FLASHBACK – October 31, 2011

CUC accrues $630K penalties[/B]

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has failed to comply with the provisions of the stipulated orders and has accrued total of $630,000 penalties in the first six months, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In a Sept. 30, 2009 conference with EPA, it was disclosed that that the United States is seriously concerned with CUC’s lack of compliance with many important provisions in stipulated orders 1 and 2. “CUC’s difficulty in achieving compliance during the first six months after entry of the orders is especially troubling,” EPA told CUC executive director Tony Muña,

A man was injured after he was repeatedly stabbed by one of two suspects at a poker establishment in San Jose early yesterday morning. The 31-year-old victim sustained four stab wounds in the torso and stomach. He was admitted to the Commonwealth Health Center and is listed in stable condition. The suspects were not arrested, but police later recovered the getaway vehicle in San Antonio.

US Immigration now hiring[/B]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has already announced the hiring of customs and field operation officers who will be assigned in the CNMI, but there is no special consideration to make local Immigration officers a priority, according to CNMI Immigration Director Melvin Grey. Grey told Saipan Tribune yesterday that because of the hiring qualification criteria, less than 20 of local Immigration officers may qualify. Grey said one of the criteria is that persons cannot occupy a law enforcement position in the federal government if they are 37 years old or older. “Right there, that excludes 21 of our people immediately. They don’t have a chance with that criteria [sic] in place. Twenty-one of our people are automatically excluded,” he said.

The Fitial administration is bent on concealing financial details about the federalization lawsuit until the case is over. Acting Attorney General Gregory Baka said in a press conference yesterday that the administration is only following the law when it declined a lawmaker’s Open Government Act request for financial information about the lawsuit Gov. Benigno R. Fitial had filed against the U.S. government over the labor provisions of the new immigration law. He noted that the OGA prohibits the release of certain litigation-related information that the government’s opponent in a lawsuit could not otherwise get in court. How the CNMI is funding the lawsuit, Baka added, must remain a secret because the deep-pocketed federal government might use the information to run the Commonwealth out of court.

Spat over labor bill heats up[/B]

A brewing argument over the labor reform bill has broken into the public arena, with Federal Labor Ombudsman Jim Benedetto and Rep. Jacinta M. Kaipat writing open letters to air their opposing views. Benedetto says Kaipat’s bill would punish foreign workers for complaining. The author of the proposed legislation says Benedetto is plain wrong. House Bill 15-38 has been under consideration in the Legislature for 18 months. Last Thursday, it got another step closer to becoming law, with the Senate passing an amended version. The bill will be in effect once the Lower House adopts the Senate amendments and the governor signs the final version.

A diving enthusiast and official of Marianas Dive is raising concern over the apparent decline in the number of eagle rays populating the waters around the CNMI. Marianas Dive president Mike Tripp said the number of eagle rays at famous dive spots on Saipan such as the Ice Cream and Eagle Ray City have decreased dramatically. In an interview yesterday with Tripp, he said several diving groups have noticed that the eagle rays, a sub-family of stingrays, are now just a handful compared to previous years. Tripp said that during his filming of a diving video for the CNMI two years ago, he observed around 30 to 35 eagle rays swimming near the dive sites. Some Japanese divers, however, have told him that over five years ago the eagle rays’ number was close to 100.