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TexasTowelie's JournalPort asks judge to delay enforcing $14M Guam YTK ruling
Former Port Authority of Guam tenant Guam YTK wants Superior Court of Guam Judge Anita Sukola to issue an order enforcing her December decision that the Port owes the company $14 million, including a levy on port assets. But the Port has asked the judge to hold off until after it has had a chance to appeal.
Sukola, after a hearing Thursday, said she likely will issue a decision sometime Friday.
In April 2016, an arbitration panel of three attorneys ruled the Port should pay $14 million to Guam YTK on the grounds the agency breached its 45-year lease agreement with the failed fisheries business at the Port's Hotel Wharf.
Guam YTK planned to develop a $13.5 million fisheries facility, but the Port ended the lease because the company didn't use the facility and hadn't been making its lease payments.
Read more: http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/03/02/port-asks-judge-delay-enforcing-14m-guam-ytk-ruling/98624070/
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Judge denies request to levy Port assets for now
A Superior Court of Guam judge on Friday denied a request by former Port tenant Guam YTK to place a levy on the Port Authority of Guam’s assets, at least until the Port’s motion for reconsideration is addressed next month.
Guam YTK last year was awarded $14 million by an arbitration panel because of its lease dispute with the Port over Guam YTK’s 2001 lease of Hotel Wharf. The lease required Guam YTK to develop a $13.5 million fishing facility at the site, but the Port canceled the lease after the project failed to materialize and Guam YTK failed to make lease payments.
The Port said Guam YTK failed to obtain a lease extension from lawmakers after the first five years, as required by Guam law, so the lease was invalid. But the dispute went to arbitration, as required by the lease.
Superior Court Judge Anita Sukola in December affirmed the panel’s award to Guam YTK, but the Port filed a motion asking Sukola to reconsider, and said it also plans to appeal to the Supreme Court of Guam.
Read more: http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/03/02/judge-denies-request-levy-port-assets-now/98672494/
Air pollution in Asia is wafting into the USA, increasing smog in West
Air pollution from China, India and several other Asian countries has wafted across the Pacific Ocean over the past 25 years, increasing levels of smog in the western U.S., a study finds.
Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is harmful to human health, because it can exacerbate asthma attacks and cause difficulty breathing. It also harms sensitive trees and crops. It's different than the "good" ozone up in the stratosphere, which protects life on Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.
Scientists measured ozone levels recorded at springtime for the past 25 years in 16 national parks in the western U.S., including Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon. The parks' locations farther away from cities, where smog is typically expected, made them ideal spots for the study.
The team looked at levels in the spring when wind and weather patterns push Asian pollution across the Pacific Ocean, said Meiyun Lin, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who led the study. In the summer, when those weather patterns subside, ozone levels in the national parks remained well above normal.
Read more: http://www.guampdn.com/story/weather/2017/03/02/air-pollution-asia-wafting-into-usa-increasing-smog-west/98647354/
Closer ties to fight skimming, bank fraud among Guam Banking Association members
Closer cooperation among Guam Banking Association members and other institutions could help them fight off skimmers and other bank fraud.
GBA is a group of banking and financial institutions in the region. Bank of Guam, Bank of Hawaii, Bank Pacific, and First Hawaiian Bank are some of its members.
FHB was a recent victim of skimmers; some of the bank’s clients’ accounts were compromised. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a continuing investigation, resulting in arrests and prosecutions.
In 2010, GBA also alerted its members and the public of a fraudulent phone call and text scam. The scam begins with a text message that had a phone number and asks the client to call their local bank. A recorded message will answer the client once they call the phone number and they will be informed that their account is going to be deactivated. The recorded message would then ask the caller for their 16-digit credit card number.
Read more: http://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/closer-ties-fight-skimming-bank-fraud/
9th Circuit court rules in favor of Northern Marianas Islands immunity
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Commonwealth or its agencies cannot be sued on claims arising under Commonwealth law in federal court without its consent.
The Ninth Circuit’s decision was made in Ramsey v. Muna, a suit filed by physician Gary Ramsey who had worked at Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
“The ruling represents a significant victory for the Commonwealth, as it corrected a longstanding injustice in the unequal treatment of the Commonwealth compared to every other member of the United States political family,” Attorney General Edward Manibusan said. “The [Appeals] Court has recognized the Commonwealth’s sovereign immunity as to claims under Commonwealth law.”
Before this ruling, the Commonwealth was the only state or territory in the union which did not enjoy sovereign immunity from federal suits based on its own laws.
Read more: http://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/9th-circuit-court-rules-favor-nmis-immunity/
Homer City Council votes down 'inclusivity' resolution
HOMER — After hearing hours of public testimony Monday night, the Homer City Council in a 5-1 vote rejected a resolution intended to promote "inclusivity" that had grown controversial.
The resolution, co-sponsored by council members Donna Aderhold, Catriona Reynolds and David Lewis, cited recent violence targeting religious groups, minorities and the LGBTQ community. It also officially rejected discrimination against any group with regard to "race, religion, ethnicity, gender, national origin, physical capabilities or sexual orientation" and expressed a commitment to creating a safe, inclusive community.
Reynolds was the sole member voting in favor.
"I have witnessed people who live in our community who have already had to endure an increase of hate and bullying," said Reynolds. "When you aren't (on) the receiving end of abuse because of religion or skin color or sexual orientation, it's easy to think it doesn't happen here. But it does happen here."
More than 100 people packed into Cowles Council Chambers and overflowed into the lobby, and more than 90 gave public testimony over the course of three and a half hours. The majority strongly opposed the resolution.
Read more: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/kenai/2017/03/01/homer-city-coucil-votes-down-inclusivity-resolution/
Anchorage Credit Union 1 Teller Sentenced for Embezzlement
U.S Attorney Karen Loeffler of the Justice Department, announced today that a former employee of Credit Union 1, was sentenced to one year in jail for embezzling on Tuesday.
According to the release issued on Wednesday, 23-year-old Shanice Mano, of Anchorage, accessed a customer’s account and transferred $100,000 from their account into another account that she had control over while she worked as a teller at the bank.
After transferring the funds into her account, she proceeded to spend approximately $20,000 of the stolen funds. The FBI, the agency that investigated the case, was able to recover approximately $80,000 of the purloined money.
At sentencing, Chief Justice Timothy Burgess noted that “Mano’s crime was well planned and deliberate and that over the course of several days she stole money that had taken the victim’s years to save.”
Read more: http://alaska-native-news.com/anchorage-credit-union-1-teller-sentenced-for-embezzlement-27002
4 former Kenai Peninsula residents accused of stealing $50K from public assistance program
The state has charged four non-Alaska residents with fraudulently taking $50,000 from a state welfare program meant only for Alaskans, prosecutors said.
A Kenai grand jury handed up charges against the four Wednesday, accusing them of stealing from the Adult Public Assistance Program, the Office of Special Prosecutions said in a statement.
The program is funded entirely with state money and is only available to Alaskans.
Gene Daniel Card, Margaret Wells, Tracie Ann Lee-Mercer and John Thomas Adams were all living on the Kenai Peninsula when they applied for the public assistance program, which gives cash to elderly, blind and disabled residents to help them stay independent. Prosecutors said they all moved from Alaska but kept receiving benefits.
Read more: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2017/03/02/4-former-kenai-peninsula-residents-accused-of-stealing-50k-from-public-assistance-program/
Expecting deep budget cuts, UA Board of Regents discusses restructuring
The University of Alaska Board of Regents met in Anchorage on Thursday to plan for pending cuts to the system's statewide budget and to discuss the second phase of the university's restructuring plan.
"Strategic Pathways," the restructuring plan unveiled in January, targeted eight academic and administrative programs — e-learning, fisheries, community campuses, university relations, health, human resources, student services and institutional research.
Some of the proposed options include restructuring satellite campuses, consolidating online programs and different methods to deliver health and fisheries academic programs.
Decisions on how to proceed will be considered at the next regents meeting in June.
Read more: https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/education/2017/03/02/expecting-deep-budget-cuts-ua-board-of-regents-discusses-restructuring/
State raises concerns about tugs to be used for oil tanker escort
State environmental regulators are raising concerns about tugs being built to prevent an oil spill in Prince William Sound, saying the "very limited" and "confusing" information provided so far indicates the vessels may have "substantial" design deficiencies.
The concerns are laid out in a Feb. 22 letter from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., operator of the Valdez Marine Terminal, where North Slope crude oil is loaded onto oceangoing tankers, and to PWS Response Planning Group, composed of oil shippers such as BP Oil Shipping Co. and Polar Tankers, owned by ConocoPhillips.
The issues broadly echo themes reported separately in January by marine engineer Robert Allan, a consultant hired by Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council, the official oil-spill watchdog group for the sound.
Allan had said he had concerns about overall performance design and testing for five escort tugs and four support tugs being built in Louisiana and Mississippi, and whether they could handle Alaska's rough weather.
Read more: https://www.adn.com/business-economy/energy/2017/03/02/state-raises-concerns-about-tug-design-for-tanker-escort-contract/
Expect deep snow and minus-27 chill for Fairbanks start of Iditarod
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race CEO Stan Hooley said this week he could sum up the 2017 race trail in three words: "Lots of snow."
The endless snow and below-zero temperatures expected for the trail out of Fairbanks are a departure from the comparatively warm days of last year's race, and the forecast had some mushers bracing for bone-numbing chill.
"The cold from the time I started my Iditarod process has been one of my biggest fears," musher Kristin Bacon said at vet checks on Wednesday in Wasilla.
Bacon, who has a kennel out of Big Lake and ran her first Iditarod last year, said when she checked the Fairbanks forecast for Monday and saw lows of 27 below zero, "I had a little moment of panic."
Read more: https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/iditarod/2017/03/02/expect-deep-snow-and-minus-27-chill-for-fairbanks-start-of-iditarod/
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