August 2, 2024 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, August 2, 2024

August 2, 2024 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:13 PM :: 777 Views

Six ways to speed up home rebuilding in Lahaina

Workforce Shortage Cuts School Bus Routes and A+ Programs

3,000 UPW workers to get 30% COVID hazard pay lump sum

KHON: … Leaders at the United Public Workers union are calling it a win. An arbitrator recently ruled its essential workers will be given hazard pay for their work during the pandemic. Paramedics, refuse workers, Board of Water supply crews, and parks and rec were among those deemed “essential workers” during the pandemic, and they’ll get paid for it…. An arbitrator ruled the more than 3,000 members of the UPW on Oahu will get a 15-percent bump for hazard pay for work between March 2020 to March 2022…. (15% x 2 yrs including OT = 30%+) Right now, neither the city nor the union is sure what the total cost will be. But both sides are currently working on how and when workers will see this hazard pay….

CB: Latest Hazard Pay Decision For Public Workers Likely Will Cost Honolulu $30 Million Or More - Honolulu Civil Beat

read … UPW Oahu essential workers gets hazard pay for work during pandemic

First meeting in 8 Years: Proposed Oahu Floating Wind Farm Faces Significant Opposition

IM: … Early Hawai`i wind projects met little resistance. They were built in Kahuku on O`ahu; Hawi, Kohala and elsewhere on the Big Island; and Māʻalaea and Ulupalakua on Maui.

Then a series of developer disasters occurred.

Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) signed a power purchase agreement with the Na Pua Makani for a second wind farm in Kahuku. After the Public Utilities Commission approved the project, the wind company met secretly with the City and County of Honolulu. The wind company wanted to save a few bucks by shortening their transmission line by moving a few turbines right up against the town. The backlash against the AES owned facility resulted in 206 arrests as the wind farm was built.

A Danish company, Alpha Wind Energy, showed immense cultural insensitivity in proposing a wind farm off Ka`ena point on the north shore of on O`ahu. The unsolicited proposal was filed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The community opposition was significant.

The Gill family proposed using their Palehua land for a wind farm. The site is adjacent to Makakilo and mauka of the HECO Kahe Generation Station. The proposal was withdrawn over extensive community opposition.

The latest proposal is a massive wind farm in the Kaiwi Channel between O`ahu and Moloka`i. Progression Energy had already considered the south shore of O`ahu, but due chiefly to military objections, the sites are no longer considered viable. …

The Task Force will meet for the first time in eight years at the University of Hawaii on August 22. Honolulu City Councilmember Esther Kia'āina convinced BOEM that they need to secure a large room as there will be a significant number of community members inn attendance….

read … Proposed O`ahu Floating Wind Farm Faces Significant Opposition

Astronomers Still Trying to Figure out how to pay off OHA

LAT: … In the aftermath of the observatory protests, finding the right balance between astronomy and preservation of the Maunakea sacred site remains a challenge.

(TRANSLATION: Master lease must be settled. OHA wants money.)

Despite criticisms, the telescopes do help the state economically, and they support science and engineering on the islands as many of Hawaii’s young people are leaving to pursue degrees in these fields.

(REALITY: This is the price of acquisition for OHA’s master lease money.)

“You don’t have a unified consensus in the community — much less the Hawaiian community — about [Thirty Meter Telescope] or astronomy,” Chun said. “So, balance is not going to be something that’s easily found, but I think if the authority can come up with a vision where people see themselves in it, we have a better chance.”

(TRANSLATION: Master lease must be settled. OHA wants money.)

Over his time heading the center, Chun has come to think empathy is the path toward reconciliation, and the authority is an opportunity to find it.

(TRANSLATION: Master lease must be settled. OHA wants money.)

“We certainly have a lot of lessons learned and scars that we’ve accumulated over the years,” Chun said….

(TRANSLATION: Master lease must be settled. OHA wants money.)

Toward the turn of the century, an upgraded Caltech Submillimeter Observatory started making maps of the sky. It was a “quantum leap in capability,” said Sunil Golwala, director of the observatory and a physics professor at Caltech.

This allowed scientists to map everything from dust in the interstellar medium to the largest scale of structure in the universe, galaxy clusters.

(TRANSLATION: We quit all that because OHA wants more money and the protests are a multi-year negotiation strategy.)

Now, the Caltech telescope moves to Chile with a new name (the Leighton Chajnantor Telescope), new instruments and the opportunity to reestablish itself on the cutting edge of astronomy.

Golwala said the team has learned from their time on Maunakea and that the Chile site is farther from population centers and not regarded as sacred. They’ll also build near other observatories to reduce their environmental footprint.

(TRANSLATION: In Chile, science is seen as beneficial in and of itself, not as a political milk-cow for OHA crooks and cronies.)

read … Caltech dismantles observatory atop sacred Hawaiian mountain

Three picked for state House seat, governor now will choose who will replace deceased Rep. Nakashima

HTH: … The Hawaii Democratic Party has submitted to Gov. Josh Green the names of three people it has selected as possible candidates to succeed the late Rep. Mark Nakashima in state House District 1.

The three are: Dwight ‘Baby Tak’ Takamine, a longtime former state legislator and former director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Matthias Kusch, retired Hawaii Fire Department battalion chief and Bayfront Trails president; and Kristen Alice Apruzzese, director of community relations for Hope Services, a private nonprofit organization providing services to the unsheltered….

Green will select one of the three to fill the existing vacancy for the remainder of Nakashima’s current term. In addition, Nakashima — who died June 11, a week after the filing deadline for candidacy — would’ve run unopposed in both the Primary and General elections had he lived, so the appointment will also serve the 2024-2026 term in District 1. The sprawling district encompasses the Hamakua Coast, North Hilo and part of South Hilo, including Kaumana….

read … Three picked for state House seat, governor now will choose who will replace deceased Rep. Nakashima

How to Block Affordable Housing by Denying Water: Why A Key Vacancy On State Water Board Is Going Unfilled

CB: … Gov. Green received a short list of candidates for the seat, reserved for a customary water expert, five months ago. Now, his administration says recent issues arose with some applicants….

(CLUE: Denial of water is the key to preventing the construction of affordable housing.)

CWRM did not make the names on the short list public, but Hawaiian community members managed to swiftly deduce who they were: Molokai community activist (Walter Ritte operative) Lori Buchanan, UH Manoa School of Hawaiian Knowledge faculty member Makahiapo Cashman, Maui coffee grower Kimo Faulkner and Hawaii island marine conservationist Hannah Kihalani Springer.

(QUESTION: Are you ready to move to Vegas?)

Hannahs and Kekai Keahi, a West Maui kalo farmer, each said that most advocates would support the appointment of either Buchanan, Cashman or Springer.

(TRANSLATION: Only Faulkner would be open to supplying water for housing.)

read … Native Hawaiians And Farmers Are Asking Why A Key Vacancy On State Water Board Is Going Unfilled

Homeowners Vote, Renters Don’t

SA: … In 10 years of campaigning door to door, Keohokalole said, “The biggest differential in whether someone voted or not was whether they owned their own home. Homeowners vote. In suburban neighborhoods every single home has a registered voter. In apartment buildings it’s only 1 in 3, sometimes 1 in 4. A big part of what is happening is that homeownership in Hawaii is so low it’s impacting our voter turnout.”….

read … Voter apathy underscored by Hawaiian history

Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae: Eight homes built in Four Years

HNN: … Pu’uhonua O Wai’anae, a camp community on the edge of the Waianae Boat Harbor, is starting to build a new farm village in Waianae Valley.

Roughly 200 people live at Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae and most are Native Hawaiian.

Among them: Moki Hokoana, who has lived on the beach for years.

“Everybody from the Leeward side was coming together on this side. It was like they were rounding us up,” she said….

In 2020, Pu’uhonua o Wai’anae says it completed fundraising to buy a 20-acre property in the back of Waianae Valley….

Now members of the Air National Guard are building tiny homes here as part of the military’s Innovative Readiness Training. Servicemembers learn how to quickly build if called for deployment and pu’uhonua residents get a home….

The Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae Farm Village hopes to provide up to 250 people a home. So far, eight hale (home) have been built this year.

Expected completion for 62 homes is in 2027….

read … With plenty of help, encampment community starts building farm village in Waianae

Lawyer In Illicit Marshallese Adoption Scheme Now Accused Of Paying Texas Inmates For Babies

CB: … Jody Hall previously arranged for pregnant women to fly from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. through Honolulu in violation of international law. It's unclear if this new investigation will examine those actions as well as the jail accusations ….

read … Lawyer In Illicit Marshallese Adoption Scheme Now Accused Of Paying Texas Inmates For Babies

Election News:

QUICK HITS: