September 25, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, September 25, 2009

September 25, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:27 PM :: 6970 Views

Hawaii teacher furloughs will cut class time, not preparation days

In scheduling 17 furlough days that will shut down Hawai'i's public schools, the Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association agreed not to use any of the six available waiver and professional development days to offset the loss of instructional time or relieve parents of child-care worries.

(Yes, but if they did that it would minimize the results desired by Team Chaos 2010)

Other cash-strapped school districts in the nation that have implemented furloughs are scheduling them to take place on teacher preparation and training days, though most are dealing with far fewer furlough days than Hawai'i's public schools....

In Hawai'i, school principals may submit a request, in consultation with the teachers union, to the Board of Education to cancel any of the six waiver or training days. (Nobody is in charge here.) They could do that this year, and that would make up for some of the days lost to furloughs. The union would not say yesterday if it favored that option. (Note: CHARTER SCHOOLS DON'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM, IN SPITE OF MUCH SMALLER BUDGETS. ONE MORE REASON TO CONVERT YOUR SCHOOL NOW.)

Union and DOE officials also would not say if they opposed scheduling teacher furloughs on waiver days during recent contract negotiations. "Negotiation discussions are confidential," DOE Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said yesterday in an e-mail to The Advertiser. (Team Chaos 2010 is laughing.)

TOTALLY and COMPLETELY RELATED: Furloughs vs Layoffs: The union no-solution strategy , HGEA Negotiator rips Speaker Say, Legislators: "Finger pointing, hands-off attitude", Randall Roth dissects Hawaii's failed Department of Education

Labor relations board orders state to provide HGEA with layoff criteria

The Hawaii Labor Relations Board today ordered the Lingle administration to meaningfully consult with the Hawaii Government Employees Association on layoffs but did not grant the union's request to halt the layoffs. (Define "consult." Define "meaningful.")

Nicholson said the board would take further action, including possibly granting the union's request to halt layoffs, if the Lingle administration does not engage in consultation.

The layoffs are scheduled to start on Nov. 13.

TOTALLY and COMPLETELY RELATED: Furloughs vs Layoffs: The union no-solution strategy , HGEA Negotiator rips Speaker Say, Legislators: "Finger pointing, hands-off attitude"

Life and Death Medical Challenges in Maui

Ellen Bellerose rushed to Maui Memorial Medical Center's emergency room at her cardiologist's direction after she felt severe pain and pressure in her neck, chest and arms. As the pain intensified over the next two hours, she walked up to the counter three times to report difficulty breathing. She was told there were no beds available. "I was becoming terrified that I could die, unattended, in the emergency room." Although registered as a patient for 27 hours, she never entered the main hospital that February 7, 2006, but was billed as if she had....

UHERO: Quarterly Hawai‘i Forecast Update: Recovery Still Around the Corner

Total visitor arrivals are expected to fall by 4.4% compared with our June forecast of a 6.8% drop.

We now expect a nearly half-percent drop in average consumer prices this year, compared with the halfpercent increase forecast in June.

Real income this year will fall by just over 1%, compared with a 2.7% drop anticipated back in June, and there will be only a very small net loss in 2010.

See more at: http://www.uhero.hawaii.edu/

Adv: Businesses need protection from tax shock

Businesses already struggling in this economic downturn now face what could be a crippling blow — a massive increase in their unemployment insurance tax bill.It's imperative that the Legislature and the Lingle administration develop solutions to ease the shock, by implementing the tax increases more gradually....It will take a new law, and should be a top priority when the Legislature resumes in January.

(How will they find time with Gay Civil Unions and Islam Day Part 2 both on the agenda?)

Budget shuffle keeps ag inspectors on the job (End one budget propaganda game)

But the Legislature, (Duh. Who gets the credit in the Democrat media???) in what House Agriculture Committee Chairman Clift Tsuji, D-South Hilo, Puna, Keaau, called "relentless pursuit of a solution," worked with the Republican administration to move $1.8 million from two special funds to keep 22 inspectors statewide on the job, at least for another year.

The $1.8 million comes from $600,000 from the Hawaii Invasive Species Council Special Fund. Another $1.2 million will come from fees collected for the Pest Inspection, Quarantine and Eradication Special Fund, from a cargo fee to charged maritime and airline companies.

Maui News: 3 fewer inspectors to be lost on Maui (No legislators "relentless pursuit" in THIS article....)

To restore the positions, $1.8 million will be transferred from other sources of funding to the state General Fund, the Agriculture Department said. One of the transfers will be $1.2 million from fees collected in the Pest Inspection, Quarantine and Eradication Special Fund. Those fees come from maritime and airline companies that bring in cargo to Hawaii and are required to pay 50 cents per 1,000 pounds of cargo into the special fund.

The other transfer will be $600,000 that had been earmarked for invasive-species prevention. Last month, the Hawaii Invasive Species Council approved the use of the funds to restore the agricultural inspection positions.

"The department continues to look for alternative sources of funding," said Sandra Lee Kunimoto, chairwoman of the state Board of Agriculture. "In addition, we are working on increasing coordination of inspection services to make the most efficient use of our work force and minimize the disruption to our important agricultural, food and shipping industries."

Unemployed -- and annoyed (Beginning of another Budget propaganda game)

About 15 people attended an informational briefing on issues regarding the unemployment office on Thursday at the Kaniohale Community Center in the Villages of Laiopua area. The meeting was called after state Sen. Dwight Takamine, D- Hilo, Honokaa, Laupahoehoe, Hamakua, Waiakea Uka, Keaukaha and Waimea, said he received numerous complaints from residents having difficulty obtaining their unemployment benefits.

Honolulu gets to use Leeward landfill site for only 3 more years

The city will be allowed to keep Oahu's only municipal landfill open the next three years but was told sternly by state Land Use Commission members that it won't be given any more extensions.

The commission voted 5-3 yesterday to grant the extension and expansion of the Leeward Coast's Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill until July 31, 2012.

It was the second time in as many years that the commission granted an expansion to the city. In May 2008, it gave the city until Nov. 1 — 15 months — to seek alternatives to the much-maligned landfill....

City Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger said the city will do what it can to follow the commission's order. He noted that the process of opening a landfill elsewhere would take five to seven years.

Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, who represented the Ko Olina Community Association in opposing the permit, said she will look into an appeal.

(Everybody in this story is pretending to take action while nothing actually happens.)

SB: Landfill to stay open until 2012

SB: Board says councilwoman violated ethics code

The board voted 4-1 in deciding it was wrong of Naeole to make thumbs-down gestures to people she disagreed with while they testified about a proposed council reorganization.

(No mention in SB of whether praying was also found to be an ethics violation but HTH says a separate vote 4-1 ruled that praying was not offensive: Board: Naeole broke ethics law Said one of the anti-prayer complainants, "It was disruptive to my thought process." What "thought process"???)

HERE"S SOMETHING THE ETHICS COMMISSION HASN'T TAKEN UP:

Part of Sunshine Law suit dismissed

Third Circuit Court Judge Ronald Ibarra dismissed the first count of the newspaper's amended complaint after listening to arguments from Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida and Robert Kim, the newspaper's attorney, about why the newspaper's allegation of a Sunshine Law violation leading up to and during the June 16 council reorganization attempts were not moot after the council rescinded the related resolutions. Ibarra referenced a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling regarding a previous incident of serial communication, in which Honolulu council members contacted each other and violated Sunshine Laws. That case already provides the courts instructions on how to view serial communications between board members. Based on that, he said, he dismissed the count regarding the June 16 meeting.

Islam Day honors commonality (one more lie about how this came to be held on Sept 24/Sept 11 Julian)

The Legislature approved the resolution last session to acknowledge the "rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" of the Islamic world. Yesterday was selected because it marked the end of Ramadan, (A NEW excuse for how this ended up on September 11, Julian) the month in which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and make contributions to charities.

Ouansafi said criticism of Islam Day had subsided since the resolution was passed and opposition soon changed to support.

"A lot of people reacted out of fear and ignorance (Appeal to liberal vanity: favor Islam Day and we will flatter your self image as 'conscious, enlightened and progressive') and they've had a chance to reflect a little bit more and people are coming around," (in his dreams, amplified by the Advertiser) he said.

REALITY: Hawaii “Islam Day” secretly marks September 11 , On the trail to Hawaii Islam Day: Saudi money, Libyan assassins, Palestinian Jihad, London bombers, Malaysian sodomy, and laughing Islamists