FLASHBACK

MAY 31, 2001

REBATE CHECKS OUT NOW

The Finance Department has started mailing out rebate checks yesterday as it anticipates to complete the release of over 5,000 tax refunds and rebates within the week. Finance officials said the department has processed the first batch of 5,523 rebate checks amounting to $5.3 million. Taxpayers who have filed their income tax returns by March 15 will get their rebate checks first. The Division of Revenue and Taxation also reminded the public that it is processing tax returns on a continuing schedule and will provide information of any future check releases as soon as it becomes available.

BAN ON ENTRY OF MEAT IMPORTS LIFTED

The United States Department of Agriculture yesterday lifted restrictions on the entry of meat products from 10 countries to the CNMI following the completion of risk assessment report performed by the Animal Plant Health Inspection Services. In a memorandum sent to the Department of Lands and Natural Resources, USDA-APHIS Director Mitchell Nelson said meat products from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden can now enter the CNMI and Guam. In an interview, Mr. Nelson said the revised rules on meat products from European countries are now in effect in the entire United States, including the CNMI and Guam. The recently revised policy reinstated previous rules on beef and pork from most European countries. Import restrictions, however, will remain in effect for United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Netherlands, and Greece where reports on cases of food and mouth disease still persist.

MAY 31, 2000

TANAPAG CLINIC STOPS OPERATION

The Tanapag Health Clinic has temporarily stopped the screening of village residents in connection with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination with the departure of four U.S.-based doctors. “We were supposed to be done with the medical testing by then but there were more people who came to the clinic than we have initially expected,” said Dr. Richard Brostrom, chief of the medical team. Three doctors from the U.S. Department of Public Health and one physician from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry assisted the Department of Public Health for three weeks in screening the Tanapag residents.

HOPWOOD: A JUVENILE DELINQUENCY ‘HOT SPOT’

The Division of Youth Services is keeping a close watch on the mounting juvenile delinquency cases at Hopwood Junior High School, particularly those involving students under probation. According DYS Juvenile Correction Unit/Probation Supervisor Sylvio S. Ada, Jr., since the beginning of the school year the agency has put extra efforts to monitor these students in light of the surge in juvenile-related offenses at the junior high school. In the past two months alone, the probation unit has conducted no less than six intervention sessions per week, Ada said. Several Hopwood students have been apprehended for offenses ranging from truancy, assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and illegal possession of harmful weapons.

MAY 31, 1999

HOUSE EYES BAN ON TOY GUNS

Concerned over proliferation in the market of toy guns resembling the real ones, the House of Representatives is considering a legislation that will ban the sale of the products from store shelves and forbid their importation in efforts to deter crime on the island. Rep. Malua T. Peter has sponsored the measure to make selling and importation of the toy guns a criminal offense in the CNMI punishable of up to one year imprisonment or $100 to $1,000 fine. House Bill 11-417 or the Toy Gun Control Act of 1999 aims to eliminate any possible intended misuse of such toy guns for criminal purposes such as armed burglary and criminal assault that may result to death or injury from self-defense action by the police or any individual.

YOUNG TO HOLD OVERSIGHT HEARING

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) has said he was pleased that some members of the Democratic leadership are now supporting proposed reforms in the Mariana Islands regarding labor and safety laws on the American islands in the Western Pacific. Young, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Resources which has jurisdiction over U.S. territories, informed the Committee’s Ranking Democrat, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), that the Committee will be conducting an oversight hearing on the issue later this year. In a May 25th letter to Miller, Young stated that the Committee will focus on “the current facts and conditions while considering the actions of both the local and federal governments and the views of workers, employers and residents” of the islands.