Columnists

SAIPAN is more than a tropical destination — it’s a place of breathtaking beauty, rich culture, and deep-rooted island hospitality. Our turquoise waters, lush hills, and powdery white beaches paint a perfect picture of paradise. But for many visitors and residents alike, the lasting impression of o…

Ambrose M. Bennett THE Truth is OVER 110 businesses & nonprofits have CLOSED under Arnold and still No Economic Recovery Plan that I’ve been yelling & pleading FOR the People since Arnold sat in 2020. But it seems Arnold, the legislature and even the People are ALL OK with what is happening…

Rosemarie D. Embile  AS the school year ends, schools and communities are filled with excitement. There are flowers, balloons celebrating achievements, proud parents adjusting their cameras, and children dressed in their best outfits, ready to walk across the stage. Closing exercises have always be…

THE recently issued, federally funded “Marianas Economic Roadmap: CNMI Economic Recovery Study” was prepared by a team of economists and other experts. It should be required reading for CNMI officials and politicians, many of whom either underestimate or are unaware of the complexity of the islands…

From left, David M. Sablan, Chailang T. Palacios and Marie C. Castro. Photo by Lupe Borja-Robinson THREE Saipan manamko’ — David M. Sablan, Marie C. Castro, and Chailang T. Palacios — each has contributed to the CNMI community in many ways.  Sablan became 93 this year.  Castro recently celebrated h…

Ambrose M. Bennett THE Truth is the CNMI is blessed with some AWSOME-BRILLIANT-MORALLY GROUNDED youth which is a signal that the future of the CNMI is going to be much brighter than the present and even glowing. The speeches from the students on “birthright citizenship” were just AWSOME and they we…

THE 2025 Philippine general election is scheduled for May 12, 2025, marking the country’s midterm polls. Nearly 70 million registered voters are expected to participate in this nationwide event, which will fill a total of 18,280 positions across 14 different posts, from the Senate down to municipal…

The following is the text of the speech that won third prize in this year’s AG’s Cup Speech Competition. I AM a product of birthright citizenship, alongside my older sister who is now pursuing higher education at Eastern Washington University. Our country was built on the concept of the “American D…

BC Cook JUST over a hundred years ago, Arthur Grimble and his wife, Olivia, were sent to the Gilbert Islands, now Kiribati, as colonial administrators.  The Gilberts were part of the British empire at the time, and Grimble shouldered the task of helping both the empire and the islanders improve the…

THE latest (federally funded) CNMI economic report came out in March and is 344 pages long. It is thoroughly researched, well-designed, printed on glossy paper, and includes colored photos, tables, and graphs. Among the many economic reports written about these islands since World War II, this one …