Flashback – December 23, 2005-2007

[B][U]December 23, 2005[/U][/B] [B]CUC gets additional $500K from govt[/B]

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. yesterday received another $500,000 from the CNMI government, making the total government subsidy for the utility firm’s fuel costs $1 million this week. However, the total amount of $2 million pledged by the Babauta administration on Wednesday to the CUC—besides the $500,000 the government gave to the beleaguered utility last Tuesday—appeared uncertain. CUC’s acting executive director, Sohale Samari, said yesterday that the government pledged to give the CUC another $500,000 possibly on Tuesday next week, besides the same amount given yesterday—a total of $1 million. The government has made no clear-cut guarantee regarding the additional $1 million it pledged to give the CUC the following week.

[B]Transition committee: Wrongdoing would be punished[/B]

Prosecution of current government officials or employees may result from the reports that transition committee members will be turning in next Friday, according to a ranking official of the incoming administration. Overall transition committee chairman Martin Manglona said his members found acts of wrongdoing in the process of their assessing the Executive Branch and other agencies. Some of the cases are now under investigation. “There will be some prosecution when the new administration comes in,” Manglona said. He refused to provide further details pending the submission of final reports next Friday, Dec. 30.

[B][U]December 23, 2006[/U][/B] [B]Yumul: It’s not my bill[/B]

Saipan congressman Ray Yumul wants to set the record straight: He is not one of the authors of the bill that aims to require nonresident workers to exit before being re-employed in the CNMI. “I am not a party or co-author of this piece of legislation [House Bill 15-167]. If [Hector] Sevilla insists that I am, I would gladly provide him a copy of [the bill],” said Yumul in an open letter issued yesterday. The congressman accused Sevilla, a member of the Dekada organization, which actively supports the extension of federal minimum wage and immigration to the CNMI, of “providing false and misleading statements to the public.”

[B]DEQ awards prizes to recycling winners[/B]

Recycling heroes gathered once more at the Division of Environmental Quality Conference Room yesterday to receive their prizes for winning the recycling competition held in November. The Northern Marianas Academy, a private school in the Commonwealth, topped this year’s CNMI Recycles Day competition. The school collected a total of 50,380 lbs of recyclable materials. There were 34 NMA students who participated in the contest, bringing in 1,481.8 lbs of trash per student.

[B][U]December 23, 2007[/U][/B] [B]Quarters soon to feature NMI[/B]

There will soon be an easier way to answer the almost inevitable question of where the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas is: by flipping a quarter. The CNMI, together with four other U.S. territories and the District of Columbia, will soon be featured on the tail side of quarters, with the passage of legislation providing for the minting of new commemorative quarters. The measure, tucked into a massive federal spending bill passed by Congress on Dec. 19, will extend the popular state quarter program to the nation’s capital as well as the territories of Guam, the CNMI, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

[B]Justices reverse denial of two adoption cases[/B]

The CNMI Supreme Court has reversed Superior Court associate judge Kenneth Govendo’s denial of two adoption petitions after the high court determined that the judge based his ruling on assumptions. The justices also noted Govendo’s language during the adoption hearings that, according to them, “does not meet the reasonable observer’s appearance of justice.” In reversing the Superior Court’s decision to deny adoption petitions involving three children, Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan and Associate Justices John A. Manglona and Alexandro C. Castro ruled that the trial court clearly made a mistake in denying the adoptions because it improperly relied on evidence not entered into the record.