Landmark Victory for Second Amendment Rights in Honolulu
Black Sand, Kobayashi First to benefit from DEP 'Affordable Housing' Scheme
Feds Sentence Another Hawaii Fraudster
Final witness testifies as former prosecutor’s corruption trial draws to a close in Hawaii
Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Eddins: “Horrors and Treachery” Coming From SCOTUS
Miske used powerful connections to avoid legal trouble for years
CB: … Without naming former Honolulu prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, the feds try to show how Miske used powerful connections to avoid legal trouble for years while operating a criminal enterprise. …
Miske, who is charged in a 19-count indictment that includes murder in aid of racketeering and murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death, is charged with so many crimes over such a large period of time that the government has to show the jury how he was able to go on for so long….
“I will go to the top of the food chain, Jared Spiker,” Miske could be heard saying. “Don’t go to my place of business and act a fool. I will have everybody over there put a TRO (temporary restraining order) on you.”
Spiker asked Miske if that was a threat. Miske replied it was Spiker and the other officers who were making threats and trying to “give fines like you guys are the liquor commission over there.”
(TRANSLATION: Miske corrupted the Liquor Commission, too.)
Other witnesses have testified to Miske’s powerful connections, including Laurence Miller, a former customer of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, who described observing friendly behavior between Miske and police officers….
“…the real question is what kind of system do we have that allows people like that to thrive?”
2021: Say 'Uncle' -- What Connects Miske to Kealoha?
read … A 'High-Ranking Prosecutor' Helped Mike Miske Out Of A Traffic Citation, HPD Officer Testifies - Honolulu Civil Beat
What is “a pattern of racketeering activity”?
ILind: … The court’s draft jury instructions list 16 different racketeering offenses the Miske Enterprise is alleged to have committed. These are referred to as “predicate acts.” They don’t appear as separately charged crimes, but support the conclusion that the organization Miske directed was, indeed, a racketeering enterprise….
read … What is “a pattern of racketeering activity”?
CWS Hid Child Molestation Report from Big Island Judge Kim
CB: … almost five years after the suit was filed, the plaintiffs have managed to pry out some new and troubling information. They found a 2015 report from someone warning that young children were being sexually exploited in the same home. This was two years before T.G. was placed there….
A few years after that 2015 incident, several months after T.G. made her allegations, CWS got another report involving Holmes, this one alleging that she had sexually molested a 5-year-old who lived there from 2015 to 2018. This accusation was made after the child had gone to a different foster home and said something that caused the new foster parents to become concerned….
The person reported seeing possible redness and irritation in a 5-year-old’s vaginal area. Adult men watched movies with nudity, possibly when the young children were there. The person claimed to overhear Gloria Holmes call a girl “a little fat bitch” and see a man pick up a boy by his pants. The children never left the house, the person claimed, and a 6-year-old looked like she was 3.
The national center conveyed the complaint to the Hawaii Police Department, which contacted CWS. The officer talked to a CWS worker named Wendy Robinson, who reported CWS had gotten a “call of concern” about Holmes the week before, presumably from the same person, and gone by her house to check.
But “no allegations were confirmed,” the police report states.
“CWS related that there are no current concerns,” it said….
(LESSON ONE: Police cannot rely on CWS to check out these types of allegations.)
(LESSON TWO: Call the police directly to report child molestation.)
But how did this report not get shared with the plaintiffs in response to its questions and demands for documents? How did it not qualify as a report made to CWS in the last 15 years, as T.G.’s lawyers requested, or a “communication regarding alleged sexual abuse of anyone in the home of Gloria Holmes.”
What’s more, one of the people listed as assisting in the preparation of Perez’s official responses was Wendy Robinson, the CWS worker named in the Hawaii Police Department report…
And Perez-Mesa is left to wonder about the T.G. case. “If they’re hiding this information,” he asked, “what else are they hiding?”….
read … John Hill: A Lawsuit Against The Child Protection System Digs Up Troubling Facts - Honolulu Civil Beat
HB470: Allow Gay ‘Shelters’ to Hold ‘Homeless LGBTQ’ Kids over parents’ objection
SA: … The latest version of HB 470 followed a pilot program to indemnify (gay) youth operations that take in homeless minors without consent from their parents or guardians.
The pilot project expired in June, and organizations have been operating without the protection of the state ever since.
HB 470 would protect shelters “that are not in line with HUD (U.S. Housing and Urban Development) standards” for another five years, Tam said. “They run the risk of liability, so we gave shelters time to get in line with HUD standards.”
There are no hard numbers of how many minors are homeless in Hawaii or how many organizations take them in.
But testimony over HB 470 suggested that children of color and those that identify as LGBTQ+ (Translation: Selling underage sex for drugs.) are disproportionately homeless….
SA Pro-HB470 Editorial: At-risk youth must be taken off street (After all these years, the Star-Adv finally supports the forcible removal of homeless from the streets?)
RELATED: HB2079 Would Legalize Child Kidnapping for Sex Change
read … Hawaii bill would protect shelters that house homeless minors
Happy News: A Missouri River Court Decision Could Sink Hawaii's Ala Wai Flood Control Plan
CB: … The ruling in that case, Ideker Farms v. United States, could drastically drive up costs for the Ala Wai Flood Control Project, plus scores of other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers efforts around the country, according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and his managing director, Mike Formby.
Specifically, the two leaders said, it could make as many as 1,300 landowners in the Ala Wai watershed eligible to be compensated for “government-induced flooding,” or water that runs along their property in a storm as a result of the flood control measures. …
Blangiardi and Formby said Friday they didn’t know how much more the Ala Wai project would cost if the city and its federal partners had to cover those extra costs. The Corps of Engineers is currently appraising those properties to try and estimate the impact, they said.
Eric Merriam, the Corps’ Ala Wai project manager, was unavailable to discuss the Ideker decision’s impact on Monday. In a statement Monday, the Corps said it was working to see how the decision would impact the Ala Wai effort, and that would delay its final report on the latest flood control plan….
read … A Missouri River Court Decision Could Sink Hawaii's Ala Wai Flood Control Plan
Red Hill trial concludes, families now await judge's ruling
KHON: … The government’s lawyers maintain exposure to the jet fuel was not enough to cause the medical conditions the families allege. They cited their witness experts who said jet fuel effects on the body could usually clear up within one or two days after exposure ends. …
read … Red Hill trial concludes, families now await judge's ruling (khon2.com)
HART director receives support from rail skeptics at Council
SA: … Council member Radiant Cordero — whose Council district partly runs through Kalihi and the airport area — voiced support for Kahikina finishing the rail project.
“My district includes Dillingham, and so we need to keep it moving because of that,” she said. “We can’t leave Dillingham the mess it is right now; we need to keep it moving forward.”… got public backing from Council Vice Chair Esther Kia‘aina.
In doing so Kia‘aina noted that her Council district — which encompasses Windward Oahu communities from Waimanalo to Kaneohe — is not included in the city’s nearly $10 billion Skyline project…
Council member Andria Tupola agreed.
She told Kahikina at the meeting, “Because there is a fight to be fought when you’re the executive director of HART — and sometimes it’s internal, sometimes it’s external, but nonetheless — I do think fiscal responsibility is something you have led with, and we appreciate that.”
“We appreciate all of the sacrifices and hits and attacks that you’ve taken on behalf of this city so this project can try to push forward even through adversity,” she added.
Council member Matt Weyer — whose district largely encompasses the North Shore and other parts of rural Windward Oahu — echoed Kia‘aina’s comments.
“We might be No. 2 in terms of the number of folks who have ‘HART-burn,’ or concern about rail, just given the size of our district and limited access,”
(TRANSLATION: We four know the contract to build rail to Ala Moana is going to come in high. We just want HART to finish to Middle Street and seal up Dillingham Blvd.)
read … HART director receives support at Council
On Molokai, there are no surgeries or MRIs. The dearth of care has some asking, ‘Why bother?’
HNN: … On Molokai, there are so few medical services that people can’t get an MRI, surgery or anesthesia on island.
Most specialized care also requires a plane trip to Oahu or Maui….
“So, my auntie, she was literally giving birth, but they took her to the plane and they tied her legs shut. So the baby wouldn’t come out,” she said….
read … On Molokai, there are no surgeries or MRIs. The dearth of care has some asking, ‘Why bother?’
What will it take? Entire Town Burning Down not enough to Motivate Homeless to Accept Housing
HNN: … Santiago said they deliberately set up right across the street from the Disaster Recovery Center at the Lahaina Civic Center because they want to be visible to hopefully get some support.
“That’s why we’re all over here, like right at their front door, like, ‘Hey! Look out your door! We’re right here,’” said Santiago.
However, the DRC moved from Lahaina to Kaanapali at the end of April.
The Mayor’s Office said there is shelter space in Kahului and Wailuku.
However, Santiago said (that their excuse for refusing shelter this time is ...drumroll please…) no one wants to live anywhere else besides Lahaina….
(Last year the excuse was that shelters had too many rules.)
read … Those living in growing Lahaina homeless encampment plead for help
Drug overdose deaths up in Maui County, Kauai as fentanyl use grows
HNN: … on Maui, drug overdose deaths are up 49% ….
read … Drug overdose deaths up in Maui County, Kauai as fentanyl use grows
DoE Plan: Taking aim at Hawaii's 30% chronic absenteeism with video games
KITV: … Ke'elikolani Middle School has a rich history.
150 years ago, it was the palace of Princess Ruth Ke'elikolani.
But in more recent years, the school once known as Central Middle School, became known as the middle school with the state's worst test scores.
"Historically, we were the lowest out of 31 schools in the state," said Principal Joseph Passantino.
Part of the problem was the school's high chronic absenteeism rate. Chronic absenteeism is when students miss 15 days or more a year….
"We have some students who miss 80-100 days of school," added Passantino.
Before the pandemic, statewide chronic absenteeism for public schools was less than 20%.
But after 2021, the rate sharply increased and is now around 30%.
Last year, Ke'elikolani Middle had a chronic absenteeism rate of 55%....
read … Taking aim at Hawaii's high chronic absenteeism with video games
Newest DoE Assistant Superintendent is already planning his retirement
CB: … Moore, 85, formerly oversaw school safety, facilities, meal services and more as a DOE assistant superintendent from 2006 to 2012. He then served on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents for a decade before stepping down last year.
The change in leadership comes as DOE struggles to spend millions in funding for school construction projects. The department reported last month that it plans to let roughly $275 million in funds expire because permitting delays and supply chain shortages have slowed its construction process.
“This was not expected,” Moore said of his role in the DOE, adding that he plans to retire for a third time once he finishes serving as deputy superintendent.
read … Former UH Regents Chair To Oversee Hawaii Public School Facilities - Honolulu Civil Beat
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