Flashback — Jan. 2006-Jan. 2008

Election panel’s pockets nearly empty[/B]

There’s still eight more months to go before the end of the fiscal year but the Commonwealth Election Commission has only about $10,000 left in its “all-others” funding—about a fourth of the ‘all-others’ that was originally allocated to the agency for the entire fiscal year. The Commonwealth Election Commission said in a statement yesterday that it spent over 75 percent of its fiscal year 2006 “all-others” funding to cover the cost of the 2005 general election. “Obviously, the commission now has about $10,000 in “all-others” funding for the remaining eight months of fiscal year 2006 or until Sept. 30, 2006,” said executive director Gregorio Sablan.

Andrew K. Quiambao, one of three men convicted in the burning of iConnect’s radio room on Mt. Tapochau, has complained that he was not given effective legal assistance during the proceedings. Quiambao complained that his lawyer was ineffective when he failed to object to the court’s decision to impose restitution as a condition of his supervised release. The court, realizing that its decision was not governed by any explicit statutory command, grounded its decision solely on the sentencing guidelines mandating that a court “shall” enter a restitution order as authorized under the law, said Quiambao.

Learning center for wetlands officially opens
[/B] The Kagman Education Island Wetland learning center is now officially open to the public for education tours. The federally funded learning center held its ribbon cutting ceremony at the site in Chacha Road, Kagman yesterday morning. Marianas Resource Conservation and Development Council vice-president Ike Cabrera, who presided over the ceremony, said the center was built to help schoolchildren with their research on wetlands. Agriculture Division staff member Ben S. Borja said the learning center would be locked up for security reasons and would be opened only upon request. He said the site is also a sanctuary for migratory birds that seasonally fly from neighboring countries such as Taiwan.

Local farmers and ranchers are all invited for the first Farmers Meeting today, 8:30am, at the Kagman Community Center in Kagman. Division of Agriculture director Donald Flores said this will be the first meeting for the year 2007. He said Department of Lands and Natural Resources Sec. Ignacio T. Dela Cruz and he would be opening the event. Flores said the meeting will update all farmers and ranchers about the Kagman Commercial Farm Plots. He will be discussing lot fees and boundary information, waste material, and other issues relating to farm plots.

New bill seeks to modify minimum wage increase[/B]

American Samoa Delegate Eni Faleomavaega has introduced a bill in Congress to amend the federal minimum wage law and allow the U.S. Secretary of Labor to prevent the mandated wage hikes from damaging the CNMI and American Samoa economies. Specifically, Faleomavaega’s bill, H.R. 5154, proposes to modify existing federal minimum wage law to allow the U.S. Secretary of Labor to adjust federal wage increases based on an objective determination of their potential impact on the island economies, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Interior and the governments of both the CNMI and American Samoa. Faleomavaega’s bill comes on the heels of a recently released U.S. Labor Department Report expressing concern about the CNMI economy’s ability to sustain future federal minimum wage hikes amid a slumping economy.
[B] DPH holds health screening at Legislature[/B]

The Department of Public Health conducted a health screening at the Commonwealth Legislature yesterday. DPH Diabetes and Prevention Control manager Tayna Belyeu-Camacho said the health screening “went very well.” At least 50 members of the Legislature, including some lawmakers, participated in the screening. “It was a really good response. Now all we need to do is compile all our findings together,” Belyeu-Camacho said. Rep. Ed Salas was one of CNMI’s leaders who took part in the health screening.