Obamacare Hawaii: 170,000 Policies Cancelled, 257 people sign up
HMSA: We Won't Cancel Policies Until After the Election
Forbes: Kaua’i goes rogue, anti-GMO bill set for passage, legal fight looms
HI lawmakers critical of developer that created health-care, tax websites
Who Can Afford Kakaako Workforce Housing?
Kona Comedy Festival to Benefit Wounded Warrior Project
Christians Must Vote
Gay Marriage vs GMOs -- Who the Legislature Listens To
PR: ...the extraordinary special session on marriage equality has privately forced lawmakers from both political parties to confront some of their rhetoric about what exactly constitutes "public opinion" and a "fair process."
The thousands of people who turned out to oppose gay marriage only represented a fraction of Hawaii's voters. Yet the protestors at the state Capitol were far larger in number -- and far more demographically representative of Hawaii -- than the activists who showed up to demand GMO-labeling or the coalition that killed the state Public Land Development Corp. Many Democratic lawmakers, however, had claimed that the "public" had clearly spoken on GMOs and the PLDC....
Best Comment -- "Inventing a never-before-created family structure is a civil right in which the people have no say. But rioting against science and agriculture is a democratic right in which the law has no say...."
The common denominator between gay marriage and anti-GMO protests is that a self-appointed 'enlightened, conscious, and progressive' elite is the actor in both cases. They are the demigods of the new gay-atheist eco religion. Whatever they do is right because they are superior to the ignorant rutting masses of people (this is what they think of you, dear reader) whose pathetic little lives are not played out on a stage trying to 'change the world.'
read ... Who They Listen To
VIDEO: Cabanilla Hammered for Refusal to Defend Marriage
HNN: Representative Rida Cabanilla is caught on tape claiming she wasn't present for the historic marriage equality vote because her choice would have cost her district state funding....
Rep. Cabanilla who had been sitting in the crowd, rose to respond to LoPresti.
"I object!" Cabanilla said.
"Please hold our elected officials accountable when they choose not to represent us," LoPresti continued, at which point Cabanilla interrupted him again.
"I represent this district to the best I can! You just don't understand it. You just don't understand! FYI, I have this job and you don't, okay? Because you don't understand nothing," said Rep. Cabanilla at which point a Neighborhood Board member can be heard saying "enough of the bickering".
Later, LoPresti asks Cabanilla, "Why didn't you represent our community with a vote?"
"The vote had been consistently 19 to 30. Whether I vote yes or no, it really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's done. If I vote no in front of my leadership, in front of the Speaker of the House, there's a big chance – I can guarantee you 100%, Ewa Beach will be toast," Rep. Cabanilla is recorded responding.
"What Rida Cabanilla said about Ewa Beach losing all state funding for schools and roads in our community is just mind boggling and I think it's patently absurd. It seems that she's placed her political career ahead of the needs of the people of Ewa Beach," LoPresti said during an interview with Hawaii News Now Friday.
Senator Will Espero was in the crowd and according to board members took some heat for his yes vote on the bill.
Related: Gay Marriage How They Voted
read ... Rep. Cabanilla questioned about absence during marriage equality vote
Campaign Spending: Cabanilla Fined $500 for False Reports
HR: The state Campaign Spending Commission at its Wednesday meeting fined House Majority Floor Leader Rida Cabanilla $500 for filing “false or inaccurate” campaign spending reports, and another $50 for filing the reports late.
Cabanilla held a fundraiser in March, which raised nearly $5,800 and expended nearly $2,900, but her campaign spending report said she had no activity during that period.
read ... False Reports
More Commentary on Hawaii Gay Marriage:
Only 1,000 People Working on Honolulu Rail Construction, HART Says
CB: In an newsletter, HART said that ever since rails construction resumed in September it has seen the number of people employed by the $5.26 billion project surpass the 900 mark.
HART believes this number will increase as work begins on the 21 rail stations that will be erected along the 20-mile transit corridor from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.
But that said, 900 is still a far cry from the 10,000 jobs a year HART has promised to be generated by rail construction.
read ... Nearly 1,000 People Working on Honolulu Rail Construction, HART Says
Former Councilmember Has Yet to Serve Sentence for Resisting Arrest
HTH: A former Hawaii County Councilman has yet to serve a five-day jail sentence handed down in 2010 following his no contest plea to resisting arrest after a traffic stop in North Kona.
Robert Kelshaw “Kelly” Greenwell’s case remains on appeal before the Intermediate Court of Appeals — more than three years after his attorney, Eric Seitz, filed a notice of appeal on Nov. 10, 2010, contesting Greenwell’s sentence to serve five days in jail following his no contest plea on Nov. 1, 2010, to resisting arrest. The jail term was a condition of probation handed down with the acceptance of a deferred acceptance of his plea. Greenwell was also ordered to perform 40 hours of community service and pay $130 in fines and fees....
Greenwell (who once volunteered the Big Island as a sanctuary for GITMO detainees) was arrested July 17, 2010, after police using a handheld laser clocked Greenwell going 51 mph in a 35 mph zone on Queen Kaahumanu Highway near the Kealakehe Police Station. Police said Greenwell first refused to stop, then after stopping, became confrontational. He was then arrested and charged with resisting an order to stop, resisting arrest and refusing to produce documentation. He was also cited for speeding, a decriminalized offense.
Greenwell, then age 70, pleaded no contest Nov. 1, 2010
read ... The Enlightened, Conscious, and Progressive Elite are Above the Law
California, Idaho Primary Suits were 'As Applied' Cases
BA: The decision also points out that when California’s blanket primary was held unconstitutional, and when Idaho’s open primary was held unconstitutional as to the Republican Party, those cases were as applied challenges, and they depended on evidence that the parties who filed the lawsuits were being harmed. The decision says, on page 31, “This court cannot consider the Democratic Party of Hawaii’s challenge without analyzing proof of a burden.”
read ... Ballot Access News
Judge approves $14 million for Partial Settlement of substitute teachers' back pay
SA: A state judge this morning approved back pay totaling more than $14 million for some 10,000 substitute teachers stemming from a class action lawsuit filed more than a decade ago.
"I feel very good about the decision," said former Maui substitute teacher David Garner, who brought the case against the state in 2002. "This has gone on way too long."
The settlement, approved by Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto, involves claims for daily wages. The state has said payments could go out as early as March.
A separate claim is seeking "tens of millions of dollars" in hourly backpay as well as interest payments on both daily and hourly amounts due, said Seattle attorney Murray Lewis.
"It's very discouraging to me, disheartening, that the state is still fighting us on the interest owed," Garner said. "It's our money."
read ... $14M
EEOC settles Thai workers suit with 5 Hawaii farms
AP: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has reached settlements with five Hawaii farms in a discrimination lawsuit involving more than 100 Thai farm workers.
The agency will announce details of a settlement with one of the farms on Monday. Specifics for the other settlements have not yet been made public.
The EEOC filed a lawsuit in 2011 against California-based labor contractor Global Horizons and six Hawaii farms. Allegations include farm workers being subjected to uninhabitable housing, insufficient food, inadequate wages and deportation threats.
Court records show monetary and consent decree settlements were reached with Mac Farms of Hawaii, Kelena Farms, Del Monte Fresh Produce of Hawaii, Captain Cook Coffee Company and Kauai Coffee Company.
A February trial date has been set for Global Horizons and Maui Pineapple Co., which haven't reached settlements, said Anna Park, regional attorney for the EEOC's Los Angeles district.
Background: Human Trafficking: Did the US DoJ Purposefully lose the Aloun Farms Case?
read ... Thai Farmworkers
Lack of Flood Prevention Costs Honolulu $2.7 M
CB: A 10-year-old problem with flooding in Mapunapuna is costing Honolulu taxpayers millions of dollars.
The city's failure to clear debris and other potential blocks from Maunalua Stream prompted the settlement but officials won't say whether the problems have been resolved.
On Wednesday, the Honolulu City Council approved a $2.7 million settlement with dozens of businesses and residents for a 2003 storm that caused the Maunalua Stream in the Salt Lake area to breach its banks....
"This failure under the circumstances was unreasonable," the lawsuit says. It contends the city failed to maintain Moanalua Stream 'in a suitable condition to carry off storm waters,' or otherwise prevent it from overflowing its banks."
read ... Flood Prevention
City Did not Act on Code Violations--28 People Lived at Site of Deadly Fire
HNN: The city was unable to substantiate a complaint filed four years ago that more people were living than allowed by law in the Kalihi home where a man died in a fire Thursday night. The city is investigating how many people lived in the home and whether part of it was constructed without proper building permits.
Reko Francis spoke to Hawaii News Now outside the Kalihi shelter where he and the other three families displaced by the fire were living temporarily.
Francis, who's a "back waiter" at PF Chang's restaurant in Waikiki, said he's not sure what he, his wife and three children will do next.
"I don't know, I just. I'm not sure yet, I'm just waiting," Francis told Hawaii News Now.
Francis said about 28 people lived in the three-level, wooden construction home at 1915 Kalihi Street. All of them are from Micronesia and he said some, but not all of them are related.
SA: Home possibly violated city codes
read ... Fire
Not enough emergency shelter in Hawaii
KHON: The state says it has about 250 emergency shelters across Hawaii, for about 300,000 people. That's half the number of residents who will need it.
read ... Not enough emergency shelter in Hawaii
USO Prison Gang Leader gets 25 years ... in Prison
SA: A former state inmate whom the FBI has identified as a leader in the Hawaii prison gang USO Family has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine outside prison.
Levi Saelua Jr., 49, pleaded guilty to the charge in July in a deal to avoid the prospect of a life prison term. The deal specified the 25-year term. It did not require Saelua to cooperate with the government or testify against his co-defendants.
read ... Prison Gang back to Prison
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