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Volume: 120 No.59, March 27, 2023
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FAMILIES HOMELESS AFTER BIMINI BLAZE Fire displaces eleven families as dysfunctional fire apparatus failed to bring it under control
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net ELEVEN families were displaced after a fire destroyed four homes in Bimini yesterday and exposed the dysfunctional firefighting equipment on the island. Residents battled the flames with hoses from their homes and buckets of water drawn from the sea. Some cried as the houses burned down but there were no reports of injuries. Videos showing the destructive blaze spread
across social media on Sunday. “I lost everything,” said 36-year-old Danika Cartwright-Weech, a newlywed who moved into her home last month. “I don’t know what happened. All I know is I woke up and my roof was basically on fire; that was it.” Pastor Oral Ellis recounted waking up to unusual sounds and hearing a neighbour screaming for him to escape the house. “When I get out the door, I looked up and (the) SEE PAGE THREE
NEW LEGAL HURDLE FACES FNM LEADERS TOLD ‘STAY OUT’ DR SANDS: VAT ON HEALTH GOVT ON SHANTY TOWNS OF CONSTITUENCY BUSINESS INSURANCE CLAIMS ‘ABSURD’ By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE government faces a new legal challenge over the possible demolition of shanty towns after an appeal was filed against an earlier ruling.
The Court of Appeal has been asked to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that sanctioned the Minnis administration’s shanty towns eradication policy and paved the way for the Davis administration’s SEE PAGE FOUR
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net THE assistant chaplain of the Free National Movement wants FNM leaders to stop interfering in constituency association affairs. In an internal communication leaked to The
Tribune, Kevin Harris, who is also a former director of Bahamas Information Services, also criticised deputy chairman Don Saunders for attending last week’s Mount Moriah constituency meeting where he publicly argued with the Carmichael SEE PAGE FOUR
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE FNM’s chairman yesterday branded the proposal to change the VAT treatment of health insurance claims as “absurd, insane and inane”, warning that it will “destroy” the medical
sector if implemented as originally planned. Dr Duane Sands, himself a physician, told Tribune Business that the government’s proposal would halt insurance companies reclaiming VAT on health insurance claims. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
US HOTEL GROUP PURCHASE OF GINN DENIED INSIGHT By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE government has rejected a US hotel group, which last week agreed to pay $325,000 in sanctions to settle COVID fraud allegations, as a buyer of the 2,012 acre former Ginn development in Grand Bahama’s West End. Kingwood
LIGHTHOUSE concept for the Ginn Sur Mer project. International Resorts, which has been pursuing a multi-year effort
to obtain Bahamian government approval to acquire the project, had been accused by the US Justice Department of “knowingly providing false information” to secure pandemic-related financial assistance via a scheme involving “ghost” employees that was designed to “personally benefit” its principals. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
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HOW DOES OUR NATION GAIN FROM THESE DEVELOPMENTS? SEE PAGE EIGHT