NCLB Waiver: DoE's Latest Trick to Hide Failure
Hawaii Officials Could Face Prison Over Failure to Act on Bird Deaths
Public Meetings: HECO to Hear Comments on Resource Planning
DLNR Requires Permit for Canoe, Paddleboard--Swimmers OK for Now
Chinatown Tenants: FACE does not Represent Us
As DHHL War Rages, Robin Danner Relinquishes Presidency of CNHA
City Transport 2020: The Future Can't Come Soon Enough
38 Hawaiian Species Are Endangered, Agency Says
Bumbling DoE Payroll has ed assistants skipping paycheck
HNN: August 5 is normally a payday for educational assistants in Hawaii's public schools. However, some 200 of them in Leeward Oahu schools won't be getting a paycheck this coming August 5. And according to the state, it's because they got that paycheck nearly a year ago.
On August 5 of last year, the Department of Education gave the educational assistants two paychecks. A DOE memo issued in October said the first paycheck was to complete the summer pay for the 2011-2012 school year. The second paycheck was for the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, the one that just ended.
"It was very deceiving, very deceiving," said Raynetta Canady, an educational assistant at Waianae High School. "We were told that this money was a bonus that we were given because we were working 12 days that none of the other E.A.'s were working."
"Two or three months after we find out it's not a bonus check, it's not for professional development," said Nanakuli High and Intermediate School educational assistant Jackie Ku. "It's the 24th check of the school year, of this school year."
A spokeswoman for the HGEA said the union has filed a class grievance on behalf of the educational assistants, and that it couldn't comment further because the matter is pending. A union representative is scheduled to meet with the Leeward EA's Thursday.
(Question: What part of 'ADP' does DoE not understand?)
read ... Public school ed assistants have to skip paycheck
Pushing Tax Hikes, Caldwell Suddenly Attacks Council Slush Fund
CB: ...the mayor needled the council over nearly $14 million members have set aside for grants-in-aid that go to nonprofits and other special interests.
While $5.5 million comes from a voter-approved initiative to set aside funds for local charities, about $8.3 million has been inserted by council members through earmarks with little oversight.
Among Caldwell’s concerns is that taxpayer dollars are going to special interest groups that might not be certified nonprofits or have broad community reach.
Should the council keep that money in its $2 billion spending plan, he said, he might not release the funds.
“Depending on what happens I will be notifying everyone who’s on this list to not count on this money, that they should not put it in their budget,” Caldwell said.
“It’s the most responsible thing to do as mayor. I think the people of the city and county who have paid into this (fund) are going to want to make sure it’s fully vetted before any money is released.”
Caldwell said there’s been an “out of control” spike in the amount of money the council has earmarked for nonprofits and special interests.
Only $1.6 million is allocated in the current fiscal year for grants-in-aid, although the council budgeted $5.5 million. The council budgeted $2.8 million in Fiscal Year 2012, but the administration only allotted $1.2 million of those funds. In 2011, the budgeted amount is the same as that spent, $1.2 million. Prior to that there was no money for grants-in-aid....
SA: Caldwell, Council trade brickbats on budget plans
read ... Honolulu Mayor Blasts City Council For 'Out Of Control' Earmarks
Tourism: Japanese Spending Drops 12.5%
SA: Arrivals from Japan, Hawaii's largest international market, grew 6.5 percent to 100,243 visitors; however, a less favorable yen to dollar exchange ratio contributed to a 12.5 percent drop in nominal spending, which fell to $154.3 million.
Link: HTA Releases April Visitor Statistics
MN: Visitors are ‘exercising caution’; dip in spending for Maui County
News Release: Statement from HTA
read ... April visitor arrivals
Kakaako TOD: "That's Awful"
HW: Kakaako residents and the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) came together on May 21 for a community briefing on projects in the works for June and July. But discussion quickly turned to the subject that was on everyone’s mind: transit-oriented development (TOD) and what it will mean for residents.
“The building that’s going to be in front of ours is three times our height,” said Clara Morikawa, a Kakaako resident. “We’re down on the 10th floor. Can you imagine 20 stories above us? I mean, God, that’s awful.” Comments like these were common throughout the proceedings.
HCDA Director of Planning & Development Deepak Neupane chose to remain diplomatic: “We have a public hearing to take comments on June 5, so please do come to that. These are all legitimate concerns. That’s why the authority did not close the hearing process. We will consider everything before making a decision.”
read ... Awful
Only 37% of DoE Schools Ready for Digital Testing CB: As of now, just 105 of Hawaii’s public schools are plugged into a standardized Cisco Systems network. The rest of the 286 public and charter schools are still using older devices for their Wi-Fi, many of which don’t have the capacity to support the kind of dynamic computer-based testing that’ll be commonplace within a few years.
The department hopes to connect all schools to the Cisco network by the end of next year, according to DOE Assistant Superintendent and Chief Information Officer David Wu. The system will in part be possible through a federally funded fiber optic internet connection that the DOE expects to build at every school by the fall.
read ... Its still the DoE
4 UH Cancer Center researchers file successful complaints against director
KHON: Four University of Hawaii Cancer Center researchers have successfully filed academic freedom complaints in disputes with Dr. Michele Carbone, director of the center.... (And with MRC on her way out, they can speak freely.)
"Because Dr. Vogel has not been able to bring in research grants to the university for the past, I don't know how many years, since he's been here, we cannot give a laboratory to him," Carbone said, noting that the center will only host researchers who bring in research funding, like grants.
"He's actually lying," Vogel said, claiming his last research grant, worth more than $400,000 over five years, terminated a year ago.
"I am ostracized," Vogel said. "There are only three or four people left at Lauhala Street. My trash bin is no longer emptied. My fax line has been removed."
"He has refused to give space in the new building for one of the largest peer-reviewed federal grants at the Cancer Center," Vogel said, referring to a $1-million-a-year institutional grant from the National Cancer Institute that he oversees, supporting joint research projects for Pacific Islanders in a partnership between UH and the University of Guam.
Vogel said he too, filed an academic freedom complaint against Carbone when he tried to take the NCI grant away from him last year. Vogel said that complaint was unanimously decided in his favor, against Carbone. That's the fourth complaint that was sustained against Carbone, something that UH faculty union officials said has never happened in recent history or perhaps ever.
Vogel arrived at UH in 1999 as director of the Cancer Center and stepped down at the end of 2008.
Vogel hired Carbone as a professor in 2006.
"Some people tell me that's the biggest mistake I made in ten years at the Cancer Center," Vogel said, with a chuckle....
read ... Interregnum...time for the stories to come out
Honolulu Lawyer Hopes Federal Lawsuit Targeting Restrictive Shipping Laws Will Move Forward
HR: When Hawaii residents purchase groceries and other goods in the islands, they typically encounter prices 30 percent above what U.S. mainland shoppers will pay in their stores. Small business owners endure similar challenges when purchasing supplies.
Hawaii Attorney John Carroll, a former state Senator and Hawaii GOP party chair, filed three lawsuits in federal court since 2009 including one this year targeting The Jones Act - a federal law many believe secured Hawaii’s designation as the state with the highest costs of living and doing business.
The Jones Act, also known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, mandates goods shipped between American ports must be carried on American manned, American made and American owned vessels.
read ... Lawyer Hopes
Hawaii County postpones vote on GMO ban
BIVN: The council chamber in Hilo was packed to the limits of legal capacity, as crowds from both sides showed up to watch the decision making on Bill 79 (full text below), even though no public testimony was being accepted.
A few weeks ago, the same committee sat through hours of public testimony on the bill. Both sides of the issue presented their opinion at that time.
Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille offered a number of amendments to the bill that she introduced. Uneasy with the idea of voting on the amended bill without reading it carefully or hearing from the public, councilmembers put the matter aside for another time and date.
The Committee on Public Safety and Mass Transit has rescheduled the meeting for Tuesday, July 2nd in at the West Hawaii Civic Center in Kona. This time, the committee will hear public testimony before taking a vote.
HW: Another anti-GMO screed
read ... Hawaii County postpones vote on GMO ban
Ethics Commission: UH Should Revise Free Ticket Policies
CB: The Hawaii Ethics Commission this morning voted to recommend that University of Hawaii change the three policies that govern how free UH event tickets are handed out.
Commissioners agreed that UH officials had indeed violated state ethics code in recent years by giving free tickets for expensive athletics events to family members.
The written recommendations, which will come in the form of a memo from the commission, are said to specify who’s eligible for the free tickets, in many cases excluding the type of people who received those passes in the past. The UH policies as they stand are not consistent with state ethics code, the commission concluded.
LINK: Ethics Comm Agenda
read ... Ethics
Hawaiian Importer Loses Bid To Lower Plastic Bag Duties L360: Hawaii-based KYD Inc. on Wednesday lost its appeal in the Federal Circuit seeking to lower the duty rate imposed on its plastic bag imports, rejecting KYD's argument that its rate should be lower because it assisted the U.S. Department of Commerce in an anti-dumping investigation.
In a one-page order, the appeals court affirmed the 94.62 percent duty rate Commerce assigned to KYD. The company claimed the rate should have been lower because it assisted the government in the investigation of its supplier, Thai producer King Pac....
read ... 97% Import Duty
Hawaii Co Tax Foreclosure Bill Postponed
HTH: Property tax scofflaws got a reprieve Wednesday, when a County Council committee declined to shorten the time the county has to wait before foreclosing on property.
The council Finance Committee voted 7-1 to postpone the measure that would have allowed the county to foreclose on property when taxes are two years past due, instead of the three years that is current law. The bill sponsor, Councilwoman Brenda Ford of South Kona/Ka‘u, voted no and Hilo Councilman Dennis Onishi was absent.
read ... Delinquents
Surrender Monkeys Cheered by Possible Stryker Brigade Departure
Oi: ...momentum and the terrible, imprudent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan spoke louder, particularly when Hawaii's political leaders talked about the money the project was flushing into the islands..... (Oh, Afghanistan is a place we should have just left to al-Qaeda as a base?)
read ... Surrender Monkey
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