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The proceeds of the performance will be donated to Lifeline, and it will show one night only, tonight.

JJ Gets 17 Years For Manslaughter

Tonight, 35 year-old Jamie Dawson, is spending the rest of a 17 year sentence after the Chief Justice finally passed judgment on him for killing Maurice Neal in December 2002.

Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin heard his mitigation plea in which he called one character witness on his behalf. After considering all the circumstances, the Chief Justice sentenced him to 17 years in prison, but it will be recorded as starting from December 8, 2002, when he was first remanded for murder. This means that he has only has some 5 years more in jail.

Viewers may remember that Neal was shot and killed on December 7, 2002, at Bismark Club, located on Queen Charlotte Street. Dawson stood 2 previous trials. He was found guilty of manslaughter at the first trial which took place in 2004. He then appealed that conviction, which was allowed by Court of Appeal. He was allowed a retrial, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict in 2006. Nicholee Lewis, the person who identified Dawson as the gunman, was killed before he could testify.

City Boys From The Hood Went To Blue Hole

Belize has a world of natural beauty to offer, but for the economically disadvantaged, most of them never make it too far out of their neighborhoods. In an effort to broaden their horizons, OCEANA, WUB and the Belize Audubon Society chose 14 boys from some of Belize's toughest neighborhoods to make their first trip to Lighthouse Reef Atoll. The first day of the tour took the children, ages 9 to 13, on an excursion to Half Moon Caye where they were able to snorkel and observe turtle nesting grounds for the first time. While on the island, the group also engaged in team building exercises as they played football and helped in clean-up activities. The second day of the tour, however, may have been the highlight for the youths as they took a trip to the world celebrated Great Blue Hole. The boys, bursting with excitement, jumped into the clear waters to get a first-hand experience of Belize's flourishing fauna. Finally, a few of the boys were able to see a Caribbean Reef Shark. The social program was a result of a joint effort from Wake up Belize morning show, OCEANA, and the Belize Audubon Society.

Belize A Scuba Diving Destination

Belize is rapidly evolving into one of the world's top destinations as more and more blogs, travel websites and magazines highlight parts of the country's diverse landscapes. Well, in the August 2014 edition of Scuba Diving magazine, Belize has been deemed a Central American Paradise that has "earned a host of 2014 Top 100 Readers Choice Awards." It has been awarded for its big animals, wall diving, underwater photography as well as the Caribbean and Atlantic's best overall destination. Overall, Belize was pointed out as a choice destination with authentic and dynamic experiences.

U-23 Volleyball Team Struggling

Team Belize is having limited success at the under 23 National Female Volleyball competition. Yesterday, Belize played against El Salvador and Costa Rica, losing both matches.

In the first, it was a fierce struggle as Belize and El Salvador competed neck and neck for the three sets. Still, El Salvador dominated, but not before 2 of Belize's scorers got some good shots in. Maurissa Williams is ranked 2ndBest Scorer with 16 points, and Tichele Solis ranks 3rd wit 13 points. In the Best Blocker ranking, Kori Diego, Nandi Sabal and Tichele Solis rank 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively.

Team Belize later played against Costa Rica, the volleyball Giant that has not lost a set. Belize, the clear underdog, put up a valiant fight scoring 52 points, the most points of any team against Costa Rica. Still, it was not enough since, like all other teams who faced this Goliath, Belize was defeated in 3 straight sets. Still, all outstanding Belizean scorers and blockers kept their ranking. ?

Belize will play Guatemala this afternoon at 3:00 and Honduras tomorrow night at 7:00.

Tiffany's Mobile App Success

Tiffany Simpson has made a name for herself by designing PSE Prep CD's and mobile apps. And now she wants to teach others how to make their own apps.

Now it may sound a bit challenging to the not so technologically savvy but Tiffany Simpson and her students from her Mobile application development class beg to differ.

Tiffany Simpson - President, Belizean Artwork Publishing
"During the 2 week period of this workshop the participants were able to develop their own individual mobile apps using the MAPS platform and publish the apps to the Google Play and Apple stores. We are still waiting for approval for a number of the apps, but today we have two of the participants who were able to get their apps approved by the apps stores. I've heard a lot being said on social media and other places about how bad the economy is and the lack of job opportunities available, but the issue that I find is that there is a lack of people with the skills who can take advantage of the type of opportunities available in this type of economy and what these students were able to produce is the first step of stepping into the apps and social media industry, being able to develop a product and then being able to further market that product as a service and even create new job opportunities for themselves."

Participant
"I really didn't want to do anything for the summer but I was dragged along into it, but I really enjoyed it because of how easy it was. I thought it was going to be more complicated like when making programs, we had to embed codes. So I thought it was going to be like that but it's very easy to do and it took only 6 days. My app is an app that sells personalize products that I made about Belize. It has t-shirts, coasters, IPhone cases and so forth."

Participant
"I was glad because I could make my own app. It was really fun and when I first try I thought it was going to be difficult, but it turn out to be easy. My app is about art, different ways that you can do art projects and you can do it yourself and it's very easy."

The Mobile application development class is part of a series of lectures entitled "Tech it easy."

The 2014 National Song Winners

On Saturday, all the local channels broadcasted the 2014 National Song Competition, which is considered the unofficial start of the September Celebrations.

In case you missed the winning performances, we've put together a small review of defending champs Nello Player and TR Shine making sure that they keep their titles. Here's how Saturday's finals looked:

As you heard, This Nello Player's 3rd straight victory in the National Song Competition, while TR Shine took his second win. They both get cash prizes of $6,000, plus a music video shoot, and money towards entrance in a regional music event. Cecil Jenkins takes home a $1,500 cash prize in the junior category. Veteran Ernestine Carballo took second in both the Carnival and Belize Song Senior Category.

BAHA's Good Agricultural Practices

BAHA is holding a 5 day conference on good agricultural practices in Belize. Specialists from the University of Maryland in the U.S. are facilitating the conference and several partners from the Belize industry are participating. Courtney Weatherburne spoke to the Food safety Director for BAHA, Dr. Miguel Figueroa as well as a specialist from the University of Maryland and found out more about the objectives of the conference.

The participants will be given an opportunity to conduct field work for tomorrow's session and present their case studies on Friday when the conference concludes.