GoodmorningJamaica

On Thursday morning, in Clarendon, one of three men who reportedly robbed a basic school, was beaten by residents as he attempted to escape with his fellow accomplices.

It was reported that a resident noticed a vehicle with three strange men in the area of the Sheckles Basic School, the men looked suspicious, so the resident notified other residents of what he or she saw.

The residents then discovered that appliances and alot of food items were missing from the school.

As the men attempted to leave the scene, one was evidently captured and beaten by the residents.

The stolen items were found in their get away car and nearby bushes.

The beaten man is now in the hospital under police guard, while the other two male suspects are yet to be found and arrested.

Mark Golding, the Leader of the Opposition, on Thursday, has awarded 100 students for their outstanding performance in the Primary Exit Profile examinations (PEP), all from the region of his St Andrew Southern constituency.

This is a continued programme that the former Member of Parliament Dr Omar Davies begun back in 2000.

Golding says the award is a grant towards first year secondary school tuition fees and general school fees.

He says there are three different levels of award, depending on the students grades. Golding stated that help and good support for the project was from a network of private sector and corporate donors.

He also expressed that with back to school preparation being more expensive, being able to assist parents with the grants made him happy.

Following the protest by residence against a chemical spill that killed hundreds of fish in the Rio Cobre river. Matthew Samuda the Environment Minister threatens to hit bauxite mining company Windalco with financial penalties.

The Government has gathered a multi agency working group to review the state of the pollution into the Rio Cobre and to study development along the river.

Samuda says that Prime Minister Andrew Holness gave instructions for the working group to meet.

Considering the damage the oil spill made, Samuda says one most likely solution is to draw-down on the environmental performance bond from Windalco that the Government currently holds through the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA).

“I want to assure the Jamaican public that the Government holds this environmental bond, which at the current exchange rate is $115 million, so we will be able to draw down a significant sum to ensure that the cost is felt by the company,” statement from Samuda as he toured sections of the Bog Walk Gorge that have been affected by Saturday’s chemical spill from the Windaco bauxite plant.

Samuda says that in the next legislative cycle, the government will table amendments to the NRCA and Wildlife Protection acts to highly increase the fines for egregious environmental breaches.

For Windalco to continue operating, the bauxite producer would have to restore the environmental performance bond.

The company Windalco says they will issue a statement very soon.

Richard Nelson, senior manager of the environmental management subdivision of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), said that PH tests conducted by his team have revealed levels as high as 11.3 since the spill.

Nelson says the standard PH level of the Rio Cobre ranges between 7.3 and 8, Acquatic life can only survive there at a PH level of 9.