DAME LOIS– BROWNE EVANS

The leader of the Progressive Labour Party for much of the 1970s and 1980s and Bermuda's first female Attorney General, died early of a suspected stroke. She was 79.

Dame Lois was Bermuda's first female barrister, Bermuda's and the first woman to become Opposition Leader in a British Commonwealth country when she became leader of the PLP in 1968.

She served as leader until 1972 and again from 1976 to 1985.

A national day of mourning was declared for her on June 5 and thousands watched her funeral and the subsequent cortege in person on the streets of Hamilton and on television.

DISRUPTED GARBAGE COLLECTION

While May in Bermuda is usually known for the scent of sweet flowers, this month was stinkier than usual. A work to rule by waste collection staff at the end of May disrupted garbage collection across the Island.

Although a Government spokesmen promised it would soon be picked up, garbage was still littering the island, two weeks later. Some householders, including those in wealthy Tuckers Town, complained of an increase in rats.

SUICIDE CHALLENGE

Two brothers who set out in a tiny open fishing boat from the States to Bermuda to prove it could withstand high seas made it safely home. Ralph and Bob Brown arrived in New York Harbour three days after leaving St. George's in their 21 foot motor boat.

They were hoping to write themselves into the Guinness Book of World Records by voyaging from the Island to North Carolina on their tiny open-topped Intruder 21, a boat normally reserved for quiet, inshore waters.

THE PAPPAS CASE ENDS

Peter Dimitri Pappas, the American financier found hanging in a Bermuda guest apartment in 2005, committed suicide, a coroner ruled.

Two theories surrounding his death were raised at an inquest earlier in May that he was the victim of a sexual self-strangulation experiment that went fatally wrong, or that he committed suicide after the woman he loved spurned his marriage proposal.

His father, Jack Pappas, told the inquest he was certain the 35-year-old, would not have committed suicide. His ex-girlfriend Anya McHale, however, said he wanted to rekindle their relationship and spoke of killing himself if she would not marry him.

HOSPITAL RACISM PROBE

Relationships among medics at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital were widely perceived as "rife with discrimination", according to an ombudsman's report into alleged racism.

In early May, Arlene Brock was probing three complaints, thought to be from doctors, alleging racism involving medical professionals at the hospital. In early September, Ms Brock met health chiefs to discuss her recommendations.

In her report she said that race was a "major divisive force" at the hospital. She said that both black and white doctors feared being targeted amid a climate of rumour, innuendo and conjecture. Her findings also showed maladministration within the hospital's disciplinary process, which was "inadequate and poorly implemented".

WEIRD CRIME OF THE MONTH

People were being warned about stolen seafood which could pose a health risk and could appear on the market. A thief stole shrimps, scallops and tilapia fish from a freezer in a property on My Lord's Bay Road, Hamilton Parish. Officers warned that there was a problem with the freezer, meaning that the food was spoiled and not fit for consumption.

Statistics

The independent review into Bermuda's failing public education system cost almost a quarter of a million dollars, at $241,411.

Non-Bermudians make up 31 percent of Bermuda's workforce.

Government saw its payroll tax receipts soar to $78 million in the first quarter of this year, up almost 21 percent on the same period last year.

Bermuda's current account chalked up a surplus of $186 million in the first quarter of this year, an increase of $28m on the same period last year.