SB1 Hearing Continues 10:30AM Tuesday
SHOPO Pres: “You would have to kill me to impose this law upon my children”
Testimony on same-sex 'marriage' running 10 -1 against
Hooser and Bynum’s Land of No Aloha Activists
Ag Department Backs Kauai Mayor’s Veto, Developing Pesticide Regs
Study: Hawaii Child Care Among Least Affordable in USA
Honolulu Charter Amendment: Seize Land Within 90 Days of Council Vote
Panos: Fighting Boondoggles--Honolulu Rail Transit
State: Geothermal Rights Case 'is no minor land dispute'
Slom: There Are Always Other Options
DLNR Announces New State Historic Preservation Administrator
Thanks to Atheists, Exercise classes, Scout troops face big rental hikes at public schools HNN: Small groups like exercise classes and Cub Scout troops across the state are finding themselves caught in the fallout over a lawsuit against the Department of Education.
The lawsuit claims five large churches have underpaid the state more than $5 million in rent, so prices are going up for small groups as a result.
A Jazzercise class met for the final time at an Oahu elementary school last Wednesday night. The class is moving out after more than four years because of much higher rents.
Exercise classes that rent public school facilities report their rental fees have tripled or quadrupled, going from about $35 for a one-hour rental at a cafeteria to roughly $135. The higher prices make it difficult to break even when they charge $5 or $7 a person per class....
"For many of them, that's caused them to have to look for other places to meet," said Jeff Sulzbach, CEO of the Aloha Council Boy Scouts of America, which has 12,000 scouts on four islands. "We've had a number of churches welcome our scout troops in...."
Sources said younger, less-experienced principals are being more hard-line about enforcing higher rents while more experienced principals are more likely to allow cut-rate deals if they trust the group leaders.
Background: Atheists Sue Hawaii Churches, Demand $5.6M Cash
read ... Paying the Price for Tolerating Atheist Harassment
Gay Agenda: Hawaii BoE Hasn’t Addressed Gay Marriage Issue Specifically
CB: He told Civil Beat that the board hasn’t addressed the issue of gay marriage specifically. He said there’s no clarity yet on what the law would say in terms of how it might impact school curriculum.
Horner said he has been in talks with Department of Education officials and believes existing policies governing controversial issues would continue should SB 1 pass.
He was specifically referring to BOE Policy 2210, which says:
“Student discussion of issues which generate opposing points of view shall be considered a normal part of the learning process in every area of the school program. The depth of the discussion shall be determined by the maturity of the students.
“Teachers shall refer students to resources reflecting all points of view. Discussions, including contributions made by the teacher or resource person, shall be maintained on an objective, factual basis. Stress shall be placed on learning how to make judgments based on facts.”
DOE Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi sent a memo to complex area superintendents, principals and teachers on May 1 to reminder them of the board policy.
“Before engaging in any lesson or activity that may touch upon potentially controversial matters, teachers must discuss the potentially controversial matters with his or her principal to determine whether a letter concerning a potential controversial topic should be sent out to parents or legal guardians,” she said.
Parents or legal guardians can choose to have their child excluded from a specific lesson or activity by writing a letter to the school administrator or teacher. In that case, the student must be provided with an alternative learning activity, Matayoshi said.
CB: Would Gay Marriage Bring the 'Homosexual Lifestyle' to Hawaii Students? (Anticipation)
read ... Gay Agenda?
Hawaiians Stall Gay Marriage Hearing, Plan Rally Thursday
SA: ... gay-marriage opponents are preparing to flood the state Capitol on Thursday, when the House could take a vote on the marriage equality bill....
Oshiro, in a memo Monday to Luke and Rhoads, questioned their choice to ... restrict testimony ... since no House rule covers such requirements.
"I have grave concerns that these reports, if found accurate, taints the fairness of these proceedings and taints the validity of any committee action resulting from them," Oshiro wrote.
LINK: LIVE FEED OF TESTIMONY
read ... Gay-marriage opponents stall hearing
Is Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell Trying to Weaken the Ethics Commission?
CB: During a commission meeting Monday, Totto criticized recent moves by Honolulu’s Corporation Counsel to subvert his ability to enforce ethics laws by manipulating his budget and challenging his authority to make decisions.
In particular, he says city attorneys are trying to wrest financial control away from the commission, an autonomous board of volunteers that, among other things, approves Totto’s salary and recommends discipline for misconduct.
The Corporation Counsel is only supposed to be administratively tied to the commission, not an overseer of the budget. Without independence, Totto said, the commission’s credibility could be compromised.
“Corporation Counsel could use budget management to undermine operations of the commission,” Totto said. “This is of particular concern because Corporation Counsel is not only an agent of the administration, it also has inherent conflicts of interest with the commission.”
Totto is asking the administration to increase his budget by about $130,000, a more than 35 percent increase. Last year, Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the Honolulu City Council increased his budget for Fiscal Year 2014 from $280,000 to $360,000....
The spat between Totto and the city’s attorneys comes shortly after the Ethics Commission released an opinion that found Caldwell had unknowingly violated city gift laws when his mayoral transition team accepted tens of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and contractors who had business in front of the city.
SA: City lawyers in row with ethics panel
Background: $381K in Prohibited Gifts: Ethics Commission Compares Kirk Caldwell to Rod Tam -- Then Lets him off Hook
read ... Ethics
Phony Sea Level Rise Used to Justify Jump in Flood Insurance Premiums
Borreca: "When you look at tide gauge recordings in the last few weeks, we see the sea level has been higher than predicted by tides," Fletcher said. (If you fall for this line, please get help.)
It is not a huge change — inches, not feet — but it is rising. After the recent reports of sand leaving Waikiki Beach and the front of North Shore homes, there may not be a one-to-one connection, but there is a trend going on.
"They are little case studies of sea-level rise. They are episodes of water being a few inches higher and yet the beaches just sort of crumble away in certain areas.
"It tells us that with just a little more sea-level rise there is going be a new raft of erosion hot spots," Fletcher warned.
More sand is not going to solve the problem, he said.
There is a lot of confusion, he reported, about how government should react.
"We are still on a very reactionary footing when it comes to managing coastal erosion," Fletcher said.
Hurricanes push a lot of water out in front of them; if those sea surges are even higher — such as what happened last year with the East Coast's Hurricane Sandy — there is more destruction.
Fletcher noted that the national flood insurance program is running a deficit, that those paying flood insurance premiums are not paying in enough to balance the claims going out.
"If we continue to see these billion-dollar disasters — and most people in climate science think we will continue to see them — it may mean that the national flood insurance program is no longer solvent," Fletcher worried.
Nov 2013: Flood Insurance Jumps 850%—$23,000 Premium
Sept 2013: Rate Hike Coming? New Prelim Flood Insurance Maps Released
read ... Insurance Company Propaganda
Court Gives Jimmy Pflueger Big Break
KGI: The Hawaii state Intermediate Court of Appeals has vacated a prior judgment that said the former permit-holders would not be responsible to defend claims brought against the state related to the 2006 Ka Loko dam disaster.
The decision on Wednesday would require the then permit holders, Kilauea Irrigation Company and C. Brewer and Company, to defend claims directed against the state regarding care and maintenance to the Ka Loko dam and spillway prior to the disaster. The 2006 case now moves back to 5th Circuit Court for a judge to decide.
HR: Pflueger has been trying to pawn this off on Kilauea Irrigation for years
read ... Court reverses course in Ka Loko dam case
Number of solar PV permits issued on Oahu declines for sixth straight month
PBN: Oahu’s solar photovoltaic industry suffered its sixth straight month of decline in October for permits issued when comparing statistics from the same period last year, according to an analysis of the data by Marco Mangelsdorf, president of Hilo-based ProVision Solar.
In October, there were nearly 50 percent, or 1,147 fewer permits, issued compared to the same month in 2012....
Meantime, the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting has issued a total of 11,123 permits through the first 10 months of this year, which is a drop of 13 percent or 1,671 permits, when comparing the same time period last year, which saw 12,794 permits issued....
read ... Solar Drop
Police investigating sludge controversy
HNN: The controversy over the dumping of tons of sludge in Waianae is now a criminal case.
Hawaii News Now has learned that the Honolulu Police Department is working with the city Department of Planning and Permitting in its investigation into SER Trucking of Waianae.
"Now it's a different ball game," said environmental activist Carroll Cox.
"With this new investigation, a criminal investigation, it could go thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars (in fines)."
read ... Sludge
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