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The Tribune Weekend L ATEST NE WS ON TRIBUNE242.COM
Volume: 112 No.165
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2016
PRICE - $1 (Abaco / Grand Bahama $1.50) The Tribune
Taste of The Bahamas
Inside Weekend
College shuts amid legal row Sojourner-Douglass caught up in US affiliation problems By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net SOJOURNER-Douglass College’s Bahamas campus has shut down its “academic operations” for the rest of the year, it’s executive director saying campus officials are in talks with another “American institution for affiliation” to have the campus reopened as soon as possible. Theresa Moxey-Ingraham, executive director of the East Bay Street satellite campus, told The Tribune that the school has closed for effectively the entire fall semester and will not resume “until the beginning
of the new year”. The Tribune understands that Sojourner-Douglass (Bahamas) will not conduct another semester until the new institution, reportedly Bethune-Cookman University (BCU), takes over. Mrs Moxey-Ingraham did not give a reason for the campus’ closure, saying she was not at liberty to disclose such information amidst the ongoing negotiations. However, international reports have suggested that the issue stems from the revocation of SojournerDouglass’ main campus’ accreditation as a result of financial issues. SEE PAGE SIX
PAIR JAILED FOR 18 YEARS FOR ROLES IN TRIPLE KILLING By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
TWO men were sentenced to 18 years in prison yesterday for their roles in the fatal shooting that claimed three lives, including a pregnant woman due to give birth to her son, five years ago. Shawn Knowles, 43, and Timothy Saunders, 36, reappeared in the Supreme Court yesterday before Senior Justice Stephen Isaacs for the completion of the trial on July 30, 2011,
into the deaths of Edward Braynen, Chackara Rahming and Erica Ward. Probation reports, which had been requested by the court for consideration, were exhibited at a prior hearing on July 26 and evidence was given on the findings by probation officers from the Department of Rehabilitative Welfare Services. Senior Justice Isaacs yesterday said: “As the jury convicted on the strength of the statements taken from SEE PAGE SIX
art books society film fashion mus Friday, August ic wedding 5, 2016 s food anim als
Weekend
olympic hunks Page 13
Naturally native
New eatery uses all loc al
ingredients
Food, page 7
MEDICS WERE ‘BLINDSIDED’ BY NHI TABLING By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
QUESTIONING the “government’s commitment to consultation and transparency,” United Healthcare Reform Alliance, a coalition of medical and insurance stakeholder groups, claimed yesterday that it was “blindsided” by the government’s tabling of its landmark National Health Insurance Bill in the House of Assembly on Wednesday. SEE PAGE SEVEN
Ready to rock Rio
THE BAHAMIAN swim and rowing team, along with chef de mission Roy Colebrooke and BOC president Wellington Miller at the flag raising ceremony for the BTC Bahamas Team in the Games Village in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. See Sports for more.
FORBES, SMITH AND MILLER RATIFIED AS PLP GETS ‘WAR READY’ FOR ELECTION By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net
THE Progressive Liberal Party last evening moved one step closer to its “war ready” mantra, as the party announced the ratification of three incumbent candidates on Thursday evening. In front of a packed hall of supporters, Prime Minis-
ter Perry Christie formally announced that Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller, Nassau Village MP and House Deputy Speaker Dion “Dynamite” Smith and Mount Moriah MP Arnold Forbes will all seek re-election for the PLP in the 2017 general election. According to the Prime Minister, the PLP, the party he described as that “of the
GRANT DENIES PRESSURE ON HIM TO QUIT POSITION By KHRISNA VIRGIL Deputy Chief Reporter kvirgil@tribunemedia.net CENTRAL Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant was adamant yesterday that he was not pressured to step down from the post of Leader of Opposition Business and the Free National Movement’s shadow Works Minister, saying his decision was completely “of my own accord”. Mr Grant, the day after
he resigned at Parliament, spoke to The Tribune and rejected reports that he was ordered to leave both posts by executives of the FNM to ensure they were vacant to be placed on the table for future negotiations. “There was absolutely no pressure whatsoever. It was a decision that I made on my own, off of my own accord,” Mr Grant told The Tribune yesterday. SEE PAGE NINE
people”; has to work “tirelessly in the coming months to prove to the voters that its work is not yet done”. To resounding applause, Mr Christie asserted that he and his colleagues had already bought into a belief coined on the party’s 2012 campaign trial; “no retreat, no surrender.” The Right Honourable Member for Centreville de-
scribed each of the three as key cogs to the party election machinery; a system he went on to suggest was vital to introducing democracy to the country and one that must remain instrumental in maintaining it. Arnold Forbes, the first of the three candidates to be ushered in to the hall, SEE PAGE FIVE
TURNQUEST REJECTS CLAIM OF RACE ISSUE IN CAMPAIGN POST-CONVENTION fallout continued for the Free National Movement yesterday as Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest clashed with former chairman Darron Cash over the latter’s claims that leader Dr Hubert Minnis ran a raciallydivisive campaign. Mr Cash made the claim as a guest on radio talk show Let’s Talk Live with Carlton Smith. “We heard it in the adver-
tisements,” Mr Cash said, “we heard it in the platform speeches, we heard it from Dr Minnis’ surrogates. This idea that the white people supporting Loretta [ButlerTurner] is something that is so grotesquely a violation of the core principle of the FNM that I think it is going to do damage to Dr Minnis and his reputation and potentially even the FNM.” SEE PAGE NINE