Alleged Monk Seal Harasser Sues Police over Arrest
80% Not Great: How is the plastic-bag ban working out?
Honolulu dead last in starting pay
SA: …Starting pay in Honolulu is the worst in the nation, according to a new study by personal finance site WalletHub.com.
In researching the best U.S. cities in which to find a job, analysts found that employers in Honolulu offer the lowest median starting pay, adjusted for cost of living, of the 150 markets studied. The pay was $1,367, based on 2014 U.S. Census Bureau figures and not including the recently mandated increase in minimum wage. Honolulu ranked behind Brownsville, Texas, with median starting salary at $1,727, and the $1,755 paid in Santa Rosa, Calif.
In the WalletHub Highest Housing Affordability ranking, Honolulu is third-worst in the U.S., at No. 148 out of 150 behind Newark, N.J. and Miami, Fla., respectively. WalletHub calculated the median annual family income, divided by housing costs, accounting for both home prices and rental costs. Plano Texas was ranked the best for housing affordability. Researchers used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to achieve the rankings.
Honolulu’s score in the main point of the study as a potential market in which to find a job, is at an overall rank of 90, with a job market rank of 92 and a socioeconomic environment rank of 84.
Plano, Texas, has the top overall rank….
read … Dead Last
“Expensive renewables do nothing”
CB: “Expensive renewables do nothing,” Ha said. “Cheap energy is the whole thing.”…
“Our rallying cry,” said Mangelsdorf, “is one (electric) meter, one vote.”
read … Coop
Baboozes in isles’ top jobs gave us yearlong headache
Shapiro: It’s the last Sunday of 2015 and time to review the year “flASHback” style:
>> Gov. David Ige declared in his maiden State of the State speech that “building a good home takes time, money and skill.” Lacking any of those, we had to make do with the Ige administration.
>> After development lobbyist Carleton Ching was rejected as state land director, Ige bemoaned the difficulty of finding “committed, qualified leaders.” Now he knows what voters feel like when we see the ballot.
>> State legislators said tight money forced them to be creative in their 2015 session. It was the same theory as burglary: If they can’t pick a lock, they break a window.
>> Senators deposed Donna Kim as president, griping she promoted too much openness and was too involved in committee work. There’s little margin for error in our Legislature; do a couple of things right and out you go.
read … Baboozes in isles’ top jobs gave us yearlong headache
Inspiring quotes for leaders start the new year off fresh
Shapiro: I usually won’t play the apology game, but must acknowledge calls to apologize for last week’s column headline that called our political leaders baboozes.
I agree regrets are in order and hereby apologize to all baboozes for comparing you to politicians….
>> For Gov. David Ige: “There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.” — Steven Wright
>> For Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui: “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” — Yogi Berra
>> For new Senate President Ron Kouchi: “Any organization is like a septic tank. The really big chunks rise to the top.” — John Imhoff
>> For House Speaker Joe Souki: “Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don’t know and I don’t care.” — William Safire
>> For U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” — H.L. Mencken
>> For U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono: “I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages.” — William H. Mauldin
>> For U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: “Maturing is realizing how many things don’t require your comment.” — Rachel Wolchin….
read … Inspiring quotes for leaders start the new year off fresh
5 Issues for 2016
CB: Police Reform…..
Progress in Housing….
Rail Crackdown… We’re increasingly unconvinced additional money is needed because what’s already been committed has been so imprudently spent…..
NextEra Decision….
Public Integrity. Hawaii’s unfortunate grade of D+ in the latest national anti-corruption report card from the Center for Public Integrity was a major embarrassment….
read … 5 Issues
Anti-GMO Activism is Probably Not About the Technology At All
TDB: …Most difficult for me to comprehend is the intense opposition by well-resourced (and presumably well-informed) environmental NGOs to the development of biotech solutions for third-world nutritional and health issues: for example, Golden Rice involving the transfer of a corn gene into rice to help counter the blindness and deaths caused by Vitamin A deficiency in many poor countries (link). Or the transfer of a gene from sweet pepper into bananas to help Ugandan farmers protect their crop from a devastating Xanthomonas bacterial disease (link). The opposition is sometimes so extreme as to include destroying research plots, thus rejecting even the testing of potential solutions if they involve transgenic changes.
A common explanation among many supporters of agricultural biotechnology is that anti-GMO activism is driven by money. That is undoubtedly true in many cases – for example, organic or ‘natural food’ marketers who have supported anti-GMO campaigns in an attempt to increase sales. It’s true for companies like Genetic ID which find it profitable to test crops and foods for GMO content, while at the same time aggressively supporting anti-GMO campaigns and GMO/non-GMO food product labelling….
read … Not About the Technology
DoH Rules Allow Sale of Hash Oil, but no Joints no Brownies and no Candies (for now)
SA: The DOH underscores three major public-policy concerns: patient safety, product safety and public safety. But some of the rules drew complaints about overstepping legislative intent, including:
>> Prohibiting greenhouses in the growing of medical marijuana.
>> Disallowing marijuana cigarettes.
While silent on “joints,” the law specifies that medical marijuana dispensaries can sell capsules, lozenges, pills, oil and oil extracts, tinctures, ointments and skin lotions. In defending the anti-joint rule, DOH Director Dr. Virginia Pressler made a solid point that her agency has aggressively advocated against inhaling smoke from tobacco and other products due to health risks.
Lawmakers also took issue with the DOH dispensary bans on pot-ingesting paraphernalia and on marijuana-infused foods, such as baked goods and candies.
At this early stage, the Health Department is right to err on the side of caution against drugs tucked in common-looking foods….
read … Do pot rules
Homeless tents reappear in Kakaako, Idiot Brower Demands State Create More Homeless Tent Cities
KHON: After several homeless sweeps that spanned months, tents have returned to Kakaako.
KHON2 noticed over 25 tents in the area by Cooke Street and Ala Moana Boulevard. Several pet dogs ran throughout the encampment, and there were a gathering of family or friends by one tent on Sunday afternoon.
KHON2 reached out to Tracy and Tabatha Martin, a former homeless couple now renting a home in Pacific Heights. (HELLO? Pacific Heights?) They left Kakaako on Dec. 5, but they regularly visit their former neighbors.
“I can guarantee you one thing, it didn’t help,” said Tabatha, referring to the sweeps….
The state’s goal is affordable housing, but state Rep. Tom Brower (D-Waikiki-Ala Moana-Kakaako) says there’s something the government can do right now.
“Right now, overnight, we can set aside some land, whether it’s in Kakaako or somewhere else and allow them to pitch their tents,” Rep. Brower said. “That will go a long way to solve homelessness and remove campers where we don’t want them on the sidewalks and some of the parks.”
Brower says he’s working with state homeless coordinator Scott Morishige.
read … Tent Cities Reestablished
Not REAL ID: New License Specially for Homeless and Illegals
SA: Unauthorized immigrants and Hawaii residents who have lost important identification documents, such as Social Security cards, birth certificates and passports, can now get a limited-purpose Hawaii driver’s license under a new law aimed at sidestepping stringent federal ID requirements enacted in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Act 172, which went into effect Friday, is supported by advocates for immigrants, as well as homeless service providers who say their clients often lose documents during city sweeps of homeless camps or because of the difficulty in keeping track of belongings while living in shelters or on the streets.
The law prohibits county motor vehicle departments from taking immigration status into account when issuing the limited-purpose driver’s licenses. Hawaii residents can use a long list of supporting documentation to prove their identities, such as a wage stub, home utility bill, lease or rental agreement, voter registration card or official school transcript.
The driver’s licenses are a different color and design from regular licenses and indicate that they are not an acceptable form of federal identification. They can’t be used to obtain public benefits, establish employment eligibility or register to vote, according to the law….
read … Homeless advocates, others hail new license
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