CARIBBEAN NEWS ROUNDUP – Sept. 9, 2019

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, MONDAY, SEPT. 9, 2019: Here are the top news making headlines from the Caribbean, Latin America and their Diaspora this Monday, September 9, 2019:

The death toll from Hurricane Dorian’s day and a half battering of Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands in the Bahamas climbed to 44 last night with the number expected to rise.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers processed 1,435 mass evacuees from the Bahamas in West Palm Beach, FL over the weekend who were brought to the US on board the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line’s, Grand Celebration.

Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio are urging President Donald Trump to waive or suspend certain visa requirements for Bahamian citizens affected by the hurricane with relatives living in the US.

Guyanese in hurricane-battered Bahamas on Sunday appealed to the Guyana government to assist many of them to be evacuated back to their homeland.

Some 220 dogs and 50 cats in the Humane Society of Grand Bahama died during Hurricane Dorian, according to staffers at the shelter.

HBCU Hampton University in Virginia say they will open their doors to students from the University of the Bahamas tuition free for a semester.

An undocumented Jamaican immigrant identified in court papers only as Sean B, who helped the government bring down one of Jamaica’s most notorious drug kingpins, Dudus Coke, is now fighting US deportation.

Players for the storied Jamaican Reggae Girlz team say they are still waiting to be paid by the Jamaica Football Federation since January.

And Actor Sean Connery, famous for his role as James Bond, says he is lucky to have escaped Hurricane Dorian alive after he and his wife rode out the storm in New Providence, Bahamas.