Energy

Here in Hawaii it seems that taxpayers suffer from a glut of omniscient soothsayers in elected office who believe they know it all and can predict the winner industry of the future....

After years as the Congressional chief of staff for Rep Wu (D-OR), Julie Tippens this January quit to take a job as chief of staff for Rep Colleen Hanabusa (D-Oahu).

Residents of California and Hawaii are the most indebted individuals in America, but they’re also among a group that are making the most progress in paying down the amount they owe, according to a MoneyWatch analysis of state-by-state debt statistics....

The time has come for parents to think about their children’s future plans and decide if the university system is a viable option.

 Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued an interim decision in Hawaiian Electric's 2011 rate case. It will result in a $3.31 a month increase for a typical Oahu residential customer

On March 5, 2007--just four months after her 2006 Lt Governor run gave Hawaii Democrats their worst gubernatorial defeat since Statehood—Solomon led about 100 people to sit in at the the Federal District Courtroom of Judge Michael Seabright to support her friend, Shawn Aguiar—the Big Island's largest methamphetamines dealer.

The new draft reverses agency protection recommendations for many bird species and adds unrealistic deadlines that would lead to “rubber-stamping” of wind projects. ABC expects millions of migratory birds to be harmed by poorly-planned wind energy.

The initiative’s first site is located in Honoka'a, within the Hamakua Coast, where services will be provided at the North Hawai'i Education & Research Center (NHERC). The Rural Outreach Services initiative is a partnership between federal, state, county governments, and private non-profit agencies.

...Abercrombie last week alerted the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services that the State of Hawai'i will be applying for the new ”Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge” grant competition....

Researchers at the Beacon Hill Institute have conducted a cost-benefit analysis of 1,100 MWs of offshore wind power for New Jersey. The findings are as follows.

• TUESDAY 4:43AM HST
• WEDNESDAY 5:19AM HST

EIRs are required for plastic bag bans by (i) “larger” cities and counties and also (ii) small cities based on the cumulative impacts. Save The Plastic Bag Coalition has legal standing to enforce that requirement.... 

On July 14, 2011, we filed a cert petition, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision in County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P'ship....

 Recent Congressional Votes

• House: Better Use of Light Bulbs Act
• House: Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011
  • House: Energy-Water Appropriations, FY2012

...in Hawaii the tax incentives and the executive order to blend all fuel merely increased the cost for the highway user and shifted the export of consumer dollars from the oil fields of the Middle East and Indonesia to the sugar fields of Brazil. And because of the lost tax revenues, taxpayers had to forego tax relief....

“Mazie Hirono and Ed Case batter each other in a contested Democratic primary, then the survivor meets and loses to Lingle in the general election."

Using results in legislative districts from the past three presidential elections, the two most recent gubernatorial elections and the last legislative election, he predicts margins of victory for Democratic or Republican candidates based on the districts’ political preferences.

(See complete Index for Hawaii House and Senate)

...the PUC determined that Castle & Cooke cannot assign part of its development rights to Pattern Energy to develop 200 MW of wind power on Molokai....

School Year 2010-11 AYP Results and Corresponding School Year 2011-12 Accountability Status by Complex

Borreca's column today is an interesting one but we do quibble with his following conclusion:  "... the anti-rail contingent has yet to show its own alternative traffic solution. Honolulu's real traffic jam is the city's inability to move a plan that has overwhelming public support."

Now that the Public Utilities Commission has ordered Hawaiian Electric (HECO) to stop this mega-project and restart it with new bidders, I Aloha Molokai (IAM) requests that Pattern Energy and its subcontractors and partners cease their activities on Molokai immediately.

Despite the fact that the state has the fourth highest median household income in the country, Hawaii actually had a larger portion of its Medicaid bill covered by the federal government than poorer states like Illinois, Virginia and Nevada. Compared to most wealthy “blue” states, the group of islands spends very little on Medicaid. 

July 19th PUBLIC HEARING at the DHHL Hawaii Pono'i Bldg. That's Tuesday July 19, 2011, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. 91-5420 Kapolei Parkway, Kapolei, Hawaii.

Hanalani School is a robotic force to be reckoned with. After three days of intense international competition, the Miliani students were named tournament champions for the second year in a row ....

Almost all discussions about Medicare reform ignore one key factor: Medicare utilization is roughly 50 percent higher than private health insurance utilization, even after adjusting for age and medical conditions....

The White House on Wednesday declined to challenge an account in a new book that suggests that President Obama, in his campaign to overhaul American health care, mischaracterized a central anecdote about his mother’s deathbed dispute with her insurance company.

Governor Neil Abercrombie approved the hiring of 10 agricultural inspectors, restoring some positions that were eliminated in 2009.

...there has actually been an increase in emergency room use by people with incomes below 300% of the poverty level....

The Divorce Law in Hawaii program will be held on Thursday, July 14, from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Hawaii Supreme Court courtroom on the second floor of Aliiolani Hale at 417 South King Street. The program is free and open to the public.

Abercrombie today signed into law the last of the measures from the 2011 legislative session. In total, Governor Abercrombie enacted 235 measures and vetoed 17; seven bills became law without his signature....

fair, equitable representation for all residents ... one man/one vote fairness doctrine ....  we urge the State Democratic Party to pursue all legal options including filing a lawsuit, if necessary, to overturn this Reapportionment Commission decision....

Most states that have approved same-sex marriage or civil unions have not lost the services of faith-based child welfare providers, but the recent conflict between Illinois and one of its largest religious partners suggests those losses might occur as more states pass such laws.

It was a simple and powerful story, one Obama would tell many more times as president during the national health care debate. But now we're learning the real story of Ann Dunham's health coverage is not quite what her son made it out to be.

The president explained that if it were not for the scholarship he received to attend a prestigious private school in Hawaii when he was ten years old, he would not be president today. Lindsey Burke, education analyst at The Heritage Foundation, says she was astonished by the remark.

In June, both sides agreed to terms on a final offer that HSTA negotiators would recommend to the HSTA board. This included the 5 percent wage reduction, equal health care premium costs and other items, such as increased planning time, which reflect tentative agreements that had been made during negotiations through June.

"Please know that I will pursue all available means to ensure that the Department of Environmental Services does not commence trucking raw sewage to the Kailua plant until it fulfills its comprehensive legal requirements under Chapter 343, HRS." -- Rep Thielen

Briefing on Cybercrime to be held Tuesday, July 12 at 10:00 a.m. at the Hawaii State Capitol, Conference Room 309.

Abercrombie has enacted 221 bills so far. The deadline to sign or veto bills passed in the last legislative session is tomorrow, July 12, 2011.

 Recent Congressional Vote: House: Fiscal 2012 Defense Appropriations

Honolulu is still completing the paperwork for its heavy rail, but preparatory construction has already started. This irrational project needs to be stopped.

Back in Nairobi, says one government official, Obama Sr. would “slam his fist on the table” and claim that a rival “knows nothing about math or economics”; he would go on to describe other colleagues as “intellectual dwarfs.” As college friend and current Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie tells Jacobs, Obama Sr. could never “contain his irritation with people who were not as facile as he, and he did not hesitate to say so.”

One reader recently wrote bemoaning that he had to read these comments about how taxpayers are constantly being overtaxed and his suggestion is that those who can pay their fair share should do so, “just pay up.”

Governor Neil Abercrombie today signed into law House Bill 1520, which ... directs the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to investigate how an on-bill financing program could operate in Hawai’i and gives the PUC the discretion to implement such a program.

Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced he is seeking applicants to the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission (NHRC). Act 195 gives the Governor the power to appoint a five-member Native Hawaiian Roll Commission that will build the foundation for....

HUD will assist homeowners who have experienced a reduction in income and are at risk of foreclosure due to involuntary unemployment, underemployment, due to economic conditions or a medical condition. EHLP can provide eligible homeowners with zero percent interest, forgivable loan of up to $50,000 that pays past-due mortgage payments, as well as a portion of the homeowner's mortgage payment, for up to 24 months.

For 2011 through 2015, singles in Hawaii with adjusted gross income above $100,000 will be allowed to claim a maximum of $25,000 in deductions for mortgage interest, charitable giving, medical expenses and the like, while couples with AGI above $200,000 will be allowed no more than $50,000. 

Warabeya U.S.A. Inc., a Honolulu, Hawaii, establishment, (which keeps House Speaker Calvin Say on a $1000/mo retainer) is recalling approximately 1,550 pounds of convenience meals that may be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes....

• Lynn Fallin as Deputy Director for Behavioral Health of the Department of Health (DOH)
• Jade T. Butay as Deputy Director for Administration of the Department of Transportation (DOT)

“Subject got his USC wife ‘Hapai’ [Hawaiian for pregnant] and although they were married they do not live together and Miss Dunham is making arrangements with the Salvation Army to give the baby away,’’ according to a memo describing the conversation with Obama written by Lyle H. Dahling, an administrator in the Honolulu office of what was then called the US Immigration and Naturalization Service.