Local News
The scene this morning shortly before dawn at Honolulu International Airport as American Samoa residents arrived for the first repatriation flight. The flight departed at 8 a.m. Kueni Aumoeualogo-Hisatake said she is elated and grateful to repatriate. She and her husband are carrying the ashes of...
Buses began pulling up at the Honolulu airport this morning before dawn with the 159 passengers who are booked on the first repatriation flight, that took off for American Samoa at 8 a.m. “I’m thinking about my mom,” Eileen Tyrell, of the Tagata Tutu Faatasi Alliance of American Samoa told Hawaii...
Washington, D.C. — Thursday, Congresswoman Uifaatali Amata sent a letter to President Biden identifying top congressional issues for American Samoa, alerting him to repatriation needs, and outlining numerous opportunities to work productively with his Administration in a bi-partisan manner in the...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — ASG employees, who also work part time for Hawaiian Airlines are required to submit a leave form to their supervisors if their government work schedules conflict with arrival of repatriation flights bringing home hundreds of local residents stranded off island since the...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Director of Health, Motusa Tuileama Nua assured representatives during his confirmation hearing last Thursday that all passengers on the repatriation flight arriving from Hawaii later this afternoon have completed their testing and are safe to enter the territory. All of...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A call was made in the House Chamber last week by Vaifanuatele Representative, Lavea Fatulegaee P. Mauga to amend the current drug law so that drug offenders will face more severe punishment for their crime.
According to Lavea when he raised this matter in the House last...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An overstayer from Samoa convicted of burglarizing a home in Pavaiai is going to jail. Sitivi Opetaia was ordered by the High Court to serve 28 months at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) as a condition of his 7-year probation.
Opetaia, who was held in custody...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are doing more home deliveries now than before,” Evelyn Lili’o Satele, the now fully Fono confirmed director of the Territorial Office of Administration on Aging (TAOA) said of the senior cooked food program during her Senate...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A second bus driver accused of using altered information to obtain a commercial permit to operate a bus was arrested by police last week.
The driver, Makalio Alesana made his initial appearance in District Court last week.
Alesana is charged with one count of fraud and...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Aside from donating cases of essential items specifically requested by the government’s “Long Journey Home: American Samoa Repatriation Donation Drive”, Bluesky Communications is donating $70,000 in total value of telecommunication services to help returning residents on...



![President Joe Biden (who was Vice President at the time) is seen in this 2016 photo with a Samoan orator's staff and wearing the ula fala and moso'oi ula on his flight‘s refueling stopover in American Samoa during the Obama-Biden administration. [courtesy photo] President Joe Biden (who was Vice President at the time)](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/president_biden.jpg?itok=nlmdwA38)
![“To ensure a smooth airport flight operation during the upcoming repatriation flights, all ASG employees who are also employed part-time at Hawaiian Airlines shall be excused from work should the [repatriation] flight schedule conflict with their ASG job schedules,” Lemanu declared in his memo. [SN file photo] Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/lemanu_head_shot_2.jpg?itok=iW6OJKs8)
![Director of Health, Motusa Tuileama Nua appeared before the House Health Committee last week for his confirmation hearing. [photo by AF] Director of Health, Motusa Tuileama Nua](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/motusa_0345.jpg?itok=j0RVCqsc)
![Rep. Lavea said the only way to stop the problem from growing is to amend the law and increase the punishment. [SN file photo] Vaifanuatele Representative, Lavea Fatulegaee P. Mauga](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/rep_lavea_0240_0.jpg?itok=Af24MH9B)
![American Samoa High Court building [SN file photo] American Samoa High Court building](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/high_court_109.jpg?itok=saCU9rmH)
![This Samoa News photo taken last week Thursday shows Evelyn Lili’o Satele, the now fully confirmed — both by the Senate and House —director of the Territorial Administration on Aging. [photo: FS] Evelyn Lili’o Satele](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/taoa_director_5557.jpg?itok=RYjNR3BK)

![[l-r] Bluesky Communication’s technical consultant Raj Deo, Governor Lemanu’s chief of staff Tuimavave Tauapai Laupola, Bluesky Human Resources manager Lisa Gebauer, Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga, Bluesky chief executive officer, Justin Tuiasosopo, and Bluesky customer service manager Sherry Sele, posed for a media photo after a Bluesky news conference last Friday at the company’s main office at the Laufou Shopping Center. Raj Deo, Governor Lemanu’s chief of staff Tuimavave Tauapai Laupola, Bluesky Human Resources manager Lisa Gebauer, Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga, Bluesky chief executive officer, Justin Tuiasosopo, and Bluesky customer service manager Sherry Sele](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/_bs_donationimg_5592.jpg?itok=HbNi93xh)