woman & health TUESDAY
The Tribune
CLASSIFIEDS TRADER
Established 1903
Heat warning! Try the Spicy Deluxe McCrispy.
hIGh 90ºF low 78ºF
CARS! CARS!
L AT E S T
N E W S
O N
T R I B U N E 2 4 2 . C O M
Biggest And Best!
Volume: 122 No. 214, September 30, 2025
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1
IMELDA LEAVES BEHIND FLOODING IN ITS WAKE Power lines damaged and roads impassable as tropical storm passes through Bahamas By JADE RUSSELL AND EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporters TROPICAL Storm Imelda left homes flooded, power lines down and roads impassable across parts of the northwest and central Bahamas before beginning to pull away from the country yesterday. In Pinewood, water mixed with sewage rushed into homes overnight on
Sunday, forcing families to stay awake as it crept through floors, bathtubs and toilets. “It’s hard to sleep thinking that you might put your foot down in water,” said resident Monique Clarke, whose refrigerator and bed sat in three to four inches of ais throughout the whole house, even in our bedroom. It’s everywhere, FLOOD - SEE PAGE THREE
THREE young men looking over the flooding left in the wake of Tropical Storm Imelda in their neighbourhood in Nassau, yesterday. Photo: Chappell Whyms Jr
MURDERS DOWN BY 28 PERCENT Bahamas holds on to Tier 1 rating in ‘more workers against last year’s numbers US 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report AND SEASONAL CLOSURES CAUSE of jobless rise’ By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
MURDERS are down by about 28 percent so far this year, with 64 killings recorded compared to 89 by the same point in 2024, according to Tribune records. At the Royal Bahamas
Police Force’s mid-year crime briefing in July, Commissioner Shanta Knowles reported a 27 percent decline in murders for the first half of 2025, 44 compared to 60 in the same period of 2024. She said the overall major crime index fell 14 percent, with MURDERS - SEE PAGE SEVEN
By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune News Editor rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas has kept its Tier 1 ranking in the United States’ 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report, placing it among a small group of countries recognised for meeting the minimum standards
for eliminating human trafficking. The report, released yesterday, credited the government with making “serious and sustained efforts” during the reporting period, noting increases in prosecutions, higher spending on victim support, and the introduction of a new screening tool to better
identify people at risk. Still, the report underscored gaps. For the second straight year, authorities did not secure a single conviction for trafficking offences. Investigations also dropped, from 25 in 2023 to 13 in 2024, even as prosecutors brought 20 new cases to REPORT - SEE PAGE SEVEN
Thompson ready to ‘deliver fair and efficient’ by-election in Golden Isles By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net ACTING Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson says his department is ready to deliver a fair and efficient byelection in Golden Isles, insisting preparations are in place despite criticism of the office’s performance in
recent polls. Mr Thompson said he met with his team yesterday and “we’re ready to move,” noting that ballot boxes are prepared, polling stations identified, and staff training underway. He added that biometric voter cards will not be introduced until the general election next year. BY-ELECTION - SEE PAGE FIVE
ACTING Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson.
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, who once dismissed rising unemployment as a sign of “visionless leadership” under the Minnis administration, is now defending a surge in joblessness under his own watch, pointing to seasonal factors and more Bahamians entering the workforce. The Bahamas National Statistical Institute reported that unemployment climbed to 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2025, with 25,925 people out of work between January and March — nearly 9,000 more than at the end of last year. Mr Davis said the uptick SURGE - SEE PAGE FOUR