$381K in Prohibited Gifts: Ethics Commission Compares Kirk Caldwell to Rod Tam -- Then Lets him off Hook
Kauai submits to mob rule (again)
Anti-GMO “Leaders”– Is There a Middle Ground?
The Constituents that Wooley, Hooser & Gabbard Listen To
2% of Eligible Population: 1,795 Completed Hawaii Obamacare Applications
KITV: There have been 77,173 visitors to the Hawaii Health Connector website since it launched Oct. 1....Since then, 2,249 applications were created, but only 440 were completed....
Meanwhile, the Contact Center helped 1,177 individuals and 178 small businesses complete applications over the phone from Oct. 1 through Thursday.
(1177 + 440 + 178 = 1795 / 89974 = 2% of Eligible Population Enrolled)
Tam said the Connector announced it has 34 community organizations for outreach, but its website lists just 12.
The Connector officials said it hopes to have real-time Medicaid eligibility by April.
read ... Only 1,795?
Religious Freedom? Latest Draft of Gay Marriage Bill is no Improvement
SA: ...the main focus of (gay marriage) supporters has been to quietly prevent defections instead of engaging with opponents.
State House and Senate leaders met privately on Thursday to discuss preparations for the special session that opens Oct. 28 and intend to talk again on Monday. House Democrats have also scheduled a caucus for Tuesday. Senate Democrats could caucus on Friday.
The latest draft of a gay marriage bill, shared privately with House and Senate leaders on Thursday, attempts to address some of the concerns lawmakers have with a religious exemption. Sources say the title of the bill was revised to relate to equal rights, rather than marriage. (WINDOW DRESSING) The purpose section was revised to state clearly that it is the intent of lawmakers to allow gay marriage and to protect religious freedom. (WINDOW DRESSING)
The purpose section would state clearly that clergy have rights under the state Constitution and the U.S. Constitution to refuse to perform gay weddings. The religious exemption was revised to allow churches to refuse to host gay weddings at religious facilities or grounds that are regularly used for religious purposes — if churches restrict weddings to members and affiliated persons or religious organizations, and if churches do not primarily operate the religious facilities as for-profit businesses.
(Revised? This is the same crap they've been pushing all along.)
Churches would be subject to the state's public accommodations law, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, if religious facilities are deemed public accommodations. (Which they will be, so again, this is no change at all.)
The draft moves the religious exemption closer to recommendations by several religious leaders, (NO IT DOESN'T) who publicly oppose marriage equality but have privately been suggesting amendments as a fallback given that the bill might pass and become state law.
One lawmaker familiar with the internal debate described it as finding the right "comfort language" for hesitant lawmakers....
(And this article is comfort language for the ignorant.)
read ... Destroying the First Amendment
Mainland Homosexuals Spend $226K Buying Favors from Hawaii Politicians
SA: The next reports, which cover spending between May and December, are not due until the end of January.
Earlier this year, Equality Hawaii, which favors same-sex marriage, spent about $100,000 on lobbying at the Legislature. The effort was financed primarily by mainland donors. Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay rights advocacy group, donated $51,200. Freedom to Marry, a New York-based group founded by civil rights attorney Evan Wolfson, contributed $25,000. The Gill Action Fund, a Denver-based group founded by entrepreneur Tim Gill, gave $25,000.
Human Rights Campaign also spent a separate $25,000 on lobbying, reports show.
read ... Gay Political Prostitution
75% of Jobs Postponed Under new solar rules?
SA: This week, I had the opportunity to interview Peter Rosegg, a spokesman for HECO. He said that at the informational hearing, all parties agreed that safety cannot be compromised. Responsible solar installers also acknowledged the utility's statement that too much solar on a circuit without proper protective equipment risks the safety of customers and utility crews and damage to customer electronics and utility equipment such as lines, transformers and substations. Still, many solar industry leaders are skeptical, saying that HECO is heavily overplaying concerns about safety, reliability and grid penetration.
Delays both for HECO customers and the solar industry are frustrating and costly. The impact of the changed procedures, from the solar industry's point of view, include 30 percent to 75 percent of their jobs postponed; "millions" lost in revenue; "millions" in commitments to vendors; warehouses full; lost hours for employees; continued payment so as not to lose skilled and hard-to-find electrical journeymen; and six weeks of confusion.
In response, and in an effort to work with the Hawaii Solar Energy Association and PV Coalition, HECO has pledged to try to help some 1,000 customers who may have committed to bank loans, obtained building permits and ordered solar equipment but had not yet notified the utility in advance as is now required.
read ... The End of Rooftop Solar
Alleged welfare cheat scammed Hawaii taxpayers for 14 years
HR: Vaughn G. Sherwood made an art form of scamming local and federal taxpayers during the past 14 years, taking numerous government benefits he was not entitled to, FBI agents said after arresting him in Honolulu on Thursday, October 18.
Sherwood, 66, who had inherited $360,000 from his deceased parents, owned a sailboat and a Yamaha Jetboat, and drove a Mercedes Benz S420 automobile, allegedly defrauded multiple government programs under his own identity and stolen identities, according to an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court by FBI Special Agent Tom Simon.
The FBI affidavit said Sherwood received welfare cash and food stamps for 9 years from the state Department of Human Services after claiming to be homeless. Using a fraudulent birth certificate, various social security cards, and different names, the affidavit said Sherwood obtained $6,500 in welfare cash payments, $5,800 in food stamps and $24,000 in medical benefits.
Court records also allege Sherwood secured $109,000 in Section 8 housing assistance over a 14-year period from the City & County of Honolulu and obtained $22,000 in tuition assistance at Kapiolani Community College and also enrolled at the Honolulu Community College and University of Hawaii-Manoa using multiple false identities to register for online courses. Both his under graduate and master’s degree tuition at the three University of Hawaii campuses were paid for by federal student tuition assistance, court records show.
Using a false identity and claiming to have heart failure, Sherwood also applied with the Department of Human Services to be his own caregiver in 2009 and received $8,000 as a result from Medicaid, court records said.
read ... 14 Years
Girlfriend of former officer to be sentenced in marijuana case
KITV: Former officer Michael Steven Chu received an eight-month sentence. He blamed Lee for getting him into the mess that cost him his job. He said he was simply helping her.
Lee faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to her plea agreement, Lee and Chu maintained an indoor marijuana growing operation in a Honolulu apartment and at a Mililani house.
read ... Just Another Day in the HPD
Many restaurants support new food safety program
SA: While restaurants serve up your favorite foods the last thing they want to dish out is a food borne illness which is why the Hawaii Restaurant Association and places like L&L Hawaiian Barbecue are all for a new food placard system.
"Those who are doing it right will actually be rewarded because they will actually be recognized for what a great job they do," said Bryan Andaya, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Chief Operating Officer and Hawaii Restaurant Association Board Chair. "It keeps us on our toes and forces our operators to maintain a higher standard. It really benefits everyone."
Places without a violation would get a green. Those with two or more violations will get a yellow and a re-inspection the next working day. And those that are really bad would get a red and be closed until the problems are fixed.
read ... Food Safety
Dolphin Necropsy May be used as Excuse to Broaden Attack on Fishing Industry
HTH: Several kinds of hooks use by commercial and recreational fishermen were found in its stomach.
Some were shiny and appeared to be new, while others looked like they were eaten away by stomach acid and were ingested a while ago. None were circle hooks recently adopted by Hawaii longline fishermen, under a rule issued last year by the National Marine Fisheries Service, to prevent the accidental snagging of dolphins....
Robin Baird, a research biologist with Cascadia Research Collective, said the discovery of the hooks in this animal’s stomach indicates the population is still interacting with fisheries.
Baird said this raises the question about whether other Hawaii fisheries should adopt similar rules as the longline fishery to protect the animals. The shortline fishery and the troll fishery are also believed to accidentally snag the dolphins.
read ... Necropsy finds 5 fish hooks in in South Point dolphin
Ruling over legal fees favors newspaper
SA: The Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Friday, allowing the newspaper to recover nearly $70,000 in attorney fees and costs in its successful lawsuit against the state over the release of names of judicial finalists.
Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto ruled in 2011 that Gov. Neil Abercrombie had to disclose the names under the state open-records law and ordered payment of legal fees and costs.
The governor did not appeal Sakamoto's ruling on the names but filed a notice in July 2012 that he would appeal the judge's award of $69,627 in legal fees, calling the amount unreasonable.
The appeals court put that issue to rest in a disposition order released Friday.
read ... Abercrombie Still Stalling
Tourists 8 Times More Likely to Drown
SA: From 2009 to 2012, visitors to Hawaii made up 77 percent of the 151 spinal cord injuries attributed to ocean activities, Galanis said. During the last decade, they represented about 52 percent, or 282, of the total 538 drownings statewide.
Drownings also accounted for 48 percent, or 162, of all visitor deaths from 2008 to 2012, according to the state Department of Health's Injury Prevention and Control department.
read ... Drowning
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