October 29, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Thursday, October 29, 2009

October 29, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:19 PM :: 9576 Views

Lingle will promote state on tour in China

(Food source for the corporatist system in Hawaii....)

Gov. Linda Lingle will leave tomorrow for a two-week excursion to China, where she intends to sell Hawaii as a tourism destination and to bolster opportunities for the state's products to be sold there.

The six-city trip, announced yesterday at the state Capitol, will include meetings with Hainan Airlines, which recently won approval for at least one weekly nonstop flight from Beijing to Hawaii.

She also will hold talks with Chinese tourism authorities to promote Hawaii as a destination for millions of the country's travelers, and with U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman about speeding up the visa process.

News Release: Governor to promote Hawaii tourism, business in China

(All of these can feed top line revenues for the corporatist entity...which feeds the bottom line of...see next articles....)

DOE foresees 'thousands' of layoffs if furloughs are blocked; lawyer dismisses claim as 'hysteria'

The Department of Education would have to lay off "thousands" of employees if a federal judge rules in favor of legal challenges to teacher furloughs, officials told the Board of Education today. (Because the one thing they absolutely, positively cannot do is cut fraud, waste and corruption.)

An attorney for those opposing the furloughs called the threat of layoffs an attempt to whip up "hysteria."

And parents who have rallied against the furlough plan called the potential for thousands of layoffs an even scarier scenario for the state's public education system.

read more

Hanabusa panel on using teacher furloughs to increase taxes will meet Friday

The Special Senate Committee to Consider Approaches to Teacher Furloughs will hold an informational briefing at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the state Capitol Auditorium. The purpose of the meeting is to get public input on options to deal with the situation.

Governor to wait before raiding hurricane fund

Push, push, push to get the subject off of DoE reform and onto tax increases and raid on hurricane fund...and here's what they dragged out of the governor that became front page news with a deceptive headline.

"I haven't completely closed the door on it," Lingle said at a news conference yesterday.

"I think it's going to have to be done in a very cautious way, but I certainly would be willing to talk with legislators about it," she added. "I really want to at least get through this next quarter before we even begin to talk about it."

What they're not writing about: Lingle: DoE Superintendent should be appointed by next Governor,

Sakamoto: Furlough opponents must consider all tax increases ~~budget options~~

Well almost all. Rescinding the Legislative pay raise isn't among Sakamoto's suggestions, neither is cutting DoE contractor funding, like that received by his brother at S&M Sakamoto, a major DoE maintenance contractor. Instead, the Senate Education Committee Chair delivers this:

"...we must bridge the gap by finding more money for education. (The money for education can be found within the DoE budget by cutting waste, fraud and corruption.)

"A number of funding options have been laid before us, including targeted tax increases, drawing from various existing funds, and reducing costs in other areas...." (Really, does that mean areas outside the DoE or inside?)

More of the same: Teachers can't carry budget burden alone

BTW the next two articles are about DoE contractors....

Suspected child predator taught computer classes at schools

They say Ryan Kawamoto went online and performed sexual acts and had sexually-explicit conversations with an undercover officer, who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, and later arranged to meet the child in person at a business in Moiliili. When he showed up, officers were waiting....

Gigi Davidson runs Ohana Komputer from a home on Avon Way in Makiki. She left in tears, concerned about the future of her non-profit, but later released this statement about the suspect....

The state Department of Education says the public schools that work with Ohana Komputer rent out classroom space for the group to conduct its classes. (Uh huh)

Schools seek $32 million for transportation costs

(Your useless BoE in inaction.)

"I see the bus costs escalating. It's almost out of control," Harimoto said.

Harimoto reminded board members they had voted against raising student bus fares — an action that might not be viewed well by legislators.

Board member Donna Ikeda said she wants the department to look again at reducing and consolidating school bus routes.

Ikeda said she felt the board needs to look in more detail at the amount of money that goes into school instruction.

"Schools should be the last to be touched, not the first," she said.

Board member Mary Cochran said she was in favor of sending the transportation requests to the Legislature and against further budget cuts in instruction.

(And around and round they go... pausing only for some self-multilative elective surgery and a quick hit to protect dopers on the faculty.)

THE SOLUTION: Furloughs: How Unions and the DoE aim to co-opt protesting parents

Osorio dismissed: Hawaii Supreme Court Rules in State's Favor in Ceded Lands Case (OHA, Osorio could still act to block State from building affordable housing)

KHON: Tuesday the Hawaii Supreme Court dismissed the claims of the last remaining plaintiff, Jonathan Osorio, in the ceded lands litigation decided earlier this year in the State's favor by the United State's Supreme Court....This ruling will shortly result in the final termination by the Hawaii Circuit Court of this 15-year-old case.

InverseCondemnation: However, the court concluded that while the holdout plaintiff has standing, his claims were not yet ripe. "[J]udicial review at this time would be premature and, additionally, would constitute a violation of the separation-of-powers doctrine," slip op. at 32, because the state legislature must first approve of any transfer of ceded lands, which it has not done here.

Charlie Foster: "This would appear to leave the door open for Professor Osorio to bring a claim once there is state action under Act 176 to sell or otherwise transfer ceded lands."

US Supreme Court Ruling: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1372.pdf (9-0, rejects OHA's arguments & slaps down the unanimous Hawaii Supreme Court)

The key fact here: OHA is working to block something badly needed by Native Hawaiians and everybody else--affordable housing

Critics say new Hawaii property tax category will be costly for all

ADV: With the City Council's passage Tuesday of Bill 09-51, owners of property on O'ahu who don't live on their land — including most residential and commercial landlords — are probably in for some major tax hikes. Those increases, the critics say, will be passed on to everyone. "Everybody should be putting a lock box on their wallets," said Councilman Charles Djou.

SB: Apo under fire for reviving property tax bill --Councilman Romy Cachola, at Tuesday night's hearing, suggested the possibility of political horse trading, saying he hoped Apo's change of heart had nothing to do with promises related to the landfill or rail transit. Yesterday, Council members Ann Kobayashi and Charles Djou also said they felt some manipulation or backdoor dealing had occurred. Djou called Cachola's insinuations "spot on."

Mayor plans 'State of the Rail' speech; city paying $10,000 to broadcast on TV

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann will deliver a "State of the Rail" address tomorrow for an estimated 200 or so invited attendees. The city is also spending $10,000 on air time to broadcast the speech, said city spokesman Bill Brennan. (But don't worry, Mufi will raise taxes in order to cover the cost.)

Honolulu foreclosures rising

While Honolulu was not among the new foreclosure hot spots that emerged in the third quarter, cities favored by Hawaii expatriates and those that supply much of the state's visitor traffic saw big increases.

Still, Honolulu's foreclosure footprint remains low compared with cities like Las Vegas, which posted the nation's highest metro foreclosure rate. One in every 20 housing units in Vegas received a filing during the third quarter, pushing the number of foreclosures to 40,408.

Merced, Calif., posted the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, and RealtyTrac also listed the California cities of Stockton, Modesto, Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield and Vallejo-Fairfield among the top 10 metros.

City bill would limit new B & B's

The version of Bill 7 approved by the Council yesterday would require that the property owner be a resident of the bed-and-breakfast operation and set limits on the number of rooms and guests allowed, among other provisions.

Dreaming: Car sales in isles forecast to rise 13% (well sort of)

local dealers' expectations run between 3 percent and 13 percent for next year, Rolf said.

In terms of actual numbers, light-vehicle registrations dipped 15.6 percent to 9,416 in the third quarter from 11,156 in the year-ago period.

Maui County has suffered the worst decline in auto sales year-to-date, down 41.6 percent. Big Island sales dropped 35.5 percent, Kauai sales were down 30.3 percent and Oahu is down 22.2 percent from a year ago.

Foltz's fourth-quarter projection for 2009 is 8,350 vehicle registrations, which is down from the third quarter but is a 6.9 percent increase over the 7,809 registered in the fourth quarter of last year.

Maui: Panel grants permit for hotel expansion

Commissioner Bruce U'u, who made the motion to approve the permit, also made a long statement, largely about families without jobs. They "have no place to go but be homeless," he said.

He also lashed out against those who he said attacked him and Commissioner Donna Domingo (who did not speak about her vote). Lawyer Isaac Hall had tried to prevent Domingo and U'u from voting, based on the fact that Domingo's husband works at the hotel and U'u is a business agent of the Carpenters Union.

the Halls claimed the commission would violate various state laws, county ordinances and regulations as included in the community plan by going ahead...

(Lawsuit next. Which activists does the Grand Wailea need to hire/bribe as "cultural consultants" to make this go away?)

"Pedophile rights" Obama signs defense bill; Hawaii projects to benefit

In addition to defense spending, the new law expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. To assure its passage after years of frustrated efforts, Democratic supporters attached the measure to the must-pass defense policy bill over the steep objections of many Republicans.

EXPLAINED: Congress votes to protect pedophiles against ‘hate speech’

SB: Keep light shining on rail

SB writes a pretend editorial about a pretend audit which almost finds nothing wrong with the Honolulu procurement and rail bidding process, sort of. Just a little minor bid steering here and there.... Why would the City and the SB do this? Here's the ahem "money" quote....

"With so much at stake as the $5 billion rail project moves forward, such scrutiny and transparency are vital to keep the public trust."