Local News
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a statement yesterday, the Health Department reminds the public that all 159 passengers on the first repatriation flight from the US, which arrived yesterday afternoon at Pago Pago International Airport tested negative three-times for COVID-19.
The reminder comes amid...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — With the government conducting repatriation flights, with the first arriving on yesterday with a 159 passengers from Honolulu, Gov. Lemanu Peleti Palepoi Sialega Mauga is making it mandatory to wear masks and observe social distancing in both the public and private...
The scene this morning shortly before dawn at Honolulu International Airport as American Samoa residents arrived for the first repatriation flight. The flight departed at 8 a.m. Kueni Aumoeualogo-Hisatake said she is elated and grateful to repatriate. She and her husband are carrying the ashes of...
Buses began pulling up at the Honolulu airport this morning before dawn with the 159 passengers who are booked on the first repatriation flight, that took off for American Samoa at 8 a.m. “I’m thinking about my mom,” Eileen Tyrell, of the Tagata Tutu Faatasi Alliance of American Samoa told Hawaii...
Washington, D.C. — Thursday, Congresswoman Uifaatali Amata sent a letter to President Biden identifying top congressional issues for American Samoa, alerting him to repatriation needs, and outlining numerous opportunities to work productively with his Administration in a bi-partisan manner in the...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — ASG employees, who also work part time for Hawaiian Airlines are required to submit a leave form to their supervisors if their government work schedules conflict with arrival of repatriation flights bringing home hundreds of local residents stranded off island since the...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Director of Health, Motusa Tuileama Nua assured representatives during his confirmation hearing last Thursday that all passengers on the repatriation flight arriving from Hawaii later this afternoon have completed their testing and are safe to enter the territory. All of...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A call was made in the House Chamber last week by Vaifanuatele Representative, Lavea Fatulegaee P. Mauga to amend the current drug law so that drug offenders will face more severe punishment for their crime.
According to Lavea when he raised this matter in the House last...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An overstayer from Samoa convicted of burglarizing a home in Pavaiai is going to jail. Sitivi Opetaia was ordered by the High Court to serve 28 months at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) as a condition of his 7-year probation.
Opetaia, who was held in custody...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are doing more home deliveries now than before,” Evelyn Lili’o Satele, the now fully Fono confirmed director of the Territorial Office of Administration on Aging (TAOA) said of the senior cooked food program during her Senate...

![(SA) 2086.jpg Family and friends were able to greet from afar the 159 repatriated passengers off of the first flight to the Territory from the U.S. Passengers still have to go through at 14-day quarantine, including tests for COVID-19 before being able to ‘go home’. [Courtesy photo] Young boy holding welcome banner](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/greeting_repatriation_flight_2086.jpg?itok=m667I3Rc)



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