If agreement is not reached in the current round of negotiations, the team will make a decision on whether to proceed to arbitration. The timetable for arbitration is contained in a March 23, 2011 Memorandum of Agreement, which allows for either the Union or the Employer to request the Hawaii Labor Relations Board (HLRB) implement impasse procedures.

Identify and assess people who are chronically homeless for immediate services in Waikiki and the urban core of Honolulu.

During the Republican candidates’ debate on May 5, Johnson stated firmly in response to a question, “I advocate legalizing marijuana – control it, regulate, tax it.”

... the President's strategy isn't about empowering teachers and communities. It's about increasing the federal government's authority over schools....

The just released 2011 Medicare trustees report: Medicare poses enormous challenges for patients and taxpayers alike, and its financial condition continues a downward slide....

Moody's justified the downgrade based on the state's forecast depletion of reserve funds by the end of the 2011 fiscal year, sustained budget shortfalls relieved by one-time solutions and low pension-funded ratios relative to other states. Hawaii's audited financial results have also come in late since fiscal 2007....

A pattern of earthen berms, spread across a northern peninsula of the big island of Hawaii, is providing archeologists with clues to exactly how residents farmed in paradise long before Europeans arrived at the islands.

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: Cloture Motion; James M. Cole to be Deputy Attorney General
• House: Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act
• House: Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act
• House: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011

The United States today hit an all-time high debt, passing $14 trillion, according to Associated Press reports. And with $45,300 of debt for every man, woman and child in the United States, it's clear as day that spending is the problem. Yet Washington has yet to come to an agreement on a way forward, either in the short term or the long term, though the budget plan passed by the House of Representatives would fundamentally alter this debt-ridden path the nation is on....

 The opportunity to directly vote on the Republican nominee is expected to bring out thousands of Hawaii Republican voters who have never before had a chance to directly participate in choosing the Republican Presidential nominee.

...unalterable opposition to the Akaka Bill and to any iteration of it....

See the Video...

Town Hall Meeting, Hawaii Kai, with Representative Gene Ward, Minority Leader; and Senator Sam Slom, Minority Leader May 2011

Hundreds of Hawaii Republicans will meet Saturday and Sunday at the Kauai Beach Resort for the GOP state convention. But the top of the agenda—selecting new Party leadership--is a foregone conclusion....

...all Hawai'i flags at all State offices and agencies as well as the Hawai'i National Guard are to be flown at half-staff alongside U.S. flags from sunrise to sunset on Sunday, May 15, 2011....

It is not clear why HMSA could not “anticipate” such impacts. Millions of Americans have been protesting against Obamacare for over a year now.  The bureaucratic interference, bungling, and rationing described in the HMSA letter reads like a caricature of what these “TEA Party” protesters have warned of.

...if those senators were truly serious about cutting the deficit, they wouldn't stop at just cutting subsidies for oil companies. They would also call for the elimination of subsidies for the president's pet projects such as renewable fuels, electric vehicles, wind and solar. Throw in clean coal and natural gas, too. That would be the right move for the American taxpayers. But good policy isn't their goal -- vilifying an industry is their end game.... 

The state is contributing $1.5 million for the project, and Kyoya and HTA will provide $500,000 each.

Big news release which can be condensed into one word: RATIONING.

Honolulu City Council has got to have more important things to focus on than regulating and restricting yet another aspect of our lives.

Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to ensure that Defendants do not implement the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project...before complying fully with federal environmental laws.

In a speech in Boston, Mr. Tutu directly attacked the Jewish supporters of Israel as being in effect traitors to America, controlling U.S. foreign policy for the benefit of Israel and to the detriment of America. In that speech he compared American Jewish supporters of Israel to Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin, Milosevich, Stalin, and Pinochet.

Transit coverage is highest in Western metro areas such as Honolulu and Los Angeles, and lowest in Southern metro areas such as Chattanooga and Greenville....

School districts very often define spending categories in unexpected ways, making it difficult to distinguish classroom spending from operational costs....

Prominent journalists like ABC's Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalist's ethical code stating: "avoid all conflicts real or perceived."

Ms. Takaki is active in the Hawaii Chapter of The ESOP Association has served on the Executive Committee's State & Regional Chapter Council. From 2007 – 2009, Ms. Takaki served as Chair of The ESOP Association.

In an effort to raise awareness about pornography Craig Gross founded XXXchurch.com, the website mixes the seedy with the sacred in an effort to raise the often taboo subject of pornography as a problem that needs to be dealt with. The website has had over 70 million visitors....

"I'm Newt Gingrich, and I'm announcing my candidacy for President of the United States because I believe we can return America to hope and opportunity, to full employment, to real security, to an American energy program, to a balanced budget."

The median annual rate in Hawaii for a private nursing home room is $122,640 per year, greater than the national rate of $77,745 per year.

Nationally, the median annual cost of long term care in an assisted living facility is $39,135, an increase of 6.0 percent annually over the past six years. In Hawaii, the annual cost of assisted living care is $45,900 ....

Representative Gene Ward, Minority Leader, Sine Die Announcement May 2011, Hawaii State House of Representatives ....

With the nation’s spending and debt problems on the verge of destroying the American dream for future generations, the Heritage Foundation today released a comprehensive plan to balance the federal budget, reform entitlement programs and recast the tax code to promote long-term economic growth. 

…a decade’s worth of reform and rhetoric that hasn’t made much of a dent. 

Janet Grace, Executive Director of Hawaii Right to Life, states, "We believe the Neighborhood Board election is as important as any other state electoral contest because it gives voters the opportunity to choose lawmakers who are uncompromisingly committed to pursuing life-affirming policies in our local statutes. Each vote for candidates who value life will help bring the urgent change Honolulu needs to thrive and prosper."

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: Confirmation John J. McConnell, Jr. of Rhode Island, to be U.S. District Judge
• House: To repeal mandatory funding provided to establish American Health Benefit Exchanges
• House: To repeal mandatory funding for school-based health center construction
• House: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
• House: Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act

You might think that a U.S. company's decision to expand its manufacturing facilities and create 1,000 new jobs here at home -- rather than overseas -- would be hailed by the Obama Administration as a step in the right direction, especially with nine percent unemployment. You'd be wrong....

The real savings Medical Homes could give to HHSC do not come in the emergency room but in elder care and neo-natal care....

...unnoticed in the public summary of the report are a couple of paragraphs which point out some serious risks to the corporatist State of Hawaii. The cut-off of Earmarks and other Federal pork is having an impact and the full effect is only just beginning to be felt....

Says Washington’s Gregoire: “(Change in marijuana laws) must first come at the federal level."

...a shift towards whole-person health rather than focusing primarily on the treatment of illness....

S. 52 would make it a criminal offense to..."import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce" any fish or fish product taken in violation of any treaty or agreement to which the United States is a party; or make or submit a false record, account, label for, or identification of any fish that passes in interstate or foreign commerce. 

In Senate Bill 120, it states that there are many special funds “in excess of the requirements” of those funds. The director of finance has up until June 30, 2011, to raid all of that “excess” money, amounting to more than $17 million, and put it into the general fund. 

Despite the good news this week about Osama bin Laden's demise, all is not rosy for President Barack Obama -- at least in the eyes of the American people. The approval of his handling of the economy hit an all-time low with only 34 percent of Americans giving him a thumbs up, according to a CBS/New York Times poll.

We have found that support for the political status quo, abetted by private interests, remains strongly in place. It will take time and action by the executive to change this culture.

the Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution Program, seeks to provide the owner-occupants of residential property in Hawai'i who are facing foreclosure the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the mortgagees to possibly resolve their differences....

The 2011 New Starts funds for the whole nation is $1.59 Billion and Honolulu is asking for $1.55 Billion.

Even when wind is present, the turbines are doing nothing.

Appropriates funds for the operating and capital improvement budget of the Executive Branch for fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.

This fee increase will only help perpetuate the program. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned this year, it’s that once you put money into a program and personnel, it’s very hard to get it back out. It’s harder still to shut down the program entirely. In a word, if we provide more money, the program will become dependent - even addicted - upon that money.