Tribe? Hawaii’s ‘Other’ State Elections Include Prisoners and Lots of Dead People
Keli'i Akina Only OHA Candidate to Reject Independent Hawaiian Nation
Hawaii's highest-in-the-nation energy costs stay intact by politics, monopoly
Criminals: 33 Escapes This Year, Five Still at-Large
SA: Jorju's escape is the latest in a recent spate of prisoners breaking free from "secure" facilities across the islands. They scaled fences, dashed away from vans near courthouses or slipped away undetected between head counts.
Eight inmates escaped last year, compared with two the previous year, and four in 2011, according to records provided by DPS. So far this year five prisoners have absconded. (but that's not all)
All 19 who fled since January 2011 have been caught, like their forerunners dating back to 2000, said Toni Schwartz, DPS spokeswoman. The vast majority of recent escapees were nabbed within hours or a couple of days after they went missing.
Only two were free for longer than eight days....
Since January 2011 the minimum-security Waiawa Correctional Facility and Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo each has had six escapes. Oahu Community Correctional Center had five, and Maui CCC two.
No one escaped from Halawa, the state's prison for long-term inmates, or from the women's prison in Kailua or Kauai's correctional center during that time.
The escape figures do not include people who walk away from work furlough programs, which allow low-risk inmates who are nearing their release dates to take jobs in the community, easing the transition (of these long-term inmates) from structured prison life to independent living (and giving them a chance to escape so we can convict them on that charge and send them back inside).
In January 2013 OCCC doubled the size of its work furlough program, to 216 from 96 beds. As might be expected, the number of people who "walked away" from their work furloughs also shot up, to 26 last year from 16 in 2012.
The numbers have continued to climb, with 28 walkaways so far this year. All but five are back in custody. (Now we can add up the real numbers.)
About 1,000 people cycle through work furlough programs each year, with roughly 300 participating on any given day, Schwartz said. (28 / 300 = escapees total 9.3% of work furlough daily population)
read ... Lots of Escapees
Star-Adv: Djou in the Majority a Plus for Hawaii
SA: In the Republican primary, former U.S. Rep. Charles Djou, 43, a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, merits the Star-Advertiser's endorsement. Djou, also a former state lawmaker and Honolulu City Councilman, held the 1st Congressional seat in 2010-2011 and emphasizes economic issues in his campaign. He insists that after 60 years of one-party rule in Hawaii, Oahu residents besieged by the high cost of living are ready for a change. The U.S. House is expected to remain under GOP control, meaning that if Djou prevails in the general election, he would be part of the majority caucus — a potential plus for Hawaii and its junior delegation of Democrats....
If a Democrat prevails in the general election — and whoever wins the primary will face a tough fight from presumptive GOP candidate Charles Djou — Hawaii's newest representative likely will be a minority in a bitterly partisan chamber now controlled by Republicans.
read ... Djou for Congress
PRP Emails Reveal Connections to Former Aide to Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell
CB: In 2010, Caldwell paid more than $110,000 to Kimberly Devlin for consulting services on his bid to become Honolulu’s mayor. Caldwell was acting mayor at the time, filling in for Mufi Hannemann, who had resigned to run for governor.
Two years later, Devlin was working for PRP as a paid consultant. Campaign spending data shows PRP paid her $5,000 to help out with the campaign against Cayetano.
Internal PRP emails show Devlin was involved with PRP after the August 2012 primary, when the field had been narrowed to Caldwell and Cayetano.
On Oct. 9, 2012, Devlin sent an email to three of PRP’s public relations consultants, Jim McCoy, Barbara Tanabe and Kris Tanahara, saying she was “on the ground in Honolulu” and would be in town through the November election.
Copied on that email were PRP executive director John White and consultant Andy Winer, who is now U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz’s chief of staff, and in 2012 was helping to get Mazie Hirono elected to the Senate.
Devlin’s email was the beginning of a string related to upcoming attacks on Cayetano and Honolulu City Council candidate Tom Berg, both of whom were in opposition to rail.
The plan was to paint both Berg and Cayetano, a life-long Democrat, as aligned with Republicans....
Devlin, a mainland consultant from Texas, had worked in Hawaii politics before. In the early 2000s she helped majority Hawaii Democrats undermine Republican attempts to gain traction at the Capitol.
In 2010, she pulled double-duty working for Caldwell and the Citizens for Responsive Government PAC that was originally formed with the intent to elect Democrats to the Hawaii House.
The PAC, which was closely tied to then-House Speaker Calvin Say, paid Devlin $11,000 for consulting services.
read ... PRP Emails
Childbirth in Hawaii Cheaper than Most States
CB: A preliminary review of hospitals in Hawaii suggests that most insured parents end up paying just a few thousand dollars out of pocket. At Queen’s Medical Center, for example, insurance reimbursements for deliveries — which generally cost between $7,000 and $14,000 — typically range from $5,000 to $11,000, according to hospital spokesman Cedric Yamanaka.
Still, the charges and procedures that insurance covers can vary greatly, as does access to hospital care. Molokai and Lanai don’t even have any obstetricians on island. And even in a state where childbirth is relatively inexpensive, many parents face unexpected costs from their time in the delivery room.
Lisa Kimura, executive director of the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Hawaii coalition, was stunned when she saw what Kapiolani Medical Center charged for the delivery of her first child, who’s now 7. Kimura had to undergo an emergency c-section with that child, a procedure that wound up costing $30,000 — 10 times what it cost to give birth to her 2-year-old son, who was delivered naturally without any interventions in the same hospital. Kimura, who’s now pregnant with her third, got involved with the organization she now works for after having her first child.
“I was shocked at how expensive it was,” said Kimura, whose employer-sponsored HMSA insurance covered most of the cost. “I was equally shocked at how much (the bills) varied.”
While most expectant parents in Hawaii might take comfort in knowing that childbirth runs relatively cheap in the islands — at least compared to the rest of the U.S. — the subsequent cost of bringing up a child in the least-affordable state quickly offsets the benefits of the islands’ fairly affordable births.
Hawaii, for example, is one of the most expensive states for infant care: $12,500 a year on average. And if parents choose to enroll their kid in private school, as so many do, add on another $8,900 or so annually. Never mind other expenses such as food, clothing and transportation.
read ... Childbirth in Hawaii Cheaper than Most States
Mental Health Care Suffers as Maui Memorial Plans for Budget Cuts
MN: A public meeting to discuss a plan to address an anticipated $13 million budget shortfall for state hospitals, including Maui Memorial Medical Center, will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the hospital's auditorium.
Public hospitals in Maui County include Maui Memorial, Kula Hospital and Lanai Community Hospital. The plan to address the projected deficit includes closing the Wailuku hospital's adolescent behavioral health unit, known as Molokini II, for an annual savings of more than $1 million.
read ... Mental Health
Science Debunks the Anti-GMO Myths
CB: The internet is full of false information about genetically modified crops and derived food.
Unfortunately the average person — including many politicians — is unable to differentiate between the real science and the prolific pseudo-science that is designed to scare, not educate. This has resulted in genuine fear of GMOs.
However, world scientific bodies, world health authorities and world food safety authorities are not fooled by the pseudo-science.
The European Commission 2011 document, “A Decade of EU-Funded GMO Research 2001-2010″ (available on-line) said: “The main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research, and involving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, and in particular GMOs, are not per se more risky than e.g. conventional plant breeding technologies.”
read ... Science Debunks the Anti-GMO Myths
Kauai County Wastes $125K Defending Anti-GMO Ordinance
KGI: The county is seeking more money for its legal fight defending Ordinance 960.
The Kauai County Attorney’s Office is asking the County Council to approve $50,000 for special counsel services for the lawsuit aimed at blocking implementation of a county law targeting pesticides and genetically modified organisms. The council is expected to vote on the matter during its meeting Wednesday.
If approved, the money would bring the amount spent on the case to $125,000 so far.
A summary judgment hearing has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu regarding the case. A summary judgment is when a judge weighs the evidence presented in a case to determine if the case has merit to continue in court, or whether it should be tossed out.
Because: Anti-GMO Activists Welch on Promise to Provide Pro-Bono Defense for Kauai County
read ... Waste of Money
'Positive Finding' on Alaska’s petition to delist humpbacks
AP: A petition filed by the state of Alaska to remove some North Pacific humpback whales from protection under the Endangered Species Act merits a closer look, federal officials said Wednesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the petition to delist the central North Pacific whales presents substantial scientific backing that such action may be warranted. That population, estimated at more than 5,800, feeds in Alaska in the summer and breeds in Hawaii in winter.
As a result of a 90-day finding, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service will consider the petition as it reviews the status of the humpback population globally, a process that began in 2009. NOAA also is considering a petition filed last year by a Hawaii fishing association to delist the entire North Pacific humpback population, estimated at about 20,000.
That petition also received a positive finding. But neither petition is a done deal, NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle said.
“This is just a first step in a process,” she said. “It doesn’t prejudge the outcome of the status review.”
read ... Feds mull Alaska’s petition to delist humpbacks
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