Archive - Mar 29, 2012 - Article (News Story)

Gov. Togiola Tulafono has revealed that his administration is talking with an off-island company with background in hospital management and operation, to do the same for LBJ Medical Center if the Fono approves legislation to transfer the hospital to the Executive Branch under the Department of Health.

The U.S. Labor Department confirmed yesterday that LBJ Medical Center will need to pay more than $600,000 in back wages to employees who didn’t get the right over-time pay or who didn’t get the minimum wage pay.

By failing to pay the right wages, the hospital has violated the overtime, minimum wage and record-keeping provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), according to the federal agency in a news release, which also states that the findings followed an investigation last year by its Wage and Labor Division.

Jordon Milroy is a 22-year-old living with a disability and is determined to reach out to fellow Pacific Islanders in a special way.

“I have cerebral palsy but I don’t suffer from it,” he says.

Milroy has set himself the remarkable challenge of climbing the 1029 stairs at the Auckland Sky Tower without using his wheelchair.

He is aiming to raise $5000 to buy wheelchairs for people in Samoa who have disabilities.

Congressman Faleomavaega met recently in Washington with representatives of the Pacific Islands Health Officers Association (PIHOA) of which the Tafuna Family Health Center in American Samoa is a member. 

Representing the Tafuna Family Health Center were Mrs. Ofeira Nu'usolia - Executive Director of Community Health Centers, Dr. John Tuitele - Clinical Director, and Dr. Oreta Togafau and Mr. Tagaloa Toloa Letuli - members of the Board of Directors.

The latest news from the Department of Marine Wildlife Resources (DMWR) Coastal Cleanup effort is that the work is going very well, according to DMWR Project Coordinator Alice Lawrence. “We’re currently unloading some of the debris that we picked up in Poloa and Amanave,” she told Samoa News yesterday.

“Most of the work has been done now, with only a few sites left,” said Lawrence.

The month of March has been proclaimed National Women’s History Month since Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1980, and the Governor of American Samoa has recognized the celebration for the fourth consecutive year now.

In  2012, the Department of Human Resources celebrated Women’s History Month in American Samoa with a Luncheon Program last week, at the Governor H. Rex Lee Auditorium in Utulei.

Dear Editor,

For the past three Fridays (Mar 9,16, 23, 2012) since the LBJ Medical Center clinics were ordered to shut down on those days, the Emergency Room has been experiencing many unnecessary hardships. The ER is trying to handle their own workload of ambulance patients, acute medical illnesses and walk-in injuries that fluctuate according to human nature.

U.S. prosecutors have claimed that Andrea Matau, the former legal assistant of the now closed U’una’i Legal Service Corporation (ULSC), defrauded the American Samoa Government in 2008 by filing false tax returns as well as writing checks towards a closed bank account.

Prosecutors’ revelation was made in filings with the federal court in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, in response to the defense’s sentencing recommendation of one-year probation with the special condition that she completes 100 hours of community service.

WOMAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING POLICE OFFICER

A 38-year old woman accused of assaulting a male police officer made her initial appearance before the District Court yesterday morning. Aloma Siataga of Pago Pago is facing third degree assault and public peace disturbance charges.

The Samoa Victim Support Group, a non-profit organization which has helped thousands of victims of crime in Samoa, is planning to open a branch in American Samoa. The local office, to be called the Samoa Victim Support Group American Samoa (SVSGAS) will officially launch on April 16, 2012, where the founder of the SVSG, Precious Chang, will attend, along with her mother Lina Chang, the president of the Samoa branch.