Full Text: Insurers Will Appeal Fake Maui Settlement Ruling
Hawaii County Sued Over Unconstitutional Firearm Permit Denial
UH breaks extramural funding record for 3rd consecutive year with $615.7M in FY 2024
Neighborhood Board members, Honolulu Councilmember visit OCCC and new jail site
Naming Names: Legislators Buy Factional Alliances with campaign funds
ILind: … I took a quick look at contributions to candidates during this election cycle up through June 30, the latest data available for download. This probably isn’t complete, because I searched for contributions from any committee named “friends of…”. There could be other candidate committee names that I missed.
How much money was transferred from one candidate to another so far during 2023-2024, through the end of June?
I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was surprised–shocked, perhaps–by the answer.
By my quick count, the total was $189,194 and a few cents….
Rep. Nadine Nakamura, who appears to have her eye on the position of House Speaker, spent less money on other candidates but spread her influence just as far, parceling out $300-$500 to a couple of dozen campaigns….
Naming Names: Here are links to donors and recipients.
read … Using campaign funds to support other candidates
Green admits Judge Cahill is biased against insurers
HNN: … Gov. Josh Green, on Hawaii News Now Sunrise on Monday, said he was concerned about the issue slowing down the settlement, described the dispute.
“Whether or not the insurance companies claw back some of that money and they don’t want to agree to the settlement unless they can get some kind of repayments for the payments that they put out,” he said.
In their court filings, the insurers wrote: “The reports of a global settlement are greatly exaggerated.” They said the announcement of a deal “... is little more than chasing the cheap sugar high of finality while bypassing the actual detailed work that justice demands.”
The companies say Judge Peter Cahill, who has taken control of the dispute over what is called “subrogation,” should not be rushing the dispute. The companies say the lawyers for the victims and those responsible for the fire are using the settlement to deny them what they are owed.
“If they push in court if they appeal it can delay things,” Green said. “Although I feel fairly confident that Judge Cahill feels strongly the money should go to the people.”
(TRANSLATION: Green admits Judge Cahill is biased against insurers.)
While the companies are entitled to money back for the property damage claims they paid, if settlement funds are defined as compensation for emotional suffering instead of property damage, it could be difficult for insurers to collect ….
CB: Will Insurance Companies Get First Crack At $4 Billion Lahaina Fire Settlement?
Background:
read … Judge to decide fight over first in line for Maui wildfire funds
DOJ antitrust expert to explain feds opposition to Hawaiian-Alaska Airline merger?
KHON: … One of the federal antitrust attorneys for the Department of Justice assigned to the case that ended up blocking the Jet Blue-Spirit merger earlier this year has told the U.S. District Court here that he expects to be heading to Hawaii.
(CLUE: They wouldn’t need their expert in Court to explain why they weren’t opposing the merger. Stock down sharply this morning.)
Brian Hanna who is a trial attorney with the U.S. DOJ’s Antitrust Division filed an application today in federal district court in Honolulu….
The filing said: “I expect to appear on behalf of the United States and to tend to the interests of the United States before this Court.”…
On Thursday, August 15, an extended review period by the Department of Justice comes to an end. Review periods are meant to give regulators time to investigate potential impacts of mergers….
read … DOJ antitrust ‘expect to appear’ in Hawaii court; airline merger review end nears
Thousands Fleeing Maui
SA: … Census data from 2020 showed that for the first time, a higher share of Native Hawaiians, about 53%, were living on the mainland rather than in Hawaii….
Gov. Josh Green said in an interview that data he had seen from the Federal Emergency Management Agency showed that about 10% of Lahaina’s population of 12,000 residents had left the island….
The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization estimates that Maui has lost 3,000 to 4,000 people over the past year, a number that includes people who were not displaced by the fire but left anyway and undocumented residents affected by the fire who wouldn’t necessarily show up in official data because they did not seek out government aid. Carl Bonham, the organization’s executive director, said he considered the estimate to be conservative….
Moore said, “that this place that has been so familiar for so long is no longer familiar.”
His parents sold their house for nearly $1 million, bought a new one in South Carolina for about $300,000 and paid off all of their debts.
“Now they are living in a place they don’t want to be living at, in a state they don’t want to be in,” he said, “but they love family and they love finally being out of debt.” …
(CLUE: The only thing Hawaii did for them was put them on a property ladder.)
read … Burned out of Lahaina, thousands attempt life elsewhere
Stopping deadly crashes on Oahu will cost up to $755 million; city outlines 'Vision Zero' plan
HNN: … he city released its ambitious 16-year-plan to eliminate traffic fatalities on Oahu's roads….
LINK: Vision Zero | Honolulu Complete Streets
read … Stopping deadly crashes on Oahu will cost up to $755 million; city outlines 'Vision Zero' plan
No time to waste breaking campaign promises, post-primary
SA: … As a start, Blangiardi’s own pledge to add 18,000 housing units to the island’s inventory over eight years in office is a lot to shoulder. …
read … No time to waste breaking campaign promises, post-primary
Violent crime report shows rise in 2 disturbing categories for Honolulu
HNN: … Only 15 cities showed an increase in homicides during that time period. Honolulu was one of them, with one additional murder.
There were 16 reported, compared to 15 during the same time period in 2023. The entire 2023 saw 23 total homicides.
The 16 from this year includes the Manoa mass murder and suicide from March. Paris Oda fatally stabbed his wife and three children before killing himself with the knife.
Reported rapes jumped. There were 164 in the first half of this year, compared to 136 in the first half of last year….
PDF: MCCA-Violent-Crime-Report-2024-and-2023-Midyear.pdf (majorcitieschiefs.com)
read … Violent crime report shows rise in 2 disturbing categories for Honolulu
Corrections Officer, Sergeant suspended after alleged assault of prison inmate, sources say
HNN: … HNN Investigates is looking into claims that an adult corrections officer and a Sergeant were suspended after allegedly assaulting an inmate at the Halawa Prison earlier in August.
Sources tell us that the inmate was handcuffed.
The Department of Corrections officials told us they couldn’t confirm or deny that information…
read … Corrections Officer, Sergeant suspended after alleged assault of prison inmate, sources say (hawaiinewsnow.com)
BWS: 'We have a serious situation' over detection of crude oil chemicals at shuttered well
HNN: … The Board of Water Supply says that for the first time, its inactive Aiea well is detecting chemicals related to crude oil.
BWS leaders believe it’s a sign that contamination from the Navy’s Red Hill fuel spills could be spreading. In a statement, the Navy’s Red Hill Closure Task Force disagreed with the BWS saying it doesn’t concur with its conclusions.
In July, the Board of Water Supply told the U.S. EPA and Hawaii State Department of Health it detected a class of chemicals called PAHs in late May at its shuttered Aiea well. In early June, it had several more detections. PAHs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, occur naturally in coal, crude oil, and gasoline.
“This is the first detection of petroleum-related chemicals so far to the west of Red Hill, which is over two miles away from the Red Hill fuel tanks. We’ve never detected this that far west,” said Ernie Lau, BWS chief engineer and manager….
BWS says Oahu’s public drinking water system is safe because it shutdown the Aiea well in 2021 when 20,000 gallons of fuel leaked from the Navy’s massive underground fuel tanks at Red Hill.
BWS leaders have been worried for years about a moving contamination plume when 27,000 gallons of fuel spilled in 2014.
The PAH concentrations were low, but some exceeded state health department action levels.
Also, looking at the Navy’s own data, BWS found that the Navy is reporting six groundwater monitoring wells with PAH detections near the Red Hill fuel tanks….
HNN: Contamination possibly linked to Red Hill could shut down another water well, BWS confirms
CB: Chemical Plume Found In Closed Aiea Drinking Wells May Come From Red Hill
read … BWS: 'We have a serious situation' over detection of crude oil chemicals at shuttered well
Public Utilities Commission Hides Active Proceedings in a Dead Docket Repository
IM: … The Commission`s Case and Document Management System (CDMS) is difficult to navigate and does not indicate the speed which a proceeding will move.
Regulatory dockets can be closed because the issues have been resolved, because the issues have been shifted to another proceeding, because the issues are premature for Commission consideration, or because conditions or laws have changed.
Some dockets are resolved and closed but have active reporting requirements. Dockets can also be put on life support, suspended until some future events occur.
But there is another option. Dockets can be put in a dead docket repository where outsiders are unaware of when the proceeding might be resurrected or officially be declared dead. A prime example is the first wheeling docket that went from 2007 to 2019 without a significant ruling of any kind when it was closed….
read … Public Utilities Commission Maintains Active Proceedings in a Dead Docket Repository
30 Prior Convictions: Maui police arrest Kahului suspect in Pukalani IEDs explosion
SA: … The Maui Police Department arrested a 47-year-old Kahului man Saturday in connection with the discovery of a series of improvised explosive devices, one of which detonated and sidelined a sport utility vehicle in Pukalani on Thursday.
Suspect Robert Francis Dumaran, 47, was arrested on Aug. 10 on a “federal warrant,” according to MPD’s booking log. Dumaran was taken into federal custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being held at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.
Dumaran has 30 prior state convictions, including for felony promotion of a dangerous drug, and misdemeanor terroristic threatening, and domestic violence….
(Key Word: State. Finally this 30-time loser will go before a real—ie Federal--court.)
read … Maui police arrest Kahului suspect in Pukalani IEDs explosion
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