​Outstanding youth are set to take the spotlight this weekend at the National Youth Award Ceremony.
The event is carded for Saturday October 1st from 6pm at the DCS Auditorium.
Communications Officer of the National Youth Council Paul Baron has the details.

Communications Officer of the National Youth Council Paul Baron

​The community of Newtown is being called upon to work hand in hand with teachers and parents to ensure the best education for their students.
That call came from Education Minister Petter St Jean.
St Jean was addressing patents and teachers of the Newtown Primary School at the school's official commissioning on Monday.
The minister called on constituency members to come on board and says he hopes the performance of students will reflect the enthusiasm of the teachers.

​St Jean says the new Newtown Primary School fits squarely into the vision of the government of Dominica to ensure each child succeeds.

Education Minister Petter St Jean

​Dominica is not out of the woods yet as a westward moving tropical wave located in the central Tropical Atlantic is expected to approach the area by late Saturday into Sunday.
Also, weak unstable conditions are expected to generate occasional cloudiness, scattered showers and possible isolated thunderstorms across parts of the island chain during the next 24 to 48 hours.
Moderate seas are also expected during the next 24 hours with waves peaking near 7.0ft. As a result, small craft operators and sea bathers on the east coast are advised to exercise caution.
Meanwhile, MATTHEW has strengthened to a category two Hurricane as it continues westward over the Caribbean Sea.

​While the impact of TS Matthew is not as extensive as that of TS Erika, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has confirmed that there has definitely been some impact on the Agriculture Industry.
Addressing the nation Thursday, PM Skerrit there has not been any significant infrastructural damage following the passage of TS Matthew Wednesday.

​Following the passage of TS Erika in August 2015, the Dominica Government was left with a 1.3 billion dollar reconstruction bill.

​Tomorrow October 1, marks the sixteenth anniversary of the death of Dominica’s fifth Prime Minister Roosevelt Douglas.
Douglas was known as a black power activist, human rights agitator and international statesman. He was the Caribbean’s only Mathaba leader and sought to connect African States with the aspirations of Caribbean and African - American people, to unite to confront global political and economic challenges.
In 2000, he was elected as the fifth Prime Minister of Dominica holding the office for eight months, from 3 February 2000 until his sudden death later that year at the age of 58. Found dead in his house in Portsmouth after his return from state visits to Australia, Taiwan, Canada and Libya for the reconvening for the World Mathaba, many speculations surrounded the cause of his death however the cause is still unknown to this day.
Douglas was succeeded by Pierre Charles who followed his predecessor's footsteps to die in office in January 2004, paving the way for Roosevelt Skerrit to assume the position as Prime Minister of Dominica.

​Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has publicly praised the staff at the Dominica Meteorological Office and the Office of the Disaster Management.
Skerrit says he is pleased with the work and service that both of these facilities have given to the country thus far regarding information on Tropical Storm Mathew and the changes in its weather patterns.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit

​Pesticide Inspector, Joseph Blandford, says his department is now using an integrated and environmentally friendly approach to eradicating pests in agriculture and within the homes.
Blandford says the petro chemically – based pesticides are being systematically removed from Dominican society and the Plant Protection and Quarantine Division are focusing on importing biological pesticides.

​Pesticide Inspector, Joseph Blandford

​The Sports Division will commence the 2016/2017 Schools Competitions with the launching of the 2016 Independence Schools Athletics Championships. Competition at the Primary and Secondary Schools will begin with the Primary Schools Preliminaries Meets on October 5th 2016.
 
The Primary Schools Preliminaries have been postponed to Wednesday, October 5, 2016 due to the passage of TS Mathew, which, based on reports negatively affected the playing fields selected for the meet.
 
The preliminaries for the North Zone, South East Zone and the South Zone will now take place on October 5th from 10:00 am at Portsmouth, Castle Bruce and Pottersville respectively whilst the preliminaries for the North West and South West will be held on October 6th.
 
The Preliminaries for the North East and West Central have been postponed to October 11th at the Londonderry and Pottersville Playing Field
 
The Primary Schools Independence Athletics Final will be held on October 19­, 2016 at Portsmouth. The 2016 Independence Athletics Championship for the Secondary Schools will be held on October 12th and 14th at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium. 

​Several electricity poles were impacted by high winds associated with Tropical Storm Matthew, on Wednesday 28th September 2016.
 
The Dominica Electricity Services Limited (DOMLEC) says it has deployed crews to restore power supply across the island.
 
Public Relations Officer (PRO) Adina Bellot–Valentine told Q95 yesterday, “I cannot give a specific time as to when power will be restored to everybody; all I can say is that we are working expeditiously to restore power, we know how important power is to the nation and to our customers”.
 
She added there is a downed line in the Copthall area; “we have seen it, and our guys are working on it”.
 
DOMLEC had earlier reported that the west coast was without electricity but this has since been restored “with the exception of Salisbury, which has been isolated, due to some faults in that community”.
 
DOMLEC has also powered up its PADU and Laudat power stations “so those stations are ready, once we get can the lines prepared for energizing, we will be able to use the resources from those power stations to supply energy to our customers”.
 
Bellot -Valentine added, “In the meantime we continue to work, all our crews are on out, all hands are on deck, and we are continuing to work and we are asking for the patience and cooperation of our customers”.

​Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Dominica Water & Sewerage Company (DOWASCO), Edward Registe, has reported that water has been restored in a number of areas, while some areas are still without, after the passage of Tropical Storm Matthew, on Wednesday.
 
He said yesterday, some of the company’s systems were heavily impacted by landslides and other slippages during the storm. “We also have other areas where some of our supply lines were broken, and we also saw the power outages putting some of our pump stations out of commission for the time being. In some areas, we have restored water; in other areas we are continuing to work to restore water. Some areas are experiencing low water pressure, and others have no water at all.”
 
He added that the eastern part of the island was particularly affected. “We know that there is no water in Delices; there is no water in Boetica; and these two communities depend on pumping stations for their supply; but because there is no electricity, we are unable to supply water to these two communities”. However, he said Tranto, Good Hope and Petite Soufriere still have water, because they are served by storage tanks, and “they also depend on electrical pumps to get water”.
 
He cautioned the people in the area to be conservative with the use of water, “because we are not sure how soon we will see the restoration of electricity, to enable us to pump water.” Registe further explained that some areas in WA1; that is Castle Comfort to Mero still don’t have water, and especially those in higher elevations, because the system is not fully repaired.
 
“Some of the areas will have water, particularly the low-lying areas,” he noted. “Those at higher elevation would experience either no water or low water pressure. In Giraudel and Eggleston, we have to use an electrical pumping station to supply water to these communities, but because of the power outage we are unable to do so at this point in time. We are therefore awaiting the restoration of electricity to these areas.”