Once again, two of the Caribbean Community’s most important member states are battling with a spike in their murder rates and officials are slowly concluding that only sustained pressure from police and the military would put a dent in in these outbreaks of deadly violence. Comment

Sports: Caricom is considering attaching a fee to the airline and cruise ship tickets of tourists to help fund regional security institutions. Comment

Brooklyn: Brooklyn Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte has welcomed the signing of legislation that expands the Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) program. Comment

Books: One thing leads to another. Isn’t that how it goes? You start somewhere and a door is opened. You enter that door and see a window. The window takes you elsewhere and each new place teaches you something different. Isn’t that the way life is — and in the new book “The God Groove” by David Ritz, isn’t that the way faith is? Comment

Music: The title legend is not earned easily. This was proven, when “Third World,” the longest reigning Reggae band, enthralled thousands of Caribbean nationals, many who had travelled from the Bronx, Staten Island, and Queens to be entertained at Afro-Caribbean night at Wingate Park’s concert series. Comment

Music: New York’s grandest Caribbean food and music festival — Grace Jamaican Jerk Festival will take center stage, on Sunday, July 21, at Roy Wilkins Park, Merrick and Baisley boulevards to celebrate its nine years of revelry. Gates open at noon. Comment

Sports: Former Cricket West Indies President, Dave Cameron said that the changes made by the current board to management of the West Indies team were not beneficial. Comment

Trinidad and Tobago: NEW YORK (AP) — A former Caribbean soccer official fighting extradition in the FIFA bribery scandal has been ordered to pay $79 million in damages from a related U.S. lawsuit. Comment

Guyana: The Guyanese Girls Rock Foundation, Inc. on July 13 honored the best and brightest in the community at its 2nd Annual Awards Gala, celebrating the stellar accomplishments of 13 women in aviation, medicine, arts and entertainment, and law enforcement, and the judiciary, and in education. Comment

Jamaica: The philanthropic, Queens-based Team Jamaica Bickle (TJB), the organization that provides meals, among other things, to Caribbean athletes participating in the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, says that 20 more Jamaican high schools were expected to receive Automated External Defibrillators (AEDS) and First Aid Kits from as part of the group’s annual “Defibrillator to Schools Program.” JTB said the distribution was expected to take place on Tuesday, July 16, at the S Hotel on Jimmy Cliff Boulevard in Montego Bay. Comment

Music: Caribbean and other residents in South New Jersey and neighboring Philadelphia reveled in the rhythmic sounds of the Caribbean, took in the cornucopia of Caribbean colors and feasted on Caribbean delicacies, among other things, in picture perfect weather on Saturday during the 19h Annual South Jersey Caribbean Festival at Wiggins Park on the Camden, New Jersey waterfront. Comment

England ended their 44-year wait for a World Cup One Day International title (ODI) title by beating New Zealand based on boundaries after a historic Super Over tie in the end at the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, England on Sunday. Comment

Sports: Cricket West Indies (CWI) have signed retainer contracts for seven new players, including Trinidad and Tobago cricketers Darren Bravo and Nicholas Pooran as new additions for the 2019-2020 season. Comment

Brooklyn: Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams climbed the steps of City Hall on Friday flanked by an unlikely entourage of yoga gurus, wellness experts, and police union honchos to demand meditation classes for New York’s Finest amid a rash of suicides. Comment

Brooklyn: Musing that he is always “a bit jittery” whenever he is called to speak in front of distinguished jurists,” a Barbadian-born academic, nonetheless, used the opportunity to inform many Caribbean American jurists in Brooklyn about “the Sides of the Windrush Effect.” Comment

Brooklyn: Kings County immigrants, regardless of their legal status, are protected by many of the same rights that safeguard U.S. citizens against harassment by law enforcement. Comment

Movies: NEW YORK (AP) — In 1964, Stanley Kubrick, on the recommendation of the science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, bought a telescope. “He got this Questar and he attached one of his cameras to it,’’ remembers Katharina Kubrick, the filmmaker’s stepdaughter. “On a night where there was a lunar eclipse, he dragged us all out onto the balcony and we were able to see the moon like a big rubber ball. I don’t think I’ve seen it as clearly since. He loved that thing. He looked at it all the time.” Comment

Viewpoints: When I bought my first house, where I still reside today, I felt a mix of pride and fear. Homeownership is a tremendous privilege and responsibility — I had scrimped and saved to get to this point, but I knew that many challenges, financial and otherwise, still lay ahead. Comment

Barbados: It was a long time in coming, but when the players from Clapham took the Barbados Amateur Basketball Association Championship trophy Sunday, they grabbed it with both hands from arch-rivals, Station Hill. Comment

Trinidad and Tobago: Antigua The Antigua and Barbuda government says it will extradite the Indian-born billionaire, Mehul Choksi, but only after he has been able to have his matter dealt with in the courts in the island. Comment

Music: KINGSTON, Jamaica — Advocates for the legal use of medicinal marijuana joined with recreational smokers and curiosity seekers last Wednesday for what was described as a soft launch of Itopia Life, an upscale facility, established to provide information and technical support to patrons wanting enlightenment about the once tabooed herb Jamaicans and others have maligned with felonious penalties a deterrent to usage. Comment

Immigration: The United States House of Representatives has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that includes an amendment by Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke with regulates the US Department of Defense’s (DOD) involvement with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Comment

Jamaica: BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge in North Dakota on Wednesday sentenced a Rhode Island woman to four years in prison for funneling lottery scam money between the U.S. and Jamaica, prompting a prosecutor to question the ruling. Comment

Viewpoints: Luis Felipe López-Calva is UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean UNITED NATIONS, July 9, 2019 (IPS) — Transparency is a critical element of making governance more effective. By making information available, it creates a foundation for greater accountability to citizens. Comment

Jamaica: It is often said that “necessity is the mother of invention”; and so, on Friday, July 5, the basketball court at Lenox Road Baptist Church in Brooklyn was transformed into what has been described as a “Wonderland of Gold,” with a touch of purple decorated for royalty. Comment

New York: Brooklyn Sen. Zellnor Y. Myrie, chair of the Senate Elections Committee, has welcomed last Wednesday’s appointments to the Public Finance Commission. Comment

Music: Brooklyn Borough President, Eric L Adams, honored Angie Stone, Grammy Award nominated American singer, for her career that spans more than 40 years. The songwriter, who has released eight studio albums, one compilation album and more than two dozen singles, was presented with a citation and a key to the City of Brooklyn by Deputy BP, Ingrid Lewis-Martin. Comment

Jamaica: When young Jamaican entrepreneurs, Randy and Davian McLaren wanted to realize their dream to create durable luggage, they brainstormed, and decided that the collection of vegan leather goods, should be named Bresheh — a rural moniker for breadfruit. Comment

Trinidad and Tobago: Successive generations of Caribbean community leaders and high officials have been grappling with mounting scepticism in the bloc about difficulties professionals experience while trying to work and resettle in member states outside of their home nation. Comment

Music: The South Jersey Caribbean Cultural and Development Organization (SJCCDO) this Saturday hosts its 19h Annual South Jersey Caribbean Festival at Wiggins Park on the Camden, New Jersey waterfront. Comment

Sports: Fast bowling legend Sir Curtly Ambrose says Chris Gayle should bow out gracefully after this World Cup and move forward instead of saying that he would play “maybe a Test match against India” which is his plan after the World Cup. Comment