Guam State Clearinghouse - “Latest News”

The Merizo Mayor’s Office hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony today for its new youth center, which is now at the old Merilyn G. Cook School. The Guam Preservation Trust using federal funds recently repaired and renovated the facility after it sustained extensive damages from natural disasters.
The facility will now be used by the youth [...]

Governor Felix Camacho took part in a conference call with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The call was one of a series the vice president has hosted with state and territorial leaders on the Obama stimulus plan. Camacho says Guam can expect to see up to $90 million for education needs, along with [...]

The Public Auditor has released an audit critical of the way the Guam Waterworks Authority has handled major federal awards.
According to a release from the Office of the Public Auditor (OPA) independent auditor Deloitte and Touche identified $446,000 in “unresolved” cumulative questioned costs as of September 30, 2008.
Read GWA Audit Highlights
Among the finding of [...]

The United States Department of Transportation announced that under a new Recovery Act program, up to $1.5 billion was made available through September 30, 2011, for the Secretary of Transportation to make grants on a competitive basis for capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure projects that will have a significant impact on the Nation, a [...]

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded Guam $2 million dollars for environmental, architectural, and engineering designs to expand and modernizing the Port of Guam.
The EDA is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
A release quotes Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo as saying that initial planning and design funds will help facilitate construction of [...]

Housing illegal aliens in the local detention facilites is costing taxpayers some $5 thousand a day. While US president Barack Obama wants to eliminate the program which reimburses local government’s like Guam to detain these migrants. Governor Felix Camacho is urging Congress to approve the full funding for the program, and to reject the commander [...]

The Guam public school system received some favorable remarks in a letter from the US Department of Education.
GPSS superintendent Dr. Nerissa Bretania Shafer says USDOE lifted the 50 percent drawdown restriction, which now means that the department will no longer be limited on how much money they get from the federal government. Shafer says they [...]

Governor Felix Camacho has signed on with eleven state governors in a joint letter to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives requesting the House and Senate Appropriations Committees fully fund the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) in Fiscal Year 2010.
The letter is addressed to the Committee on Appropriations Chairmen Daniel Inouye and David [...]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that more than $4 million in Recovery Act funds will go to Guam to maintain or increase public safety on the island, while creating or retaining jobs within the law enforcement community.
These Edward Byrne Memorial Justice assistance grant program funds are part of more than $4 billion [...]

Acting Secretary of the Navy B.J. Penn has sent a letter to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in support of the recent grant application submitted by the Government of Guam to the USDA.
In recent months, the government of Guam has been actively seeking the support of key government officials regarding the USDA grant [...]

THE Guam Fire Department has received more new equipment (44 full faced masks) through a federal grant received by the Guam Department of Homeland Security. Fire chief Dave Peredo said the fire department requested the much-needed items several months ago through homeland security’s federal grant program.
On Monday, homeland security received 44 full-faced masks for [...]

Congresswoman Bordallo announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the Transportation Security Administration has awarded the Government of Guam with $2,700,000 in financial assistance as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009. In total and to date, Guam [...]

Guam’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (DMHSA) recently received a “big check” for $1.5 million from SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) for a State/Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention grant.
SAMHSA Acting Administrator Eric B. Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H., presented the check as part of his 2009 tour of Pacific Rim grantees and territories.
During [...]

A $1.4 million federal grant and 5 years of planning;17 historical sites in Guam’s capital city of Hagatna will be connected through a new walking trail.
Ground broke today at Fort Santa Agueda as Hubtec International starts its $1.1 million dollar contract to create the Guam Heritage Walking Trail. Department of Parks and Recreation Director [...]

The Obama administration is pouring in hundreds of billions of dollars to spur economic growth across the country, and the government of Guam’s share is at least $140 million. And GovGuam is asking for more.
GovGuam is sending a large package of proposals for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to the federal government by next [...]