Archive - 2012

Detective Sergeant Apelu Soifua recently solved a multiple-murder case, but you haven’t seen coverage in the Samoa News (or heard it on KHJ). The murder case involved, among others, a tuna cannery executive, a Samoa News reporter, a local palagi attorney, a fight in the parking lot of a local nightclub, and a taxi driver who works out of the airport taxi stand.

Was the case kept quiet because drugs were involved? Was it corruption in the Department of Public Safety that made this case too hot to touch?

The cat is out of the bag now.

Christmas came early this year for the residents of Malaeloa in the western district of Tutuila, when on December 8, the village was the site of the latest Lions Club Eye Care outreach project.

The signature bright gold vests of the Lions could be seen at the Tuitasi Guest Fale early Saturday morning ,and when the last person was seen, 140 people had been given vision screening and eye examinations as well as being tested for their blood sugar and blood pressure levels.

In addition to its regular academic programs, the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) hosts several agencies on its campus that provide valuable services to the community, such as the Small Business Development Center and the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.

The most recent agency to make its home at ASCC is the American Samoa Area Health Education Center (ASAHEC), which became active in 2012 with little fanfare but plans to expand on its mission of providing assistance towards local health education in 2013.

Dear Editor,

The proverbial phrase that “things happen for a reason” is analogous to the situation at LBJ during my visit at the dental clinic on December 24, 2012 and December 26, 2012.

I witnessed and observed that the clinic opens at 7:30 a.m. and people march in to pick a number, be seated and wait to be called.  Around 8 a.m., the bench inside the clinic is filled to the maximum and people must wait outside.

Many of the residents of  Samoa remain homeless after strong winds and heavy rains destroyed and flooded homes during Cyclone Evan, forcing many to live in shelters. Although the governments are defined by different political ideologies, Samoa and American Samoa are bound together by blood and kinship which transcends any political barriers.

Samoa’s Head of State Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi and his wife Masiofo Filifilia will attend the inauguration of American Samoa’s new governor.

Lolo Matalasi Moliga and his Lieutenant Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga will be sworn in on the 3rd of January.

During his weekly interview on Radio 2AP, Samoa’s Prime Minister said Tui Atua will represent the government and people of Samoa at the inauguration of American Samoa’s new leaders.

The Asian Development Bank is providing half a million US dollars in an emergency grant to Samoa to help fund humanitarian and relief efforts for those affected by Cyclone Evan.

The funds will be used for essential needs and services as well as to support rehabilitation work.

A bank official based in Fiji, Caroline Currie, says the ADB will be working with the Samoa Government and other development partners to assist with the next stages of rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Women in Business are embarking on a Cyclone Evan farm-to-farm needs analysis in Upolu this week.

The organisation’s organic fieldworkers are giving up their holiday break to do a detailed analysis on farms in the cyclone-affected areas.

Others staff will continue the dried banana and coconut oil production so they can meet Women in Business’ export contracts.

Executive director Adimaimalaga Tafuna’i says the staff recognised that although it was the Christmas break, many farmers that are desperate for help out there.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The end game at hand, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders made a final stab at compromise Friday to prevent a toxic blend of middle-class tax increases and spending cuts from taking effect at the turn of the new year.

Success was far from guaranteed in an atmosphere of political mistrust - even on a slimmed-down deal that postponed hard decisions about spending cuts into 2013, and pessimism vied with optimism in a Capitol where lawmakers grumbled about the likelihood of spending the new year holiday in the Capitol.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.

The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 of complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."