Flashback September 22, 1999-2002

[B]September 22, 1999

All Nippon Airways to fly to CNMI
[/B] All Nippon Airways will operate 10 Osaka-Saipan charter flights on Dec. 25, 1999 to Jan. 7, 2000 to cash in on the expected influx of Japanese travelers who would want to celebrate the new millennium on the island. The millennium trip was planned by Pacific Micronesia Tours, Inc. and Tasi Tours, subsidiaries of Tokyo-based Japan Travel Bureau Inc., the biggest tour operator in the world. A B767 aircraft, with a seating capacity of 260, will be used in the chartered flights.

[B]HANMI: Let CNMI chart its economic path[/B]

The Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands has asked the U.S. House Committee on Resources to allow the Northern Marianas chart its own path to economic maturity, but sought the assistance of the federal government in solving local labor and immigration problems. In his testimony before the committee hearing last week, Ron Sablan, president of HANMI, said the people, businesses and government of the CNMI are more knowledgeable and in a better position to address the needs of the island community.

[B]Scholarship program gets $1 million[/B]

Legislators will boost funding for the government scholarship program by about $1 million to try to deal with anticipated deficit that threatens to cut substantial financial assistance to off-island students as well as those attending the Northern Marianas College. Members of the House Ways and Means have decided to slash proposed appropriation for the purchase of new computer hardware to realign funds to the Scholarship’s Office, according to its chair Rep. Karl T. Reyes.

[B]September 22, 2000

NMIRF sued over benefits[/B]

Former Commonwealth Ports Authority Executive Director Carlos A. Shoda yesterday filed a civil suit against the Northern Marianas Island Retirement Fund in connection with what he called as illegal deductions on his retirement benefits. Mr. Shoda, who retired in December 1997, was informed by NMIRF that his retirement benefits will be adjusted effective April 30,2000 because he was overpaid in the total amount of $19,851.43.

[B]Gov’t to lose $10-M under single tax rate[/B]

The Department of Finance has projected revenue loss of over $10 million, based on current tax collections, if the government implements a legislative proposal seeking simplified taxation system in the CNMI. The bill would also mean higher taxes for more than three-fourths of wage earners on the islands as well as over two-thirds of business establishments here, according to Finance Sec. Lucy DLG. Nielsen.

[B]Six indicted in illegal gambling case[/B]

Six Chinese nationals were indicted yesterday in the U.S. District Court on various criminal charges stemming from alleged illegal gambling operations in the tourist district of Garapan. They pled not guilty to seven counts filed in the indictment, including illegal gambling business and racketeering charges, lodged by federal prosecutors.

[B]September 22, 2002

Outbound traffic shrinks 17 percent
[/B] The number of outbound passengers dropped 17 during the first 10 months of the financial year 2002 to 397,708 from the previous year’s 481,135, reflecting a significant slowdown in air transport traffic. A report obtained from the Commonwealth Ports Authority also disclosed that the CNMI needs more than 170,000 people traveling out of the Northern Marianas in the remaining two months of the fiscal year 2002 to reach last year’s level of outbound traffic.

[B]NMI divers hold underwater cleanup[/B]

Local dive shop Abracadabra yesterday spearheaded an underwater cleanup at the Laulau Bay in observance of Sept. 21 as International Cleanup Day. Alec Hoffman, Abracadabra manager, said his group headed to the bay at about 8:30am to 12pm to collect debris. “We spent the whole morning collecting trash underwater.”