Environment

In Cardiology, for example, a left heart catheterization costs about $2,200 in Alaska and only $400 in Washington. In orthopedics, a knee surgery costs $6,400 in Alaska and only $1,700 in Washington....

Supporters of assisted suicide tried to use a 1909 law that permits the use remedies not typically authorized for terminally ill patients, but Hawaii Attorney General David Louie has responded in a legal opinion that the state law "does not authorize physicians to assist terminally ill patients with dying."

 Just in time for the opening of the Hawaii Legislature, a US DoJ memo released December 23 overturns decades of legal interpretation and effectively legalizes intra-state online gambling....

Question: Does Hawaii want to be saddled with a partisan hack like Hirono when Democrats are in the minority?

A terrorist wanna-be from Staten Island ratted out dozens of people he called pro-jihadists in New York and Hawaii after he was arrested by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force, it was revealed Tuesday....

...the Organ Transplant Bill which could have saved HMC may now be fast-tracked by legislators now that HMC is dead. As a bonus, legislators are tacking on eight other bills ....

A public hearing to discuss the new school impact fees will be held at Waipahu High School library on Wednesday, December 28, 2011, at 3:00 p.m....

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Kohala Sugar was one of the first sugar operations that failed and state government decided it could save jobs by stepping in with all sorts of ideas to replace the agricultural activity.... millions of state dollars literally went down the drain.

The day-by-day, bank-by-bank numbers...formed the basis of a series of Bloomberg News articles this year about the largest financial bailout in history....

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If confirmed by the State Senate, DesJardins will serve in office for six years....

The Malulani Foundation continues to lay the groundwork for a new, people's hospital on Maui....

With this vote, the House rejected the Senate's two-month extension of the Social Security payroll tax reduction and requested a conference to consider a yearlong extension....

...this case begins with the original reclassification of 1,060 acres on the Big Island "agricultural" to "urban" use in 1989, subject to the condition that the original owner develop 60 percent of the proposed 2,760 housing units as "affordable" units....

After determining that 9,000 of the eligible 24,000 school-age students in military families were not attending public schools, top military leaders commissioned Johns Hopkins University researchers to focus on attitudes and opinions about the Hawaii education system.

Where did this surplus come from? From Hawaii’s hard-working families and businesses who had to shoulder an estimated $600 million in additional taxes over these two years....

Pity the much-maligned plastic bag....

Lingle's fundraising report is going to scare Democrats when it comes out in January....

... one thing here that might give Ms. Lingle hope, short of a meltdown in the Democratic primary, would be the governor. “How Abercrombie does will matter,” he said, “and affect the Senate race. And affect the future of the party.”....

"Litigation would be our next step" - IBEW

...without a revised contract, the State cannot fully implement many initiatives in its approved Race to the Top plans.... (Now you know why the HSTA has been stalling.)

SBH CPA, Natalie Iwasa, reminds us that the state legislature passed several bills earlier this year that may have an impact on you and your business. In addition, there are some changes in reporting requirements for credit cards, and the IRS mileage rate changed....

Low Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements are a key cause of HMC’s financial difficulties. Now it appears that Prime’s solution to the low reimbursement problem is simple—just cheat.

They were issued three weeks ago with no public announcement....

Abercrombie's budget seeks to achieve a healthy surplus, incorporates savings achieved through solid fiscal management, funds high-priority programs, and does not rely upon any tax increases....

Upcoming Congressional Bills

• House: Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011

...the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission moved to intervene in the lawsuit as a plaintiff in order to protect and enforce the state antidiscrimination law, which Aloha Bed & Breakfast claims does not and cannot constrain its conduct....

Another consideration is the amount of participation that will be needed to make a gaming industry a lucrative source of public revenue.... Will the cost, time and distance be attractive enough to gamble in Hawaii?

We must work to ... require local and out-of-state internet service providers to comply with Hawaii law enforcement and explore the idea of licensing web designers.

Unfortunately, it was opposed by members of the House, who wanted a variety of devastating anti-environmental riders which, if the Senate accepted, would have set back our nation’s air and water protections for many years to come. 

The akamai reader will note that this short and information-free announcement purports to identify the problem, identify the culprits, and pronounce sentence -- without actually identifying anybody or anything.

Case said he just finished a six-week swing across the islands and spoke with 5,000 people. He said he’s using that as his poll guidance for now. “They will not vote for the status quo, period,” Case said ....

...the membership has voted down the company's offer, 283-216....

Already, education policy experts who are watching progress in Race to the Top states are urging the Education Department to make an example out of Hawaii for its lack of progress—real or perceived—on its teacher-evaluation component.

...media outlets and opposing politicians in other states have a tendency to start jumping up and down, hollering and pointing fingers when an incumbent’s contributor receives an earmark. Strange, but true....

When it comes to solar power, Hawaiians are in a race. And for a small but growing number, the competition is already over....

Life of the Land believes that HECO has failed to justify ratepayer recovery for any of the Big Wind studies. HECO was required to meaningfully look at alternatives. They failed to do so. HECO was required to examine comparative costs. They failed to do so.

This proves that Inouye has been grooming Hirono to look like she’s actually doing something by letting her co-sponsor his earmarks for an entire year now.

Attempts to solve drug shortages with more regulations could actually worsen the problem ... the only way to alleviate the drug shortage is to make generic drugs more profitable.

•  Senate: Cloture on the Nomination of Richard Cordray to be Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
• Senate: Motion to Proceed; Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2011
• Senate: Motion to Proceed; Temporary Tax Holiday and Government Reduction Act
• House: Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2011
• House: Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011

Today was the day we were to have found out whether the Supreme Court would review Corboy v. Louie....

“I’ve been to events that have already raised in excess of six figures for her,” Republican Jewish Coalition President Matt Brooks said. “This is going to be a real priority race for the organization.”

… and yet, oddly, Inouye & the AFL-CIO have been dead set against switching to a closed Democratic Primary ….

There will be a savings match component where families that save up to $2,500 will receive $15,000 in matching funds to help with purchasing a house anywhere in the state.

I don’t want to say, ‘I told you so’ but the person in office (Abercrombie) right now, leading our state, I believe that he fooled a lot of people. The thought they saw a heart in this guy, but that wasn’t true.…

Hawaii homebuyers average a 13.37% mortgage downpayment.

...forecasts made by the tax department weren’t very reliable. In fact, it was pointed out that the department’s numbers included revenues from taxing the sales of sugar from independent sugar growers, sugar growers who have not been around for nearly two decades....

Who owns the new land created when lava flows over private property and into the sea and hardens into fast land?

... Another Old Boy ....