The controlled price of cooking gas went down at the beginning of the month, and tonight, the Supplies Control Unit is reporting it will increase.
At midnight, the wholesale import price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas will change to 4 dollars and 93 cents per gallon.
In all the urban areas, the price of a 100-pound tank of LPG will increase from 142 dollars to 149 dollars. The price will be 3 cents more in the country's rural areas.
NTUCB Calls For Accountability Posts To Be Filled
Last night, Luke Martinez, the President of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, was the featured guest on the most recent episode of Channel 7's UNCUT show.
For almost 2 hours, President Martinez engaged Host Jules Vasquez on a number of national topics, including the gradual degradation of transparency in public life. At this time, there is no Integrity Commission, no replacement for the retired Auditor General, and No Ombudsman.
The NTUCB President reminded us that there there is also no Labor Commissioner as well:
NUTCB President Says Unions Should Ask For A Raise
President Martinez also discussed his hopes for the resumption of talks between the Briceno Government's Negotiating Team, and the Joint Unions Negotiating Team. The Government has committed to returning 10% wage cut that teachers and public officers had to live with last year, as part of the Briceno Government's cost reduction measures.
That return in wages should take place on July 1st, and last night, Martinez said that public services should actually be receiving a raise. Here's how he justified that:
Crack In Dangriga
An early morning joint operation in Dangriga and its surrounding rural areas yesterday turned up 15.3 ounces of crack cocaine.
The cops say that the substantial find was made in an as-yet-unspecified location between Dangriga town and its surrounding rural areas. The drugs were found in a plastic container along with a plastic yellow flare gun.
The contents of the container when examined were: A transparent Ziploc bag containing 3.5 ounces of crack cocaine, a small grey plastic bag containing 3 ounces of crack cocaine and a Grey plastic bag containing a small Ziploc bag filled with a further 8.6 ounces of crack cocaine.
No one was found in the immediate area.
New Increased Bus Fares Released
And Finally tonight it's not just the price of bread that's gone up but the price of transport too.
That's what commuters will discover over the weekend and into next week. A new schedule of bus fares from the Department of Transport notified the public of a change to all fares listed in Statutory Instrument No. 40 of 2017. They say that those fares have quote: "been repealed and replaced with the fares contained in tonight's notice." End quote
The fares for the general public are going up. The standard now will be a fare of $2.25 for a journey not exceeding 13 miles for any destination not included in this schedule.
Fares may not have gone up for all routes, but they have in the Belize City to Orange Walk and the Belize City to Belmopan routes.
That northern route's fare has gone from $6.00 to $7.00 for an increase of $1.50while the western route is now 7.00 for regular and 8.00 for the express when it used to be used to be 6.00 for regular and 7.00 for the express.
Commuters will also find that half fares for children under the age of twelve and no charges for passengers under the age of two also remain.
