PHA CHIEF: ‘WE WILL LEARN FROM TRAGEDY’
Hospital Authority: We won’t appeal Supreme Court newborn ruling
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
THE Public Hospitals Authority will accept a Supreme Court fnding that Princess Margaret Hospital’s failure to monitor a distressed unborn baby for 27 minutes caused her fatal injury, saying it will not appeal the ruling or challenge the damages awarded to the child’s mother.
PHA managing director Aubynette Rolle said the
authority would not prolong the case or force Widline Guillaume’s family to relive the death of newborn Elizabeth Lundy, who died just over two hours after she was born on August 2, 2022. Ms Rolle said the authority would move forward and learn from the case to prevent a recurrence. Acting Justice Raynard Rigby, KC, found that PMH and consultant obstetrician Dr Agatha Foulkes-Mackey
POLICE WARN DOG OWNERS TO SECURE PETS AFTER BIMINI ATTACK
By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
PET owners could face criminal charges and civil liability if their dogs attack and injure someone, police warned yesterday as investigators continued probing the mauling of a nine-yearold American boy in Bimini.
Speaking at a recent Progressive Liberal Party Golden Gates branch meeting, she said she contacted Mrs Coleby-Davis around 1.36am while constituents were still without reliable power and after receiving distress calls from residents. LEARN - SEE PAGE THREE
Superintendent Nicolas Johnson, ofcer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department in Grand Bahama, said one person is assisting police with the investigation, but declined to say whether charges are expected. The child, who was
- SEE PAGE FIVE
Glover-Rolle rejects claims of feud with Coleby-Davis over power outages
By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Rporter kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
GOLDEN Gates MP Pia Glover-Rolle has rejected claims that her public demand for answers over prolonged electricity outages exposed a feud or tension between
her and Energy Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis. Mrs Glover-Rolle had publicly pressed Bahamas Power and Light for answers after Golden Gates residents endured three days of unreliable electricity, including after they had been told service would be restored by 10pm on the second day.
- SEE PAGE FOUR
MOM QUESTIONS POLICE SEARCH AFTER MISSING SON FOUND DEAD
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
ON a rainy Sunday morning, Ingrid Francois drove her son Antonio Cartwright to work after the weather interrupted his usual skateboard commute, never imagining it would be the last time she would see him alive. Four days later, the
27-year-old was found hanging from a tree in bushes near Hacio Point Close in a suspected suicide. Cartwright had been diagnosed with schizophrenia earlier this year and attended a medical appointment two days before his disappearance that left his mother deeply concerned about his treatment.
- SEE PAGE THREE
MINISTER OF LABOUR AND PUBLIC SERVICE PIA GLOVER-ROLLE
ANTONIO CARTWRIGHT
Training programme held for persons with disabilities
THE Ministry of Urban Renewal and Community Relations in partnership with the National Training Agency yesterday hosted a job readiness training programme for people with disabilities, an initiative Minister Lisa Rahming said is aimed at ensuring everyone has the opportunity to work and succeed.
The one-day programme, held at the Andre Rodgers National Stadium, equipped participants with practical skills, including résumé writing, interview techniques, workplace etiquette and career preparation, ahead of a special job fair scheduled for August 6.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ms Rahming said creating a more inclusive society remains a priority for the Davis administration.
“Our goal is to build communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Persons with disabilities should not be overlooked or limited in the opportunities available to them. They have skills, they have talent, and they have every right to meaningful employment.”
“If every 100 employees included one or more persons with disabilities, imagine the diference we could make as a country. Inclusion must become part of who we are, not something to think about only from time to time.”
MINISTRY of Urban Renewal holds a job training event to help persons with disabilities be prepared to enter the work force. Photos: Chappell Whyms Jr.
PHA will not appeal ruling over fatal PMH negligence
LEARN from page one
breached the required standard of care when Ms Guillaume and her baby were left unmonitored outside the operating theatre between 4.10am and 4.37am while awaiting an emergency caesarean section.
The judge concluded that the 27-minute lapse caused the oxygen deprivation that led to Elizabeth’s fatal injury.
Ms Rolle said yesterday that PHA had no intention of challenging either the ruling or the damages to be awarded.
“And as an attorney myself, there’s no need to go back to one frustrate the court and two to relive this matter with family members,” she said.
“Like my minister said, we want to extend sincere condolences to the family and the loss of their loved one.”
Justice Rigby rejected the defence’s argument that
Elizabeth died because of an undetected congenital heart condition. He instead accepted expert evidence that the baby died from perinatal asphyxia caused by oxygen deprivation.
The judge found there was no unreasonable delay in deciding to perform the emergency caesarean section or in carrying it out after the decision was made.
Instead, he ruled that the negligence arose because no monitoring took place while Ms Guillaume waited for the result of a COVID19 test before surgery.
Signs of foetal distress had already been detected before the decision to operate, making continued monitoring essential.
However, no evidence was presented explaining the baby’s condition during the 27-minute period before the procedure.
Ms Rolle said PHA would use the ruling to improve compliance with its policies and procedures, raise standards where
necessary and strengthen staf training.
“At the end of the day, I think what this does is two things: it moves us in the direction to ensure that our policies, procedures are adhered to, and also, if they are not, to move up to the level of standard, as well as to ensure that staf are educated,” she said.
“So the PHA at this moment has no intentions of going back against the ruling and an order of the court in terms of their ruling, as well as any cost that is associated with the ruling.”
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville described the baby’s death as a tragedy and said the case should become a learning experience for the healthcare system.
“There is always malpractice issues at every hospital in every country,” Dr Darville said.
“It’s very unfortunate, but I can tell you from our risk management and
our team, any malpractice case is a process of learning, and the PHA is now addressing the issue prior to the fnalisation of the case to improve the delivery of services, not only
in the antenatal area but also through the entire hospital.”
He said the case should provide lessons for PHA, the clinicians involved and associated medical staf.
“And once again, I’m sure that the family is satisfed with the ruling, and we need to make sure things like this do not happen at our hospitals,” Dr Darville said. “And once they do happen, for us to be completely transparent in the process.”
Justice Rigby also criticised the absence of evidence concerning Elizabeth’s care after birth, the failure to perform an autopsy and the decision not to call several key medical witnesses.
He further pointed to the failure to produce PMH’s COVID-19 protocols during the trial, although the testing requirement contributed to Ms Guillaume’s wait before surgery. The judge ordered that damages be assessed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court. He also directed the defendants to pay Ms Guillaume’s legal costs if the parties are unable to agree on an amount.
Mother speaks out after missing son found dead
Ms Francois also said she had directed police to the track road where her son was ultimately found, but believes ofcers did not search the bushes thoroughly before relatives returned and discovered his body.
A missing person poster said Cartwright was last seen around 8.30am on July 19 at CBS Bahamas, his workplace in Southwest Plaza.
His mother said he usually fnished work around 5.30pm and took about 30 minutes to skateboard home. She became alarmed when he failed to return and did not respond to her messages.
Ms Francois said she reported him missing but was frustrated after being told the process would take another 24 hours.
“I said he’d already been 25 hours he’s been missing,” she said. “Y’all have to move faster than that.”
The search ended last Thursday when Cartwright’s nephew found his body in bushes near the track road.
Ms Francois said her son had often spoken about the area and that she told police they should search it.
“I even mentioned it to the police ofcer that they can go and check it,” she said. “But like I said, Monday they didn’t see anything. They didn’t really check the bush.”
painter and was willing to scale the exterior walls of tall buildings for work. His mother said he once sent her a photograph taken from so high above the ground that people below appeared as small as ants.
He was also developing a business renting decorative lights for parties and other events because he wanted to pursue an idea that differed from more common ventures involving balloons.
Shortly before his disappearance, he asked his mother for a drill for another side project.
Ms Francois said Cartwright’s various work ventures had encountered difculties, leaving him struggling to get back on his feet.
“He started to do a lot of diferent jobs and everything crumbled,” she said. “To get back on his feet, I think it was a struggle, and he probably didn’t want to face all of that.”
She said Cartwright
had been diagnosed with schizophrenia this year but remained determined to work and pursue his ambitions. He attended a medical appointment on the Friday before he disappeared.
Ms Francois said she left the session unhappy and intends to examine what occurred.
“That session was not good and that’s something I’m going to look into because I didn’t like the session at all,” she said.
Ms Francois questioned a discussion during the appointment about changing how frequently her son received medication. She said medical professionals should have acted immediately if he appeared to be speaking irrationally.
She said she felt uneasy after the appointment and feared something might happen before Cartwright returned to work that Sunday.
The rain that morning
prompted her to ofer him a ride, giving her an unexpected opportunity to prepare his breakfast and spend time with him before work.
Before dropping him of, she told him not to eat anything heavy because she planned to cook dinner later that day.
“I said, ‘Antonio, don’t eat anything heavy. Mommy’s going to cook today,’” she recalled. “But this time, he didn’t say anything back.” Ms Francois said the morning had otherwise been pleasant. She now believes the rain gave her one fnal opportunity to care for and see her son.
She also viewed the way Cartwright left his skateboard neatly on the lawn as a possible farewell and a sign that he was at peace.
“To this day, I still can’t believe it,” she said. “I feel like he could walk through the door, but I know he’s gone.”
His nephew ran into the bushes and found him, remaining there in shock until other family members urged him to come out.
Ms Francois remembered her son as hardworking,
She said ofcers appeared to have driven near the track road without entering the bushes. Relatives later returned to the area and began calling Cartwright’s name.
ambitious and constantly looking for new ways to earn money.
“My son, to me, was a fun person I tell you, just hardworking, always want to achieve something,” she said. “He always wanted to do something else on the side to make more more money.”
Cartwright was a skilled
PHA MANAGING DIRECTOR AUBYNETTE ROLLE
ANTONIO CARTWRIGHT
BPL employee electrocuted working on Grand Cay pole
By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net
A Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) employee was electrocuted while working in Grand Cay on Tuesday, leaving his family and the tight knit community in shock.
Businessman Lawrence Cooper, 35, was reportedly carrying out work on a high voltage utility pole shortly before 9pm when he was electrocuted.
He was transported to the island’s clinic where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead an hour later.
His uncle, Maxwell, said the death came as a shock and that he was doing his best to cope with the tragedy.
The Grand Cay resident spoke briefy with The Tribune while waiting at the airport to transport his
nephew's body.
He said they were very close, having lived in the same yard for years. He taught Cooper mostly everything he knew.
“Everybody liked him. The whole community liked him. He was a nice boy. He liked boats,” he added.
According to his uncle, Cooper worked with BPL for more than fve years and also operated a ferry business on the cay.
In a statement yesterday, BPL said investigations into the fatal accident are underway and extended condolences to the victim’s family.
“BPL is committed to providing the necessary support to afected employees and will share additional information at
the appropriate time,” the company added.
North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish called Cooper a dedicated employee and thanked him for his service.
He said the tragedy was a solemn reminder of the risks faced by the men and women who work daily to keep the country's electricity system running.
“As we mourn this heartbreaking loss, let us keep his family and all who knew and loved him in our thoughts and prayers,” he said.
For her part, Energy Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis said BPL CEO Toni Pratt would lead a delegation to Abaco to meet with staf and provide support.
“We remain deeply
grateful to BPL’s teams for continued dedication to restoring electricity for consumers. However, this tragedy serves as a reminder that the safety and security of our employees must remain our highest priority,” she added in a statement.
Cooper's death is the country's second electrocution in the past month and comes amid a series of fatal workplace accidents that have renewed concerns about industrial safety.
68-year-old John Walkes, a painter and contractor, was electrocuted last Saturday after reportedly coming into contact with high-voltage electrical equipment while working at Bimini Blue Water Marina.
Hospital to install door after A&E flood incident
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS
Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
PRINCESS Margaret Hospital plans to install a roll-down security door at the newly renovated Accident and Emergency Department after floodwater entered the facility during heavy rainfall on Sunday.
The proposed door would be designed not only to block water from entering through the ambulance bay, but also to protect the department’s glass entrance during hurricanes and prevent members of the public from breaching patients’ privacy during major emergencies.
PMH managing director Aubynette Rolle said officials are seeking cost estimates and will submit the proposal to
the incoming Public Hospitals Authority board for approval.
Mrs Rolle said the hospital’s drainage system was not blocked, but acknowledged that more drains may be needed to manage stormwater flowing downhill towards the ambulance entrance.
The planned security door would provide an additional physical barrier against flooding after water accumulated outside the department and entered through the ambulance bay doors during severe thunderstorms across New Providence.
It would also form part of the hospital’s hurricane preparations by shielding the glass entrance from storm damage.
Mrs Rolle said the door would also allow hospital staff to restrict entry
to A&E during masscasualty incidents and other crises, when large numbers of people may arrive at the hospital and compromise patients’ privacy.
Mrs Rolle said the proposed door and drainage improvements are intended to limit the effects of future flooding, although the severity of extreme weather cannot be predicted.
The flooding came only weeks after Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville announced that the long-delayed renovation of A&E had been completed and the department was fully operational.
Videos and photographs circulated on social media showed standing water in sections of the facility, with
people seen walking through the water while wearing protective shoe covers.
PMH said the water did not come from the roof or ceiling. The hospital said an “extraordinary volume” of water accumulated outside the facility before entering through the ambulance bay.
Patients and staff were relocated from affected areas while clean-up work was carried out, allowing medical services to continue uninterrupted. Barriers were placed at the entrance, and ambulance access was temporarily redirected while officials assessed the flooding.
The hospital said its location is heavily affected by flooding and that neighbouring businesses also experienced significant water accumulation during Sunday’s storm.
PMH said it would work with the relevant agencies to identify further measures to reduce the effects of severe weather on the facility.
MP SAYS LETTER DEMANDING ANSWERS FOR BPL OUTAGES WAS NOT A POLITICAL ATTACK
She said one woman told her that her 86-year-old mother feared she would die that night because of the conditions, while another resident was concerned that a child with sickle cell disease could sufer a crisis if electricity was not restored.
“When we talk about collective responsibility, as a member of parliament, my responsibility is to you,” Mrs Glover-Rolle told constituents. “This wasn’t anything to do with a cabinet matter.”
She said she communicated with Mrs Coleby-Davis and that the minister later forwarded her letter to BPL’s board and executives.
“The minister said that she would take that letter and she would send it to the board, which she did,” Mrs Glover-Rolle said.
She said the correspondence was addressed to BPL
executives rather than the minister because operational decisions and repairs rested with the utility’s technical personnel.
“This letter was not addressed to the minister because the minister is not the technical ofcer,” she said.
Mrs Glover-Rolle said ministers are not responsible for repairing power lines or carrying out technical and administrative work within public agencies.
She said BPL executives contacted her the following morning after receiving the letter.
“There was no attack,” she said. “There was conversation, and that minister supported her colleague by sending that letter that was addressed to the executives of BPL.”
Mrs Glover-Rolle also said Prime Minister Philip Davis had assured her privately and publicly that she acted appropriately.
“I am grateful to my boss,
our Prime Minister, who has assured me privately and publicly that I did the right thing,” she said.
She criticised opposition fgures and PLP members who interpreted the episode as a political attack, saying they had been drawn into unnecessary drama despite the communication between her and Mrs Coleby-Davis.
Mrs Glover-Rolle said that while criticism of her public intervention mounted, her constituency team focused on helping afected residents, including those whose appliances were damaged during the outages.
She said the team bought groceries for some residents and worked with a BPL employee attached to the constituency who was also assisting those afected.
“While everybody was talking, we was ensuring that our people got back to some normalcy,” she said.
GLOVER-ROLLE from page one
LAWRENCE COOPER
Police warn pet owners of liability after dog attacks child in Bimini
vacationing with his parents, was attacked by several dogs shortly before 10.30am on Tuesday near a business in Alice Town.
Initial reports said he was collecting sand on a beach near the apartment where his family was staying when the dogs attacked him, biting his face, head, arms and legs.
A passerby intervened and chased the animals away. The boy was taken to the local clinic before being
airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. His condition was unknown. During a press conference at Police Headquarters yesterday, Supt Johnson warned that owners could face penalties under the Animal Control Act, the Penal Code and other laws, depending on the circumstances of an attack.
He said dogs should be confned within properly secured and fenced properties and kept on a leash when taken into public.
Owners should also ensure their animals are licensed and vaccinated and are not subjected to neglect or cruelty. Lisa Lockhart, supervisor of the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Control Unit, said ofcers investigate complaints involving roaming, neglected and aggressive animals and may pursue charges against owners when warranted. She said the unit has received numerous complaints about stray dogs creating fear in communities.
“We have been getting a lot of calls about strays; kids can’t play in the streets, and people can’t walk in the evenings because dogs are coming after them,” Ms Lockhart said.
She urged residents to report stray and dangerous dogs, saying Animal Control ofcers rely on public complaints to investigate incidents and identify owners.
Ms Lockhart said people should contact police and Animal Control and seek medical attention following an attack. She said Animal
Control could investigate and take the matter to court when a dog has an identifable owner. She also said dog breeding is illegal without a licence from the Animal Control Unit and urged owners to have their animals tagged. Police K-9 ofcers advised people confronted by aggressive dogs not to run or turn their backs.
Constable Sidney McIntosh said a person should remain facing the animal and, where possible, use an object such as a stick or
rock to maintain distance.
He warned against pulling away if a dog latches onto someone, saying doing so could worsen the injuries.
Mr McIntosh said bystanders witnessing a child being attacked should use whatever means are necessary to separate the dog from the child while protecting themselves as much as possible. He said preserving human life must take priority and identifed a dog’s throat and ears as vulnerable areas
PHA buys Harborside clinic for $29m to expand capacity
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
THE Public Hospitals Authority has acquired Doctors Hospital’s Harborside facility for $29m, securing 46 private bed spaces and a site that will ofer urgent care, diagnostic and laboratory services, emergency dialysis, rehabilitation, pharmacy services and clinical training.
The acquisition is intended to expand public healthcare capacity and divert urgentcare patients from Princess Margaret Hospital’s strained emergency services.
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said the facility will initially operate as an urgent care centre before becoming fully operational under PHA following renovations and the installation of diagnostic and laboratory equipment.
The urgent care phase of the renovations is expected to cost $215,000. The government has also signed a contract with Inline Project Company to carry out additional upgrades needed to bring the facility in line with PHA’s requirements and the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ long-term plans.
Renovations could begin as early as next week.
“We purchased this from Doctors Hospital for some $29m,” Dr Darville said. “We signed a contract today with Inline. Part of the hospital will go through renovations and upgrades to make sure that it is consistent with the vision that is outlined by the Ministry of Health and the Public Hospitals Authority.”
PMH managing director Aubynette Rolle said separating urgent-care patients from people requiring emergency treatment at PMH would allow patients to be treated more efciently and quickly.
Ms Rolle said the acquisition refects the government’s commitment to improving healthcare infrastructure while ensuring facilities are capable of delivering safe, quality care.
The handover ceremony
He said the facility will eventually provide 46 private bed spaces, diagnostic and laboratory services, emergency dialysis, rehabilitation and pharmacy services. It will also provide training opportunities for nurses, doctors and allied healthcare professionals.
was held yesterday, with Ms Rolle ofcially transferring the facility to PHA.
Dr Darville said the purchase forms part of the government’s broader healthcare redevelopment strategy, which includes constructing new hospitals and clinics and upgrading existing facilities.
He said Harborside will support eforts to address longstanding challenges at PMH and demonstrate how partnerships between the government and private sector can increase healthcare capacity.
Doctors Hospital chief executive ofcer Dr Charles Diggis said the transfer continued a long-standing
partnership between the private hospital and the government.
Dr Diggis said Doctors Hospital’s involvement with the property began through discussions more than a decade ago. The company purchased the facility in 2017 with the intention of expanding
healthcare capacity. He said transferring the site to PHA refects Doctors Hospital’s commitment to working with the government to improve access to healthcare throughout The Bahamas.
Dr Diggis said the company remains committed to
future healthcare projects and innovation, arguing that cooperation between the public and private sectors is necessary to improve services for Bahamians.
The facility is expected to become fully operational after the renovations and upgrades are completed.
DOCTOR’S Hospital President Dr Charles Diggis hands keys to PMH managing director Aubynette Rolle as PHA acquires Doctor’s Hospital’s Harborside facility for $29m.
Photos: Nikia Charlton
The Tribune Limited
NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI
“Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”
LEON E. H. DUPUCH,
Publisher/Editor 1903-1914
SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH, Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .
Publisher/Editor 1919-1972
Contributing Editor 1972-1991
RT HON EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B.
Publisher/Editor 1972-
Published daily Monday to Friday Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207
News & General Information
TELEPHONES
(242) 502-2350
Advertising Manager (242) 502-2394
Circulation Department (242) 502-2386
Nassau fax (242) 328-2398
Freeport, Grand Bahama (242)-352-6608
Freeport fax (242) 352-9348
WEBSITE, TWITTER & FACEBOOK
www.tribune242.com
@tribune242
Tragedy shows mental health resources needed
A YEAR ago, The Tribune reported that one in fve teenagers in The Bahamas had attempted suicide.
The fgures came from a nationwide survey that showed that one in four teens had considered suicide, while the survey also highlighted that suicidal thoughts had tripled, self-harm had nearly tripled, and loneliness had more than doubled.
A year on from that sobering revelation, The Tribune reports on another apparent suicide.
Antonio Cartwright was found hanging from a tree near Hacio Point Close. Four days earlier, his mother had seen him for the last time when she drove him to work.
Antonio was 27, and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His loss shows the challenges of dealing with mental health issues – and is a tragedy for his family.
His mother, Ingrid, called him a “fun person” and “hardworking”, and had kept chasing his ambitions despite his schizophrenia diagnosis.
As his family tries to understand Antonio’s last days and what led to this point, we too as a nation should be examining what it is that has led so many in our country to contemplate suicide – and what we should be doing about it.
When the survey fgures were revealed last year, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville called them “very sobering”, saying “in a typical classroom of 35 students, approximately nine students have seriously considered suicide, eight students have created a plan and seven students have made a suicide attempt”.
Perhaps one of the issues some of those students are facing is that they are in overcrowded classrooms if 35 is typical, with teachers who barely have time to get through the syllabus let alone form any kind of connection where they might be able to spot a problem.
But more importantly, the question should be asked – having recognised the problem, what have we done about it?
It is not enough to tut and sigh and say this is terrible then move along.
In response to the fgures last year, the Bahamas Crisis Centre said they were not surprising, with therapist and counsellor Sandra Payne saying: “Were just seeing the consequences of our own behaviour.”
Ultimately, last year saw the highest number of suicides in at least six years, with a surge of 63 percent on the previous year. Put simply, in the same year that the problem was diagnosed, the
number of cases soared – so no action in the latter half of the year had an efect on statistics.
In May, it was Mental Health Awareness Month – during which far more efort was expended on the election than on focusing resources on mental health issues. We do not recall any signifcant push to raise awareness, or provide resources to deal with the issue.
Last year, the Bahamas Psychological Association (BPA) said it had seen increased demand for mental health support. A representative said there was no one answer to why someone would commit suicide. “People have various life challenges and struggles that they feel they cannot overcome, and unfortunately, suicide is a temporary solution that cannot be undone,” said a representative.
They went on to urge people to seek help, saying “you are not alone. You matter and we care”.
Sadly, for too many, they do feel alone, and that they do not matter.
How do we change that? Well, resources are needed. We cannot pretend to be concerned if we are not putting our money where our mouth is and providing the resources to back it up.
That is investing in counsellors, it is investing in awareness campaigns, it is taking the message to the schools, so that young people especially know where to turn and what support will be there for them when they need it.
It is about tackling poverty. It is about tackling bullying. It is about tackling the host of issues that leave people feeling they have no place in society, and no way to catch up.
That is no small task – but in doing so, it helps to lift us all. So it is a test of political will – not just a moment again as we experience another tragedy to sigh and then move on.
There has frequently been talk about the need to tackle mental health issues in our country. What we need is to see the steps that will be taken to turn that talk into action.
Right now, we are falling far short.
For those who do need help, the BPA ofers a number of toll-free helpline numbers to provide support: 812-0576, 816-3799, and 815-5850. The association also has dedicated helplines for men: 821-8123; creole speakers: 454-2993; and children and adolescents: 819-7652. We need more resources – but do not let that stop you from reaching out if you need it. There are people who do care. If you need help, ask.
Make it make sense
EDITOR, The Tribune.
SO let me get this straight, I go to the grocery store and buy a pound of sliced ham in a plastic bag, a loaf of bread in a plastic bag, a gallon of milk in a plastic jug, a pack of napkins in a plastic wrap, a store made salad in a plastic tub, a plastic bottle of mustard and ketchup, but they won’t give me a plastic bag to carry these items home because the plastic
Restore respect and decorum to Parliament
EDITOR, The Tribune.
I WILL instruct you and teach you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eyes upon you. For the Lord your God will hold your right hand, saying to you, “Fear not, I will help you.” ~ Psalm 32:8
The Parliament of The Bahamas is a profound symbol of our nation’s democratic aspirations and has long served as the crucible where our collective destiny has been and is forged.
My memories are vivid of the profound responsibility I felt, and the immense pride I shared, when I was privileged to escort young minds (my former students) through the venerable halls of the Parliament of the Bahamas.
Those times were occasions of enlightenment, designed to introduce and illuminate the intricate ballet of governance to my students to the place where critical national afairs were meticulously debated and decided.
Whether guiding students from the bustling streets of Nassau or the serene shores of Freeport, the objective remained constant: to ofer a tangible connection to the institutions that shaped our society, and to witness frsthand the solemn decorum expected of those entrusted with the Bahamian people’s mandate.
Those formative experiences were deeply enriching, not merely for the students but for me as well. They ofered a window into a chapter of our political history characterised by
an exemplary standard of civility and mutual respect.
The Parliamentarians of that era carried themselves with an unmistakable air of professionalism; their attire and presentation meticulously aligned with the gravity of their roles.
Punctuality was a given, and debates unfolded with a scholarly precision, often imbued with a language of intellectual rigor.
An undeniable atmosphere of deference permeated the chamber, fostering reciprocal respect between the Speaker and the Members.
Even during the ceremonial openings, adapted as they were for our tropical climate, a dignifed dress code prevailed, eschewing ostentation in favor of an understated elegance that underscored their commitment to public service.
Yet, time, with its inexorable march, has ushered in a visible transformation within these very chambers. The sartorial standards and codes of conduct have markedly evolved, refecting a broader societal embrace of diverse expressions and shifting cultural norms.
While such evolution can often be championed as progress towards greater inclusivity, it also raises pertinent questions about the preservation of institutional gravitas.
The contemporary parliamentary landscape frequently presents a more relaxed approach to attire and presentation, which some observers perceive as potentially diminishing the solemnity traditionally associated with a legislative body. Historically, the Parliament of The Bahamas stood as a preeminent beacon of refned manners, tolerance, respect, and overall decorum throughout the Commonwealth.
As we navigate the complex interplay between cherished traditions and modern imperatives, a crucial challenge emerges: to discern and defne what constitutes a high standard of conduct in this foundational institution for the contemporary era.
The delicate equilibrium between formal protocol and cultural expression appears to have shifted, sometimes resulting in a dynamic where the vibrancy of debate, while essential, occasionally overshadows the structured courtesy that once defned our legislative discourse.
The imperative now lies in thoughtfully steering these changes, ensuring that the intrinsic dignity and exemplary role of the Bahamian Parliament remain steadfast, serving as an unwavering source of inspiration and stability for the nation.
DR DONALD M MCCARTNEY
Freeport, Grand Bahama July 28, 2026.
Response to... reluctant to celebrate Jonquel
EDITOR, The Tribune.
I READ Kevin Evans’ recent letter regarding Grand Bahama’s own Jonquel Jones with disappointment and, frankly, disbelief.
As a Grand Bahamian, I can confdently say that the overwhelming majority of us are immensely proud of Jonquel. She has put our island and our country on the world stage through extraordinary talent, relentless hard work and unwavering dedication to her sport. That is something worth celebrating.
Jonquel came up through two community sports programmes, Hoytes with Moon McPhee and Grand Girls’ Bahama Girls soccer programme, which I played in, my daughter played in, and my company sponsors to this day. I am especially proud that Jonquel came through these local programmes before going on to become one of the greatest basketball players in the world. She is proof of what can happen when young people are given opportunities, encouragement and role models to aspire to. I have also had the privilege of meeting Jonquel. Like many Bahamians, I was completely star-struck. Yet she was kind, humble, funny and gracious with everyone she met. Success
bag is bad for the environment? Does this make any sense?
DR DEREK PINDER Nassau, July 28, 2026.
has not changed the quality of her character. Perhaps what means the most to me is that I am the mother of a daughter who has followed Jonquel’s career for years. My daughter proudly tells people, “Jonquel is from my island.”
She doesn’t admire Jonquel because of who she loves. She admires her because she has shown what determination, resilience and excellence can achieve.
Mr Evans suggests that celebrating Jonquel somehow endorses her personal life or will negatively infuence young people. I believe that view is completely out of touch with today’s reality. Young Bahamians are far more accepting than previous generations. They are not “turning gay” because they admire a successful athlete. They understand that people deserve dignity and respect, even when they make diferent choices or live diferent lives.
As a Christian myself, I also believe something else Mr Evans seems to have overlooked. The God I worship is compassionate, loving and merciful. Scripture repeatedly reminds us not to judge others, because judgment belongs to God alone. None of us have been appointed to decide another person’s eternal destiny.
We are all imperfect. We all fall short. Yet somehow Mr Evans believes he can separate one person’s accomplishments from their worth based on his interpretation of Scripture. That is not my place, nor is it his. His letter was, in my opinion, unnecessarily divisive, judgmental and ofensive. Rather than celebrating one of the greatest sporting ambassadors The Bahamas has ever produced, he chose to diminish her achievements because of her private life.
Jonquel Jones owes no apology for her excellence. She has represented The Bahamas with pride, integrity and distinction throughout her career. She has inspired countless young athletes—girls and boys alike—to believe that someone from a small island can compete with the very best in the world. So let me assure Jonquel of something Mr Evans clearly does not understand. Here in Grand Bahama, we are incredibly proud of you. We celebrate your achievements; we thank you for representing our island with such distinction, and we wish you continued success both on and of the court.
SARAH KIRKBY Freeport, Grand Bahama July 29, 2026.
Good job by Finlayson
EDITOR, The Tribune. I AM writing to express my admiration for the outstanding work of Spence Finlayson, the global motivational speaker and host of “Immediate Response “ on the ZNS Network. In a world that often feels overwhelming, Spence Finlayson brings a refreshing perspective that inspires and empowers audiences to take action in their lives. Each episode of “Immediate Response” is a testament to Finlayson’s ability to connect with people from all walks of life. The show tackles pressing issues with compassion and insight,
ofering practical advice that resonates deeply with viewers. Whether discussing personal development, resilience, or leadership, Spence has a unique talent for making complex topics accessible and engaging. Moreover, the show’s interactive format encourages audience participation, fostering a sense of community and support among viewers. This approach not only amplifes the impact of the messages shared but also empowers individuals to share their stories and experiences. In a time when motivation and positivity are more crucial than ever,
The Bishop of Motivation stands out as a beacon of hope and inspiration. I wholeheartedly commend his eforts and encourage others to tune in to “Immediate Response” for a dose of motivation and practical wisdom. Over the past fve years, Spence has proven that he is an out-of-the-box thinker. He took the show to New York City, Atlanta, Houston, London and Los Angeles where he broadcasted live interviewing outstanding and celebrated Bahamians.
ROSEMARY HANNA Nassau, July 28, 2026.
Father accused of sex assault of his eight-year-old daughter
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A 42-YEAR-OLD
father accused of sexually assaulting his eight-yearold daughter earlier this month was remanded to prison yesterday. Prosecutors allege the defendant, whose name is being withheld to protect
the identity of the child, had unlawful sexual intercourse with his daughter sometime between July 6 and 17 in New Providence. The defendant was not required to enter a plea to a charge of incest when he appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Ancella Evans. He was informed that the matter would proceed to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indictment and that he has the right to apply to the higher court for bail. The voluntary bill of indictment is scheduled to be served on October 29. Inspector Deon Barr prosecuted the case. Donna Major and Alphonso Lewis represented the accused.
Two men killed in separate Family Island traffic crashes
TWO men were found dead after separate traffc incidents in the Family Islands, with one motorist crashing into the sea in San Salvador and another motorcyclist found dead in bushes in Cat Island.
The latest incident happened shortly before 7pm Tuesday at Hall’s Landing, San Salvador when a 57-year-old man died after reportedly losing control of his vehicle along Queen's Highway.
Although police did not release the victim's identity, sources identifed him as Carlos Williams.
Preliminary investigations indicate Williams was travelling south when his white Nissan Note veered onto the eastern shoulder before crossing back to the
western side of the road, leaving the roadway and plunging into the sea.
Passing motorists reportedly witnessed the crash and attempted to pull him from the vehicle.
Police said CPR was administered, but despite their eforts, he remained unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the island's clinic.
A post-mortem examination will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death. Police said ofcers from the New Providence Trafc Division will travel to San Salvador to assist with the investigation. Meanwhile, police are investigating a separate fatal trafc accident in Cat Island that claimed the life of a 51-year-old man.
The man’s brother alerted police after 9am yesterday after discovering his brother’s partially decomposed body in bushes on the eastern side of Knowles Street.
Responding ofcers found the victim in a soiled shirt with a severed left arm and injuries to his right side of his face and body.
A heavily damaged red and black Honda motorcycle and debris were scattered nearby.
Preliminary investigations indicate the victim attended a function on Monday and left around 4pm riding his motorcycle north. He was not seen again until his body was discovered.
Police said investigations into both incidents are continuing.
BIKERS ASSOCIATION SEEKS OFFICIAL GOVT RECOGNITION AND FACILITIES
By KEILE CAMPBELL Tribune Staff Reporter
kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas Bikers Association is seeking government recognition as the country’s ofcial motorcycle body and access to organised riding facilities as it pushes for safer roads and challenges perceptions of riders as a threat to public order.
The association, which represents seven afliated motorcycle clubs throughout The Bahamas, has applied for registration with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture as part of its efort to establish a structured national organisation for riders.
It is also seeking access to facilities where motorcyclists can participate in organised activities, arguing that controlled environments would support safer riding, rider education and greater public awareness.
The association has spent the past year promoting blood donation drives, youth programmes, church services, educational talks and motorcycle awareness activities in an efort to show that motorcycle culture can be rooted in service, responsibility and community involvement.
Its promotional material shared with The
Tribune included events advertised as gun-free and violence-free, along with road safety campaigns and public discussions held during Motorcycle Awareness Month.
The organisation said its mission extends beyond coordinating motorcycle rides and includes encouraging responsible behaviour, creating positive opportunities for riders and strengthening relationships between motorcyclists and the wider public.
Among its afliated organisations is OneTune Riders, whose president, Ray Laramore, said motorcycle clubs could provide leadership, mentorship and a sense of belonging.
“For me, being a leader goes far beyond organizing rides,” he said. “It means setting an example, mentoring others, encouraging safe and responsible riding, and creating opportunities for people to be part of something positive. I believe every rider deserves a place where they feel welcomed, respected, and supported like family.”
Mr Laramore founded OneTune Riders to bring people together through their shared interest in motorcycles while promoting unity, respect, leadership and community service.
He said the group’s
activities are intended to encourage fellowship, road safety, youth engagement and positive social interaction.
“My goal is to help change the perception of bike culture by showing that riders can be leaders, mentors, volunteers, and active contributors to society,” Mr Laramore said.
The association’s campaign comes as it seeks to position motorcyclists as organised stakeholders capable of contributing to discussions about road use, public safety and youth development. Its activities have included partnerships with community organisations and initiatives intended to place riders in visible service roles rather than limiting the organisation’s work to recreational events.
“I believe true leadership is measured by service,” Mr Laramore said. “Whether supporting community initiatives, partnering with local organizations, or simply helping someone in need, I strive to lead with integrity, humility, and compassion.”
He said he remains committed to expanding OneTune Riders’ community partnerships and ensuring its members represent the values of respect, responsibility and brotherhood wherever they ride.
GRANDSON ACCUSED OF SETTING ELDERLY GRANDMOTHER ON FIRE
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A POLICE ofcer testifed yesterday that a 74-year-old woman accused her grandson of dousing her and another relative with gasoline and setting them on fre in 2023.
Detective Constable 4368 Freddie Moultrie gave evidence in the attempted murder trial of Ricardo Richardson before Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns.
Richardson is accused of setting fre to his grandmother, Magnola Moxey, and his uncle, Emile Humes,
following an argument on November 27, 2023.
DC Moultrie said he received a report around 10.30pm that night about an incident that resulted in an elderly woman being admitted to hospital. The ofcer said he went to Princess Margaret Hospital as part of his investigation and spoke with Ms Moxey. According to DC Moultrie, Ms Moxey told him that her grandson had thrown gasoline on a relative and set both of them on fre. He said he returned to the hospital’s burn unit on
November 30, 2023, and obtained a second statement from Ms Moxey. The trial was abruptly adjourned during DC Moultrie’s testimony because of an unresolved legal issue. The prosecution apologised to the jury for the delay and said the matter could not continue until the issue was resolved.
DC Moultrie is expected to continue his testimony today.
Walton Bain represented Richardson. Cephia Pinder-Moss and Khaula Reid appeared for the prosecution.
Man charged over bumper theft
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN accused of being caught at 3.30am trying to remove a car bumper outside Super Value on Robinson Road while carrying several tools was granted reduced bail yesterday.
Deangelo Bethel, 37, was initially granted $4,000 bail, but Senior Magistrate Algernon Allen Jr reduced
the amount to $3,000 after Bethel said he would have difculty securing it.
Prosecutors allege police found Bethel attempting to remove the front bumper from a 2015 Nissan Note belonging to Tarino Antone in the store’s parking lot on July 24. He is also accused of damaging the vehicle and possessing a blue screwdriver, yellow pliers, a silver ratchet and a silver wheel wrench.
Bethel pleaded not guilty to possession of housebreaking implements by night, attempted stealing and damage.
Sergeant 3004 Forbes did not object to bail after her records showed Bethel had no previous convictions, but asked the court to impose conditions.
Bethel must sign in at the Grove Police Station every Wednesday by 6pm. His trial is scheduled to begin on October 22.
Man accused of tossing pistol
By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN accused of feeing from police and discarding a loaded frearm on Eleuthera Avenue last week was granted bail yesterday. Prosecutors allege Davonte Rigby, 28, ran from ofcers after opening the door of his Yamacraw
residence to allow them to conduct a search around 7.30am on July 24. While being pursued, Rigby allegedly discarded a green and black Glock P80 9mm pistol loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition. He was later arrested, and the frearm was recovered. Rigby pleaded not guilty to possession of an unlicensed frearm and possession of ammunition before Senior Magistrate Algernon Allen Jr. Sergeant 3004 Forbes, the prosecutor, did not object to bail but asked that conditions be imposed. Rigby must sign in at the Fox Hill Police Station every day by 6pm and obey a 9pm to 9am curfew. His trial is scheduled for October 30.
Simon • Front Porch
The right time for the right person
the rst female Min of Tourism has historic opportunity
GLENYS Hanna Martin
comes to her new portfolio with many of the attributes and skills needed to serve as Minister of Tourism, though she will have a learning curve to better understand the complexities and nuances of the sector, which is one of the largest global industries.
A scion of Arthur and Beryl Hanna, she is nationalist and a progressive who genuinely seeks to empower Bahamians. She is not in politics to enrich herself.
Having served in cabinet and government for decades, the Member of Parliament for Englerston knows politics and how government’s function and often fail. Highly intelligent, she is a quick read and study, with a curious mind.
Hanna Martin turns 69 this year. Age brings a certain freedom, combining life experience with the urgency and limits of time and, hopefully, the corresponding ambition and willpower needed to help transform tourism in The Bahamas. Her decisions will reveal whether she wants to be a transformer or a plodder.
There is another freedom Hanna Martin should utilize: the Department of Tourism is not hobbled by the strictures of the civil service, though there are some similar mindsets and overly bureaucratic walls that will have to be bulldozed. She should use this freedom, making essential personnel, operational, and fnancial changes in the department if she wants her agenda to move forward.
The frst female tourism minister is a welcome relief from the unserious, constantly profling former minister, Chester Cooper, who failed in many areas of the tourism brief. His giddy trumpeting of cruise passengers was a distraction from the low single-digit increase in stopover visitors domestically, while other Caribbean jurisdictions were realizing double-digit increases. He also mostly failed in improving our product and services in various areas.
The most consequential and welcome change in portfolios after the recent general election has been the swap between Ministers Cooper and Hanna Martin.
Her thoughts on the seismic task is a good start, but will require big and bold decisions:
“The future of tourism development must be measured not only by the number of visitors we welcome, but by the number of Bahamians empowered to own, create, lead and prosper within the industry. The vision is to shift from measuring tourism success primarily by arrivals to measuring it by local economic participation, Bahamian ownership and wealth creation...
“Many destinations have learned that increasing arrivals does not on its own increase prosperity. The Bahamas already attracts high-spending visitors, so the work before us is to maximise local capture of that spending. The question we must keep asking is how much value each visitor generates and how much of every tourism dollar stays in the local economy.”
Of course, the number and quality of stopover visitors matters.
Hanna Martin has publicly indicated the need to focus far more on these visitors, who deliver 90 percent of the spending by all visitor,s and 90 percent of the tourism jobs. It’s ludicrous to equate
the contribution of a cruise passenger who spends seven hours on land in Nassau or Freeport with the visitor who spends seven days at the Four Seasons Ocean Club.
The former minister’s endless boasting of the increase in cruise passengers allowed him to obscure the reality that in the more economically valuable stopover visitor segment, The Bahamas was one of the worst performing countries in our region when comparing 2019 stopovers to 2025.
Hanna Martin should continue to gather those in the public and private sectors who can provide her with best advice about how to improve year-round hotel occupancies to deliver increases in year-round full-time employment and improved incomes for scores of Bahamians.
According to one tourism expert, over the past 20 years, excluding the COVID-affected years, on average, there were more that 35 percent of our hotel rooms vacant every night, with much of that vacancy in the Family Islands. Meanwhile, the cruise ships, each with approximately 2000-plus cabins, are averaging more than 90
Study suggests the health threat of mouldassociated illnesses may be greater than expected
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A frst-of-its-kind U.S. study suggests invasive mold infections may be an underappreciated — and potentially deadly — threat.
The researchers detected about 450 cases in Atlanta-area hospitals over fve years. About a third of the patients died in the hospital.
The fndings, published this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come from an attempt to better gauge how common these kinds of illnesses are. The government does not require doctors to report the illnesses.
“It's kind of the frst time we've had an estimate like this," said the CDC's Dr.
Jeremy Gold, the study's senior author.
And it's important to understand it now, because the problem may grow in the future, he added. Mold exposure is a recurring problem in the wake of hurricanes, foods and other natural disasters infuenced by climate change, researchers have found.
“I agree that the frequency of fungal infections will likely increase with climate change,” said Dr. Jeffrey Jenks, an infectious disease researcher at Duke University.
Meanwhile, there’s a growing population of older people who are more susceptible to such illnesses, Gold said.
Invasive mold diseases are rare infections caused by certain species. Most people who get infected inhale mold spores, but they can also enter the body through cuts or wounds or from contaminated medical equipment.
The spores don't cause health problems for most people, but they can be life-threatening to some, including the elderly, cancer patients and others with weakened immune systems.
Previously, CDC researchers estimated more than 15,000 hospitalizations a year could be tied to invasive mold disease.
To better understand how common cases might be at a local
percent occupancy. Higher occupancies and higher room rates also happen to be the best lure for prospective local and foreign investors.
In the September 2025, report of the Bahamas National Statistical Institute, the minister will fnd hidden among the number
A
scion of
levels, which will be one of her biggest tasks. Last month, Melissa DaSilva, Deputy CEO and Chief Sales Offcer, of TTC Tour Brands wrote, “Marketing can accelerate demand, but the product is what creates it.” She insisted: “At the end
Arthur
and
the biggest mistakes companies make is assuming growth starts with marketing. It doesn’t.”
In 2002, when he was Director General of Tourism, Vincent Vanderpool Wallace offered the same analysis in an interview with Fast Company.
The article began with a teaser: “How do you help an island paradise deliver on its promise to visitors? Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace understood that the Bahamas was much better at attracting tourists than at pleasing them once they arrived: ‘It’s the experience, stupid.’ When asked, “What needed an overhaul? he replied: “The approach to tourism development in our country and the thinking of the ‘experts’ in the tourism industry all appeared to be enamored of fancy advertising campaigns, which were easy to change, instead of focusing on the delivery of quality products and quality experiences.
“We were also convinced that the world-famous slogan
‘It’s Better in The Bahamas’ detracted from the need to make the necessary changes in ourselves, so we dropped it because our citizens believed
Beryl
Hanna, she is nationalist and progressive who genuinely seeks to empower Bahamians. She is not in politics to enrich herself.
of employed that 30 percent indicated that they are working only part time. If a hotel worker is not employed for a full week, they cannot bring home a full week’s pay, which exacerbates their cost-of-living struggle.
As Hanna Martin seeks to boost stopover numbers and with a booming number of cruise passengers, she knows that we have to focus on our tourism product on multiple
of the day, travel advisors don’t sell marketing. They sell a product. And when a product is truly differentiated, everything else gets easier. Word of mouth grows. Repeat business grows. Loyalty grows.
“Advisors sell with more confdence because they’re offering something people genuinely want and an experience they will remember. That’s why I believe one of
it more than our visitors. If we were to change, we had to believe that The Bahamas had to be better still.”
If we want such change today, we have to honestly ask how we can be better still. This is the challenge and opportunity facing Hanna Martin and The Bahamas in transforming tourism and boosting economic growth? More, next week.
level, the research team worked with four Atlanta-area hospitals and their affliated outpatient clinics to look for potential cases from 2020 to 2024.
They initially identifed nearly 1,000 potential cases, but winnowed the number down to about 450 by ruling out patients who may have had signs of exposure but didn't qualify as having invasive mold disease.
The researchers found that hospitals can expect to see 3 to 5 cases per year for every 100 inpatient beds. The rates were higher at larger academic hospitals that tend to see more complicated illnesses.
Most patients had impaired immune systems or — in a number of cases — were weakened after falling sick from COVID-19. Mold exposures can occur in hospitals or other healthcare facilities, but the study did not try to determine where each patient was frst exposed, Gold said. It's hard to generalize what was seen in the Atlanta area to other parts of the country where mold may be more or less of a problem, he said. But it should give hospital administrators at least a rough idea about whether the number of cases they see is what might be expected or whether it's an outbreak, Gold added.
PHOTO: Tribune file
MOLD grows on the walls of a home in the Gentilly area of New Orleans Tuesday, June 12, 2007, damaged by the floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
Charlie Harper • Stateside
A funny thing happened on the way to the White House . . .
SOMETHING truly astonishing happened on Tuesday in Washington. And, while it certainly wasn’t hidden, it got only passing notice.
Maybe, in a kind of coincidental, serendipitous way, what happened can somehow help lead the US and the West out of the quagmire we’re all stuck in at the moment.
The leaders of two nations existentially at war for several years – but not with each other -- met with US president Donald Trump Tuesday at the White House within hours of each other, yet no pundits were blathering about it. Even Trump’s White House, not exactly reticent about publicizing the diplomatic efforts of its famous primary occupant, had little to say.
The occasion was the funeral services for South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham, one of the more famboyant characters in Washington during his eight years as a congressman and another 23 as a US sena tor. Graham’s most notable action was his change of heart on Donald Trump.
As a pitiful, ineffective rival candidate in the 2016 GOP primaries, Graham had said this of Trump: "He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot ... He doesn't represent my [Republican] party ... I don't think he has a clue about anything ... He is empowering radical Islam ... You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell." He added, "I'd rather lose without Donald Trump than try to win with him."
celebrated about-faces in becoming one of the president’s closest allies and advisers. Trump and Graham played a lot of golf together, and the president seemed to listen to his friend – at least
of both Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These were the two foreign leaders who had private audiences with Trump on the same morning
Trump has largely been seen to be on the wrong side of his relationships with both foreign leaders for years. And furthermore, that their respective wars are now
the world’s most resilient democracies in the US. When Zelensky failed to play ball with a cynical Trump scheme to gather evidence in Ukraine with which to smear former president
In May 2016 Graham tweeted, "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed...and we will deserve it."
Trump won anyway.
Graham’s condemnation was certainly defnitive. However, early in Trump’s frst term, Graham did one of Washington’s most
some of the time. There has been much speculation that Trump won Graham to his side by listening to him, at least on foreign and military affairs. That’s quite a distinctive concession from a president who is not generally known to sincerely seek counsel or follow it from almost anyone. Graham was also infuential in the recent careers
respective desperation as targets of long-term debilitating economic sanctions by the great industrial powers of North America and Western Europe, Russia and Iran have been driven into each other’s arms. And thus, their antagonists in Europe and America might be pushed similarly into each other’s tactical embrace.
That would go some ways to undo one of the most misguided of Trump’s foreign policy objectives, namely his persistent initiatives that promote the weakening of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
What a wonderful development that would be.
on Tuesday. Zelensky has rightly praised Graham as one of his most consistent allies, especially with Graham’s staunch support of Ukraine’s struggle to survive a fouryear Russian onslaught. And Netanyahu’s relationship with the South Carolina senator was similarly warm and supportive. What’s so interesting about all of this is that
viewed for almost the frst time as somehow linked. It never gets dull with Donald Trump in the White House.
Trump’s fascination with Vladimir Putin is not news. He has seemed for the past decade to envy Putin’s autocratic hold over Russian politics and society, and apparently sought to emulate it in what is still one of
Joe Biden, Trump tried to blackmail Zelensky by withholding military assistance, and clearly carried on his resentment of the Ukrainian after that effort largely failed.
At the beginning of the current Trump term, the president and vice-president JD Vance notoriously berated Zelensky before reporters, angrily castigating him for not appearing to be suffciently grateful for the grudging military assistance Trump did allow for Ukraine. Trump must also envy the widespread admiration accorded to Zelensky by most of the rest of the world’s political leadership.
As for Netanyahu, most observers still believe that the wily Israeli leader led Trump into the current war with Iran, from which no one in public life has yet prescribed an exit strategy that does not result in personal humiliation for Trump and another costly overseas failure for the US.
Furthermore, Trump’s silent acquiescence while Israel under Netanyahu attempted to neutralize or destroy the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas by essentially annihilating Gaza brought no credit to the US.
So, Trump’s embrace of Netanyahu discredited the US in Gaza and embroiled it in a no-win war against Iran, while his disdain for Zelensky may have prolonged Russia’s increasingly feeble attempts to forcibly annex Ukraine by emboldening Putin and denying or delaying needed US military assets that could help Ukraine survive.
No one yet knows what Trump discussed with these two leaders earlier this week.
Since there was a high-profle memorial service to attend later on, it’s likely that not too much business got done.
But the signifcance of these coincidental visits is hard to ignore.
That’s because these two hot wars, one in the heart of the Middle East and the other in the heart of Eastern Europe, with nothing more important at stake than the world’s primary energy source and one of its major food supplies, seem to be oddly converging.
In many quarters, there’s a growing belief that in their
Meantime, how should we assess Iranian-Russian relations? Superfcially, Russia and Iran share a close, pragmatic partnership driven by mutual anti-Western alignment, military cooperation and economic ties, formalized by a recent 20-year strategic treaty. This follows the thinking in the ancient proverb that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
But the historical reality is much different. Over the 500-year history of ‘modern’ Russo-Iranian relations, these two nations have fought each other several times, supported feuding proxies in the CaucasusMountains region that largely separates them, and Russia even joined with Britain in 1907 in dividing weakened Iran into ‘spheres of infuence’ that beneftted both London and Moscow economically. The Soviet Union included fve Central Asian republics of strategic and territorial interest to Iran.
There is little prospect that Tehran and Moscow will develop the kind of mutually supportive and benefcial relationship enjoyed by the US and Western Europe. There is neither a cultural nor religious relationship that could serve as its foundation.
Basically, Iran and Russia are both international pariahs to some degree. Still, they have been pushed into each other’s arms by their own aggression and that of the US. Here are some excerpts from a recent discussion at the prestigious US Council on Foreign Relations that illuminate this subject:
“Frenemies is probably the best term to describe Russia and Iran at this point. Russia and Iran have had a complicated relationship for centuries. They’ve been rivals in the Caucasus and in the Caspian Sea region.
“That continued up until very, very recently. These two nations drew closer after 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea and incited a major break with the West. Both countries then became perhaps among the most heavily sanctioned by the United States anywhere in the world. They realized that they had a common interest in, in a sense, cutting the United States down, fnding a way to circumvent US sanctions.
“All that said, the relationship still has its friction points. It’s important to remember that when Russia signed a strategic, a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran in January of last year, they did not include a defense clause the way they did when they signed a similar agreement with North Korea.
“So, this is not a NATOstyle arrangement between Tehran and Moscow, wherein any attack on one of the signatories obliges the other to come to its partner’s defense.
“Again, historically grounded, they are rivals somewhat in the same neighborhood. They also compete for sales of oil and gas to China. So, it’s not complete harmony by any stretch of the imagination.”
Photo: Avi Ohayon /wikimedia.
AP
Photo/Alex Brandon, File
Artifcial Intelligence: The next frontier for The Bahamas
By IANTHÉ TYNES
FOR most Bahamians, the term “artifcial intelligence” immediately conjures images of ChatGPT, robots or computers replacing jobs,however, before artifcial intelligence became a part of everyday conversation, it was already changing the way governments, and institutions operated worldwide. Around the world, governments are having a very diferent conversation as they are now asking how AI can reshape their economies, and strengthen public services over the next decade.
Countries around the world are investing heavily in AI, not simply because it is the latest technological innovation, but because they recognise its potential to improve productivity, strengthen public services and drive long-term economic growth.
For The Bahamas, artifcial intelligence should not be viewed as a distant concept or a passing trend, as it presents a genuine opportunity to modernise government, diversify our economy and better prepare our workforce for the future.
As a small island developing state, The Bahamas has always had to fnd innovative ways to compete on the global stage. We have built internationally recognized tourism and fnancial services industries by adapting to changing markets, responding to evolving expectations, and implementing robust legislation that enables us to compete efectively with other jurisdictions. Artifcial intelligence presents another opportunity to strengthen our competitiveness while creating new avenues for economic development.
Much of the public discussion around AI has centred on concerns about automation replacing jobs and while those conversations are important, they represent only a small part of a much broader picture.
One area where AI could have an immediate impact is public administration. Government agencies process thousands of applications, licences and ofcial documents every year. Artifcial intelligence has the potential to automate routine administrative processes, digitise historical records and improve the speed and accuracy of service delivery. For example, the Registrar General's Department could potentially process the registration of birth certifcates, the registration of marriage certifcates or the registration of commission merchants more quickly while using AI to reduce administrative backlogs. Faster, more reliable public services beneft both citizens and businesses and contribute to a stronger investment climate.
The fnancial services industry also stands to beneft signifcantly. As one of the pillars of the Bahamian economy, maintaining its integrity and international reputation is essential. AI is already being used around the world to strengthen anti-money laundering monitoring, identifcation and verifcation of customers, improve
regulatory compliance and identify suspicious transactions in real time. Rather than replacing fnancial services professionals, these technologies provide better information, allowing them to make more informed decisions and respond more efectively to emerging risks.
Healthcare is another area where artifcial intelligence ofers enormous promise. AI-assisted diagnostics, predictive disease monitoring and telemedicine have the potential to improve patient care while expanding access to healthcare services, particularly for residents of the Family Islands. Technology cannot replace the expertise and compassion of healthcare professionals, but it can provide valuable tools that support better clinical decisions and improve the overall delivery of care.
Education will also play a critical role in determining how successfully The Bahamas adapts to an AI-driven economy. Our responsibility is not simply to teach young people how to use artifcial intelligence, but to help them understand it.
Students should graduate with strong digital literacy skills, an understanding of emerging technologies and the critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving abilities that will allow them to work alongside AI throughout their careers.
As there is understandable concern that artifcial intelligence will eliminate jobs, history, however, suggests that technological advancement changes the nature of work more often than it eliminates opportunity altogether. New industries emerge, existing professions evolve and demand grows for skills that did not previously exist. Those who understand how to use technology efectively will be better positioned to create businesses, solve problems and lead innovation.
Preparing for that future requires investment today. The government, the private sector and educational institutions all have a role to play in strengthening STEM education, expanding digital infrastructure and creating opportunities for lifelong learning. Developing an AI-ready workforce is not simply an education policy; it is an economic strategy. At the same time, our approach to artifcial intelligence must be guided by responsibility. As AI becomes more integrated into government and
business, we must ensure that its use is supported by strong governance, robust cybersecurity, ethical standards and appropriate safeguards for privacy and human rights. Innovation should improve people's lives while maintaining public trust and confdence in the institutions that use these technologies.
In the months ahead, I hope to use this column to explore how technology, innovation and emerging trends are reshaping the world around us, and what those changes mean for The Bahamas. Artifcial intelligence can not only help us build smarter public services, strengthen our economy, expand
educational opportunities and improve healthcare, it can support entrepreneurship, encourage innovation and create new opportunities for future generations.
But it is only one piece of a much broader conversation about innovation, digital transformation, economic competitiveness and
the future of work. As technology continues to evolve, so too must our approach to adopt innovation into our day-to-day lives.
The future of The Bahamas will not be determined by the continued advancement of artifcial intelligence, as that progress is inevitable. Rather, it will be shaped by how the nation responds. The Government has already demonstrated its commitment to this development through the establishment of the Ministry of Innovation and National Development, signaling its recognition that innovation and digital transformation are central to the country's long-term development. Building on this foundation through continued investment in human capital, responsible AI governance, and strategic policymaking will position The Bahamas to harness artifcial intelligence in ways that enhance national competitiveness and sustainable economic growth.
Ianthé Tynes
NexGen mentorship programme graduates nine young men
NINE young men graduated from the NexGen Young Men Mentorship Programme yesterday after complet ing four months of leadership training and practical instruction intended to prepare them for adulthood, employment and service to their communities.
The fourth cohort, whose members range from 14 to 19, completed two orientation sessions and 10 work shops between March and June covering leadership, communication, emotional intelligence, fnancial liter acy, etiquette, health and wellness, home maintenance and automotive care.
The graduates have ambitions spanning medicine, aviation, engineering, politics and other areas of public service.
Former senator Ronald Duncombe, the programme’s founder, said applicants were interviewed to determine whether they were genuinely committed to improving themselves and completing the programme.
Mr Duncombe said NexGen was not driven by any one political party and welcomed participants regardless of their political background.
He described the graduates as ambitious young men who spoke with certainty about careers including neuro surgery and aviation.
“They didn’t say this because they weren’t sure. They defnitively at this age saying, ‘That’s what I’m going to be,’” he said. “I am so proud to say to you that we have some future leaders and future men coming in our country.”
The ceremony was held at Word of Truth Ministries under the theme “Serve Locally, Lead Globally, Building Character, Capacity, and Commitment to Country”.
Cabinet ministers Fred Mitchell, Pia Glover-Rolle and Keith Bell attended, while Senator Clint Watson delivered remarks on behalf of Prime Minister Philip Davis.
Graduates received briefcases as a symbol of professional preparedness, with Mr Duncombe urging them to protect their reputations, build relationships and arrive ready for interviews, meetings and future opportunities.
He said NexGen alumni have gone on to careers in the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, communications, accounting, sports and aviation.
Mr Watson told the graduates that professional appearance alone would not secure success and stressed the importance of character, action and the ability to fulfl responsibilities.
Mr Mitchell focused his keynote address on violence among young Caribbean men, urging the graduates to reject confict and make decisions that would allow them to lead long, productive lives.
Speaking on behalf of the class, Fisk Burrows Jr said the programme had strengthened the graduates’ confdence, independence and understanding of leadership.
Photos: Shawn Hanna
Cable Bahamas appoints CFO and CIO to lead growth
CABLE Bahamas has appointed two senior executives to lead its fnancial and technology operations as the company pursues growth, digital transformation and improved operational performance.
The company announced in statements that Bejjel Haria has been appointed group chief fnancial ofcer, while Sheldon Mundle will serve as group chief information ofcer.
Mr Haria is a chartered accountant with more than 30 years of international experience in fnance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate transformation and growth initiatives across multinational telecommunications and technology organisations. He previously served as chief accounting ofcer at Digicel Group, where he led the company’s fnancial reporting function for 14 years across operations in the
Caribbean, Central America and the South Pacifc.
As chief fnancial ofcer, Mr Haria will oversee fnancial planning, reporting, corporate governance, operational efciency and capital management. He will also provide fnancial leadership in support of the company’s broader growth strategy.
Cable Bahamas chief executive ofcer Franklyn Butler II said Mr Haria’s experience would support the company’s
eforts to strengthen fnancial discipline, improve operational performance and create sustainable value for shareholders.
Mr Haria said he was joining Cable Bahamas at an important stage in its growth and transformation.
“Cable Bahamas has a strong legacy, a clear role in national connectivity and signifcant opportunities ahead,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Mundle
Bank Held Properties
brings more than 25 years of experience in enterprise transformation, digital modernisation and large-scale technology operations across the telecommunications, consulting and fnancial services sectors.
He has held senior positions at Ernst & Young, KPMG, Bank of America and telecommunications companies in the Caribbean. As chief information ofcer, Mr Mundle will lead Cable
Bahamas’ technology strategy, including cybersecurity, cloud modernisation, artifcial intelligence capabilities and the alignment of technology systems with the company’s wider business objectives. His appointment comes as the company invests in systems, platforms and digital capabilities intended to support growth across its group of companies, improve efciency and deliver better customer experiences.
ot 9 1/2, rants own ubdivision, N.P.
New Providence ot 701 Pinewood ardens ubdivision, N.P.
New Providence ots 16 17, loc 9, Nassau illage ubdivision,
New Providence ot 11, loc 1, arwic treet, hirlea ubdivision,N.P.
New Providence ot 1211, Pinewood ardens, N.P.
New Providence ot 37, trachan ubdivision, N.P.
New Providence ot of land situated North of ow Pen Road, N.P.
rand ahama ot 123, loc , ection 2, rand ahama ast, . .
Grand Bahama ot 1 loc 7 ootle ay, .
The Foreclosed Properties Sale mentioned above (together, the “Sale”) will be conducted jointly by the Vendors and will commence promptly at 11:30 a.m. on August 22nd, 2026 (the “Appointed Day”) at Warwick Hotel.
he Properties are being sold by the endors as is, where is , in the e ercise of their respective powers of sale speci ed in security instruments, held by the endors as security for credit facilities, and in accordance with the onveyancing and aw of Property Act, 1909 and/or the omeowners Protection Act, 2017 where applicable . Please note:
1. Only Persons who pre-register and are pre-qualifed will be eligible and invited to bid on the Properties at the Auction. Persons who wish to participate will have to: a f you are an R / inco client, provide authori ation to hold a $5,000.00 entry fee/provide a managers chec made payable to R / inco in the amount of $5,000.00 b complete the pre-registration and pre- uali cation process, can contact Antonio Roberts at antonio.roberts rbc.com or arren avis at darren.davis rbc.com, onday 27th uly, 2026 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to the
2. Persons who pre-register and are pre-qualifed may inspect the Auction atalogue which is available electronically upon re uest.
he Auctioneer reserves the right to accept or re ect any or all bids tendered. or more information, please see lin to property website http://www.rbcroyalban .com/caribbean/property-listing/ or direct in uires to the following e-mail contact: rbccbaha rbc.com and include the property reference number provided. ated the 30th uly, A. ., 2026.
Finance Corporation of Bahamas Limited (FINCO) RBC Royal Bank (Bahamas) Limited (RBC)
Bank Held Properties
‘She killed the kids!’ 911 call from Lindsay Clancy’s husband brings tears to the courtroom
PLYMOUTH Associated Press
LINDSAY Clancy sobbed in court Wednesday as jurors listened to the anguished 911 call her then-husband made after returning from an errand to fnd she’d strangled their three children in their Massachusetts home.
On the roughly 7-minute recording, Patrick Clancy can be heard speaking with his wife upon fnding her badly injured and bleeding in their yard, after she jumped from the home’s second-story window.
“Look at me,” he says. “Say my name.”
He then tells the dispatcher he’s going to check on the children. Moments later, he howls and cries after fnding them in the basement. The confused dispatcher repeatedly asks what happened.
“She killed the kids!” he yells.
Three years after their deaths, the murder trial has centered on Lindsay Clancy’s mental state at the time. Her
lawyers will seek to prove she had postpregnancy psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.
Prosecutors say Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, acted intentionally and is criminally responsible for the deaths of 3-year-old Dawson, 5-year-old Cora, and 8-month-old Callan in January 2023. Her lawyer said in opening arguments Monday that she had bipolar disorder, and that antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child worsened her condition.
On the day of the killings, Lindsay Clancy said she heard a voice telling her, “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself,” according to her lawyer. If convicted of murder, she faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his ex-wife, whom he viewed as ill rather than evil. The trial marks the frst time he has seen Lindsay Casey since the killings.
A husband’s emotional testimony and a chilling 911 call
Patrick Clancy testifed Wednesday that his last image of Dawson was of the boy sitting on the couch, eating chicken nuggets and green beans. Lindsay Clancy had asked her husband to make a quick trip for takeout food and medication at a pharmacy for Cora. Prosecutors say this was an excuse to get him out of the house.
Jurors were shown surveillance video from the pharmacy of Patrick Clancy on the phone with his wife, asking a question about the medicine.
“She was pretty quiet. It sounded like she was busy,” he testifed Wednesday. “I remember hanging up thinking she was probably in the
middle of giving baths or something like that.”
Returning home, it was unusually silent. He called out to his family. When no one answered, he searched the children’s rooms and the bathroom, again thinking they might be in the tub, before fnding blood throughout the main bedroom and a window open.
Injured but conscious,
Lindsay Clancy told him she’d tried to kill herself and that the kids were in the basement, without saying they were dead. He didn’t realize he was still on the phone with 911 as he ran downstairs to fnd each had been strangled with exercise bands.
Lindsay Clancy’s parents, seated in the front of the court, also cried as the call was played. Patrick had already left the room after fnishing his testimony.
Jurors were shown the clothes each child had been wearing, with a prosecutor pulling the items from clear plastic evidence bags: pajamas and a pink robe for
Cora; a nightshirt and dinosaur underwear for Dawson; a red onesie decorated with snowfakes for Callan.
The trial will hinge on Lindsay Clancy’s mental state
Patrick Clancy testifed Monday about his wife’s deteriorating mental health in the months before the killings, including her telling him about intrusive thoughts of harming the children and of suicide.
Lindsay Clancy had sought care from experts in postpartum mood disorders, was put on multiple psychiatric medications, and when nothing worked, checked in to a psychiatric hospital. She killed the children 19 days after she was discharged.
No one ever told Patrick Clancy his wife shouldn’t be alone with the children, he testifed Wednesday. “I didn’t know what psychosis was until after this happened.”
Clancy and her ex-husband accuse her medical providers of failing to properly diagnose,
treat and monitor her, according to lawsuits fled earlier this year. On cross-examination, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, aimed to demonstrate she took her medications and closely tracked her declining mental health. He introduced daily, handwritten notes she took of her medicines and her mood, including repeatedly writing “horrible thoughts.” She also had a book and fact sheet on postpartum anxiety and a chart where she tracked her mood.
Reddington also got Patrick Clancy to acknowledge that many of her medical appointments starting in the summer of 2022 were with nurse practitioners and on Zoom calls lasting only 20 minutes. They also went through multiple medications she was prescribed, including Seroquel -- an antipsychotic medication for which doctors increased her dosage in December.
“The idea was that it would help with sleep, but she didn’t get better. She got worse,” Patrick Clancy said.
DEFENCE attorney Kevin Reddington and Lindsay Clancy listen to the 911 recording from Jan. 24, 2023, during Clancy’s murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., yesterday.
Photo: David L Ryan/The Boston Globe/AP
Fauci repeatedly invokes the Fifth Amendment in a contentious Senate committee hearing
WASHINGTON Associated Press
Dr Anthony Fauci on Wednesday repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer dozens of questions from senators in a Republican-led committee hearing about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision, at least for now, shielded Fauci from answering questions that could expose him to accusations of lying under oath. Though he received a pardon in early 2025 from Democratic President Joe Biden, some Republicans pursuing a yearslong campaign for his arrest had suggested he could still face charges for any perjury committed during Wednesday’s hearing.
The scientist, who helped lead the nation’s COVID-19 response, was subpoenaed to testify under oath by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has long had an antagonistic relationship with Fauci.
In response to angry, sometimes mocking questions from Republican senators, Fauci declined to answer more than 100 times, injecting new drama into partisan divides that have festered for years about the origins and handling of the pandemic. Fauci himself has become a polarizing fgure, even receiving death threats that prompted him to seek security.
In his opening statement, Fauci said Paul has an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.”
“The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote,” Fauci said, adding that while it pained him to
do so, he was following his attorney’s advice by taking the Fifth.
Paul, who has long argued that Fauci should be criminally investigated, based on his belief that the scientist was dishonest in previous testimony to Congress, announced that the committee will vote next week on whether to hold Fauci in contempt for declining to answer questions.
He did not say whether he would push for a criminal contempt referral to federal prosecutors or another charge. He also raised questions about whether Fauci’s pardon afects his eligibility for Fifth Amendment protections.
Republicans accuse Fauci of lying while Democrats say he didn’t deserve that
In the combative hearing, Paul and other Republicans accused Fauci of lying in earlier testimony about the coronavirus’ origins, something the longtime National Institutes of Health scientist has forcefully denied.
Democrats called the hearing a politically motivated attempt at entrapping Fauci and praised the scientist for his work during the pandemic.
With Fauci declining to answer questions throughout, Paul dominated the approximately three-hour hearing, listing a litany of accusations and detailed questions.
“Today will be the capstone to Anthony Fauci’s 40 years of abuse of power at NIH,” Paul said. “History will judge, but the facts as we now know them paint a sordid tale of dishonesty, misjudgment and ultimately the hubris, the likes of which the world has never seen.”
In a heated moment during the hearing, Paul ejected Fauci’s attorney,
David Schertler, from the room after he tried to speak without being recognized. In a statement, Schertler said the removal was “outrageous and demonstrates the completely biased and baseless nature of this proceeding.” In another statement, he called Paul’s accusations about Fauci “false and disgraceful.”
Democratic senators praised Fauci and said he didn’t deserve the treatment he was getting.
“This hearing is designed to entrap you,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.
Paul released some of Fauci’s diary
Leading up to the hearing, Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s personal diary covering the pandemic years. Pointing to some notes about early eforts at understanding how the virus emerged, Paul said on social media that what Fauci “wrote privately and what he told the country are two diferent stories.”
Some of the diary entries — including Fauci’s uncertainty in the pandemic’s earliest days as scientists around the world raced to understand the new virus and how best to curb it before vaccines could be created — already were refected in a 2024 memoir and in interviews at the time.
But they have nonetheless drawn attention from people who blame Fauci for mask mandates, school closures and other policies they believe infringed on their rights as hundreds of thousands of people were dying.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday wrote on social media that he stopped relying on Fauci over the course of the pandemic because he felt the scientist made bad decisions about masks, shutdowns, and other issues. He later told reporters he watched the entire hearing.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist before entering public ofce, said
on social media that his department had found the diary entries on government property and had given them to the committee.
Dozens of disease experts defend Fauci
Scientists also scrambled to Fauci’s defence ahead of the unusual hearing — the second time he has been back before Congress to discuss pandemic origins since leaving the government in 2022. While the COVID-19 pandemic introduced him to millions of Americans, he talked the nation through numerous outbreaks over decades, including HIV, Ebola and the 2001 anthrax attacks, while advising seven presidents. In a public letter, more than 150 infectious-disease experts and other scientists wrote that “no credible evidence has been produced to support these absurd charges” and that they are urging elected ofcials to “stop these witch-hunts.”
Among topics discussed at Wednesday’s hearing was whether NIH-funded
research in China may have played a role in how the pandemic started.
Many scientists believe the virus most likely emerged in nature and jumped from animals to people, coming to light when it spread at a wildlife market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. There’s no new scientifc evidence supporting the theory that the virus might instead have leaked from a laboratory, a theory Paul champions. A GOP-led subcommittee that studied the question in 2024 found no evidence linking Fauci to wrongdoing.
Fauci has long said publicly that he was open to both theories but that there’s more evidence supporting COVID-19’s natural origins.
Republicans also have accused Fauci of lying about whether his agency funded what’s known as gain-of-function research — the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential real-world impact — at a lab in Wuhan.
The NIH, for years, gave grants to a New York nonproft called EcoHealth Alliance, which used some of the funds to work with a Chinese lab studying coronaviruses commonly carried by bats. But the defnition of gain-of-function covers both general research and especially risky experiments that enhance the ability of potential pandemic viruses to spread or cause severe disease in humans. Fauci has previously stressed he was using the risky experiment defnition and “it would be molecularly impossible” for those bat virus experiments to have turned into the pandemic virus.
Trump, a Republican, paused some federally funded gain-of-function research last year, and on Tuesday his administration announced new rules to tighten oversight.
DR ANTHONY FAUCI appears before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee at the Capitol, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. Photo: Allison Robbert/AP
