Temporary Injunction Blocks Maui Hospital Privatization
BoE Strips Student Performance out of Teacher Evaluations
Full Text: Robin Danner Tries to Evict Jade Danner from Hawaiian Homelands
With HC&S Closing Anyway, A&B Settles Cane Burning Lawsuit
Jalousie Work: After 10 Years Union Lawsuit Ends
Hawaii Painters Business Agent Pleads Guilty in $1.5M Theft
Court Advances Suit by Dead Informant's Mom
Will State Senate go 100% Democrat?
SA: When state Sen. Sam Slom fell visibly ill on the Senate floor last month, it was concerning on at least two fronts.
The first concern, of course, was for the 74-year-old Republican legislator’s health; the second was due to the fact that he’s the lone — and appreciated — voice of the loyal opposition in an otherwise all-Democratic Senate.
Now comes news that Slom’s recent coronary bypass surgery went well, with him making “better-than-expected progress in his recovery.” So much so, that the longtime lawmaker just filed his papers to seek re-election to the Senate District 9 seat, which he has held since 1996….
read … GOP’s Slom just keeps on ticking
Star-Adv: Veto rich deal that hurts ERS
SA: After years of study and negotiations, HHSC reached a privatization deal with Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. The pact was sanctioned last year with Act 103, enabling the Maui public hospital system to transition to private ownership.
This session, the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) was at the Capitol, persuading lawmakers to fatten the accord reached with Act 103. SB 2077 offers a choice of either a severance payment of up to half the annual salary of any worker whose position is privatized. This means all of them, whether or not they ultimately keep their position, at comparable pay from Kaiser.
Here are things Ige must consider:
>> Again, this sweetheart deal could cost the state $40 million in payouts. Even if it’s spread over five years, as the measure dictates, that’s still a direct hit on the state general fund — and taxpayers.
>> With 1,400 fewer public employees paying into the ERS fund, the state will lose some $11 million to $15 million in worker contributions the first year. This would mean the state must increase its regular allotment to pay down the liability, which now stands at $8.77 billion.
>> There are many within the benefit class who are eligible to retire: There’s nothing in current law to stop them from retiring with full benefits, claiming the severance payment and being hired back in their old jobs.
The whole thing is patently unfair to the taxpayers underwriting everything. If the state hopes to accrue savings through privatizing other public hospitals, those workers would insist on the same deal.
This is precedent that will lead nowhere good….
Leverage: Temporary Injunction Blocks Maui Hospital Privatization
read … Veto
HART to submit new rail proposal to FTA within 60-90 days
KHON: …After a Federal Transit Administration report projected the cost of rail could reach $8 billion, HART board members say they have 21 days to come up with their own projection, which was at $6.8 billion last week.
“We should be looking for a realistic number and if that’s within their range, that’s what the number is,” said board member Mike Formby. “It will not be 6.8.”
“I think that it will not be that far off from what the FTA is saying, and then we’re going to have to decide what are our options,” said HART board chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa….
We asked HART CEO Dan Grabauskas to comment but were told he’s not available.
Hanabusa says Grabauskas is working on the numbers and has been asked to come up with the different options for the project….
read … New Proposal
CSEA’s Failings
CB: Hawaii is doing a miserable job of collecting child support, which has a ruinous effect on deeply poor families, especially their children.
read … Failings
Transparency Can Help UPW Gain Control of More Prisoners
CB: Even when prisoners are murdered, state officials and their private contractor shield themselves from the public eye….
Really Obvious Question: Since when have homicide investigations been ‘transparent’?
read … UPW Profiteering
It's been a rough week for anti-GMO activists
KE: …First, the World Health Organization came out and said — contrary to a report issued by another WHO agency last year — that glyphosate (Roundup) poses no cancer risk. This Wired article does a great job of explaining the brouhaha.
Then an Oregon judge rejected GMO bans passed by two counties there, using the same pre-emption ruling that knocked out three anti-GMO ordinances in Hawaii. The judge based his decision on an Oregon Supreme Court ruling that found state law pre-empts local law when they are incompatible….
it's not looking so good for the appeal of the overturned Big Island, Kauai and Maui ordinances when other states use the same legal reasoning as Hawaii….
And just yesterday, the National Academy of Sciences issued an evidence-based report that found, among other things:
On the basis of its detailed examination of comparisons between currently commercialized GE and non-GE foods in compositional analysis, acute and chronic animal toxicity tests, long-term data on health of livestock fed GE foods, and epidemiological data, the committee concluded that no differences have been found that implicate a higher risk to human health safety from these GE foods than from their non-GE counterparts….
read …. Musings: Finger on the Pulse
Anti-GMO Crackpots Gather 11,500 Signatures for Plan to Seize Maui, Molokai, Lanai Farmland from Rightful Owners
MN: …The initiative needs around 6,000 more signatures by June 1 to get on the November ballot, Douglas said. The group submitted 11,500 signatures to the county last month but is trying to collect more to make up for any invalid signatures….
2008: Molokai Ranch: Protesters to Cash in with Takeover Plan?
read … Theft
TSA Jamming up Airport Lines to Push Funding thru Congress
CBS: With massive lines and wait times of well over two hours to get through airport security, aviation expert Robert Mack called it “sort of a perfect storm.”
Mack believes that an increase in travelers, a decrease in TSA workers, and the fact that the agency wants more money, may have led to this massive gridlock.
Should TSA have been able to predict the gridlock?
Mack said the agency knew traffic was going to increase over the summer.
Did the agency create this scenario to put pressure on politicians to increase funding?
“It’s possible,” Mack said.
read … Washington Monument Gambit
Maui cane burning settlement reached
HNN: …Under the threat of a court injunction, Alexander & Baldwin agreed to cut back the acreage that would be burned by 20 to 25 percent, stop burning cane after December 25, along with other concessions. (Easy decisions since they are shutting down HC&S anyway.)
A&B said in a statement that the suit was merit-less, but it is satisfied with the settlement.
read … Settlement
Pinky Thompson Charter school principal, employee arrested for alleged tampering
KHON: An Oahu public charter school principal and a school officer were arrested by state sheriffs Tuesday.
According to the Department of Public Safety, the principal at Myron B. Thompson Academy, Diana Oshiro, was booked for tampering with official documents.
Kurumi Kaapana-Aki, the school’s elementary division officer, was booked for tampering with official documents and theft….
In 2011, the school was among 10 public charter schools that were audited. The audit found $133,000 in overpayments to school staff.
The academy was also the center of an ethics investigation….
read … Theft
Mandatory Transsexual Training for all DoE Students and Faculty
SA: …Beginning with the 1950 Statehood Constitution, the state Constitution has included a cluster of “Hawaiiana Clauses” that mandate the protection, preservation and teaching of Hawaiian culture, language, values and practices. One example of these clauses, part of Article 10 of the Constitution, reads:
”The State shall promote the study of Hawaiian culture, history and language.
“The State shall provide for a Hawaiian education program consisting of language, culture and history in the public schools. The use of community expertise shall be encouraged as a suitable and essential means in furtherance of the Hawaiian education program.”
All of these requirements are in addition to the Constitution’s broader mandates for the “equal protection of the laws” and equality “without regard to sex” (the Hawaii Equal Rights Amendment).
This is not a matter of personal preference or whim on the part of the DOE, advocates, politicians, individual schools or their personnel.
Because the mere presence of guidelines does not always translate into behavior in practice, it is therefore beyond dispute that “transgender training in the schools” is not only proper but required….
Best Comment: “Boy that was a convoluted argument! I don’t buy it.”
As Explained: The transsexual agenda for Hawaii schools
read … Trans-form your son
Civil Beat: Political Correctness is Great, We Love It
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