Flashback June 19, 2000-2002

[B]June 19, 2000

EPA, CUC talk on NMI’s water needs[/B]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been meeting with the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, discussing ways on how the CNMI’s public utility firm can be included in several federally funded programs that would address water issues. Barry F. Pollock, an environmental engineer from the San Francisco, California-based U.S. EPA Region 9 office assigned with the federal agency’s water division, met yesterday with CUC Executive Director Bernard P. Villagomez.

[B]Bill increasing MVA board gets Senate’s approval[/B]

In a rider to legislation affecting the Marianas Visitors Authority, the Senate on Friday approved a proposal to increase the number of board directors from the current nine to 11 members. The two new directors will come from Rota and Tinian, with one additional representative each to the MVA’s policy-making body in an effort to boost representation by both island municipalities in the tourism industry.

[B]AG warns against deceiving credit cards[/B]

This gold may not even pass for a bronze. Two years after its resurgence in the Northern Marianas met by the Commonwealth government’s prompt effort to curtail its spread, a United States-based company is once again trying to dupe CNMI consumers through notices that they have been pre-approved for a card with a tempting credit limit. The Consumer Counsel of the Attorney General’s Office during the weekend warned that Dallas, Texas-based Credicorp Inc. is again sending tempting offers for worthless, pre-approved gold cards to CNMI consumers.

[B]June 19, 2001

Safety nets eyed to meet projected FY02 revenues[/B]

The Tenorio Administration and the Legislature have partnered in crafting safety nets that would ensure government collection of taxes, in order to meet projected revenues amid economic slowdown. Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio cited the need to meet projected earnings, identified under his Fiscal Year 2002 budget proposal, to prevent any disruption in the delivery of basic government and other social services to the community.

[B]Auditors asked to guard public money vs. abuse[/B]

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday urged public auditors throughout the Pacific to continue guarding government coffers against corrupt individuals to ensure proper use of public funds. The governor spoke before 130 participants in the 12th annual workshop and conference of the Association of Pacific Islands Public Auditors on Saipan.

[B]On minimum wage US Senate urged to justify claims[/B]

A Saipan legislator asked the United States Congress to provide the CNMI copies of studies allegedly commissioned by Washington to determine the impact of extending federal minimum wage into the Commonwealth. In a letter to US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Rep. Dino M. Jones demanded that the US Senate prove its claims that it has commissioned studies relating to the extension of federal minimum wage into the Northern Marianas.

[B]June 19, 2002

Government expects 10 percent hike in revenue next year[/B]

The Commonwealth’s economy is still in a slump but things are improving and the government confident of a 10-percent increase in General Fund revenue in the next fiscal year. That is how Gov. Juan N. Babauta summarized yesterday’s PowerPoint presentation on the CNMI’s Financial Projections, even as he stressed that expenditure controls are still in place and would net the government even more savings in the months to come.

[B]New postal rates on June 30[/B]

The United States Postal Service is scheduled to implement a new set of postal rates for domestic mail effective June 30 to defray increasing operational costs brought on by the economic crisis. The new postage rates will impose additional 3 cents or a 7.7-percent increase on the existing postage rates. The USPS currently carries non-denomination stamps, as regular stamps with new rates are anticipated to be out in the next three weeks.