GOVT MOVE ON CARBON CREDITS

By PAVEL BAILEY

THE director of Bahamas National Trust has applauded the Davis administration’s pledge to become the first country to sell blue carbon credits and to generate at least 30 percent of the country’s energy from renewable sources by 2030.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Eric Carey called the prime minister’s announced initiatives on the environment “the right move”.

Mr Carey also said that The Bahamas entering the carbon trading business would provide valuable funding to further environmental sustainability.

“Getting into the blue carbon trading business means that we, if we can indeed determine that we

have viable, significant viable tradable stocks of carbon, it means we have the opportunity to provide funding or to secure funding because of the work that we’re doing sequestering carbon,” Mr Carey said.

“So it’s a very positive move and there’s still a lot of work to do before we are able to sell our first carbon credit but at least we are making the right moves.”

Mr Carey also said that the legislation that will be put in place needs to be highly regulated in order to meet international carbon credit standards.

“The legislative framework the government has put in place provides the legal mechanism under which we can create the relevant national initiatives to be able to legally manage this important sector. This needs to be highly regulated

at the national level because it is very highly regulated at the international level. You can’t just make up carbon credits, you have to have inventory and then you have to go through the verification and then you have you to make a commitment to lock those carbon sources.”

Last week, the House of Assembly passed the Climate Change and Carbon Market Initiatives Bill, 2022. The Bill needs to be debated and passed in the Senate before it is enacted.

At a climate conference in Miami on Thursday, Prime Minister Philip Davis said the government intends for The Bahamas to be the first country to sell blue carbon credits and it is envisioned this will generate some of the resources needed to make progress toward transitioning the

country to renewable energy and building climate resilient infrastructure.

“We intend to be the first country to sell blue carbon credits,” Mr Davis said last week. “We hope many of our regional neighbours will follow suit. We believe that selling blue carbon credits in the voluntary carbon markets will generate at least some of the resources we need to make real progress in transitioning our country to renewable energy and building climate-resilient infrastructure. In this way, carbon markets can be an important bridge to a renewable energy future for countries such as ours.

“We have committed to generating at least 30 percent of our energy from renewable sources by 2030. Our National Energy Policy outlines the country’s pivot to a more modern,

diversified, efficient, competitive and affordable energy sector, which will include updating our legal and regulatory regime.”

While Mr Carey doesn’t know if the country will reach these goals by the target date, he knows that his organisation will assist the government through several different initiatives.

In addressing the Davis administration’s wider plans to promote more environmental consciousness in the face of climate change, including replacing the government fleet of cars with largely electric vehicles, Mr Carey believes that The Bahamas can be the standard bearer for the region.

“Obviously getting away from fossil fuels sends the right message, but the reality is The Bahamas does not consume a globally significant amount of hydrocarbons. We

are a very small country but notwithstanding that, but any efforts that we can undertake to reduce our carbon footprints ourselves as a country certainly sends the right message and supports the message we are sending to the world that we are one of the most vulnerable countries on the planet to some of the impacts of climate change.

“And certainly using renewable energy, looking for cleaner energy vehicles, trying to reduce our waste, eliminating plastics.

All of these are the proper signals the right signals to send the planet that despite the fact that we are not a large net polluter, we are going to do our part and we are going to lead by example and we are going to support our message that we are preaching to the rest of the planet,” Mr Carey said.

VAT OFF BREADBASKET ITEMS ‘IS NOT FEASIBLE’

from page one

administration as insensitive and heartless in view of the move.

Some in the business community have also backed calls for the removal of VAT on the food items, including Super Value’s President Rupert Roberts.

Asked to respond to those calls, Mr Halkitis maintained that the government did not intended to change its position on the policy, which he said followed best world practices

and expert advice.

“It’s not feasible,” Senator Halkitis said during a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister Friday. “When we first introduced it at seven and a half percent, our advice after considerable deliberations and discussions and back and forth with the private sector, with academia, with scientists and scholars - the best policy is to have a low rate with minimal exemptions which is what we did and it was very effective and lauded around the world as being effective.”

“When the FNM administration came in in 2018 and they made a promise that they would take it off the bread basket items which they did, but at the same time that they took it off the bread basket items, in order to be able to do that, they raised the rate from 7.5 percent to 12 percent and so I hear this call coming mostly from the political corners about doing this because okay, it’s a good political point to make, but to recognise that when you begin to introduce exemptions, the only way you can do it is if you pay the higher rate on everything else.

“So, we have studied this and we’ve gone back and forth and our best advice is a lower rate that’s the 10 percent, lower than the

twelve, but with minimal exemptions because it’s more efficient and again, it’s not something that we did haphazardly,” he also said.

Mr Halkitis said while the government is sympathetic to the plight of vulnerable Bahamians, it also cannot ignore the nation’s precarious fiscal situation, pointing to the country’s ballooning debt among other things.

He said: “We would love for the government to be able to say that we’re taking the tax off this, we’re taking the tax off of gas but if we do that, we have to get money from somewhere else and that’s just the way it is. Our debt has gone up by $2b in the last two years.

If we don’t earn it through taxes and revenue, we have to borrow it. I hate to be

the one who has to keep saying this because I’m sure nobody wants to hear it but it’s just the reality that government’s fiscal health is very important because it impacts all of us and so we are hopeful the situation normalises.”

In January, VAT was reduced from 12 percent to 10 percent across the board with few exemptions, but also reintroduced on breadbasket items.

Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin on Thursday told parliamentarians that she struggled with the Davis administration’s decision to return value added tax to breadbasket items.

Meanwhile as it relates to the country’s economic recovery, Mr Halkitis said

there have been positive signs.

“We are trending ahead in terms of revenue and in terms of expenditure, we’re slightly down from our target, three per cent down and in terms of the deficit, it’s currently showing just under $345m for the first nine months and we had forecasted $850m for the entire year.

“So, we’re ahead of schedule because mostly the revenues are performing very well and we so far have been able to keep a fairly good range on expenditure,” he said.

He also said the World Bank has predicted the economy will grow by eight percent, an increase from the initial six percent forecast.

BAIL GRANTED IN POLICE ASSAULT CASE

By PAVEL BAILEY A MAN accused of assaulting a police officer

was granted bail in the Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Godfrey Darling, 32, stood before Assistant

Chief Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans after police alleged that he assaulted Corporal Oliver while he was executing his duties on April 27 at Marathon Road.

Darling pleaded not guilty to the charge against him and claimed that he was with his parents on the day in question.

The accused has a history with the court and Magistrate Vogt-Evans commented that Darling

had clearly deteriorated before her eyes over his many appearances before her.

She told Darling that the only way to change his life was to fall to his knees and ask God for forgiveness.

Darling was granted bail at $500 with one surety on condition that he sign in at South Beach Police Station every Sunday by 7pm.

His case was adjourned to July 7.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 2, 2022, PAGE 5

CASES DATING BACK TO 2020 ADD NINE MORE COVID DEATHS

COVID-19 deaths have risen by nine to 798 after a woman died of the disease in early April and health officials reclassified several other deaths that took place between August 2020 and June 2021.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness reported that

COVID-19 deaths had jumped from 789 to 798 in its April 29 dashboard.

The nine deaths include a 38-year-old New Providence woman who died on April 3 of this year.

“Additionally, 11 deaths are now reclassified,” the Ministry of Health said. “Of

these 11 reclassified deaths, there are eight COVID-19 related deaths reported for the period August 2020 – June 2021.”

The deceased are all New Providence residents. They are a 90-year-old woman who died on August 30, 2020; a 61-year-old man

Hopes for govt help on gas cost

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE vice president of the Bahamas Petroleum Dealers Association is confident the government will boost his industry amid soaring gas prices, calling the Davis administration the best he has ever dealt with.

Gas dealers had threatened to go on strike just two weeks ago before the Easter holiday. However, after a meeting with the government, that threat was called off.

Now, vice president of the association Vasco Bastian says the future is bright for his industry even as Russia’s war on Ukraine rages, fueling high gas prices.

“The government is committed to making sure at the end of the day consumers and dealers are treated fairly,” he said yesterday.

“This has been the best government I have dealt with in the last ten to 15 years with regards to the concerns of dealers and the Bahamian people who continue to support us. Remember now, our problem didn’t just begin overnight. We’ve been struggling in this business and fighting to stay afloat for the last ten to 15 years. I think there is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel so I applaud the

government and the efforts for sitting down with us once again. Our plight has been long-standing.”

Mr Bastian declined to say what measures the government is likely to implement.

Minister of Economic Affairs Michael Halkitis met representatives of the retailers association last week. He said the government hopes to implement a new policy in time for the new budget.

Financial Secretary Simon Wilson has said “everything is on the table” to address the issue, including tax relief.

Another potential remedy gas dealers have advocated for include changing the fixed margin for retailers so they could make more money.

Mr Bastian said: “The government and the Bahamian people know that we provide an essential commodity and we should be able to gain a liveable return on our investments as contributors to this economy. We are Bahamian men and businesswomen who have suffered for so long and we are happy that the government understands it and members of the financial sector of the government are working along with us to try and help us before our industry gets to the point where there will

be owners and operators losing their business.”

Government and association representatives expect to meet again within the next month.

Mr Bastian said while there should be a reduction on the price of diesel at one station this week, people can only be optimistic that the worst is in the past when the Ukrainian crisis concludes.

“The prices of fuel last week increased. I know at Esso (today) if my memory serves me correctly, diesel should be coming down based on the numbers I saw this morning, a reduction in diesel at Esso gas station pumps. I don’t have all the information about Rubis and Shell with me.

“The worst is not behind us. As long as there are issues with Ukraine and Russia and as long as this war drags on, we won’t be out of the woods. The minute this war comes to an end and even if America quadruples their output, then there might be some sign of that but to say that the worst is behind us right now, I cannot say that and I refuse to say that.”

Gas prices are more than $6 a gallon at fuel stations in New Providence, with fears the number can rise as high as $8 a gallon this summer.

who died on September 3, 2020; a 54-year-old man who died on September 24, 2020; an 83-year-old man who died on October 9, 2020; a 76-year-old New Providence man who died on October 29, 2020; a 66-year-old New Providence woman who died

on November 2, 2020; a 76-year-old New Providence man who died on November 10, 2020 and a 55-year-old New Providence man who died on June 9, 2021.

Health officials also reported that 51 new cases of COVID-19 were

recorded over a three-day period: 14 on April 28; 17 on April 29; and 20 cases on April 30.

The country now has 33,578 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. As of April 30, there were seven people in hospital with the virus.

PAGE 6, Monday, May 2, 2022

The Tribune Limited

THE TRIBUNE

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Who will bear the cost of climate change?

HURRICANE Dorian was a monster. It bore down on Abaco and Grand Bahama and ripped the islands to pieces.

The cost of the lives lost in the storm is immeasurable, there is no price you can put on a life. The damage, however, carried a financial toll, one that The Bahamas had to bear, even though there was a helping hand from others in the aftermath.

Estimates vary but, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, Dorian caused about $3.4 billion in damage, about a quarter of our nation’s GDP. Was Hurricane Dorian a one-off event? Or is it a symptom of a greater pattern?

A number of studies have suggested that hurricane trends are linked to climate change. Put simply, that means more often, deadlier.

Hurricanes themselves are fuelled by warmer water – global warming increases the temperature and has a knock-on effect on the size, frequency and range of such storms.

So, who should bear the financial costs of that? Nations such as ours? Our carbon footprint is minimal compared to the biggest countries producing the most carbon dioxide. The five biggest producers of CO2 are China, the United States, India, the Russian Federation and Japan. The CO2 produced around the world drives climate change – but the effects may fall on very different shores than those of the polluters, namely our own.

So who pays?

In the case of Hurricane Dorian, we are – but the suggestion from Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis is that

there should be a measure of debt forgiveness for small countries affected by climate change.

He said: “Most of our debt is directly related to the consequences of climate change, hence I just mentioned that the loss of damage from hurricanes over the last five years has added at least $5 billion to our national debt, not to speak to the disruption that those incidents cause and not speaking to the recovery efforts and the loss of economic activity.

“I think it is important for all small island developing states to take a look at their debt portfolio and to speak to this aspect of it and to call on the major emitting countries to become more responsible and sensitive to this fact and the multi-laterals who feed in the climate funding relating to climate change ought to start thinking about grants and to start thinking about debt forgiveness in relation to matters that are the consequence of climate change.”

It is an interesting proposal. If we contrast it to another proposal, the exploration of reparations against former colonial states in relation to the slave trade and genocide of original inhabitants of islands, the complaint is often that this happened a long time ago. The issue of climate change and its effects are happening in real time, taking lives and destroying economies.

We must not venture into this with an expectation that nations and organisations will say yes right away – far from it, it will be a battle that may be unwinnable. But even the argument is enough to keep focusing the attention on an issue that has affected our nation yesterday, affects us today and threatens to do even worse in our tomorrows.

THOUSANDS file through an avenue during a May Day march to Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, yesterday.

Photo: Claudia Daut/AP

What are the rules on masks?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

CLARIFICATION, has the Ministry of Health and Wellness cancelled the wear mask mandate?

Seems so if you watch the goings-on at Baha Mar that mega Bitcoin meeting of hundreds... seating as per pre-COVID, zero spacing — not a soul wearing a mask. The previous weekend in Exuma, not a soul wearing masks.

What is the rule? Wear or not to?

Least we forget how do you or can you contract the virus of COVID? Basically inhaling the virus or touching a surface where there was a wet deposit of the virus and you touch your face. So wearing masks

LETTERS

letters@tribunemedia.net does what?

The newest variant is more infectious than the previous ones – fortunately if you go positive the health effects seem to be a bad flu for four-five days - very, very few hospitalization cases, but you could easily disrupt a large emloyer’s operations, like a hotel, if a few of your employees were tested and found positive.

If the leadership doesn’t practice what is the Regulation then what do you expect?

Jamaica has a confirmed presence of the new virus pre-CARIFTA which

challenges should our young people have been exposed? A bunch of political people flew down to Kingston...should they have exposed themselves and the risk to importing the highly infectious virus?

Pre-Exuma the Ministry of Health and Wellness issued a release advising the travelling public what not to do and what is advised seems not a sole reads it or complied.

Just wondering if anyone takes heed of the Ministry of Health and the excellent leadership of Dr Michael Darville and his team, especially Dr Nelcia Forbes?

J HALL Nassau, April 29, 2022.

Protect our precious patrimony EDITOR, The Tribune.

THIS is a call to action once again for Bahamians to wake up and protect our precious patrimony!

It is mindboggling to still read urgent pleas to the powers that be from Bahamian scientists and their foreign partners for the issuance of necessary permits to carry out crucial scientific research as well as mitigation measures in our seas – our precious blue economy!

Apparently, several groups of scientists have applied for necessary permits since 2019 under a new Act, but unfortunately have been left in a “holding pattern“ by the Department of Environmental Protection and Planning (DEPP), the

executing agency for this activity, which has seemingly come to an abrupt halt!

Inquiring minds would like to know the cause of this unconscionable hold up. Please make it make sense, because Hurricane Dorian roared through The Bahamas in 2019, and right now we are almost in the middle of the year 2022 and the beginning of another hurricane season – yet still, the desperate pleas of the environmental scientists are falling on deaf ears - and the silence is deafening!

The blatant disrespect and seemingly irresponsible lack of action of the government agency that was formed for ‘Environmental Protection and

Planning’ indicates that it is operating in direct opposition to its mandate with regard to these issue.

If there is a problem, please make a statement in that regard. If you have made a mistake, please say you’re sorry, and make it right. Or are we to assume that there a cover up of some bigger issue that we are not aware of? In any case, we cannot afford to do nothing whilst standing on this precarious cliff of environmental degradation, because we will all suffer the catastrophic consequences!

Bahamians, speak up and ‘gubment’, do better!

PAM BURNSIDE Nassau, April 20, 2022.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 2, 2022, PAGE 7

Ingraham concludes GB book tour

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net FORMER Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham concluded his two-day book launch in Grand Bahama on Friday with a courtesy call on Grand Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey and a visit with students at Jack Hayward High School.

He was in Freeport last week promoting his book of speeches “I Say What I Mean and I Mean What I say - Hubert Ingraham in his own words.”

While at the Office of the Prime Minister in Grand Bahama, he presented Ms Moxey with an autographed copy of the book.

“It is an honour to have you,” she said. “You meant so much and mean so much to this country and I am just honoured that you are here today with your book.”

During the courtesy call, Mr Ingraham wished Ms Moxey well in her post.

“The Ministry of Grand Bahama was a thought we had; we haven’t perfected it yet,” he told Ms Moxey.

“There are still many things to do … and I am sure you are the right person for the job I am told. I wish you every success.”

FORMER Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham presenting his book to Grand Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey.

After his visit with the minister, Mr Ingraham went to Jack Hayward High School, one of the two secondary schools that were built during his time in office.

He spoke with students and shared his inspiring life story, which he hopes will serve as an inspiration

to them.

“I want to say, let my life, what I (have) done, where I have come from be an inspiration to you because if I can do it, so can you,” Mr Ingraham said to students gathered in the school’s gymnasium.

“It was because of my position as prime minister

that we were able to cause this wonderful school here in Freeport to be built and named after Sir Jack Hayward, who was one of the sons of the original developers of (Freeport), and to also build the St Georges High School, Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior High,

and Hugh Campbell and Maurice Moore Primary Schools, etc.”

Mr Ingraham shared with students how he was born in Pineridge, Grand Bahama, out of wedlock to a teen mother, and was raised by his maternal grandparents Prince and Elizabeth Cornish, who were both

illiterate and worked in the pine mills in Abaco and Grand Bahama. There was no electricity or running water and he went barefoot to school.

“I came from a background of poverty,” he recalled. “I went to school barefoot - all of you have shoes on. I remember, clearly, the first time I had tennis to put on my feet to go to school.

“You have an abundance of opportunity, primary and high schools, special teachers and computers, electricity, access to television, internet, and the ability to attend college or technical school right here or to study abroad or go directly into the workforce.”

Mr Ingraham encouraged students to read, telling them the hobby helped him to become who he is today.

“I read a lot. I read everything I could get my hands on. And I learnt something new every day.

I still learn something new every day because I read every day of my life, and I encourage you to read every day of your life.

Reading is an invaluable source of learning. It will help you become what I became in life.”

‘GOVT IS WORKING ON GAINING FROM DIGITAL ASSETS’

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRESS secretary Clint Watson said the government is working with key stakeholders to ensure that Bahamians can benefit from the digital assets industry.

His comments come after FTX Digital Markets - the world’s second largest crypto currency exchange - held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday for its $60m headquarters on West Bay Street. Four

hundred Bahamians are expected to be employed throughout various stages of construction.

At the event, Prime Minister Phillip “ Brave” Davis said it sent a strong message that The Bahamas is a safe place for international companies to set up shop.

He also echoed similar comments while giving the opening remarks at Crypto Bahamas, a cryptocurrency conference hosted by FTX and Salt at Baha Mar last week.

Asked on Friday about

the government’s plans in ensuring Bahamians can be involved in the industry, Mr Watson said the Davis administration hopes to work with local regulators and stakeholders to find out how Bahamians can have access to the digital assets industry.

He also insisted that “no new industry will be derived in this country” that excludes Bahamians.

“I’m proud to announce that there are Bahamian companies who are now starting up in this industry.

MAN KILLED IN HIT AND RUN AN Eleuthera man is dead after a hit and run accident on the island on Saturday, police said.

Officers were called to the scene of the accident in the community of Rainbow Bay, which is north of James Cistern township, where they found an unresponsive man in the street.

Medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.

According to Chief Superintendent Shanta Knowles, the man was walking on

Queen’s Highway when he was hit by a vehicle that fled the scene.

CSP Knowles urged the driver of the vehicle to turn themselves into police so officers can bring closure to the victim’s family.

Traffic Division officers from New Providence are assisting police in Eleuthera with the investigation. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call the Governor’s Harbour Police Station at 242332-2111 or any police station on Eleuthera.

We met two of them at the conference and it was exciting. We’re going to profile those to the Bahamian people, so they know about them and know their whereabouts,” Mr Watson said at a press conference Friday.

“And another thing we want to do is what I call the educational side of it and that is encourage more Bahamians to study this. When you recognize that there is a new industry that has potential that this industry has – I will be

telling our high school students that you may want to move away from a traditional career and go into this.”

Mr Watson also said: “This is a major opportunity for the Bahamas. The headquarters is going to be here. You see FTX is building their headquarters here so they’re going to be looking at Bahamians. They want to engage Bahamians.

They have already and so I encourage Bahamians first of all, to get to know the industry, to perhaps study

the industry, get certified in the industry so that you could make yourself available for opportunities in the industry.”

“As for trading, we’re going to be doing more on that. We’re working with all of our regulators and our stakeholders here locally to find out how Bahamians can have access because the Davis administration has been very clear that no new industry will be derived in this country that exempts Bahamians. It’s going to include Bahamians.”

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022

THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS

The money has to come from somewhere

By MALCOLM STRACHAN THE debate about taxation got ugly last week – with arguments in the House of Assembly and Shanendon Cartwright MP risking being thrown out by the Deputy Speaker. So, what’s the issue?

The current discussion surrounds VAT – and whether certain items should be zero rated to avoid being a particular burden.

You know what this means in very real terms – how much has your grocery bill gone up lately? Now a large share of the current price surge has been down to the combination of supply chain costs and an increase in gas prices, and that has landed right after the current government removed the VAT exemption from breadbasket items. A double whammy.

That loaf of bread you picked up at the store over the weekend has gone up in price in part by having ten percent VAT added back onto it, whereas before there was no extra charge on it.

Now, against that, VAT came down overall from 12 percent to ten percent, but the base on which it was charged became larger as those exempt items were eliminated. So a smaller rate, being charged on more items.

VAT is a regressive form of taxation. Whether you are rich or poor, you pay the same amount on goods and services. That loaf ECONOMIC Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis. of bread costs the same whether you are a pauper chosen a form of taxation nonsense that the Coalition or a billionaire, so the tax that by its structure tends of Independents promised doesn’t change according to hit the poorest the most. at the last election, with to your ability to afford to That doesn’t necessarily one leaflet promising free pay. Studies routinely show mean it is a choice that has healthcare, free electricity, that taxes on goods, such as been deliberately cruel, it free internet and a cheque comes as a consequence of of $100,000 every year to VAT or Cusseveral factors every Bahamian – with toms duties, – but if we not a hint of how such bills hit the poor ‘Make no mistake are avoiding would be paid. hardest. There – whether a tax proportional, No, in the real world, bills is an element is progressive progressive have to be paid, and anyone where richer taxation such telling you otherwise is people pay a or regressive, as income tax leading you astray. little more in we need to have or corporation How those bills are paid that they can taxes, because tax, then this is the question. And not an afford more is where we easy one to answer. Every services, but that’s how we end up. option means someone the nature of pay bills. Anyone Because loses out. Credit then to the tax itself who believes make no Education Minister Glenys is unchanging. mistake – Hanna Martin for being Someone with differently is a honest last week in talking three times welcome to believe whether tax is pro- about how she had strugthe income the nonsense that gressive or gled with the decision to doesn’t eat regressive, we remove VAT from breadthree times as the Coalition of need to have basket items. many loaves Independents taxes, because She said: “Personally I of bread. that’s how am hoping that we will see So in choos- promised at the we pay bills. VAT come off food in gening VAT last election.’

Anyone eral but I think the rationale as a significant income producer for who believes differently was – and this is something the government, we have is welcome to believe the that I myself struggled with

EDUCATION Minister Glenys Hanna Martin MP. – but the rationale was Of course it’s feasible – what the government did we’ve just had breadbasket was reduce VAT to 10 per- items exempted not so long cent. So, it took the global ago. Mr Halkitis may think pressure off the Bahamian this is the best way to bring people. in the revenue – but it’s not “What it did though was the only way. It’s a choice. reimposed it on breadbasIt is also worth noting ket items and the reasoning that in removing the was… that exemption was breadbasket items, the govbenefitting big restaurants, ernment has not gone back big food suppliers, etc, and to the seven and a half perthat it was anticipated that cent rate that VAT was first whatever hardship that introduced at, but to a ten would be immediately faced percent rate. So no exempwould be offset by other tions and still a higher rate agencies like the Depart- than before. ment of Social Services.”

We should be under She went on to highlight no illusions. Our debt is the effect of outside pres- high. Our deficit has been sures such as increased gas running at levels that are prices and supply chain unsustainable.

Borrowed costs but acknowledge that money needs to be paid these are “tough times”. back. And two years of Emerging with less credit COVID on top of the costs in the discussion is her col- before that of Hurricane league, Economic Affairs Dorian means that the bill Minister Michael Halki- is a large one. tis, who said on Friday Taxation is never poputhat removing VAT on lar, but it is necessary. breadbasket items was not There are also often interfeasible at this time. national pressures from

groups pushing for one type of taxation or another.

There is an ongoing push, for example, for an international global minimum of a 15 percent corporate tax.

But there remain choices.

This approach to taxation is a choice, and one that we feel every time we buy that loaf of bread. We should be honest about that and not pretend it is something that is unavoidable.

On the other side, if that money wasn’t coming in from breadbasket items, it would have to come from somewhere else.

That’s the other half of the discussion. It’s all very well to say take the rates off – but where are you adding tax to balance up the equation?

Praise to those who talk honestly about the hard decisions, we could do with a bit more of that type of conversation in our politics.

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

INSIGHT

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022 PAGE 9

Through thick and thin RELATIONSHIPS, both romantic and platonic, are often complicated and even ones that have lasted for years can begin to wane beneath the pressure of distance and time.

But everyone crosses our path for a reason and, if fortunate enough, there are times when you meet someone who uplifts you and replaces the internal dark void of hurt and loneliness with love and support.

Some people are meant to be in our lives for a short time to teach us a lesson and others are destined to stand by your side forever, holding your hand and supporting you through thick and thin and across every peak and valley. My patient understands this all too well and she recently shared how she and her best friend developed an unbreakable bond. Her mother calls her a queen so, for the sake of this report, I’ll refer to her as Elizabeth and her best friend as Margaret.

They first met while working at a hotel casino as croupiers. Elizabeth was 26 and Margaret was three years her senior, already married and incredibly focused on what she wanted to do in life. She had her own home and she was in a travel club so every year she travelled to the most exotic places in the world.

Elizabeth felt deep admiration for her and the two instantly became friends.

They quickly learned that they lived less than a block away from one another so they decided to commute to and from work.

Silence can quickly destroy a friendship and, in the same manner, constant communication can build and solidify it, so riding together every day brought Elizabeth and Margaret so

By DR KENNETH D KEMP

close that despite the differences in their lives, they became practically inseparable. Many people actually thought that they were sisters. They shared recipes and stories about television shows, their life goals, their relationships and their children but most importantly they listened to and supported one another. When Elizabeth became pregnant with her first child and got married, Margaret helped her in every way possible. They sang all the time and laughed and, for both of them, those days were among the happiest times of their lives.

Over time, their work shifts changed and even though they still spoke daily, they weren’t able to carpool as much as before.

Then suddenly one day, when Elizabeth was driving into work, she saw Margaret sitting alone in her car so she pulled over. Without saying anything and with tear-filled eyes, Margaret showed her best friend the doctor’s report that she’d received earlier that day. It explained in extensive medical detail and jargon that Margaret had an aggressive form of breast cancer. Both breasts were affected and she required medical intervention at a hospital in the United States immediately to save her life.

The entire world was frozen and Elizabeth was in shock. She leaned in and embraced her best friend, utterly confused and

terrified about why this was happening. She reassured Margaret as best she could and, holding her hand, they prayed for a miracle. Margaret’s husband worked for an airline and his work hours were intense so Elizabeth accompanied her best friend to all of her doctor’s appointments. She kept track of her medications and requested time off work whenever they had to travel abroad. Following surgery to remove both breasts, Margaret underwent an intense regimen of chemotherapy and radiation that stripped the stamina from her legs and many times left her painful, nauseous and too weak to walk. Not even 30 and despite her symptoms, during this time, she always had the spirit of a warrior and continued to smile. Her treatment lasted for one year and together they received the news that Margaret was cancer-free.

She had beaten death and earned her right to live so they celebrated all week.

They both had an overwhelming sense of relief knowing that they’d still be there for one another in their old age.

Three months later, Margaret travelled alone back to the hospital in the United States for a quick followup suspecting that it would be a relatively simple trip.

When she returned within a week, she called Elizabeth and whispered on the phone that she was back.

Elizabeth assumed that

she was tired, which is why she was whispering. She couldn’t wait to see her and stopped by her home after work but nothing could have possibly prepared her for what she saw. Margaret looked as though she had lost at least 30 pounds, aged ten years and was hooked to an oxygen machine. Her cancer had returned and metastasized throughout her entire body.

Elizabeth’s legs began to shake uncontrollably and as hard as she tried to be strong, she broke down. At that point she knew that one of the persons she loved most in this world, her best friend and soul sister of ten years, was dying right before her eyes and she was entirely helpless to stop it.

The following day, Margaret was admitted to a local hospital. She deteriorated quickly. For the first time, Elizabeth saw fear in her eyes. As she was preparing to leave so that she could go home and breast feed her baby, Margaret, with her voice now quiet and raspy in an almost desperate plea, asked Elizabeth to stay for just a little longer.

At that moment and with a sense of dread, Elizabeth called their pastor to come and pray with them. She left shortly after that, went home, fed her baby and got dressed for work but by the time she reached the casino, she was called off the floor.

Elizabeth was Margaret’s emergency contact and the hospital was on the phone.

Margaret had flat lined and despite every effort to revive her, she could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead 15 minutes prior to their call. Elizabeth dropped the phone and fell to the floor. She screamed and her supervisor frantically tried to console her but it was impossible. When she got home, she saw all of the souvenirs that Margaret had bought for her from every single place that she’d travelled and she once again began to cry knowing that her absence would create an irreplaceable dark void in her heart forever.

The death of her best friend taught her that time waits for no one. Years later, when she went through an incredibly bitter divorce from her husband, she felt Margaret’s absence acutely and when her son was brutally and mysteriously murdered while travelling a few years ago, it left her broken, depressed and near-suicidal. With time, and day by day she got up, brushed off any negative thoughts, went to work and eventually began to smile. She found love again, remarried and her current husband has been incredibly supportive. Although no one can ever replace Margaret, she has also been blessed to develop an enduring sisterhood with another dear friend.

Breast cancer screenings via mammogram should typically start at age 40, unless as in Margaret’s case,

there is a strong family history. The message that my patient wanted to share is that it’s never too early to start self-exams and then get tested immediately if something doesn’t feel normal. She also insists that if you ever find a friend that you can rely on constantly both emotionally and financially, hold on tight and never let go. Never take them for granted or forsake them for another person and constantly offer one another love, respect, trust and support.

Elizabeth recalls that her grandmother often said that one good friend, outside of a spouse, is more valuable than money because they’ll replenish you whenever you are weakened. Her Christian faith has gotten her through many hardships and she hopes her story can help others with theirs.

I was incredibly blessed to be born into a truly loving family and have developed a few great friendships over the years, but I recognize that not everyone shares this same good fortune.

Nonetheless and under the right circumstances, today’s report reinforces the notion that friends can become the family that we choose and hopefully, in time, the family we want, need and ultimately deserve.

This is the KDK Report.

• Nicknamed ‘The Prince of Podiatry’, Dr Kenneth D Kemp is the founder and medical director of Bahamas Foot and Ankle located in Caves Village, Western New Providence. He served as the deputy chairman for the Health Council for five years and he currently sits on the board of directors for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in his role as co-vice-chairman.

PAGE 10 MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022

INSIGHT

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

Standing up to Daniel Ortega’s excesses World View

By SIR RONALD SANDERS

LARGELY unreported by the media in the Caribbean and making no headlines, a very serious blow was delivered to diplomacy and international relations on Sunday, April 24.

The government of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua sent police to enter the diplomatic premises of the Organization of American States (OAS) forcibly, and to confiscate its documents and other property.

This may appear to be of no concern to the people of Caribbean countries, particularly persons who are not involved in government. But the act strikes at the heart of a long-established norm of relations between States and intergovernmental institutions.

It could have undesirable and serious consequences for small countries if it passes unchecked.

The norm is that States accept embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions on the basis that they are “inviolable” which means that no agent of the receiving State may enter them, except without the consent of the head of the mission.

This norm is enshrined in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which defines a framework for behaviour between independent countries and international institutions. The Convention facilitates friendly relations through a set of practices and principles that all States have accepted.

Very importantly, it codifies the longstanding custom of diplomatic immunity, in which diplomatic missions are granted privileges that enable diplomats to perform their functions without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country.

The Vienna Convention is a cornerstone of

modern international relations and international law.

Adherence to its provisions have been respected and upheld by States because governments understand and accept that diplomacy is fundamental to finding solutions even in war.

As the OAS SecretaryGeneral, Luis Almagro, told the member states of the organization on April 25th after the Nicaragua Police seized the diplomatic premises and confiscated its property, “this has never happened before, even in times of the region’s worst dictatorships, including those experienced by Nicaragua. This is a violation of the most elementary norms governing relations between States and international organizations, setting a precedent hitherto unheard of in the region”.

What makes the action of the Nicaragua government even worse is that the OAS is a collective of all its member states.

Therefore, its diplomatic premises belongs to all of them, including the 14 independent countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

This fact could not have been overlooked by the government of Nicaragua when its police force illegally entered the premises, occupied it and seized the property within it.

It is worth noting that the Vienna Convention makes it absolutely clear that, along with the premises of missions being inviolable, the receiving state is under a special duty to take all appropriate measures to protect the premises of the mission and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.

The Article also states that the premises of the mission and its property shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment, or

NICARAGUA leader Daniel Ortega. execution. It is this norm a bedrock of international relations - that the Government of Nicaragua has assaulted.

Worse yet, beyond disregarding the Vienna Convention, the OAS and the Government of Nicaragua had a written agreement, signed in 1989, which recognizes the privileges and immunities of the OAS mission, including the prohibition of any type of procedure, entry, search, seizure, or any other measure, without the consent of the Secretariat.

For small countries, such as those in CARICOM, the norm of inviolability of diplomatic premises is sacrosanct for two important

reasons.

First, CARICOM countries want to welcome diplomatic missions to their countries, both for the international recognition that the presence of such missions signify, and the services that they provide. However, in light of the Nicaraguan action, governments and other international institutions might now reconsider the safety of their foreign missions and reduce them considerably.

Second, CARICOM countries presume the inviolability of their own missions in other States that the Vienna Convention accords to them. Therefore, they do not spend scarce

financial resources on protecting their diplomatic premises, particularly from the host government. But after the egregious action of the Nicaragua government, inviolability can no longer be taken for granted. The Nicaragua government has cast a long-held norm of international relations into grave and serious doubt.

So, why did the Nicaragua government take this egregious action? It is discomfited that the Permanent Council of the OAS condemned its serious and persistent abuse of human rights, including the arbitrary arrest and jailing of political opponents; shutting down media criticism; and the use of lethal

force by the Police against protestors resulting in hundreds of killings.

It should be noted that, amongst the persons that the Ortega government arbitrarily arrested and jailed, were his comrades in the revolutionary Sandinista government. One of them, Hugo Torres, died after being imprisoned with no access to his medication.

Nicaragua’s own Ambassador to the OAS, Arturo Macfields, dramatically denounced the abuses of the government in a live webcast of an OAS meeting. He accused the Ortega government of atrocities about which he “could not be silent”.

Nothing can justify the violation of an international norm that has long been accepted and respected by every government in the world. If the Nicaraguan government’s action is seen to be acceptable by the absence of a strong expression and display of disapproval by the OAS member states, other insecure regimes, such as that in Nicaragua, would be given a license for similar behaviour.

The system of international order, including the rules of diplomatic practice and international relations, would be weakened even more than it has been by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The world would be brought closer to the precipice of disregard for the norms and practices that have safeguarded peace and development for over seven decades. Small states would be the first to suffer, as usual. That’s why the Nicaraguan violation of a fundamental norm matters to small countries, and why it should not pass without a strong response.

• Responses and previous commentaries: www. sirronaldsanders.com The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States of America and the Organisation of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto.

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

INSIGHT

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022 PAGE 11

I’m a Black sociologist, and a mom – by listening to other Black mothers, I’ve learned about their pandemic struggles and strengths

By LOREN HENDERSON University of Maryland, Baltimore County I SPENT the 2020 spring break week setting up to teach my college courses online while helping to care for my 14-month-old grandchild, whose daycare had closed. At the same time, I couldn’t help thinking, being the sociologist I am, of the devastating consequences of COVID19 I saw for women like me, Black mothers, whom I have studied for over a decade.

Social science researchcan influence policy.

Sharing Black mothers’ stories in their own voices may ultimately lead to more compassionate policies. My work is part of a small body of descriptive research, mostly by researchers of color, countering negativity and victim-blaming in earlier studies of Black families.

My research partner, sociologist BarBara Scott, lives in Chicago, where I grew up. In our studies of Black mothers there, we’ve explored parenting in violent communities and living with inadequate health care. In 2019, before COVID-19 hit, we were preparing to study parenting practices.

But when lab conditions change, scientists need to reorganise their work. I am a social scientist and society is my lab, where the pandemic dramatically altered the conditions of my research.

We adjusted, preparing to interview remotely instead of in person. We added new questions to investigate, like: How were Black mothers coping with pandemic conditions? How did the murder of George Floyd and the resulting protests affect them? Our research would now include the pandemic and the country’s racial upheaval, highly unusual factors complicating Black mothers’ already challenging lives.

RESEARCHING WITH RAPPORT

The first challenge was finding participants. We put up fliers in and around schools, churches, the YWCA and other places Black moms go when not at work. Even in the best of times, though, they face practical barriers to joining a research project. Child care responsibilities might be theirs alone. Taking time

CHICAGO mayor Lori Lightfoot pictured early in the pandemic. off from work means their paychecks take a hit not nearly covered by the $25 gift cards we offered.

But they called. Some just wanted to sign up after looking me up on their phones. Others, who may have known that the federal government oversees studies involving people, asked why I was studying them and what I would do with their information. I knew that if any of the women thought talking with me might bring embarrassment or other trouble, they might be less forthcoming or decide not to participate.

My findings would be much less credible.

I assured the moms that I would keep their responses confidential and that they had a right to leave the study whenever they wanted to.

None of them did. We signed up enough moms for two focus groups of five to seven participants each. I ran group meetings and conducted 12 one-onone interviews via video conferencing.

To start our 60- to 90-minute sessions, I introduced myself and got the mothers talking with an ice breaker question like, “What is the farthest place from your current neighborhood that you’ve been?”

I also tell them that I have a Black mom, and that I am one. And then, because my skin tone is fair, I mention that I have an Italian father.

I didn’t want to be mistaken for white; the moms might feel less comfortable

discussing certain topics with me. But after realising that I’m Black too, a few of them said things like, “I knew there was something about you!”

I share my belief in centering – and that’s the word I use – Black mothers’ lived experiences and exploring their parenting from a strength perspective. That’s when I got a lot of smiling and nodding.

NO TIME FOR RACISM

Black mothers don’t need a pandemic to face impossible choices. But it took a pandemic for others to see that. As nearly everyone else stayed home to stop the spread of COVID-19, it became obvious that Black women were more likely than any one else to be essential workers in front-line jobs. And despite risking COVID-19 infection to keep their jobs, Black workers were more likely to lose them anyway during the pandemic.

I asked the mothers about the pandemic’s effect on their lives. They talked about the trickiness of trying to isolate or distance in small or crowded homes. They hated being unable to get masks and hand sanitizer when stores closed during the George Floyd protests, which none of them attended.

I asked why they didn’t go, given their stated frustrations with racism affecting their lives. Some

didn’t want to risk getting sick. But most of these Black mothers told me they don’t dwell on racism, saying things like, “Yeah, racism is bad, but I got things to do.”

And so they did those things. While at work, they sent their kids text reminders to go to remote school if it was available, or if it was not, to study. The moms came home from long shifts and helped with homework, worrying about their kids falling behind academically. The mothers worried about getting COVID-19 and losing custody of kids if they became too sick to parent well.

KEEPING THE CONVERSATION FLOWING

The qualitative research I do is about words and meanings, not just numbers and statistics. It allows me to explore the lives of Black moms in depth.

In my interviews, I don’t ask closed-ended questions

– the kind where the answer is simply yes or no, true or false, or limited to a set of multiple-choice answers.

For example, if a participant can only respond to the question, “How safe is your community?” with the options “very safe,” “somewhat safe,” or “not safe,” that’s a closed-ended question.

In qualitative research, however, questions are often open-ended. Participants decide what a question means to them, then answer in any way they choose. I’ve been asking the Black mothers questions like: “How do you feel about Chicago as a place to live and raise your children? How do you feel about working and raising your children during the COVID-19 pandemic?”

Reading the transcribed interviews later, I look for general thoughts, or themes, in the mothers’ collective responses. For example, when I asked about violence, the overall sentiment was that it was around, but avoidable. One participant told me, “You have to know where [to go] and where not to go, when to go and when not to go.”

And she called Chicago “a

great place,” with “great opportunities” for anyone who wanted to be there.

This response was common: The moms know that Chicago can be violent, but many focus on the positive aspects of the city. My theory is that this is their conscious or unconscious way of explaining why they stay in a violent community.

That question has come often enough – usually from those with far more options – to hang over the heads of these Black moms, even if no one asks them directly.

A related sentiment the moms had was that moving away is pointless since violence “is everywhere.” They may simply want to stay close to the generations of family and community ties they have. But it’s also true that moving isn’t affordable for many of these mothers.

Identifying these themes helps me present a picture of Black mothers’ lives as a corrective to the earlier research.

Documenting their experiences as the center of my research gives them a voice and validates their lives as worthy of exploration.

• Originally published at www.theconversation.com.

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PAGE 12, Monday, May 2, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

2024 RACE STARTING ALREADY - AND ARKANSAS GOV WEIGHING BID ARKANSAS Gov Asa Hutchinson said yesterday he is weighing a presidential run in 2024 and his decision won’t be affected by whether former President Donald Trump decides to join the race.

Hutchinson, pictured, a two-term Republican governor who is restricted under Arkansas law from seeking a third term, said it was time for the national GOP to move on from Trump in regards to the

candidates he’s endorsing in the 2022 midterm elections as well as “the direction he wants to take our country”.

Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” if he was mulling a presidential run, Hutchinson replied: “I am.

But you have got to get through, of course, this year, but that’s an option that’s on the table.”

Making clear he was “not aligned” with Trump, Hutchinson added: “I think he did a lot of good things

for our country, but we need to go a different direction. And so that’s not a factor in my decision-making process.”

Currently the chairman of the National Governors Association, Hutchinson in recent months has become a fixture on cable television — at times drawing the ire of Trump — in defending his veto of legislation targeting transgender youths in the state and warning fellow Republicans

about tying their fortunes too closely to the former president.

After the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, which led to Trump’s impeachment by the House, Hutchinson said he wanted Trump’s administration to end. He’s made it clear since early 2021 that he would not back a Trump 2024 bid and urged public officials to look ahead rather than focus on Trump’s false claims of a stolen 2020 election.

House Speaker visits Ukraine as evacuations under way ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine Associated Press A LONG-AWAITED effort to evacuate civilians from a steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol was underway yesterday, the United Nations said, while US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed she visited Ukraine’s president to show unflinching American support for the country’s defence against Russian aggression.

UN humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu told The Associated Press the operation to bring civilians out of the sprawling Azovstal steel plant was being carried out with the International Committee of the Red Cross and in coordination with Ukrainian and Russian officials.

As many as 100,000 people are believed to still be in blockaded Mariupol, including up to 1,000 civilians who were hunkered down with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters beneath the Soviet-era steel plant — the only part of the city not occupied by the Russians.

The fate of the Ukrainian fighters was not immediately clear.

Like other evacuations, success of the mission in Mariupol depended on Russia and its forces, deployed along a long series of checkpoints before reaching Ukrainian ones.

Zaporizhzhia, a city about 141 miles northwest of Mariupol, was the destination of the evacuation effort, Abreu said. He said women, children and the elderly — who have been stranded for nearly two

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi shake hands during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. months — will be evacuated to the city, where they will receive immediate humanitarian support, including psychological services.

Mariupol has seen some of the worst suffering of the war. A maternity hospital was hit with a lethal Russian airstrike in the opening weeks of the war, and about 300 people were reported killed in the bombing of a theater where civilians were taking shelter.

Abreu said UN officials would not provide additional details of the evacuation “to guarantee the safety of the civilians and humanitarians in the convoy”.

However, the Mariupol City Council said in a post on the Telegram messaging app yesterday that evacuation of civilians from other parts of the city would begin this morning, because of security concerns. People fleeing Russian-occupied

areas in the past have described their vehicles being fired on, and Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of shelling evacuation routes on which the two sides had agreed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a tweet earlier yesterday that the first group of about 100 people was headed to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

“Tomorrow we’ll meet

them in Zaporizhzhia.

Grateful to our team! Now they, together with #UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant,” he tweeted.

A team from Doctors Without Borders was at a reception center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia yesterday , in preparation for the UN convoy’s arrival, if successful. Stress, exhaustion and low supplies of food were likely to have weakened the

health of civilians who have been trapped underground at the plant.

Ukrainian regiment Deputy Commander Sviatoslav Palamar, meanwhile, called for the evacuation of wounded Ukrainian fighters as well as civilians. “We don’t know why they are not taken away and their evacuation to the territory controlled by Ukraine is not being discussed,” he said in a video posted Saturday on the regiment’s Telegram channel.

Video and images from inside the steel plant, shared with the AP by two Ukrainian women who said their husbands were among the fighters refusing to surrender there, showed men with stained bandages, open wounds or amputated limbs, including some that appeared gangrenous. The AP could not independently verify the location and date of the video, which the women said was taken last week.

Meanwhile, Pelosi, a California Democrat who is second in line to succeed the president, visited Kyiv on Saturday, the most senior American lawmaker to travel to the country since Russia’s February 24 invasion. Her visit came just days after Russia launched rockets at the capital during a visit by UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres.

During a Sunday news conference in the Polish city of Rzeszow, Pelosi said she and other members of a US congressional delegation met with Zelenskyy and brought him “a message of appreciation from the American people for his leadership”.

TRAFFIC passes a mural of the slave ship Clotilda along Africatown Boulevard, in Mobile, Alabama.

Photo: Kevin McGill/AP

RESEARCHERS ASSESSING THE LAST US SLAVE SHIP MOBILE, Alabama Associated Press

RESEARCHERS are returning to the Alabama coast near Mobile to assess the sunken remains of the last slave ship to bring captive Africans to the United States more than 160 years ago.

The Alabama Historical Commission says a team will begin a ten-day evaluation of the remnants of the Clotilda today. Experts have described the wreck as the most complete slave ship ever discovered.

The agency has hired Resolve Marine, a salvage and services company, for work involving the Clotilda.

The ship was scuttled in the muddy Mobile River after illegally dropping off 110

West Africans on the Alabama coast in 1860, decades after Congress outlawed the international slave trade.

The company plans to moor a 100ft-long barge at the site with equipment to support divers and store artifacts that are removed from the water for analysis and documentation.

“It is a tremendous duty to ensure the Clotilda is evaluated and preserved,” Aaron Jozsef, the project manager for Resolve Marine, said in a statement.

Some have advocated for removing the wreckage from the water and placing it on display in a new museum that’s being discussed, and officials have said the work will help determine whether such a project is possible.

The Clotilda’s voyage was

financed by a wealthy Alabama businessman, Timothy Meaher, whose descendants still have extensive land holdings around Mobile.

Enslaved upon their arrival in Alabama, some of the Africans started a community called Africatown USA just north of Mobile after the Civil War. Ship wreckage in the river was identified as being that of the Clotilda in 2019, and officials have been assessing the site and deciding what to do with it ever since. While small parts of the two-masted wooden schooner have been brought to the surface, researchers have found that most of the ship — including the pen that was used to imprison the captives — remains intact.

PAGE 14, Monday, May 2, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

TRIO ON MURDER BID CHARGE MAN FACES COURT OVER ATTEMPT

By PAVEL BAILEY THREE men were arraigned in Magistrate’s Court on Friday accused of attempting to murder a man.

Dion Exelant, 20, Omar Atkinson, 21, and Pedreito Mejias 22, stood before Assistant Chief Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans accused of attempting to murder Tarrico Bowleg on April 23.

Due to the nature of their offence, the accused were not required to enter a plea in court.

They were then informed by the magistrate that their

case would proceed by way of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

Magistrate VogtEvans also informed the accused that they could apply to the Supreme Court for bail. Until bail is granted, they were remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

The accused are expected to return to court on July 7 for service of their VBIs. In a separate case, a man was arraigned on Friday for firearm and drug charges.

Rashad Williams, 29, appeared before Magistrate Kendra Kelly on three charges of possession of a

firearm, ammunition and dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

On April 27, Williams was arrested after being found in possession of a black G2C Taurus 9mm with a 9mm magazine containing three unfired rounds of 9mm ammunition without a licence and the serial number defaced. He was also caught with six grams of Indian hemp on him with a street value of $30.

In court the accused pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

Willams was remanded to BDCS until his bail hearing on May 2.

TO DEPOSIT FAKE BILLS AT BANK

By PAVEL BAILEY

A MAN was arraigned in Magistrate’s Court on Friday for trying to deposit two fake $100 bills at a bank.

Jamal Maycock, 25, stood before Assistant Chief Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans on two counts of possession of a forged currency note.

Maycock was also charged with uttering a forged document and attempted fraud by false pretences.

On April 26, the accused was found in the possession of two fraudulent $100 currency notes

— one Bahamian and the other American.

On that day, Maycock allegedly attempted to defraud CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank on Marathon Road by uttering the two fake notes to Brenda Deveaux.

When it came time to plead to the charges in court, the accused appeared confused by the magistrate’s question.

Maycock claimed he only knew about the “brown money” and said that the rest “ain’t his”.

It was at this time that the accused’s aunt, Jenine

Davis, informed Magistrate Vogt-Evans that Maycock suffered from mental issues.

Ms Davis told the court that her nephew’s mental difficulties stem from childhood brain surgery.

In view of this information the magistrate entered the accused’s plea as not guilty for all four charges.

Magistrate Vogt-Evans then granted Maycock bail at $3,000 with one surety and instructed Ms Davis to take her nephew to Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre for a psychiatric report.

Maycock is expected to return to court on July 7.

SPORTS PAGE 15

MONDAY, MAY 2, 2022

Fredrick King Jr commits to Bluejays

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

J

ust over one month after he reopened his recruiting process, Fredrick King Jr committed to the Creighton Bluejays and will head to the Big East to begin his collegiate basketball career.

King, a 6’10” frontcourt player out of the NBA Academy (Latin America), decided on the Bluejays over the BYU Cougars, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Utah Utes.

“Fredrick is a versatile and an athletic front line player,” said Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “Having played at NBA Academy Latin America, he has been coached and trained at a high level. His motor and competitive spirit will allow for an immediate impact on our programme.

We are thrilled to welcome him to the Bluejay family!”

King is ranked as the No. 133 recruit in the latest 247Sports rankings of 2022

prospects and joins a Bluejays inkling class that also includes freshmen Ben Shtolzberg (No. 157) and Jasen Green (No. 184) and TCU transfer Francisco Farabello.

The Bluejays finished last season 23-12, fourth place in the Big East Conference regular-season standings, and runner-up in the league tournament.

After receiving an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament, they defeated San Diego State in the first round before they lost in the second round to eventual national champion Kansas Jayhawks.

King, an Andros native, decommitted from the Louisville Cardinals following the programme’s transition away from former head coach Chris Mack.

King originally committed to the Cardinals under Mack’s tenure last November, however, he was relieved of his duties as head coach in January.

King chose the Cardinals ahead of Creighton, the Washington State Trojans,

FREDRICK King Jr has committed to the Creighton Bluejays and will head to the Big East to begin his collegiate basketball career.

Georgetown Hoyas, and Miami Hurricanes. It took just several months for

King to go from relatively unknown to an elite Division I prospect for the class

of 2022. The Andros native is a product of the NBA Academy Latin America and is currently listed as the no.133 prospect of his class.

King, a former DW Davis and CI Gibson standout, became the first Bahamian to ever receive an invitation to an NBA Academy and made the most of his opportunity in a relatively short time span.

ESPN listed him as one of the class of 2022’s top prospects emerging from the NBA Academy Invitational last September following his performance at the NBA Academy Invitational.

He averaged 23 points and 12 rebounds per game on 77 percent shooting from the field at the event hosted by his NBA Academy Latin America programme in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

He opened with 31 points and 16 rebounds to lead NBA Latin America to an 82-61 win over NBA Africa Red and followed with 29 points and 13 rebounds in a 93-87 over The Skills Factory.

Ayton and Suns host Dallas tonight to start second round

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE NBA careers of Deandre Ayton and Luka Doncic will always be connected due to the 2018 Draft and the pair will meet in the postseason for the first time when their second round series begins tonight.

The Phoenix Suns will host the Dallas Mavericks in game one at 10pm local time and Ayton is already looking ahead to the Suns’ game plan on how to defend the Mavericks All-Star.

The Suns made Ayton the top overall selection of the 2018 Draft while Doncic was selected by the Atlanta Hawks at no.3 before eventually being traded to the Mavericks.

“He can do everything.

He knows where his guys are on the floor, he can get to the rim every time, [and] everybody knows his stepback three.

“He’s a playmaker and a scorer, so we’ll have our hands full. [It’s going to be

a] team effort with him,” Ayton told reporters after the Suns’ practice session Saturday, defending and making sure he doesn’t get too hot.”

The Suns won the regular season matchup 3-0, however, Doncic appeared in just one matchup and the team had yet to add key role players Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.

On January 22 the Suns took a 109-101 win where Ayton did not play but Doncic finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

On November 17, Ayton had 19 points and 13 rebounds in a 105-98 win, and on November 19, he finished with eight points and 17 rebounds in a 112104 win.

Doncic played just three games of Dallas’ first round series win over the Utah Jazz and averaged 29 points 10.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and one block per game.

“In a playoff game he’s probably going to be a different beast,” Ayton said.

NEW Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado (15) goes to the basket between Phoenix Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22) and guard Chris Paul (not seen) in the second half of Game 6 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series on Thursday in New Orleans. The Suns won 115-109, to win the series 4-2 and advance to the second-round.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

“But we’re going to do our best to stay out of foul trouble, moving our feet without fouling, playing to the level of legal physicality and rebounding to close out possessions,” he explained.

Ayton averaged 20.5 points and 9.8 rebounds in the Suns’ first round win over the Pelicans.

Defensive Player of the Year finalist Mikal Bridges will draw the assignment of primary defender against Doncic, but Ayton said the chemistry between the two is just the beginning of a team effort.

“It’s almost like muscle memory, we really don’t say much in the game but we usually talk before the game about what we’re going to do before it gets too intense because it gets that intense we can’t hear each other,” Ayton said.

“It’s really about seeing what he does reading off his body language, and how his angles are set up.

He knows if he’s beat or he can’t get through, he knows I’m on the other end for him.”

NADAL, DJOKOVIC SLAM WIMBLEDON BAN ON RUSSIAN PLAYERS MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic criticised Wimbledon’s decision to exclude Russian and Belarus players from this year’s tournament following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The two tennis greats said yesterday that Wimbledon had acted unfairly.

“I think it’s very unfair of (on) my Russian tennis mates, my colleagues ... it’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment with the war,” Nadal, a 21-time Grand Slam winner, said in

Spain where both he and Djokovic are preparing to play in the Madrid Open.

“I’m sorry for them,” Nadal said.

“Wimbledon just took their decision ... the government didn’t force them to do it.”

Nadal added: “Let’s see what happens in the next weeks, if the players will take some kind of decision in that regard.”

The ATP and WTA tennis tours have both publicly criticised the All England Club’s decision

which was announced April 20.

Wimbledon starts on June 27.

The prominent players affected by the ban include reigning US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who are all from Russia.

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, which has aided Russian forces, would also be unable to play.

Djokovic compared the situation of the excluded

players to what he went through in January when he was unable to play the Australian Open.

He was deported from Australia for not being vaccinated against COVID-19.

“It’s not the same thing, but going through something similar earlier this year for myself, it’s frustrating knowing that you’re not able to play,” Djokovic said.

“I still stand by my position that I don’t support the (Wimbledon) decision.

I think it’s just not fair, it’s

not right, but it is what it is.”

The All England Club had justified its action in a statement first posted on Twitter.

“In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships,” according to their statement.

NBA Playoffs, PAGE 17

JONQUEL JONES LEADS THE SUN TO PRESEASON VICTORY

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net IN her return to the WNBA, Jonquel Jones showed flashes of the dominance expected to come this season for the Connecticut Sun. Jones finished with 15 points and six rebounds in just 14 minutes of the Suns’ 94-78 preseason JONES win over the Atlanta Dream yesterday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The regular season opener will be May 7 on the road against the New York Liberty and the home opener follows on May 14 when the Sun host the Los Angeles Sparks at the Mohegan Sun. The Sun are expected to trim the roster to just 11 players headed into the regular season.

A promising 2021 season saw the Sun franchise produce the MVP, Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year, set franchise records in wins, winning percentage, and points allowed.

The Sun finished the regular season 26-6 but the year ended in a disappointing fashion with a loss to the eventual champion Chicago Sky in the semifinals.

“We’ve been talking about championship or

SEE PAGE 16

QC COMETS ARE BAISS SWIMMING CHAMPIONS THE Queen’s College Comets emerged as the champions of the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools’ 2022 Swim Championships held at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex on Friday.

At the end of the one-day meet that made its return to the local swimming calendar after a two-year hiatus featuring teams from eight different schools, the Comets compiled a total of 43 medals, including 16 gold, 16 silver and 11 bronze.

The Lyford Cay International School got second with nine gold, five silver and four bronze for a total of 18 medals and St Andrew’s International School trailed in third with seven gold, five silver and four bronze for 16.

St Anne’s Blue Waves came in fourth with five gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze for their total of 26, St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine got fifth with five gold as well along with five silver and eight bronze for 18.

Rounding out the final three spots were St John’s College with two gold, two silver and two bronze for six medals, Aquinas College with one silver and three bronze for four medals and Temple Christian Academy had a total of one bronze.

Five different schools took home the six individual high point trophies with two of them added to

SEE PAGE 16

PAGE 16, Monday, May 2, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

After great start, Nadal returns from injury

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — Back home, Rafael Nadal looks to resume his season where he left off before being sidelined by an injury that halted a great start to his year.

Nadal will seek his fourth title of the season this week at the Madrid Open as he returns to action following a rib stress fracture that kept him out for about a month.

Nadal had won his first 20 matches of the year before getting injured in the semifinals at Indian Wells. He made it to the final but lost to Taylor Fritz for his first defeat. Until then, it had been the thirdbest start to a season on the ATP Tour since 1990.

Nadal won the Australian Open for a record 21st Grand Slam title and also won in Melbourne and Acapulco. He missed tournaments in Miami, Monte Carlo and Barcelona because of the injury.

The 35-year-old Spaniard will be trying to win the Madrid title for the sixth time, and first since 2017, though he said last week he would have “few chances” of winning after arriving “with minimum preparation.”

OSAKA, MUGURUZA EXIT MADRID OPEN IN 2ND ROUND NAOMI OSAKA, of Japan, prepares to serve against Sara Sorribes Tormo, of Spain, during their match at the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament yesterday.

(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

SPAIN’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball during a training session at the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday.

(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) Nadal said that he had only been able to even start training, and then for just half an hour a day, two weeks ago. So he is keeping his expectations low as he seeks to recover his form before this month’s French Open, which he has won a record 13 times.

“I’m trying to face these days like a little bit of preseason,” Nadal said Sunday. “I haven’t had the time for the preparation, and that’s the way I have to face it.”

“I know that things had started very good at the beginning of the season,”

he said. “For me, every single tournament, as you know, are important, especially in this stage of the season. For me was really hard not to play Monte Carlo, nor Barcelona, and to reach Madrid in very, very tight conditions, but at the same time, I still have three weeks to Paris.”

He will debut against either Miomir Kecmanovic or Alexander Bublik.

Nadal could face a semifinal against top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who has been trying to regain his best form after a slow start to the season following

his deportation from Australia in January for not being vaccinated against COVID-19.

A three-time winner in Madrid, Djokovic was coming off a runner-up finish in Serbia, where he won three three-set matches before losing the final to Andrey Rublev.

Djokovic, similarly to Nadal, is looking to build momentum for bigger prizes this summer.

“I’m happy that I’m back on track in terms of being able to play in tournaments and, you know, having clarity in terms of schedule, where I need to go, where I can go, where I can peak and where I want to peak,” Djokovic said.

“Obviously in clay that’s Roland Garros, and then I can be also in London playing in Wimbledon, which is of course a very important tournament to me. (...) So hopefully I will be able to get the best out of myself, particularly in Grand Slams.”

His first match in Madrid will be against either Gael Monfils or Carlos Gimeno Valero.

Another home-crowd favourite in Madrid will be young sensation Carlos Alcaraz, who made it to No. 9 in the world after titles in Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Barcelona.

The 18-year-old, touted by many as Nadal’s heir, could face his idol in the quarterfinals. He lost to Nadal in the tournament’s second round last year.

Alcaraz will begin his campaign against Nikoloz Basilashvili or Fabio Fognini.

Former world No. 1 Andy Murray, a two-time winner in Madrid, will be back at the clay-court tournament for the first time since 2017. He will face a marquee first-round match against former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem, a twotime finalist in the Spanish capital.

Thiem has been recovering from a wrist injury that sidelined him for eight months.

The 34-year-old Murray had earlier said he would skip the clay season but ended up accepting the wildcard invitation to play in Spain.

MADRID (AP) — Naomi Osaka and Garbiñe Muguruza were among leading players to be knocked out of the Madrid Open on a day of upsets.

Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Osaka 6-3, 6-1 in the second round yesterday on the Spanish capital’s outdoor clay courts.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka enjoyed six aces but had her serve broken five times by Sorribes Tormo, who had already bettered French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Sorribes Tormo next faces Daria Kasatkina after she fought back to upset fourthseeded Maria Sakkari 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina brushed aside Muguruza 6-3, 6-0.

Muguruza, the reigning WTA Finals champion, had pain in her right calf but said this wasn’t the reason for her defeat.

“I was surprised with her game. I didn’t know her at all,” Muguruza said. “In those break moments, they didn’t work. I just let it go in (on) a couple of points.”

Bianca Andreescu beat sixth-seeded Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-1 after the American lost her serve six times and had six double-faults.

US Open champion Emma Raducanu beat Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1.

Jonquel leads Sun to preseason win FROM PAGE 15

COACH Rolando “Lonnie” Greene poses above with his women’s Kentucky championship team.

bust, last year was a bust because we didn’t get a championship,” Jones said during training camp. “This year is the year to finish things and we feel that and we know that.”

In addition to league MVP, she was also named to the All-WNBA First

Team, All-Defensive First Team, the Associated Press Player of the Year and AP First-Team Honours.

She also won the WNBA Peak Performer Award as the league’s top rebounder for the third time in the last five seasons and was named the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the months of May, August, and September.

COACH ‘LONNIE’ GREENE IS PLEASED WITH ACHIEVEMENT

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net IT was a weekend coach Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene will cherish for the rest of his life.

After being inducted into the Drake Relays’ Coaches Hall of Fame, Greene got to watch as his Kentucky Wildcats won the women’s championship cup and his protégé Devynne Charlton held her own in the women’s 100 metre hurdles.

On Thursday in the Shivers Basketball Practice Facility on the Drake Campus in Des Moines, Iowa, Lonnie Greene got enshrined into the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame for 40 relay wins at Drake Relays over the past 10 years with Purdue University and Kentucky.

To complement the feat, his Wildcats women’s track team won the relay cup with 36 points on the heels of winning the 4 x 800m, 4 x 400m and sprint medley relays. The men’s team placed second with 26 points after winning the 4 x 100m and placing second in the 4 x 400m.

Sophomore Megan Moss, who got her first major global experience at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, was a part of the 4 x 400m relay team comprising of Karimah Davis, Dajour Miles and Alexis Holmes as they capped off the meet in grand style in a winning time of 3:33.60.

Fresh off her World Indoors Championships’ silver medal in Serbia after her sixth place at the Tokyo Olympics, Devynne Charlton, whom Greene coaches as a part of the Bahamian connection at both Purdue and now Kentucky, raced to a sixth place finish in 13.07 in the women’s 100m hurdles.

The race was won by Tia Jones of Adidas in 12.84, while Olympic

ROLANDO Greene at Drake Universty’s Hall of Fame induction. champion and record holder Jasmine Camacho-Quinn didn’t complete the race.

“It’s always an honour when an independent group of people judge the body of your work, worthy to be inducted or enshrined into something as great at Drake’s Hall of Fame, I’m truly blessed by it,” Greene said.

“When I got into it as a coach, I didn’t do it to get a pat on the back, but to be able to work with young people. But when they reward you by bringing you into a fraternity of

administrators, coaches and athletes such as the Drake Relays, it was quite rewarding. It brought me to tears.”

Greene said to watch his women’s triumphant achievement was the icing on the cake.

“To go into the Hall and then to win the women’s title, that was icing on the cake. That blessed me tremendously,” Greene said. “The kids competed well. It was cold. Drake Relay is known for its cold, but I believe competing in that atmosphere builds character.

“It enables us to go into what I call championship mode. We have a week off, then we start the SEC Championships in 12 days and then we have a week off and then we have the first round of the NCAA Championships, then we have another week off and then the finals of the championships in Eugene, Oregon.”

While their athletes got to prepare for the Drake Relays competition, Greene said he and his wife were joined by his brother Antonio Greene and his wife as well as Purdue University’s coach Norbert Elliott and his wife for dinner.

“We got a meal. We got a good meal,” he said. “It was like old times.

We had to go and break bread.”

Elliott got to do some celebrations as well as Purdue’s senior Tamar Greene placed third in the men’s triple jump with a best leap of 51-7 ¼ (15.73m) on his second attempt behind teammate Safin Wills with 51-8 (15.75m) on his sixth try.

James Carter, a junior at Iowa, won the title with 51-9 ¾ (15.79m) on his fifth jump.

Up next, the Boilermakers head to the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 13-15 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before they too prepare for the NCAA Championships.

CONNECTICUT Sun forward Jonquel Jones (35) reacts to contact from Atlanta Dream forward Nia Coffey, front left, during a WNBA basketball exhibition game yesterday in Uncasville, Conn.

(Sean D Elliot/The Day via AP)

COMETS

FROM PAGE 15 the dominance of Queen’s College.

Saleste Gibson took the girls 11-12 title for Queen’s College with 27 points.

She was followed by her teammate Nia-Ishia Prince with 23.

The other title for the Comets came from Reis Knowles in the boys 15-16 division with 24, one point more than teammate Anthony Eccelston, who had 23.

St Anne’s Dijon Simmons was the winner of the boys 11-12 title with 27 points.

Queen’s College got 20

points apiece from Damari Butler and Keron Burrows.

Winner of the girls 13-14 division was Erin Pritchard of St Andrews International School with 27 points. Quiana Bain of St Anne’s School was the runner-up with 21.

In the boys 13-14 division, Donald Saunders won the title for St John’s College with 25 points. Zion Gibson of St Andrews International came in second with 21.

And Lyford Cay International got a one-two punch in the girls 15-andover division as Isabelle Zatarain led the way with 27, followed by Layla Saidi with 22.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 2, 2022, PAGE 17

Warriors rally after Green ejected, take 1-0 series lead

By TERESA M WALKER AP Sports Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn.

(AP) — Klay Thompson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds left, and the Golden State Warriors overcame Draymond Green’s first-half ejection to edge the Memphis Grizzlies 117-116 yesterday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Jordan Poole led the Warriors with 31 points off the bench, hitting 5 of 10 3-pointers. Stephen Curry added 24 points, Andrew Wiggins had 17 and Thompson finished with 15.

Green was ejected for a flagrant foul just before halftime.

Thompson missed both free throws with 6.7 seconds left, then Memphis won a jump ball before taking a timeout with 3.6 seconds remaining to set up the final play. The Grizzlies ran a play similar to Ja Morant’s last-second layup to win Game 5 in the first round, but Morant’s layup went over the rim.

Morant finished with 34 points and 10 assists, and Jaren Jackson Jr matched his season high with six 3-pointers and had a careerhigh 33 points as Memphis’ first pair of teammates to score at least 30 in a playoff game. D’Anthony Melton added 14, and Brandon Clarke had 12.

The Grizzlies finished their first-round series by coming back from doubledigit deficits in their final three wins — the first team in NBA history to do that

more than once in a postseason, let alone a series.

They came in leading the NBA in the fourth with an average of 33 points and outscoring opponents by 10.3 points a game.

This time, they could only match the Warriors point for point in the period.

Memphis edged the Warriors out for the No. 2 seed in the West by tying the franchise record with 56 wins, and the Grizzlies also took three of four in their season series. Thompson only played one and Green two of those games and Curry three.

This was a rematch with role reversals from the 2015 semifinal the Warriors won as the younger team with Memphis led by experienced vets. This also was just the first time the Warriors started a conference semifinal on the road and third playoff series Golden State didn’t start at home with Steve Kerr as coach.

The Warriors mixed up their lineup, benching Poole in favour of Gary Payton II to focus on defending Morant, the Grizzlies’ All-Star point guard and the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season.

Morant opened the game with back-to-back 3s, half of what he made the entire first round against Minnesota, and he had 14 to help the Grizzlies lead 32-24 after the first quarter. It marked the first time Memphis held an opponent to fewer than 30 points this postseason.

By DAVID BRANDT AP Sports Writer

GOLDEN State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, left, passes the ball over Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (24) and guard Ja Morant during Game 1 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff series yesterday.

(AP Photo/Brandon Dill) The Grizzlies led by as points in the first half, started but was limited much as 13 in the second none in the second. But he to eight minutes by three quarter and were up 61-55 scored 13 and Poole had 10 early fouls. ... The Warriat halftime. in the third as the Warriors ors also started on the road With 1:18 left in the outscored Memphis 36-29 against Houston in 2018 second, Green fouled and led 91-90 after the and Toronto in 2019. ...

Brandon Clarke. Offi- third. Golden State was 14 They won a road game in a cials reviewed the play for of 21 shooting in the third, series extending their NBA several minutes with fans including 5 of 7 outside the record to a 25th consecuchanting “Throw him out!” arc. tive series.

Green finished with six TIP-INS Grizzlies: Steven Adams, points, four rebounds and Warriors: Curry passed who led the NBA in offenfive turnovers.

Dennis Johnson for 23rd sive rebounds per game Curry was held to eight for most playoff points during the regular season, points in the first half, none with 3,123. Next up is Paul missed a 2nd straight game in the second and picked Pierce with 3,180. ... Kevon in the health and safety up his third foul seconds Looney and Poole started protocols. Ziaire Williams after Green’s ejection. the second half in place of missed his second game Curry was held to eight Green and Payton, who with a sore right knee.

Giannis triple-double helps Bucks beat Celtics 101-89

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer BOSTON (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had already picked up his dribble and spent half of a Eurostep when he realised he had nowhere to go with the ball.

Instead of attempting an off-balance shot or passing to a well-guarded teammate, the two-time NBA MVP flicked the ball high off the backboard, then followed it to the rim for a slam dunk.

“What did I see? I had the ball and I was like, ‘Oh, crap. I’m going to get stuck,’” Antetokounmpo said after recording his second career postseason triple-double to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 101-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their second-round series yesterday.

“I threw it to the backboard,” he said. “I’m lucky enough that God blessed me with the ability to jump.

I had a good jump to go get it again and I was able to finish the play.”

Antetokounmpo had 24 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists as the defending NBA champions swiped home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.

(He does not get an assist for passing the ball to himself.)

“That’s just pure talent, just pure instinct,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s a great player.

He does things that are unique and special and timely. That’s one of those plays where you’re happy he’s on our side.”

Jrue Holiday had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Bobby Portis had 15 points and 11 boards for the Bucks, who are back at the TD Garden for Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Jayson Tatum scored 21 and Jaylen Brown had 12 points, but the two Boston stars combined to shoot 10 for 31 in the game. Al

HEAT KNOW THAT EVEN WITHOUT EMBIID, 76ERS WILL BE A BIG CHALLENGE

MILWAUKEE Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34), of Greece, dunks as Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart, left, and centre Al Horford, right, look on in the first half of Game 1 in the second round of the NBA Eastern Conference playoff series yesterday.

(AP Photo/Steven Senne) Horford added 12 points first half to bring a double- points of the first quarter. 33 minutes. “He took a scored few hits,” Udoka said. “I and 10 rebounds for the digit lead into the break. Antetokounmpo Celtics, who fired up 50 Boston was within seven the last six of the half to think the quad bothered 3-pointers, making 18, and in the final minute of the give the Bucks a 56-46 lead him more than the shoulder. But he’s going to play shot 33% from the floor as third quarter before going at the break. without a bucket for more “This one should hurt through a lot.” a team.

Midway through the “Offensively, not our than four minutes while a little bit,” Horford said. best night. I thought we the Bucks scored 11 of the “We have an opportunity third quarter, Robert Wilguarded well enough,” next 14 points — including now to learn from this liams III went down at Celtics coach Ime Udoka the Greek Freak’s freakish game, see how we can be midcourt after taking a hit said. “To lose a 12-point alley-oop to himself that better as a group and come to the groin. He went to the tunnel but returned after game when we shot so gave Milwaukee a 94-78 out and do that Tuesday.”

THAT SMARTS the timeout. poorly bodes well for us. lead. “I can’t do that. I Smart scurried off the TIP-INS In a way it’s good to get wouldn’t even think about Bucks were without this dud out of the way, trying,” Holiday said. “He’s floor with 1:12 left in the got a great nickname.” first half, in obvious pain Khris Middleton, who is offensively.”

Boston won 26 of its last with his right arm dangling expected to miss games After shutting down Kevin Durant and Kyrie 32 games in the regular limply beside him, after with a sprained medical colIrving in a four-game season and was the only taking a swipe from Jevon lateral ligament in his knee.

George Hill also sat out sweep of the Brooklyn team to sweep its first- Carter in the lane.

The team said during with an abdominal strain.

Nets, Boston couldn’t stop round playoff series. Now Antetokounmpo -- even Milwaukee has won four in halftime that Smart had ... Udoka successfully chalwith green-haired Defen- a row, having won the last a shoulder “stinger” and lenged a 3rd-quarter foul sive Player of the Year three in the first round to a right quad bruise. He call against Grant WilMarcus Smart shaking off a eliminate the Bulls in five received a big cheer when liams when Grayson Allen games. he came out of the tunnel sprawled to the floor after shoulder injury.

The Celtics led by as for the start of the second a 3-point attempt.AntetokAntetokounmpo scored eight straight Milwaukee many as eight before Mil- half, and finished with 10 ounmpo shot 1 for 6 in the points at the end of the waukee scored the last 10 points and six assists in third quarter.

MIAMI (AP) — In Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s mind, the injury situation with Joel Embiid doesn’t doom the Philadelphia 76ers.

He figures it’ll only steel their resolve.

Clearly, the 76ers are not going to be a better team without Embiid, the scoring champion and MVP finalist currently sidelined by a right orbital fracture and mild concussion, injuries that have him officially ruled out for Game 1 and likely Game 2 as well. That said, the 76ers played the Heat once this season without Embiid — and won.

They’ll try to do it again tonight when Philadelphia visits Miami in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

“Whenever you’re dealing with a team that has to change a little bit, that immediately gets them a built-in sense of urgency,” Spoelstra said. “But again, what we’re trying to accomplish, it is so difficult. When you approach it that way, that just puts you there to compete at a high level, the necessary level that is going to be required.”

The Heat aren’t exactly in perfect health, either.

Jimmy Butler has been slowed by a sore knee, Tyler Herro caught a cold that turned into an upper-respiratory-type mess — but not COVID-19 — and PJ Tucker has been dealing with a calf issue. (All three expect to play today.) And Philadelphia native Kyle Lowry missed the last two games of the first-round series against Atlanta with a hamstring strain, so the Heat can’t be certain when their point guard will be 100% again. He’s been ruled out for Game 1.

“I think both rosters are going into this battle knowing that both sides got enough to get the job done,” Butler said. “We’ve got a job to do. They’ve got a job to do. But I’m banking on the Miami Heat.”

The 76ers don’t need any hyperbole along the way to realising that they can have success against Miami.

They need only to pop in the tape from March 21.

Embiid didn’t play that night. The 76ers didn’t have James Harden, either.

Didn’t matter. Philadelphia outrebounded Miami 45-34, outscored the Heat 45-30 from 3-point range and pulled off a 113-106 win.

“Well, the biggest adjustment is we don’t have Joel,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said, overstating the obvious for emphasis. “There’s no good thing to it. But we did have one game without Joel against them and honestly, we won the game but I thought it was more than they looked at we didn’t have Joel, I think James was out, so I think mentally that probably played a purpose in that game. That’s not going to happen now.

They don’t care who we have on the floor.”

The 76ers went 6-8 without Embiid this season.

Plus, with Harden, the 76ers still have a player who is four years removed from being an MVP and two years removed from being a back-to-back-to-back scoring champion.

“Truth be told, it’s just us figuring out what we can go to through the course of a game in the playoffs,” Philadelphia forward Tobias Harris said.

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THE TRIBUNE

Rahm hangs on to win in Mexico for 1st win since US Open PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Jon Rahm could have done without the stress he faced over the final two hours in the Mexico Open. It still was worth it to pick up his first victory since the US Open last summer.

Rahm rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th hole to pull out of a four-way tie for the lead, and he had to make two tough pars and a finish more nervy than he expected.

The relief and satisfaction was evident when he tapped in for par on the final hole at Vidanta Vallarta for a one-shot victory. He pumped his arm and then pounded his fist downward, and at point he looked skyward and exhaled.

“Today was a battle,” Rahm said. “But I got it done.”

Tony Finau and Brandon Wu each closed with a 63, while Kurt Kitayama birdied the final hole from a back bunker for a 68. They tied for second.

Rahm had a couple of close calls in Mexico

City when it was a World Golf Championship at Chapultepec. Now the Mexico Open, which has a history dating to 1944, is a regular PGA Tour event for the first time. And it got a popular winner.

Against one of the weaker fields of the year — Rahm at No. 2 was the only player from the top 15 in the world — the Spaniard was a heavy favourite and he played that way from his opening 64. He just didn’t feel any expectations.

“I like to think every time I tee it up I’m a favourite. I play to win,” Rahm said. “Fortunately, I got my seventh PGA Tour win. It was a pretty stressful weekend, all the way to the end.”

Staked to a two-shot lead going into the final round, he never trailed. But it was never easy.

Rahm’s had a one-shot lead after his lone bogey of the round on the tough par-4 10th.

Well ahead of him, Wu holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to join him at 16 under. Kitayama, playing in the final group

with Rahm, got up-anddown from right of the green on the par-5 12th to tie. And then Finau went birdie-eagle-birdie to get in the mix and capped off his 63 with a birdie to make it a four-way tie.

“I really wanted to put together a nice week and I was able to do that this week and gave myself a chance to do something special right at the end,” Finau.

“Making a 3 on 18 probably would have been a big deal, but making that putt for birdie, a lot of confidence builders on a day like today and I’ll carry that with me the rest of the season.”

Rahm never lost his patience. His chip left of the green on the par-5 14th raced 12 feet by the hole, but he hit his best putt of the round and made it for birdie for a one-shot lead.

His wedge to the 15th came up short and his chip ran 5 by the hole. He made that to stay in front, and then had to two-putt from 50 feet on the 16th for his par. Rahm missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th

ARSENAL, SPURS MAINTAIN CL CHASE, SURVIVAL BOOST FOR EVERTON JON RAHM, of Spain, holds up his son Kepa as he celebrates his victory in the Mexico Open at Vidanta yesterday.

(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) that would have given him I stayed aggressive. I was confident in what I was room for error.

Still, the closing par 5 doing. I have faith in every at Vidanta Vallarta is easy part of my game and it reachable, and Rahm bird- showed.”

Champ, who like Kitayied it the three previous times. This time, his fade ama started the final round stayed straight and instead two shots behind, took of dropping into the himself out of the mix bunker, it nestled in deep with a triple bogey on the rough on a steep slope just par-4 eighth hole. He never above the sand. He did recovered, shot 70 and finwell to punch that out just ished three shots behind in over a waste area and into a tie for sixth.

Rahm has 14 victories the fairway.

His approach to a back worldwide. He had gone pin just trickled off the 17 starts without winning, green, and he navigated matching the longest such the slick putt perfectly to in is career.

The victory moves him a few inches. Instead of waiting for Kitayama and a little closer to ScotCameron Champ to finish, tie Scheffler in his bid to Rahm quickly stepped in reclaim the No. 1 ranking, and he’ll a have at the and closed the deal.

“I didn’t think a par 5 PGA Championship in that requires a fade that three weeks.

The Spaniard has at least I’d be stressing this much,” Rahm said. “It wasn’t my one victory in six full years best putting weekend, but as a pro.

MADRID CLINCHES RECORD-EXTENDING 35TH SPANISH LEAGUE TITLE

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — In a dominating season for Real Madrid, it was fitting that it didn’t even need its best players to win the Spanish league.

Using its backups before the Champions League semifinals, Madrid earned a record-extending 35th Liga title with a comfortable 4-0 home win over Espanyol on Saturday.

Players and coaches celebrated with the crowd at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium long after the match ended, then paraded to the team’s usual party spot at Cibeles plaza, but there was not a lot of time to rejoice. On Wednesday, Madrid is back at the Bernabéu to host Manchester City in the second leg of the Champions League

semifinals. Madrid lost 4-3 in the first match in England.

“We know we have an important match ahead of us, but today we have to celebrate,” said Brazilian veteran Marcelo, who reached a milestone with his 24th career title with Madrid, the most in the club’s history.

“We have to enjoy it, this could help us on Wednesday,” said Carlo Ancelotti, who became the first coach to win the top five European leagues.

The Italian manager won with AC Milan in Serie A, Chelsea in the English Premier League, Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.

Several thousand fans packed the Cibeles plaza to welcome the champions, who mixed messages of

REAL Madrid players lift Real Madrid’s head coach Carlo Ancelotti to celebrate the team’s La Liga title after a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on Saturday.

(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) celebration for the league title and motivation for Wednesday’s match. The crowd cheered loudly when Marcelo draped the Cibeles statue with Madrid’s flag and scarf.

Rodrygo scored twice and Marco Asensio and substitute Karim Benzema added on to give Madrid its second league title in three seasons, and third in six years.

Madrid has an insurmountable lead with four

rounds to go. It was 17 points in front of Sevilla, which drew with Cádiz 1-1 on Friday, and 18 points ahead of Barcelona, which hosts Mallorca on Sunday.

“This is how you win leagues,” Madrid midfielder Casemiro said.

“We’ve done a great job the entire season, being consistent from the start.”

Madrid has nine more league titles than Barcelona.

Ancelotti rested most of his regular starters against Espanyol, including Benzema and his attacking teammate Vinícius Júnior.

Only goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and midfielders Casemiro and Luka Modric made the starting lineup.

Benzema, Vinícius and Toni Kroos entered the match in the second half, and Benzema closed the scoring in the 81st for his league-leading 26th goal.

Casemiro had to play improvised as a central defender because David Alaba was out injured and Nacho Fernández and Éder Militão were suspended.

Marcelo started at left back and surpassed the 23

titles won by great Francisco “Paco” Gento, who died this year at age 88.

The 33-year-old Brazilian tied Gento when Madrid won the Spanish Super Cup in January, a few days before Gento’s death.

Marcelo gave the pass to countryman Rodrygo to open the scoring from near the penalty spot in the 33rd minute. Rodrygo added to the lead 10 minutes later and Marco Asensio scored the third goal in the 55th.

Tennis great Rafael Nadal gave the ceremonial kickoff at the Bernabéu, and it didn’t take long before the crowd began singing “Campeones, campeones.”

It was a well-deserved title as Madrid got off to a good start and fended off every run by its challengers. It led after all but six rounds early in the season, and was at the top since the 14th round in November.

The only question now is if Atlético Madrid will agree to give its city rival a “guard of honour” before the teams meet at Atlético’s Wanda Metropolitano Stadium next Sunday.

LONDON (AP) — As you were in the pursuit of Champions League qualification. At the other end of the Premier League, though, the relegation scrap just got even tighter.

Arsenal remained in fourth place after Gabriel’s header secured a 2-1 win at West Ham to stay two points ahead of Tottenham after its north London rival beat Leicester 3-1 yesterday through Son Heung-min’s double.

Chelsea looks well placed to qualify for the Champions League despite now being only three points ahead of Arsenal with four games remaining after losing 1-0 at Everton.

It’s a result — secured by Richarlison — that gives Everton renewed hope of avoiding relegation after a 68-year stay in the top division.

Everton moved two points from safety with five matches to go and a game in hand over both Leeds and Burnley, which are just above the drop zone.

FLARE THROWN Richarlison’s four goals in his last five league matches is as many as he scored in his first 21 games of the season.

The latest came 59 seconds into the second half at Goodison Park. Richarlison and Demarai Gray pressured Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta into losing possession and the Brazilian benefited by sweeping a shot past goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

But Richarlison could face Football Association action after picking up a lit blue flare during his goal celebrations and throwing it back into the stand.

Everton relied on Jordan Pickford’s saves to preserve the win — denying Cesar Azpilicueta, Ruben LoftusCheek and Thiago Silva.

“We’re still in a massive scrap,” captain Seamus Coleman said. “We’ve got to keep going and keep battling.”

Third-place Chelsea has only four points from its last four games.

“We struggle to play without big mistakes,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said. “And that is why we struggle to have results.”

SON DOUBLE Son is now on a careerhigh 19 Premier League goals in a season, only three behind Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah in the race for the Golden Boot.

Before scoring against Leicester, Son also provided the opener in the 22nd minute by delivering a corner for the unmarked Harry Kane to head into the bottom corner to end a fivegame goalless run.

It also was Tottenham’s first attempt on target in 221 minutes.

The hosts struggled for another sight of goal until the hour mark when they doubled their lead.

Cristian Romero was the architect as he produced a crunching tackle on Caglar Soyuncu on the halfway line which set Dejan Kulusevski free and the Swede raced clear and teed up Son, who found the bottom corner.

OLYMPIC STARS HEADLINE US TEAM FOR WORLDS GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel highlight a 41-member US swimming team that will compete at this summer’s world championships in Budapest, Hungary.

The squad was selected at a meet in Greensboro, North Carolina that ended Saturday night.

Ledecky claimed victories in four freestyle events ranging from 200 to 1,500 metres.

She will look to add to the 15 gold medals and three silvers she won at the last four world championships.

Coming off five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, Dressel set himself up for another busy

programme by winning the 50 and 100 free and 50 and 100 butterfly. Three years ago in Gwangju, South Korea, Dressel became the first swimmer to claim eight medals -- six of them gold -- at a single world championships. Michael Phelps is the only other swimmer to accomplish the feat in a major international meet, winning eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Dressel earned seven gold medals during the 2017 worlds at Duna Arena, the same Budapest venue that will host the swimming competition from June 18-25.

Among those joining Ledecky on the women’s team are Olympic gold medallist

Lilly King, who swept the three breaststroke races in Greensboro; Claire Curzan in the 100 free, 50 and 100 fly and 100 backstroke; Torri Huske in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly; and Regan Smith in the 100 back and 200 fly.

On the men’s side, Olympic gold medallists Ryan Murphy (100 and 200 back), Bobby Finke (800 and 1,500 free) and Chase Kalisz (200 and individual medley) are among those earning spots in multiple individual events.

Hunter Armstrong, who set a world record in 50 backstroke in Greensboro, will also compete in the 100 back.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 2, 2022, PAGE 19

BRANDON INGRAHAM AND KEYSHAWN STRACHAN SHINE

AT THE PENN RELAYS

By BRENT STJBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net DESPITE the extremely cold weather conditions, strongman Keyshawn Strachan and Brandon Ingraham produced outstanding individual performances in leading the St John’s College Giants and St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine teams at the Penn Relays over the weekend in Philadelphia.

Strachan, coming off his Bahamian national record breaking performance at CARIFTA, tossed the high schools boys’ javelin 237-feet, 9-inches or 72.48 metres for the victory on Friday. The St John’s College senior, who is bound for Auburn University, posted his best mark on his second attempt.

Kaden Cartwright of Queen’s College finished seventh in the event with a best of 183-2 (55.84m) on his fourth attempt.

“It wasn’t what I expected, but I still give God thanks for allowing me to come out and compete at the best of my ability,” Strachan said. “It was really cold. I couldn’t feel my fingers when I was throwing, but I couldn’t get in a good sweat.

“I just have to come back bigger and better for World Junior Championships. You will have some meets where you don’t perform at your best, but I still give God thanks for allowing me to come out and compete.”

St John’s head coach Rochelle Henfield said Strachan and the Giants’ five-member relay team should be commended for their performances.

“He did an awesome job.

We’re very happy for him for what he has accomplished since he’s been with us from the ninth grade,” Henfield said of Strachan.

“His coach (Corrington Maycock of Blue Chips Athletics) has done an excellent job and will continue to work with him, but he will be an excellent fit for Auburn University in August.”

As for the Giants 4 x 100 and 4 x 400m boys relay teams, Henfield said they should also be commended for their performances considering the fact that this was their first time competing at Penn and although they are all seniors, Ian Dawkins, Antoine Andrews, Kenzie Knowles and Caleb Major, with the exception of 11th grader Tayshawn Robinson, this would be an experience they won’t forget.

St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine’s Brandon Ingraham also had an impressive performance, placing third in the high school boys’ triple jump championship with a leap of 47-2 ½ (14.39m) on his sixth attempt on Friday.

“This was my first time competing in that type of weather. At first it was challenging, competing in 45-50 degrees, jumping with no tights, just shorts,” Ingraham said. “It was only on my last jump when I saw my teammates that I got hyped and that jump took me from sixth to third place.

“But overall, I feel like it was a great experience for me. It was a good meet to compete in under the weather conditions to show me what it would be like competing in college and other meets in cold states.”

The winning leap was 52-3 3/4 (15.94m) by Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert, while New York’s Ryan John was second with 52-3 ¼ (15.094m).

In the high school boys 4 x 100m invitational on Saturday, the Big Red Machine’s team of Jonathan Fowler, Tamani Skinner, Joshua Miller and Shimar Bain got third in 42.17.

St John’s quartet of Ian Dawkins, Antoine Andrews, Tayshawn Robinson and Caleb Major was seventh in 43.17.

Both schools got third in their respective heats of the high school boys 4 x 100m relay on Friday with

SAC’s Brandon Ingraham with his third place award.

SAC’s quartet of Jonathan Fowler, Tamani Skinner, Joshua Miller and Otto Laing coming in 25th overall in 42.96. St John’s team of Tayshawn Robinson, Caleb Major, Ian Dawkins and Antoine Andrews was 27th in 43.01.

They had a reverse order on Saturday in the high school boys 4 x 400m as St John’s got fourth in 3:17.20 with the combo of Kenzie Knowles, Antoine Andrews, Ian Dawkins and Caleb Major, while SAC was fifth in 3:17.30 with Clinton Laquerre, Jaydin Plakaris, Tamani Skinner and Shimar Bain.

SAC’s team of Zaria Stapleton, Lacarthea Cooper, Nya Wright and Amari Pratt was tied for first place on Friday in the high school girls 4 x 100m invitational in 48.26 in a photo finish with the Heritage team from Virginia.

On Thursday, Lacarthea Cooper, Nya Wright, Amari Pratt and Reshae Dean picked up a third place finish in the high schools girls 4 x 400m relay in 3:55.82 as a team from Jamaica won in 3:39.34 and New York got second in 3:44.36.

And The Big Red Machine also got 12th in the high school girls 4 x 100m heats in 48.68 on Thursday after a second place finish in their heat behind Heritage. The team consisted of Zaria Stapleton, Lacarthea Cooper, Nya Wright and Amari Pratt.

“We had some wonderful performances. I think this was one of the best we’ve had, considering the cold weather we had on Thursday and Friday,” said SAC’s head coach Jason Edwards.

“The weather was in the 30s and 40s when the kids were competing and they did exceptional.”

Tito Moss, an assistant coach along with Dawn Woodside-Johnson and Javaughn Saunders, said he was quite pleased with the performances from the Big Red Machine over the three days of competition against hundreds of schools that participated.

“We had some phenomenal performances,” said Moss, who also coaches the athletes in Red-Line Athletics Track Club. “The weather was a little iffy and the athletes adapted and they rose to the occasion. I’m really pleased with what they have done. We’re just pleased to be back after a two-year hiatus and looking forward to some more (Penn Relays).”

From the collegiate beat, Ohio States’ Shaun Miller Jr had to settle for second place in the men’s high jump on Saturday with a leap of 7-3 ¾ (2.23m) on more knockdowns and Jyles Etienne of Indiana was 12th with 6-6 ¼ (1.99m) Adrian Curry was seventh in his heat of the men’s 100m on Friday in 11.59 for 29th overall, Oscar Smith doubled up in the 110m hurdles for 10th place in

14.02 on Friday and fourth in his heat of the 400m hurdles in 53.12 for 10th overall on Thursday.

And in the College Men’s 4 x 200m Championship of Americas, Wanya McCoy ran the second leg for Clemson’s victorious team of Guinowe Joanus, Fabian Hewitt and Cameron Rose on Friday as they stopped the clock in 1:22.91.

McCoy also popped off on their men’s 4 x 400m Championship of Americas team of Tarees Rhoden, Cameron Rose and Aman Thornton that placed sixth in the heats in 3:09.92 on Friday to advance to the final.

However, they didn’t place in the final on Saturday.

Now that they are back home, the local athletes will gear up for the second annual Sonja Knowles Track Classic, hosted by Red-Line Athletics and sponsored by the Oak Tree, scheduled for the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium on Saturday, May 21 1-8 pm and 2-7pm Sunday, May 22.