Assistant Secretary Cantor participates in 124th Flag Day ceremonies in American Samoa
Assistant Secretary Carmen G. Cantor visited American Samoa, attending the 124th anniversary of the celebration of Flag Day in the territory, observing performances and parades by local schools and villages, and participating in a traditional Ava Ceremony. Held on...
Guam must eliminate harmful chemicals in five years
Guam has five years to eliminate the amount of PFAS in the territory as part of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s efforts to reduce PFAS across the states and territories. PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, are a family of chemicals that take...
In seeking connection to Puerto Rico, Vice President Kamala Harris finds a complicated picture
Vice President Kamala Harris (D), accompanied by US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman, visited Puerto Rico in March for a brief, five-hour tour, touting the White House’s fiscal...
#TBT: April 18, 2024
Pedro "Teno" Pangelinan Tenorio, born on April 18, 1934, was the second and fifth elected Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands. With 12 years in office, Tenorio is the longest-serving Governor in the territory's history.
Members of Congress and civil rights groups call on US Department of Justice to denounce Insular Cases
A bipartisan group of 43 House and Senate leaders is calling on the United States Department of Justice to condemn and cease its reliance on the Insular Cases, a series of racist US Supreme Court decisions that broke from prior precedent to justify colonial governance...
Google Trends in the US territories: March 2024
Welcome back to our monthly series examining the top Google Trends in Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Trends data is an unbiased sample of Google search data. It’s anonymized (no one is...
Strength in numbers: How federal agencies are combatting dengue in Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working to combat an outbreak of dengue fever in Puerto Rico. Recently, health officials on the islands have observed a stark rise in dengue cases, with the...
This US state is not covered by the NATO treaty. Some experts say that needs to change
File this under fun facts about the territories: CNN publishes a piece about how, because of its geographic location and the history of the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the state of Hawaii, and also all United States unincorporated territories,...
#TBT: April 11, 2024
Mike Pence was the third sitting US vice president to visit American Samoa when he made a stopover in Pago Pago on April 24, 2017. He remained at the airport, where he addressed 200 soldiers during his refueling stop.
Federal funding at center of Puerto Rico House Treasury Committee hearing
The Puerto Rico House Treasury Committee recently heard details involving the Puerto Rico Department of Housing’s budget for the year. The 2024-2025 proposed budget totalled $3.3 billion, an increase from $1.9 billion, which was approved for 2024. William Rodríguez...