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Quote: "It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, April 21, 2008 – More than 10 years ago, Maranata Temese was an elementary school teacher living in American Samoa with his wife, Leaiseaiga, and their three children. Wanting to provide a better life for his family, he decided to join the military. But there was one problem: He was not a U.S. citizen. Army Staff Sgt. Maranata Temese, center, a platoon sergeant in Company G, Task Force 12, waits to receive his Certificate of Naturalization during a Multinational Corps Iraq naturalization ceremony at Camp Victory, Iraq, April 12, 2008. Temese, who was born in Samoa,...

Starkist Samoa, Gov. Togiola T.A. Tulafono and some local businesses have voiced their disappointment with the passage of a federal bill, that includes provisions to increase minimum wages for American Samoa over a period of time. StarKist Samoa had planned to launched next month the expansion of its tuna pouch production, after it was transferred early this year from Ecuador. The company planned to hire between 200-300 workers, but some employees say they were informed Wednesday that this project is on hold. - ADVERTISEMENT - Bank of Hawaii Small Business Resource Provisions of the federal supplemental bill that provide millions...

LEONE, American Samoa - In a sleepy village on the western shores of this remote and beautiful island, the Junior ROTC instructor asks his young cadets to step forward if they have decided what to do after graduating from high school in the spring. Of 12 seniors, half march ahead to say they already have committed to a branch of the U.S. military. Three more indicate they are considering it. The last three stay put. They're interested in the military, they say, but have failed the tests required for entry. Emosi Time, a lanky boy in perfectly pressed uniform, quietly...

Seven people including two Samoans still living in Apia have been charged with operating an adoption scam for a Salt Lake City, Utah organization that allegedly tricked poor Samoan families into giving up their children for adoption to couples in the U.S. The 45-page federal indictment handed down Wednesday and unsealed yesterday at the federal court in Salt Lake City accused non-profit group, Focus on Children (FOC) and seven defendants, Scott Banks, Karen Banks, Dan Wakefield, Tagaloa Ieti, Coleen Bartlett, Julie Tuiletufuga, and Karalee Thornock of operating the adoption scheme. Scott and Karen Banks along with Thornock appeared in court...

Thirty years ago, I taught at a little Christian school in California. It was a wonderful job. The students were talented, energetic and hard-working, and my fellow faculty members were like brothers and sisters. But we had one constant trouble: Despite the best efforts of teachers and administration, we simply could not prevent kids from being incredibly cruel to those unfortunate kids who didn't fit in with the "popular" crowd. What puzzled us was that the most victimized students were often some of the nicest kids in the school: sweet, cooperative, helpful and sensitive - kids who did nothing to...

ASG and McDonald's cancel Utulei Beach lease By La Poasa Samoa News Staff The close to one acre of land on Utulei Beach that was leased by the government to McDonald's American Samoa for its second restaurant is no more, after both parties mutually agreed to cancel the less than 10-year lease. Acting Governor Ipulasi A. Sunia sent a letter to the Acting Territorial Registrar on Thursday, Jan. 18 informing the office that the lease has been canceled. This was also revealed yesterday morning by government attorneys at the High Court during a hearing on the Senate's case against American...

01-23) 04:00 PST Washington -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats plan to push through legislation Wednesday that would increase the size of the 435-member House on most matters by giving votes to delegates from four U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Republicans are outraged by the plan, referring to it as a "greedy power grab'' in a statement from the office of Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio. But they are probably powerless to stop it. The proposal would allow the elected members from Washington, D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a vote...

"House Democrats say a just-passed minimum-wage bill will be changed to cover all U.S. territories – including American Samoa – " "Spokesmen for Pelosi and Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, the author of the minimum-wage bill, said it excluded American Samoa at the request of nonvoting Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, a Democrat who represents the Pacific island territories in the House. Raising the federal minimum wage would devastate the local tuna industry, Faleomavaega said in a statement last week, adding that American Samoa's economy is “more than 80 percent” dependent on Chicken of the Sea and StarKist."

Video link on foxnews website, www.foxnews.com left side of the screen.. According to FoxNews, pelosi now says Samoa is INCLUDED.. Her trickle-up theory apparently won't go over very well with the people there, as their representative had this to say (pay attention to para 2) regarding the devastation of the Samoan economy if this goes through: "In a statement in response today, Faleomavaega (American Samoa delegate) said "despite recent claims made by the Washington Post which suggest that American Samoa is exempt from the federal minimum wage process, I wish to set the record straight." He says since 1956, the...

A Vietnamese mother, lured by the promise of a high-paying factory job, chased her dream of sending both daughters to college into a sweatshop far from home, with no exit. She fell prey to men who took her to the American territory of Samoa, where she was enslaved with about 250 other desperate women from China and Vietnam. Those who complained were beaten and starved. Freed when the garment factory closed in 2000, some of the women risked their lives to help U.S. authorities investigate and convict the kingpins of what federal authorities have called the largest human trafficking case...

By Fili Sagapolutele Samoa News Correspondent American Samoa's "high risk" designation by the U.S. Department of Interior will not be lifted anytime soon even though the FY2005 audit was submitted on time. "One of the conditions for lifting the high-risk designations is that the ASG have two consecutive years of timely, clean single audit reports," DOI's deputy director for Insular Areas, Papali'i David B. Cohen told Samoa News by e-mail from Washington late last week. "The fiscal year 2005 audit was timely, but not clean. It therefore cannot be counted towards the lifting of the high-risk designation." "That does not...

Hawaiian Air seeking the federal government's intervention to respond to American Samoa's concerns was anticipated by his administration Governor Togiola said on his weekend radio program. Togiola said it is his personal opinion that Hawaiian does not want to respond directly to local concerns, especially on the issue of reducing air fares for the Pago Pago route, because the airline does not want to reduce the current high fares. So instead of addressing the high fares and excessive charges imposed on American Samoa's passengers, Hawaiian Air is dragging the issue around by asking DOT for a ruling on the executive...

Tours of the canneries and part of the National Park of American Samoa in Vatia is being planned for members of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations that are arriving on Wednesday. Their actual time of arrival has not yet been confirmed. The delegation, headed by committee chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), includes Congressman Faleomavaega Eni, Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Melvin Watt (D-N.C.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and support staff, will be on island for five to six hours. They have already visited the Philippines and South Korea. The governor said on his weekend radio program the delegation will be hosted...

The American Samoa Government (ASG) still needs to improve the way it accounts for its monies. An off-island firm contracted to audit ASG's financial statements for the year ended Sept. 30, 2004, said the system of financial accounting and reporting used by the local government is inadequate. RC Holsinger Associates, which issued their independent auditors' report in June, said the ASG audit reports show "significant failures in internal control structure related to general accounting and grants administration." The independent auditors also noted that there is "evidence of a failure of identified controls in preventing or detecting misstatements of accounting information...

Senate President Lolo M. Moliga is urging Governor Togiola to take immediate steps to protect the security of local birth certificates and other documents issued by the Office of Vital Statistics, which comes under jurisdiction of the governor's office. Lolo's request, outlined in a July 25 letter to the governor, followed a meeting last week Tuesday with Nancy K. "Sam" Finn, the regional director of the U.S. Department of State's Passport Office in Honolulu. During the meeting, Lolo said Finn raised with him "very worrisome issues that ought to be addressed immediately." "The bottom line is the security system connected...

Hawaiian Airlines has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to officially declare whether the governor's executive order forcing Hawaiian to withdraw from the Honolulu-Pago route is enforceable. The carrier, which has operated its flights in this market for more than 20 years, filed a petition for declaratory relief with DOT yesterday. A copy of their petition was cc'ed to Governor Togiola. Samoa News asked Togiola to comment on Hawaiian Air's petition to DOT and asked the governor's press officer Vince Iuli for an official statement. None was forthcoming as of press time yesterday evening. "We believe that the executive order...

American Samoa's governor wants it out of the territory Citing predatory acts against Samoans, the governor of American Samoa issued an edict ordering Hawaiian Airlines to get out of the U.S. territory. Gov. Togiola T.A. Tulafono gave Hawaiian Airlines 90 more days to operate in the territory while the American Samoa government seeks another carrier. In an executive order issued Wednesday, Tulafono declared that Hawaiian used its monopoly position to force American Samoans to pay twice the fare of other passengers traveling identical distances within the United States. The three-page order also accuses Hawaiian Airlines personnel of "discourteous and disrespectful"...

April 28Spiritual Bouquet: All things are possible to him who believes. St. Mark 9:22SAINT PETER CHANELMissionary and Martyr(1803-1841)Born in 1803 in the diocese of Belley in France, Peter was the fifth child of his parents; with his older brothers and sisters he was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin at his birth. They were all pious children who prayed and tried to help one another to serve God ever more faithfully. In 1814 the parish priest, seeing Peter’s good dispositions, arranged for him to study in the town of Cras, and to reside there with his aunt. During the summer the...

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) - Hurricane Olaf passed within 60 miles of the U.S. territory's main island of Tutuila early Wednesday and then blew directly over a nearby group of smaller islands. Telephone service to the Manua Islands of Ta`u, Ofu and Olosega was interrupted and officials were waiting for reports of damage after the storm crossed the area at about noon EST. The National Weather Service had warned that the Manua Islands, which also are part of American Samoa, could be devastated by wind up to 140 mph, with higher gusts. The Manua Islands are home to about...

SYDNEY (AFP) - Twin cyclones began battering three south Pacific nations and weather experts warned they could combine into one giant, destructive storm center that would create havoc in the region. Cyclone Olaf, a powerful Category 4 storm packing winds of up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), was bearing down on Samoa and American Samoa and was expected to reach "super cyclone" status by the time it strikes the two territories' main islands around 0000 GMT Wednesday. Olaf has intensified steadily in the past 24 hours and was forecast to reach Category 4/5 out of a...

SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Two tropical cyclones are bearing down on three South Pacific island nations creating a "critically dangerous situation", weather officials said on Tuesday. Cyclones Olaf and Nancy, which are expected to hit Samoa, American Samoa and the Cook islands, could cross paths creating one giant, destructive storm centre where the two cyclones spin around each other until one is flung off. "For the South Pacific it is unusual to have two cyclones this close together," said Kevin Vang at the Australian-Pacific Centre for Emergency and Disaster Information. "This has the making of an absolute mess,"...

NEW YORK, February 3, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - At the United Nations, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is pushing the government of Samoa to legalize abortion and force more women out of their traditional family roles and into work and political life. CEDAW issued a press release January 24, in which it complained that, despite having set up a Ministry for Women’s Affairs, the role of married women in Samoan society was too traditional and mostly oriented towards family life. It said not enough women run for political office, and that abortion is still illegal despite...

Australia arrests priest 12:37 AM CDT on Friday, June 25, 2004 Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia – Police arrested a Catholic priest Friday after he was deported from Samoa for failing to disclose his conviction in a child molestation case. The Rev. Frank Klep faces five charges of indecent assault stemming from offenses against boys dating to 1973, police told The Associated Press. Authorities on Samoa, in the South Pacific, on Wednesday ordered Father Klep deported, giving him two days to leave, said Samoan official Auseugaefa Poloma Komiti, according to The Dallas Morning News. Mr. Komiti said Father Klep's superiors...

Samoa moves to deport fugitive priest 03:05 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 By REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News The Samoan government, prompted by a Dallas Morning News investigation, is moving to deport a fugitive Catholic priest because he failed to disclose his conviction in a previous child molestation case when entering the country. The priest’s superiors in the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order also face an immigration inquiry because they, too, failed to make the same disclosures, said Auseuga Poloma Komiti, the senior adviser to Samoa’s prime minister and Cabinet. Samoan authorities will serve...

Government moves to deport fugitive priest 02:11 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 By REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News The Samoan government, prompted by a Dallas Morning News investigation, is moving to deport a fugitive Catholic priest because he failed to disclose his conviction in a previous child molestation case when entering the country. The priest's superiors in the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order also face an immigration inquiry because they, too, failed to make the same disclosures, said Auseuga Poloma Komiti, the senior adviser to Samoa's prime minister and cabinet. Samoan authorities will serve the...

Thursday, July 10, 2003 Samoan temple destroyed by fire By Jason Swensen Deseret Morning News APIA, Samoa — The Apia Samoa Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was destroyed by fire on Wednesday evening. The cause of the evening blaze has not been determined. The blaze may have been be related to an ongoing construction project at the temple, said Paul E. Koelliker, managing director of the Church's Temple Department. The 20-year-old temple was being renovated and expanded to add a baptismal font and was scheduled to be rededicated in December. There were no reported injuries....

Milestone: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan opens the inaugural session of International Criminal Court in The Hague.Picture: AP War crimes court opensAGENCIES 13mar03THE HAGUE - The world's first permanent war crimes court swore in its first 18 judges yesterday to try the 21st century's worst crimes. In a move hailed as the biggest legal milestone since Adolf Hitler's henchmen were tried at Nuremberg, the 11 male and seven female judges were sworn in to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. They pledged to try people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The court has already received more...

Everyone seems to have their favorite conspiracies nowadays and we must get "alerted" to four or five new ones a week. So, herein, we shall not be starting yet another. Still, there is a rather significant point that must be made before the general election next month. Because, there really is a well entrenched organization afoot that is unabashedly reorganizing life in the United States as we know it. This group is not secret. In fact, they hold semipublic meetings in our nation's Capitol and everyone in the Washington press corps know about them. Fifty years ago, most members of...