10/27/2025 - CNMI Gov. David Apatang and CNMI Lt. Gov. Dennis Mendiola wrote to the legislature on October 24, 2025, urging lawmakers to take action on their administration-sponsored bill to amend the Casino Act of 2014 amid the islands’ fiscal crisis. 

10/27/2025 - Rep. John Paul Sablan has introduced a bill that would conditionally authorize the Marianas Public Land Trust to establish a margin account solely to facilitate the $29-million loan authorized under Public Law 24-13.

10/27/2025 - The Department of Community and Cultural Affairs (DCCA) presented its plans for the Oleai Sports Complex Development Center and the Cultural Events Center during a Department of Coastal Resources Management (DCRM) public hearing on Friday—the final step before the project moves into the construction bidding phase.

10/27/2025 - Kagman High School's Teacher of the Year Elizabeth Basa shares what it means to be named a finalist for CNMI Teacher of the Year and the impact she hopes to have on her students. In this week-long series, Marianas Press' Thomas Manglona II sits down with the top five finalists for this year's award who talk about why they became educators and how they hope to shape the next generation. 

10/27/2025 - The CNMI Public School System must begin implementing cost-cutting measures to stay within the $31.7 million budget. CNMI Commissioner of Education Dr. Lawrence Camacho shared that urgent message to PSS stakeholders in a memo last Friday.

10/24/2025 - CNMI Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds and independent congressional candidate Galvin Sablan Deleon Guerrero have both voiced alarm over the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s directive halting food assistance payments in November due to the ongoing federal shutdown.

10/24/2025 - While the next election might be more than a year away, the Commonwealth Election Commission is already preparing for it to ensure a smooth process for candidates and voters.

10/24/2025 - As the CNMI looks to diversify its economy beyond tourism, a manufacturing company in Chalan Kiya is making the case that Saipan can become a hub for high-quality, U.S.-standard production.

10/23/2025 - The precipitous drop in construction tax and how CNMI government operations are affected by the federal shutdown were discussed during a joint session of the House Standing Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Standing Committee on Fiscal Affairs last Oct. 22 at the House chamber on Capitol Hill.

10/23/2025 - U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona has accepted the guilty plea of former Public School System employee Giselle Butalid during her change-of-plea hearing on Oct. 22.

10/23/2025 - CNMI Congresswoman Kimberly King-Hinds said that federal intervention is not the answer to the recent news that the CNMI faces nearly $257-million in questionable costs through fiscal year 2022.

10/23/2025 - With a new law in effect requiring a warning label on betel nut being sold in stores across the CNMI, MP's Thomas Manglona II sat down with the NMI Hospital's Chief Dentist, Dr. Angelica Sabino, to discuss oral cancer in the islands and its link to betel nut chewing. 

10/23/2025 -  "I humbly ask the leadership of CHC, the Rota Health Center, and the CNMI Medical Board to reconsider renewing Dr. Tillman Farley’s contract. His six-month tenure on Rota is nearing its end, and his departure would be a tremendous loss to our island community," wrote Rota resident Denise Tanya King. 

10/22/2025 – Both know about the hardship in preparing the Mt. Tapochao Road for the annual Good Friday pilgrimage up to Saipan’s highest peak.  That’s why it was no coincidence that both praised and were actually relieved that the Department of Public Works held the ribbon-cutting for the $9.8-million Mt. Tapochao Road Project last Oct. 21 at the start of the roadway near the old Commerce building on Capitol Hill.

10/22/2025 - The Economic Diversification Committee of the CNMI Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers held its first meeting on Tuesday, intending to set the agenda to bring in new industries to the Commonwealth. 

10/22/2025 - Rota Mayor Aubry Hocog announced that Matson will begin to service the people of Rota starting November 03, 2025. She said this marks “the start of a service that will help improve the movement of goods and cargo to and from the island of Rota from Guam or Saipan.”

10/22/2025 - Communications and Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor John Gonzales has informed the administration that he will resign effective October 31, 2025. Gonzales was hired by the late Governor Arnold Palacios in June.

10/21/2025 - CNMI Governor David Apatang announced that the electronic benefit transfer system for the CNMI Nutrition Assistance Program will go live on November 1, 2025. It’s an announcement a decade in the making.

“This marks a proud and historic moment for our Commonwealth,” Apatang said during a press conference alongside Lt. Gov. Dennis Mendiola, Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Frank Rabauliman, NAP Program Administrator Margaret Aldan, and Administrative Manager Annie Reyes.

10/21/2025 - Ironically, even though Korean Air and Asiana Airlines no longer fly to the CNMI, the merger of the two carriers and their new strategy in Guam have negatively affected the Commonwealth’s No. 1 tourism market of South Korea.

Marianas Visitors Authority managing director Jamika Taijeron explained this during the Society of Professional Journalists-CNMI Chapter’s monthly meeting last Oct. 17 at Pepoy’s Café and Restaurant.

10/21/2025 - U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Angel Demapan officially informed CNMI Governor David Apatang of the $5.7 million in federal support for government programs and services in a letter dated October 17, 2025. 

10/20/2025 - The CNMI Board of Education discussed sensitive topics, such as all-gender bathrooms and participation of transgender students in Public School System sports during its board meeting last Oct. 17 on Tinian. Student Issues, Community, and Parental Programs Committee chair Anthony Dela Cruz Barcinas cautioned that PSS potentially can lose federal funding if it continues to construct all-gender bathrooms.

10/20/2025 - CNMI Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds announced that the Department of the Interior awarded $5.7-million to support CNMI government operations in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

10/20/2025 - 10/20/2025 - 128 people came out in full force on Sunday to support the Commonwealth Cancer Association’s “Cake Wars: Sweet OR Savory" — a cake competition part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

10/17/2025 - The CNMI faces nearly $257 million in questionable costs through fiscal year 2022, raising the risk that the CNMI will have to repay large amounts of federal funds. Finance Secretary Tracy Norita called the results “deeply concerning,” saying the findings confirm the financial chaos her team inherited. 

10/17/2025 - The Division of Youth Services shared its fiscal year 2025 report yesterday, presented by DYS Administrator Vivian Sablan and Child Protective Services Supervisor Mariah Barcinas at the DYS administration office in Capital Hill. In fiscal year 2025, the division handled a total of 816 cases involving 2,210 children—2,114 from Saipan, 28 from Tinian, and 68 from Rota. 

10/17/2025 - The CNMI Public School System outlined the anticipated effects of the federal government shutdown at their Wednesday night board meeting. 

The G3 Kupu Corps is a workforce development program with members throughout the Marianas that aims to build capacity in the green sectors all around the CNMI and Guam. 

10/16/2025 - Following the completion of the Beach Road improvement project, the CNMI Department of Public Safety has seen a rise in traffic violations. One driver was caught speeding at 70 mph in a 35 mph zone.