PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2017 … Section Mon 03-13-17.pdfMust submit resume - PO...

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San Francisco-based non-profit group CASEProject teamed up with Jeremiah Masoli, whose parents are from American Samoa, to set up literacy workshops — called “Samoan Voice” — and football clinics throughout last week, including a “football combine and skills clinic” that took place on Saturday afternoon at the Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Masoli team included former NFL players, who he said “just want to give back” to the community

and they jumped at the opportunity when they were told about this trip to work with the kids.”

During last Saturday’s Masoli Combine, pro-quarterback Mcleod Bethel-Thompson is seen here keeping a close eye on how our local athletes were forming up during the shuttle run station. See more photos in today’s Sports, and more highlights of the Combine in tomorrow’s issue of Samoa News.

[photo: TG]

PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA $1.00MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2017

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KRUSE: O oe sui malo o Amerika Samoa i luma o le Fa’amasinoga

Call to include territories in Trump’s proposed $1T infrastructure funding

U.S. EPA assists Am. Samoa with hazardous waste removal

Fueled by Trump opponents, Maddow’s popularity rises

Le Lali

5

The McDonald’s American Samoa’s family and friends bid goodbye to Evelyn Gebauer – during her farewell-retirement dinner, hosted at the A&E Cafe last Friday night. [photo: TG]

ONLINE @ SAMOANEWS.COMDAILY CIRCULATION 7,000

Private schools score top honors in Territorial

Math CompetitionMrs. Wanda Alofa and her daughter Aitulagi, following the awards ceremony for the Territorial

Math Competition held last Friday. Wanda and her husband Papalii donated all the monetary prizes for the winners. Their daughter Aitulagi took home first place for the Grade 10 Division.

Gift certificates and other items were donated by National Pacific Insurance, Bluesky Communica-tions, ASTCA, Manu’a Stores, ASPA, Neil’s ACE Home Center, Happy World, McConnell Dowell, Mrs. Park, and Shikha Sreenivasan. See story for TMC official results. [photo: Blue Chen-Fruean]

by Blue Chen-FrueanSamoa News Correspondent

The results for the Ter-ritorial Math Compe-

tition held last week are in, and top honors went to South Pacific Academy, Manumalo Academy, and Pacific Horizons – all private schools.

Over 185 students repre-senting various elementary and high schools across the terri-tory – both public and private — participated in what Director of Education Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga called “a friendly competition”.

During a brief ceremony held last Friday at the ECE center in Utulei, parents, teachers, friends, and stu-dents gathered to celebrate the achievements of the territory’s best and brightest.

The Department of Educa-tion was represented by Director Dr. Ruth Matagi Tofiga, Assis-tant Director of DOE’s Office of Curriculum and Instruction (OCIA) Netini Sene, OCIA coordinator Sofa’i Tuato’o,

and DOE Deputy Director for Support Services Dr. Philo Jen-nings, who offered the opening prayer.

In her remarks, Dr. Matagi-Tofiga spoke about the impor-tance of mathematics in our daily lives. “Math is every-where,” she said. The DOE Director expressed gratitude to the parents and teachers for “pushing the kids forward”.

She said DOE’s goal is to provide education and the end product is “the fruit of our labor”. She applauded the efforts of all students who par-ticipated in the math comp and said, “in the end, these are our kids. When they leave, we’ll know that we are sending out the best.”

The DOE director noted that there was a lack of public school representation in the awards ceremony. This year, only two public high school students made the Top Three slots in the competition (Grade 11 category), while the rest of

samoa news, Monday, March 13, 2017

the awards went to three private schools.

In overall school rankings, South Pacific Academy took first place, Manumalo Academy came in second, and Pacific Horizons rounded up the Top Three.

The Territorial Math Com-petition is an annual event that brings young people together to test their math skills. Last week’s competition was the 26th for the elementary students and 27th for the high schools.

Students who placed in the Top Three for high school and Top Five for the elementary division were each presented a trophy, certificates, a bag of full of school supplies, and other goodies.

Papalii Laulii and his wife Wanda Alofa donated all the cash awards, while gift cer-tificates and other items were donated by National Pacific Insurance, Bluesky Commu-nications, ASTCA, Manu’a Stores, ASPA, Neil’s ACE Home Center, Happy World, McConnell Dowell, Mrs. Park, and Shikha Sreenivasan.

The official results (Top Three for each grade level) are as follows:

GRADE 12:1. Seol Hee Lee– South

Pacific AcademyAlice Park– Manumalo

AcademyJi Hyun Oh– South Pacific

AcademyGRADE 11:

Taeyeon Bae– Manumalo Academy

Gayathri Murali and Tim-othy Guyapa- South Pacific Academy (TIED)

Isek Kuki- Tafuna High School and Karlinna Sanchez- Samoana High School (TIED)

GRADE 10:1. Aitulagi Alofa- Manumalo

Academy and Heyao Yang- South Pacific Academy (TIED)

Dio Feng- South Pacific Academy

Talalelei Auva’a- Manumalo Acadmemy

GRADE 9:

1. Philip Liang- Manumalo Academy

Evelini Suani- Manumalo Academy

Michelle Lo- Pacific Horizons

A total of 12 students clinched the Top Five spots for the 8th grade competition. Three students tied for first place: Jewel Kruse- Manumalo Academy, and Leilani Galea’i and Victor Chen- both of Pacific Horizons.

Second place honors went to Tavita Kuki of Samoa Bap-tist Academy and Kevin Lo of Pacific Horizons.

Three students were tied for third place: Jade Kruse and Jennifer Liang- Manumalo Academy, and Arianne Adriano- South Pacific Academy.

Coleman Elementary School’s Kapoti M. Amisone clinched fourth place while fifth place went to Toalei Toelupe- Aua Elementary, Fouaimalo Luamanu- Coleman Elementary and Mareko Tuimavave- Samoa Baptist Academy.

For overall student stand-ings, the results are as follows:

1. Seol Hee Lee- South Pacific Academy

Alice Park- Manumalo Academy

Aitulagi Alofa- Manumalo Academy

Heyao Yang and Ji Hyun Oh- South Pacific Academy (TIED)

REACTION FROM EDU-CATION REFORM TASK

FORCE CHAIRMANThe poor showing by

public high school students in the math competition was noticed by DOE Director Dr. Ruth Matagi Tofiga and OCIA Assistant Director Netini Sene – both touched on the subject briefly during Friday’s awards ceremony.

Samoa News sought a reac-tion from Utu Abe Malae, the chairman of the Task Force on the Future of Education in American Samoa, an organi-zation established by Execu-tive Order earlier this year in

January.“We need big time improve-

ments in the public schools in all areas, including the assignment of homework by teachers,” Utu said in response to Samoa News inquiries over the weekend. Utu called the Education Reform Task Force ‘a huge undertaking’.

When asked about the results of the recent math competi-tion, Utu replied, “Yes, that is a disappointment and is one of the reasons why the Task Force was established — Why the poor results and how to improve outcomes,”

According to Utu, the Task Force is currently “researching and preparing a proposal to organize public education under a different model from the present one, a model that will produce better outcomes; emphasizing vocational educa-tion and training, as opposed to the ‘everyone must go to col-lege’ goal, which is unrealistic.”

An example of something that can be enforced imme-diately by all school princi-pals and teachers, Utu said, is “assign homework to pupils, grade them, and return to pupils in a timely manner. Just do that one thing for now! From our preliminary findings, assigning homework is the normal prac-tice in the private schools; it is done haphazardly in the public schools.”

Utu has already visited the Manumalo Academy campus, sitting in during an English class, and he plans to visit Samoana High School this week. Utu said he is interested in the teaching of English and STEM (Sci-ence Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) classes.

Utu concluded, “Obviously, we have a lot of work to do.”

Along with Utu, other mem-bers of the Education Reform Task Force are Taimalelagi Dr. Claire Tuia Poumele, Dr. Ruth Matagi-Tofiga, Dr. Mikaele Etuale, Vaitinasa Dr. Salu Hunkin-Finau, Talauega Eleasalo Ale, and Steve Watson.

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➧ Private schools score top honors…Continued from page 1


by Fili SagapoluteleSamoa News Correspondent

Lists of priority infrastruc-ture projects from governors of four U.S territories — including American Samoa — have a total cost of over $8 billion, says Interior Department’s acting assistant secretary for Insular Areas, Nikolao Pula in testi-mony last week before a con-gressional panel.

The two-hour hearing, streamed online, on “Improving and Expanding Infrastructure in Tribal and Insular Commu-nities” by the House Subcom-mittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs included a call from the panel to include the territories and tribal commu-nities in US President Donald Trump’s proposed $1 trillion in funding for the nation’s infrastructure.

For the insular areas, Pula explained the mandatory Cap-ital Improvement Project pro-gram funding annually is set at a total around nearly $28 million, to fund priority projects pro-posed by island governments for funding. American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S Virgin Islands qualify for CIP, while Puerto Rico does under a separate fed-eral entity.

For the current fiscal year 2017, total CIP allocation is $27.72 million, with just over $9 million each for American Samoa and CNMI; $5.91 mil-lion to Guam and the U.S Virgin Islands gets $2.78 million.

Pula revealed that OIA has received a list of “capital improvement needs” from the governors of the four territories and it “amounts to over $1 bil-lion.” Pula didn’t provide any specific examples of improve-ment needs for the territories but the subcommittee requested a copy of each list from the territories.

Reading from his written statement, Pula told the con-gressional panel that much of the public infrastructure in the territories is well used and dif-ficult for the small communities to replace or upgrade.

“Overall, the territories’ school facilities average forty years of age, and show the marks of generations of school children and the effects of the tropical climate,” he said, adding that the governors’ top priorities calls for new and replacement infrastructure.

And includes hospitals in American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands; high schools in Guam and enlargement of the landfill in Northern Mariana Islands.

“Aging infrastructure can create risks to human health, a diminishment of educational opportunities for youth, and a less than desirable environ-ment for cultivating tourism and investment in territorial econo-mies,” he said.

In her remarks, Guam Con-gresswoman Madeleine Bor-dallo told the subcommittee that the territories “face challenges

with infrastructure projects and the needed resources and many times we’re not included in fed-eral funding opportunities, or formulas, that don’t truly recog-nize our needs.”

She also pointed out that the long distance to travel from the territories in the Pacific to the U.S mainland “makes it difficult to source materials and often we’re forgotten when it comes to [federal] funding.”

Additionally, the “dis-tance... contributes to the cost of our infrastructure,” she said, adding that funding “has been inadequate.”

“I’m even more concerned with findings” by a recent fed-eral review that “out of about $80 million in federal infra-structure funding available to the territories, only about $20 million was utilized last year” for the four territories, she said.

“At the time when our [island] governments are finan-cially strained, those resources could have been used for capital improvement projects that have been stalled due to the lack of funding,” she said, and clari-fied that that $20 million was divided among the four terri-tories. She hopes that OIA and federal partners help the terri-tories “so we can better utilize federal opportunities.”

Bordallo asked, how is DOI, working within the administra-tion, going to “consider funding for the territories and ensure we are included in the increases in

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Acutely malnourished child Sacdiyo Mohamed, 9 months old, is treated at the Banadir Hospital after her mother Halima Hassan Mohamed, right, fled the drought in southern Somalia and traveled by car to the capital Mogadishu, in Somalia Saturday, March 11, 2017. Somalia’s government has declared the drought a national disaster, and the United Nations estimates that 5 million people in this Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

(AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)

by Samoa News staffA report by the Western

Pacific Regional Fishery Man-agement Council staff reveals that the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources is working with Gov. Lolo Mata-lasi Moliga’s legal counsel to draft new language to revise an existing statute, which prohibits the possession of shark fins to mirror federal law.

However, there is a push by some members of Congress to also ban the landing of the whole shark, after identical fed-eral legislation, wasn’t able to succeed last year.

Initially enacted by a 2012 executive order by then Gov. Togiola T. Tulafono, the rule bans shark fining as well as making it illegal for fishermen to keep sharks landed on fishing trips.

However, the rule, which was later adopted into the admin-istrative code, differs from the federal law which allows landing of the whole shark and forbids shark finning.

According to the staff report, DWMR’s new director, Va’amua Henry Sesepasara has taken steps to reverse this con-flict with the federal law so that the local law would match the federal statute.

The report, to be taken up when the Council meets in Honolulu from Mar. 21-23, says the revised portion of the admin-istrative code (Title 24.0961) now only needs to be publicly noticed by DMWR.

After the notice time period for submission of comments, the government may be required to hold a public meeting on the statutory revision. By local

law, if five or more comments are received from the public, DMWR is required to notice and hold a public meeting on the revision of the code.

“DMWR anticipates this process to be done very soon,” the report says and notes that the Council’s local Advisory Panel was instrumental in affecting the change in the shark law as it regularly spoke in its monthly informal gatherings about the need to get updates from the ASG regarding the status of the revision of the law.

Additionally, the Advisory Panel made a recommenda-tion to the Council at an official meeting to work with the gov-ernment to complete the revi-sion, and has actively engaged both the DMWR staff and the governor’s legal counsel to seek updates each month.

“This type of action by one

of the Council’s advisory bodies illustrates the effectiveness of the Council’s bottoms up approach to fisheries manage-ment,” it says.

Besides American Samoa, a few other US jurisdictions, which ban shark finning as well as landing whole sharks are the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and California.

Last week Thursday, U.S Rep. Ed Royce of California and CNMI Congressman Gre-gorio Kilili Camacho introduced the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, which makes the posses-sion, sale, and purchase of shark fins illegal acts in the United States.

Royce, who is also chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the U.S can set an example for the rest of the world by “shutting down

its market for shark fins, which are often harvested by leaving these animals to die a slow and painful death at the bottom of the ocean.”

While California led the way with a state-wide ban, there are still almost 40 states where the purchase of shark fins is legal, he said in a news release and noted that the bipartisan legis-lation “is needed to eradicate shark finning for good.”

According to the release, the demand for fins, the key ingre-dient in shark fin soup, is one of the greatest threats facing shark populations around the world. While shark finning is illegal in U.S. waters, shark fins continue to be bought and sold throughout the U.S. and imported through California ports.

It also says that the legisla-tion eliminates the market for shark fins on a 50-state basis.


LETTERS TO THE EDITORSamoa News welcomes and encourages

Letters to the Editor. Please send them to our email [email protected]

Box 909, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799.Contact us by Telephone at (684) 633-5599Contact us by Fax at (684) 633-4864or by Email at [email protected] business hours are Mon. thru Fri. 8am to 4pm.Permission to reproduce editorial and/or advertisements, in

whole or in part, is required. Please address such requests to the Publisher at the address provided above.

Local shark fin law to be revised to include ban of landing of the whole shark

CHANGE SPEARHEADED BY LOCAL DEPT. OF MARINE AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES

© OSINI FALEATASI INC. RESERVES ALL RIGHTS.dba Samoa News publishes Monday to Friday, except for some local and federal holidays.Send correspondences to: OF, dba Samoa News, Box 909, Pago Pago, Am. Samoa 96799.Telephone at (684) 633-5599 • Fax at (684) 633-4864Email advertisements to [email protected] the newsroom at [email protected] business hours are Mon. thru Fri. 8am to 4pm.Permission to reproduce editorial and/or advertisements, in whole or in part, is required. Please

address such requests to the Publisher at the address provided above.Please visit samoanews.com for weekend updates.

Head Coach Sa Suluai and Team Mom Jewel Suluai posing proudly with their AYFS Bears Football Team, after collecting their second Championship title in the league this past Saturday, after a dominating 38 - 22 victory against the Steelers.

[photo: TG]


The American Samoa Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (AS-EPA) announces the suc-cessful completion of a haz-ardous waste removal action by the United States Environ-mental Protection Agency (US-EPA) in American Samoa last week.

Hazardous waste is harmful to human health and the envi-ronment. It can be in the form of liquids, solids, or contained gases, and it is generated by many different facilities on-island. Due to the Territory’s limited resources and geo-graphic isolation, hazardous waste removal is extremely challenging in American Samoa. In response to AS-EPA’s request for technical assistance, the US-EPA dis-patched a team to the Territory in October 2016 to conduct an assessment.

This week, the US-EPA returned, led by Chris Reiner and Bret Moxley, federal on-scene coordinators for the Region 9 Emergency Response Program in San Francisco, California. They brought four US-EPA contractors who spe-cialize in hazardous waste assessment, neutralization, transportation, and disposal.

U.S. EPA assists American Samoa with hazardous waste removal

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The American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency (AS-EPA) successful completed a hazardous waste removal action by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) in American Samoa last week. The hazardous waste was packed into a 20-foot ship-ping container that will depart the Territory in two weeks, for eventual disposal at a regulated facility off-island. [Courtesy photo]


funding as the Trump Adminis-tration plans much much more money for infrastructure?”

Pula first acknowledged that Bordallo “is absolutely correct, about the needs and the demand for the US territories for years and the limited funding” through the CIP monies.

Regarding Trump’s infra-structure funds, “it’s too early to say anything about how that’s going to develop,” Pula said. “But we’re working within the

department and also with the list provided by the governors, hopefully as time goes on, it’s fleshed out what we will be able to do some work in that regard for the territories.”

Bordallo responded, “I hope your voice is going to be loud and clear for the territories.”

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan pointed out that Trump promised a $1 bil-lion infrastructure fund in his address to Congress early this month and it’s “our job is to make that the US insular areas

and Indian countries — the tribal communities — par-ticipate fully in the president’s plans.”

“Insular and tribal people are among the nation’s poorest. And the key to raising stan-dards of living and developing our economies is first-rate infrastructure,” he said, adding that the hearing “can establish a strong record for what our infrastructure needs are, so that when the President’s proposal is legislated this Subcommittee will be able to advocate for the islands and tribes.”

In response to a question

from Puerto Rico Congress-woman Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon on current estimated costs of capital improvement needs in the territories, Pula referred to the over $1 billion total based on the list from the governors of the territories.

Pula recalled, about 20 years ago, that the U.S Army Corps of Engineers conducted an assess-ment of infrastructure needs of the territories at the time “and it was like around over $600 mil-lion, so now it’s up.”

Gonzalez-Colon noted Pula’s opening remarks about the two goals of the CIP program — assist territorial governments with infrastructure funding, and encourage improved financial management by the territo-rial governments. “Is there any aspect of the program that needs improvements?” she asked Pula.

The DOI official explained that base level funding was established in 2005, utilizing historic CIP trends with an overlay of the competitive allo-cation system requirements. The allocation system was adjusted for fiscal year 2012 and again for 2017. Additionally, there is only about $28 million annually in mandatory CIP funding.

“Historically, because CNMI and American Samoa are the smaller communities, Guam and the Virgin Islands have better economic activities and much larger, we provided about $9- $10 million [each] for American Samoa and CNMI, while the rest divided [between] Guam and Virgin islands,” he said.

“When we develop the [goals] to assist them, within the base line that we usually set every five years, the terri-tory could improve their finan-cial management — in terms of getting their single audit clean, providing them on time... and the improvements of their finan-cial systems,” he said.

Besides “this money, do you need anything from this com-mittee?” Gonzalez-Colon asked to which Pula replied, “Think everybody here needs money.” (The others testifying at the hearing are four officials repre-senting the tribal communities

in the U.S.)“It’s not just the infrastruc-

ture,” he said, “the economic base of the Indian countries as well as the territories thrives on these infrastructures in many ways.”

For example, when the incentives are being taken away — such as federal tax incentives like Section 936, the territories miss those opportunities to have their activities, he said.

(Section 936 had benefitted the local canneries and the Lolo Administration, along with Congresswoman Aumua Amata are working to not only reinstate this tax benefit but any other tax incentive to benefit U.S busi-nesses operating in American Samoa.)

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, with their “rum fund” incentive, which is an economic activity helping that island, he said, adding that the other territories don’t have such an economic activity, so it doesn’t really help them.

Towards the end of the hearing, Bordallo told Pula that, “we do move forward with more investments in our infra-structure and that the territories will be fully included in these plans.”

“Specially I hope any infra-structure bill will also include funding to address access to broadband and for expanding the IT and telecommunication economies in the territories, which bring enormous poten-tial economic benefits to the islands,” she said.

Bordallo asked if OIA funds broadband infrastructure in the territories and Pula replied, that CIP money funded the laying of a fiber optic cable and in the past based on the request from the governors. “If that’s their priority, it’s allowable or have been done through CIP,” he said.

Samoa News notes that $3 million in CIP money funded ASG shares to the American Samoa Hawai’i Cable, the fiber optic cable connecting Amer-ican Samoa to Hawai’i.

(See Samoa News last Friday on Congresswoman Aumua Amata’s comments at the hearing.)

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The American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency (AS-EPA) successful completed a hazardous waste removal action by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) in American Samoa last week. The joint team organized the col-lection of hazardous waste from the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center, American Samoa Community College Land Grant, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, and AS-EPA Laboratory. [Courtesy photo]


by Joyetter Feagaimaali’i-Luamanu Samoa News Reporter

Apia, SAMOA — Member of Parliament Fonotoe Lauofo Pierre is calling on the Samoa Government to amend their pol-icies to make it easier for visi-tors from American Samoa to visit the country’s casinos. His comments were made during the parliament session last week during the discussion on the Casino Act 2017, which would allow an extension of the Total-izer Agency Board (TAB) for another 12 months to oversee casinos in Samoa. The bill is now tabled in second reading.

Although a number of amendments were suggested, Minister of Public Enterprises, Lautafi Selafi Purcell said the amendments to the current Act are short — just the 12 months extension to the TAB’s authority to oversee the Casino Act. However there is a new Act that’s in the works that will oversee all gambling in Samoa.

During discussion on this bill, Fonotoe stated that casinos are an important revenue stream for the government as its proceeds go into developing Samoa’s economy.

“During my visit to the casino, there were not that many people, however there were a lot of people from India, China and Philippines. Looking back to 2010 when the government was proposing to open the casinos there were a lot of concerns and criticism from the community. However those concerns, which were presented before the com-mittee at the time, fast forward now... six years later those con-cerns are not really an issue.”

He went on to say that today, there is still a need to look at ways to attract more tourists to come utilize the casinos.

“My plea to the government is to find more ways to bring more people, my visit to the casinos was evidence that there are not enough players. I also seek the government to look at ways making it easier for our brothers and sisters from Amer-ican Samoa to come over to play our casinos. They want to come over, however the permit is making it difficult for them to come over …”

The parliament report also shows that there is one license allocated for Sheraton or Aggie Grey’s Hotel, he said, “but the government should consider attracting other businesses to add more casinos. My judgment is based on what I saw when I visited the casinos.”

He said, $2.5million has been collected from the TAB and more casinos means more money. Fonotoe believes that TAB should continue to oversee the casinos and there should be a long-term contract rather

than the 12 months proposed in the Casino Act 2017 — they are well versed to oversee the casinos, he said.

Another MP has urged the Parliament to consider allowing locals to utilize the casinos.

“I for one have been longing to play in the casinos but I can’t because I’m a Samoan passport holder,” said Faumuina Wayne Fong. He said there are other people who know their weak-nesses and shouldn’t play the casinos but for those who want to play and are able to play — they should be allowed. “It’s better to play local and leave the money here than for us to have to go off island and take the money there.”

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said there

were concerns from pastors and members of the public when the Casino Act was proposed and it reminded him of a song which says that casinos have teeth and they eat money. The song says the casino machines end up eating the money, leaving the person playing with no money to buy food and pay bills, that’s why the (casino) Act was cre-ated this way, to protect those types of people who are addicts, the PM said.

Samoa News notes that when the first casino was opened in Samoa, the PM in his keynote speech said he found opposi-tion from pastors interesting, as these were the same people who saw no problem at betting a lot of money when playing golf.

McDonald’sAmerican Samoa

You can pick up and turn in, an application at the McDonald’s Head Office in Nu’uuli, beginning Monday, March 6, 2017 at 2:30pm.

Deadline for all applications: Friday, April 28, 2017 at 4pm.For more information, please contact Silika Vai Tui at 699-8686 or

Evelyn Gebauer at 699-8699.

Annual Scholarship Awards

• Scholarshipawardsareavailableto2017highschoolgraduatesplanningonattendingASCC.

• Weareoffering4newawardsthisyear.• Wehave4continuingstudentsfromlastyearwhoarequalifiedas

longastheymeetourminimumrequirements.• Onescholarshipisfora2017ASCCgraduateplanningtocontinueat

anaccreditedcollege/universityintheUS. Wealsohaveacontinuingstudenteveryyear.

Become a recipient of McDonald’s American Samoa’s $36,000 Scholarship Award for the Academic Year 2017-2018.

Samoa MP lobbies to make it easier for Am Samoans

to come to casinos

Member of Parliament Fonotoe Lauofo Pierre. [photo: JL]

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Washington, D.C. – Friday, March 10, 2017 — Congresswoman Aumua Amata announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support (CDC –OSTLTS) has issued $83,337 in discretionary funds to the American Samoa Department of Health (ASDOH) as part of the 2017 Preventive Health and Health Ser-vices Block Grant Program.

“I am pleased to relay this information to our local government and people. Being relatively small and geo-graphically isolated from any major land mass, funding plays a crucial role in the improvement to our island’s healthcare system,” stated Amata. “There is still much to be done when it comes to healthcare improvement in our islands, but we remain optimistic that we can bring some real positive changes soon, and are of course thankful for every bit of funding we receive.”

According to the CDC, the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant provides the 50 states, D.C., and the U.S. territories with funding to address their unique public health needs in innovative and locally defined ways. This program gives grantees the

flexibility to use funds to respond rapidly to emerging health issues and to fill funding gaps in programs that deal with leading causes of death and disability.

“I want to thank the CDC for recognizing the need for these funds, and would like to give a spe-cial thank you to all of our local officials including Project Director, Motusa Nua, for their leadership and hard work in obtaining this important funding for our islands,” concluded Amata.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANTSThe U.S. Dept. of Interior announced late last week

a technical assistance grant for $139,500 to the All-Island Tax Administrators Association (AITAA) for its 2017 and 2018 conferences. Consisting of the four U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, the U.S.

Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands) and two of the three FAS (the Federated States of Micro-nesia, Marshall Islands and Palau), the AITAA gives territorial and FAS tax agencies a voice to address concerns or promote tax laws to the Departments of the Interior, the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Ser-vice. The 2017 conference will take place this June in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Other technical assistance grants announced are $865,800 for the Freely Associated states and CNMI to continue funding employee benefits under the terms of the Prior Service Trust Fund; and $697,387, for Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap and Utrik Atoll Health Care Programs.

Aumua announces

$83,000 healthcare

grant for ASProud Manu fan at the Canada Sevens, Day 2, BC Place, Vancouver, Canada. [Photo by Barry Markowitz, 3/12/17]

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Joe Perez skips away from a Kenyan, scoring a second half try in Samoa’s 26-7 trouncing of Kenya at Canada Sevens, Day 2, BC Place, Vancouver, Canada. [Photo by Barry Markowitz, 3/12/17]

From AS-EPA, William Sili, Manager of the Air & Land Division, with Ignosy Toeava and Sikione Sikione of the Hazardous Materials Branch, provided on-scene support and planning.

The joint team organized the collection of hazardous waste from the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center, American Samoa Community College Land Grant, Department of Agri-culture, Department of Com-merce, and AS-EPA Labo-ratory. The waste included mercury, pesticides, and other harmful products that require special disposal. Materials were tested and segregated at a secured lot provided by the Office of Disaster Assis-tance and Petroleum Manage-ment (ODAPM). The haz-ardous waste was packed into a 20-foot shipping container that will depart the Territory in two weeks, for eventual disposal at a regulated facility off-island.

On behalf of Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga and the resi-dents of American Samoa, AS-EPA Director Ameko Pato expresses his sincere gratitude to the US-EPA for providing this critical assistance to the Territory. The US-EPA has conducted similar hazardous waste removal actions for American Samoa over the years, including immediately after the devastating 2009 tsunami and recently in 2014. These important efforts help to eliminate danger to the public and the environment posed by improper hazardous waste disposal.

For more information on this project, or to report illegal disposal of hazardous wastes, please contact AS-EPA at 633-2304.

➧ U.S. EPA…Continued from page 5

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A mountain of trash gave way in a massive garbage dump on the outskirts of Ethio-pia’s capital, killing at least 46 people and leaving several dozen missing, residents said, as officials vowed to relocate those who called the landfill home.

Addis Ababa city spokes-woman Dagmawit Moges said most of the 46 dead were women and children, and more bodies were expected to be found in the coming hours.

It was not immediately clear what caused Saturday night’s collapse at the Koshe Garbage Landfill, which buried sev-eral makeshift homes and con-crete buildings. The landfill has been a dumping ground for the capital’s garbage for more than 50 years. About 150 people were there when the landslide occurred, resident Assefa Tekl-emahimanot told The Associ-ated Press. Addis Ababa Mayor Diriba Kuma said 37 people had been rescued and were receiving medical treatment. Dagmawit said two had serious injuries.

Many people at the landfill had been scavenging items to make a living, but others live there because renting homes, largely built of mud and sticks,

is relatively inexpensive.An AP reporter saw four

bodies taken away by ambu-lances after being pulled from the debris. Elderly women cried, and others stood anxiously waiting for news of loved ones. Six excavators dug through the ruins. “My house was right inside there,” said a shaken

Tebeju Asres, pointing to where one of the excavators was dig-ging in deep, black mud. “My mother and three of my sisters were there when the landslide happened. Now I don’t know the fate of all of them.”

The resumption of garbage dumping at the site in recent months likely caused the land-

slide, Assefa said. The dumping had stopped in recent years, but it resumed after farmers in a nearby restive region where a new garbage landfill com-plex was being built blocked dumping in their area.

Smaller collapses have occurred at Koshe — or “dirty” in the local Amharic language

— in the past two years but only two or three people were killed, Assefa said. “In the long run, we will conduct a resettling pro-gram to relocate people who live in and around the landfill,” the Addis Ababa mayor said.

Around 500 waste-pickers are believed to work at the land-fill every day, sorting through the debris from the capital’s esti-mated 4 million residents. City officials say close to 300,000 tons of waste are collected each year from the capital, most of it dumped at the landfill.

Since 2010, city officials have warned that the landfill was running out of room and was being closed in by nearby housing and schools.

City officials in recent years have been trying to turn the garbage into a source of clean energy with a $120 million investment. The Koshe waste-to-energy facility, which has been under construction since 2013, is expected to generate 50 megawatts of electricity upon completion. Ethiopia, which has one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, is under a state of emergency imposed in October after several months of some-times deadly protests demanding wider political freedoms.


Po Box PPB, Pago PagoAmerican Samoa 96799Phone No.: (684) 699-3057Fax No.: (684) [email protected] Management Office

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)RFP No: ASPA17.024.WW Closing Date & Time: April 10, 2017 Issuance Date: February 8, 2017 No later than 2:00 p.m. local timeThe American Samoa Power Authority issues a Request For Proposal (RFP) to invite qualified firms to submit formal, written proposals for the:

“East Side Village (ESV) Wastewater Collection System Project: Package 5, Phase I”

SubmissionAn Original and one PDF copy of the Proposal must be submitted in a sealed envelope marked: “RFP NO. ASPA17.024.WW ESV Wastewater Collection System Project: Package 5, Phase I. Submissions are to be sent to the following address and will be received until 2:00 p.m. (local time), Monday, April 10, 2017:

Materials Management Office American Samoa Power AuthorityP.O. Box PPB Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799 Attn: Ioana Uli, Procurement Manager

Any proposal received after the aforementioned date and time will not be accepted under any circumstances. Late submissions will not be opened or considered and will be determined as being non-responsive. DocumentThe RFP package outlining the proposal requirements is available at The Materials Management Office at ASPA s Tafuna Compound and may also be obtained from our Website: http://www.aspower.com. Right of RejectionThe American Samoa Power Authority reserves the right to reject any and/or all proposals and to waive any irregularities and/or informalities in the submitted proposals that are not in the best interests of the American Samoa Power Authority or the public.Approved for Issuance: Utu Abe Malae, Executive Director

AMERICAN SAMOA POWER AUTHORITY

46 killed, dozens missing in Ethiopia garbage dump landslide

Residents of the area display their grief as bodies are recovered at the scene of a garbage landslide on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sunday, March 12, 2017. A mountain of trash gave way in a massive garbage dump on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital, killing at least 46 people and leaving several dozen missing. (AP Photo/Elias Meseret)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — To followers, she’s known as the Death Saint, the White Girl, the Skinny One, or just Sister — and a life-transforming answer to their prayers. To the Vatican, though, she’s an irritation seen as leading the faithful astray.

The Roman Catholic Church rejects Santa Muerte, a cloaked female skeleton who carries a scythe, dismissing her followers as drug traffickers or other crim-inals asking for favors while practicing Satanic rituals.

When Pope Francis visited Mexico last year he expressed concern for those who “praise illusions and embrace their macabre symbols to commer-cialize death in exchange for money.”

But Juan Carlos Avila Mer-cado, who conducts services every Sunday at the Mercy Church near Mexico City’s notorious Tepito neighborhood, says she is gaining ever more followers.

“She chooses them and has always been with us,” said Avila, who said he is a Catholic priest, but who is not listed among the archdiocese’s priests. “We are born and we die with death.”

In Tepito, a neighborhood known for its black market, some devotees arrive on their

knees to visit Santa Muerte’s altar.

After asking for a favor, offerings are shared among the followers. Tacos, pastries, apples, sodas and amulets are passed from hand to hand. Alcohol is sprayed and cigarette smoke blown over the Death Saint repeatedly.

The faces of her followers display faith and solidarity.

“I encountered the saint, my Girl, at a time when I was near death,” said Manuel Zavala. Three years ago he was assaulted and so seriously injured that he was believed dead. Then, he said, he saw the path of life and death. “Hon-estly, I’ve been very bad. I did things I shouldn’t have, but God gave me a second chance and thanks to God, I discovered Santa Muerte.”

Zavala said the Death Saint isn’t bad like some think, but rather does good deeds for those who need them.

“I go to a church and like the priest says: ‘Life is death and death is life.’”

Zavala credits the saint for turning him around. “Thanks to a person I love a lot, my White Girl, my life has changed and now I’m not the second-rate guy I was before.”

Death Saint draws followers in Mexico


IN 1ST BUDGET, TRUMP TO PUSH CONSERVATIVE VIEW OF GOVERNMENT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump sends Congress a proposed budget this week that will sharply test Republicans’ ability to keep long-standing promises to bol-ster the military, making politi-cally painful cuts to a lengthy list of popular domestic programs.

The Republican president will ask his adopted political party, which runs Capitol Hill, to cut domestic agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, along with grants to state and local govern-ments and community develop-ment projects. The spending plan, set for release Thursday, would make the Pentagon the big winner with a $54 billion boost to defense spending.

Trump has promised to “do a lot more with less,” but his blueprint faces a reality test with Republicans, many of whom are already protesting.

Republicans have groused about some of the preliminary plans, including elimination of the $3 billion community devel-opment block grant program that’s popular among local GOP officials, a 25 percent cut to the EPA and elimination of 3,000 jobs, and essentially scuttling a $300 million per-year program to clean up the Great Lakes.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is joining with Democrats to push back on that last proposed reduc-tion. Cuts to the Coast Guard are meeting Republican resis-tance. Trump’s plan to eliminate community development block grants was dismissed on Capitol Hill by those who remember how a modest cut to the program sank a spending bill not long ago.MCCAIN TO TRUMP: PRO-VIDE WIRETAP EVIDENCE

OR RETRACT CLAIMWASHINGTON (AP) —

The House intelligence com-mittee is asking the Trump administration for evidence that the phones at Trump Tower were tapped during the campaign as its namesake has charged, a request reinforced Sunday by an influen-tial Republican senator who says the president must either come up with the evidence or retract his claim.

“I think the president has one of two choices: either retract or to provide the information that the American people deserve, because, if his predecessor vio-lated the law, President Obama violated the law, we have got a serious issue here, to say the least,” Sen. John McCain said.

President Donald Trump asserted in a tweet last week: “Terrible! Just found out that

Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” He continued the allegation against former President Barack Obama in other tweets but offered no evidence.

The request for evidence by Monday was made in a letter sent to the Justice Department by the House committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a senior congressional aide said Saturday. The aide wasn’t autho-rized to discuss the request by name and requested anonymity.

Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has said that nothing matching Trump’s claims had taken place, but that has not quelled speculation that Trump’s com-munications were monitored by the Obama administration. Trump has asked Congress to investigate.

HEALTH LAW’S WOES, REAL OR PERCEIVED,

DRIVE CALL FOR REPEALWASHINGTON (AP) —

President Donald Trump and Republican leaders say drastic action is needed because the Obama-era health care overhaul is a disaster, with soaring pre-miums and insurers bailing out.

It’s true that major parts of the 2010 law are clearly trou-bled, but others are working fairly well.

The risk is that the GOP’s “rescue mission” will inflict collateral damage on what’s working and cause new prob-lems. Or that promised solutions might disappoint.

The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, expanded coverage in two main ways. It offered subsidized private health insurance through online markets such as Health-Care.gov that cater to people without workplace coverage. It also allowed states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover more low-income adults.

Together, those features have helped push the nation’s unin-sured rate below 9 percent, a his-toric low.

NORTHEAST BLIZZARD COULD DUMP 18 INCHES OF SNOW ON NEW YORK

NEW YORK (AP) — The Northeast is bracing for winter’s last hurrah — a blizzard expected to sweep the New York region starting Monday with possibly the season’s biggest snowstorm dumping up to 18 inches on Cen-tral Park.

The National Weather Ser-vice issued a blizzard watch Sunday for coastal regions including New York City and surrounding areas of Long Island, Westchester County and Connecticut.

A winter storm watch was

in effect for a larger area of the Northeast: New Jersey, Pennsyl-vania and New England.

In New York City, fore-casters said the first snow is expected late Monday or just after midnight Tuesday, with up to 4 inches falling by dawn.

Heavy snow the rest of the day could pile 10 to 14 inches more of white stuff, with sustained winds of about 30 mph and wind gusts of up to 50 mph.

“This would certainly be the biggest snowstorm of the 2017 winter season in New York

City,” said Faye Barthold, a weather service meteorologist based on Long Island.

TURKISH LEADER SAYS DUTCH WILL ‘PAY THE

PRICE’ FOR INSULT

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2017, file photo, budget director Mick Mulvaney speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump unveils a proposed budget on March 16 that will sharply test Republicans’ ability to keep longstanding promises to beef up the military by making politically painful cuts to a lengthy list of popular domestic programs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

NEWS IN BRIEF



ROTTERDAM, Nether-lands (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensi-fied his dispute with European nations Sunday, claiming that “Nazism is alive in the West” after two of his ministers were prevented from campaigning in the Netherlands and promising that the Dutch would “pay the price” for their unusual action.

While Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte worked to contain the diplomatic damage, Erdogan made it clear that Turkey would not be easily appeased.

He said Ankara would retal-iate for the treatment of the Turkish family affairs minister, who on Saturday was blocked by police in riot gear from entering her country’s consulate in Rotterdam.

That came hours after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavu-soglu was denied airport landing rights to address crowds at a Rotterdam rally.

Saying that he was wrong to think Nazism was over, Erdogan made the comment to an audi-ence in Istanbul. The remarks were similar to ones he made about Germany earlier this month.

ABRUPT DISMISSALS SPARK TURMOIL AMONG FEDERAL PROSECUTORS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two days before Attorney Gen-eral Jeff Sessions ordered dozens of the country’s top federal pros-ecutors to clean out their desks, he gave those political appoin-tees a pep talk during a confer-ence call.

The seemingly abrupt about-face Friday left the affected U.S. attorneys scrambling to brief the people left behind and say goodbye to colleagues. It also could have an impact on morale for the career prosecutors who now must pick up the slack, according to some close to the process. The quick exits aren’t

expected to have a major impact on ongoing prosecutions, but they gave U.S. attorneys little time to prepare deputies who will take over until successors are named.

“It’s very, very gut-level reac-tion,” said Steven Schleicher, a former prosecutor who left Min-nesota U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger’s office in January and was still in contact with people there.

The request for resignations from the 46 prosecutors who were holdovers from the Obama administration wasn’t shocking. It’s fairly customary for the 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their posts once a new president is in office, and many had already left or were making plans for their departures. Sessions himself was asked to resign as a U.S. attorney in a similar purge by Attorney General Janet Reno in 1993.

But the abrupt nature of the dismissals — done with little explanation and not always with the customary thanks for years of service — stunned and angered some of those left behind in offices around the country.

SCIENTISTS RACE TO PREVENT WIPEOUT OF

WORLD’S CORAL REEFSSOUTH ARI ATOLL, Mal-

dives (AP) — There were star-tling colors here just a year ago, a dazzling array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed by the stress of rising ocean temperatures. What’s left is a haunting expanse of gray, a scene repeated in reefs across the globe in what has fast become a full-blown ecological catastrophe.

The world has lost roughly half its coral reefs in the last 30 years. Scientists are now scram-bling to ensure that at least a fraction of these unique ecosys-tems survives beyond the next three decades. The health of the planet depends on it: Coral reefs support a quarter of all marine

species, as well as half a billion people around the world.

“This isn’t something that’s going to happen 100 years from now. We’re losing them right now,” said marine biologist Julia Baum of Canada’s Univer-sity of Victoria. “We’re losing them really quickly, much more quickly than I think any of us ever could have imagined.”

Even if the world could halt global warming now, scien-tists still expect that more than 90 percent of corals will die by 2050. Without drastic interven-tion, we risk losing them all.

“To lose coral reefs is to fun-damentally undermine the health of a very large proportion of the human race,” said Ruth Gates, director of the Hawaii Institute

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➧ News in Briefs…Continued from page 12

Fiji’s Vatemo Ravouvou, front, scores a try in front of United States’ Perry Baker during the third-place game at the World Rugby Sevens Series in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, March 12, 2017.

(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)


WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s not just who did it, but why.

WikiLeaks’ release of nearly 8,000 documents that purport-edly reveal secrets about the CIA’s tools for breaking into targeted computers, cellphones and even smart TVs has given rise to multiple theories about who stole the documents and for what reason.

Perhaps it was a U.S. spy or contractor who felt jilted. Maybe the CIA was exposed by a foreign country that wanted to embarrass U.S. intelligence. Could it have been a CIA insider worried about Americans’ pri-vacy rights?

Some possible motives behind last week’s disclosure:

FROM THE SOURCEIn a statement released with

the documents, the anti-secrecy group launched by Julian Assange in 2006 said the source told the organization that there are policy questions in urgent need of public debate Among them were “whether the CIA’s hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers” and the “problem of public oversight of the agency.”

The CIA, while not con-firming that the documents are authentic, isn’t necessarily

buying that explanation.“As we’ve said previously,

Julian Assange is not exactly a bastion of truth and integrity,” CIA spokeswoman Heather Fritz Horniak said. She said the CIA’s work would continue

“despite the efforts of Assange and his ilk.”

Robert Chesney, a national security law expert from the University of Texas School of Law, said WikiLeaks could have put the material online to damage the reputation of U.S. intelligence agencies.

“Julian Assange is in the business of trying to reduce American power. That’s just fact,” he said.

“It’s about giving the CIA’s reputation a black eye,” he said. “I think they are trying to induce panic and make people even more skeptical of the intelli-gence agencies.”

Assange said during an online news conference Thursday that it was “not true” that WikiLeaks was focused on the United States. He cited recent publica-tions dealing with Germany and Turkey and numerous references to Russia and China throughout WikiLeaks’ previous releases.

“People raise this for dis-tracting reasons, to try to ques-tion the messenger because the content itself is so powerful,” he said.

JILTED CONTRACTORSpies go rogue for many

reasons: money, a quest for fame, ego, they are coerced or compromised.

WikiLeaks said the material came from an “isolated high-security network” inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelli-gence. The group said the mate-rial “appears to have been circu-lated among former U.S. gov-ernment hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner” and that one of them gave WikiLeaks part of this cache.

Assange suggested that spies, former intelligence officials and contractors had been sharing the material, potentially to feed a growing for-profit market in electronic espionage tools. He said it appeared that not only was

it being spread among contrac-tors and former American com-puter hackers for hire, but “now may be in the black market.”

Traditionally, money has been a key motive. But Frank Cilluffo, who directs the Center for Cyber and Homeland Secu-rity at George Washington Uni-versity, thinks leakers might leak for different reasons today. “If they were doing it to make money, why would they go to WikiLeaks?” he asked.

He said Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency who leaked classified mate-rial exposing U.S. government surveillance programs, was not motivated by money. Like-wise, Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of leaking many thousands of classified govern-ment and military documents to WikiLeaks while serving as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, said she did it not for money but to raise awareness about the war’s impact on innocent civilians.

FOREIGN MEDDLERIt’s not impossible to imagine

an insider walking out of the CIA with the data, said Bob Ayers, a retired U.S. intelligence officer currently working as an interna-tional security analyst based in England.

But Ayers, who appeared opposite Assange in a debate over whistleblowers in London several years ago, said his instincts are that a foreign country is involved. “I think the Russians are behind it, I really do,” he said.

James Lewis, a cyberse-curity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, also sus-pects a sleight of hand by the Kremlin, which he says has used WikiLeaks in the past.

He pointed to WikiLeaks’ statement about receiving the material from a source who

thinks there needs to be a debate about whether the CIA’s hacking exceeds its mandated powers. Lewis said the source who believed that the CIA had gained too much power “prob-ably lives in Moscow.”

“There is a long-term cam-paign by the Russians to damage the U.S and the intelligence community,” he said. “It’s too early to tell if this is another part of that — although it fits that pattern. I think the biggest concern is that we are in a new kind of fight with Russia and we are losing. The damage from lost tools can be repaired. The damage to reputation takes longer.”

Assange has long denied claims, often made on flimsy evidence, that he acts on behalf of Russian interests. Asked Thursday by an American jour-nalist whether he had received any money from the Russian state, Assange said no and that it was a “pretty sad question.”

And this past week, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied any Russian involvement in hacking.

AMERICANS’ RIGHT TO KNOW

WikiLeaks said the source of the documents wants to start a public debate about “the secu-rity, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyber weapons.”

Ben Wizner is Snowden’s lawyer and the director of the Speech, Privacy, and Tech-nology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. He said if WikiLeaks is accurately repre-senting the source’s intentions, then there seems to be suc-cess in stirring a public debate about the balance between the need to protect networks used daily by Americans and the government’s need to conduct surveillance operations against adversaries.

“To the extent that the docu-ments help inform a public debate about what the balance should be between the govern-ment’s offensive surveillance operations and defensive cyber-capabilities, then the documents have contributed to an important public conversation,” Wizner said.

But he also wondered whether the source wanted the documents released with parts blacked out. WikiLeaks has previously voiced disgust with the idea of censoring docu-ments, even in part, saying that doing so “legitimizes the false propaganda of ‘information is dangerous.’”

WikiLeaks has not answered questions from The Associ-ated Press about why it applied redactions this time or whether it was done at the source’s request. Knowing the answer to those questions, Wizner said, might help with understanding what motivated the release.

WikiLeaks’ latest release raises questions about who and why

ASEPA

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Lagolagoina le fa’amamaina o matafaga

E fautuaina le mamalu o le atunu’u o lo’o fa’aaogaina ia ogasami mo ta’elega ma fagotaga: talu ai ona o su’esu’ega o ia vaega o ogasami sa faia i le vaiaso ua mavae, sa molimauina ai le maualuga o le faitau aofa’i o siama (Enterococci) mai numera ua fa’atapula’aina i le tulafono i ia vaega o ogasami. O nei siama e afua mai otaota po’o suavai lafoa’i o tagata ma meaola. Afai ae o’o atu le faitau aofa’i o siama mai numera ua fa’atapula’aina, o lona uiga, e i ai le avanoa e ono afaina ai lou soifua maloloina ini fa’ama’i e pei o le manava-tatā, o fofoga fa’apea fo’i ma manu’a o le tino pe a sao i ai le siama. Mo lou saogalemu: ‘aua le inuina le suasami, ia fa’alanu lelei, ma fa’amālū pe a mae’a ta’elega. O le fautuaga mai le Ofisa o le AS-EPA, fa’afeso’ota’i muamua se foma’i, a’o le’i fa’aaogaina ia ogasami, auā le puipuiga o lou soifua maloloina.

Fa’amolemole, fa’autagia mai nei fautuaga. O le a toe maua atu se isi ripoti, pe a mae’a nisi o su’esu’ega mai le Potu Su’esu’e a le AS-EPA i le vaiaso fou. O lo’o i lalo o le va’ava’aiga a le AS-EPA matafaga mo tafaoga e 44 i le motu o Tutuila, e 5 i Manua ma le uafu i Aunu’u. O fa’asalalauga mo fautuaga mo le motu o Tutuila o lo’o auina atu i vaiaso ta’itasi, ae o Manu’a ma Aunu’u e fa’asalalau atu i masina ta’itasi. Mo ni fesili pe fia malamalama atili, fa’amolemole, vala’au mai i le telefoni (684) 633-2304.

Aso o le Fa’asalalauga: Mati 08, 2017Fa’afeso’ota’i: AS-EPA Polokalama a le Vai – 633-2304Fa’asilasilaga mai le Ofisa o le Puipuiga o le Si’osi’omaga mo le mamalu o le atunu’u: sa faia su’esu’ega o gataifale ia Mati 07, 2017, ma fa’amaonia ai le i ai o siama (Enterococci) i gataifale o alalafaga nei:

Leone PalaPala SpringUtulei Beach Fagatogo Stream Mouth Fagasa-Fagalea Stream Mouth Aua Stream Mouth Alega Stream Mouth

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, file photo, FBI Director James Comey speaks about the impact of technology on law enforcement, at Brookings Institution in Washington. If the tech industry is drawing one lesson from the latest WikiLeaks disclosures, it’s that data-scrambling encryption works, and the industry should use more of it. On Wednesday, March 8, 2017, Comey acknowledged the challenges posed by encryption. He said there should be a balance between privacy and the FBI’s ability to lawfully access information. Comey also said the FBI needs to recruit talented computer personnel who might otherwise go to work for Apple or Google. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — Rachel Maddow can trace the mood of her audience by looking at the ratings.

Her MSNBC show’s viewer-ship sank like a stone in the weeks following Donald Trump’s election, as depressed liberals avoided politics, and bottomed out over the holidays. Slowly, they re-emerged, becoming active and interested again. Mad-dow’s audience has grown to the point where February was her show’s most-watched month since its 2008 launch. Maddow has emerged as the favorite cable news host for presidential resistors in the opening days of the Trump administration, just as Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity is one for supporters or Keith Olbermann was the go-to television host for liberals in George W. Bush’s second term. Trump fascination has helped cable news programs across the political spectrum defy the tradi-tional post-presidential election slump, few as dramatically as Maddow’s.

Her show’s average audi-ence of 2.3 million in February doubled its viewership over February 2016, in the midst of the presidential primaries, the Nielsen company said.

“I’m grateful for it,” Maddow said one recent afternoon. “It is nice for me that it is happening at a time when I feel we are doing some of our best work.”

Those two things — ratings success and Maddow’s pride in the work — don’t always inter-sect. “We’re making aggressive editorial decisions in terms of how far we’re willing to get off of everyone else’s news cycle,” she said, “but it’s paying off because the news cycle more often than not is catching up with us after we do something.”

Maddow has decided to cover the Trump administration like a silent movie, so the show could pay more attention to what is being done rather than what is being said. The central focus is on connect-the-dots reporting about Trump’s business inter-ests and dealings with Russia. Her show is a news cousin to HBO host John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” in its willing-ness to dive into complex sub-jects that don’t seem television-friendly, and follow the stories down different alleys. Maddow sounds long-winded when it doesn’t work. When it does, it’s like an absorbing novel stuffed with characters.

“It’s not like I am a teacher who is trying to extend the attention span of the American news viewer,” said Maddow,

a Rhodes scholar. “I have no goal of trying to privilege com-plexity. It just so happens that I tend to think in 17-minute bursts.”

Maddow said she and her staff try to break news, like reporting on a Department of Homeland Security report on Trump’s immigration policy, and she was aggressive in bringing the Flint, Michigan, water crisis to a national audi-ence. More often than not, she sees her role as explaining how things work. The program spent considerable time last week on a New Yorker magazine piece about foreign investments by Trump’s real estate company.

She’s determined not to get lost in the noise, particularly since she believes Trump is skillful at distracting the media with a new story — even an unflattering one — when he doesn’t like the attention being paid to another.

“I pray for the day when the most important thing about the Trump administration is that the president said something inap-propriate on Twitter,” she said. “There are bigger and more valu-able stories to be chasing than that.” When some news orga-nizations were upset at being barred from an informal press briefing held by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer two weeks ago, Maddow understood why. But the story didn’t really interest her. Since she doesn’t trust much of what the adminis-tration says, Maddow wondered what these reporters were really missing by not being there.

“Her approach to reality and the president’s couldn’t be fur-ther apart,” said Jeff Cohen, an Ithaca University professor and liberal activist.

During busy news periods, “certain voices cut through,” said NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack. “And her work is so consistently strong. She doesn’t disappoint, and she’s got a work ethic that is consis-tently off the charts. ... She is a very original and unique voice.”

While Maddow delivers opinion pieces instead of straight news, they are well-informed, he said. Lack doesn’t see Maddow as a voice of the resistance.

Neither does she.“People want to draft me as

an activist all the time, ascribe that role to me,” she said. “I’m not. The reason I know I’m not is that I stopped doing that in order to be the person who explained the news and deliv-ered the news instead. It’s a very clear line to me.”

Fueled by Trump opponents, Maddow’s

popularity rises

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Responsibilities:• Receivesallcashreceiptsforloanrepaymentsfromcustomersintheformofcheckorcash.• Inputscashreceiptsinthesystemandexcelspreadsheet.• Referscustomers’concernstoappropriatepersonnel.• Acceptsmiscellaneouspaymentsfordeposit(s)• Balancescashagainstthereceiptsatendofeachbusinessday.• Maintainsaspreadsheetofteller-workforreconcilingpurposes.• Keepsaninventoryofchecksinvault.• Monitorstheinventoryofdepositbagsandreportsforrefill.• Preparescashauditreportsforverificationatendofeachdailywork.• Performsthecashcountfortellercashinthemorningandouttheeveningwiththeassigned

vault/cashsafepersonnel.• Filesandmaintainthefilingsystemforfinance.• PerformsanyotherdutyassignedbyFinanceManager.QUALIFICATIONSEducation/experience: HighSchoolDiplomaorequivalentwithtwelve(12)monthsofexperience. CashHandlingexperienceaMustSkills/Abilities: Proficienttypingandcommunicationskills. Excelknowledge Excellentinterpersonalandpublicrelationsskills. Basicbookkeepingskills. Professionalappearance,dress,andattitude. Goodmathematicsskills. Abilitytooperatecomputerandaddingmachine,typewriter,copymachine,

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American Samoa Government DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

PUBLIC NOTICE The American Samoa Department of Health Early Intervention Program “Helping Hands” would like to inform the public that the Annual State Application under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as amended in 2004 for Federal Fiscal Year 2017 is available for public comment for a period of 60 days. A copy of the document is available to review at the DOH Helping Hands Office in Fagaima and is also available for review on the Helping Hands Early Intervention Program website www.helpinghands-as.org. Please call the DOH Helping Hands office at 699-4990 if you have any questions regarding this public notice.

Signed,

Ruth Te’o, DOH Part C Coordinator

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