{"id":322965,"date":"2020-05-15T06:02:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T20:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=322965"},"modified":"2020-05-15T06:02:29","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T20:02:29","slug":"things-to-know-may-15-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/things-to-know-may-15-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"THINGS TO KNOW – May 15, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

As of May 14, 2020. All information may change without prior notice. For corrections and additions to this list, send an email to editor@saipantribune.com or call 235-6397 or 235-2440.<\/em><\/p>\n

BECQ announces updated hours of operation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality has announced that they are now providing services to the public from Monday to Friday, 9am \u2013 3pm, during the current government shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
\nBECQ will be practicing social distancing and safety measures for the protection of their visitors and staff. The designated visitor\u2019s entrance will be the BECQ main entrance and visitors parking will be in the front of the BECQ building. For details, click on link<\/a> at www.saipantribune.com<\/p>\n

FAQs: Employee Retention Credit under the CARES Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Employee Retention Credit under the CARES Act encourages businesses to keep employees on their payroll. The refundable tax credit is 50% of up to $10,000 in wages paid by an eligible employer whose business has been financially impacted by COVID-19. For details, go to https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/newsroom\/faqs-employee-retention-credit-under-the-cares-act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Updated Government Resource listing<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CNMI government has issued an updated\u00a0government resource listing\u00a0as of May\u00a011, 2020,\u00a0which includes\u00a0all government offices\u00a0and agencies that are still operational and offering services to the public during the governor’s public health emergency.\u00a0See Page 10 of today\u2019s Saipan Tribune. For additional details, click on link<\/a> at www.saipantribune.com.<\/p>\n

How Trump admin is supporting the CNMI<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Trump administration outlines how it is supporting the people of the CNMI in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. For details, click on link<\/a> at www.saipantribune.com.<\/p>\n

USDA outlines telehealth service changes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issues a summary of key service changes to increase the use of telehealth in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures include allowing rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers to serve as “distant site” providers, increasing the types of services that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can deliver via telehealth, and allowing certain telehealth services to be delivered to Medicare recipients by phone. For details, go to https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/USDARD\/bulletins\/289d418<\/a>.<\/p>\n

USDA RD takes steps to help<\/strong><\/p>\n

USDA Rural Development has taken a number of immediate actions to help rural residents, businesses and communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Rural Development will keep our customers, partners, and stakeholders continuously updated as more actions are taken to better serve rural America. Visit www.rd.usda.gov\/coronavirus for more information. Or click on https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/accounts\/USDARD\/bulletins\/2894700<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

SBA Fact Sheet<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. Small Business Administration has issued a \u201cFact Sheet for the CNMI\u201d about the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Read it by clicking on the link<\/a> at www.saipantribune.com.<\/p>\n

Commerce Department in operation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CNMI Department of Commerce will continue to provide services to the CNMI business community via means of teleworking.
\nFor direct support and services, the CNMI is advised to contact the support team via the department\u2019s website at\u00a0info@commerce.gov.mp\u00a0and indicate the attention to the respective division or section for the appropriate services. See DOC advisory at the link<\/a> at www.saipantribune.com.<\/p>\n

FBI alert vs online scams<\/strong><\/p>\n

FBI issue an alert to the public to be on the lookout for scams that exploit the current COVID-19 pandemic. See FBI advisory at the link<\/a> on www.saipantribune.com.<\/p>\n

Process for mass testing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mass testing for COVID-19 is ongoing at the Saipan International Airport. The test is free. People interested in being tested for COVID-19 can request for an appointment for specimen collection on the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. website at https:\/\/chcc.gov.mp\/covid19testing.php<\/a> or over the phone through the COVID-19 Info Line. For more information, see link<\/a> at www.saipantribune.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As of May 14, 2020. All information may change without prior notice. For corrections and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":322835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[880,26,2407,117],"class_list":["post-322965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-becq","tag-cnmi","tag-commerce-department","tag-usda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}