Ewa, Kona, Hilo, Nanakuli, Mililani, Kahului, Lihue: Local Communities Organize Against Gay Marriage
Religious Freedom? Panel to Debate Amendments to Gay Marriage Bill
HI House leader steps down amid campaign spending investigation
Polygamy: Calif Gov Jerry Brown signs bill to allow children more than two legal parents -- Abercrombie Predicts Hawaii next
LAT: The bill was partially a reaction to a 2011 court decision involving a lesbian couple that briefly ended their relationship, according to Leno's office. One of the women was impregnated by a man before the women resumed their relationship. A fight broke out, putting one of the women in the hospital and the other in jail, but the daughter was sent to foster care because her biological father did not have parental rights. (Yep. The 'slippery slope' is real.)
"Everyone who places the interests of children first and realizes that judges shouldn't be forced to rule in ways that hurt children should cheer this bill becoming law," said Ed Howard, senior counsel for the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.
SB 274 was opposed by advocates for traditional families, including Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, who said Friday he was disappointed by the governor's action.
"This is in the long run going to be a mistake," Dacus said. "The ones who are going to pay the price are not the activists, but it's going to be children, who will see greater conflict and indecision over matters involving their well-being."
Dacus said having more than two legal parents will create the potential for greater conflict over what is best for a child and result in more complicated court fights.
The measure was opposed in the Legislature by the conservative Capitol Resource Institute, which called it detrimental to children. The group said children thrive in homes with their biological mother and father, or with adoptive parents being male and female role models.
Brown vetoed a similar bill last year, and his representatives did not return calls for comment on what changed his mind.
LINK: SB274.
read ... Polyamory
Hundreds Attend Anti Gay Marriage Rally at Capitol
HNN: The special session on same-sex marriages is a little more than three weeks, away but the lobbying efforts are already in high gear.
More than 500 people (organizers say 1000) attended a rally the state Capitol today (Sun Oct 6) to oppose the legalization of same sex marriages. The rally was organized by the United Fellowship of Churches, which wants the issue decided at the ballot box and not by the state Legislature.
"We want to shoot it down. We want to bring it down," said Bishop Soara Tupua Jr. of the Holy Hill of Zion Thy Dwelling Place Church in Waianae.
"Let the people vote, let the people decide. Don't make it a special session and you decide for us. We want the people to say, this is what we want. That we have a say in the same-sex marriages."...
Many of those who attended today's event believe that most voters oppose same-sex marriages.
"I feel very strongly that the word marriage connotation between two people, a man and a woman," said Kathy Kane of East Honolulu.
Added Aiea resident Liz Chow: "I believe the people of Hawaii should be able to vote on the same sex marriage issue."
Lawmakers say the rally is just one of many to come on same-sex marriage debate -- a debate that's expected to heat up as the October 28th special session gets closer.
read ... Photos, Video
DREAM Just a Dream? Only 247 Illegal Aliens Apply
SA: "Roughly 6,000 unauthorized youth in Hawaii are eligible to apply," said Jeanne Batalova, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. "Out of the 6,000, only 247 people applied. That's a tiny rate of application."
Across the country, about half of those eligible — 49 percent — have applied for relief through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA. In Hawaii it is just 4 percent. Most applicants here, as across the country, are Mexican, although the majority of Hawaii's foreign-born population is from Asia.
The policy was adopted in August 2012 by the Obama administration to give young people who have grown up in the United States a chance to keep studying or working here, after Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act. It offers a two-year, renewable reprieve from deportation to applicants with clean records who arrived in the country before age 16 and meet length-of-residence, education and other requirements.
read ... Just Your Imagination
How Government Makes Milk Expensive in Hawaii
CB: Three decades ago, Hawaii had dozens of milk dairies. Today much of Hawaii's milk comes from the mainland — just two milk-producing dairies remain in the state, both on the Big Island.
"But we don't have a feed mill here, and cows don't just eat grass," said Jeri Kahana, a quality assurance specialist at the Hawaii Agriculture Department. "So you have to import feed as well. The cost of doing business in Hawaii? Everything we touch is linked to transportation."
Most of the milk you'll find in Hawaii stores comes from California, where it's purchased by a processor that ships it to Hawaii. The California Milk Control Program sets the price that processors pay. But fuel prices that remain near their peak and tanker rental costs drive up the price that consumers ultimately pay. Federal requirements related to interstate shipments — such as that milk must be pasteurized before it's packaged — add more to the cost, too.
So, would an increase in local production drive down the cost of milk?
It might. But, locally produced milk often sells for close to $9 per gallon (although it is sometimes "on sale" for a little more than $7).
As Kahana points out, even Hawaii dairy farmers rely on mainland feed, which pushes prices up. Local milk is also subject to state pricing requirements that are meant to ensure farmers can stay in business.
read ... Milk
Affordable Care Act and a growing population make Waikiki Health's new facility a critical addition
SA: Waikiki Health, which provides free and low-cost medical services to more than 9,000 patients, is expanding its facilities in anticipation that demand could nearly double as the population grows and as more people are connected to medical services under the Affordable Care Act.
"Demand for our services has increased dramatically," said Bryan Talisayan, Waikiki Health's chief operations officer. "We're bursting at the seams."
The February opening of a long-awaited 10,000-square-foot, two-story administrative and medical building with on-site parking at 935 Makahiki Way is aimed at alleviating population growth at Waikiki Health's six existing locations, which saw a 62 percent increase in patient usage from 2010 to 2012, said Kelly Joseph, Waikiki Health's chief of marketing and development.....
"On most days at our Ohua clinic, which serves 75 percent of our total patients annually, it's standing room only with at least 25 people waiting to receive medical and behavioral health services, while all 15 exam rooms are filled," Joseph said....
"During the first 12 months of operation, we project the new clinic alone will provide 8,000 dental visits, 3,500 medical visits and 1,500 behavioral health visits," Joseph said.
read ... About Where You Will be Getting Your Health care
Substitute teachers back pay Coming in December
SA: The latest word is that payments totaling $15 million for unpaid daily wages could begin going out in mid-December, making for a merry Christmas for some 8,000 substitute teachers.
Payments will range from “a few hundred dollars” to nearly $20,000, depending on when and how much they worked, said Paul Alston, whose law firm filed a class-action lawsuit seeking back pay for the teachers more than 10 years ago.
The settlement involves claims for daily wages, not for payment of hourly wages, which total about
$7 million, or for interest payments, which now total about $13 million, he said.
“The state has agreed to pay about $15 million to the substitute teachers for their daily wages,” Alston said. However, it is appealing the judge’s ruling that the teachers also are owed a total of about $20 million more for hourly wages and accrued interest.
“We expect to finalize all the proceedings before the end of this year,” he said.
read ... Substitutes
Tribes Mishandle Funds, Go Unpunished
AP: American Indian tribes have been caught misappropriating tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, according to internal tribal audits and other documents. But federal authorities do little about it — due to a lack of oversight, resources or political will.
The result? Poor tribes like the Northern Arapaho of Wyoming suffer.
One Arapaho manager pocketed money meant to buy meals for tribal elders. Another used funds from the reservation's diabetes program to subsidize personal shopping trips. And other members plundered the tribal welfare fund, then gambled the money away at one of the tribe's casinos.
Altogether, employees drained at least a half-million dollars from the coffers of a tribe whose members have a median household income of about $16,000 a year.
Federal agencies questioned millions more dollars the Northern Arapaho government spent, but decided not to recover any of the money — and even increased funding to the tribe.
The Wyoming tribe is hardly unique.
An Associated Press review of summaries of audits shows that serious concerns were consistently raised about 124 of 551 tribal governments, schools or housing authorities that received at least 10 years of substantial federal funds since 1997.
read ... Now You Know Why the Akaka Gang Wants to organize a Tribe
News Media Seek Court Ruling on Open Trials
CB: News organizations throughout the state are asking the Hawaii Supreme Court to make it clear that a judge can't close a criminal trial or hear arguments in secret unless the press and public are first given a chance to object.
Hawaii is the only state that has not expressly asserted the First Amendment right to attend criminal judicial proceedings, according to a "friend of the court" brief expected to be filed Monday in a case that seeks the release of transcripts from closed sessions of the recent murder trial of U.S. State Department special agent Christopher Deedy.
read ... Open?
Alleged Mortgage Fraudster Represented by Disgraced former Legislator
SA: The news conference Sunday with attorney Melodie Aduja featured a cadre of Franco's supporters who identified themselves as happy customers seeking justice.
Franco admits to having continued contact with about 480 Hawaii consumers regarding home foreclosure actions since the injunction was issued.
According to the contempt of court finding, Franco offered to conduct a $3,500 "forensic audit" for a Kalihi resident that would save her home. She required payment first, which allegedly violates the state's Mortgage Rescue Fraud Prevention Act of 2008....
The contempt order says the state received at least 18 complaints from Hawaii consumers regarding Franco's business when it filed the request for the preliminary injunction in April 2012.
2004: State starts new Aduja campaign fund probe
HT: Disgraced Politician Goes to the Dogs
read ... Mortgage Fraud Allegations
Permit for telescope faces legal challenge
SA: Oral arguments are scheduled to begin Dec. 13 for a legal case challenging Hawaii's decision to grant a permit for the construction of the world's largest optical telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea.
Opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope appealed a state Board of Land and Natural Resources decision to the Circuit Court in Hilo in May.
The petitioners say they want to force the board to uphold its public trust duties to protect Hawaii's natural and cultural resources because traditional and customary Hawaiian practices depend on them.
Kealoha Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, an organization of Native Hawaiian traditional and cultural practitioners of Mauna Kea, said the question is whether the rules allow more development that would have an adverse and significant impact on the mountain's land and waters. She said the "answer is no."
2009: Thirty Meter Telescope Selects Mauna Kea -- Let the looting begin!
read ... Permit for telescope faces legal challenge
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