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Volume: 123 No. 196, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1

PINTARD PRESSES PM ON ELLIS CONTRACTS ...but Housing and Land Reform Ministry says no record of dealings with slain businessman

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net THE Ministry of Housing and Land Reform said yesterday it found no record of murdered businessman Warren “Spy” Ellis or any company owned or controlled by him receiving a housing contract from the Davis administration.

The statement came after Opposition Leader Michael

Pintard challenged Prime Minister Philip Davis to say whether his administration had awarded government contracts to Ellis, who was shot to death last week and had for years been linked to serious criminal allegations.

The ministry said it had completed a review of its contracting records following questions about whether Ellis had received ELLIS - SEE PAGE FOUR

TRIBUTES PAID TO FORMER MINISTER NEVILLE WISDOM

A RELATIVE of Travis Johnson weeps as family and friends gather for one of the Independence Day crash victims funeral. See PAGE 16 for more.

Photo: Shawn Hanna

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

former Prime Minister Perry Christie’s Cabinet from 2002 to 2007 and was the MP for Delaporte.

During his tenure as Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Mr Wisdom championed the renaming of Harold Road to Tonique Williams-Darling Highway

REPARATIONS GROUP TELLS KING: DON’T COME EMPTY-HANDED

WISDOM - SEE PAGE THREE

KING - SEE PAGE SEVEN

TRIBUTES were paid across the political aisle after former Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Neville Wisdom died over the weekend at the age of 76.

Mr Wisdom served in

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas National Reparations Committee (BNRC) said the British Royal Family should not

visit the country “empty-handed” next month, demanding an apology for the devastating legacy of slavery and colonisation.

In a statement released over the weekend, the committee also renewed

its long-held position that The Bahamas should move away from the monarchy and become a republic, calling this an important step in “our march to a common loftier goal”.

The committee, formed in

2013 in accordance with the CARICOM Reparations Commission, advocates for reparations from former colonial powers.

The body’s position comes

Dr Sands to step back from frontline politics

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net FREE National Movement chairman Dr Duane Sands says he will step back from frontline politics for at least a year, citing the demands of political life and the burden it has placed on his family.

Speaking as a guest on Our TV’s “On the Record”, hosted by Jerome Sawyer, Dr Sands said the decision was driven largely by his responsibilities as a husband and father.

“This is a privilege. It's been an honor, but it's a great sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice SANDS - SEE PAGE THREE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

FNM CHAIRMAN DR DUANE SANDS

PAGE 2, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

Loved ones honour Davis at memorial in Miami

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net A SITE of tragedy became a celebration of life on Saturday as family and friends gathered to mourn Bahamian artist and entrepreneur Stefan “Legend” Davis, filling the area where he was killed last week with Junkanoo music, flowers, birthday messages and candles.

The roadside memorial was held in Miami, a day before what would have been Mr Davis’ 56th birthday.

Mourners gathered to celebrate the life of a man they described as kind, talented and deeply creative.

Mr Davis, a father of two, founder of Airbrush Junkies and one of the country’s best-known creative entrepreneurs, was reportedly in South Florida on what was believed to be a birthday trip when he was caught in the crash.

He was killed on Wednesday after a man allegedly fleeing police ran a stop sign while attempting to evade officers and crashed into his vehicle and another.

The suspect was later identified as 21-year-old Lewis Manuel Perez, who was wanted on a military desertion warrant.

At Saturday’s memorial, Mr Davis’ family recalled the shock of learning he had died.

His brother, Bappy Davis, said the family had been celebrating on Wednesday before receiving the devastating news.

“It was so shocking because we didn’t know

STEFAN ‘LEGEND’ DAVIS where he was for the whole day,” Mr Davis said.

He recalled being in Atlanta to drop off his daughter, who is also an artist, at college when the family received the call.

“We were so happy on Wednesday, setting her up in her dorm, getting her ready,” he said.

“We went out to pick up one or two things, and then we got that tragic call.

I didn’t understand that and it was so bittersweet. It was like the worst and best thing that ever happened to my life.”

Mr Davis said there was no better way for the family to express its grief than through Junkanoo, which had been a central part of their lives since childhood.

Their family home on Taylor Street was next to the One Family Junkanoo Shack, where Stefan was a familiar presence.

“We ate, slept, we woke up to junkanoo,” he said.

“It was all in our house.

Wherever we go. We couldn’t get rid of it. Some people liked junkanoo, loved junkanoo. We didn’t

have a choice.”

He vowed to keep his brother’s legacy alive, adding: “He’ll live through us.”

At the vigil, loved ones wrote birthday messages, draped the area with a Bahamian flag and gathered as Junkanooers rushed in his honour.

Neighbours also came out to pay their respects and offer condolences to the grieving family.

His best friend said Mr Davis’ death still felt unreal.

Meanwhile, tributes continued to pour in on social media, with One Family remembering Mr Davis as an innovator who was not afraid to take chances.

“We are in shock and quite frankly lost for words,” said chairman Vernon Rolle. “His connection to One Family was deeply rooted through Taylor Street where his entire family became part of our extended family and contributed to our organisation.”

Mr Rolle said he would be deeply missed.

Mr Davis is survived by

Family and firends gather at the street corner whenre Stefan ‘Legend’ Davis was killed in a traffic accident in Miami last week. two children and other relatives, as friends, colleagues and members of the wider

creative community mourn his sudden death.

His body is expected to

be returned to The Bahamas on Friday, according to his family.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 7, 2026, PAGE 3

Political leaders mourn former minister Wisdom WISDOM from page one in honour of the Olympic champion’s achievements.

Fellow members of the Progressive Liberal Party described Mr Wisdom as loyal and a fierce advocate for the advancement of sports and culture, while members of the opposition Free National Movement also praised his contribution to public life.

In a statement, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis paid tribute to Mr Wisdom’s years of service.

“Neville gave many years of his life to the Progressive Liberal Party and to public service,” Mr Davis said.

“He believed deeply in the movement and in its responsibility to create opportunity, expand access, and improve the lives of Bahamians. As a member of Parliament, he carried the concerns of his constituents into national service and remained a respected part of the PLP family.

“His contribution to sports in The Bahamas will also be remembered with gratitude. As Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Neville understood the power of sports to shape young lives, build discipline, create opportunity, and strengthen national pride. He supported the development of Bahamian athletes and helped advance the institutions and programmes that allowed young people to pursue excellence at home and on the international stage.

“He also understood the place of culture in our national identity and the responsibility of government to invest in the talent and creativity of our people.

“Neville’s service spanned politics, Parliament, sports, culture, and community life. He leaves behind a record of service to his party and to The

FORMEER CABINET MINISTER NEVILLE WISDOM Bahamas.”

Former Prime Minister Perry Christie lamented the loss of a close friend of many years, describing Mr Wisdom as a trusted adviser and tireless nation-builder.

“Neville and I shared a relationship that extended well beyond politics. We were friends before, during and after our years in government. I came to know him as a man of conviction, loyalty, profound honesty, strong views and a deep commitment to the development of young Bahamians,” Mr Christie said.

“Our families also shared a special bond. Bernadette and I will always remember the warmth and generosity with which Neville and his family opened their home to our children, Adam, Stefan and Alex.

That kindness reflected the deeply personal nature of our friendship and will never be forgotten.”

Mr Christie recalled Mr Wisdom’s work with young athletes before entering frontline politics.

“Neville’s life of service began long before he entered Parliament.

Through athletics and his work with the Bain Town Flyers, he helped to guide and develop young Bahamians who would go on to distinguish themselves at the highest levels of international competition. He understood that sport could shape character, discipline and confidence, and his contribution to Bahamian athletics will remain an enduring part of his legacy.”

Mr Christie said appointing his longtime friend to Cabinet was a “profound

honour”.

“When I had the privilege of serving as Prime Minister, it was a profound honour for me to appoint Neville to my Cabinet and to see him assume the distinction and responsibilities of the Honorable Neville Wisdom. He served first with responsibility for Youth, Sports and Culture, and later for Youth, Sports and Housing. He carried that honour with dignity and brought to public office the same passion he had demonstrated throughout his life: a belief that young Bahamians should be given every opportunity to develop their talents and fulfil their potential.”

He added: “I valued Neville’s counsel, his candour and his willingness to speak plainly about the issues in which he believed. Like all enduring friendships, ours was shaped by moments of agreement and disagreement, but it was always grounded in mutual respect and genuine affection.”

Reflecting on Mr Wisdom’s legacy, Mr Christie said: “The passing of a friend with whom one has shared so many years inevitably causes reflection.

Public office is temporary, and titles eventually pass from us. What remains is the measure of the lives we have touched, the service we have given and the relationships we have built along the way. By that measure, Neville lived a life of consequence.”

“His contribution can be seen in the athletes he coached, the young people he encouraged, the constituents he represented and the country he served.

I will remember him most personally as a dear friend and colleague with whom I shared an important chapter in the life of our country.

I am grateful for those years, for our conversations, for our work together and

for the friendship between our families that endured long after our time in office had ended.”

“The country has lost a former parliamentarian and Cabinet Minister. Bahamian sport has lost one of its most dedicated builders.

Our family has lost a cherished friend.”

Current Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg also paid tribute to his predecessor, hailing Mr Wisdom as a true patriot.

“I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Hon. Neville Wisdom,” Mr Bowleg said.

“Mr. Wisdom was a dedicated public servant and a man who understood the tremendous value of investing in our young people, our athletes and our national culture. During his tenure as Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture from 2002 to 2007, he helped advance the development of sports in The Bahamas, supported our cultural institutions and remained a strong advocate for Bahamian youth.”

“As the Minister now entrusted with responsibility for Youth and Sports, I have a special appreciation for the work of those who served before me. Mr. Wisdom’s contributions helped strengthen the foundation upon which we continue to build today. Beyond the offices he held, he will be remembered for his love of country, his commitment to service and his belief in the potential of the Bahamian people.”

“The Bahamas has lost a dedicated nation-builder, but Neville Wisdom’s contribution to Youth, Sports and Culture will remain a meaningful part of his legacy.”

Opposition leader Michael Pintard praised Mr Wisdom’s contributions to

the country and said his service should be remembered.

“He was a serious, committed public servant from his youth, learning from his father, the former General Manager of ZNS. Wisdom was heavily involved with young people;” Mr Pintard said.

“He was a longstanding track-and-field coach, particularly with the Bain Town Flyers Track Club, where he coached prominent Bahamian athletes including Pauline Davis and Frank Rutherford.”

“Later, as Minister under the first Christie administration, he held portfolios that included responsibility for youth, sports, culture and housing. His work helped shape the framework that still guides Bahamian sports today, including the Sports Authority Act, and his support for the Bahamas Baseball Federation opened doors for young Bahamians to pursue baseball at higher levels, including in Major League organizations.”

Mr Pintard said he respected Mr Wisdom’s belief in investing in young people.

“What I always respected about Minister Wisdom was his refusal to accept the easy argument that our young people deserve more punishment than investment. He fiercely believed youth deserve to be challenged and assisted toward greatness, not managed through incarceration.

That conviction shaped his approach to public policy, and this country still needs voices to carry it forward.

“Minister Wisdom and I sat on different sides of the aisle, but public service in The Bahamas has never been the property of one party. His service deserves to be saluted and remembered.”

Mr Wisdom is survived by his wife, Manita, along with his children and siblings.

BPL apologises as persistent outages continue

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power and Light has apologised to customers once again as repeated outages continue to plague New Providence, with the utility admitting that faults affecting western communities have persisted for the past two weeks.

BPL chief executive officer Toni Seymour-Pratt said the company was working to resolve problems affecting the Skyline feeder and

surrounding areas, including Cable Beach, Baha Mar, Twin Lakes, Prospect Ridge, Lake Killarney and parts of Stapledon Gardens.

“Our technicians have been actively working to identify and remedy these issues. This work remains a priority and based on the work currently underway we anticipate these interruptions will be resolved,” Ms Seymour-Pratt said in a video message on Friday.

Her apology came on the same day another widespread outage struck New Providence after three

generators at BPL’s Clifton Pier Power Station tripped offline at about 9.40am.

The failure affected customers in Prince Charles West, Fox Hill North, Firetrail East, Blue Hill Road, Prince Charles Drive East, Moss Road, Elizabeth Estates II, Mackey Street, Nassau Shore, Prince George Dock and Coral Harbour.

Additional circuits were automatically taken offline under the system’s under-frequency protection scheme.

Ms Seymour-Pratt said crews began restoring

Sands will not seek another term as FNM chairman SANDS from page one that’s borne by primarily my family. I have young kids. I have an autistic child.

I have a wife who has had to carry a lot of the load herself, and so for at least a year, I’m going to step back from frontline politics,” he said.

Dr Sands said that while he intends to step away from frontline politics, he remains committed to the FNM for the remainder of his tenure as chairman.

“I will not offer at convention, but until such time, the FNM will have my full service as chairman,” he said.

“I remain the CEO, but I ain’t gonna be here indefinitely.”

It was reported in June that he would not seek re-election as chairman, but he declined to comment

FNM CHAIRMAN DR DUANE SANDS

further on his future plans at the time.

Dr Sands was first elected chairman at the party’s February 2022 convention with 183 votes, while Elsworth Johnson received 169 and Michael Foulkes received 83.

The chairmanship race featured two prominent former Minnis administration Cabinet ministers.

The former Health Minister retained his post at the FNM’s 2024 convention after defeating Mr Johnson by 431 votes to 221.

power within 16 minutes, at about 9.56am, with restoration completed by 10.51am.

Customers experienced approximately one hour and 11 minutes of interruption.

The latest disruption adds to mounting frustration over BPL’s reliability, particularly in western New Providence, where residents and businesses have been dealing with repeated outages in recent weeks.

In June, residents in Love Beach, Old Fort Bay and nearby communities reported prolonged and recurring outages,

including interruptions lasting up to 24 hours.

Residents complained of spoiled food, security concerns and additional expenses from running generators.

The problems continued into July and August, with five consecutive days of outages in western New Providence at the end of July. BPL acknowledged that its ageing system and contingency plans had been strained by repeated failures.

The utility has previously attributed outages to a combination of equipment

and cable faults, high electricity demand, extreme heat and ongoing grid upgrades.

In Friday’s video message, Ms Seymour-Pratt acknowledged customers’ concerns and said the company remained focused on improving the reliability of the power grid.

“We know that our customers require dependable electricity and we remain committed to strengthening the grid, improving reliability and providing you with the level of service you truly deserve,” she said.

Housing Ministry finds no contract awarded to Ellis PAGE 4, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

ELLIS from page one

contracts under the government’s housing programme.

“The Ministry has reviewed its contracting records covering the period since the Davis Administration first took office,” it said. “There is no record of any contract being awarded by the Ministry during that period to Mr Ellis. There is also no record of a contract being awarded to any company identified in the Ministry’s records as being owned or controlled by him.”

The statement did not address Mr Pintard’s separate question about whether Ellis or his team had been contracted to demolish domes in Abaco and enforce the final evictions of residents.

Well-placed sources have linked Ellis to housing construction in Central Pines, Abaco, in 2022. Several construction workers, speaking anonymously, confirmed they

WARREN ‘SPY’ ELLIS had worked for Ellis on the project but declined to

speak further.

Housing Minister Keith

Bell told The Tribune last week he would look into the matter and get back to the newspaper.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Pintard said: “Just answer the question, Prime Minister. Did you and your government give housing contracts to the recently slain Warren ‘Spy’ Ellis?”

When asked about the matter on Friday, the Prime Minister called the claim an allegation and asked reporters to provide the factual basis for the question.

“What is the factual basis to answer that question?” Mr Davis asked.

“Tell me where you got that information, and I will deal with it.”

“I am tired of these allegations, man,” he said, expressing frustration with reporters.

“Why don’t y’all ask me about how Upskill Bahamas is impacting people, why don’t you ask me about how the Food Breakfast programme is assisting our people; why

don’t you ask me about some initiatives that we have,” he said.

Mr Pintard questioned why the Prime Minister appeared sensitive about the issue and compared the allegations involving Ellis with the government’s previous decision to award housing contracts to Eric “Player” Gardiner, a convicted drug offender.

Gardiner was arrested in May and charged with cocaine and firearms conspiracy offences arising from what US prosecutors allege was a long-running operation to move large quantities of cocaine into the United States.

“These are serious matters, Prime Minister,” Mr Pintard said. “Bahamian taxpayer funds must never serve as a vehicle for potential money laundering or the enrichment of people involved in illegality.”

In his statement, Mr Pintard also asked whether the government had contracted Ellis and his team

to demolish domes in Abaco and enforce the final evictions of residents.

“When the FNM team visited Abaco to protest the evictions, no government agency was present, except for those persons contracted to remove the remaining domes, which had the last group of families resisting the eviction,” he said.

“Tell the truth, and shame the devil,” Mr Pintard said.

In its statement yesterday, the Ministry of Housing said the Davis administration had expanded the housing programme since taking office, increasing private-sector participation and working with Bahamian contractors.

It said Bahamian families in Abaco, New Providence and the Family Islands had received keys to new homes, with additional homes and housing developments under construction or moving forward.

Freeport Health Campus now 30 percent complete

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville toured

the new Freeport Health Campus on Friday, with the long-awaited facility now about 30 per cent complete and its first phase expected to be substantially completed by July 2027.

The 80,000 sq ft facility

is being constructed by ABC Construction, with Veritas Consultants Limited serving as the owner’s representative and project agent for the Public Hospitals Authority.

Minister for Grand

PRIME Minister Phillip ‘Brave’ Davis and Health Minister Dr Michael Darville, tour the Freeport Health, accompanied by Pineridge MP Ginger Moxey and West Grand Bahama MP Kingsley Smith.

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn Bahama Ginger Moxey, West Grand Bahama MP Kingsley Smith and hospital officials were also present.

Dr Darville said the project was now “back in full swing” following the securing of financing through a CIBC loan.

“As you can see behind us, we are now pouring the roof, and once that’s completed and the whole site is sealed in, then we will begin now to do some of the work inside the structure,” Dr Darville said.

He said the project has expanded from its original footprint of approximately 62,000 sq ft to about 80,000 sq ft, with almost 18,000 sq ft of additional space gained in the basement.

The additional space will be used in part as a hurricane shelter and for the Public Hospitals Authority Academy, where training will be conducted.

Dr Darville said the government remains on target to open the first phase of the facility by the end of 2027.

He said the government is also preparing for the second phase of the development, which will include a multi-storey tower housing the majority of the hospital’s beds.

“The Beck Group, who are structural engineers as well as our architects, are now completed the bulk of the design for phase two, and we will soon go out to tender,” Dr Darville said.

John Michael Clark, president and managing director of Veritas Consultants Limited, said ABC Construction is the general

contractor for the project and the main structure is now taking shape.

“We are now, is about 30 per cent through the construction. We have all of the foundations and superstructure, the main building up. We're starting to pour the roof. The roof slab is being poured,” Mr Clark said.

Construction has also begun on the facility’s Central Utility Plant.

Mr Clark said substantial completion is planned for the end of July 2027, with commissioning expected to follow and the facility scheduled to open no later than September 2027.

Following the tour, Mr Davis said he was pleased with the progress at the Freeport Health Campus.

“We are here to demonstrate that progress is real and to see the active evolution of that progress here at the Freeport Health Campus,” he said.

Mr Davis said he was pleased to see the project back on track after delays.

He said the additional basement space would provide an important shelter option for residents during hurricanes, particularly in light of Grand Bahama’s experience with Hurricane Dorian.

He noted that the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Dorian is being marked this week.

“To see that you will now have somewhere where people feel safer than they were then is also what I say is a sign of progress for us,” he said.

The Prime Minister

thanked Dr Darville, the Ministry of Health team, Wolfgang and ABC Construction for their work in advancing the project despite challenges that had previously slowed its development.

Mr Davis described the project as a facility built for the future, saying expected economic expansion in Grand Bahama would bring population growth and increased demand for healthcare services.

“This is built for the future of Grand Bahama,” Mr Davis said. “And we expect Grand Bahama to be thriving in a way that this hospital will be able to accommodate that exponential growth in the economy that we have here.”

Dr Darville said the existing Rand Memorial Hospital had outgrown its capacity 15 to 20 years ago, making the development of a new facility necessary.

“This is the future for Grand Bahama and the new footprint for tertiary healthcare on the island,” he said.

The first phase of the Freeport Health Campus will provide the foundation for expanded hospital services, while the planned multi-storey tower in phase two will accommodate the bulk of the hospital’s inpatient beds.

Dr Darville said the development was designed not only to address Grand Bahama’s current healthcare needs but also to accommodate anticipated growth on the island.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 7, 2026, PAGE 5

Cooper calls for ‘calm heads’ amid tense BUT negotiations

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net WITH public school teachers on high alert for industrial action, Education Minister Chester Cooper said he hopes “calm heads” will prevail, while reminding educators that “whatever we do will impact the chil-

Mr Cooper said he hopes strike action can be avoided, stressing that while teachers deserve their rights, the needs of students must also remain a priority.

“I hope that as we put teachers and the rights that they deserve at the forefront, we also remember that the children of our country don't have unions, and therefore it's also important that I represent the needs of our chief stakeholders, who are the children, and in all things we do as educators who have taken an oath, we must always remember that whatever we do will impact the children first,” he told reporters in Grand Bahama on Friday.

The union had been warning of possible industrial action for months.

BUT president Belinda Wilson has said teachers are seeking a 20 percent salary increase over three years and accused the government of repeatedly returning with a salary package the union had already rejected.

At the time, she said all non-financial articles had been agreed, leaving the proposed salary increase and other finance-related provisions unresolved.

In a voice message to members on Friday, Mrs Wilson said she had requested a meeting with the Prime Minister and was awaiting a response.

“I hope that as we put teachers and the rights that they deserve at the forefront, we also remember that the children of our country don’t have unions...” dren first.”

His appeal comes amid escalating tensions between the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) and the government’s labour negotiating team over a new industrial agreement.

The two sides have been in negotiations since last October, but talks have repeatedly stalled over financial issues.

The union has now placed more than 1,400 members on industrial action alert and could further disrupt the public education system following a week already marked by industrial action by school administrators.

EDUCATION MINISTER CHESTER COOPER

11-YEAR-OLD HOSPITALISED AFTER DOG ATTACK IN GB AN 11-year-old boy was hospitalised after being bitten by a dog while playing at a park in Grand Bahama on Saturday evening.

Police said the attack occurred shortly before 6pm at Susan J Wallace

Park, formerly Columbus Park.

Shortly before 8pm, the boy’s mother reported the incident to Central Police Station and took him to Rand Memorial Hospital for medical treatment. His condition was unknown.

Police searched the area where the attack reportedly occurred but were unable to locate the dog or anyone claiming ownership of it.

Officers from the Central Division and Canine Unit are investigating.

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Mr Cooper said he hoped the meeting would produce a positive outcome, adding that he prefers an environment of fruitful, calm dialogue.

He noted that he was not directly involved in the negotiations but supported teachers receiving fair compensation and being recognised for their work.

“Nobody underestimates their contribution,” the Education Minister added.

We all want the same thing ultimately. Happy teachers create happy students. Competent teachers create competent citizens from our schools, and a progressive, harmonious ecosystem for education is important to ensure better outcomes for our children.”

The Ministry of Education released a statement last night, saying it had activated its “Continuity of Learning” contingency plans ahead of possible industrial action by teachers.

It added that public schools are expected to open as normal today where there are enough staff to supervise students.

The ministry said it has also called in additional support, including teacher reserves, former teachers and administrators, to help keep schools operating.

"Every instructional day matters and our students should not lose valuable learning time while industrial agreements are being addressed," the ministry said. "We remain committed to working with all unions through the appropriate channels while protecting the educational interests of our children."

PAGE 6, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

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Sometimes you can’t fix stupid IT is always difficult to decide how to respond to an individual whose sense of self-importance and subjugated racial superiority is so alien to our legacy of service to our nation. While we usually adopt a policy of ignoring those who hurl tirades full of material falsehoods, once in a while we receive news so absurd and completely false that it resides far outside the rational universe that most of us inhabit.

For those who may be unaware of what we are referring to, Mr Paul Aranha Jr seems to have a bee in his bonnet over Bahamas Aviation, Climate & Severe Weather Network’s (BACSWN) $427M Heads of Agreement with the Government. Over the last couple of weeks, this entitled Lyford Cay ‘manchild’ has been throwing a tantrum — spouting off a steady stream of vile, highly defamatory insults directed at my son, members of the BACSWN team, our strategic partners, Higgs & Johnson and Bostwick & Bostwick, and, last but not least, this paper.

Setting aside the fanciful exaggerations and other blatantly false misrepresentations contained in a self-indulgent orgy of highly offensive vitriol, Mr Aranha has suggested that BACSWN is in some manner ‘fronting’, ‘fundamentally flawed’ and ‘not abiding’ by the Articles of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. If the foregoing was not enough to get one’s head around, we live in an age where a domain can be easily registered and set up. However, in this case, the purpose of this site is not to further BACSWN’s interests.

Instead, Mr Aranha has used our own IP and trademarks to further tarnish the company’s reputation by portraying the project in a false and negative light in a clear-cut effort to cause irreparable financial harm and maximum damage to its public standing.

While there is a fine line between “entertainingly outrageous and repellent”, states journalist Piers Morgan, let us congratulate Mr Aranha for “smashing the concept of ‘repellent’ to smithereens”.

Although we must confess to having lost a step over the years, wasn’t it Trans Island Airways who took millions from the defunct FTX to buy a fleet of planes? BACSWN, on the other hand, has funded our project through the family and local investors. Having seemingly not learnt your lesson from that fiasco, we now understand you are trying to add a US-registered aircraft to your operating certificate? Once again, while you waste your time on frivolous pursuits, BACSWN has spent millions on repairs and the purchase of equipment to retrofit airports — so it can provide unparalleled state-of-the-art meteorological services. That doesn’t include hiring Bahamians in various fields and convincing a talented young Bahamian PhD in mathematics (who previously worked for the US Govt. at MIT’s famed Lincoln Laboratory) to come home to lead BACSWN’s efforts in creating The Bahamas’ and the Caribbean’s first weather forecast model.

What really “yuks up our vexation” is the assertion that the nation is in such a mess because of the “misleading influence of The Tribune”. To be so ignorant of the sacrifices this organisation has made in the defence of freedom and in addressing social injustice is a “fool’s errand”.

While the aforementioned attacks won’t cause any member of BACSWN to lose a wink of sleep, they do betray another shameless hypocrisy. This young man must believe he has arrived.

To lecture the author of this column

(the first female pilot and most senior Barrister at the Supreme Court, who was arguing cases before he was born) on the finer points of law is a tad much.

By all means, voice your opinions in a respectful manner, but ignoring the differences between the Articles of the Chicago Convention (which are binding) and its Annexes would be a fatal error.

Unless you wish to challenge US defence contractor Raytheon Technologies, which warranted to not one, but two, Cabinet Select Committees (FNM & PLP) that “BACSWN’S ‘First-of-Its-Kind’ Transformational Aviation, Climate, Meteorological & Severe Weather Network exceeds those of other industrialized nations....propelling Bahamas into a world leader in live flight tracking, environmental infrastructure & unparalleled real-time meteorological services for its airspace”, may we suggest Mr Aranha Jr “sits small”. Let’s allow those with an intimate understanding of the challenges facing our aviation sector to opine on how they can help the Government address such deficiencies.

After all, Mr Aranha’s voice was nowhere to be found when The People’s Paper revealed the FAA had exceeded its authority and was unlawfully charging Bahamian and foreign carriers to fly in their own airspace — pocketing hundreds of millions in fees which belonged to our Public Treasury — while U.S. carriers and those flights that take off and land in the United States used our strategically located airspace for free. Come to think of it, Mr Aranha’s silence in response to this paper exposing the crumbling, dilapidated state of our airports in a scathing report from the U.S. National Centre for Atmospheric Research has been deafening. Yet, the lack of live flight tracking, real-time meteorological services or any of the mandatory EMS and pre-hospital trauma care at LPIA and our Family Island airports was flagged as a grave concern.

Perhaps such issues are mind-numbing to the owner of a charter company that reportedly — while I find it hard to believe — refuses to fly his jets to our Family Islands. Instead of inquiring about the transformational products and services BACSWN plans on rolling out to the users of the airspace during the upcoming consultative period — to assist in improving the safe, efficient and expeditious passage of any flight using our sovereign territory — the young man has become a textbook case for the use of defamation to further one’s own warped agenda.

In retrospect, the only thing that appears “flawed” is the absence of any little pea of common sense rattling around the confines of Mr Aranha’s vacuous cranium. So the real question is not whether BACSWN’s NextGEN Aviation Weather Centre will exceed ICAO’s current guidelines, as the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and NOAA have publicly stated. Rather, Mr Aranha is gonna hear from a lot more than just me if his site remains in place and he fails to apologise for statements that have cast a disparaging light on BACSWN’s ambitious project, the Dupuch-Carron family, not to mention the reputations of our team and strategic partners.

You know who starts wars? People who don’t have to fight in them and those, like Mr Paul Aranha Jr, who fail to take into consideration that the other side has a say in when a conflict stops. Either way, the ‘Genie’ is now out of the bottle and has a lot more to say.

Former leaders should respect those who follow EDITOR, The Tribune.

NOTE Well: I have no “Horse” or “Donkey” is race The because I am Not a Gambling man or a politician. Any errors or repetitious language speaks to how serious I am and my feelings about public figures who set out to embarrass and “cut down” others in the public arena of politics or perhaps in life in general.

The Immediate Present I am writing to express my profound concern regarding recent developments within the political landscape and, specifically, the regrettable attempts to destabilise the leadership of Mr Michael Pintard.

It is becoming increasingly evident that a concerted effort is being made to undermine the authority of the present leadership and his contributions. I find the behavior of #2 of 1992 both deeply troubling, surreptitious, disrespectful, pretentious, snake-like, and counterproductive to the demo democratic, political, and national progress of the people of the Bahamas.

If you know #2 of 1992 and his nasty and bragging ways, you will agree that this former prime minister would have declared war on any person who dared to utter a condescending word about him anywhere or at any time. His childish attempt to create a problem is both childish and churlish.

In my unvarnished opinion, while Mr Pintard may have his faults as we all do, he has been able to be quiet long enough to hear others and by that along he has proven himself to be a leader of extraordinary integrity and vision, which may need polishing every now and again, but it is my view he shuts his mouth long enough so that does not make an alf himself.

His approach is marked by a clear sense of duty and a profound understanding of the complexities facing our country. Unlike those driven by short-term political gain, his commitment is rooted in genuine conviction, making his leadership authentic and deeply resonant. These are qualities that cannot be manufactured or bought; they are inherent and speak for themselves through his actions and steadfast resolve.

While acknowledging the contributions of past eras and leaders, there comes a time when the path must be cleared for new approaches and a fresh generation of leadership. The continued attempts to obstruct or discredit Mr Pintard, often through tactics that border on disrespect, are simply unconscionable. While I hold respect for the legacy of previous figures, I firmly believe that such maneuvers do a disservice to the principles of fair play and democratic transition. It is time for outdated political strategies to gracefully yield to a leadership capable of operating at its full potential for the benefit of all.

At this pivotal moment, it is absolutely essential that we uphold the fundamental tenets of decency, order, and mutual respect within our political discourse. The pursuit of political objectives should never descend into personal attacks or deliberate attempts to undermine legitimate authority. We must honor the democratic processes that elevate leaders to their positions and afford them the space and respect required to govern effectively. To do otherwise is to erode the very foundations of our institutions and to foster a climate of instability.

Indeed, it is difficult to identify another contemporary figure who so powerfully combines strategic foresight, genuine empathy, and unyielding integrity.

Such principled and effective leadership is a rare commodity, not easily replaced or replicated.

Therefore, I urge all stakeholders to reflect on their current posture. Let us

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net collectively commit to honoring the individual who stands at the helm, respecting the crucial office he occupies, and upholding the democratic processes that have rightfully placed him there.

Our collective energy should be directed towards constructive engagement and supporting capable leaders in their vital work, rather than engaging in divisive tactics that only serve to distract from the real issues at hand and ultimately harm the very fabric of our society.

For The Journey Ahead The question of whether a former head of government or prime minister should publicly criticize or undercut the current leader of their former party that he or she once led, particularly after an electoral transition, is a deeply complex and often contentious issue within democratic political systems. It involves a delicate balance between individual rights, party loyalty, and the broader health of democratic institutions; and a former leader of the party who has retired from public life should show some decorum, restraint, and respect in his or her public or private comments. While there is no universally agreed-upon answer in this case, as perspectives vary widely based on political culture, the nature of the critique, and the specific circumstances.

However, a knowledge of protocol should guide the comments of one who has served in the capacity of the incumbent who is serving as the leader of the party as did the former holder of the position.

A simple observance of “do unto others as you would want to have done unto you” would be an appropriate guide. However, one should also know and practice the tenets of the saying: “Good manners begin at home and ends abroad.” However, in the instant case, it clear that the delivery of bad manners and crude behavior by the person concerned is not at all surprising.

One of these days the person, in question, will attempt to use his crude style and his “peppery tongue” will cleave to the roof of his mouth…and remain there forever.

Arguments for Restraint and Supporting the Incumbent Leader: One prominent viewpoint emphasises the imperative of party unity and cohesion. Public disagreements between past and present leaders can create a perception of internal chaos and weakness, which can significantly damage the party’s public image and electoral prospects. Such infighting can erode public trust, make the party appear disorganised, and hinder its ability to effectively govern or operate as a coherent opposition.

Furthermore, respecting the **democratic mandate of the voters is crucial. If the public has elected a new leader or a new government, a former leader’s sustained criticism might be seen as undermining that choice or attempting to re-litigate a settled electoral outcome. This can be perceived as disrespectful to the electorate and potentially disruptive to the smooth functioning of democratic processes.

From a strategic perspective, constant public criticism by a former leader can be a gift to **political opponents**. It provides ready-made soundbites and ammunition to attack the party, amplifying internal divisions and diverting attention from the party’s policy agenda or criticisms of other political forces.

This effectively allows rivals to frame the party as being at war with itself, rather than focused on national issues.

Moreover, such interventions often lead to unnecessary distractions.

Instead of focusing on

current policy debates, legislative initiatives, or the challenges facing the nation, media attention and internal party discussions can become consumed by the drama of past versus present leadership. This siphons valuable energy and resources away from the party’s core objectives. It also risks **eroding the authority** of the current leader, making it harder for them to command respect within the party ranks and on the national stage, thus weakening their ability to lead effectively.

Arguments for the Right to Speak Out and Offer Critique:Conversely, many argue that former leaders retain a **duty to uphold core party principles and ideology**. Should a new leader appear to be significantly deviating from the party’s foundational values or long-held commitments, a former leader, acting as a custodian of its legacy, might feel compelled to speak out. This isn’t necessarily about personal animosity but about defending what they believe defines the party.

The principle of “free speech and the role of a senior statesman” also comes into play. Former leaders remain citizens and often highly experienced political figures. Denying them the right to express their views, especially on matters of national importance or party direction, could be seen as stifling legitimate discourse. They might view themselves as the “conscience of the party,” offering an independent voice rooted in years of experience, But this not preclude the use of restraint, good manners, and respect.

In the aftermath of significant **electoral losses**, honest and sometimes harsh self-assessment is often necessary for a party’s renewal. A former leader, having presided over past campaigns and potentially faced similar challenges, may offer valuable “electoral feedback” or a critique that helps the party understand its mistakes and recalibrate its strategy for future success. This can be a painful but ultimately constructive process.

Finally, the immense **experience and institutional memory** that former leaders possess can be invaluable. Their insights into governance, policy challenges, and political strategy, honed over years in the highest office, might lead them to offer critiques or advice that prevents future missteps.

They might identify potential pitfalls that a less experienced leader or team could overlook. Such interventions, when constructive, can also serve as a form of **accountability**, ensuring that current leadership remains answerable to the party’s membership and its historical trajectory.

Navigating the Nuance: Ultimately, the appropriateness of a former leader’s intervention often hinges on the *manner* and *timing* of their criticism.

Private counsel and behind-the-scenes discussions are generally preferred for constructive feedback, allowing the current leader to consider advice without public humiliation.

Public criticism, when it does occur, is often perceived more favorably if it is principled, specific, and aimed at policy or direction rather than personal attacks, and if it is infrequent rather than a constant barrage. The challenge lies in balancing the need for respectful transitions and party unity with the right of experienced voices to contribute to ongoing political discourse and hold leadership accountable.

DR DONALD M McCARTNEY Freeport, Grand Bahama August 21, 2026.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 7, 2026, PAGE 7

BNRC renews call for republic ahead of King Charles’ visit KING from page one as the country prepares to welcome King Charles III and Queen Camilla next month as part of a wider royal tour from October 27 to November 4.

The visit will be constitutionally different from that of an ordinary foreign head of state. King Charles is King of The Bahamas and the country’s Head of State, one of 15 countries in which he serves in that role.

It will be his first trip here since succeeding Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 and only his second visit to The Bahamas.

The BNRC, however, opposes the country’s continued ties to the monarchy, arguing that King Charles “is not our King” by choice or consent.

“He is a holdover from an arrangement this country accepted at Independence,” the committee said. “That was more than fifty years ago and yet fifty-three years later Bahamian boys and girls grow up learning that they can never be the Head of State in their own country. That position is

BNRC HEAD DR NIAMBI HALL CAMPBELL DEAN the reward of our former colonizers.”

The BNRC added that royal visits typically result in a flurry of preparations, including road improvements, freshly painted public spaces and schoolchildren being paraded around to greet visiting royals.

However, the committee

said such preparations only create the appearance of a thriving country when, in reality, The Bahamas “is not well”.

“Our power grid fails us.

The cost of living grinds us down. Our health system carries the weight of a people who have never fully recovered from what was done to them. These

are consequences,” it added.

“Consequences of chattel slavery. Consequences of colonization. Consequences of a system that broke up families, worked bodies to death, packed human beings into the holds of ships like cargo for weeks on open water, and sold them on arrival.”

The committee said it

hopes King Charles will use his visit to publicly acknowledge the country’s “true” history and apologise for the wrongs of the past.

“We hope he will visit this history at Clifton Heritage Park, feel the spaces in which our ancestors toiled, and touch the narrow crevices that lead from the ocean to the island that our ancestors had to swim to after being shackled in the belly of a ship for months.”

If King Charles does not, the committee added, “he remains complicit”.

“The time is now for reparations. The time is now for the republic. And the time is long past for our Governments to stop preparing this country for guests and then hand us the bill. To paraphrase Veronica Bishop, ‘Don’t come here with your hands swinging; don’t come here empty-handed.’”

The costs of royal visits can be shared between the Sovereign Grant, the host country and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, depending on the nature of

the trip.

It remains unclear how much the government has budgeted for the visit, with officials brushing aside questions on the matter.

When asked about the cost of hosting the visit and who would pay, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell told reporters last month: “Well, he is your king,” he said. “You should be happy. He’s coming to see you.

“There’s no bill for our king,” he added. “Nothing too good for the king.”

After leaving The Bahamas, the King is scheduled to make a state visit to Guyana before travelling to Antigua and Barbuda, where he and Queen Camilla will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The summit will bring together leaders and representatives from 56 Commonwealth countries from November 1 to 4.

Buckingham Palace said the autumn tour will celebrate “communities, cultures and nature within the Commonwealth family”.

FNM: School closure shows ‘failure of planning’ FNM Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright has criticised the government over the closure of CR Walker Senior High School because of plumbing problems, saying disruptions caused by incomplete repairs represent a “serious failure of planning, maintenance, and leadership”.

CR Walker was closed on Friday because of plumbing issues, prompting Mr Cartwright to accuse the government of failing to ensure essential repairs were completed before students returned to classrooms.

“Our children should never be placed in a position where they arrive at

school only to discover that their classrooms are unsafe or that their school cannot operate because basic repairs were neglected,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Mr Cartwright said problems including leaking roofs, damaged ceilings, faulty electrical systems, inadequate plumbing and air-conditioning failures require consistent maintenance rather than emergency intervention.

“These problems do not appear overnight,” he said.

“The Government has a responsibility to ensure that every public school is safe, functional, and ready before students walk through its

doors.”

He said school closures cost students valuable learning time while forcing parents, teachers and communities to make last-minute arrangements.

“Every day a school remains closed is a day of learning lost,” he said. “It also places an additional burden on parents, teachers, and communities who are forced to make last-minute arrangements because the Government did not do what should have been done in advance.”

Mr Cartwright said the issue went beyond maintenance and reflected the government’s priorities, arguing that sufficient

resources should be available to maintain public schools.

“If we can find money for other government projects, we must be able to find the resources necessary to maintain the schools where our nation’s children spend

a significant portion of their lives,” he said.

He called on the government to explain why repairs were not completed and provide a timeline for bringing affected schools up to an acceptable standard.

“Bahamian children deserve better than excuses,” Mr Cartwright said. “They deserve safe schools, functioning classrooms, and a government that is prepared.

“Our children’s education cannot wait.”

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PAGE 8, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

Man’s police assault lawsuit thrown out over delay

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net A MAN’S lawsuit accusing police of assaulting, threatening and extorting him has been thrown out after a Supreme Court registrar found that he waited too long to bring the case, describing the proceedings as vexatious and an abuse of the court’s process.

Trevor Russell claimed police officers assaulted him and pressured him to produce $1,500 during an investigation into an alleged kidnapping and extortion

scheme. However, Registrar Renaldo Toote found that Mr Russell filed his lawsuit nearly 18 months after the February 2024 incident, beyond the one-year deadline for claims arising from police carrying out their public duties.

Mr Russell claimed the incident began after he accepted a taxi booking from a man and a female tourist. He said police later contacted him after the tourist’s mother accused him of kidnapping her daughter and demanding money.

Mr Russell maintained

that the $1,500 he received through Venmo was payment for an island tour. He alleged that after going to the police station, he was questioned, arrested and taken to the Central Detective Unit, where he was threatened and assaulted and pressured to obtain another $1,500.

He claimed a friend delivered the money and that he was charged the following day with extortion.

The charge was eventually dismissed after several adjournments but $1,500 was never returned, according to his claim.

Police disputed his account, saying officers were responding to a report involving a possible hostage situation or extortion demand. They said Mr Russell was cautioned and arrested, while a complainant attended the police station, an identification was made and telephone evidence was obtained.

Registrar Toote said he was not deciding which version of events was true, but rather to determine whether Mr Russell brought his case within the legal deadline.

The court found that Mr

Russell had sued the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Attorney General but had not named any individual officers as defendants. The registrar found that the allegations arose from police investigating, questioning, arresting and charging Mr Russell and therefore fell under the one-year deadline.

He also rejected Mr Russell’s argument that his financial losses, inability to work, reputational damage and fear amounted to a continuing injury that extended the deadline.

His allegations relating to 2018 were also found to be out of time as Mr Russell did not begin his legal action until August 2025.

The court further rejected his attempt to rely on constitutional rights to overcome the deadline, finding that the lawsuit was essentially a claim for damages and had not been properly brought as a constitutional case.

Registrar Toote ultimately struck out Mr Russell’s entire lawsuit and ordered him to pay $5,000 in costs to the defendants.

Three deny involvement in Accused pleads not guilty to Twin Brothers fatal shooting fatal Yellow Elder stabbing

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net THREE men denied their involvement in a fatal shooting outside Twin Brothers on East Street and Sunlight Cottage last year that claimed the life of 24-year-old Julian Newbold and left two others injured.

Prosecutors allege Shaquno Sweeting, 21, and accomplices in a silver Nissan Cube pulled up alongside Mr Newbold and Marvin Williams near the restaurant and opened fire on them at 5pm on July 31, 2025.

A female employee,

Johnesha Eugene, was also shot and injured during the incident.

One of the men was inside a vehicle while the other was collecting food at the time of the shooting.

Mr Newbold died at the scene, while the other two victims were treated in hospital for gunshot injuries.

Prosecutors also allege that Trevanto Taylor, 24, and Levon Pinder knowingly assisted the suspects in evading police custody the same day.

Sweeting was charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder, while Taylor and Pinder were each charged with accessory after

the fact to murder and two counts of accessory after the fact to attempted murder.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges before Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns.

They were informed that the matter would proceed to trial before Senior Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson.

The trio will appear before Justice Grant-Thompson for a trial date fixture on September 9.

Following their arraignment, the accused were returned to remand at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

David Cash represented the accused.

26-year-old denies double murder in Harbour Island

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A 26-YEAR-OLD man denied his involvement in a double homicide outside a bar in Harbour Island, Eleuthera, earlier this year.

One of the victims was on bail for murder at the time of his death.

Prosecutors allege Samson Joseph fatally shot Khristen “Tum Tum” Francis and Michael Reckley shortly after midnight on February 23.

The victims, both in their 30s, were standing outside Sammy’s Bar when the

defendant, dressed in black, allegedly approached and opened fire.

Mr Francis, a local waiter who was on bail for murder, was pronounced dead at the island’s clinic. Mr Reckley, a father of a young girl and an autistic boy, died at the scene.

Witnesses told his family that his last words were to tell his wife he loved her.

Residents said the men had been inside the bar moments earlier. Mr Francis told friends he was stepping outside to smoke, while Mr Reckley stood beside him.

Seconds later, witnesses heard about seven shots.

Patrons rushed outside and

found both men lying on the ground.

Mr Francis had been charged in connection with the shooting death of Drew Storr in Eleuthera on November 28, 2021. Relatives described him as humble, cheerful and hospitable.

Joseph pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder before Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns.

The defendant was informed that his trial date would be fixed before the same court on September 16. Until then, he will be remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A MAN denied his alleged involvement in the fatal stabbing of 21-year-old Elvardo Munroe in Yellow Elder Gardens last October.

Police allege that Michael Adderley, 33, fatally stabbed Mr Munroe during a physical confrontation on Graham Drive around 5pm

on October 30, 2025.

Mr Munroe, the nation’s 72nd homicide victim that year, died in hospital on November 7, 2025.

His mother, Ireka Smith, told The Tribune last year that she was frustrated with the delay in charges over her son’s death. Ms Smith said she wanted justice and that her only child “didn’t deserve this”.

Adderley pleaded

not guilty to murder before Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns.

The defendant was informed that his case would proceed before Justice Renae McKay. He will appear before her for a trial date fixture on September 10.

The defendant will remain on remand at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Teen denies attempted murder and gun charges over Hay Street shooting

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net A TEENAGER denied his involvement in a near-fatal shooting on Hay Street earlier this year.

Prosecutors allege Zion Dawkins, 19, and accomplices

attempted to shoot and kill Keondre Barnette with a handgun on the night of April 16.

Dawkins pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life before Justice Guillimina Archer-Minns.

He was informed that his case would proceed before Justice Loren Klein, before whom he will appear for a trial date fixture on September 22.

The accused will remain on remand at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

PAROLE BILL EXPECTED BY YEAR’S END AS OFFICIALS SEEK TECHNICAL SUPPORT

PERMANENT Secretary Bridget E. Hepburn, Commissioner of Corrections Doan Cleare, and members of the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services attending the 3rd Annual Caribbean Association of Probation and Parole Conference in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

THE government expects legislation establishing a parole system to be passed by the end of the year as senior National Security and corrections officials seek international technical assistance to prepare for its implementation.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Bridget Hepburn, Commissioner of Corrections Doan Cleare and a team from the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services are attending the third annual Caribbean Association of Probation and Parole Conference in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

According to the ministry, it is the first time it has attended the conference, with the

government viewing participation as important as it prepares for the anticipated passage of the Conditional Release of Offenders Bill, which would introduce parole.

The conference is being held under the theme, “Leveraging Probation, Parole and Rehabilitation as Effective Crime-Reduction Strategies in the Caribbean.”

During the conference, Ms Hepburn, Commissioner Cleare and Assistant Commissioner Rolean Forbes met Leo Tigges, a senior expert with EL PACCTO 2.0, and project officer Cassandra van Diemen to discuss technical assistance for The Bahamas’ transition to a parole system.

The ministry said assistance being sought includes training and skills development for officers as well as modern software to support the proposed system.

EL PACCTO 2.0 is an EU-funded programme aimed at strengthening cooperation between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean in justice and security.

The ministry said discussions with representatives of the programme will continue in the coming weeks.

The conference comes as the government advances preparations for the Conditional Release of Offenders Bill, which the ministry said is anticipated to be passed before the end of 2026.

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Monday, SepteMber 7, 2026

THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS

Donnette Russell-Love, Esq. • Beyond The Borders

School in the US on a B2 visa

The US Consulate cancelled my visa! What to do MOST of the families from the Bahamas affected

by INA Section 212(a)(6) (G) were never F-1 students at all. They came to the United States as children on a B-2 visitor visa. Years later, when they apply as adults for an unrelated visa, they are told they are inadmissible under a provision written for a completely different population. Or the US Consulate officers wrongly cancel a child’s parent’s existing visa at their children’s interview.

This is worth saying plainly at the outset: when that happens, it’s a status-identification error. The consulate applied a finding that depends entirely on a status to an applicant who never held status, and it needs to be challenged.

classification, and officers are not routinely cross-checking SEVIS data before issuing the finding.

The result is a status-based ground of inadmissibility applied without ever

inadmissibility ground and the reimbursement obligation legally inapplicable, because Section 214(m)'s obligation only attaches to F-1 students in the first place.

The structural fix that has not come Even in the smaller set of cases where the applicant genuinely was an F-1 student, there is frequently no functioning way to comply.

Section 214(m) created a reimbursement obligation running to the LEA, but no federal regulation requires

the distinction Consulates keep missing The error we see most often in the US-Caribbean corridor is not a misreading of the reimbursement rule.

It’s a failure to confirm the threshold status question before applying the rule at all. Three populations are being swept into 212(a)(6) (G) findings that the statute was never written to reach: 1. Children who attended US public school on a B-2 visitor visa. A B-2 visitor is not authorized to enroll in a full course of academic study, and doing so can raise its own status-violation concerns — but that’s a B-2 nonimmigrant-intent or status-violation issue, governed by entirely different provisions of the INA. It is not an

confirming the status that supposedly triggered it: a status-identification error, not a judgment call about whether reimbursement was adequate or timely.

Photo: rdne/pexels

Section 212(a)(6)(G) is not a freestanding ground of inadmissibility. It’s triggered only by a violation of INA Section 214(m), which has a narrow, specific predicate: · the applicant must have held F-1 nonimmigrant status, must have used that status to attend a US public secondary school; · must have exceeded 12 months of such attendance; · and must have failed to reimburse the local educational agency (LEA) for the full, unsubsidized per capita cost of the education received.

The first element is the gate through which the other three never even get evaluated. If the applicant was never in F-1 status, the statute has no application — there is no violation to cure, because the obligation itself only attaches to F-1 students in the first place.

Photo: vecteezy

What Section 212(a)(6)(G) actually requires

F-1 reimbursement violation, because there was no F-1 status and no Section 214(m) obligation was ever created.

2. Children who attended US public school with no immigration status at all.

Public school attendance by children regardless of immigration status is constitutionally protected under Plyler v. Doe, and it happens every day without any visa classification attaching to it.

A child in this position was never an F-1 student, never

accrued a reimbursement obligation to any LEA, and cannot be inadmissible under a provision that only governs F-1 students.

3. Children who attended school as dependents of a parent in a different nonimmigrant category, or as US citizens or lawful permanent residents at the time.

None of these statuses is F-1 status, and none of them triggers Section 214(m).

In each scenario, the fact pattern looks identical on

France is banning unsolicited telemarketing calls

By SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — France next week will ban unsolicited telemarketing calls under a new law aimed at protecting consumers from intrusive sales pitches and shielding vulnerable people from fraudulent commercial practices.

The law backed by President Emmanuel Macron's government enters into force on Aug. 11.

While several countries have tried opt-out systems, France is hoping more muscular obligatory opt-in rules will be more effective.

Here's a look at the law and its potential impact. people have been complaining

for years Previously in France, people who wanted to avoid marketing calls had to register their number with a government-run service, but consumer groups said some call centers ignored the list.

Now, "businesses are prohibited from contacting consumers without their prior consent," said Alice Vilcot, chief of staff at the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Prevention of Fraud. "That consent can be withdrawn at any time."

The government says the law is a response to years of consumer complaints. Authorities estimate that about three-quarters of people in France receive at least one unsolicited sales call every week, and

paper to a genuine F-1 violation: a foreign-born applicant with a record of US public high school attendance. That surface similarity is what produces the error. Consular officers are pattern-matching on "attended US public high school" and applying 212(a) (6)(G) without first confirming the one fact that actually matters — whether the applicant held F-1 status at the time.

School enrollment records rarely specify visa

Why the framing matters, and the advocacy response The correct posture is to establish the status fact and let the legal conclusion follow automatically. Where a post has applied Section 212(a)(6)(G) to an applicant who attended school on a B-2 visa, with no status, as a dependent, or as a citizen or LPR, in other words, to anyone who was never an F-1 student, the response should be direct and grounded in the regulatory language itself. That single fact makes both the

many receive more.

In 2024, 11 consumer organizations issued a joint call for a ban, denouncing "relentless harassment of consumers through countless unwanted telemarketing calls to both landlines and mobile phones — an intrusion that has become a regular part of their daily lives."

people can report unsolicited calls through a government website.

Vilcot noted that an Ireland-based company was fined 6 million euros ($6.9 million) last year for violating France's previous telemarketing rules by calling people on the no-call list.

parliament approved the law last year.

An unwanted call faces fines of up to 375,000 euros Individuals who make illegal calls can be fined up to 75,000 euros ($87,000) per call. Companies can face fines of up to 375,000 euros ($435,000) per call.

There are exceptions. Consumers may consent to receive marketing calls, for example by checking a consent box on a form. Companies can contact customers with new commercial offers if they already have a contractual relationship.

Morocco raised concerns over job impact France's new law has raised concerns in Morocco, where the minister of employment, Younes Sekkouri, told lawmakers up 50,000 jobs were at risk in the country's call centers. Sekkouri said the industry has attracted around $100 million in investment and generates more than $1 billion in annual revenue in the country.

Low labor costs, a large French-speaking workforce and relatively weak unions have made Morocco an attractive outsourcing destination for international

school districts to publish per capita cost schedules, and no agency coordinates the payment process between the consulate, which demands proof of reimbursement, and the district, which may not know it’s entitled to receive any.

No standardized form or portal exists, and no DHS or DOS rule requires LEAs to establish a procedure.

Conclusion Section 212(a)(6)(G) is a legitimate, narrowly drawn provision. Its scope is defined entirely by Section 214(m), and Section 214(m) reaches only F-1 students.

When a consulate applies it to a former B-2 visitor, the finding is not a close call; it’s a status-identification error, and it should be challenged on that basis specifically.

For the families in the US-Caribbean corridor carrying this finding, the fix is often not new evidence or a hardship argument; it is simply establishing, clearly and with documentation, what status the applicant actually held as a child.

This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading this article. Immigration law is fact-specific and subject to change; readers facing a specific inadmissibility finding should consult qualified counsel regarding their individual circumstances.

companies, particularly French firms seeking to reduce costs.

Youssef Chraïbi, president of the Moroccan Federation for Outsourcing Services, told the local daily Le Matin that the French market has historically accounted for more than 80% of the industry's revenue.

"Pure telemarketing now represents only 15% to 20% of total activity," Chraïbi said, adding that the sector has increasingly diversified beyond traditional call center services. other countries have tried to limit calls Neighboring Germany has had a similar ban since 2009.

The Netherlands tightened rules on telemarketing calls last month.

The country had already banned unsolicited sales calls but now, companies are not allowed anymore to call their own customers with promotional offers without previous authorization.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 7, 2026, PAGE 11

World View • Sir Ronald Sanders

The world has broken the 1.5°C promise small states shouldn’t have to pay the bill

THE world has broken the 1.5°C promise it made to its most vulnerable countries. The breach has not yet been recorded on a sustained basis, but the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says it’s widely assessed as unavoidable and likely within the next few years. Even its most optimistic scenario puts peak warming at 1.8°C. For small states that fought to secure recognition of 1.5°C in the Paris Agreement, this confirms the failure to deliver a safeguard on which their security, economies, and, in some cases, survival depend.

Small and climate-vulnerable states contributed negligibly to the greenhouse gas emissions that created this crisis, yet they are already borrowing heavily to repair its damage. If the major emitting countries have failed to prevent the world from breaching 1.5°C, those least responsible should not incur more debt to pay for the consequences.

When the Paris Agreement was concluded in 2015, small island developing states fought hard for recognition of 1.5°C because the difference between 1.5°C and 2°C was understood to be a matter of life or death.

Every additional fraction of a degree increases the risks from sea-level rise, extreme weather, ecosystem damage, and loss of habitable land.

I wrote at the time that the Agreement would ultimately be judged on whether warming was held to no more than 1.5°C and whether industrialised countries provided adequate financing for mitigation and adaptation.

Eleven years later, the first objective is slipping away, while the second remains far below what vulnerable countries require.

However, the European Union and its member states deserve recognition as the largest providers of international public climate finance, contributing €31.7 billion from public sources in 2024 and mobilising a further €11 billion privately. But even this comparatively greater effort falls short of the needs confronting vulnerable states.

UNEP now speaks of an “overshoot,” in which temperatures exceed 1.5°C before later efforts seek to bring them down. But damage incurred during an overshoot cannot simply be reversed. Infrastructure must be rebuilt, displaced communities resettled and public debt accumulated after

Photo: Julia Volk/pexels

climate disasters repaid.

This is where climate vulnerability becomes a debt problem.

When a hurricane destroys roads, schools, hospitals, electricity systems, and homes, governments must rebuild. If grants and highly concessional financing are unavailable, they borrow.

Climate destruction produces debt, while debt service reduces the resources available for resilience and development.

Hurricane Maria demonstrates the scale of the danger. The damage and losses it caused in Dominica in 2017 amounted to approximately 226% of the country’s 2016 gross domestic product. Few economies could absorb destruction on that scale without lasting financial consequences.

The international financial system compounds the problem. Many Small Island Developing States are excluded from concessional financing because per capita income supposedly makes them too wealthy to qualify, even though one hurricane can destroy assets and economic output accumulated over many years. A country can therefore be classified as too prosperous for concessional development finance while remaining vulnerable to losing much of its economy overnight.

The injustice is obvious.

Vulnerable governments nevertheless have obligations

of their own. They must enforce stronger building standards, improve water management, protect coastlines, expand renewable energy and invest seriously in disaster preparedness.

But those responsibilities do not erase the unequal origins of the crisis or enable small economies to finance repeated reconstruction without outside support.

The accounting is incomplete in another respect. A 2026 systematic review of 263 scientific studies and 36 reports notes estimates that military activity accounts for approximately 5.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Treated as a country, the world’s militaries would rank collectively as approximately the fourth-largest emitter. Yet less than one-tenth of military and conflict-related emissions is captured in existing international reporting.

An analysis by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, Lancaster University and the Climate and Community Institute estimated that the first 14 days of the 2026 war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran produced more than five million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Whatever the security arguments, these emissions enter the same atmosphere and contribute to consequences borne by states far removed from the conflict.

There is now also an

important legal dimension.

In 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea concluded that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions constitute pollution of the marine environment under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice confirmed that states have obligations under international law to protect the climate system from significant harm. It also recognised that breaches may engage the established principles of state responsibility and reparation where the necessary legal conditions are satisfied.

These advisory opinions do not automatically produce compensation. Questions of causation, attribution, and quantification remain. But climate commitments are now reinforced by authoritative findings concerning the legal obligations and potential responsibility of states.

The international financial response should reflect that reality.

Climate adaptation and reconstruction in highly vulnerable small economies should be financed primarily through grants and deeply concessional resources, not commercial borrowing.

Debt clauses that automatically suspend repayments after major climate-related disasters should become standard. The Multidimensional Vulnerability Index

burden of its consequences.

No one should regard them as charity.

The principle should be straightforward: no vulnerable country should become more indebted because it must repeatedly rebuild from damage caused substantially by a global problem for which it bears negligible responsibility.

Crossing 1.5°C does not mean that further climate action is pointless. It underscores the imperative for remedial and preventive action. Major emitters must accelerate reductions in greenhouse gases, while all countries, including small states, must do what they can to build resilience.

But the latest assessment changes the terms of the discussion.

For years, vulnerable states were asked to trust that emissions would fall sufficiently, climate finance would increase, and 1.5°C could be protected. That confidence has not been justified.

Small states must accept

Photo: Andy Lee/pexels

should be used throughout international financial institutions so that access to concessional finance reflects exposure to shocks rather than relying principally on per capita income.

The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage must receive resources proportionate to the problem it was created to address. Debt relief or restructuring should also be considered where sovereign debt has been substantially increased by repeated climate disasters.

These measures are reasonable responses to unequal responsibility for a global problem and the unequal

responsibility for what they can and should do themselves. But they should not quietly accept a financial system in which they must borrow heavily to pay for the consequences of a crisis they did little to create.

The world is failing to keep the 1.5°C safeguard.

Small states should not be required to pay the bill.

The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States. He is also Chancellor of the University of Guyana.

The view expressed are his own

Ode to the remote control, that tiny box that lets you channel your desires without ever getting up

By DAVID BAUDER Associated Press CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (AP) — If the TV remote hadn't been invented, channel surfers and couch potatoes would have to argue about something else. Come to think of it, those surfers and potatoes might not even exist.

It may be difficult for anyone under 40 to understand, but there was a time when changing a channel meant getting up, walking over to the "television set" and turning a "dial."

Scientists at Zenith Electronics recognized a problem that needed to be solved fairly quickly. The first TV remote, called "Lazy Bone," was put on the market in 1950. It wasn't wireless. People tripped.

The first wireless remote, the "Flash-Matic," five years later, looked disturbingly like a gun and used light signals. The TV wasn't discriminating, and on sunny days false signals could cause spontaneous channel changes. The next year, Zenith's "Space Command" was introduced using sound waves.

On those early models, the press of

a button produced a clicking noise – hence the term "clicker."

Remotes using infrared signals emerged in the 1980s when, with the dawn of cable's multichannel universe, the device became indispensable.

"Losing the remote in the couch cushions became as frantic an event as losing a phone is today," says David Bianculli, TV critic for NPR's "Fresh Air" and a professor at Rowan University in New Jersey.

Remotes influenced how TV was programmed and consumed.

The flow of a network's schedule was essential: How do you prevent a viewer from changing channels? CBS' Saturday night schedule in the 1970s, from "All in the Family" through to "The Carol Burnett Show," was a masterpiece in program flow. NBC once considered Thursday nights "must-see TV." The early days of cable produced the surfer, who aimlessly pressed the remote to scan channels. That put a premium on flashy; you had to catch the eye.

Remotes have downsides.

They amplify selfishness. They

reproduce uncontrollably until you don't know which to use. Batteries die at inopportune moments.

Now that appliances can listen, maybe remotes fade away.

Until then, it's back to searching for wherever you left the clicker.

In the refrigerator while you were getting a snack? In the bathroom?

We'll pause, as it were, until you find it. In ASSORTED remote controls are displayed in Phoenix, April 13, 2026.

AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills the meantime, we'll leave you with this: as sex."

Polley may have been feeling "The flush That's from the late Zenith sci- pride of ownership. Then again, toilet may have been the most civilized invention ever devised, but entist Eugene Polley, who together there's no firmer upper hand in a the remote control is the next most with colleague Robert Adler was relationship than who has control important. It's almost as important considered the pioneer of wireless remote technology. of the clicker.

PAGE 12, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

We must not sleepwalk Op-Ed: into weakening environmental laws

By Romauld Ferreira Environmental campaigner and former Minister of the Environment

PROTECTING the environment of The Bahamas is one of the most important things we can do as a nation.

The environment we live in is who we are. It is the beautiful seas of our country, it is the abundant marine and plant life, it is the connection we have with our country and one of the reasons we can say it is better in The Bahamas. Preserving that is not something we should take for granted and, in fact, is something that has taken a lot of hard work and pressure by people passionate about their nation and determined to make sure we do not lose what we have.

We must also be careful not to undo the work that has already been done or ignore the times when we can see the risk of damage ahead.

In 2019, when I was Minister for the Environment, the government passed a compendium of 10 environmental bills with the goal of protecting our environment and holding those who damage our Bahamas accountable.

At the time, I spoke of how we must make sure that the days of The Bahamas being the Wild Wild West of development must come to an end, and the laws meant that those who cause the most damage to our environment could be fined up to $30m and jailed for up to ten years.

Crucially, that legislation also added more transparency to the Environmental Impact Assessment process and sought to give developers a better road map when seeking approvals.

Too often we have seen developers come in, up-end communities, then the development comes to a halt, leaving Bahamians to pick up the pieces. You get

half-built projects, people who moved to jobs that are no longer there, and communities left burned by yet another development that ended up going nowhere.

Recently, there have been a number of cases where transparency and public consultation have been crucially important, and yet the public has felt sidelined.

Amendments to the Environmental Impact Assessment process eliminated the need for mandatory public consultation on development and investment projects – the key word there being mandatory.

That means it has become a decision in the hands of the director of the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection whether a public consultation is required, and the process under which such a consultation will be carried out.

Transparency was an issue when a massive oil spill happened in Exuma.

On 22nd July 2022, an oil tanker spilled 30,000 gallons of diesel into pristine waters,

causing huge environmental damage. The parties involved were FOCOL and BPL. The matter ultimately ended up in court and resulted in the offending parties having to pay a fine.

The Attorney General, Ryan Pinder, chose to keep the amount of the fines secret by way of a confidential settlement, eroding public trust and ultimately protecting the interests of the offending parties by shielding them from public scrutiny. Ultimately, this perverted the objects of the Environmental Planning and Protection Act 2019.

The point of laws is to protect our environment. If we water down the need for transparency and consultation or fail to implement the fines that those laws permit, then that protection is not going to exist.

In Green Turtle Cay, a project has been proposed at Gillam Bay where it was decided unilaterally that there was no need for an Environmental Impact Assessment study. It must

Sudan's war-driven blackouts push residents toward solar power but high costs shut many out

have come as a shock to residents at a Town Hall meeting there that such a process would not be needed for a project that would see nine 1,900-square-foot villas being built, as well as a single-storey clubhouse with a restaurant and bar, administrative office and a back-of-house facility. The advantage of an EIA being carried out is that it informs the public as well as assessing the dangers.

Over in Eleuthera, people are concerned about a resort proposal including a casino at Governor’s Harbour. A crowded meeting saw residents and the developer at odds and lots of remaining unanswered concerns over the project itself.

The point of introducing laws to protect our environment was to make sure the mistakes of the past cannot be repeated and to hold those who damage our nation to account, including financially, whenever that happens.

There was a famous case at Blackbeard’s Cay where

everyone in Sudan can afford this solution," said al-Mansour, who supports her family with remittances from her

By MOHND BLAL and husband workYASSIR ABDULLAH ing in Saudi Associated Press Arabia.

In recent OMDURMAN, Sudan months, (AP) — For almost a year, billboards Randa al-Mansour, a 31-yearadvertising old Sudanese housewife, has solar panels, relied on solar energy panels batteries, and installed on the rooftop of inverters have her building to survive the expanded in recurrent blackouts triggered the capital as by the war-torn country's more Sudanese deteriorating electricity grid. consider transi"We are suffering big tioning to solar time," said al-Mansour, who energy. lives with her three children "For a in Omdurman, just outside low-income the capital of Khartoum. family, install"When kids arrive at ing a solar school in the morning, they panel system is find no electricity there, so a huge sacrifice they are forced to head back but an inevihome, where there is none table choice," either. It is very hard for said Mohey them to study under such a Eddin Abuhigh temperature."

Bark, owner The Sudanese military of a solar sysA TECHNICIAN cleans solar panels installed on the roof of a home in Omdurman, on the outand the paramilitary Rapid skirts of Khartoum, Sudan, July 23, 2026. tems business Support Forces have been AP Photo/Mohnd Blal in Khartoum, fighting since April 2023, adding that a killing at least 59,000 people, typical houseespecially during scorching summer heat. though aid groups say the hold 10-kilowatt solar system costs nearly number could be higher, and displacing The United Nations Development Program $5,000. has estimated the damage inflicted on the some 13 million.

Manahel Madany, a 43-year-old diabetic The conflict also has strained an already electricity grid at $3 billion. civil servant, cannot afford the transition, "We resorted to solar energy as a way weak power infrastructure, forcing many despite needing steady electricity for her Sudanese to seek alternative energy sources, of adapting to this situation. However, not

the Supreme Court quashed all of the project’s approvals, but it continued to operate for more than two years afterwards without action being taken.

Development is something our country needs and should be encouraged, but it should not be done carte blanche with no limits. That is the way we damage the environment that makes our country so special. That is the way we lose what we have.

There are many developers who see and appreciate what we have in our country, and we welcome those. But doing it the wrong way will harm Bahamians, drive out the developers doing it the right way, and leave us with nothing.

Transparency is key. No one knows the landscape better than local Bahamians and residents. Being clear and up front with them about the impact of a development and listening to their voices is the best possible way of getting the right outcome.

We must not diminish that.

fridge for her insulin.

"Every three to four days, I am forced to throw away all my insulin stock after it goes bad due to heat and power outages," said Madany.

She lives in a two-bedroom house with her mother and sister in Omdurman, and like many Sudanese, the three are forced to sleep in their house courtyard to escape the searing heat indoors.

"Not all pharmacies can afford to install solar panels for medical storage, and that's why most medications have become unavailable," Madany said.

The Sudan Doctors' Network, which tracks violence across the country, warned that the continued electricity cuts could impact patients in hospitals, especially kidney patients who need constant care.

At least 30% of Sudan's population has no access to electricity, with rural areas bearing the brunt, according to the World Bank.

Conditions in grid-connected urban centers have also deteriorated, with power outages reaching up to 16 hours in many parts of the country in recent months, according to two electricity department officials who spoke to The Associated Press.

Electricity production has dropped from 4,400 megawatts before the war to 1,100 megawatts as many power plants were hit by drones launched by the RSF, while nearly half of Sudan's best electricity engineers and technicians have also left the country since 2023, the officials said, citing a survey by a local labor union.

The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Sudan has limitless potential to generate solar energy given the long hours of sunshine that often exceed 4,000 hours per year, according to the U.N. However, the high upfront cost of imported solar energy systems and a depreciating local currency derail the transition to clean energy.

'Aura farming' trend inspired by video games is sweeping Latin America

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO and ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press LIMA, Peru (AP) — Dozens of young people gathered recently on a beach in Peru's capital to dance, pose and show off their most creative moves — all in pursuit of one thing: aura.

They were taking part in a so-called "aura battle," a realworld spin on the Internet trend known as "aura farming" that is sweeping across Latin America.

Dressed up as characters from comic books or animated films, competitors engaged in dance battles of sorts, vying for the crowd's applause.

Those with the loudest cheers and the most creative moves advanced to the next round.

One competitor dressed up as Spider-Man performed forward rolls and push ups, as techno music played in the background. Another hopped on one leg while kicking the other forward, in a move that looked straight from a video game.

"Aura farming is about letting your essence flow in a

place where people are watching you, but where there is no shame," said Liam González, a 20-year-old film student who attended dressed up as the movie character Shrek.

Gonzalo Cornelio, 19, came dressed as former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, wearing a grey tracksuit like the one worn by the deposed leader the night he was captured by the U.S. military.

Rooted in video games and boosted by social media Aura farming competitions first emerged in Brazil and spread through social media.

Now, teenagers and adults are holding aura battles across Latin America.

"It's not about being popular," said María Paula Martínez, a professor in the arts faculty at Colombia's Los Andes University. "It's about showing off good vibes, and having others recognize that."

Like video game characters who farm for points, people who go aura farming are trying to earn a reward. In this case, it's about generating good vibes, and thus improving their "aura," a term that,

A participant who goes by Ciclope, or Cyclops, competes in an aura-farming battle at Las Sombrillas beach in Lima, Peru, on Aug. 29, 2026.

AP Photo/ Martin Mejia according to some spiritual traditions, refers to an energy field that surrounds people.

Fernando Lícito, a Peruvian content creator, said that in aura battles participants do not touch each other or trade insults. "They are simply

farming their aura," said Lícito, 25. "And whoever gets the crowd to make more noise wins."

Lícito said he saw a video in June of an aura farming contest in Brazil, and decided to bring the idea to Peru. So

far, he has organized three aura battles there.

During the contests, some participants imitate soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo's goal celebration, extending their arms downwards and making a sound that sounds like "siuu."

Aura farmers also draw on other online trends, with some repeating the words "six, seven" as they move their hands.

Aura battles have spread to cities across Latin America, including Mexico City, Quito and Buenos Aires, where dozens of people staged a battle in front of the Obelisk, one of the most iconic monuments in the Argentine capital.

The contests have also reached Spain, with events taking place in Madrid, Burgos and Zaragoza.

Martínez, the Colombian arts professor, said that the concept of aura farming has moved beyond the digital world into physical spaces, enabling teenagers to socialize.

Supporters and detractors But some aura battles have met some resistance.

In Lima's Miraflores district, officials recently cancelled an aura farming event, saying organizers had not obtained the permits required to hold it in a public space.

In July, the mayor of Cuiaba, a city in southwestern Brazil, denied permits for an aura tournament, arguing it was not in the public's interest. The event was transferred to a university campus. And in Costa Rica, the ministry of education banned aura battles in public schools arguing they could create conflicts between students or disrupt learning.

In Mexico, by contrast, the education minister embraced the trend, posting a video in which he smiles and says he is "farming good education" as the country prepares for the new school year.

González, the aura farmer who dresses up as Shrek, said that this hobby gives him a way to have fun and express himself, even if his grandmother doesn't get what he's doing and thinks it's silly. "We were born in a different era," he said.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 7, 2026, PAGE 13

World News

Volcanic island in Indonesia erupts, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights

By TATAN SYUFLANA and NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press A VOLCANO erupted in Indonesia early Sunday, prompting the cancellation of all flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and disrupting other domestic airports as ash drifted across western parts of the country.

The volcanic island of Anak Krakatau, located in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait between the main Java and Sumatra islands, had showed signs of activity since Friday before erupting for 30 seconds at 3:53 a.m.

Sunday and for 16 seconds about three hours later, Indonesia’s Geological Agency said. Closed-circuit camera footage showed lava flares from the volcano.

No casualties were reported and no evacuation order was issued. The nearest settlement is more than 16 kilometres (10 miles) away, but authorities warned residents and visitors to stay at least 3 kilometres (2 miles) from the active crater.

Volcanic ash spread across parts of Jakarta and Lampung province on Sumatra’s southern tip, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said.

AirNav Indonesia closed airspace around Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports in Jakarta, as well as six other airports, including Radin Inten II Airport in Lampung, because of volcanic ash.

affected 170,000 passengers from 1,558 cancelled flights, including 963 flights in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport alone. All eight airports were ordered closed until midnight.

“It’s of course an inconvenience,” said Diego Urdiales, a Spanish tourist who was supposed to fly home to Madrid. “I was supposed to get input from the airline ... but so far no news.”

“It’s a natural disaster, it’s a force majeure, so, what can we do?” said Michele Gouw, an Indonesian passenger. “We just have to accept it and wait for the airline and airport directions.”

Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said that it was closely monitoring the eruption’s impact on air travel and coordinating with airlines, airport operators, air navigation services and the meteorology agency.

“Safety remains our top priority in every operational decision,” Lukman F. Laisa, Ministry of Transportation director general of civil aviation, said in a statement.

He warned flight schedules could face cascading disruptions affecting aircraft rotations, fleet availability and terminal capacity as airlines work to restore operations.

The eruption also disrupted services at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport and at Medan.

DRONE photo released by the Geological Agency (Badan Geologi) of Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources shows Mount Anak Krakatau spewing volcanic smoke in Sunda Strait, Indonesia, Saturday.

Photo: Badan Geologi/AP plume rose to 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) and drifted northeast over Jakarta, Banten, West Java and nearby waters. A second cloud reached 50,000 feet (15,200 meters) and spread over parts of Banten, Lampung and Bengkulu provinces, the southern Sunda Strait and sections of the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra.

Lana Saria, head of Indonesia’s Geological Agency, said activity at Anak Krakatau has intensified since July, with Sunday’s eruption the strongest during that period.

The repeated eruptions indicate a continued supply of magma and volcanic gases beneath the volcano, she said, though officials can’t predict whether a larger eruption will occur.

“We continue to evaluate the volcano’s development based on all monitoring data, not solely on the number of eruptions or the height of the ash column,” Saria said in a video briefing.

She said the main hazards include volcanic ash, high concentrations of gas and the ejection of hot rocks and other material

around the crater area.

The eruption’s impact extended beyond air travel. The government on Sunday authorized schools in areas affected by volcanic ash could temporarily move to online learning at home.

The measure is intended to reduce students’ exposure to ashfall and allow local authorities to adjust classroom activities based on conditions on the ground.

Anak Krakatau, which means “child of

Krakatau,” is the offspring of the famous Krakatau, whose monumental 1883 eruption triggered a period of global cooling.

An eruption of Anak Krakatau in 2018 caused a tsunami that killed at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java. Researchers believe volcanic activity triggered an underwater landslide and caused a large chunk of Anak Krakatau’s southwest slope to collapse and displace a large volume of water. Scientists said that Anak Krakatau island was only about a quarter of its original size after that eruption.

‘SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY’ MAKES IT SIX WEEKS IN A ROW AT THE TOP OF THE BOX OFFICE

its ticket sales over its second weekend. The film grossed $5.7 million, up 5%, to bring its two-week total to $14.3 million.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales

for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak: 1. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” $18 million.

2. “The Odyssey,” $13 million.

3. “Coyote vs. Acme,” $11.3 million.

4. “By Any Means,” $7.4 million.

5. “Insidious: Out of the Further,” $6.5 million.

6. “Cars” (20th anniversary): $6.1 million.

7. “Buddy,” $5.7 million.

8. “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie,” $3.3 million.

9. “The End of Oak Street,” $2.9 million.

10. “The Dog Stars,” $2.7 million.

Flights cancelled as 170,000 passengers affected

By Sunday evening, the closure of eight airports had

Volcano remains active Indonesia’s volcanology agency and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre identified two ash clouds using satellite imagery. One

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer SPIDER-MAN: Brand New Day” remained the No. 1 movie in theatres over the weekend, becoming just the second film this decade to top the box office for six straight weeks.

Since the end of July, the Sony superhero movie has ruled over cinemas with rare dominance. The last release to enjoy such a long stretch leading the box office was 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.” “Brand New Day,” the fourth standalone Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland, collected $18 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Sony is forecasting $23.3 million for the four-day holiday weekend.

“Brand New Day” has grossed $2.4 billion worldwide.

Universal Pictures’ “The Odyssey,” as it has for much of the “Spider-Man” run, remained in second place.

Christopher Nolan’s epic added $13 million domestically over the weekend, bringing its global haul to $1.63 billion. More than $1 billion of that has come from overseas sales, making “The Odyssey” the first to achieve that international milestone since 2009’s “Avatar.”

Both blockbusters — “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey” — helped lead Hollywood to its best summer since before the pandemic. Through Aug. 31, the domestic box office totalled $4.6 billion for the season, according to Rentrak, an increase of 26.1% from 2025 and just shy of 2013’s record summer.

On Sunday, Rentrak forecast that, including the Labor Day weekend, the summer will end up with $4.759 billion, a whisker above the $4.758 billion of summer 2013. That time

THIS image released by Sony Pictures shows a scene from “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Photo: Sony Pictures/AP frame, though, spans 130 days this year, compared with 123 days in 2013.

Accounting for inflation and higher ticket prices, Hollywood’s summer wasn’t quite so historically sensational. Admissions are still well below pre-pandemic marks. But it’s nevertheless a remarkable rebound for a film industry that has struggled to string together such a hit-filled summer through the pandemic, labour strife and the expansion of streaming.

Labor Day weekend is typically a sleepy time in theatres. And neither new release — Paramount’s “By Any Means” and A24’s “Onslaught” — made much of a mark. One of the weekend’s best performers was “Coyote vs. Acme,” the hybrid live-action-animated Looney Tunes movie. It dipped a modest 29% to gross $11.3 million in its second weekend.

“Coyote vs. Acme” is turning out to be a good investment for Ketchup Entertainment. The indie distributor acquired the film for approximately $50 million after Warner Bros., which produced the $70 million film, opted to can it. In two weeks, “Coyote vs. Acme” has ridden strong reviews and good

word-of-mouth to $33.8 million domestically.

“By Any Means,” a 1960sset civil rights action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, opened with $7.4 million.

Paramount is projecting $9.2 million for the fourday holiday weekend.

Audiences gave it a “B+” CinemaScore.

“Onslaught,” however, flopped with $1.9 million on 1,918 screens for the three-day weekend and a projection of $2.3 million for the four-day weekend.

The A24 release, directed

by Adam Wingard, stars Adria Arjona as a former Army sniper who defends her trailer park home from three escaped, experimental super soldiers. “Onslaught” cost a modest $15 million to make. But reviews (57% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores (a “C” CinemaScore) weren’t good.

Meanwhile, “Buddy,” a low-budget dark comedy, has turned into a surprise success. Made for just $3 million, the film, directed by Casper Kelly and from the producers of “Weapons,” is about a group of children trapped inside a surreal 1990s children’s television series. After overperforming in its opening weekend, “Buddy” actually increased

Schools move to online learning

Death Notice It is with deep sadness that the family announces the passing of

Glen Leland Holden, 75

of Yorkshire Street, on Thursday, September 3rd, 2026.

He leaves behind his beloved daughter, Tafadzwa Holden; his grandchildren: Hakeem Baiyewu Jr. and Hasaan Baiyewu; his siblings: Craig Holden, Carol Halpin, Mark Holden; his brothers and sistersin-law: Anne Holden, Tom Halpin, Heather Holden, Betty Von Hamm, Glen Knowles, Requel Stuart, nieces and nephews, The staff and faculty of The University of The Bahamas, and many other relatives, friends, and loved ones, notably Fintan Sheehan and Donique Adderley who will remember him fondly.

Members of the public are invited to pay their respects at Bethel Brothers Morticians & Crematorium on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Memorial Service details to follow.

PAGE 14, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

World News

A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards

By STEVEN SLOAN Associated Press IN the earliest days of this election cycle, the US wasn’t at war with Iran.

The East Wing of the White House was still standing and the Kennedy Center wasn’t threatened with demolition. Artificial intelligence data centers weren’t bipartisan shorthand for the tech sector’s excess. Democratic socialists were largely confined to the outer edges of political discourse. Lake Ontario’s name wasn’t in question.

Since President Donald Trump entered politics more than a decade ago, he’s had a knack for dominating the national conversation so thoroughly that it can be hard to keep up. But as the final midterm of his presidency rapidly approaches, the landscape is proving especially volatile, with Trump often stirring the tumult.

“Some of these things are out of our control,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters last week when pressed on whether the frenzy will hurt his party’s election prospects.

Even the map itself has been in flux, with Texas, California and Florida among the states that have redrawn congressional districts. Missouri’s Republican attorney general is appealing a court ruling last week that blocked a Trump-backed map there.

The twists could keep coming. The economic fallout from Trump’s tariffs on Canada may intensify as the election nears. His effort to limit mail ballots could add uncertainty to the voting process just as such ballots are being distributed in states like North

of the candidates aligned with democratic socialists are in reliably Democratic seats.

Still, Fleischer said Democrats snatched “defeat out of the jaws of victory” by elevating such contenders in a handful of congressional primaries.

Democrats have dispatched democratic socialist candidates in governors’ races. But Beshear, who has carved out a centrist lane before his potential presidential bid, rejected Republican efforts to label the broader party.

“The only person that I see engaged in socialism is Donald J. Trump, who is taking equity in private companies for the United States government,” he said. “That’s the definition of socialism.”

Voting issues hang over the race

PRESIDENT Donald Trump gestures in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington.

Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Carolina, home to a critical US Senate race.

The president is sitting on more than $400 million that could shape the election’s trajectory. And Trump’s gilded remake of Washington stands in contrast to the economic anxiety many Americans are expressing. The wealth he has amassed in office has no modern presidential precedent, with Trump taking in $1.2 billion from his crypto businesses last year, according to a federal filing released this summer.

That’s threatening a bipartisan effort in the Senate to advance legislation to strengthen cryptocurrency regulation as soon as next week.

Democrats are insisting the measure include a more robust ethics provision.

“We’ve watched this

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president enrich himself,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, a key Democratic vote on the bill who said she wouldn’t support it without tougher language.

Democrats and Republicans agree midterms are about Trump With so many shifts underway, it is perhaps fitting that one thing Democrats and Republicans agree on is that Trump will again be a central player in the election’s final stretch.

“No. 1, President Trump,” Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary under Republican President George W. Bush, said when asked to rank the top issues this year.

Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said: “People are feeling the pain from Trump.”

She expects voters will elevate candidates who “want to stand up for the American people, the pain that’s been inflicted by this administration and Republicans in Congress.”

Midterm elections are historically challenging for a president’s party as restive voters seek change.

Democrats flipped 40 House seats during Trump’s last midterm in 2018 and 31 seats during the final race of Bush’s term in 2006. Republicans, meanwhile, gained 63 seats in 2010 under Democratic

President Barack Obama but flipped fewer than 10 seats in 2022 under President Joe Biden.

Shifting dozens of seats this year could be challenging because partisan redistricting has reduced the number of genuinely competitive races. Still, just a third of US adults approve of how Trump is handling the presidency, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

That’s down slightly from 37% in June and well below the 42% who approved of his work when he took office.

Majorities also disapprove of his handling of the economy and immigration, issues that were central to Trump’s election in 2024.

Democrats focus on winning in Washington and beyond Democrats are confident they can win the handful of seats they need to regain control of the House. There may be a path to flipping the Senate if they can hold on in states like Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire while winning Republican-held seats in places like Maine, Texas, Iowa or Ohio.

But the party is also aiming to regain ground outside of Washington.

Democrats are devoting resources, in particular, to the governors’ races in Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, and Nevada, all currently held

by Republicans.

“I’m excited about the

map and I am bullish that we are going to pick up several seats,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a potential 2028 presidential contender who has led the effort to win governors’ races this year as chair of the Democratic Governors Association.

Democrats are especially enthusiastic about Iowa, which hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in 20 years. Their governors association has spent $5 million to back Rob Sand, who has gained national attention for his campaign to connect with rural voters who have abandoned Democrats in recent elections.

But even in a seemingly favourable year, Democrats face challenges.

Beshear acknowledged that Arizona, where incumbent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is facing Republican challenger Andy Biggs, will be a “tough race.”

The Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota, Lisa Demuth, suggested she would tap into the anti-incumbent mood that has coursed through both parties to target her Democratic rival, Amy Klobuchar, who has spent nearly 20 years in the Senate after working in local politics.

“She is a 30-year politician,” Demuth said of Klobuchar.

After democratic socialists won a string of primaries this summer, Republicans are eager to tie anyone in the party to the far left flank. Most

Hanging over many of these states is concern that the federal government under Trump will seek to influence elections, perhaps one of the biggest variables ahead and a prospect that some Republicans are warning against.

Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming, a Republican, said recently that the behaviour of Justice Department officials who monitored poll workers and observed voters was “a bit aggressive” and “irregular.”

“I feel very strongly about the federal government coming in and taking our guns,” he said at a meeting to confirm election results in August. “I don’t like that. I don’t like the federal government coming in and taking our votes, either.”

Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who supports a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill that is stalled in the Senate, told The Associated Press in July that “I don’t think that we should federalize the elections at all.”

“I believe that is a state issue,” he said. “The states should control their own elections.”

Given the concerns, some Democrats, particularly in states that could be crucial to the next White House campaign, are framing their races in larger terms.

“2028 starts right now,” said Aaron Ford, the attorney general in Nevada running for governor. “People across the nation need to understand that Nevada is a swing state, it needs a governor who is going to stand up for the electoral process.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, September 7, 2026, PAGE 15

Climate change images are getting scarier – could fear help drive action?

By JOSHUA GARLAND Postdoctoral Research Associate, Lund University OVER the summer, Europe provided a stark new set of images of climate change. Wildfires raced across forests and grasslands, rivers and reservoirs dried up in droughts and extreme heat disrupted everyday life.

Instead of the familiar photographs of people enjoying days at the beach, coverage of heatwaves increasingly comes with images of their consequences.

Moreover, issues such as drought and the knock-on challenges for water conservation and food security are not reserved for distant countries, but now the impacts are unmistakably at home on our own doorstep.

Tragically, this has also resulted in the loss of life and property.

How these effects are depicted through images, like the photographs we have been seeing in the media, matter for how people think about and act around climate change. This raises questions regarding how climate fallout in the UK and Europe is visually communicated through images and what affects these images may have on their viewers.

Images are powerful tools Images can be powerful communicative tools as they can be “read” more quickly than text and can sometimes be more emotionally evocative in ways that might also inspire action.

They are also open to different interpretations: the same image will not necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. Research suggests, however, that images can be particularly engaging when they provide a window into human-centred stories, or depict places that viewers recognise.

Fear and disengagement There is a risk, however, that images conveying a sense of fear, threat and vulnerability may contribute to disengagement from climate change.

When faced with largescale repercussions that can seem beyond our control, viewers may feel overwhelmed or powerless. If climate change appears too big and complex a problem for personal action to make a difference, it can become easier to disengage entirely and believe that any changes they could make would amount to a drop in the ocean.

Images of fires and evacuations seen across Europe this summer could therefore have this effect.

They risk feeding disengagement by making the scale of the climate crisis clear, while simultaneously leaving viewers feeling there is little they can do about it – and there is no reason to even try.

An opportunity?

This need not always be the case, however. My recent research has indicated that climate impact images bearing these negative themes of threat and vulnerability hold potential to raise awareness, influence attitudes and promote involvement in environmental and climate organisations as examples.

I analysed 724 images posted by 20 environmental campaign groups including Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion and assigned them to certain themes such as conservation, protest, vulnerability or threat. I then used six representative images and surveyed members of campaign groups, asking participants how each image made them feel and whether the image was a useful form of climate communication.

Images depicting threat and vulnerability – such as photos of wildfires or polar bears – produced the strongest negative emotions, but were also judged particularly useful.

IMAGES depicting threat and vulnerability – such as photos of wildfires or polar bears – produced the strongest negative emotions, but were also judged particularly useful.

FIREFIGHTERS battle a forest fire near Blagon during wildfires in southwestern France, July 29, 2026.

This potential to underscore the importance of action in the present may be further strengthened by how these images show us the effects of climate change in the places that we know, and communicate human stories of loss and vulnerability from

within our own communities. Both can make images and the challenges they depict more salient to viewers.

The climate changes experienced in Europe, and the ways these are witnessed through images, could therefore

represent an opportunity to engage with people meaningfully about the climate crisis unfolding before us, while encouraging action to prepare for the future.

Understanding how these images influence the way people think

Photo: Emma Da Silva/AP about and act on climate change will become increasingly important.

This is especially true as we encounter visual reminders of the climate crisis closer to home more often not only over this, but also future, summers.

PAGE 16, Monday, September 7, 2026

THE TRIBUNE

A Tribute

Community honours musician Travis Reekino Johnson Family and friends celebrate the life and legacy of the beloved artist at a heartfelt memorial service.

Photos: Shawn Hanna

FAMILY and friends gathered at the Church of God Convention Center on Saturday to celebrate the life and legacy of Bahamian musician Travis Reekino Johnson, who died July 10 at age 30. The memorial service featured musical tributes, reflections and prayers in remembrance of Johnson.

Forensic reports confirm identities of July 10 plane crash victims as families await closure

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net THE Ministry of Health and Wellness has received forensic DNA reports commissioned to confirm the identities of passengers killed in the July 10 plane crash in North Andros.

In a statement, the ministry said the reports contain scientific analysis allowing the identities of those involved in the crash to be confirmed.

“The forensic documents are now under the jurisdiction of the Chief Forensic Pathologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH)

and are being reviewed,” the statement read.

“After the review process, the Chief Forensic Pathologist will liaise with the Coroner on next steps to facilitate the release and transfer of the deceased to the designated funeral homes for final arrangements.”

In July, some grieving families of victims killed in the Independence Day plane crash were told they could wait up to eight weeks for DNA results before they could identify and bury their loved ones.

Relatives submitted DNA samples after several victims reportedly could not be identified because their bodies were severely

burned in the July 10 crash near San Andros Airport.

Police told some families the samples would be sent to a laboratory in the United States and that efforts would be made to expedite the process.

By late August, more than six weeks after the crash, grieving relatives were still waiting to bury some of their loved ones and said they had been left with little information about the DNA testing or when the remains would be released.

The families of Macaro Rolle and Giovanni “Geo” McKenzie have been able to bury their loved ones.

Their bodies were among the few that remained intact following the crash.