October 3, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Saturday, October 3, 2009

October 3, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:26 AM :: 10025 Views

OHA funded groups sue State over Mauna Kea management plan

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources earlier this year denied the groups, including Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, the Sierra Club, KAHEA: The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance, and Clarence Kukauakahi Ching, a contested case hearing on the grounds they didn't have legal standing to fight the plan.

"The board's decision undermines the basic right everyone in Hawaii has to stand up for their environment, their culture and their religion," Kealoha "$50 Million" Pisciotta, president of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, said in a statement. "Despite extensive evidence on the record of our cultural, spiritual, environmental and recreational connections to Mauna Kea, the Board is now claiming we suddenly have no right to ensure it is protected from bulldozers." (Unless they fork over $50M / year to OHA.)

PRECISELY AS PREDICTED: Telescope: The Shakedown begins , Thirty Meter Telescope Selects Mauna Kea -- Let the looting begin!

BTW: Are YOU giving money to the Sierra Club? Is your employer? Are the businesses you patronize giving to the Sierra Club?

ADV: State, HGEA close to labor settlement

Indications were that the employers' side was waiting to get the OK from one of the four county mayors to check-off on an agreement that would be taken to HGEA's membership for ratification.

The state and HGEA were in a binding arbitration meeting yesterday but both sides have said they would prefer to settle the issue independently.

"It's certainly possible that we get it this weekend," Lingle said. We're that close. We'll just have to wait and see how this plays out."

Both parties also said there was also one key point that needed to be settled between the state and the union that was independent of the counties. Neither would disclose the issue.

SB: State and HGEA contract deal imminent, but mayors still need to sign off

UHH faculty, union huddle before vote

Members of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly predicted faculty will reject the plan, which would cut their pay by 5 percent for the next two years, delay paychecks and reduce state contributions to insurance premiums by at least 10 percent.

UH chief: Time to expand

"So I'm happy to tell you that with the concurrence of the chair and the vice chair of the Board of Regents, and the support of Regent (Harvey) Tajiri, we will be asking the Board of Regents at the October board meeting to vote on a supplemental budget that includes the construction of the (Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikolani College of Hawaiian Language) building."

(False message to UHPA members: We've got money for everything but you.)

Shapiro: Charter schools in danger

Sep 30: Reading between the lines of a story in yesterday's Advertiser, I'm starting to fear that DOE bureaucrats are using the budget crunch as a cover to kill off innovative charter schools started under the Waihee administration, which the bureaucracy has always seen as threats to its ironclad central rule.

The DOE has slashed per-pupil funding to the charter schools this year to about $5,530, down 33 percent from the $8,149 they received in 2007-08. The DOE's most recent estimate of per-pupil spending in the regular public schools is more than $11,000.

Honolulu Traffic: City's "new" rail plan is same as "irresponsible, obsolete" May 1 plan

The City’s May 1 Plan had projected a $520 million shortfall in GE tax collections at the same time the City was telling the City Council and the newspapers that any short term shortfalls would be covered by increases in the out years. It also showed that the Hannemann Administration was planning to raid $300 million in federal bus funds to shore up their shaky financial plan.

The City responded by saying that the Advertiser story was “misleading and irresponsible” and that the May 1 was a “draft” report and now obsolete. It may have been obsolete but only because the FTA rejected it; it was certainly not a “draft.” A draft report always says clearly on the cover that it is a “draft.” The May 1 Plan is titled, Financial Plan For Entry Into Preliminary Engineering Submittal.

Finally, we now have the Hannemann Administration’s latest plan. It has the same title as the May 1 Plan; the only change on the cover page is the date: May 2009, updated August 2009.

Maui News Polls Mayoral race: Arakawa leads

In a hypothetical 7-way 2010 race Arakawa scores 20% -- leading incumbent Mayor Tavares by 7%.

read more

MECO aim for 2010: Hike rates nearly 10%

KAHULUI - Maui Electric Co. has asked for a rate increase of 9.7 percent to take effect in 2010.

The filing with the Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday would generate $28.2 million in additional revenues for the company. MECO said the money is needed for capital improvements and increased operating and maintenance costs.

KIUC board OKs construction plan

KIUC staff told the board Tuesday that while the Construction Work Plan does not presently include generation facilities, the distribution projects that are featured in the plan are tied together with the potential Kapaia combustion turbine, and Hee told the board transmission depends on loads and generation, noting that KIUC made some assumptions about the location of energy sources when designing the Construction Work Plan.

He said Wednesday a so-called GenX facility would likely be located in Kapaia and would burn both traditional oil and (feel-good eco-fraud) biodiesel if KIUC is unable to get a renewable project off the ground quickly enough.

(Where the rubber meets the road, all this 'renewable' energy talk is just that--talk.)

Judge delays hearing on Hawaii Telcom bankruptcy reorganization plan

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King today approved the postponement of the hearing which was to have occurred Oct. 7. The delay will allow secured lenders in the case, including banks and investment firms, to work out a dispute with Hawaiian Telcom's unsecured creditors.

Northern Marianas brace for Typhoon Melor

Most businesses had shut down by Saturday morning, and Saipan residents who don't live in concrete homes have moved to typhoon shelters, said Charles Reyes, Northern Marianas Gov. Benigno Fitial's press secretary.

The storm, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, was expected to make its closest approach to Saipan Saturday night, the weather service said.

Tens of thousands in Philippines flee as Typhoon Parma approaches

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos braced Friday to be whipped by powerful winds and pelted with rain from a second typhoon in eight days, fleeing by the tens of thousands from low-lying areas and suspending cleanup operations in the flooded capital.