University of Guam Pacific Islander students who need assistance in developing their math skills will have more support thanks to a five-year $1.3M grant from the U.S. Department of Education Asian American and Native American Pacific Island Serving Institution Program.

In Chamorro, the term Kubre means to help out or assist. This grant program is entitled Kubre because it focuses on ensuring that students, and particularly first-year Pacific Islander freshmen, receive quality academic and support services such as tutoring, mentoring, supplemental instruction, and career exploration.

“We look to increase retention and to encourage students to continue their studies and complete their degree programs,” said UOG President Robert A. Underwood. “If a student is successful academically then they are more likely to continue their education. This grant provides our students with additional support to ensure they are able to pass their courses and ultimately graduate with a bachelor’s degree.”

The Kubre program will focus on increasing the number of freshmen who succeed in demonstrating mathematic skills. “University of Guam math placement test data show that in fall of 2009, 72% of incoming freshmen tested into developmental math,” said Julie Ulloa-Heath, dean of Enrollment Management and Student Services at the University of Guam. “Furthermore, many students who test into developmental math do not pass the course. This grant provides us with the funding to mitigate this trend and improve the number of students who successfully complete the coursework.”

Robert A. Underwood introduced legislation to create the American and Native American Pacific Island Serving Institution Program when he was Guam’s Congressional Delegate. “I view this as a watershed grant that has the ability to positively impact the lives of many of our freshmen, supports our natural choice initiative, and will ultimately contribute to producing Guam’s professional class.”

For more information contact Dean Ulloa-Heath at julieuh@uguam.uog.edu.

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele is traveling to Guam in September to help raise money for the island’s top GOP candidates.

In a statement published by the Pacific News Center, Guam Gov. Felix Camacho (R) announces that Steele will be providing the keynote speech for “the September 7th Republican Party fundraiser benefiting the Republican nominees for the Governor of Guahan and Senators of the Guam Legislature. Additionally, the Chairman will be the honored guest at a luncheon fundraiser on September 8th benefiting the Republican Party of Guahan.”

On Aug. 27, the Saipan Tribune also reported that Steele would be going to Saipan, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), to endorse former governor Juan N. Babauta as the islands’ representative to the U.S. Congress, making him the first RNC chair to ever visit the CNMI.

In February, two RNC staffers, State and Local Development Director Shannon Reeves and Director of Political Strategies for New Media George Alafoginis, were also in Guam. RNC Communications Director said their trip was “part of party building activities the committee undertakes everyday to ensure the Republican Party is competitive in every state and territory.”

In January, National Journal reported that the RNC had transferred $20,000 to CNMI over a two-month period. Many critics wondered whether the funds were the RNC’s political payback for helping Steele become chairman. Steele received heavy support from the U.S. territories — CNMI, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam — who hold outsized influenced in the RNC elections. Under GOP rules, each territory receives the same number of committee members as each U.S. state.

Camacho is term-limited and cannot run for re-election. In his statement, he said that he is “confident that Chairman Steele’s visit will help the Republican Party secure the necessary resources we need to regain control of the Governor’s office as well as a majority in the Guam Legislature. As part of Chairman Steele’s mission to reinvigorate the Republican Party as well as attracting new voters, his visit to our island demonstrates that the Guamanian voters in the continental U.S. are an important part of this mission.”

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/29/michael-steele-guam_n_698565.html?ref=twitter

Wow. Cut money and add more people. I love it.

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee last week slashed $300 million earmarked for a U.S. military buildup on Guam because the money was requested “ahead of need,” according to a news release from the committee.

The cut more than halves the $567 million approved last week by the House for the massive military buildup planned for Guam.

The money, part of the Pentagon’s proposed budget for 2011, is meant to jump-start construction required for the move of 8,600 Marines from Okinawa, expand Guam’s port for long-term aircraft carrier stays, and install an Army air defense unit on the island.

“I am concerned by the cuts in the Senate’s version of the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2011,” U.S. Rep. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Guam’s non-voting delegate to Congress, said Thursday in a statement.

But she also said the Senate committee’s changes were similar to cuts it made last year involving the Guam buildup that the full Congress later restored.

It was unclear Thursday what Guam-related projects the Senate committee cut. In the House version of the bill, the construction included a readiness center for Guam’s Army National Guard, wharf improvements at Apra Harbor, and site work on the proposed site for the Marines’ new base.

The statement from the Senate committee said only that the money was requested ahead of schedule.

The buildup on Guam is slated to be completed by 2014. Local officials have questioned the ambitious timetable, saying the estimated influx of nearly 80,000 people, including temporary workers, to the island of 178,000 would overwhelm the island.

As of this week, the project remains on the 2014 schedule, according to Marine Corps Maj. Neil Ruggiero, spokesman for the Joint Guam Program Office.

References:

http://www.stripes.com/news/senate-committee-cuts-300m-slated-for-guam-buildup-from-proposed-budget-1.105647

The chief executive of GTA TeleGuam Wednesday assured more than 200 government officials, military leaders and defense contractors attending the Hita I Marianas Conference in San Diego that Guam’s telecommunications infrastructure is ready with plenty of growth capacity to support the $20 billion military buildup on the island

Speaking at the conference billed as “America’s Future in Asia,” Dan Moffat, president and CEO of GTA TeleGuam, described Guam as a natural communication gateway between Asia and North America.

“Guam is telecom ready,” Moffat declared. “Private investments have created a world class network on Guam.”

“Privatization and competition have worked for Guam,” Moffat told the audience, noting that all businesses and consumers are benefiting from “lower prices and better service.”

Moffat also said GTA TeleGuam would like to bring the benefits of competition to CNMI (Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands) which lacks competition and where communications costs are high.

Identified as one of the largest peacetime military construction and service investment in 50 years, the military buildup on Guam is drawing the attention of businesses throughout the United States. The buildup will create $20 billion in U.S. Federal, Department of Defense, Government of Japan, and local government construction and service contracts for the Marianas region over the next five to 10 years.

Moffat said Guam is one of the most connected places in the world. There are currently 12 separate submarine cables with landing points on Guam. The 212- square mile island also has more than 150 route miles of buried fiber optic network rings using the latest transmission technology. The fiber rings provide access to all major community anchor institutions, such as government buildings, large commercial buildings, schools and libraries on Guam.

References:

http://sanfrancisco.dbusinessnews.com/viewnews.php?article=bwire/20100527005598r1.xml

HONOLULU (AP) – The Air Force plans to deploy the world’s most advanced fighter jet to Guam and Japan this month.

The Air Force said it will send a dozen stealth F-22s from Virginia to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam.

It will deploy another 12 New Mexico-based Raptors to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa in southern Japan.

Both units are expected to stay for about four months. They’re due to leave for their missions in late May.

The U.S. military first deployed the jets to Japan and Guam in 2008.

F-22s have unrivaled ability to fly at supersonic speeds for long periods and travel undetected by radar.

References:

http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12531052

Could a volcano devastate Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in the same manner Clark Air Base, Philippines, was destroyed by Mount Pinatubo in 1991?

That is the question a joint team from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Southern Methodist University (SMU) is tackling in a two-year, $250,000 project designed to improve early warning monitoring of seismic events in the Northern Mariana Islands near Guam. The project involves the installation of new infrasound devices alongside traditional volcano monitoring equipment, such as seismometers and global positioning systems.

The volcano research will aid U.S. troop safety, said Margaret Allen, senior research writer at SMU. “Technology used to detect nuclear explosions and enforce the world’s nuclear test ban treaty now will be pioneered to monitor active volcanoes in the Northern Mariana Islands near Guam,” she said.

Guam has increasingly become an important strategic chess piece in the Asia-Pacific as the island becomes the primary base for forward deployment of U.S. military forces in the region.

The chief of the volcano project, James Quick, was in the Northern Marianas in March to oversee the installation of the infrasound equipment on three of the 15 Mariana Islands. Nine islands have active volcanoes, he said, and on average the archipelago experiences about one eruption every five years.

Quick, now with SMU, served previously as the program coordinator of the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. “Compared to Clark Air Base, … the threats are less direct to military deployment in Guam and the Marianas,” he said.

A volcanic eruption on Guam itself appears unlikely, said Mark Reagan, professor of igneous petrology and geochemistry at the University of Iowa.

“Our best age information places the last volcanism on Guam itself in the Miocene [epoch], and probably more than 10 million years ago,” he said. “This and Guam’s position significantly east of the submarine volcanoes related to modern subduction” makes the chance of an eruption on Guam remote.

However, volcanically generated tsunamis and airport closure because of ash fall are still possibilities. Ash from the 2005 eruption of the Anatahan volcano, 200 miles north of Guam, closed the Guam airport.

Quick sees less chance of a problem for Andersen, which is “farther from active volcanoes.” The principal threats posed to U.S. military operations are to “in-flight aviation operating out of Guam and/or in the vicinity of the Marianas, and to military exercises that may be conducted on or near the volcanic islands.”

Pagan Island, with two active volcanoes, has been identified as an ideal location to practice beach landings. Also, live-fire exercises are being conducted on the Farallon de Medinilla Island near Anatahan.

References:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2010/04/040510_guam_volcano_web/

The Commerce Department announced an $8 million broadband investment in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The grant aims to increase broadband access and adoption by upgrading the existing telecommunications network serving these remote areas, according to the department.

The project is expected to connect more than 400 community institutions to the broadband network, including community colleges, schools, libraries, health-care facilities and public safety organizations.

Island Telephone and Engineering plans to use the grant to bring the first high-capacity broadband services to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. In addition to upgrading existing network infrastructure, IT&E plans to replace the existing inter-island transmission system using fiber, 3G wireless and WiMax technology.

The planned network is expected to enable government agencies, schools and businesses to benefit from videoconferencing and other advanced broadband capabilities.

References:

http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2010/04/guam-northern-mariana-islands-receive-8-million-grant/

This news made me laugh today. Seriously?! Capsize?!

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) is afraid that the U.S. Territory of Guam is going to “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation.

Johnson expressed his worries during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the defense budget Friday.

Addressing Adm. Robert Willard, who commands the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, Johnson made a tippy motion with his hands and said sternly, “My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.”

Willard paused and said: “We don’t anticipate that.”

Like other islands, Guam is attached to the sea floor, which makes it extremely unlikely that it will tip over, even if there are lots and lots of people on it. Guam is 30 miles long and up to 9 miles wide in certain spots, with a population of 175,000 civilians. The military is proposing the addition of 8,000 U.S. servicememebers and their families.

Reached for comment, a spokesman for Johnson said the lawmaker had visited Guam, and his concern was that the influx of military personnel would overwhelm the island’s infrastructure and ecosystem.

References
http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/in-the-know/36-news/3169-rep-hank-johnson-guam-could-tip-over-and-capsize

Can we say, “Finally!” Actually, I still remember days a long time ago when the Navy did send in their patrols into the bars and clubs.

The patrols — made up of uniformed sailors from Guam-based units and visiting ships — are meant to look out for misbehavior and problems among servicemembers out in town, said Capt. Michael Bates, the force judge advocate for Joint Region Marianas.

The patrols began last Friday night and are not in response to any major incident in recent weeks, Bates said in a phone interview Wednesday. Rather, he said, it’s a way to “promote a safer environment,” akin to shore patrols the Navy routinely dispatches during port calls around the world.

The idea came after meetings between Navy officials, Guam police and other local government officials, Bates said.

“It’s a good relationship,” said Shawn Gumataotao, a spokesman for Guam Gov. Felix Camacho, who said the governor supports the plan.

Sen. Tina R. Muna-Barnes said she also supports the patrols.

“I think it’s a good collaboration,” she said.

Sailors on patrol will not carry weapons and will not have any policing authority, Bates said. They will have the ability to direct servicemembers back to base if needed.

“There’s no plan for them to apprehend sailors,” he said. “It’s meant to benefit the sailors and to create and promote a safer environment. It’s their role to rein them in.”

Airmen from Andersen Air Force Base are not participating in the patrols, Bates said, primarily because shore patrols are not part of Air Force culture.

The patrols will occur mainly in Tumon Bay and in Tumuning, Bates said. They will be out from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and on the days preceding holidays, he said.

Both Gumataotao and Bates said the patrols are not in preparation for the military’s buildup on Guam, which is meant to bring more than 9,000 servicemembers to the island.

Shore patrols will now be a fixture in Guam’s main bar areas, Navy and island officials say.

References
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69069

Guam is to receive $83 million from the U.S. government that is aimed at repairing dilapidated schools, and purchasing computers and other high tech equipment.

The funds stem from last year’s federal economic stimulus measure, and were awarded by the U.S. Department of Education.

About $30 million will be spent renovating classrooms and school facilities.

Almost $10 million will pay for the purchase and installation of computers for middle and high school students, as well as a mobile laptop lab. Wireless internet service will be installed in classrooms.

The school system’s central business office, which mostly operates with paper documents, also will be upgraded with computers.

The University of Guam also will receive some of the stimulus funds.

References:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/29/342432higuamschools_ap.html?r=242414102