As Christmas Day draws near, two senior citizens in western Jamaica, including a centenarian, took time out to reflect on what Christmas was like for them when they were growing up in the early 1900s.Iris Denniston, a 100-year-old resident of Orange...
The Internet has become part of the lives of most of us. A large part of the use of the Internet today has to do with persons using social media. With more than a billion users of Facebook and more than 500 million on Twitter, there is no doubt that...
Published:Sunday | December 18, 2016 | 12:00 AMMark Titus
Retailers in Montego Bay are anticipating a further spike in sales as preparations for the Christmas celebrations intensify, following an increase in business from as early as November."The holiday buzz is gradually building up, more so within the...
Published:Friday | December 9, 2016 | 12:00 AMOkoye Henry
A major initiative that has been staged in two western parishes by Children of Faith (COF) and UNICEF in 2014, to get chronically absent children to attend school consistently, has been reaping success.The programme was undertaken at the school,...
Published:Friday | December 9, 2016 | 12:00 AMAdrian Frater
WESTERN BUREAU:The SOS Children's Village in Rose Hall, St James, will go into the Christmas season and the new year with a spanking new look, thanks to the upgrading work undertaken there last weekend by Primary Residential Mortgage Incorporated (...
The Darliston Post Office, in Westmoreland, which was closed for the past three months, is to be reopened this week, much to the delight of residents, who have been seriously inconvenienced by its closure.The post office, which serves the...
The mode of operations of the island's municipal corporations will be subject to greater monitoring and scrutiny due to the accountability mechanisms embedded in the Local Governance Act of 2015 and the Local Government (Financing and Financial...
We know that our lifestyle decisions have a tremendous impact on our health and we have control over these decisions. But what about changes in atmospheric conditions over which we have very limited direct influence? do they affect our health as...
Chicconey Swaby,social worker:"I believe anybody who breaches the council's regulations should be sanctioned, no matter their title or what office they...
Published:Friday | December 9, 2016 | 12:00 AMClaudia Gardner
There are mixed reviews from stakeholders in western Jamaica regarding the Local Government's Strategic Laws, which were enacted to, among other things, properly regulate the operations of the island's municipal corporations and hold transgressing...
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) machinery in St Elizabeth, which is still basking in its success in last week's local government elections, is now gearing up to take charge of the municipal corporation (formerly parish council) following the swearing...
Published:Friday | December 2, 2016 | 12:00 AMOkoye Henry
The St James High School Past Students' Association is singing high praises for its Student Watch initiative, which was implemented at the start of the academic year in September.The programme was set up enable the association and the school to be...
The driver of the tractor trailer which was involved in a fatal collision along the Paradise main road in Westmoreland last Tuesday, has been arrested and charged by the Savanna-la-mar police for causing death by dangerous driving.According to...
Anthony Williams (Hanover):"I think because my elected councillor was in his first tenure under the last regime and was unable to do much, the fact that he is under this regime...
They say good things come in small packages, and so it is with flaxseed. The seed has been held in high regard from time immemorial. It was even cultivated in ancient Egypt and China; but what good is it in these modern times?Flaxseeds are quite...
Chairman-elect of the Hanover Municipal Corporation and second-time councillor Sheridan Samuels says that stringent measures will have to be put in place as soon as possible to enable the local authority to become self-sufficient.Samuels said that...
Published:Monday | December 5, 2016 | 12:00 AMClaudia Gardner
Senior councillors of municipal corporations in western Jamaica say that councils will be playing a greater role as drivers of growth and economic development in the region during this term.Under the Local Governance Act of...
All of us have pain from time to time. It helps to tell us when something is wrong so that we can take corrective measures. When pain becomes persistent it can really become disabling. This can happen to someone with fibromyalgia.Fibromyalgia is a...
More than 50 artistes are expected to perform at the upcoming Entertainers Against Crime and Violence concert, which is scheduled for the Dump up Beach in Montego Bay on Sunday December 4, at 3:00pm.Among the entertainers who have already confirmed...
Michelle Garcia,administrative assistant:"I would like the Government to implement a system where, if possible, bus drivers and conductors are trained as some sort of security officer, with the ability to arrest criminals, not...
Due to the recent series of attacks on students, some parents in western Jamaica are being proactive in ensuring their children's safety while travelling to and from school.Dian Salmon, whose son attends Cornwall College in Montego Bay, said that...
Following the stabbing death of Jamaica College student Nicholas Francis during a robbery on a bus in October and subsequent reports of similar attacks on other students, some principals in western Jamaica have acknowledged the need for stricter...
Published:Sunday | November 27, 2016 | 12:00 AMClaudia Gardner
The Rotary Club of Washington, D.C. has partnered with the Rotary Clubs of Negril and Lucea to spearhead a series of consultations with stakeholders in western Jamaica, ahead of a proposed one-day peace and conflict skills-building conference set...
Residents of several municipal divisions in Trelawny are giving their councillors negative reviews, ahead of the Local Government Elections, which is set for November 28.Persons with whom Western Focus spoke across the parish were quite vocal about...
