UH Community Colleges named best system in U.S.
Two Hawaii Gun Regulations Struck Down
DBEDT Releases 2020 Hawaii Data Book
No ICU beds available at Queen’s medical facilities as COVID cases surge in Hawaii
SA: … The Queen’s Health Systems has no available intensive care beds, has started canceling elective surgeries and procedures and has had to divert patients with emergency health needs to other hospitals as Hawaii’s surge in COVID-19 cases strains resources and threatens to grow worse.
“Our ICU beds are completely full,” said Jason Chang, chief operating officer of The Queen’s Health Systems and president of The Queen’s Medical Center, during an interview on Spotlight Hawaii, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s livestream program, on Monday. The beds are being occupied by an increasing number of COVID-19 patients, as well as patients who have experienced heart attacks, strokes and other traumas….
Some 308 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized throughout the state, according to state data updated Monday. The last time COVID-19 hospitalizations in Hawaii topped 300 was on Sept. 8, when the islands saw a record 315 patients admitted. Statewide, 64% of ICU beds are occupied. About one-third of the occupied beds are COVID-19 patients. There are 52 COVID-19 patients on ventilators.
Chang said that the average age of COVID-19 patients at Queen’s is now about 40. “When they find themselves in the hospital or intubated or in the ICU, I think it is quite shocking to their family and everyone else around them,” he said.
Queen’s is counting on 130 relief workers to help take care of patients starting Monday. Staffing shortages also have constrained the number of available beds….
KHON: Relief nurses arrive as hospitals across the state nearly reach capacity
SA VIDEO: Hilo Medical Center’s Elena Cabatu and The Queen’s Health Systems’ Jason Chang join the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Spotlight Hawaii
read … No ICU beds available at Queen’s medical facilities as COVID cases surge in Hawaii
Public workers scramble to meet vaccine mandate deadline, others get extension
KHON: … DOE says there were no reports of any widespread issues, and anyone with problems connecting can contact the DOE Help Desk.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi extended the deadline for county workers to Aug. 23. During that time workers are hoping to get more answers on how the process will work. Honolulu has the strictest mandate. Those who do not get a religious or medical exemption have to get vaccinated….
UH also extended the deadline an extra week. Faculty members will have to upload their vaccination proof by Aug. 23 to the UH app or get tested weekly.
“In order to make it easier for both employees and for the students, they’re looking to have testing sites on campus,” said Christian Fern, executive director of the UH Professional Assembly….
SA: Deadlines Extended
read … Public workers scramble to meet vaccine mandate deadline, others get extension
What Tsunami? Judiciary, mediators not seeing large spike in eviction cases
MN: … Following the state’s expired eviction moratorium, Bowers said that the office has received a slight increase in notices — fewer than 20 since Aug. 7….
“…So we are seeing a trickle in cases, but we are ready for so much more.”
District Court Judge Kirstin Hamman added that it’s “a bit concerning that there have been so little cases” filed since the end of the state moratorium and encouraged people to begin contacting Maui Mediation Services.
A landlord can file a complaint on the 16th day after a notice of eviction is given if the tenant does not schedule mediation. If the tenant does schedule mediation services, the landlord is required to participate and then the complaint is filed 30 days after giving that notice, Hamman said….
(Translation: All the rhetoric about a ‘tsunami of evictions’ was lies designed to sustain the free ride for deadbeats imposed with COVID as an excuse.)
Kauai: “We have about 50 new, or first-time applicants right now”
read … Judiciary, mediators not seeing large spike in eviction cases
Money News: Robin Danner, to reopen Washington, D.C., office full time
SA: … Robin Danner, chairwoman of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, will move from Kauai to the nation’s capital next month to reopen the advocacy group’s office. This marks the first time in the organization’s 34-year history that it will have full-time representation on the Hill.
“It’s time for Native Hawaiians to have a presence there and to be seen, to be visible and to be able to more quickly engage with our federal government,” said Danner, who was elected SCHHA’s chairwoman in 2015. “I’m excited. I love Washington DC….”
Once she gets settled and reopens SCHHA’s Washington office, which is within walking distance of the Capitol, Danner said priorities to work on include increasing federal resources for those awaiting homestead lots, advocating for federal legislation that would lower the blood-quantum requirement for many homestead successors to one-thirty second from one-quarter, and helping homestead farmers and ranchers access more U.S. Department of Agriculture programs. From her past trips to Washington, Danner said she’s seen the benefits and progress made when meeting with federal officials in person and that being there full time could improve and speed up the progress. She also said she’s looking forward to working with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration.…
Long-term goals are to hire more staff to help Danner, including a full-time policy director, she said….
read … Native Hawaiian homestead leader, Robin Danner, to reopen Washington, D.C., office full time
Honolulu Fire Commission To Hear From Chief Finalists
CB: … Lionel Camara Jr., the acting chief of the Honolulu Fire Department, and Kalani Hao, the acting deputy chief, are expected to have “a conversation” with the Honolulu Fire Commission at a meeting next week.
Charlotte Nekota, the commission’s chair, said the discussion will be held in public session.
“On the 25th we are going to find things a little more transparent,” she said Monday.
The commission is deadlocked 3-3 between Hao and Camara. Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s nomination of Dave Matlin, the University of Hawaii athletic director, to fill a vacancy is awaiting confirmation proceedings before the Honolulu City Council.….
read … Honolulu Fire Commission To Hear From Chief Finalists
Hearing Continues in Case Against 3 Honolulu Police Officers
AP: … A judge in Honolulu is scheduled Tuesday to resume a hearing on whether three police officers should be tried on murder and attempted murder charges for the shooting that killed a teenager and injured his brother….
read … Hearing Continues in Case Against 3 Honolulu Police Officers
Supreme Court to hear appeal of shooter convicted in 2016 Christmas murder at Ala Moana Center
ILind: … In September 2018, Dae Han Moon was sentenced to a term of life in prison with the possibility of parole for the murder of another young man in a parking lot at Ala Moana Center during a drug purchase on Christmas two years earlier. During his trial, Moon’s defense attorney acknowledged Moon had fired the fatal shot, but argued it was an accident. The jury did not agree, and voted to convict.
In July 2019, while serving his sentence in that case, Moon received a “target” letter and was ordered to appear to testify before a federal grand jury secretly meeting to consider charges against Michael Miske, at that time known as the owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, and former owner and manager of the M Nightclub in Honolulu. Court records show Maui attorney Clarence McCurtdy Virtue was appointed by the federal court to represent Moon.
A year later, in July 2020, Moon was charged along with Miske and nine others in a 22-count indictment alleging a variety of criminal offenses stemming from the participation in a racketeering organization Miske allegedly controlled and directed. Lance Bermudez, also indicted in the Miske case, had been convicted of threatening witnesses to the Christmas shooting.
Tuesday a court appointed attorney, Emmanuel Guerrero, will appear before the Hawaii Supreme Court to argue Moon’s earlier murder conviction should be overturned….
KHON: Attorney seeks to overturn murder conviction for 2016 Christmas Day shooting at Ala Moana Center
Background: Miske-Related Case Shows How State Judiciary Protects Mafia
read … Supreme Court to hear appeal of shooter convicted in 2016 Christmas murder at Ala Moana Center
Hawai`i Grossly Underestimates Aviation Greenhouse Gas Emissions
IM: … Tawn Keeney MD is requesting that the Honolulu Climate Change Commission conduct a study of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with air transport of visitors to Hawaii in the year 2019 and ongoing…
… little attention has been given in the past to the issue of the greenhouse gas impacts of tourism.
The State of Hawaii Greenhouse Gas Inventory identifies the category of ‘Domestic Aviation’ and assigns in 2019 a value of 3.2 million tons CO2(e).
It is notable however that this figure includes only emissions from departures to the continental United States. It does not include US arrivals.
It does not include international flights, either arrivals or departures.
It does not include the most consequential of the ‘non-CO2’ GHG emissions, whereas the science has been aware for over a decade that ‘non-CO2’ emissions account for the majority, and at the altitudes flown to Hawaii likely more than 2x that, of the global warming emissions.
In 2020 a White Paper was presented to the Honolulu Climate Change Commission (HCCC) and the Hawaii State Climate Commission by Tawn Keeney MD which calculated the GHG emissions associated with air transport of visitors to be approximately 18 million tons CO2(e).
This number was contrasted with a total GHG emissions from the state’s electricity generation and petroleum refining at 7.8 million tons and total ground transportation of 4 million tons. In the HCCC this paper was described as ‘very important’….
read … Hawai`i Grossly Underestimates Aviation Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Hawaii State Parks Expect To Triple Their Revenue
CB: … To allow more flexibility and decrease the number of Covid-related cancellations, the Department of Land and Natural Resources changed the reservation system in June 2020 to book no more than 30 days in advance instead of one year.
The DLNR also raised all parking and entrance fees for out-of-state visitors for Hawaii’s state parks. It waived those fees for residents but implemented “modest increases” to camping and lodging fees for all users.
The fee increases brought an unexpected influx of cash, and the DLNR State Parks Division is on track to triple its previous average annual revenue of $5 million.
“With the new fees recently implemented at nine parks, that annual revenue may approach $15 million if current patronage numbers are sustained,” the state parks assistant administrator Alan Carpenter said.….
read … Hawaii State Parks Expect To Triple Their Revenue
State of Hawaii reveals pandemic impact on duty free revenues
MDR: … The sharp early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the islands’ travel retail sector – a slump which later escalated – can be seen from the 2020 edition of the State of Hawaii Data Book released yesterday.
Duty free revenue at Hawaiin airports decreased by -25.6% for the contract year ending 31 May 2020 to US$78.4 million. That marked the first time since the start of data reporting that duty free revenues have fallen under US$100 million….
read … State of Hawaii reveals pandemic impact on duty free revenues
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