ST. CATHERINE, JA (NICE STORY) : A house for former 31-year-old Latoya Williams homeless mom of four children....Now, she says she has much to give thanks for, primarily because Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica recently gave her a house.

Sunday, March 27, 2016    

Not long ago, 31-year-old Latoya Williams was facing the reality of being homeless and unemployed with four children, and local authorities threatening to take her children from her. Now, she says she has much to give thanks for, primarily because Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica recently gave her a house.

HOME AT LAST: Latoya Williams (centre), the formerly homeless
mother with four children, opens the house that Food For The Poor
Jamaica and Rainforest Seafoods Limited constructed for her
 last week. Sharing in the moment is Roger Lyn, Marketing
Manager of Rainforest Seafoods.

Williams, who now resides along St John’s Road in St Catherine, was evicted because she was unable to pay her rent. With nowhere to live, authorities told her they would take her children from her and place them in the care of the State. After being told this, Williams developed a plan to get a house.

“I used to buy and sell downtown with goods such as bag juice and cookies, but I haven’t been selling since the year began because things got hard on me. I would borrow to buy the goods, and when things don’t turn over with a good profit, I can’t repay,” Williams said in an interview.

“Then I couldn’t pay the rent or send the children to school, so I got evicted. With all of what was going on, I went to Food For The Poor with the hope of applying for a house and getting it. I was told I needed a letter from a Justice of the Peace and my grandmother who owns the land the house was built on, so I went and got those and submitted it, then they selected me for a house.”FFP Jamaica, along with Rainforest Seafoods Limited, built the house for Williams during Holy Week.

“I am so grateful. Mi did think mi did ina one gutter weh mi couldn’t come out of, but with the house Food For The Poor gave to me, is like I am coming out of the gutter. All I need to do now is start sell again, and I have another plan for that. I just need a freezer and go downtown and start buy the bag juice them in a big bulk and store them in the freezer,” Williams said.

Executive Director, FFP Jamaica, David Mair said that when the case for Williams was presented to his team, they could not resist assisting.

“When you saw her story, you would have been heartbroken. Immediately after she was evicted, she was literally on the street with her children. She came to us, presented her case and showed us the documents regarding her eviction and her case with the court and her children. We had to assist her, because without a house, she would have lost her children,” Mair said. more

BERNIE: SUPER DELEGATES WILL SWITCH TO ME....SATURDAY SWEEP... Bernie Ramps Up For NY Showdown That Could Dash Hillary's Hopes For Unity...Bernie Sanders Claims Momentum After Three State Victories “Momentum is with us. A lot of these super-delegates may rethink their position with Hillary Clinton.”

03/27/2016 01:04 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fresh from Democratic presidential primary wins over the weekend in three U.S. states, Bernie Sanders on Sunday claimed political momentum he said could help him win the backing of Democratic power brokers in his race against Hillary Clinton.

Sanders easily won nominating contests in Alaska, Washington and Hawaii on Saturday. His latest remarks reflect his plan to chip away at Clinton’s commanding lead in the number of delegates needed to win the party’s nomination.

Bernie Sanders

Interviewed on Sunday by U.S. broadcasters, Sanders said Democratic “super-delegates,” who can change their allegiance, might rally behind him because some polls suggest he has a better chance than Clinton of beating a Republican candidate.

“Momentum is with us. A lot of these super-delegates may rethink their position with Hillary Clinton,” said Vermont Senator Sanders on CNN’S State of the Union news program.

About 85 percent of the votes at the July 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where a party nominee will be chosen to face the Republicans in the Nov. 8 election, are being determined by state nominating contests.

The other 15 percent is held by party power brokers who are free to vote as they like, meaning they could hold the key in a tight contest. Super-delegates include party leaders and elected senators, members of the U.S. Congress, and governors.

After Saturday’s contests, the former secretary of state led Sanders by just under 300 pledged delegates in the race for the 2,382 needed to be nominated. Adding in the support of super-delegates, Clinton had 1,712 delegates to 1,004 for Sanders, according to a tally by RealClearPolitics.com.

CONGRATULATIONS in CANADA: Jamaican mother, son score big. This year, for the first time in its 31-year history,...Dr Rosemary G Moodie & Dr Jonathan P Wong, Duo make history in copping African Canadian Achievement Award (ACAA)

Sunday, March 27, 2016    

This year, for the first time in its 31-year history, the African Canadian Achievement Awards of Excellence (ACAA) presented individual awards to a mother and her son in the same year.

Dr Rosemary G Moodie & Dr Jonathan P Wong

Jamaican-born University of the West Indies graduate, Dr Rosemary G Moodie, who spent 25 years as a neonatologist and clinical teacher at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, received the ACAA Excellence in Science award. And her son, Dr Jonathan P Wong, who is currently specialising in the highly sought-after Paediatric Medicine Residency Programme at the same hospital, was bestowed with the ACAA Youth Achievement Award, last month.

Although in the past the ACAA has presented individual awards to parents and their children, it has never happened in the same year.

The ACAA, established in June 1985, and which has evolved into one of the Black community’s most prestigious and distinguished honours, has celebrated and paid tribute to over 350 high-achieving African Canadians. An assistant professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto, Dr Moodie is a former corporate chief of paediatrics and medical director of the Rouge Valley Health System’s regional maternal child programme.

“We must take care of our families wherever we find them,” she emphasised in a quote from Elizabeth Gilbert, which resonates, not only for her family, but for all families in her community.

Dr Moodie’s medical recognitions include: the College of Physicians and Surgeons Ontario Council Award for demonstrating excellence and coming closest to meeting society’s vision of an “ideal physician”; Medical Association Presidential Award for exceptional humanitarian service to Ontario communities; and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Specialist Award for providing outstanding care to her patients and community.

WONG ... passionate about securing good health for children

Dr Moodie’s contribution to volunteerism, philanthropy, and advocacy is extensive. She is past president of YWCA, Toronto and a member of the Advisory Board of Food for the Poor Canada and Board Director of PACE (Canada).

Dr Wong, who grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, and Toronto, and is of mixed Caribbean descent, is passionate about ensuring good health for children of African Canadian and Caribbean descent.

Jon’s undergraduate major was in molecular biology, at the University of Connecticut (2010) and he completed postgraduate medical school at the University of Limerick in Ireland (2015). more

INCARCERATED deejay Vybz Kartel life sentence appeal on the horizon

BY SIMONE MORGAN Observer reporter  Saturday, March 26, 2016    

INCARCERATED deejay Vybz Kartel may have another legal battle in the works, as the appeal against his life-sentence conviction may take place later this year.

Tom Tavares-Finson, one of the deejay’s attorneys, confirmed this development.

INCARCERATED deejay Vybz Kartel

“The transcripts have been reviewed and are just about ready. So it is possible that the bid for an appeal is likely,” Tavares-Finson told the Jamaica Observer.

Vybz Kartel, whose given name is Adijah Palmer; entertainer Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell; Kahira Jones; and Andre St John were sentenced on April 3 to life imprisonment for the August 16, 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams. Justice Lennox Campbell ordered that Vybz Kartel serve 35 years in prison, with hard labour, before he becomes eligible for parole. Campbell and Jones are to serve 25 years before becoming eligible for parole, while St John is to become eligible after serving 30 years of his sentence. Following a 65-day trial, they were convicted on March 13.

A fourth accused, Shane Williams, was acquitted by the 11-member jury.

He is being held at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston.

Despite his incarceration, Kartel’s music continues to be in demand. He was voted Favourite Artiste Male Local and Favourite Dancehall Artiste at last month’s Youth View Awards held at the National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew.

UPDATE: Former Miss Jamaica runner-up, Marsha Gay Reynolds might not have known that she was smuggling $3.0 million worth of 68 pounds cocaine through airport when she bolted leaving her Gucci high heels– defence

Thursday, March 24, 2016 

NEW YORK (AP) — A JetBlue flight attendant accused of trying to sneak a suitcase full of cocaine through Los Angeles International Airport and making a dramatic dash to escape says she might not have been sure what was in her bag, a spokesman for her said Thursday as prosecutors suggested she had smuggled before.

Marsha Gay Reynolds

Marsha Gay Reynolds, a former Jamaican beauty queen and college track athlete, turned herself in Wednesday to face a federal drug charge.

Authorities said they found 70 pounds of cocaine in her luggage at LAX on March 18 after she was flagged for a random security screening, flung off her high heels and bolted barefoot down an upward-moving escalator. They said she ran out of the terminal and crossed the country to New York. Reynolds' spokesman Allan Jennings, representing her family and her defense lawyer, said, "She may not have been fully aware of what was in the bags".

But Assistant US Attorney Alicia Washington told a court that last week was "not the only time the defendant has engaged in this conduct". Washington didn't elaborate, and Jennings said he was surprised by the claim.

A US magistrate judge set bail for Reynolds at $500,000 and then warned her parents and two friends from her church they could lose their homes if she flees. He gave prosecutors a day to appeal before Reynolds can be freed.

Reynolds, a 31-year-old Jamaican-born US citizen, graduated from New York University and ran track there. She was a runner-up in the Miss Jamaica World 2008 pageant, which sends the country's representative to Miss World contests.

Leaders of the Jamaica pageant were "shocked and surprised" at news of Reynolds' arrest, said organizer Laura Butler, who doesn't know Reynolds. She said Reynolds apparently had travelled to Jamaica to compete while living in New York, as the contest allows for women of Jamaican heritage living elsewhere.

Reynolds arrived last week at a security checkpoint in LAX's Terminal 4 wearing jeans, heels and a black suit jacket and carrying her known crew member badge, an FBI agent's sworn statement said. She was off duty at the time.

Asked to step aside for a random check, Reynolds nervously looked around and made a cellphone call as she was led to a screening area, the statement said. When a Transportation Security Administration officer asked her for identification, she dropped her bag, ditched her Gucci shoes and took off, an affidavit said. A TSA officer said he didn't pursue her because his primary concern was her abandoned luggage.

In it was just over 68 pounds of cocaine, worth as much as $3 million on the streets of Los Angeles, authorities said.more