Morning Bites: 5 things to know for Tuesday; Sectoral Debate; Shab Don; Junior Reggae Girlz; Clovis Toon; Breaking News and more

Morning Bites: 5 things to know for Tuesday, April 18, 2023 2023/24 Sectoral Debate gets underway at Gordon House The Minister of Tourism and Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives, Edmund Bartlett, will open the 2023/24 Sectoral Debate at Gordon House today. The Opposition Member of Parliament for St Andrew Western, Anthony Hylton, will also make his contribution to the debate on Tuesday. It is expected that the Sectoral Debate will continue on Wednesday when the House will also sit. ‘Shab Don’ returns to court on bribery charge The alleged [bribery matter involving dancehall producer Linval ‘Shab Don’ Thompson Jr]( is scheduled to be heard today in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court. According to the police, members of the Specialised Operations SWAT team searched a vehicle that Thompson Jr and co-accused Romario Scott, also called ‘BMR’, were travelling in and found an illegal loaded firearm. It is alleged that Thompson Jr tried to bribe the police officer with a sum of $2 million. The incident occurred on South Street in Old Harbour, St Catherine in October 2021. Regional leaders seek solutions at crime symposium The two-day [regional symposium on violence]( as a public health issue in the Caribbean which got underway on Monday in Trinidad and Tobago, comes to an end today. So far heads of government have offered solutions to the growing crime problem facing the region. Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness said “we must ... consolidate our efforts to lobby, particularly the United States, to assist us as we have assisted them in the war on drugs. They must assist us in the war on guns”. Advertisement Consumer Price Index up 0.1% for March The All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.1 per cent for March 2023 influenced mainly by a 0.8 per cent increase in the index for the heaviest weighted division ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’. The increase in the index for the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ division was due to higher prices for agricultural produce such as cabbage, Irish potato and sweet potato which contributed to the 2.5 per cent increase in the index for the class ‘Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses’. This was attributed mainly to lower supplies for some agricultural produce resulting from dry weather conditions. The inflation rate was, however, tempered by a 1.8 per cent fall in the index for the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ division and a 0.2 per cent decline in that of the ‘Transport’ division. Under-20 Reggae Girlz play Honduras Jamaica’s Under-20 Reggae Girlz will be going for a third straight win in the Concacaf Under-20 Qualifiers when they [take on Honduras at 8:00 pm today](. Jamaica has so far beaten Anguilla 6-0 on Friday and Bermuda 2-0 on Sunday. ICYMI: WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING Suspect held in murder of Ricky Trooper's daughter The main suspect in the murder of veteran selector Ricky Trooper’s daughter has been [captured by police in the United States](. Man charged in shooting of black teen at his front door An 85-year-old white man who shot a black teen at his front door in Kansas City, Missouri, last week has been [charged with armed assault]( and the Clay County prosecutor said Monday there was a racial component to the case. Man with Jamaican roots killed in alleged road rage incident The main suspect in the [road-rage murder of a man with Jamaican roots]( appeared in the Nassau County Court in New York on Monday. CLOVIS TOON TODAY IN HISTORY Albert Einstein dies [On this day]( in 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 76. For more stories, visit our website at www.jamaicaobserver.com or [sign up for our e-paper](. [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Website]( Copyright © 2023 Jamaica Observer, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 40 - 42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue Kingston 5 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.