FLASHBACK – May 19, 2012

May 19, 2000

AGO asks court to stop lawyer from practicing in CNMI

The Attorney General’s Office yesterday asked the Superior Court to stop lawyer Bruce Jorgensen from engaging in what it said unauthorized practice of law in the Commonwealth. Mr. Jorgensen is not a member of the CNMI Bar Association, but he is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. In a motion for preliminary injunction, Assistant Attorney General David Sosebee said allowing Mr. Jorgensen to continuously practice law in the Commonwealth during his stay on the island will result in immediate and irreparable harm to the Commonwealth and its citizens.

PSS receives website funds

The U.S. National Center of Education Statistics this week issued a $20,000 check to the Public School System for the enhancement of its recruitment and information website meant to lure more teachers into exploring career opportunities in the CNMI. The existing PSS website is currently lacking data to give non-CNMI residents a clear picture of the state of the local public school system. CNMI and another school in California are only two among 56 states and insular areas that have been granted the web development contract for two consecutive years.

May 19, 2003

CNMI Medicaid gets $348K refund

The CNMI Medicaid program will get a refund of $348,000 from Queens Medical Center following findings that the Honolulu-based institution had overcharged Medicaid patients from the Commonwealth. Medicaid administrator Helen Sablan said in a media interview Friday that her office has received $267,627 reimbursement from QMC. “We’re still waiting for $80,540 more,” she added. Sablan said the QMC found out about the CNMI overpayment upon reading the revised CNMI General Waiver and Operational Plan, which carries a provision that the CNMI Medicaid Agency pays for services at the rate paid by the local Medicaid program.

BOE rejects Babauta’s MOU on teacher salary

The Board of Education rejected Friday the Governor’s Office’s proposed memorandum of understanding that would require the Public School System to use the promised increase in its budget for teachers’ salary increases. The board, however, wants the Executive Branch to still give the PSS the additional budget, which amounts to slightly over $1 million. According to BOE vice chair Roman Benavente, the board wants the additional budget but it does not want to commit to the requirement embodied in the proposed MOU.

May 19, 2004

BOE chair: PSS needs to do more to raise reading levels

Board of Education chairman Roman C. Benavente acknowledged that the Public School System needs to do more in educating its students in view of recent findings that some of them graduate from elementary with a reading level of a second-grader or even below. “The assessment shows that what the PSS is doing is not enough. I’m aware that PSS is working hard already but it needs to take a more aggressive approach. I do acknowledge their efforts but based on this test results, I’m not satisfied,” said the chairman. Benavente said the PSS administration headed by commissioner Rita H. Inos has been assuring him that they are moving ahead “but I wonder why this result [came out].” A reading test using a scientifically based program called STAR assessment and Accelerated Reader that was conducted among students at Hopwood Junior High School showed that most of them read below their grade level.

Landowner sues MPLA, DPW for nonpayment

A landowner has sued the Marianas Public Lands Authority and the Department of Public Works for breach of agreements, misrepresentation of facts, and gross disregard of a major land acquisition for over a decade now. Jose Ch. Camacho, through lawyer Robert Torres, said that in Dec. 1990, DPW executed a memorandum of understanding with him and his siblings for right-of-way acquisition of their lands in As Lito for public use: reconstruction of the As Lito road, installation of a drainage system, and installation of a new power distribution system. Camacho’s property includes three parcels of lands totaling 737 square meters. In June 1991, then Gov. Larry Deleon Guerrero issued a certification for land exchange for Camacho’s property, justifying its acquisition as “an absolute necessity for public use.”