Columnists

WHAT if you found out that someone secretly dumped millions of dollars’ worth of gold and silver off Obyan beach? It is about one hundred feet down and lying in the sand, possibly buried, so you have to use scuba gear and do some digging. Would you go looking for it? That is exactly what happened i…

HALF a century ago today, the NMI was still a Trust Territory district administered by the United States. The Covenant, which would make the islands part of the U.S., was still pending in the U.S. Senate.

THE Truth is, after being on this earth 75 years I have seen too many things invoked as “DOOM, bad or wrong” based on pure skepticism, conjecture & supposition only to be proven WRONG by science & time.

SOMETIMES good leadership makes all the difference. A good leader can give a group purpose and direction, he can organize efforts to accomplish tasks. He can save lives. A bad leader does not offer direction, inspire trust, and give hope. Because of a lack of good leadership people can die.

THE Truth is, Ralph seems to think he is “Trump” as it is clear to me, Ralph is following the “Trump-Playbook.” Ralph literally RAN-to-Washington for a photo op with Trump that was really much more than a picture, as WE can now see that Ralph is trying to be just like Trump with his quest to be Gov…

In the heart of America’s War on Poverty…, “some two-thirds of households with children still receive food stamps, among the nation’s highest rates, and the estimated median household income hovers around $35,000.”

THE recent Grist article, “What changed for deep-sea mining in 2025? Everything,” makes one thing unmistakably clear: deep-sea mining is not advancing because the science is settled or because communities consent — it is advancing because power has decided it will.

LIKE a great many of you, part of my high school curriculum included reading “Lord of the Flies,” which turned out to be one of the best and one of the worst things that ever happened to me. Captivated by the story itself, I eagerly devoured page after page until the tragic end, but my relationship…

THE next major decision affecting the CNMI’s ocean may be made without us — not because we were consulted too late, but because we spoke too softly and too separately. As federal interest in deep-seabed mining grows, the CNMI faces a choice: respond piecemeal, or learn from American Samoa’s clarity…

IN 1985, the local economy was growing, as indicated by the number of pages our Friday edition carried back then — 40 or 44. There were plenty of ads, including those for new businesses and job vacancies. But as is the case today, most of the news stories were about things that will apparently alwa…