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Tuesday, September 16, 2014
September 16, 2014 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:08 PM :: 4347 Views

VIDEO: Paradise Lost Thanks to Ige and Abercrombie

No Option: All Hawaii Obamacare Plans Cover Abortion

Obama Admin: ACA Bans Use of Federal Funds for Abortion

Veterans in Politics Announces Campaign Endorsements

Hawaii Prison Population Drops 5%

"Who has the more reliable and engaged voters?"

Borreca: The race belongs to the candidate who answers the question: "Who has the more reliable and engaged voters?"

Last week Aiona said the race came down to identifying supporters and making sure they go to vote.

At the same time, the Ige campaign is diving deep down in the grassroots looking to introduce Democrats to their candidate.

The margins of victory in the governor's race are so tiny this year that the 1,782-vote cliffhanger race between U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz may look like a landslide by November.

read ... Governor's Race

Ige Seeks Campaign Cash in Washington, D.C.

CB: On Tuesday night Ige will be hosted at the Washington, D.C., home of John Jameson, who heads Winning Connections, a firm that works to send clients to local, state and federal office and advocates for legislative issues....

The suggested donations for the Ige fundraiser at Jameson’s house are $1,000 to $2,500 for individuals and $2,500 to $5,000 for federal political action committees....

Ige drained his campaign account down to $17,799 after factoring in the loans, according to his final primary finance report, which covers July 26 to Aug. 9.

By comparison, Duke Aiona, the Republican nominee for governor, had $198,153 in cash on hand, according to his latest report. He faced no serious primary challenger and spent just $24,293 in the two weeks leading up to the primary.

Mufi Hannemann, running with the Hawaii Independent Party and unopposed in the primary, had $174,812 in cash on hand. But that does not include $82,703 in unpaid expenditures.

The D.C. fundraiser is Ige’s fifth since the primary. A sixth fundraiser is set for Oct. 2 back in Honolulu, at $1,000 per person.

read ... Desperation

100% renewable energy goal Will Drive Your Electric Bill Higher

PBN: “We have to make a statute that’s achievable [and] cost-effective,” (Translation: Ratepayers are pissed) she said during a panel discussion on Monday, the opening day of the Asia-Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit and Expo in Honolulu. “One hundred percent is certainly aspirational.” (Aspirational = Illusory)

Morita noted that the PUC’s role in Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative 2.0, which was officially announced at Monday’s opening day of the summit to set new renewable energy targets for the state, is to set the standard to ensure a regulated company’s’ performance lines up with the public’s interest to provide safe, reliable services in an economically-friendly manner. (Translation: Ratepayers are pissed)

“In 2.0, we need to develop a diverse portfolio,” she said. “It can’t be said in just a sound bite, it’s complex.” (Translation: 2.0 will include LNG.)

Mark Glick, administrator for the Hawaii Energy Office, who also was part of the panel, said that there are no clear plans in place, but his office would advocate a new target.  (Translation: Its hard to justify giving away all this money once the old target is met.)

The HCEI 2.0 plan, which includes setting new transportation energy goals, also looks at grid modernization, energy efficiency and other high impact solutions the state can deal with in six months, he said.

“We’re going to take look at issues and look to move them forward,” he said. “We will bring in resources from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and working closely with such entities as Ulupono Initiative and Blue Planet Foundation (ie the solar and wind lobbies), looking at the biggest challenges with short term plans.”

Jennifer DeCesaro of the U.S. Department of Energy, who also was a panelist, said that in the next few months what will happen in terms of HCEI 2.0, will be to better coordinate activities that it is doing within the department that should be drawn in the fabric of HCEI. (I have mainland Democratic Party donors with 'green' energy scam companies to look out for.  I expect Hawaii to give them even more money.)

read ... Hawaii needs to be cautious in pursuing 100% renewable energy goal

Hawaii economist says Honolulu rail agency 'shuffling the deck chairs' to pay for rail stations

PBN: A Hawaii economist said that it appears that the the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is ”shuffling the deck chairs” after the rail agency decided last week that it would reject three offers for a proposal to build nine stations for the $5.16 billion Honolulu rail project.

“The core issue is that the longer one delays, the higher it costs if you are going into a construction and investment growth phase as appears true now,” Paul Brewbaker, an economist with TZ Economics, told PBN. “The higher cost is on people who delayed the project.

"That said, it costs what it costs and the resource endowment is finite," he said. "It sounds like they are shuffling the deck chairs into a configuration optimized to what they can afford and what they need to happen.” ...

Brewbaker posited whether it would be prudent for HART to look into the possibility of a joint development of stations in conjunction with private commercial or residential development sites at, on or around the train stations.

"Have they a template for such collaboration and would it serve as a more active role model for future extensions of the rail line?” he said. “Could you end up with a model like Hong Kong or Tokyo where private systems operate or coexist with public ones? “

read ... Titanic Rail Fiasco

Pre-K Amendment on the Agenda at Community Meetings 

CB: Sponsored by the HE’E Coalition, University of Hawaii College of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association, the first education conversation is slated for Oct. 1 at 5:30 p.m. at Orvis Auditorium on the University of Hawaii campus in Manoa. Called “Public, Private & Charter Schools – How Should Parents Choose?” the featured panelists are:

  • Tom Hutton of the Charter School Commission;
  • Phil Bossert of the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, and
  • Marguerite Higa of Parents for Public Schools.

A high school student will join the panel as well. Click here to sign up for the Manoa event.

The second forum — “Should Local Communities Have Greater Control Over Their Schools?” — is set for Oct. 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Ewa Beach Public and School Library. The participants will be:

  • Al Nagasako of the Hawaii State Teachers Association;
  • Suzanne Mulcahy of the state Department of Education;
  • Catherine Payne, the former principal of Farrington High School, and
  • Frances Tapiz, a mother of four children in public schools.

Click here to sign up for the Ewa Beach event.

read ... Education Talks 

Whole Foods' Anti-GMO Swindle

DB: Cute labels saying products haven't been genetically modified are designed to profit off of fear, not protect you with science.

Background: Organic Profiteers: 15% Sales Boost from Anti-GMO Hype

read ... Profiteers

Court ruling allows county to print ballots

MN: With 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo dissolving a temporary restraining order Monday, an initiative proposing a genetically engineered organism farming moratorium can remain on the Nov. 4 election ballot.

In a complaint filed Sept. 5, some residents and pro-GMO groups sought to remove the measure from the ballot, saying its title and summary are "deceptive and misleading" and likely to confuse voters.

Maui County last week filed a motion to dissolve the temporary restraining order, which had prevented the county from proceeding with preparing ballots containing the measure. Some ballots, including ones mailed to military members, have to be mailed this week....

Also Monday, Loo granted a request by SHAKA to intervene in the case. SHAKA filed its own request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, which the judge was reviewing Monday.

read ... Wording of GMO moratorium unchanged

Another Anti-GMO Lie Bites the Dust

KE: Now that a westside ob/gyn, Dr. Graham Chelius, has come right out and said, in a letter to the editor in The Garden Island today:

There is not an increased rate of cardiac defects of any kind on the Westside of Kauai.

do you suppose Councilmen Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum, nurse practitioner Marghee Maupin, mayoral candidate Dustin Barca, Babes Against Biotech, Hawaii Seed, Vandana Shiva, KKCR disc jockeys, Earthjustice, Center for Food Safety, Moms Against Monsanto, SHAKA, anti-GMO propagandists and the “red-shirt” supporters of Bill 2491/Ordinance 960 will finally stop repeating this lie?

It was a lie from the very start, as proven when I printed the actual concerns and comments of westside Dr. Jim Raelson in Saturday's post. His entirely reasonable and circumspect words were cravenly and intentionally twisted by Gary and his supporters into something inflammatory, heartbreaking and utterly false.

And now, with the letter from Dr. Chelius, the "westsiders with birth defects 10 times the national average" claim is confirmed as rural myth.

read ... Musings: Another Lie Bites the Dust

Flawed Anti-GMO Ordinance Costs Kauai County $222,750

The Office of the County Attorney is requesting the council authorize the expenditure of additional funds of up to $12,750 to “cover ‘costs’ for special counsel’s continue services” in the lawsuit filed against the county by Kauai’s biotech seed industry,” states the agenda item going before the seven-member board. The council will take up the communication during a special meeting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Special counsel agreed that throughout the appeal process it will “only bill the county for costs and not charge for legal fees beyond the $210,000 previously authorized by the Council,” according to the communica-tion, received by the county clerk Sept. 11.

In other words, hiring attorney David Minkin to defend Ordinance 960 in court — from the time the complaint was filed through an appeal process — would cost up to $222,750.

“The fact that the McCorriston law firm is willing to take on this appeal essentially for free, speaks volumes about the integrity of the law firm, the strength of the ordinance and the importance of the subject matter,” Councilman Gary Hooser, who introduced Bill 2491, wrote in an email. (LOL!)

read ... Free?

Will Housing First pay for Itself?

KITV: One of the solutions could be a safe haven expansion at Pauahi Hale, a proposed city housing project to help service the neediest families.

"We know this small percentage of people cost us the most in all of our services. If we give them up front services they need, [it will] save money and save lives," said Colin Kippen, State Homeless Coordinator on the Council of Homelessness.

Read ... Pay for Itself

Counties to Lobby State for Massive GE Tax Hike

CB: Council members plan to ask state lawmakers for a bigger share of hotel taxes. The mayors, although not opposed to more Transient Accommodations Tax money, may double down on new revenue proposals with a request for the authority to levy up to a 1 percent county surcharge on the General Excise Tax.

In the meantime, HSAC’s legislative package, which also includes bills relating to the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation and domestic abuse, goes back to each council for its approval.

HSAC did not adopt a bill relating to the GET, but it is on the list of legislative priorities....

Arakawa told HSAC members that he does not plan to lobby for the TAT next year because it is hard for the counties to make the case in light of Maui cutting its taxes and the state doing a two-year study on the TAT.

Kauai County Council members Jay Furfaro and JoAnn Yukimura have testified that Kauai needs both the TAT and GET, which is 4 percent on the neighbor islands and 4.5 percent on Oahu.

Yukimura said the counties need to be clear that they need a portfolio of taxing powers and not let the Legislature try to trade funding sources or use the study as an excuse.

A 0.5 percent GET surcharge would raise only $8 million for Kauai, Furfaro said, basing that on $1.5 billion in total GET revenue. He said this would not make up for the $23 million a year Kauai needs in TAT money to fund ocean rescues, park maintenance, public safety officials and other services.

Background: GE Tax: Will Cost Overruns Lead to New Rail Showdown?

read ... Just Like Last Year

Former welfare supervisor accused of stealing benefits

HTH: The indictment dated Sept. 10 charges 52-year-old Jeanette Ryder of Mountain View with first-degree theft. According to the indictment, between Jan. 1-March 31, 2013, “in a continuing course of conduct” Ryder “did obtain, or exert control over, the property of the State of Hawaii by deception with intent to deprive the State of Hawaii of the property … .”

Kagami said Ryder used electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards and went to numerous automated teller machines to withdraw the funds. He said Ryder was identified from surveillance photos taken while making the ATM withdrawals.

read ... Stealing

UHWO Pushed Rail Off Campus

HNN:  In last Thursday's Hart board meeting Vice Chair Don Horner questioned why the rail transit station isn't closer to the UH West Oahu Campus or at least on the same side of the Kualaka'i Parkway.

At first glance the distance looks relatively far.  Students estimate its somewhere between a 5 to 15 minute walk.  For some it's no big deal.  For others it's too far.

"I think on the school's behalf it should have been on this side of the freeway maybe just so it's a little bit closer for the students," said Jessica Hagmoc, UH West Oahu Junior Hawaiian Pacific Studies student....

As for why it's not closer considering all the space in between?  There was a lot of debate back in 2008 over the station location. At the time the school administration didn't want it right on campus for fear it would be too loud and disruptive to classes, but they also didn't want it to far away. So the current location was the compromise.

read ... Rail station location brings up old debate

Hot weather fuels battle for cool classrooms

KHON: “Teachers have been sending in pictures of 95 degrees, 93 degrees and they are complaining about how difficult it is by the end of the day,” said Rosenlee.

Now this isn’t the first time the issue has been raised but its one he says needs to be addressed.

Earlier this year, the legislature appropriated $2.3 million for Campbell High School to be spent on a new air conditioning system.

This year, Rosenlee was placed in a classroom that has AC, but he says there’s still other classes at Campbell as well as across that state that need attention.

“We have to decide how can we solve this,” said Rosenlee.  “We cant just say it’s too big of a problem. We cant solve it. We can either close schools down when it gets too hot or we can find cooling strategies that will work for our classroom.”

The Department of Education does have an AC priority list. Ewa Beach Elementary is first on the list while Campbell sits at number third.

read ... Hot weather fuels battle for cool classrooms

Benefits of oil and gas to Hawaii

At least four businesses across Hawaii are part of the larger oil and gas supply chain.

The oil and gas sector supports 2.3% of the state’s total employment, equal to 20 500 jobs.

Labour income supported by the sector is equal to US$ 1.04 billion /y.

Average state salary is US$ 41 492 /y and US$ 65 853 /y in the oil and gas sector.

The oil and gas industry supports US$ 2.2 billion of the state’s economy.

read ... Benefits

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