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GARVEE allows debts to be paid with future federal highway funds

By B. Chen

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (The Samoa News, Feb. 27, 2013) – Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga has responded to Rep. Larry Sanitoa’s request for the American Samoa Government to look into a federal program called Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles (GARVEEs), which enables states to pay debt service and other bond-related expenses with future federal-aid highway funds.

As of September 2012, a total of 24 states and three territories have been issued $16 billion under the FHWA Innovative Funding Program to finance their infrastructure through the GARVEEs program.

In his Feb. 15 letter to Sanitoa, Governor Lolo thanked the Tualauta representative for "bringing to my attention an innovative funding scheme to facilitate comprehensive accommodation of our deteriorated public thoroughfare."

He added, "I do appreciate very much the ingenuity of your colleagues and due diligence that you...

Peter Sharp says commission acted as ‘an inquisition’

By David Lornie

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Feb. 28, 2013) – Peter Sharp, the owner of the MV Rabaul Queen, which sank in rough waters off the Morobe coast last February in Papua New Guinea, has broken his year-long public silence to speak exclusively to the Post-Courier.

Over the past year, Captain Sharp has been the target of intense public hatred, with calls for his arrest and worse.

After releasing an initial statement to the public, Sharp avoided talking to the media.

Slammed for not being more accessible after the disaster, Sharp now explains his public silence.

"I made the initial (public) statement at the insistence of my family members and because I thought it’s necessary. After that, anything I said would have been twisted and used to sell papers, not telling the truth."

Captain Sharp attacked the Commission of Inquiry into the Sinking of the MV...

Authorities say 8 percent of diabetics need dialysis ‘right away’

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, Feb. 28, 2013) – Dialysis patients in Fiji will be able to receive life saving treatment free of charge, with the government to pay for treatment.

The Kidney Foundation of Fiji has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Ministry of Health paying for dialysis patients treatment for three months.

President of the Kidney Foundation of Fiji, Dewan Chand Maharaj, has told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat their are 48 patients currently on dialysis in Fiji.

"About 16 percent of the population are diabetic, and out of that... 8 percent should go on dialysis straight away," he said. "You're looking at a couple of thousand."

Mr. Maharaj says previously around 95 percent of those who required...

Guam Legislative Staffer’s House Raided For Drugs Authorities apparently tracked a parcel mailed to Carillo

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Marianas Variety Guam, March 1, 2013) – Agents of the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency arrested a senior legislative staffer and seized six bags of marijuana during a raid in Jonestown, Tamuning, yesterday afternoon.

Chris Carillo, who works at Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz’s office, was taken into custody and is expected to appear in court today for a bail hearing.

Customs agents also confiscated Carillo’s Toyota Sequoia, where they allegedly found the bags of marijuana. They also seized plastic food storage bags, a weighing scale, and a package marked "clothing" found in the house.

The agents swooped down on the house on Thomas Street and conducted the search for about six hours, trying to track a mailed package they believed had been delivered and received.

It wasn’t clear as of press time if...