VIDEO: Why Hawaii might soon have more doctors
Green Tokioka DBEDT Appointment part of Dela Cruz’ $200M Slush Fund Scam
SA Editorial: … Absent a special session to confirm a permanent director, Tokioka, a veteran government official and former hotel industry executive, could serve until the Legislature reconvenes in January. That’s enough time for Tokioka and Green to make headway on some of the other key decisions the Legislature left on the table.
Among them is the future of the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). The agency remains alive — for now — as misguided bills to replace it with something else fell through at the last minute. HTA has been assured there will be enough funding to advance major industry marketing and destination management contracts, at least for the first year. But the future of the agency, in charge of marketing the state’s biggest industry, remains in limbo.….
Another project high on Tokioka and Green’s list is the new Aloha Stadium. Last year DBEDT assumed control over the project when the Stadium Authority was placed under its jurisdiction….
Background:
read … Directing DBEDT
Priced out of paradise, Native Hawaiians make Las Vegas home
NYT: … When Pauline Kauinani Souza was a child in Hawaii, she spent early mornings watering her grandfather’s watermelons and papaya trees.
Her family lived frugally, eating homemade bread and heating water over a fire for bathing. But the no-frills life came with the ultimate perk: living near the beach and drifting off to sleep at night to the sound of waves gently crashing on the shore.
Now, at 80, Souza lives in Las Vegas, a desert city of neon reinvention far from the ocean and her ancestral home. It is not paradise, but it is full of Native Hawaiians like her who have flocked there in recent years for the endless entertainment, reasonable cost of living and something few people can find in Hawaii: a house they can afford.
“I own it outright,” she said proudly of her two-bedroom, ranch-style home in Las Vegas. “In Hawaii, there aren’t many people who can say that.”
Increasingly, Las Vegas is drawing Hawaiians who came to visit and decided to stay, convinced that an affordable faux version of the islands is better than an endless struggle to make ends meet in the real thing.
Between 2011 and 2021, the population of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, grew by about 40%, for a total of nearly 22,000 people. That was the greatest number of newcomers in that demographic in any county outside Hawaii, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. In that same period, the total population of Clark County grew by about 17%.
For many, the draw is real estate: Houses in the Las Vegas area have a median listing price of about $460,000, compared with about $800,000 in Honolulu, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data….
“What we’re doing is creating our own Hawaii,” Cece Cullen, 38, a Native Hawaiian, said at a lei festival this month at an office park in Henderson, a city just outside Las Vegas.
Cullen attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in the early 2000s and later returned to Oahu. But life with a growing family was difficult. She and her husband, Nakoa Hoikaika Cullen, 37, worked multiple jobs and rented a modest 800-square-foot house. But their paychecks quickly disappeared.
“You get to the point where you’re like, is this it? Is this life?” she said….
read … Priced out of paradise, Native Hawaiians make Las Vegas home
Cost of Hawai’i Electricity Likely to Remain High
IM: … An article on wave power was recently posted in ililani media.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) examined the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for wave energy projects. The report released in August 2022 found that the cost of wave energy-based electricity could decrease to 30 cents/kWh by 2029-33. Further price reductions are foreseeable by 2050.
One reader responded, “Don't Hawaii residents pay like $0.35 per kilowatt-hour for electricity?”
The NREL estimate is the wholesale cost. It is the price HECO would pay for the electricity. HECO does not make a profit on purchased power.
The cost of electricity accounts for about 60% of HECO`s total charges to ratepayers. The other 40% includes transmission & distribution, metering, billing, maintenance, regulatory filings, taxes & fees, and profits.
Thus, NREL`s 30 cents/kWh wholesale estimate is equivalent to a HECO utility bill charging ratepayers 50 cents/kWh….
(Fortunately) Most wave projects have been under one megawatt in size and many if not most have failed….
read … Cost of Hawai’i Electricity Likely to Remain High
Hawaii Hamstrings What Remains Of Aloha Airlines
BH: … When Aloha stopped passenger flights, the company and creditors auctioned the perpetually profitable cargo operation. A series of disagreements ensued between lenders and the bidders, and the bankruptcy was converted from reorganization to liquidation. Ultimately, Seattle’s’ Saltchuk Resources, aided by US Senator Daniel Inouye, purchased the cargo division for just over $10M.
If Saltchuk isn’t familiar to you, it also owns the Hawaii interisland ocean transport monopoly, Young Brothers, among its other Hawaii ventures.
Now, fast-forward 15 years; Aloha Air Cargo wants the US DOT to remove limitations on the number of planes it can fly interisland. That comes as the Postal Service has asked the carrier to provide additional lift for mail to Maui and the Big Island.
US DOT mandated Aloha Air Cargo to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Saltchuk with no more than five aircraft. The company operates a series of Boeing 737 freighters and flies as Northern Air Cargo on flights between Hawaii and Los Angeles.
Aloha Air Cargo said, “The passage of nearly fifteen years and solid operational and commercial track record have rendered moot the need for this condition.”
That could mean more planes branded Aloha in the future. It’s a reminder of one of Hawaii’s most beloved carriers….
read … Hawaii Hamstrings What Remains Of Aloha Airlines
Boy Scouts admits prior shooting cases, attorneys say
SA: … Attorneys for the family of a Big Island Boy Scout killed in an accidental shooting during a “Troop Shoot” and “Family Fun Day” at a camp firing range in August are pressing for reports of other recent Boy Scout-related shooting incidents nationwide.
The family of 11-year-old Manuel “Manny” Carvalho filed a lawsuit in January in Hilo Circuit Court seeking compensatory damages against the Boy Scouts of America and the organization’s Aloha Council for wrongful death and gross negligence that included alleged violations of safety rules and allowing high- powered guns around children without adequate supervision.
A memorandum filed by the plaintiffs Wednesday in support of an earlier motion asking the court to compel the Boy Scouts to provide documents that were to have been turned over May 12 includes a copy of a national Scout Executive Packet dated July 18, five weeks before the fatal Hawaii shooting. The packet contains a section emphasizing that proper supervision is required any time a shooting sports range is in use, in accordance with the BSA Shooting Sports Manual and National Camp Accreditation Program standards….
During a Hilo court hearing Friday and in their memorandum, Carvalho family attorneys Thomas Biscup of New Mexico and Kris LaGuire of Hilo said that any internal reports on prior incidents are central to their wrongful death claims. “The national problem described by BSA prior to Manny’s shooting are on point with what led to Manny’s death,” their court filing explained….
read … Boy Scouts admits prior shooting cases, attorneys say
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