US Supreme Court agrees to weigh in on law that forces pro-life centers to promote abortion
$1.8B Special Fund Audit: DHRD Refuses to Report to Legislature
Auditor: DoTax Funds ‘Do not meet Criteria’
State Ethics Commission 2018 Legislative Agenda
Honolulu Ethics Commission to Discuss Strategic Plan
Jones Act? What's That? Democratic Congressmen Rip Trump Admin Official on Puerto Rico Recovery
Hospital Employee: We Don’t Care About Escaped Lunatics
HNN: …But one employee who spoke anonymously to Hawaii News Now said … "I want the public to know something rotten is going on at the hospital," the worker said.
According to the staffer, some workers feel overworked, frustrated and upset over mandated overtime. "That's creating a lot a lot of people being quite pissed off and quite frankly, they've kind of given up. They don't care," the worker said.
Hospital communication among employees and the public is also an issue, the staffer said.
Nixle is a public alert system used by county officials to get the word out about emergencies. The hospital started using it to alert the public about escapees, but there was a delay — and disagreement — when Saito escaped Sunday.
"You get management saying it was only two hours, but people that I know say it was completely different. It was more like 11, 11 and a half hours," the staffer said. (Did escapee bribe employees to look the other way?)
Officials say Saito walked away from the hospital at 11 a.m. Sunday, but it took more than nine hours for officials to send the alert through Nixle and to local media. The public was made aware of the escape around 8:20 p.m. Sunday.
Saito is the second patient to escape the facility this year.
In September, Rhegan Kinoshita also walked away from the Kaneohe facility. Kinoshita was known to have a violent past, and the escape sent Windward Community College in to lockdown. …
Maui Now: 59-year-old Randall Toshio Saito arrived on Maui aboard a chartered flight, paying $1500 for the ticket. He was only on Maui for about an hour and a half before he purchased a ticket to board a flight bound for San Jose, California, possibly using another name.
(How does an escaped lunatic get $1500+ to charter an airplane?)
Related: Hospital Crisis: How to Use Union Work Rules for Fun and Profit
read … We don’t care
AirBnB Plan – Taxation without Legalization
SA: The proposed agreement that Gov. David Ige’s administration has been negotiating with Airbnb to collect taxes on vacation rentals would not allow the state to disclose rental property owners’ names or rental locations to the city for enforcement purposes, according to an Airbnb representative.
Matt Middlebrook, head of policy for Hawaii for Airbnb Inc., said the proposed agreement would allow state tax officials to audit Airbnb transactions in Hawaii, but Hawaii law does not allow the state to share any taxpayer information with the city.
That means the data collected by the state Department of Taxation under the proposed new administrative agreement could not be mined for information to assist the city in a crackdown on the many illegal vacation rentals operating on Oahu.
Ed Case, senior vice president and chief legal officer for Outrigger Enterprises Group, said that arrangement would be “in no way acceptable” to the hotel industry in Hawaii….
Related: What's in the Secret Air BnB Agreement?
SA: Just take the money and don't worry about it
read … State need not identify Airbnb hosts
Secret Deal With Airbnb?
CB:…The governor’s chief of staff, Mike McCartney, insists that state tax law prohibits him from sharing a draft agreement between the state Department of Taxation and Airbnb.
McCartney offered the weak excuse that he is neither an attorney nor an employee of the tax department.
But Airbnb could — and should — release the agreement itself.
There is also the concern that an agreement probably violates the Hawaii Administrative Procedure Act that agencies have to follow when administrative rules are adopted. It’s a requirement to include notice of a public hearing and allowing public testimony. ….
Related: What's in the Secret Air BnB Agreement?
read … There Should Be No Secret Deal With Airbnb
How good intentions and misguided attitudes can hinder the goal of getting homeless people off the streets
CB:…It’s not helpful to drop off food, clothing and household goods at homeless encampments in public places without coordinating first with service providers to find out what is needed.
Institute for Human Services spokesman Kimo Carvalho said when he visited Kakaako Waterfront Park during the two years homelessness there began to peak, he watched people drop off TVs, couches and other furniture, as well as food and clothing.
“At the same time, homeless were refusing our efforts to help them find permanent housing, other people were delivering furniture and TVs and clothing and food to make their camping in the park more comfortable,” said Carvalho. “Those kinds of handouts discourage unsheltered people from wanting to take responsibility for their situations, from wanting to change. They are counterproductive.”….
Don’t think of homeless people as hopeless with nowhere to go.
“That is simply not true,” said Carvalho. “There are rental units available across Oahu and federal and state rental subsidies available to help homeless people move into housing. IHS has helped 14,000 people find housing in the last 10 years. Last year, IHS helped 1,500 people move into apartments and houses.
“To say homeless people are hopeless and have few other options other than staying on the streets is demeaning and absolves us from doing anything about their different situations,” he added. “It’s a way of saying it’s okay for them to live in parks.”
Equally unhelpful is perpetuating the myth that people chose to be homeless, says Jennifer Stasch, director of Partners In Care at Aloha United Way, a coalition of Oahu homeless care providers.
Stasch says many people are homeless “because they lack basic support from family and friends. They donʻt think they matter to anyone. Blaming the victim is not helpful in resolving homelessness in your community. It only provides an excuse to ignore those who are suffering and need help.” ….
read … Denby Fawcett: 5 Ways You’re Not Helping The Homeless
Stretched thin: The average Oahu paramedic responds to 15 calls a day
HNN: …veteran investigative journalist Matt Levi, who found that the average paramedic on Oahu handles 15 calls during a 12-hour day.
Levi's investigation also found that Emergency Medical Services crews were stretched thin and that people in need were waiting longer for ambulance services…..
VIDEO: Matt Levi Investigates : EMS State of Emergency
read … Stretched thin: The average Oahu paramedic responds to 15 calls a day
As patients fight for spots at dialysis centers, 2 new facilities sit virtually idle
HNN: Two brand new kidney dialysis clinics are caught in a Catch 22.
They're ready to help patients, but they can't because of a slow certification process. And meanwhile, the state's other dialysis are crowded.
More than 80 percent of Hawaii's dialysis patients are under Medicare or Medicaid. New dialysis centers need government approval to treat that population….
State and federal certification processes are slow.
"It can take years," said Palani Smith of Liberty Dialysis. "In the past, it's been anywhere from 12 to 18 months. Sometimes upwards of 24."…
The problem: State and federal certification processes are slow.
"It can take years," said Palani Smith of Liberty Dialysis. "In the past, it's been anywhere from 12 to 18 months. Sometimes upwards of 24."…
read … As patients fight for spots at dialysis centers, 2 new facilities sit virtually idle
Sunscreen Hysterics: Will Idiots on Maui Council be First to Unleash Wave of Stupidity?
MN: Sunscreen containing certain chemicals could be banned in Maui County after a bill to eliminate the potentially harmful products was recommended for approval by a Maui County Council committee Monday.
The bill, which is headed for the full council, would prohibit the sale and use of sunscreen carrying oxybenzone and octinoxate, ingredients that have grown controversial over the past few years…..
Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura said that the county already has a hard time enforcing rules and thought the council should hear from state and county departments before passing a new law. However, Council Member and Committee Chairwoman Elle Cochran pushed for a vote, saying the scientific evidence was solid and the bill was “defensible.”…
If passed, Maui County’s ban would be the first in the country, said Joe DiNardo, (who?) a retired scientist (Really? What does ‘retired scientist’ even mean?) and toxicologist from Virginia who gave a presentation to the Infrastructure and Environmental Management Committee on Monday….
“They are broad-spectrum UV absorbents,” said Craig Downs, a Kapalua native who’s now the executive director of the nonprofit Haereticus Environmental Laboratory (Website features lots of celebrutards.) in Virginia. “That’s really important to help prevent sunburns. So they do play a critical role. . . . But they’re not the only two chemicals that can be used in a product to protect you from sunburns.”
More Reality than Most Can Handle:
read … News from Duckville--Lots of Quacks
Anti-Prison Activists Find Something else to Chatter About
CB: Nevada’s ‘Most Dangerous’ Inmates Move In With Hawaii Prisoners (Not really.) The private Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona says the new prisoners will be fenced off and separated from the 1,400 Hawaii inmates…..
SA: Build new jail at quarantine site
read … Mindless Chatter
Panos: How to Make Recycling More Efficient
FO: …Panos Prevedouros, chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Hawaii Manoa, said burning recyclables would be better for the city’s pocketbook and the environment.
The way Prevedouros sees it, more trash burned at H-POWER also means less fossil fuel consumed use to produce electricity.
“We are resource-poor when it comes to generating electricity,” Prevedouros said, adding he thinks Honolulu should even consider importing trash from neighbor islands for incineration.
Glass could also be crushed and mixed with asphalt to create “glassphalt” for road construction, said Prevedouros….
read … Recycling
Hawaiian Electric Company for Sale?
IM: Representatives from Twenty First Century Utilities are continuing to meet privately with Hawai`i-based community groups and consultants…..
UD: 'Million rate bases': TFC makes the case for a new IOU business model in Hawaii
read … Hawaiian Electric Company for Sale?
Truck terrorism: It could happen in Hawaii
SA: The recent terrorist attack on bicyclists and pedestrians in New York City is cause for alarm here in Hawaii. Using trucks to kill people — like in New York and during the 2016 Bastille Day attacks on the Nice Promenade in France, which killed 86 and wounded 430 people — have become all too common.
Since 2006, there have been 34 vehicular terrorism incidents that have killed scores of people. Attacks have occurred in Vienna; Berlin; London; Stockholm; Paris; Edmonton; Columbus, Ohio; and other cities throughout the world.
In an open society, it is difficult to limit access to vehicles. It is hard to screen out terrorists because many are homegrown or “lone wolves” who blend in with society. There has been reluctance to address the problem because of the impacts on commerce and livelihoods. If it is so difficult to regulate guns, just think how hard it will be to impose new restrictions and requirements on trucks…..
2013: Honolulu Muslim Eye-Gouge Attacker Tied to Staten Island Jihadi:
read … Truck terrorism: It could happen in Hawaii
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