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This is the prepared script, not a verified spoken transcript. Today’s 1 minute 6.87 second recording awaits complete listening review and is not cleared for air or website publication.

This is WACK News. I'm Jason McAllister.

WASA’s budgeted spending is set to fall by about two hundred and eighty-seven million dollars in fiscal twenty twenty-seven. The draft estimates put spending at roughly three billion dollars, down from the revised figure for twenty twenty-six. Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath says there are no plans to reduce WASA’s established workforce. He says additional personnel funding is expected during the year.

Trinidad and Tobago says farewell to the Mighty Sparrow today. The public procession begins at ten this morning at the Treasury Building on Independence Square, then moves along Frederick Street to the National Academy for the Performing Arts. The tribute programme at NAPA starts at one-thirty this afternoon. The Ministry of Culture and Community Development is organising the celebration with Sparrow’s family.

In Tobago, Studley Park has received mining and processing licences for its quarry operations. The Energy Ministry says the licences were issued on Tuesday. The company is wholly owned by the Tobago House of Assembly. The ministry says the permits are intended to support production, jobs and construction supplies, with controls on dust, noise and blasting.

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Sources — checked 16 October at 6:36 AM AST; publication dates in linked articles

WASA budget falls; minister rules out cuts to established workforce: Trinidad Guardian / Akash Samaroo; Ministry of Finance draft statutory-board estimates — source 1; Trinidad Guardian / Akash Samaroo; Ministry of Finance draft statutory-board estimates — source 2;

Sparrow farewell procession begins at 10 AM: Trinidad Guardian; IzzSo; CMC via CBC — source 1; Trinidad Guardian; IzzSo; CMC via CBC — source 2; Trinidad Guardian; IzzSo; CMC via CBC — source 3;

Studley Park receives mining and processing licences: Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries statement reproduced by TTT; TTT / Kandace Jackson — source 1; Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries statement reproduced by TTT; TTT / Kandace Jackson — source 2;

This is the prepared script, not a verified spoken transcript. The 15 October 1 minute 15.28 second recording awaits complete listening review and is not cleared for air or website publication.

This is WACK News. I'm Jason McAllister.

Four state-owned businesses are in the Government’s divestment plans: the Trinidad Hilton, Magdalena Grand, National Quarries and the La Brea Industrial Development Company. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says expressions of interest for the hotels will be invited soon. She announced the plans in Tobago on Tuesday, arguing that the State should get out of hotel management. These are planned sales, not completed transactions.

Parents at Sangre Grande Hospital can now register their baby’s birth and collect the printed birth certificate before leaving. The bedside registration service was launched there on Wednesday. Registrar General Karen Bridgewater says more than six thousand five hundred babies born nationwide over the past five years were not registered by their parents. The new service aims to close that gap.

The Claxton Bay correctional holding facility has closed. The Prison Service says operations ended on Wednesday. Vision on Mission made the facility available during the COVID-nineteen pandemic, when extra accommodation was needed for inmates and officers.

And promoter Randy Glasgow is asking the country to observe a minute of silence for the Mighty Sparrow at twelve-fifty tomorrow afternoon, Friday, October sixteenth. The proposed tribute takes its timing from Sparrow’s song, Ten to One.

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Sources — published 14 October, checked 15 October at 6:34 AM AST

Four state-owned businesses included in divestment plans: TTT / Kandace Jackson; Trinidad Guardian / Stephon Nicholas — source 1; TTT / Kandace Jackson; Trinidad Guardian / Stephon Nicholas — source 2;

Bedside birth registration expands to Sangre Grande: TTT / Melissa Wong; named minister and Registrar General launch statements — source 1;

Claxton Bay correctional holding facility closes: Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service statement reproduced by TTT — source 1;

One-minute Sparrow tribute proposed for Friday: TTT; Randy Glasgow recorded appeal — source 1;

This is the prepared script, not a verified spoken transcript. The 14 October 1 minute 4.74 second recording awaits complete listening review and is not cleared for air or website publication.

This is WACK News. I'm Jason McAllister.

Tobago would be guaranteed two seats in the Senate under a proposed constitutional change. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the Government plans to bring legislation to Parliament. The two seats would come from the nine Independent Senators appointed at the President’s discretion. The proposal would add guaranteed Senate representation alongside Tobago’s two elected members of the House of Representatives. Persad-Bissessar announced the plan at yesterday’s opening of the new airport terminal in Tobago. It is a proposal, not a change already in force.

Passengers flying out of Tobago are being directed to the new A. N. R. Robinson East Terminal on Store Bay Local Road. Caribbean Airlines says all its Tobago flights use that terminal from five-forty-five this morning, Wednesday, October fourteenth. The move follows yesterday’s formal opening. The airline says the hand-luggage liquids rule applies to domestic passengers too. Each container must hold no more than one hundred millilitres. All containers must fit inside one clear, resealable, one-litre bag, with one bag allowed per passenger. Reservations and ticketing services are available at the new terminal daily, from five in the morning until eleven-thirty at night.

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Sources — published 12–13 October, checked 14 October at 6:36 AM AST

Government proposes two guaranteed Senate seats for Tobago: TTT, Melissa Wong; 103.1FM — source 1; TTT, Melissa Wong; 103.1FM — source 2;

Tobago passengers directed to new East Terminal from today: TTT, Caribbean Airlines advisory and Melissa Wong opening report — source 1; TTT, Caribbean Airlines advisory and Melissa Wong opening report — source 2;

This is the prepared script, not a verified spoken transcript. The 13 October 1 minute 20.86 second recording awaits complete listening review and is not cleared for air or website publication.

This is WACK News. I'm Jason McAllister.

Foreign digital services would attract twelve-point-five per cent VAT under the new Budget, while high-use households face an electricity surcharge. Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo presented the proposals in Parliament yesterday. The digital-services tax is planned for March first, twenty-twenty-seven. From January first, the proposed electricity surcharge would add five cents per kilowatt-hour on residential use above three thousand kilowatt-hours per billing period. The minister says the threshold would leave ninety per cent of households unaffected.

Senior citizens and people receiving public or disability assistance are also in line for higher monthly payments. The Budget proposes an extra two hundred and fifty dollars a month from January first, twenty-twenty-seven. Tancoo says each tier of Public Assistance will rise by that amount, alongside the Senior Citizens’ Grant and Disability Assistance for adults and eligible children.

Caribbean Airlines will move all Tobago flights to the new A. N. R. Robinson East Terminal from five-forty-five tomorrow morning, Wednesday, October fourteenth. The airline says departing passengers should go directly to the terminal on Store Bay Local Road. The hand-luggage liquids rule will also apply to domestic flights: containers of no more than one hundred millilitres, inside one clear, resealable, one-litre bag per passenger.

That's a look at WACK Headline News.

Sources — published 12 October, checked 13 October at 6:35 AM AST

Budget proposes digital-services VAT and high-use electricity surcharge: Ministry of Finance Budget Statement pp164–165,171–172; Trinidad Guardian — source 1; Ministry of Finance Budget Statement pp164–165,171–172; Trinidad Guardian — source 2;

Pension and assistance grants set for $250 monthly increase: Ministry of Finance Budget Statement pp36–37; Trinidad Guardian — source 1; Ministry of Finance Budget Statement pp36–37; Trinidad Guardian — source 2;

Caribbean Airlines moves Tobago flights to new terminal Wednesday: TTT reproducing Caribbean Airlines advisory — source 1;

This is the prepared script, not a verified transcript of the recording. The 12 October 1 minute 12 second recording awaits complete listening review and is not cleared for air or website publication.

This is WACK News. I'm Jason McAllister.

The national Budget for twenty-twenty-seven will be presented in Parliament at one-thirty this afternoon. Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo is due to outline the government's spending and revenue plans. Ahead of the presentation, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says public revenue should support economic growth and reward productive work. Her statement sets out the government's priorities; the Budget's detailed measures are still to be presented.

Tobago's new A. N. R. Robinson International Airport terminal is scheduled to open tomorrow, October thirteenth. The Office of the Prime Minister has confirmed the opening is planned for this week. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Chief Secretary Farley Augustine are expected at Tuesday's ceremony.

Public viewings for the Mighty Sparrow begin tomorrow at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts. The Ministry of Culture says mourners can pay their respects from ten in the morning until six in the evening. A second viewing takes place at NAPA on Wednesday, during the same hours. The Celebration of Life is scheduled for Friday, October sixteenth, at NAPA, from one-thirty to three-thirty in the afternoon.

That's a look at WACK Headline News.

Sources, checked 12 October 2026: Parliament — sitting 12 October; Ministry of Finance — Budget date; TTT — PM statement, 11 October; Guardian — Tobago opening, 10 October / 11 October edition; 103FM — OPM confirmation, 9 October; TTT — Ministry farewell arrangements, 10 October.

Archived 11 October script & sources