Lawsuit Seeks Removal of Schatz from Office
NYT: Omidyar In Waaaay Over His Head in Journalism Endeavors
Panos: Next Governor Should Focus on Transportation, Energy
VIDEO: Galuteria Talks Up Casinos for Hawaii Tribal Reservation
No New Taxes? Ige Refuses to Answer Questions About Broken Promise
Souki Prepares to Boot Republicans from House Leadership Coalition
PR: State House Speaker Joseph Souki has picked up the support of five more House Democrats, sources say, bringing his leadership group to 34 Democrats.
The shift, which was described by sources close to House leadership and confirmed by two of the five lawmakers involved, gives the Maui Democrat added security in the event some of his loyalists lose re-election on Tuesday.
Twenty-six votes are needed to control the House, and the seven House Republicans had aligned with Souki and dissident Democrats to remove former Speaker Calvin Say from power last year. Minority Republicans received three committee vice chairmanships, including the vice chairmanship of the House Finance Committee, as part of the deal.
Sources predict that Republicans will likely not receive the committee posts when the House reorganizes after the election....
read ... As Expected
Dante Carpenter: I was Pinnacle of Success, Democrats can only Head Downhill
AP: In recent years, Hawaii voters sent more Democrats to the state Legislature and Congress than any other state, said Dante Carpenter, former chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.
"That's sort of the pinnacle of success in a sense," Carpenter said. "So is there only one way to go from there, and is that downhill? Or can you maintain? I guess that's the question."
read ... Downhill from Dante's Inferno
AP: Dems could lose congressional seat in Hawaii
AP: Republican Charles Djou has been working to convince voters it would be wise to send a Republican to Washington so the state has a voice in the majority party, and his message is striking a chord among some voters who are hungry for change.
The latest poll showed Djou tied with Democratic state Sen. Mark Takai one week before Election Day, with each candidate getting 47 percent of likely voters....
"Charles Djou had an effective message at the beginning, messaging that he's a moderate and a centrist," Takai said.
read ... Dems Could Lose
Early Vote Numbers Presage Another Low Turnout Election
KHON: If early vote totals are any indication, voter turnout will once again by low for Hawaii’s General Election.
KHON2 checked with the county clerks, and the most recent counts revealed only a little more than 140,000 absentee walk-in and mail-in ballots have been received so far by elections officials statewide.
That compares to a grand total of 163,390 votes that were cast early for the 2010 General Election. The 2012 election saw a total of 200,111, but that was a presidential election year, which usually generates more interest among voters....
"There’s a range, anywhere from 260,000 to 300,000 (on Oahu),” said Glenn Takahashi, elections administrator for the City and County of Honolulu. “We’re going to be at the bottom end, if not lower.”
DN: Nate Silver Predicts 18% Margin for Ige
read ... Low Turnout
Bought and Paid For: Bumpy Kanahele Pushes OHA's Aha Scheme
SA: During a news conference Friday, Nation of Hawaii leader Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele said a proposal for a Hawaiian sovereign government should be moved forward at the "‘Aha" convention being planned by the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
"It's not about a model of a government. It's about restoring what we had," Kanahele said.
The convention is scheduled for February-April, but the timetable will be discussed by the new Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees following Tuesday's election, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chief Executive Officer Kamana‘opono Crabbe said....
Kanahele's legal adviser Francis A. Boyle said other groups have gone through a similar process toward the re-establishment of their sovereignty, including the Palestinians....
In 1993 Gov. John Waihee gave the group a 55-year lease for the land after Kanahele's group agreed to peacefully end its occupation of Makapuu Beach.
Bought n Paid For: How Bumpy Kanahele Gets State Land and Contracts
Bought n Paid For: OHA-funded lawyer linked to Islamist terror propaganda
read ... Bought n Paid For
Star-Adv: HCDA Rush to Approve Developments Lacks Integrity
SA: One project is Howard Hughes Corp.'s two-tower residential and commercial complex to replace part of Ward Warehouse: The proposal has undergone two informational HCDA hearings in early October — but a third decision-making hearing, originally set for Dec. 3, has now advanced to Nov. 25 at 9 a.m.
The other project on the fast-track is the "Vida" tower at 888 Ala Moana Blvd. The 38-story tower by Kobayashi Group and The MacNaughton Group is slated for about 265 units, ranging from $900,000 to $4.7 million. HCDA hearings initially were set for Nov. 12 and Dec. 17; the latter one will now be held at noon Nov. 25.
In both cases, the accelerated schedules were requested by the project developers, concerned about changes to the HCDA board and its ability to hold timely meetings.
Indeed, there is no doubt that major changes are coming soon to the HCDA. This past legislative session, public alarm over opaque HCDA rules, numerous project approvals, and concern for a more-open public hearings process spurred changes to the Kakaako agency and its operations:
» A reconstituted HCDA board will be effective March 2015, with seven terms ending and the addition of a 10th nonvoting member (the city's director of Planning and Permitting).The governor's sole appointees drop from six to four (two instead of four Cabinet members, an at-large pick and a cultural representative).
» Public notice and public hearing requirements were expanded, giving residents more ability to contest projects.
» A new 418-foot height limit on buildings.
Clearly, what cannot — should not — be ignored is the public pushback to the pace of high-luxury growth in Kakaako that seems to court monied snowbirds and investors, at the expense of more-affordable housing for Hawaii's working families. That outcry reverberated all the way up to the governor's office, with overeager Kakaako redevelopment cited as one major issue leading to Abercrombie's ouster in August's primary election.
read ... Lack of Integrity
Housing Cost Drives up Poverty Rate in Hawaii
USA Today: One of the primary differences between the supplemental poverty measure and the official one is housing costs. The supplemental measure is adjusted to reflect local housing costs, whereas the official poverty measure is not. According to Short, this is one of the major factors that can push up poverty rates in many states under the supplemental measure.
In fact, of the 10 states with the highest increases in poverty under the supplemental poverty measure, eight also had among the 10 highest costs of living. Further, in seven of these states, the relative cost of renting an apartment was also among the 10 highest nationally. The two states with the largest increases in poverty under the supplemental measure — California and Hawaii — were also the top two states in terms of the cost of renting a home....
2. Hawaii
- Supplemental poverty rate 2011-2013: 18.4% (5th highest)
- Official poverty rate: 12.4% (18th lowest)
- State price level: the highest
- Pct. without health insurance: 6.7% (2nd lowest)
Like a majority of states where poverty is worse than it seems, Hawaii residents aged 65 and older were more than twice as likely to live in poverty when supplemental measures were considered, according to a 2013 Kaiser Family Foundation study. Hawaii's exceptionally high costs of living explain the difference between poverty rates under the official and supplemental poverty measures. Hawaii's average cost of rent in 2012 was 60% more expensive than the average nationwide and the highest of any state. Because of geographical constraints, Hawaii's utility costs are also among the nation's highest. Electricity is supplied primarily by power plants fueled by petroleum, which is imported into the state.
read ... Hawaii #2
Survey Looks at 14,000 cases of Homosexual Rape in Military
SAS: In the 2012 anonymous survey, about 6.8 percent of women who answered said they were assaulted and 1.2 percent of men. There are vastly more men in the military; so by the raw numbers, a bit more than 12,000 women said they were assaulted, compared with nearly 14,000 men.
read ... 14,000 Victims of Homosexual Rape
600 Cesspools? Department of Health advises public to stay out of water at Kahaluu Lagoon
HNN: "We have extraordinarily high bacteria levels which could indicate human sewage," the Department of Health's Gary Gill said.
He said pathogens in that sewage can make people sick.
"There's a reasonable concern that that sewage that's going into the lagoon and ultimately into (Kaneohe) Bay is coming from nearly 600 cesspools immediately surrounding the area," he said.
He said the bacteria level is just below what was found in the Ala Wai Canal during a massive sewage release in 2006.
read ... Bacteria
King St. bike lane creates confusion for drivers
KHON: Many drivers taking King Street don’t quite know what to make of the green lane painted on the busy roadway.
But motorists better get used to the rules fast or face a hefty $200 fine....
“So you’re going to get in an intersection where a bicyclist could run into a pedestrian in the crosswalk and then there’s going to be a motorist turning left and just like you drive down the street now and you have to look over the shoulder to make a sure a bicyclist isn’t coming, you have to do the same thing for this bike lane,” Formby said.... (And he's in favor of this plan!)
Officials will keep track of how many people use the bike lane and how many accidents and complaints there are.
If things go well, they might create a similar bike lane in other areas.
read ... Bike Lane
Broken 1987 Computer Controls Doors at Halawa Prison
KHON: "Because the system is so old, (the contractor) had a hard time finding the right part. He finally found the right part. He installed it and it didn't work."
The problem is with the automated doors that hold about 15 percent of Halawa's inmates, including 20 of its most dangerous prisoners....
Sakai said the contractor initially thought it could fix the problem temporarily by installing a new computer part.
But it later found out that it needed to create an entirely new control system that bypasses the previous system.
Lawmakers say the problems are hardly a surprise given the aged of the prison, which first opened in 1962, and the condition of the automated door system, which was installed in 1987....
Prison officials will have to make do with the temporary fixes for a year-and-a-half. That's when an $8 million remodel for Halawa is expected to be completed.
read ... 1987 Computers
Bizarre News: Attempted escape from OCCC thwarted by staff
KHON: At around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, three inmates being held in a cell tried to weaken the bars by some unknown means, but quick action by the staff prevented their escape from the cell.
The attempted escape will be added to their record, as well as destruction of government property.
read ... Surprise!
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