Local News
![US Census Bureau officials, Bill Samples and Robert Nusz, at the ASG Commerce Department Office, following a Samoa News interview. The two officials, on island since Tuesday, are working with DOC to prepare for the launching of the 2017 Economic Census for American Samoa this year. Response by businesses is mandatory under federal law. [photo: FS]](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/Census%20officials.jpg?itok=31NLq20e "US Census Bureau officials, Bill Samples and Robert Nusz, at the ASG Commerce Department Office, following a Samoa News interview. The two officials, on island since Tuesday, are working with DOC to prepare for the launching of the 2017 Economic Census for American Samoa this year. Response by businesses is mandatory under federal law. [photo: FS]")
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Break-out of specific products and services offered by US businesses — including those in American Samoa — is in a new questionnaire for the 2017 Economic Census, in which responses and participation is “mandatory” under federal law, according to two US Census Bureau...
![[SN file photo]](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/AM%20Samoa%20HC_106.jpeg?itok=XgxG4MKe "[SN file photo]")
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — One of the DPS officers, who was assigned to the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) in Tafuna and arrested last April for various crimes including bringing drugs into the facility entered into a plea agreement with the government yesterday.
Alofagia Letuli, who is still in...
![Representatives from Bluesky Communications appeared before the House Communications Committee this week to answer questions pertaining to communication services that were knocked out during Tropical Storm Gita. [photo: AF]](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/Bluesky%20reps_0141.jpg?itok=zm5CtlVc "Representatives from Bluesky Communications appeared before the House Communications Committee this week to answer questions pertaining to communication services that were knocked out during Tropical Storm Gita. [photo: AF]")
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — It was revealed during the House Communications Committee hearing on Monday that Bluesky Communications has — since Tropical Storm Gita — restored 93% of its cable service and 100% of its telephone service, while the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (ASTCA) is...
![Tapaau Dr. Daniel Aga [SN file photo]](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/Daniel%20Aga.jpg?itok=VBltulZ3 "Tapaau Dr. Daniel Aga [SN file photo]")
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — ASG Office of Political Status, Constitutional Review and Federal Relations executive director, Tapaau Dr. Daniel Aga, has shared with the Senate a “paper” on three options dealing with reapportionment of the local House of Representatives based on the “One Man One Vote...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Manu’a residents who suffered losses from Tropical Storm Gita will start registration today at three Disaster Recovery Center sites in the Manu’a islands while more villages have been added to the list for DRC registration on Tutuila, according to joint statements from...
![Congresswoman Aumua Amata [SN file photo]](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/Amata_7.jpg?itok=OIiEl-Nn "Congresswoman Aumua Amata [SN file photo]")
Washington, D.C. – Monday, April 2, 2018 - Congresswoman Aumua Amata welcomed a $200,000 grant for American Samoa from the U.S. Department of Commerce based on the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 which mandated the creation of the National Telecommunications and Information...
![Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama visits a community in Ba which was hit by floods caused by Cyclone Josie. [Photo: Fijian Government via RNZI]](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/Fiji%20PM%20in%20Ba.jpg?itok=9pdpt28U "Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama visits a community in Ba which was hit by floods caused by Cyclone Josie. [Photo: Fijian Government via RNZI]")
Ba, FIJI — The severe effects of Cyclone Josie are a brutal reminder of the reality of climate change, says Fiji's prime minister.
Frank Bainimarama's comment comes after the category one cyclone brought heavy rains and flooding to Fiji's Western Division at the weekend.
Five deaths have been...
![This screen shot of the Census 2010 American Samoa form shows Question 7, which has to do with a person's citizenship status: US Citizen or National. The same question will be on the 2020 questionnaire for American Samoa. According to ASG Commerce Department director Keniseli Lafaele, American Samoa’s census questionnaire has always asked the question — apparently the US census form does not — but will be reinstated for the 2020 Census — a move that is raising concerns in many US cities. [photo: FS]](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/census%20question%200925.jpg?itok=u-7eYybM "This screen shot of the Census 2010 American Samoa form shows Question 7, which has to do with a person's citizenship status: US Citizen or National. The same question will be on the 2020 questionnaire for American Samoa. According to ASG Commerce Department director Keniseli Lafaele, American Samoa’s census questionnaire has always asked the question — apparently the US census form does not — but will be reinstated for the 2020 Census — a move that is raising concerns in many US cities. [photo: FS]")
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa has its own long-form census questionnaire, which questions a person's citizenship status, says ASG Commerce Department director Keniseli Lafaele, who noted that this will be the same for the 2020 Census.
The citizenship status question became a local...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An American Samoa woman accused of bilking the federal government out of more than $100,000 by filing false tax returns for American Samoa residents with the US Internal Revenue Service has been ordered to serve jail time and pay restitution.
Corina F. Ifopo, who resides...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Registration continues today, Monday, through Wednesday, for residents impacted by Tropical Storm Gita at the Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) at the DYWA Pago Pago Youth Center.
In a joint statement last Friday, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and ASG...