Flashback May 21, 1999-2002

Wider tax exemptions get commerce backing[/B]

Commerce Secretary Frankie B. Villanueva has expressed support for a plan by the Legislature to provide tax exemptions to businesses which meet certain criteria to be imposed by the government in efforts to spur the local economy. Called the Qualifying Tax Certificate Program, the proposal is sponsored by Rep. Heinz Hofschneider to assist the private sector in dealing with the current economic crisis through a package of incentives.
[B] Special Ed toughens rules for guns in campus[/B]

Under the amended version of the Individual’s with Disabilities Education Act, school principals are allowed to remove a special education student from their campuses if a child brought a gun to school. The temporary removal will also cover students caught with dangerous weapons and illegal drugs, as well as those peddling controlled substance.

While officials of the Department of Public Safety insist the problems plaguing the government office point to diminishing resources, lack of leadership and mismanagement could have aggravated the situation, according to legislators. This was what the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations found out at the resumption of its oversight hearing yesterday after more than a month in recess since it began on April 15.

Budget cut threatens five crucial programs in NMC[/B]

Funding allocation for the Northern Marianas College has been reduced by about 64 percent since 1999, which threatens continued operation of at least five of its educational programs, according to acting president Alvaro A. Santos. Mr. Santos criticized Public Law 10-66 which, he said, failed to adequately finance at least five educational programs currently offered at the College.

Shell Guam, Inc. raised pump prices of petroleum products in all service stations in the Northern Marianas effective Sunday midnight, due to new rounds of oil price increases in the Singapore regional market. Car owners who gas up at Shell service stations throughout the CNMI will have to cough up an additional four cents for a gallon of regular and six cents more for a gallon of premium gasoline.

An audience of more than 300 people broke into applause Sunday as Mount Carmel School students paraded the fashion runway in makeshift but chic pieces of ensemble, promoting a common conviction. The fashion statement: Recycle.
[B] MAY 21, 2002

Dela Cruz, Villagomez assume new positions[/B]

The Senate has a new Vice President in the person of Sen. Jose Dela Cruz and a new Legislative Secretary in Sen. Thomas P. Villagomez-a reconfiguration of Senate officers arising from Sen. David M. Cing’s resignation from the chamber’s leadership. During yesterday’s session, the upper chamber adopted Senate Resolution 13-12, which effectively promoted Dela Cruz to the Senate vice presidency, replacing Cing and leaving the Legislative Secretary position vacant for Villagomez to slide into.

A pair of juvenile detainees bolted out of the Kagman Detention Center Friday by tampering with the detention’s fence while the guard was not looking, police reported yesterday. The escape was the second of a similar incident to occur in barely a month, when another pair of juvenile detainees plotted and managed to outmaneuver a detention guard. But police officers apprehended the escapees, aged 12 and 13, several hours after they broke out of detention, Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Pete C. Muña said. They were caught in Capitol Hill by the Esco’s Bakery.

Tourist arrivals to the Northern Marianas dropped by 13.41 percent in April 2002, compared with the year ago’s tally, a report from the Marianas Visitors Authority disclosed. The MVA Fact Sheet released yesterday noted that the CNMI played host to a total of 33,507 visitors in April 2002, which is 11.5 percent lower than the visitors received in March 2002, and about 5,191 less than the number of tourists in April 2001. MVA records indicate that the local tourism sector remains volatile as October-April 2002 arrival statistics dropped by 25.37 percent to 225,452 from last year of the same period’s 302,109.