FLASHBACK – November 12, 2011

Govt eyes bond float next year[/B]

The government is eyeing the first two months of the new year to launch the proposed of $60 million bond float that will be used to match federal construction grants under the capital improvement projects. Finance officials and lawmakers are expected to discuss today ways on how to carry out the plan, which is part of the financing scheme approved recently by the Legislature, with investment firm Paine Webber hired to underwrite the bonds. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Karl T. Reyes said the meeting will focus on scheduling the sale of the bonds so that the government can line up projects to be funded by its proceeds.

Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Perry Tenorio has expressed concern over the downsizing of the police station in the tourist district of Garapan by the Department of Public Safety. While he recognized that the financial problems besetting DPS have forced the department to freeze the hiring of additional manpower, Tenorio said ensuring the security of island visitors should be not be overlooked. Tenorio said he was surprised to learn that the Koban in Garapan is no longer manned by police officers regularly. He said he was not informed when DPS scaled down the police station seven months ago.

Tinian’s scholarship policy amended[/B]

Tinian, CNMI-The Tinian Municipal Scholarship Board has amended its existing policies to accommodate applications for online and distance education programs. Board chairman Janet King said the board recently approved the amendment to their scholarship policy, provided that the recipients follow strict guidelines. One such Tinian applicant is currently enrolled in the University of Phoenix Online Program, and is pursuing her Master of Arts in Education to supplement her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Guam. Another Tinian student recently received approval to take accounting courses through the Harcourt Learning Direct, a correspondence school based in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The US Small Business Administration has declared small businesses in the CNMI eligible for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. As a result of the economic impacts of the destruction of the World Trade Center, the damage of the Pentagon, and the resulting federal actions, the SBA has expanded eligibility for its loan program beyond Presidents Bush’s disaster declaration of September 11. This action makes small businesses in the entire United States, including the CNMI, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and American Samoa eligible for this form of financial assistance.

Public Lands: More landowners prefer cash[/B]

More landowners prefer to get cash payment over a land exchange deal, according to the Marianas Public Lands Authority. MPLA Commissioner Bertha C. Deleon Guerrero, in a recent interview, said that, for a long while, the agency has not been issuing land deeds because many landowners prefer cash compensation. “A lot of our pending land acquisitions have now changed. Where they wanted land exchange when they were first certified, now they want cash compensation,” Deleon Guerrero said. Ideally, she added, the MPLA wants to settle land claims through land exchange as enshrined in the Constitution.

The Northern Marianas College aims to conduct more surveys as part of its on-going evaluation of the community’s academic and training needs. NMC president Kenneth Wright said the college has identified three ways to carry out the goal. These include the holding of focus groups among students, business people, and the community; doing a community need service; and conducting a future search-a series of workshop that requires the attendance of 64 people as respondents. Wright said focus group sessions have started as part of the drafting of NMC’s Human Resource Development Program. The community need service is a new instrument that the NMC aims to circulate broadly in the community, “asking community members what the NMC should be and what more can we do to help out our community.”