Columnists

THE Covid pandemic is slouching on to its inevitable conclusion.  Infection rates are down in most parts of the world as immunization efforts continue.  Who could have guessed a year and a half ago that a global argument would commence over receiving vaccination shots? Although most people who have…

IN 1991, when the local economy was still thriving, the education commissioner told CNMI officials that public schools might shut down. Why? Because, MV reported, “there is nobody to pick up the garbage at the schools.” Why? Because the central government allotted an annual budget of $10,000 (worth…

WHEN the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers presented its Marianas Village Pride or MVP Campaign at the CNMI Public School System State Level Parent Summit on Oct. 9, our staff, teachers and parents were immediately drawn to the concept. Within a week, GCEA received great feedback and support …

LAST week, I took a trip to Rota and sat down with Honorable Mayor Efraim M. Atalig, mayor of Rota, to discuss his vision for Rota’s solid waste collection and disposal. He shared that solid waste collection and disposal is a challenge, as there are no commercial trash collection services on the is…

IMAGINE a barrel of several hundred ping-pong balls, mostly colored white, some gray, and a few black.  The balls are human inventions, with the white ones being good inventions, the grey denoting inventions with mixed effects, and the black ones being disasters that destroy civilization.  Now imag…

REPRESENTATIVE Sheila Babauta is just awesome and she proved that the CNMI can be on the International Stage at the United Nations addressing our challenges along with other nations.  Her appearance at the COP-26 in Glasgow Scotland sharing the CNMI’s story and introducing President Obama was in de…

THE recent outburst to create chaos by defeated candidate Grace Sablan-Vaiagae asking the Speaker to investigate Rep. Ed Propst just shows and even proves that she is just a “Republican LOYALIST and a Sore Loser.”  I can remember her being adamant about “having fun with the election” as if there wa…

VETERANS Day was the perfect day for this veteran to remember how and why Tinian’s representatives to the Covenant negotiations worked with their colleagues from Saipan and Rota to develop not only the Covenant that created the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, but also its Technical Ag…

THE Office of the Mayor of Tinian and Aguiguan joins Rota and Saipan in supporting the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers’ Marianas Village Pride Campaign, which I believe goes beyond beautification and encourages all residents to take deeper ownership and pride in our beautiful islands. On Ti…

ONE of the two biggest local news stories on Aug. 12, 1988 was the walkout staged by Chinese garment workers at a San Vicente victory. They were demanding the safe return of a co-worker who, they said, was taken away by security guards and threatened immediate deportation. The workers were also cro…