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Bahama Islands News, Articles and Information
Woman takes up mother's genealogy work
If you meet Shirley Jones Mallard, she has a few questions for you: Where are you from? If the answer is Durham or Orange County, she has another question. Could you be related? For more than 30 years, the local historian and genealogist has been researching her ancestry in Durham County going back to when it was part of the old Orange County of the early 1800s. She focuses a lot on one family name -- a name recognizable to anyone who has spent time in Durham -- Mangum. But other branches on her family tree include Harris, Tilley, Holsomback, Jones, Roberts, Forsythe, Parrish and Goss. Mallard, 71, has spent countless hours poring over old records, looking at screen after screen of microfilmed old newspapers and talking with anyone and everyone who might know something about her kin. It all began in 1972 with the death of her mother and a tiny notebook.Athol Is. activists complain
Concerned Paradise Island tour operators have requested a meeting with Minister of Financial Services and Investments Vincent Peet in a bid to protect Athol Island and its surrounding sea gardens.In a letter faxed to Minister Peet, tour operators said they turned to the government official after they were told that the Energy and Environment Ministry had forwarded to Mr Peet's ministry a final Environmental Impact Assessment on Athol Island, the site of a new golf course for the third phase of the Atlantis development.
"We urgently request a meeting to have our minds put at rest that our government will make the right decision to save Athol Island, protect our coral reefs and the livelihood of all the tour operators," the letter read. "Do we have to remind all our Ministries that the number one industry in The Bahamas is Tourism?"
The Athol Island controversy was sparked earlier when word got out that work on the proposed golf course for the island would begin before the end of the year.
Hurricane watch now in effect for Grand Bahama
Weather experts are urging residents to be prepared as a hurricane watch is now in effect for Grand Bahama, Bimini, Andros and the Berry Islands.A tropical storm warning is also in effect for Ragged Island, Great Exuma and the Central Bahamas.
"The advisory had been put in place after tropical storm Ernesto made landfall on the southeastern coast of Cuba," said Chief Meteorologist, Donna Duncombe.
"At 11 a.m. the centre of tropical storm Ernesto was about 35 miles west-northwest of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That makes it about 475 miles southeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama and is moving toward the northwest near 10 miles per hour."
With the storm expected to continue moving north for the next 24 hours, Duncombe said that the maximum winds have decreased to near 40 miles per hour with higher gusts, with further weakening to occur as it continues over land.
Navy against precedent being set on sonar limits
Environmentalists insist the Navy needs to do more to protect whales and other marine mammals, even after the activists forced limits on the military's use of sonar in maritime exercises off Hawai'i last month.But the Navy is adamant that it won't allow the agreed restrictions on mid-frequency active sonar to set a precedent. It says the steps were often unnecessary, hindered training and in some cases weren't based on fact.
"There is no science that supports some of the limits we're being driven to," said Adm. Gary Roughead, Pacific Fleet commander. "I believe it is important that we introduce science into this argument."
The perception gap sets the stage for further legal and public relations battles as the Navy, for the first time, prepares to seek federal permits to use sonar during all of its anti-submarine warfare exercises starting in January.
Tropical Storm Ernesto Intermediate Advisory Number 18A
NOAA/NWS via BBSNews 2006-08-29 - [2:00 pm EDT Intermediate Advisory] -- A Tropical Storm Warning And A Hurricane Watch Are In Effect From Vero Beach Southward On The East Coast...From Bonita Beach Southward On The West Coast...For Lake Okeechobee...And For All Of The Florida Keys...From Ocean Reef To The Dry Tortugas. .AirTran Airways Launches Fare Sale to/from Boston, Baltimore ...
ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI - News), today launched a two-day sale for travel to and from Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia with sale fares starting as low as $39*. Travelers may purchase these sale fares at http://www.airtran.com or via AirTran Airways' reservations centers at 1-800-AIR-TRAN. For Spanish, call 1-877-581-9842. These special fares are available for purchase through August 16, 2006, are good for travel through November 15, 2006, and are valid for travel on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Like all AirTran Airways fares, prices included in this sale are available for one-way travel and do not require a roundtrip purchase or a Saturday night stay.
Notebook: Federer doesn't like coaching
Count Roger Federer among those against the idea of on-court coaching.The women's tour is experimenting with the rule change, using it at a U.S. Open tuneup this month in Montreal, where coaches wore microphones so TV viewers could hear the consultations.
.Tropical Storm Forms Near Puerto Rico, May Strengthen (Update1)
Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Chris, the third named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, formed in the Caribbean southeast of Puerto Rico and is forecast to strengthen.The storm had sustained winds of almost 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour and was about 175 miles east of the island of Antigua, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said today in an online advisory at 5 a.m. Miami time.
Chris is heading west-northwest at 9 mph and is expected to move over or near the northern Leeward Islands late today or early tomorrow, the center in Miami said. Tropical storms have sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph, becoming hurricanes at 74 mph.
A Tropical Storm Watch was issued for Puerto Rico, the U.S Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
(AFX UK Focus) 2006-08-29 06:53 GMT: US, Cuba brace amid fears tropical storm Ernesto will regain hurricane strength
MIAMI, Fla (AFX) - The US southeast braced for a possible one-two punch by Ernesto, which could slam Florida at tropical storm strength, head out to sea again and return to land to hit South Carolina as a hurricane.The storm lost much of its power as it swirled over mountainous areas of eastern Cuba, leading weather experts to revise earlier forecasts that it would regain hurricane status before its anticipated Florida landfall.
Projections by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) suggest the tropical storm would slam ashore near Miami late Tuesday or early Wednesday, head back out to the Atlantic a few hours later and barrel ashore again in South Carolina.
By the time it reaches South Carolina, the storm could have regained the strength it had reached on Sunday when it became this year's first hurricane before losing some of its power.