Apple Given One Hour Deadline, Accepts Termination Package
Ige Unveils Action Plan for Hawaii
Abercrombie: We can’t go back
Tribe? How They did it in Alaska
FBI Investigates Death Threats Made by Anti-GMO Leader
Feds fly immigrant minors to Hawaii on taxpayer dime
With Renewables, Electric Bills Have to Rise by One Billion Dollars
IM: Pacific Business News (July 28, 2014) wrote, “Despite Hawaii’s progress towards renewable energy, which currently stands at 18 percent, many still lament the high electricity rates in the Islands.”
Why would renewable energy penetration imply lower prices?
There are high and low priced renewable energy resources.
There are efforts and non-efforts towards price reduction.
But one does not cause the other....
Disengage the price cap that utilities can sign contracts with Independent Power Producers.
Legislators, regulators, solar installers and the electric utilities knew that would result in a short-term rise in prices.
The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) Energy Agreement was signed in October 2008.
The core HCEI message is that renewables are good BUT they cost more in the short run. Spend a billion dollars. Charge it to ratepayers. Bills have to rise.
MJ: We’re Not Just Reducing Demand For Electricity—We’re Destroying It
read ... Renewable Energy Penetration Rates and Electricity Rates: Comparing Apples to Oranges
Abercrombie is in "serious trouble."
CB: The latest roundup of gubernatorial elections throughout the country by respected political expert Larry Sabato has put Hawaii’s governor’s race in the “toss up” category.
This because Sabato prognosticates a primary loss by incumbent Gov. Neil Abercrombie could open the seat to a GOP takeover come November.
That change (from “leans Democrat”) has Politico paying attention too. In its latest weekly ratings roundup, the news site says Hawaii’s governor’s race is turning out to be one of the biggest surprises in the country this year.
“In the Aloha State, Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) is in serious trouble in his party primary against state Sen. David Ige,” Politico says. “But even if he gets to November, Abercrombie could lose to his 2010 general election opponent, ex-Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona....
Meanwhile: Poll: Ige beats Abercrombie 49-39%
read ... Serious Trouble
Apple cored: Business as usual at UH
HI: ...during a Saturday meeting in June between the president, chancellor, Carbone and several key power players including Hedges, Apple was confronted with a demand that the CRC receive an additional $9-10 million in order to hire 16-25 new faculty over the next two years (salaries would average in at close to $400,000, based on the $9-10 million figure).
The reasoning was that without new hires to diversify its research, the CRC could lose its federal National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation and P30 grant funding from the Office of Cancer Centers. “In order to meet this demand [Apple] felt obligated to institute the freeze and budget reductions for Mānoa, which will result in approximately 75 faculty positions not being filled this year on the Mānoa campus,” reports our source....
Strong-armed into agreeing to release the funds Carbone said he needed, Apple is now being fired, just over a month later. Who convinced President Lassner to conduct these biased performance evaluations so obviously geared toward firing Tom Apple? Our source says it’s the same power players who were present during the June meeting that demonstrated the system’s preference for CRC funding over all other budgets for remaining Mānoa campus units. In an email sent out by Dr. Carbone himself after Apple was forced to agree to release the additional CRC money, he names several of these players....
State Senator Rosalyn Baker (Maui, District 6) was elected chair of the board of the American Cancer Society Hawai‘i Pacific in 2012 and has received campaign donations from multiple medical-field donors over the years including Pfizer, the Hawaii Medical Service Association, the Hawaii Optometric Association, Glaxosmithkline, Astrazeneca, Hawaii Air Ambulance,Davita Inc., Medco Health Solutions, Unitedhealth Group, Medimmune and Abbott Laboratories—totaling more than $50,000. Interestingly, she has also received money from Altria, a tobacco products company and Anheuser-Busch. A source within the State Senate told the Independent that Sen. Baker is the “chief legislative supporter of Carbone.”
In addition to Baker and JABSOM Dean Jerris Hedges, the Independent has been informed that three additional key power players present at the June meeting were Art Ushijima, CEO of Queens Hospital, venture capitalist and part-time Hawai‘i resident Barry Weinman and former UH Board of Regents (BOR) Chair John Holtzman.
read ... Business as Usual
Polluted Golf Courses Behind Attack on Seed Farmers
KE: Certainly Hawaii, with its year-round growing season, numerous golf courses, rapid vegetative growth and propensity for manicured resorts and yards, uses at least comparable amounts of pesticides for landscaping purposes, if not more.
But again, no effort has been made to even quantify, much less regulate, residential and landscaping uses of pesticides in the Islands. All the attention has been focused solely on seed crops, to the complete exclusion of any other uses.
Additionally, only the seed fields have been blamed for “stealing water,” though the average golf course in the United States uses 300,000 gallons of water per day.
Is it any wonder that some of us are questioning why the seed fields have been singled out? Especially when high-end Realtors, like Hawaii Life on Kauai and Mark Sheehan on Maui, are actively backing anti-GMO initiatives and candidates.
If their goal truly is to protect environmental and human health, wouldn't you think they'd be aggressively pursuing stricter controls of pesticides everywhere, especially among the biggest users, like golf courses? (Which, btw, is what some of us asked Gary to do, but he chose to focus solely on the GMO fields instead.)
That would seem to be the logical, safe and prudent course of action. Unless, of course, their true objective is to destroy agriculture in Hawaii in order to free up the land for more pesticide-using golf courses, resorts and luxury homes.
read ... Polluters Complaining about Pollution so they can Pollute More
Diver Faces Misdemeanor Charge for Defending Himself Against Anti-Aquarium Obsessives
WHT: Lovell’s brother, Jim Lovell, who also collects reef fish in West Hawaii, said he was surprised Umberger hadn’t been charged as well. He said Umberger made statements last year at a meeting in Kona that she was planning to “sic” Sea Shepherd on tropical fish collectors here. After those comments, Jim Lovell said he approached DLNR and the governor’s office to report them.
Umberger was on a Sea Shepherd boat when the incident happened.
“The Sea Shepard boat diverted their course and and came within 100 feet of the fishermen in order to establish their identity,” Jim Lovell said in an email. “Once the fishermen were identified, Sea Shepherd waited for the fishermen to go down on their next dive and then sent several people in the water and approached the fishermen close enough to disrupt their work. The fishermen did not go looking for the Sea Shepard boat, they were just doing their job. It is very clear that Rene Umberger and her associates were responsible for this incident. Simply put, If they had stayed home and left the fishermen alone, nothing would of happened.”
read ... Eco-Terrorists
Reform Candidates Not Impressed with Martin-Caldwell Conflict
CB: ...Martin has made no secret of his aspirations to be mayor, fueling speculation that he will challenge Caldwell in 2016. Some people say he has been working to undermine the mayor any way he can. And his absence from the State of the City address, made glaringly apparent as Caldwell introduced Council members during his speech, only fueled the speculation....
“I think the public is sick and tired of the politics going on between the City Council and mayor,” said Sam Aiona, who is challenging Fukunaga for her District 6 seat representing much of urban Honolulu.
If elected, he said, he wouldn’t have any part in it.
“I’m not going to be a rubber stamp for Ernie Martin or whoever is the council chair, and I’m not going to be a rubber stamp for the mayor either,” Aiona said. ...
District 4 candidate, Natalie Iwasa, who frequently testifies in front of the Council on various measures, said that the debates over homeless policy have been particularly dysfunctional.
“I think what we need is more cooperation between the administration and Council,” she said. “Because if we keep going this way — the administration tries to do something and then the council tries to do something else — then neither method is going to work as good as it could.”
read ... Reform Candidates
Cachola to pay fine for campaign spending violation
SA: State Rep. Romy Cachola agreed to pay a $2,496 fine and reimburse his campaign $32,166 to settle a complaint filed against him by the Campaign Spending Commission.
The commission charged that Cachola used a Nissan SUV, paid for by his campaign committee, for personal use. It also questioned his use of campaign funds to pay for expenditures labeled as "public relations" and "food and beverages." ...
Besides the fines and reimbursements, Cachola is agreeing to comply with campaign financing laws from here on out, including keeping a mileage log for the SUV.
1998: Cachola uses campaign funds to rent from himself
read ... Big Contribution to Campaign Fund
Costs for lieutenant governor's Maui office soar
HNN: When Shan Tsutsui became the first-ever Hawaii Lieutenant Governor to open a neighbor island satellite office, his initial funding request was for $317,000.
But since then, the costs have more than doubled to nearly $700,000.
Hawaii News Now has learned that the state sheriffs have budgeted another $276,000 to provide security for state government's No. 2 executive for his trips to Maui.
And last year, the state Legislature appropriated another $101,000 for staffing and office and travel expenses for the Maui office.
"Why can't those needs be met just as well from the island of Oahu," said Kelii Akina, President of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
"It raises the question of how the money is being spent and what the purpose of that money is." ...
A spokeswoman for Tsutsui could not say how many days he spends on Maui but confirmed that he doesn't personally serve Maui residents with traditional Secretary of State functions.
That's because his office hasn't been able to hire a Maui staffer due to budget constraints.
And that office, located in the state building in Kahului, doesn't even have its own phone lines installed.
Until recently, Tsutsui used a second Maui office in the nearby county building in Kahului, which the state rents for $1 a year.
read ... About An Office Clayton Hee is Unfit For
Oahu Homeowners Hit with $100K Annual Property tax Bill
SA: Oahu homeowners hit with huge jumps in their property-tax bills continue to lash out at the way the city calculated the amounts. Some absentee owners of the island's most expensive residences are facing an annual tab approaching or topping $100,000.
But city officials Wednesday defended the system, saying the new law taxing $1 million-plus, non-owner-occupied homes at a substantially higher rate is a good one. They also said the automated process used to calculate assessed values — what property tax bills are based on — is fair, takes into account differences in properties and accurately reflects what is happening with real estate sales.
"It's all market-driven," said Gary Kurokawa, the city's deputy budget director....
The ordinance, approved last year by a 7-2 City Council vote and signed into law by Caldwell, set a rate of $6 per $1,000 valuation for homes that are valued at $1 million or more and are not covered by the exemption.
The rate, intended for absentee owners, is nearly 75 percent more than the standard $3.50 rate applied to owner-occupied dwellings.
But some owners who live in their residences have been hit with the higher rate because they are not claiming the exemption. Some were unaware they were eligible or didn't bother to claim it.
In an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Caldwell said the new ordinance "was never intended to raise the tax for primary-residence folks."
He said his administration is considering ways to address that issue within the constraints of the law.
Beyond that unintended consequence, Caldwell described the new law as good.....
read ... $100K in Property Taxes
Anti-GMO Kauai Councilmembers Used Controversy to Slip in Massive tax Hike
KGI: It has been over a week and a half since the County of Kauai sent out property tax bills to the owners of 33,370 individual properties on the island.
And for most of that time, some Kauai County Councilmembers have said an influx of emails and phone calls have been coming in — on the other end, in many cases, are disgruntled property owners who have seen noticeable increases on their tax bills.
read ... Know them by what they deny
Students to see longer school days starting this year
HTH: This year, for the first time, Hawaii state law will require students to receive a minimum number of instructional hours.
The mandated 990 hours of instructional time for academic year 2014-15 — compared to 915 hours last year — were signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in 2011 following a series of furloughs that resulted in Hawaii students having the fewest number of instructional days in the country. Public outcry led legislators to design a plan to incrementally increase the amount of instructional time provided to students at each school.
At the end of the last academic year, schools were required to submit for approval their new schedules to the Department of Education. The additional hours of instructional time were required without additional funding, so schools were forced to get creative in shaving off a few minutes from lunches, breaks between class periods and more.
Some schools will start earlier in the morning than in past years, while others will go longer into the afternoon....
read ... Longer Days
DoD Intervenes Against HECO Rate Hike Proposal
IM: Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) is required to file a rate case every three years.
HECO asserted that their anticipated savings and new costs would balance out. Thus the rates can stay the same. Therefore the rate issues should not be scrutinized in their current rate case (Docket 2013-0373).
Last week the Department of Defense (DoD) filed a Motion to Intervene asserting that “the DoD is one of the largest purchasers of electric services in the State. … The DoD has a crucial and strategic interest in securing electricity at the lowest but fair cost.”
Furthermore, “the DoD has been a party in other dockets related to Rate increases and Rate Design, Integrated Resource Planning, and Demand Side Management.”
HECO opposed the Motion to Intervene.
read ... Hawaiian Electric opposes intervention by the Department of Defense
Struggling charter school will remain open After Nepotists Ousted
KHON: The State Public Charter School Commission approved Wednesday the latest financial viability plan submitted by Halau Lokahi to address the school’s outstanding financial obligations and operate through the 2014-15 academic year.
The Commission will now release state funding for the school, which is slated to begin its school year on August 14.
The school also will be required to undergo monthly financial monitoring.
In late May, Halau Lokahi revealed serious financial difficulties to the Commission, including a $400,000 debt.
Since then, the school’s (nepotistic) governing board has been reconstituted, the school has changed its staff leadership, and it has developed the new financial plan.
read ... Struggling charter school
IDG Geothermal Partner Publishes Annual Report
GH: The Eastland Group is an enormously important player in the Gisborne economy, as the operator of key community-owned infrastructure assets and our dominant corporate citizen.
It invested $18.2 million in these assets in the year to March 31, 2014 — $11.5m at Gisborne’s port and $5.4m in the district’s electricity network. It also invested $4.2m outside the region, developing geothermal assets in the Bay of Plenty and potentially Hawaii, and a debarking plant in Northland.
Total revenue for the group was $71m and it made a record profit of $14.9m. It paid Eastland Community Trust (its 100-percent shareholder, on behalf of the district) a $4.8m dividend plus $2.6m interest on a $30m loan. It paid wages of $7.8m....
Members of the public can explore Eastland Group’s activities annually when the group publishes its 12-monthly accounts, in July. The latest report can be read at: www.eastland.co.nz/annual-report-2014/home/
read ... Annual Report
Former Halawa inmate pleads guilty to racketeering
HNN: A former Halawa inmate who helped finance a prison drug smuggling operation has pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge.
Robin M. Lee, 53, admitted that he filed nearly 300 phony tax returns that generated $350,000 in bogus refunds for prisoners.
Those refunds were later used to pay for crystal methamphetamine and other contraband. Federal prosecutors allege the money was also used to bribe a Halawa Prison guard, Feso Malufau, who now faces federal charges.
"He and other members of the USO gang were involved in bribery and bringing in contraband such as cigarettes and ice into the Halawa facility," said Lee’s attorney Gary Singh.
Lee, who is currently in federal custody, faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Even though he was locked up in a maximum security prison, the feds said Lee somehow gained access to a computer and to an online stock trading service.
"Part of the record indicates that he had an E-Trade account and that's where some of the funds from the returns were being deposited into," Singh said.
Meanwhile: High Tech Development Corp still relying on carbon paper and typewriters
read ... Just Another Day in the Nei
Pearl City 6th Grade Victim: Accused Homosexual Child Molester in Court
HR: A Honolulu federal grand jury indicted Keoni Rosa Jr., 36, of Pearl City, Oahu, in June on one count of wire fraud, after the FBI learned through a separate investigation that Rosa allegedly scammed $20,000 in 2012 from eight people with whom he served in the military.
In the same indictment, Rosa is charged with four additional counts of theft of government property, after he allegedly purchased merchandise from the Navy Exchange in Honolulu in 2012 using checks from two bank accounts, one that was closed and another with insufficient funds.
Rosa is currently being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center on separate charges. According to state court records, he is accused of repeatedly molesting a 13-year-old boy, and has been held in the state prison facility since February on a $150,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty in that case.
The federal fraud indictment said Rosa used the $20,000 he allegedly stole to purchase gifts for himself, his family and friends. A source close to the case said some of the money was used to buy gifts for the child.
One of the ironies in Rosa’s case is he knew and worked with Jason Pascua, a 40-year-old former U.S. Army reservist who is now serving 48 months in prison for running $1.5 million ponzi scheme that defrauded 34 people.
In addition to being president of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce, marketing director of Hawaii Central Credit Union and a candidate for the state House of Representatives, Pascua served in the military, giving him additional credibility with his victims.
AP: Parents Barred from Helping Victim of Homosexual Child Molestation
read ... About Today's Homosexual Child Molestation Case
State seeks foreclosure on Pflueger property
KGI: The state wants to ensure it will get the $4 million in interest and fines it assessed James Pflueger for damages caused by a mudslide that covered the Pilaa reef in 2001.
A civil complaint filed by the state Attorney General on Monday is seeking to secure a mortgage as a valid lien on the defendants, Pilaa 400, Paul Cassiday and Pflueger. The defendants are successor trustees of the Mary Lucas estate and the mortgagors for Pilaa 400, LLC. The state considers the mortgage a valid lien on the property, excluding some other interests.
The state is seeking a court-ordered foreclosure of the mortgage that it holds. If granted, the court would appoint a commissioner to take possession and sell the mortgaged property with a writ of possession to maintain the property until sold.
read ... State seeks foreclosure on Pflueger property
Deadly Dentist May face Criminal Charges
SA: The state confirmed it is conducting a criminal investigation of Dr. Lilly Geyer, the Kailua dentist whose 3-year-old patient died after a dental procedure in December.
Toni Schwartz, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said Tuesday that Public Safety's Narcotics Enforcement Division is investigating Geyer, but could not release further details because the case is ongoing.
Finley Boyle was at Geyer's practice, Island Dentistry for Children, for treatment of cavities and baby root canals on Dec. 3, 2013, when she stopped breathing in the dentist's chair and suffered severe and permanent brain damage. Boyle never regained full consciousness and died Jan. 3.
The drugs given to sedate Boyle likely caused her death, an autopsy determined.
Background: Notorious Hilo Dentist Licensed Thanks to Schatz, Baker, Oakland
read ... Thanks, Brian
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