Flashback July 01, 1999-2003

15 days deportation period gets Senate OK[/B]

A legislation reducing to 15 days the time provided to nonresident workers to secure employment on the island passed the Senate yesterday, defeating in effect an initial drastic measure that will seek only three days before they can be deported by the government. Senate Bill 11-150, offered by Sen. Juan P. Tenorio, will amend existing regulations under Public Law 11-6 or the hiring moratorium, which allows guest workers up to 45 days to look for new employer once their job contract expires.

Beginning today, the Commonwealth Ports Authority will be charging $1 per hour to vehicle owners who will use the parking lot at the Saipan International Airport as part of its revenue generating measure. CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas said a booth, manned by trained employees of the ports authority, will be set up and operated 24 hours every day. But he said CPA employees are exempt provided that they have the official CPA badge.

The United States is facing severe shortage of qualified special education teachers due to high attrition rates, according to a report by the national weekly magazine Education Week. The Education Week reported that special education teachers are frustrated and disillusioned by the job, which comes with more time-consuming duties and legal responsibilities than teaching in other fields – usually without additional pay.

4 governors in one week[/B]

History happened last Friday but for those more attuned to the political workings of the CNMI, that day went by with hardly a ripple in the political fabric of the Commonwealth. In a span of three days starting Wednesday, the Commonwealth went through several leadership changes, with Friday officially marking the first time ever that somebody from Tinian occupied the highest executive post of the islands.

The regulations governing the issuance of a CNMI’s tourist visa or visitor’s entry permit is now in effect. These were adopted by the Department of Labor and Immigration as emergency regulations, based on information obtained from the office of acting Labor and Immigration Secretary Jeff Camacho Friday.

The Commonwealth Ports Authority’s revenue during the first eight months of Fiscal Year 2002 fell short of its original projection, prodding officials to look at a possible conversion of its Commonwealth Development Authority loan to a grant. CPA officials underscored Friday the need to revisit the agency’s annual budget and explore alternatives that would impose additional safety nets to allow the ports authority to stabilize its fiscal status.

Leadership open to discussion[/B]

Senate majority amenable to tackle minority’s demands
The Senate leadership is amenable to the minority members’ clamor that their three demands be placed on the session agenda, if this is what it would take to get the wayward senators to show up at the next session. This was essentially the message relayed yesterday by Senate president Paul A. Manglona and Senate vice president Jose M. Dela Cruz in an interview with the media.

If no new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome crops up in China, then the CNMI government will lift its travel restriction on people coming from that country by July 11. This was disclosed by Press Secretary Peter Callaghan, who said that, with the World Health Organization removing China from its SARS-affected areas on June 24, the CNMI government is just waiting for the virus’s incubation period to end before it lifts its entry ban on travelers from China. However, Taiwan and Toronto are still considered by the WHO as active areas so they are still on the list and the CNMI’s travel restrictions still apply to travelers coming from these two areas, Callaghan added.