Rail Appeal Hearing: Judges Focus on Jurisdictional Issues
Mayor claims $26 million shortfall just days into fiscal year
Final Judgment: Online Travel Companies Owe State $246M
Hawaii Data Book 2012 Now Available on the Internet
Judicial Selection Commission Seeks Supreme Court Nominees
CD 1 race 'crying out' for Mufi Hannemann
Borreca: ...he seat to be vacated by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who is running for the U.S. Senate, is attracting a large field of Democrats with little name recognition.
So far, there are four politicians now holding office who want the congressional job.
Stanley Chang is a City Council freshman, Ikaika Anderson is in his second Honolulu Hale term, and state Rep. Mark Takai and Sen. Will Espero are legislative veterans.
All four are nice guys with little baggage, but never held political jobs allowing them to earn any real heft.
Also none have shown a major-league bank account.
"The race cries out for someone with real money," said one Democratic political adviser....
Kim says at this time she is not interested.
Someone who is not saying whether there is interest or not is Mufi Hannemann, Honolulu's former mayor.
Hannemann brings major name recognition into the race, but in his last two races, could not crack 40 percent.
Against Abercrombie, Hannemann had just under 38 percent, and facing Tulsi Gabbard in the race for Congressional District 2, Hannemann had 34 percent. Clearly Hannemann would need more than just name recognition to win next year.
So with the election a year away and four candidates already in contention, Hawaii's CD 1 is still an open race.
CB: Get Ready for 2016!
read ... CD 1 race 'crying out' for candidate with cash
Atheists Sue Hawaii Churches, Demand $5.6M Cash
SA: Five churches have underpaid the state Department of Education for the use of public school facilities by more than $5.6 million over the past six years, according to a lawsuit unsealed this week in state court.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Mitch Kahle, founder of Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of Church and State, and public advocate Holly Huber. They filed their lawsuit under seal in March to give the state the opportunity to join in.
When the state attorney general declined, a state judge ordered the lawsuit unsealed.
Kahle and Huber filed suit on behalf of the state against New Hope Oahu, New Hope Hawaii Kai, New Hope Kapolei, One Love Ministries and Calvary Chapel Central Oahu. If they win, they will receive a reward of 25 percent to 30 percent of damages. The rest of the money will go to the state....
Kahle and Huber said they investigated the churches for a year, obtaining copies of their applications and going to the schools to see exactly how long they actually used the gymnasiums, cafeterias and classrooms....
HNN: Actually Got a Contrasting Opinion, unlike the Atheist Advertiser --"The three New Hope Churches mentioned in the claims are members of the Hawaii District of Foursquare Churches. We can assure the public that our churches have always honored all agreements made with DOE agents for the use of public school facilities. On top of paying the rent agreed, we have also given voluntarily thousands of dollars to the schools we use to upgrade their facilities and equipment. We are committed to be a blessing to our community," wrote Fernando Castillo, Hawaii District of Foursquare Churches Supervisor.
ILind: Lawsuit on church rental of public school facilities is definitely one to watch
CB: Mitch Kahle and Holly Huber, who wrote a 2,200-page report detailing evidence of their allegations
LINK: Meet Their Lawyer
read ... Atheist Money Grab
Atheists Call for Senate to Attack Churches
KITV: The atheists are asking for a Senate hearing and investigation into the DOE's rental contracts with five local churches....
read ... Senate?
Congressional Delegation Pressures Abercrombie to Call gay Marriage Special Session
PR: The coordinated statement was released Friday by Hawaii United for Marriage, an advocacy group that wants lawmakers to return in special session and pass a gay marriage bill....
Abercrombie and state House and Senate leaders have been publicly circumspect about a special session, although there have been extensive discussions behind the scenes. House and Senate leaders have said they do not have the two-thirds' support required to call themselves back into special session, so the decision rests with Abercrombie, who aides say is waiting for a clear signal from the House about whether there are enough votes for a gay marriage bill. The Senate has the votes for gay marriage.
If there is no special session, lawmakers will consider gay marriage during the next session of the Legislature that starts in January.
read ... Mainland Homosexual Campaign contributors
HHSC 'More Difficult to Operate' With Obamacare
SA: Avery Chumbley says he didn't feel like a captain taking over the Titanic when he accepted the role as chairman of the financially beleaguered state hospital system in 2009....the system continues to bleed money at an alarming rate....
At the moment, its board is seeking a $14 million emergency appropriation from the state Legislature to help sustain its operations, but more than that will be needed if it can't figure out a way to make all its ends meet....
Q: In that regard, are you guys expecting things to change with the onset of Obamacare?
A: You know, it's going to make it more difficult for us to operate because, in a way, the whole payer formula is changing, so you see a reduction in Medicare and Medicaid payments. That's a negative to us. Hawaii has one of the highest percentage of insured residents practically of anywhere in U.S., so we won't see some of that being switched over to the private payers, like hospitals will across the mainland.
Q: As far as the state hospitals go, it seems there are some costs that could be controlled, except you're locked in in some ways. Like your labor costs.
A: Our labor costs are considerably higher than the national average for hospitals, and higher than state private hospitals. The national average probably runs about 51 percent. The state hospitals are running around 49 percent. Ours runs about 76 to 77 percent.
Now, HHSC has lower salaries than probably the private hospitals and the mainland hospitals, the base salaries, but when you add in all of the benefits-associated costs, ours go higher. Because you got the 21-21-14 package, based on benefits alone.
Q: What's 21-21-14?
A: Twenty-one days vacation, 21 days sick leave and 14 holidays.
...we're projecting that we're going to have a reported loss of about $28 million, (after) the $14 million (emergency appropriation)....
read ... Avery Chumbley--The head of Hawaii's public hospital system is intent on improving its financial health
How Much Can We Squeeze Tourists? HTA lowers expectations for 2014
SA: HTA, which manages the state government's tourism budget and sets tourism policy, had always expected 2014 would be weaker than the so-far record-setting 2013, and on Thursday the HTA downgraded its expectations further after hearing that the Japanese market this year is not performing as strongly as was once anticipated.
HTA now says 8.753 million visitors is a more appropriate 2014 goal. The new arrivals target is slightly lower than the original 2014 target of 8.754 million; however, it represents a 3.2 percent increase over the 2013 arrivals goal. The board also set a goal of increasing visitor spending in 2014 to $16.1 billion. While the new spending goal is about 3.1 percent lower than the previous 2014 expectation of $16.6 billion, it represents a 5.1 percent increase over the 2013 spending goal.
The board's goal for per-person-per-day spending in 2014 is $202.57, which is 2.6 percent higher than its 2013 goal. In keeping with current trends, the board also reduced length of stay, the measure of how long a visitor stays in Hawaii, to 9.08 days, which is 0.7 percent lower its their goal for this year.
High prices lead some visitors to shorten their stays, said David Uchiyama, HTA vice president for brand management.
read ... State's tourism board lowers its expectations for 2014
Leilehua HS Teacher Pleads Guilty to Meth Charges
SA: A special-education teacher on leave from her job at Leilehua High School pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to conspiring to distribute and possessing with the intent to distribute more than 200 grams of methamphetamine.
Janice Pualani Fontes, 51, faces a prison term of between five and 40 years at sentencing in November. Until then she remains on home detention.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Inciong said that from January to May, Fontes sent parcels containing $6,000 in drug proceeds each to a drug supplier in California. She also provided the supplier, Raul Balboa Garcia, Hawaii addresses to send the drugs. In exchange, Garcia paid Fontes $2,500 per month, Inciong said....
read ... Another Day in the DoE
Constitutional amendment to send taxpayer funds to private schools will be up for a vote
SA: Advocates for state-funded preschool believe they will have to better explain why taxpayer money should go to private preschools for a constitutional amendment to pass in November 2014.
Voters will be asked to amend the state Constitution so the state can eventually roll out a preschool program for all 4-year-olds, of which there are about 18,000. The state would need the capacity at both public and private preschools to achieve the goal, but the Constitution prohibits public money from being spent on private education.
A new poll released Thursday by Good Beginnings Alliance, an interest group that favors expanding preschool options, continued to show overwhelming support for the concept of state-funded preschool. Eighty-two percent interviewed by QMark Research favored the idea of free or subsidized preschool, up from 74 percent last year.
But just 52 percent supported a constitutional amendment that would allow public money to go to private preschools. The poll was taken from June 21 to July 7 among 500 registered voters statewide. The margin of error was 4.9 percentage points.
"Anecdotally, when we've been talking to people, the problem that people seem to have is the word ‘private.'....
read ... Vote
Video: Felons Conspire With Law Prof to Ensure Sovereignty Movement Recruitment at Kulani Prison
BIVN: Continuing their fight to bring a pu’uhonua to the site of the soon to be restored Kulani Correctional Facility, Ohana Ho’opakele invited UH law professor Bill Chang to discuss legal issues at a recent meeting.
Ohana Ho’opakele has filed a complaint challenging the state’s Final Environmental Assessment on the reactivation of the Kulani prison, claiming the Department of Public Safety did not properly consider the pu’uhonua concept – as mandated by the state legislature – when it conducted its environmental assessment.
The August 14th discussion (including convicted felons Jim Albertini and Ralph P Dedman) was filmed by Occupy Hawaii and posted to YouTube.
read ... Kulani update: puuhonua legal meeting, ag RFP issued
HTA vs Schatz: 'Decision Already Made to Locate Obama Library in Chicago'
PBN: “No decisions have been made,” Schatz, D-Hawaii, who is a member of the committee seeking to bring the presidential library to the president’s home state, told PBN. “Hawaii is very much in the running.”
The topic arose during an HTA board meeting, where the board voted to table a request by HTA Fiscal Manager Marc Togashi to accept $200,000 to support development of a presidential center in Honolulu. The board decided to delay making a decision until they received more details about how the money would be used and what the tourism agency’s role in the project would be.
Board member Lorrie Stone (hand in glove with Hanabusa) told her colleagues that the “decision for the presidential library has been made for Chicago,” and suggested they hear directly from Robert Perkinson, an associate professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaii Manoa and project coordinator for the Barack Obama Hawaii Presidential Center Initiative’s steering committee.
read ... Set up by Hanabusa, Schatz Blows it Again
Carpenters endorsing Tsutsui for 2014 race
MN: Ron Taketa, executive secretary-treasurer of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters, said the Hawaii Carpenters Union, which represents more than 6,000 carpenters, drywall workers, lathers and related craft workers, made the early endorsement because of the "outstanding character and abilities" of Tsutsui.
"We have come to know and appreciate the depth of understanding and care Shan has for Hawaii's working families. At the same time, he supports the honest construction contractors that our members work for. We will lend the strength of our union to his re-election," Taketa said in a news release.
read ... Calvin Who?
Hawaii Health Connector says small businesses should go for the tax credits
PBN: The Hawaii Health Connector, Hawaii’s online health insurance exchange launching this fall, has a piece of advice for small business owners — take advantage of federal tax credits.
The Hawaii Health Connector will provide access to federal tax credits for businesses that qualify though its Small Business Health Options Program. To be eligible for tax credits, you must be a Hawaii-based employer with up to 50 employees who work at least 20 hours per week, and the average salary of employees must be less than $50,000 per year with the employer covering at least half of their employees’ health care coverage.
read ... Tax Credits
Compared with Other States, Hawaii Adults Not So Fat
CB: The CDC released a report Thursday (Aug. 15) saying that, after three decades of increases, adult obesity rates remained level in every state except for one, Arkansas.
The states with the highest obesity rates are Louisiana (34.7% percent), Mississippi (34.6 percent), Arkansas (34.5 percent), West Virginia (33.8 percent) and Alabama (33 percent).
Hawaii is ranked 47th with New York (23.6 percent), just behind Massachusetts (22.9 percent), the District of Columbia (21.9 percent) and Colorado (20.5 percent).
LINK: CDC Report
read ... Fat Chance
How Women's Liberation Spawned Exploitation of Women
SA: Cione saw the advent of hostess bars in the early 1970s and decided the era of big-name stars putting on shows was ending. The audience wanted something new....
Birth control pills had just come out in 1965, and a sexual revolution was getting underway. Young people were "letting it all hang out." Nudity was the angle Cione settled on. He was the first to bring in topless dancers, nude waiters, bottomless shoeshine girls and nude musicals....
"Then I thought, I have some North Shore male tenants who were behind in their rent. They preferred surfing to working. Maybe they'd perform in exchange for their back rent. They agreed.
"By the time the show happened, 125 women came. They got up on the stage in shorts and tank tops. One by one they dropped their pants. The audience went nuts. The women stayed all afternoon. The bar bills were enormous.
"The phone began ringing with women who wanted to come in again with their friends. I scheduled it again for the following Friday, and almost immediately it was sold out. We could seat 400.
"Every Friday soon became every day of the week. United Press International did a story on it, and reporters started calling from all over. I guess it was the first of its kind in the world.
"I was contacted by nearly 100 newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV shows. I was on the ‘Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,' ‘The Tom Snyder Show' and others." Cione became a celebrity, and the Dunes was raking in a small fortune.
Cione opened a second location at Beachwalk and Kalakaua and sold franchises in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
read ... Reality
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