June 14, 1900: The Abolition of Slavery in Hawaii
Sam King for OHA: I will work with Trustees to enact change
Is the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on Fire?
Mapping 2018 Tax Reform
Hawaii—Need $75K Income to Afford 2br Apartment
Ige Requests Federal Individual Assistance for Volcano Victims
Hawaii mayor wants to relocate those displaced outside zones one or two
KITV: …Some have asked why residents were here in the first place. Leilani Estates and other communities in lower Puna were created without the detailed knowledge of the volcano we have now.
"Everybody knows today of hazard zones one and two was not created until after 1980 by Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory by public or this is what you do to help the local citizens understand hazards," Mayor Harry Kim said.
This is the latest eruption to destroy homes and wipe out communities but not the only one or even the only natural disaster. Wide open space along Hilo's bayfront used to be a bustling community. But after being repeatedly washed away by powerful tsunami, homes were not allowed to be rebuilt here in the inundation zone, and residents were relocated to a safer place.
Kim wants to do that again with a new community for lower Puna residents.
"I hope to learn from them and carry some of that and we can build a nice community with water with power and hopefully with the part they can enjoy, make it a nice place to raise a family," Kim said.
While he wants to make sure it will be built in Puna, he also wants to make sure it is not along Kilauea's east rift zone.
"My goal now is because we have knowledge of hazard zone one into that nobody should build in a zone one, because we know the risk whether it be 10 years or 50 years we know the risk involved in hazard," he said.
read … Hawaii mayor wants to relocate those displaced outside zones one or two
Local 5 Trust Fund to Build Affordable Housing on State Land
SA: …Daniels said she’s excited to be one of 500 Local 5 union members from across the state expected to attend a homebuyers orientation session run by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) today at the Ala Moana Hotel. The nonprofit NACA, which has $13 billion of mortgage funding from Citibank and Bank of America, has committed $100 million to the Hawaii market, where it plans to open an office focused mainly on helping low-to-moderate income residents.
Gov. David Ige is scheduled to make an appearance at the Local 5 event, which comes in advance of NACA’s five-day “Achieve the Dream” homeownership event, which will be held July 6-July 10 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. That event, which is open to the public, is expected to attract anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 attendees.
It’s also a prelude to June 28, when Local 5 goes back to the bargaining table and plans to ask Marriott and other employers to establish a housing trust fund under the federal Taft-Hartley Act governing labor management relations and amended by Congress to include collectively bargained housing benefits. NACA’s entry into Hawaii and its financial commitment to the state is not dependent upon a housing trust fund being included in Local 5 contracts.
Local 5 Secretary- Treasurer Eric Gill said the union’s hope is that the trust fund would help members buy down NACA mortgage rates. Gill and NACA founder and CEO Bruce Marks met with Ige Wednesday to discuss opportunities for the nonprofit to partner with local government and developers to build workforce housing on state-owned land….
read … Union hopes nonprofit, trust fund will help its members buy homes
LG Race: Pro-Rail Super PAC Spending A Quarter-Million Dollars to Stop Tokuda
CB: Be Change Now, a super PAC funded by Hawaii’s largest construction union, is dumping $242,000 into the crowded race for lieutenant governor to help state Sen. Josh Green pull away from the pack, according to documents recently filed with the Campaign Spending Commission.
That’s on top of nearly $254,000 that Green plans to spend on TV ads that he’s buying with his own campaign money. They’re slated to run on four stations from July 12 till the Aug. 11 primary election.
That gives him a significant advertising edge over state Sen. Jill Tokuda, who signed a contract last week with Greenstripe Media to spend $300,000 on ads. The air dates have not been determined.
No other candidates in the LG race or other super PACs had filed statements of information for electioneering communications with the commission as of Wednesday. State law requires these forms to be submitted if candidates spend a cumulative total of $2,000 on ads in the 2018 race or has ads scheduled to run within 30 days of the primary….
Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii Public Policy Center, said that while the union is only taking out ads in favor of Green, in reality it may also be punishing Tokuda for her previous stances on rail.
Tokuda was ousted from her position as chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee in 2017 after she took a hardline stance of not wanting to extend the general excise tax surcharge to cover the over-budget Honolulu rail project, now estimated to cost $8.2 billion….
Big Q: How much influence does a union’s endorsement have on a politician’s campaign?
read … Super PAC Dumps A Quarter-Million Dollars Into LG Race
Blood Bank Paying A High Price In Its Dispute With Honolulu Rail Officials
CB: …The nonprofit wants to abandon its headquarters long before trains start rumbling nearby. But the city is offering to buy only a strip of landscaping….
read … Blood Bank Paying A High Price
Hawaii first state to ban Ag pesticide, bowing to Hysteria
HNN: …Pesticides containing the chemical are used on an array of crops including apples, corn, and wheat, among other household food items, according to Earth Justice, (whose word is beyond question).
Prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos is associated with lower birth weight, reduced IQ, loss of working memory, attention disorders, and delayed motor development, according to Earth Justice (the conclave of Cardinals of the Eco-Religion).
In addition to prohibiting use of the chemical, Senate Bill 3095 also requires anyone using restricted use pesticides, (RUPs) to report to the Department of Agriculture, and prohibits the use of RUPs on or within 100 feet of a school while class in session beginning in January 2019….
read … Hawaii first state to ban harmful pesticide, overriding federal decision
Scammers Busted for ‘Local Food’ Fraud
AP: …Even after winter storms left East Coast harbors thick with ice, some of the country’s top chefs and trendy restaurants were offering sushi-grade tuna supposedly pulled in fresh off the coast of New York.
But it was just an illusion. No tuna was landing there. The fish had long since migrated to warmer waters.
In a global industry plagued by fraud and deceit, conscientious consumers are increasingly paying top dollar for what they believe is local, sustainably caught seafood. But even in this fast-growing niche market, companies can hide behind murky supply chains that make it difficult to determine where any given fish comes from. That’s where national distributor Sea To Table stepped in, guaranteeing its products were wild and directly traceable to a U.S. dock — and sometimes the very boat that brought it in.
However, an Associated Press investigation found the company was linked to some of the same practices it vowed to fight. Preliminary DNA tests suggested some of its yellowfin tuna likely came from the other side of the world, and reporters traced the company’s supply chain to migrant fishermen in foreign waters who described labor abuses, poaching and the slaughter of sharks, whales and dolphins.
The New York-based distributor was also offering species in other parts of the country that were illegal to catch, out of season and farmed.
Over the years, Sea To Table has become a darling in the sustainable seafood movement, building an impressive list of clientele, including celebrity chef Rick Bayless, Chopt Creative Salad chain, top universities and the makers of home meal kits such as HelloFresh.
(Yup. The ‘Local Food’ movement is 100% fraud Thank you for noticing.)
read … National seafood dealer sells fishy tale of sustainable ahi
Chinatown Bumfights: Homeless Drug Addicts Mayhem at 2AM
KHON: A former KHON2 sports reporter is on life support after being found unconscious on a Chinatown sidewalk shortly before 2am on Saturday.
Honolulu police made an arrest in connection with the case, but they're still searching for the suspect responsible for the attack.
John Noland, a former sports reporter, was found on the sidewalk fronting a business near the intersection of Maunakea and Pauahi Street.
Sources say a man accused of having Noland's stolen credit card was arrested, but released pending investigation.
…A Chinatown business confirmed surveillance footage showed Noland being attacked by another man. Noland fell, hitting his head on the sidewalk. He was taken to the Queens Medical Center in critical condition.
The man took off before police arrived. HPD is looking for the suspect.
"I know John Noland. So when you live in the midst of terror and you have a friend get taken down and you are a block from the police station, you wonder why. That's my question. Why?" said Oren Schlieman.
The Chinatown business owner's graphic design company "Info Grafik Inc." is based across the street from where Noland was found. He says crime has risen.
Schlieman says he filmed a street brawl fronting the River of Life Mission on North Pauahi Street. He says it happened 3 weeks ago, in broad daylight.
"I just thought it was terrible. What does it take, someone getting killed to fix a problem that's obvious to everyone?"
Meanwhile: Homeless Woman killed after being struck while walking on H-1 Freeway
read … Police searching for suspect accused of attempted murder against former KHON2 reporter
Homeless Tweeker Gets 5 Years for Hammer Attack
MN: Saying a defendant had shown no remorse, a judge ordered a five-year prison term Wednesday for a man convicted of a hammer attack on a woman working at a Waiehu business.
“It’s truly remarkable that this victim survived this attack and that we were not here on an even more serious charge,” 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen said in sentencing Ramoncito Abion.
In a trial in March, Abion, 51, of Wailuku was found guilty of second-degree assault of the woman on Jan. 11, 2016, at Waiehu Super Stop on Waiehu Beach Road.
The employee had told Abion to move away from the area before he followed her quietly down an alley, waited for her to turn her back, then hit her in the back of her head with the hammer, according to testimony at his trial….
“He was hearing voices on that day,” said Deputy Public Defender Nikki List. “It is completely uncontested that he was not under the influence on that day and time, but he was hearing voices talking to him.”…
“They say he’s in the condition he’s in because he used crystal methamphetamine, and that’s not a valid defense,” Bissen said….
read … Typical Story
Frustration grows for Oahu residents renewing drivers licenses
KHON: …People are angry because at some locations, appointments aren't available for two months, or aren't available at all. So instead, people are waiting in line, and sometimes being turned away just 30 minutes after the DMV opened.
The line at Koolau Driver Licensing Center starts hours before it opens at eight in the morning. By midday frustration sets in. Some of the people trying to renew their driver's license or state ID are here because they were turned away from the Kapalama site, which was overbooked by 8:30.
"I got turned away they were overbooked. They gave me a piece of paper and said please go to any of these other locations," said Jeanne Mathis.
For Marilyn Waialae, the quest to renew her parents' state ID's started yesterday when she was turned away at Kapalama.
"So we traveled all the way to Kapolei after that, trying to get their ID's and we stood in another line for about three hours," said Waialae.
But by then four o'clock came and the site closed. So today she's at Koolau and has now been waiting for about six hours.
"We're still waiting to pay and take the photo because we got to prove that we got all the correct documents but we're still waiting to get the ID's. That's ridiculous!" she said.
We checked with other counties to see if this has become a problem. On Maui, You can get an appointment tomorrow at the Kahului main branch….
The city also has a link that shows how long the lines are at the driver license centers, http://www3.honolulu.gov/csddlline/….
read … Frustration grows for Oahu residents renewing drivers licenses
Take the time now to understand the ‘Con Con’ question
SA: ...This right of reform, aka our “unalienable” right to alter our form of government, is featured in the U.S. Declaration of Independence and in the bill of rights of 37 American states. But it is ignored in popular discourse, especially the deeper question of what role the sovereign (“the people”) should play in constitutional reform if our form of government is to survive and thrive.
Fortunately, the Framers of Hawaii’s Constitution recognized the importance of a meaningful right of reform, which must include a mechanism to bypass the state Legislature’s gatekeeping power over constitutional reform. The specific bypass mechanism they bequeathed to us was the periodic (once-a-decade) referendum to call a Constitutional Convention....
read ... Take the time now to understand the ‘Con Con’ question
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