The Ige-Abercrombie Agenda Isn't Working: Economy Again Falls Short Of Expectations
Controversial sex education program reinstated in Hawaii public schools
DoE: Pono Choices is Back for 2014-15 School Year
Hawaii County Proclaims State Of Emergency Related To Lava Flow
Refinery Switch: HECO Dumps Par Petroleum for Chevron
VIDEO: 'Biblical' Spawning Event on Hawaii Reefs
Hawaii Scores B+ in Government Technology
Dreamhammer: Keeping Hawaii’s Drones Under Control
Honolulu Grants-in-Aid Workshops Set
Aiona proposes early college education initiative for Hawaii students
KHON: Duke Aiona, the Republican candidate for governor, laid out his plan Thursday to help improve education in the state.
He wants to create a program that would allow students to complete grades 9 to 14 and graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate degree....
“These (students) are the ones when they come in to high school in the ninth grade, they really have no vision. They really have no hope. They really have no intention of going to college,” Aiona said. “Then they see this program that’s kind of laid out for them and it’s at no cost to them. I hope that’ll inspire them to say, ‘Hey, I want to take advantage of this because I want to get a livable wage.'”
Aiona says the goal is to have at least 90 percent of the program funded by business partnerships as well as community foundations and federal dollars.
“They provide that pathway for the student to be a part of their business and their industry,” he said. “It’s going to give our businesses an opportunity to have that qualified educated work force that they always wanted.”
There are about 280 programs like this throughout the country, with about 80,000 students participating.
read ... Early College
Aiona: ‘People want hope, they want change’
WHT: Pat Aiona, owner of Aiona Car Sales, said his cousin has a better shot this time around.
“I don’t think there are more (Republicans),” he said. “I think there are more disgruntled Democrats.”
Pat Aiona said there’s also more drive surrounding the campaign, and momentum was referenced several times by Duke Aiona and his running mate, Elwin Ahu.
“We see there’s momentum … because people finally have a say,” Ahu said.
While addressing the group, Duke Aiona said the state should eliminate tax on the sale of food and that it needs to do more to tackle its unfunded liabilities.
He also criticized the roll out of the state’s health connector, but he did not call for eliminating it.
“We need to be objective,” the candidate said. “We need to decide what’s best for the people of Hawaii.”
When asked what he thinks will make the difference this election, Aiona emphasized his time as lieutenant governor, but he also said he believes the political climate is different.
“People want hope, they want change,” he said. “They do not want more of the same.”
read ... Hope & Change
Abercrombie casts around for somebody else to blame
Borreca: Now in defeat, Abercrombie is still working through how he became the first Democratic governor in Hawaii to be turned out by his fellow Democrats.
Last week he said it was not a loss by those in his party; the defeat came from outside the tent. Speaking with national and foreign journalists at an East-West Center seminar, Abercrombie said the right wing crept in to punish him for backing same-sex marriage.
"Republicans crossed over en masse to vote in the Democratic primary, and then the religious factor came in," Abercrombie said.
Characterizing himself as a principled political martyr, Abercrombie told the journalists: "Doctrinally I was outside the circle and paid for it." ...
Republicans are now more than happy to point out that before the vote, they sent out email blasts and press releases urging GOP voters to vote only in the Republicans' primary.
"The Democrats did it to him, not the Republicans," said Pat Saiki, Hawaii GOP chairwoman. "He was not the leader they wanted and they took out their wrath on him.
"I am sorry to see him go this way. He is a nice guy and we are good friends, but I think the power got to his head," Saiki said in an interview.
If backing same-sex marriage can cost you an election, like Abercrombie reasons, Saiki may want to send the governor a "Thank You" card, because his analysis now hurts Ige and strengthens the GOP's James "Duke" Aiona and Independent candidate Mufi Hannemann.
read ... Somebody to Blame
2015 Senate Power Preview
CB: The two most important committees in the Senate will see their chairmen depart.
David Ige of Ways and Means is the surprise Democratic nominee for governor, while Clayton Hee of Judiciary and Labor lost his race to be the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor. Their terms end this year, and since you can’t run for more than one office at a time, neither will return to the Senate.
Here’s what we’ve learned from legislative sources:
Donna Mercado Kim wants to keep the presidency after losing her Democratic primary race for the U.S. Congress. Kim’s Senate term does not end this year.
The trick in the Senate is to get 13 of the 25 members to support a leadership bid. (Sam Slom is the lone Republican senator.)
Kim, Civil Beat is told, has the support of Will Espero, who may be angling for vice president or majority leader. Espero also unsuccessfully ran for Congress, but his current term is not up, either.
The current vice president, Ron Kouchi, was part of a group that recently put a leadership slate forward but didn’t have the numbers to make it stick. Those siding with Kouchi were Michelle Kidani, the current Ways and Means vice chairwoman, and Donovan Dela Cruz; both are said to be seeking promotions to more influential positions.
Believed to be on the Kim-Espero side are Jill Tokuda, who may wish to move from Education to Ways and Means, and Gil Keith-Agaran, who may want to take over Judiciary-Labor.
read ... Bye Bye Clayton Hee
HMSA Chief: If Congressional Delegation Steps Up, Hawaii Can Get Obamacare Waiver Right Now
SA: Q: The Connector's chief, Tom Matsuda, say the law provides for waivers from the rules only after 2017. How do you address that?
A: I do hear that. Let me say this: Maybe I am a lot more either optimistic or aggressive or assertive, or however you might look at it. There are ways to read the law in a more expansive way than to read it literally.
And there are ways to read that law that would allow Hawaii to at least ask for, under a reasonable argument, to get an exemption right now.
Now, they wouldn't call it an exemption, because "exemption" is defined, "waiver" is defined as a certain thing. But you could get a transitional policy that they have the right and authority to do. You could do something right now. I think Mr. Matsuda reads it very literally. ...
I think Hawaii needs to fight for itself. ... The position that's best for Hawaii is not to keep this thing going, and keep putting money in it, into something that doesn't work. ...
And people are willing to go out and fight for Hawaii -- the congressional delegation is willing to go out and fight for Hawaii. We believe the governor's office is. It would be great if the Connector would say, "We're with the governor's office, and we're with the congressional delegation, and everybody running for the office of governor, and would go out and fight for Hawaii."
We may not win. You're dealing with the federal government and you may not win. But it's not an unreasonable argument that we have, and to say that, "Oh, we were told no, and we're just going to sit back and do nothing." (Laughs.)
Q: Is there actual legal language that can be read a certain way?
A: There's language in the law you could read, and maybe some people would say it's a stretch, that says if you had an existing exchange before the law was passed, then you could use that existing exchange. ... My understanding was that little section was really put in there for Massachusetts. ... There is a way, to me, you could make an argument that the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act did everything it was supposed to do, and functioned as an exchange.
They (federal officials) understand that it does not fit Hawaii. Now, they also say, "We have to send it to our lawyers," and I understand that. But if you don't ask, you don't get it....
...Before the exchanges went into effect, Hawaii was either No. 1 or No. 2 in the level of coverage we had. We were probably 2, behind Massachusetts, but it was the both of us up there. I saw a report after the exchange went into effect: We're No. 4. We've fallen backwards.
Q: Why?
A: Because we spent our time advertising that small groups could get coverage when they already had coverage, and the Hawaii Health Connector didn't go after those people that didn't have coverage. It's not only a waste of money, it's a betrayal of what was supposed to be happening.
Flashback: Congressional Delegation Blocks Obamacare Exemption to Avoid “Awkward Political Narrative”
read ... Exemption Now
Development Scheme Behind Kauai GMO Tax?
KE: As the County Council bandies about a plan to tax the seed companies differently than other agricultural uses, it's time to ask, what is the real objective here?
Is it to drive out the GMO seed companies? Open the land for development? Generate more property tax revenues for the county? Stick it to the largest private landowners? Pander to voters in an election year? End subsidies for only certain types of corporate ag? Or some combination thereof?
...as Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura noted:
If you take land out of an agricultural dedication it is assessed at its highest and best use, which is its development value. I believe that has all kinds of implications in terms of a pressure on farmers to develop their land....
Tom Shigemoto of A&B, which owns 7,000 acres of ag land, with 4,000 acres currently leased for coffee and seed corn, brought up another point:
Removing land from the ag dedication will significantly increase real property tax assessments and payments. For landowners dedicated to keeping land in agriculture, it may represent a challenge in obtaining ag lessees that are able to effectively utilize large tracts of land. Land costs are a significant component in the overall success of farming.
In other words, by taking thousands of acres out of ag and putting them into a higher-priced agrinomics category, the county is essentially ensuring that only multinational chemical companies will be able to afford the taxes. And as Tom noted, even they may not want to pay.
Imposing additional financial challenges [on the seed companies] may result in either some of these entities scaling back or relocating to other entities with more favorable tax structures, with the unintended consequence of jeopardizing the long term viability and sustainability of Kauai's agricultural industry.
Is it an unintended consequence? As I've reported previously, high end realtors are backing the anti-GMO movements on Kauai and Maui. They certainly stand to benefit from the demise of ag on the undeveloped west side, with all its lovely sunset and Niihau views....
The Council will resume discussion on the bill in two weeks. Which would be a good time for the public to press for honest answers to the question: What is the real objective here?
LINK: Bill 2546
read ... Musings: Real Objectives
GMOs: Farmers vs Organic Profiteers
KITV: Common Grounds, a partnership between the corn and soybean industry has gathered women farmers from around the country willing to advocate for GMOs saying how they grow it, buy it and walk to talk about why.
"Some of the traits and the proteins that GMOs include are things like protection against certain diseases, or insects or really helping us manage weeds better in our farms," said farmer Julie Kenney.
But, Down To Earth CEO (and alleged cult member) Mark Fergusson says it's making people sick through more pesticide use and potential side effects we don't even know about yet. (Because anti-GMO hype drives customers into his 'natural' stores.)
Flashback: Organic Profiteers: 15% Sales Boost from Anti-GMO Hype
read ... Down To Earth CEO: GMOs making people sick through more pesticide use
Hawaii is too small to be an energy innovator, expert says
PBN: The state — first under Gov. Linda Lingle, who helped spearhead the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, and then under current Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who has continued this initiative — has been touting itself as a place for the world to test energy projects,including a Maui Smart Grid Project, a collaboration between the U.S. and Japan.
The multimillion-dollar project tests technology that will allow utilities to incorporate solar and wind power into their electrical grids to proceed.
But Fesharaki contends that the idea that the state innovates is a bad idea, and that it should let bigger markets handle this.
“We have to wait for the rest of the world to show us how to do it,” he said. “We shouldn’t be a test bed for the rest of the world.”
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, who was Abercrombie’s lieutenant governor before he was appointed to the Senate and took the lead on energy issues at the state while there, said recently that it is important that the state takes this idea of a test bed and makes it real.
“There are now other cities and states that are listening to us,” he said at an energy-related event in Honolulu last week. “We are considered hotshots (sp?) in the Mainland, [and] we are in full implementation stage.”
read ... Hot Schatz on the Mainland
US oil refiners and marketers want Jones Act changes…but Capitol Hill doesn’t
Platts: Despite the appearance of, at best, limited supported for weakening the Jones Act on Capitol Hill, petroleum marketers and refiners are planning a substantial effort to get Congress to change the law which they claim is driving up motor fuel and heating oil prices and severely inhibiting the flow of crude between US ports amid the ongoing domestic oil boom.
These efforts may include a push for new waivers to get the rising tide of light sweet crude from the Gulf of Mexico to east coast refineries or modifying rules on the percentage of a vessels’ crew must be US citizens.
“I’m not naive enough to think that Congress will repeal this thing,” said Charles T. Drevna, president of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, said in a recent interview with Platts. “But, I think after 94-plus years now it’s time to take a look at this thing and see how the Jones Act… and the economic realities of 1920, fit in with the economic realities of 2014.”
Rob Underwood, director of government relations with the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, called the Jones Act “outdated” and a “protectionist policy” but also conceded that repeal was unattainable considering its support within the US maritime industry.
He said instead petroleum marketers were pushing for a US Government Accountability Office report on the impacts of the Jones Act. He said other changes may be possible, such as new allowances for waivers to ship the glut of light sweet crude in the Gulf to refineries in the mid-Atlantic.
read ... Jones Act
Hawaii Is a State. Can It Be a Country, Too?
BB: While Republican senators have called the proposal divisive and say it goes too far, hundreds of Hawaiians turned out at public hearings to protest because they say it doesn’t go far enough. “If the United States is truly intent on reestablishing a government-to-government relationship, it needs to be with the reformed independent Hawaiian nation-state,” Ethan Onipa’a Porter, a teacher, said at a forum in Honolulu. “I think the Department of the Interior completely misread the pulse out here before they decided to go down this road,” says former Hawaii Attorney General Michael Lilly, a Republican.
read ... Bloomberg
32 states ask Supreme Court to settle gay marriage
AP: Thirty-two states that either allow gay marriage or have banned it asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to settle the issue once and for all.
Fifteen states that allow gay marriage, led by Massachusetts, filed a brief asking the justices to take up three cases from Virginia, Utah and Oklahoma and overturn bans. And 17 other states, led by Colorado, that have banned the practice asked the court to hear cases from Utah and Oklahoma to clear up a "morass" of lawsuits, but didn't urge the court to rule one way or another.
SA: DLNR Spokesperson Sentenced for Homosexual Kiddie Porn
read ... Homosexual Marriage
Accused Homosexual Child Molester Denies Charges
SA:Bakke said Holt denies everything.
"There has been no investigation," Bakke said. "Everything was done in a short period. We have been given no information."
Holt, who has been a Department of Education employee since 2000, was arrested at the school Aug. 27 on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault.
Bakke said the child identified Holt at Kanoelani Wednesday with a police officer standing near him.
Bakke said Holt was immediately taken to jail and sat there until he was charged Monday with the lesser offense of third-degree sex assault.
Holt left the downtown court house with Bakke and did not talk with reporters.
SA: Pono Choices sex ed program revised, ready for middle school
read ... Accused
Local Restaurant Loses out to Prostitution, Gambling
PBN: Ung said in the lawsuit that over the years, he has noticed people coming to the area to visit the massage parlor above his restaurant.
“Upon information and belief, the massage parlor, which operates above Fatboy’s, is a front for prostitution,” the lawsuit said.
He also claims that Cuzco began renting space to the owner of an illegal game room and that stabbings and car break-ins in the area caused a drop in business.
Ung said in the lawsuit that he had not revealed the prostitution allegation to the Honolulu Police Department, because he was afraid that Cuzco would retaliate.
read ... Cuzco Development
Lazy Mazie Enjoys First Class Taxpayer-Funded Junket to Africa
WaPo: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, this week led an all-woman delegation — possibly the first ever — on an 11-day trip to Africa via business-class military jet, with stops in Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rome. (Rome is the headquarters of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.)
The trip, Stabenow’s office told us, was to focus on “women’s economic empowerment, economic growth and development in the region” and meet with senior government officials (including Ethiopia’s prime minister) to discuss food security and economic growth.
But the group also squeezed in a couple of days at the Serengeti park, looking at dozing lions, zebras, giraffes and even a “cheetah hunting in the bush,” eTurboNews reported. (Staffers were seen working diligently to photograph the animals.)
Four other Democrats were on the jaunt, according to our copy of the Tanzania Daily News: Sens. Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Amy Klobuchar(Minn.). They’ll also “view elephants and rhinos in their natural habitats,” we’re told
read ... The Washington Post
Kona: Federal Strategy to 'Affect Land Use' Behind Water Grab
WHT: Why, one meeting attendee asked, would the park service be interested in pursuing the designation?
“They have said, ‘We’re not sure if we’re going to intervene’” when well owners and land developers apply for the permit a water resource designation requires, Young said. “Look at history.”
In 2003, park officials submitted a paper to a conference that laid out ways to use state and local laws to “affect land use” around a park and its resources, Young said.
“They have intervened in every allowable land use action since,” he added.
The park’s hydrologist, Paula Cutillo, told about 100 people at a Kona Water Roundtable Meeting last week that officials did not feel certain that leaving half of the water “in the ground” was enough to protect resources.
Young said a growing number of state and local officials, business owners and community residents have expressed opposition to the designation.
read ... Keauhou aquifer is different from Iao, former DLNR chairman says
Hawaii County to Seek US CDC Help with Punatic Anxiety Symptoms
WHT: A conflicted Windward Planning Commission, faced with two dozen speakers asking it to slow down a study of health impacts of the Puna Geothermal Venture plant, on Thursday told the county administration to seek input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Meanwhile, lava is expected to cross Hwy 130 in 27 days. But we've got our priorities, eh?)
The advice from federal agencies, along with annual reports to the commission, are two new conditions added to its approval of a request that $750,000 be taken from the geothermal benefits fund to pay for a three-year study to determine if there are health effects on Puna residents that can be linked to geothermal energy development. (How much hydrogen sulfide does the volcano put out? Duh.)
The study, in the works long before the Aug. 7 release of hydrogen sulfide into the air when the plant shut down in the face of Tropical Storm Iselle, will focus specifically on effects on the central nervous and respiratory systems and anxiety disorder symptoms.
The release increased a longstanding anxiety....
read ... County told to seek advice from CDC, EPA on geothermal health issues
One Homeless Dude Racks Up Numerous Arrests, Court dates
SA: Fazzari has pending court dates for previous arrests for assault, terroristic threatening and soliciting a prostitute. He was free on bail.
He is due in Circuit Court Sept. 8 for allegedly threatening a couple at the Ala Moana Center Feb. 26.
He is also scheduled to appear on Sept. 17 in Circuit Court for allegedly assaulting a man July 1 at the McDonald's restaurant in Kahala; and on Sept. 18 in District Court for allegedly soliciting a prostitute at the Ala Moana Hotel on Aug. 20.
In June, Fazzari entered a no contest plea for picking a fight and kicking people at Manoa Valley District Park on Feb. 22. A judge sentenced him to seven days in jail, fined him $30 and ordered him to stay away from the park.
Manoa Valley Neighborhood Security Watch members said Fazzari may have been harassing residents near Manoa Marketplace and other areas in the valley in February, according to police.
read ... How Expensive it is to let the mentally ill run loose
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