
Right to Democracy encourages applicants for youth art competition
Right to Democracy, an organization working to "dismantle the undemocratic colonial structure that governs the US territories, launched a youth art competition and is encouraging applicants before the deadline of October 10, 2023. Providing a space for...

US Virgin Islands Department of Justice reaches $75 million victim-supporting settlement with JPMorgan
United States Virgin Islands Attorney General Ariel M. Smith recently announced that the USVI Department of Justice had reached a historic victim-supporting settlement with JPMorgan Chase. The settlement includes significant commitments by JPMorgan Chase to curtail...

Guam’s stray dog crisis: Battling uncontrolled breeding and limited resources
On the island of Guam, which has a landmass roughly equivalent to that of Chicago and a population of approximately 172,952 residents, a pressing and unsustainable issue has emerged—a surging population of stray dogs. The most solid numbers on the issue come from The...

NOAA releases Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide for the Northern Mariana Islands
Earlier this year, a new Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide was published for the Northern Mariana Islands. This guide was put together to help the region stay prepared for typhoons and, consequently, marine debris. The first published guide of its sort within the...

#TBT: September 21, 2023
On September 21, 1946, Typhoon Querida's eye was between Rota and Guam, producing gusts of 100 mph. The village of Agat had 30 of its houses destroyed, with another 30 being very damaged, although only one injury was reported.

Northern Mariana Islands seek to manage reliance on Chinese tourism
Even in a region with a significant economic reliance on the tourism industry, the Northern Mariana Islands have long been a bastion for Chinese visitors. The islands draw so many Chinese tourists primarily because they are the only US territory that Chinese citizens...

American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam at the forefront of US-China tensions
As tensions rise between the US and China, the territories of American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and Guam are at the forefront of the conflict. The islands house bases that serve as the US military’s launching pads in the Pacific Ocean. Governors from...

Google Trends in the territories: August 2023
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...

It’s time for Americans to take a stand on Puerto Rico’s status
By Alberto C. Medina This year marks the 125th anniversary of the US invasion of Puerto Rico. Since 1898, the island has existed in a political limbo: neither a state of the union nor a sovereign nation. To this day, Puerto Ricans remain, essentially, colonial...

#TBT: September 14, 2023
The New York Times on September 14, 1928, covering the effects of Hurricane Okeechobee, also known as the San Felipe Segundo hurricane, in San Juan, #Puerto Rico. The storm is the only tropical cyclone on record to strike the island at Category 5 intensity.