Hawaii senator Brian Schatz involved in simulated sheep rape rituals

Complaint Alleges Wrongdoing by Hanabusa Campaign

UHERO: School Furloughs Reduced Juvenile Crime Rates

Report: Hawaii third highest in per capita interest costs

Fitch Ratings Analyzes DHHL Lease Portfolio

Report: Feds Have No Idea Why $200M Hawaii Harbors Contract Doubled in Cost

UHERO Annual Hawaii Forecast: Expansion to Strengthen Despite Washington Worries

Audio: Mike Hansen on the Rick Hamada Show -- Jones Act Interview

HNN Blackout: DISH Network Asks Congress to Intervene

HNN:   Anderson has worked in government for the last 15 years, and has served two terms on the Honolulu City Council.  He currently holds the position of Vice-Chair of the Council.

• CB: Ikaika Anderson Raises $80,000 for Congressional Campaign
• CB: Doing the Math on Hawaii's 1st District Race

read ... Ikaika Anderson announces candidacy for congress

Gay Activists Release Another Bogus Poll: Claim Everybody Wants Them

PR: A coalition of groups urging the state Legislature to take action on the issue of marriage equality on Thursday released new polling data showing overwhelming support for allowing gays and lesbians to marry.

When asked: “On the question of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, strongly oppose or somewhat oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry?” the poll showed 54 percent of Hawaii resident were in favor, compared to 31 percent who opposed.

The poll, released by Hawaii (sic) United (sic) for Marriage (sic), was conducted by QMark Research of Honolulu. The live telephone poll of 442 Hawaii residents was conducted July 26-30.

Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Lanikai-Waimanalo), who supports legalizing same-sex marriage, said:  “Here in Hawaii, across the nation, and around the world, public opinion has changed"

• PR: Gays to Attack two Legislators Tomorrow
• CB: Poll: Hawaii Voters Support Same-Sex Marriage
• On Top: Mainland Gays See Latest Bogus Poll as Evidence Hawaii Wants Them

read ... It's Q-Mark, made to order

SA: Put school facilities under 1 roof

SA: In 2004, lawmakers passed Act 51, with the intent that public school facilities could be built and repaired more efficiently if the work fell under the state Department of Education umbrella. Previously, it had been handled by the state Department of Accounting and General Services, the agency that oversees much of the state's contracting work.

Judging by the results of an internal audit that DOE recently released, the transition of the duties from DAGS to DOE still isn't complete after eight years, with many projects being poorly managed.

Facilities construction and repair duties clearly need better coordination and consolidation within the DOE.

That's a subject that the Board of Education must take up, and even the Legislature may need to address when it reconvenes in January.

Background: Audit: DoE Construction Process Outdated, Inefficient, Inconsistent

read ... Put school facilities under 1 roof

Freitas Negotiating University Business Deals Systemwide

SA: Now his attention has turned primarily to the challenges of continued development of the new West Oahu campus in East Kapolei. But Freitas is also known as someone with influential contacts who can be tapped as a go-between. He figured in other UH debates, said Andres Albano, a former UH regent who chaired a panel on public-private partnerships.

Albano said Freitas was instrumental in closing the deal with the community on the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea and worked with County Council members on the new Hawaii Community College campus at Palamanui.

Background: Senate Accountability for Everybody Except Rockne Freitas

read ... Ca-Ching

Sick Leave Abuse Tied to Guard's Death

SA: On June 16, corrections officer Michael Makiya, who should have had a second person working with him, was alone in a locked control room when he had a heart attack and later died.

"They had a lot of people out sick that day," 66 to be exact, Schwartz said. "They had to move the person in the control room" to another post to cover for someone who called in sick. "He was left on his own."

Makiya had fallen unconscious on the floor. While doing checks, as is done every half-hour, a guard spotted him on the floor.

Guards tried to get the key kept in a lock box, but the person temporarily assigned as captain either forgot the code or didn't have it, so the door had to be broken down to get to Makiya, Schwartz said.

read ... Fun and Games til someone gets hurt 

Alleged Muslim Eye-Gouger to Appear for Mental health Exam

SA: A mental fitness hearing will be held today for the 24-year-old man who is accused of terrorizing fellow Muslims in the Moiliili-Manoa area in May.

Jamal Morris had been scheduled to be arraigned at Circuit Court on May 31 on a first-degree attempted-assault charge, a felony charge that carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Morris is accused of attacking Maseeh Ganjali on May 15 while Ganjali sat in his truck on University Avenue. Police said Morris tried to gouge Ganjali’s right eye, bit him and hit him repeatedly on his face after Ganjali gave him a ride from a Manoa Valley mosque.

However, Circuit Judge Richard Perkins ordered Morris to undergo an examination to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.

Morris has been committed to the state hospital while undergoing psychological examinations since May.

His fitness hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. before Perkins.

Background: Honolulu Muslim Leader Accuses Radical Muslim of Two Local Attacks

Google: "Muslim eye-gouge"

read ... About Islam

Kauai School Bus Driver Arrested for DUI, Kids On Board

KITV: Kauai police say officers arrested Lawrence Koth for Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of an Intoxicant after he crashed a school bus into a boat in Kapa'a Thursday morning.

Kauai county officials say police are awaiting results of Koth's tests, but the incident does not appear to be alcohol-related.

The 74-year-old Kapa'a man was en route to Kapa'a Middle School when citizens reported to Police Dispatch that the bus appeared to be swerving on the roadways.

Police located the bus at approximately 7:20 a.m. on Kamalu Road and observed the vehicle weaving.  Officers then initiated a traffic stop on Olohena Road, near the Puuopae Road junction.  The bus was attempting to pull to the shoulder of the roadway when it sideswiped a parked boat and trailer.

KHON: Kauai bus driver arrested for DUI could still be allowed to drive.

read ... Kauai School Bus Driver Arrested for DUI, Kids On Board

No Yellow Bus: Some Big Island Charter Students on Dangerous Road to School

CB: The principal of a Big Island public charter school says he’s been left scrambling after receiving last-minute notice from the Hawaii Department of Education that his school would no longer be eligible for basic student bus services.

The parents of some of the school's students can surely relate. They are organizing carpools and footing the bill for gas, even though they are poor enough for their children to qualify for free meals at school. Kids are left to walk along roads that can be dangerous in areas without sidewalks or shoulder lanes and to cross highways between speeding cars to catch infrequent public buses. One child was even spotted trying to hitchhike.

Principal Steve Hirakami says it wasn’t until Aug. 2 — three days before the start of the school year — when he was told that roughly 50 general education students at Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science wouldn’t have rides to school.

A long-standing state policy restricts charter school students from DOE-provided school bus services, so most charter schools figure out their own transportation. But Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science, which sits in a remote, impoverished part of the island and serves about 580 students, was an exception because it had for years transported its students on buses contracted with the nearby Pahoa High and Intermediate School.

read ... Left High and Dry

DID RECENT SPECIAL SESSION AFFECT INTERIM APPOINTMENTS?

EH: Shawn Smith is scheduled to attend Friday’s meeting of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources as the board’s representative from Kaua`i. But with the state Senate having met last Tuesday in a special session, in which Smith’s appointment was not considered, can Smith continue to serve in this position?

The governor’s office says yes. The Senate clerk’s office says yes. The press officer for the Department of Land and Natural Resources did not respond to a request for comment.

Yet the plain language of the state Constitution seems to say no.

Read ... Environment Hawaii

Veterans Lose out on VA Loans Because of Catchment Tank Regs

HTH: Once he retired, Churchill, a disabled veteran who tries to hide his slight limp, dreamed of owning a little piece of Hawaii, close to Kapoho, where his brother Winston, a Realtor, moved to escape the hustle and bustle of the mainland.

But for Caleb Churchill, and many vets like him, the American Dream of home ownership almost washed down the drain, when he learned he couldn’t qualify for the Veterans Affairs loan he had counted on. A rule change in late 2011 prohibited VA loans for properties relying on rainwater catchment systems.

Background: VA Mortgages Denied for Catchment Homes, State DoH Refuses to Act

read ... Catchment tanks cost veterans home loans

Act 238: State Bonds for Seawater AC Cronies

CB: Act 238 of the 2013 session authorizes the state to issue up to $40 million in special purpose revenue bonds for a project that says it will cool the Keahole airport and the nearby Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority. Act 129 authorizes up to $200 million in Special Purpose Revenue Bonds for a similar Waikiki project....

Jeff Mikulina of the Blue Planet Foundation (formerly director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter) praised seawater air-conditioning as a means of achieving substantial reductions in fossil fuel consumption.

Cord Anderson, a partner in Kona SWAC, LLC (the entity proposing to build the Keahole facility) claimed his project would replace 23,000 barrels of oil a year, reduce potable water use by 35 million gallons a year, reduce sewage discharge by 15.4 million gallons a year, and reduce “harmful gas emissions of approximately 11,100 tons/year.”

Anderson, a grandson of politician D.G. “Andy” Anderson, has been involved in several business ventures, including a foreclosed-upon effort to renovate the iconic Ilikai hotel in Waikiki. He has also run afoul of the Board of Land and Natural Resources for the way he has managed state-owned land in the village of Kailua-Kona. Anderson, by the way, is a member of the Honolulu Planning Commission.

In his testimony, Anderson said his plans included “leveraging” unused capacity in an existing 55-inch pipeline at the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. There was no testimony from NELHA to indicate whether such capacity exists.

Anderson’s company, he said, is a subsidiary of Kaiuli Energy, whose management team, he said, “is comprised of Hawaii business leaders with the necessary experience critical to the project’s success.” Among them are Ray Soon, former head of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, and Darryl Nakamoto, former chief financial officer of the bankrupt alternative-energy company Hoku Corporation. (Hoku, by the way, was also a SPRB beneficiary. As of mid-July, its stock was selling at 1.66 cents a share.)

The lone discouraging word came from Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land. He pointed out that the request by Kona SWAC for as much as $40 million in SPRBs (Senate Bill 1280) “was filed before the company registered” with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. (It finally registered on February 5 of this year; the DCCA website shows that its sole member is Kaiuli Energy, LLC.)

“Neither company has a working website,” Curtis said in his testimony. “Neither company has any public information about their skill sets, knowledge of Sea Water Air Conditioning or ability to deliver. In the interest of open government, sunshine, and community participation, we believe their requests for SPRBs are not ripe and should be deferred until the public has had adequate time to evaluate their proposals and to offer meaningful comments to this committee.”

UHERO: Investigating the Potential for Seawater Air Conditioning in Waikiki

HFP: Company With Ties to Abercrombie, DelaCruz Seeks $200M from Legislature

read ... Hawaii Environmental Legislation You May Have Missed

After Budget Dispute, Animal complaint calls to go to HPD not Hawaiian Humane Society

HNN: Changes have already begun at the Hawaiian Humane Society, as it will stop providing some services, leaving the Honolulu Police Department to pick up the responsibility.

Here's an example, the Hawaiian Humane Society went to 2,000 barking dog complaints last year. Starting today HPD will have to respond to all those calls and many others like it.

The Hawaiian Humane Society takes in nearly 21,000 animals a year. At any given time there could be 350 animals at the shelter including dogs, cats, rabbits and more, all of which costs money.

"Over the past few years we've had to underwrite the contract by a couple million dollars. That basically means that we've taken charity funds to help pay for county mandates services. We really can't afford to do that any longer," said Jacque LeBlanc, Hawaiian Humane Society Community Relations Director.

The City has contracted the services of the nonprofit shelter for $2.3 million a year since 2008. When the current contract came up the Hawaiian Humane Society was the only one to bid. It asked for an additional $800,000 a year, which the city says it can't afford.

read ... Animal complaint calls to go to HPD not Hawaiian Humane Society

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