Bahamas News
BAHAMAS: Smithsonian Institution to Assist with Cultural Rescue and Recovery Following Hurricane Dorian
#Nassau, November 4, 2019 – Bahamas – The Smithsonian Institution (SI) has offered to assist the National Museum of The Bahamas/Antiquities, Monuments and Museum Corporation (AMMC) in the rescue and recovery of cultural heritage resources. The announcement was made during a press conference held at the National Museum on Tuesday, 29th October. Also in attendance were Director of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Captain Stephen Russell and Director of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (NAGB), Ms. Amanda Coulson.
Acting Director of the AMMC, Mrs. Kim Outten-Stubbs said they were very pleased with the offer of assistance from the Smithsonian.
“We are very pleased that AMMC can now speak to its role in rescue, recovery and assessment in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian,” she said. “The initial stage of hurricane recovery was the security of life and property. Now, we wish to address our cultural heritage — those elements which speak to our culture – our libraries, museums, stories, that were lost or damaged in the storm.”
Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large, Dr. Richard Kurin, will lead the team of experts from the Smithsonian. He said as soon as they learnt that The Bahamas had been so negatively impacted by the storm, they were ‘moved’ to assist in rescue and recovery efforts.
“The Bahamas is very dear to me and so when we heard what happened here, our hearts went out to the Bahamian people,” he said. “We worked with The Bahamas 25 years ago. Culture is what makes people who they are. When we heard of books and art being destroyed, we knew what our duties would be: to help our Bahamian brothers and sisters.”
Both Director Russell (NEMA) and Director Coulson (NAGB) pledged their support to the Smithsonian initiative.
A team of persons including: Mrs. Kim Outten-Stubbs; Administrative Consultant, Mr. Alexander Flowers and Historic Preservation Architect Consultant, Ms. Alicia Oxley will accompany the team from the Smithsonian, which includes: Dr. Kurin; Director, of Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI), Ms. Cori Wegener; Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow (SCRI), Dr. Nana Kaneko; Senior Book Conservator, Smithsonian Libraries, Ms. Katie Wagner and Collections Care Specialist (SCRI), Ms. Rebecca Kennedy.
The team planned visit of Abaco on Wednesday and Thursday and Grand Bahama on Friday to commence their initial assessments. The objective of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI), an arm of the SI that will play a major role in the assessment, is to ‘protect cultural heritage threatened or impacted by disasters and to help United States and international communities preserve their identity and history. The SCRI led the Haiti Cultural Recovery after the 2010 earthquake, worked in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after hurricanes Maria and Irma and has assisted in Texas and Nebraska after major flooding. They also worked in Iraq.
The AMMC will serve as the partnering agency to represent The Bahamas and guide the SI during this assessment mission to Abaco and Grand Bahama Islands. The various governmental agencies, chief counselors and the local communities of these islands are providing information and assistance on the ground as the team travels through the various communities.
By Betty Vedrine
Release: BIS
Photo Caption: The Smithsonian Institution (SI) has offered to assist the National Museum of The Bahamas/Antiquities, Monuments and Museum Corporation (AMMC) in the rescue and recovery of cultural heritages resources. The announcement was made during a press conference held at the National Museum on Tuesday, 29th October 2019. Pictured L-R: Director of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Captain Stephen Russell and Director of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (NAGB), Ms. Amanda Coulson; Director, of Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI), Ms. Cori Wegener; Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-large, Dr. Richard Kurin; Acting Director of the AMMC, Mrs. Kim Outten-Stubbs; Deputy Chairperson (AMMC), Ms. Lynn Gape; and Administrative Consultant, Mr. Alexander Flowers.
(BIS Photo/ Betty Vedrine)
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
