Pritchett Relocates

by Sen Sam Slom, Smart Business Hawaii, June 4, 2014 (excerpts)

Famed local award winning political cartoonist, John Pritchett, has relocated from Civil Beat to MidWeek. Reportedly, CB, the liberal on line publication, affiliated with Huffington Post, tried to throttle and censor the work of Pritchett who has penned many stinging independent political pieces over the years....

"De-Coupling" To Cost You More. The Hawaii PUC just granted Hawaiian Electric yet another new surcharge for you: a "decoupling" charge which will add about $4.89 per month to O'ahu rate payers. The new additional charge is to guarantee a nice return for HECO and for needed equipment upgrades (shouldn't they make those as part of their already highest-in-the-Nation charges?) and because electricity sales are dropping as you go PVC. We need to stop the utility monopoly, cozy relationship with State Government, and provide real competition here.

State Approves 8.9% HMSA Biz Rate. Whew! The State Insurance Division "only" granted HMSA, Hawaii's largest health insurance provider, an 8.9% rate hike (now) on Hawaii's small businesses. As reported here earlier, HMSA originally sought a 13.1% increase. But wait, there's more: these are only "average" rates; your business increase could be a lot more. HMSA cited Obamacare as the primary reason for the requested increase now....

link ... Smart Business Hawaii

ILind: Pritchett moves from Civil Beat