Archive for March, 2020
Ministry quits Smith Cove plans
(CNS): The planning ministry has announced that it has decided not to proceed with plans to ‘enhance’ Smith Barcadere (aka Smith Cove) in a rare response to the people’s wishes. In a short release Wednesday, ministry officials said the Smith Barcadere Committee agreed that the project should not be pursued. The news comes just as […]
Smoke persists as dump continues to burn
(CNS): Thick smoke was still billowing across parts of George Town and Seven Mile Beach on Wednesday morning as the dump continued burning for the fifth day. Government officials said that while fire crews had made progress overnight, the landfill fire was still ablaze, with new flare-ups across the garbage mound leading to “varying smoke […]
OfReg reveals fuel tank leak at Rubis
(CNS): The utilities regulator issued a press release Tuesday, in which it revealed for the first time that a fuel spill had occurred in November last year at one of the tanks at the Jackson Point Terminal, which holds fuel for the retailer Rubis. OfReg said that it was investigating this leak at the South […]
Jamaica confirms first COVID-19 case
(CNS): The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, got a little closer to home Tuesday after Jamaica confirmed its first case. According to the Jamaica Gleaner, the patient, a “young female”, returned to Jamaica from the UK last Wednesday, 4 March, and has been in isolation since Monday after showing respiratory symptoms but is said to be in […]
Smoked out residents allowed home
(CNS): People who were evacuated from Lakeside Apartments and Watlers Road on Sunday due to the thick plumes of toxic smoke emanating from the George Town dump have been given the okay to return home. The latest official update on the dump fire issued Tuesday evening said that Chief Fire Officer Paul Walker had given […]
Dump fire could happen again
(CNS): As the Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) and the Department of Environmental Health continue to battle the current blaze at the George Town dump for the fourth day, there appears to be little more that can be done in addition to current measures to guarantee that there will be no fires like it in […]
Dart dump contract on shaky ground
(CNS): The remediation of the George Town landfill is scheduled to begin next week, which may still happen if the massive fire at the dump that started this weekend is brought under control, according to the premier. This is the first phase of the total project, which includes a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant, that was awarded […]
Gov’t rehashes failed trial arguments in appeal
(CNS): Government has now filed its appeal against Justice Tim Owen’s ruling last month in favour of Shirley Roulstone, which found that the referendum law that was rushed through the legislature for the cruise port vote was unconstitutional. The appeal is largely based on the same arguments presented at trial, which all failed. While the […]
Five people in Cayman tested for COVID-19
(CNS): Public health officials have confirmed that samples from five patients have been sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to be tested for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. All of the individuals who have became unwell have travelled recently to countries where outbreaks have occurred. Four of them remain isolated at home and the […]
Sick cruisers don’t have COVID-19, officials say
(CNS) UPDATED: After news from government Monday morning that a cruise ship had anchored in George Town to offload two critically ill patients with issues that appear unrelated to the COVID-19 outbreak, so they could be airlifted to the US, it has now said one of those patients has stayed in Cayman. The person who […]
Dealer to serve two extra years for pimping
(CNS): A local man who is already serving a 13-year prison sentence for dealing cocaine was given an additional two years for pimping charges on Friday, following his conviction last year. Wayne Myles is the first person in the Cayman Islands to be found guilty of living off the earnings of prostitution, after investigators found […]
