After Taxes, Housing, and Utilities, Hawaii Residents Fifth Poorest in USA
Kakaako: How to Buy Hawaii State Senators--Legally
Will Tom Brower ever learn?
Ebola: Where are the Anti-GMO Protesters Now?
Hawaii Superferry Making a Comeback?
Falling Off the Cliff
Marijuana: Margin of Ige's Defeat?
Borreca: ...Democratic state Sen. David Ige and Republican former Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona are running neck and neck, followed by former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, a Democrat running as an Independent.
The race is so tight that it is worth watching votes that go to the fourth candidate, Jeff Davis, a Libertarian who has never run for office.
Jim Loomis, (Abercrombie operative and Democrat) political strategist and adviser to the late mayor, notes that the fringe candidates can cause trouble.
"Third-party candidates are very frustrating because they have the potential to thwart the will of a majority of the voters," Loomis said in an email interview. (Translation: The Libertarians are pulling Democrat voters, not Republican--and Mufi is pulling Dems too.)
"No matter how wacky they might be, the more they talk, the more scattered votes they'll get ... and those few votes could make the difference." (Translation: Democrats want their dope and Libertarians promise Democrats to make their dope legal.)
KGI: Teenage marijuana use and the ramifications
read ... In this gubernatorial race, every candidate counts
House Must Act Against Cachola
Shapiro: ...Cachola's lawyer, Michael Green, groused that the Ethics Commission "makes it look like he was walking around with a mask and a gun."
Who needs a mask when you can walk around with your hand out in broad daylight and be re-elected unopposed?
You'd think such a record would draw eager opponents, but they were evidently scared off by his remarkable good luck with the elderly vote and his $211,000 campaign fund -- much of it from development interests like those that wined and dined him and nursing home providers.
So we're left with a legislator being re-elected unopposed despite the questionable circumstances of his original election and an official finding that he engaged in a long pattern of unethical behavior....
...let's see the House exercise that authority in the case of Romy Cachola: Judge him by House ethical standards, if there are any, and then stick him with hard sanctions to discourage such arrogant abuse of power.
House members have an obligation to stand in for his constituents, who weren't given the opportunity to vote him out.
read ... Cachola
Lanai's sole school faces chronic issue of teacher turnover
SA: The teacher turnover rate at Lanai High and Elementary School climbed to what may be an all-time high this fall, forcing the principal and vice principals, even the athletic director, to help teach elementary grades and math classes.
The school -- the only one serving the rural island -- started the academic year in August with 11 vacancies, meaning one in four teaching positions was unfilled. Friday marked the end of the first quarter, and Principal Elton Kinoshita has only been able to fill six of the openings, including two just last week.
Some parents are outraged that administrators and multiple substitutes who don't hold teaching credentials have been instructing their children for more than two months. At least one family has pulled its children from the school over the lack of permanent and qualified teachers, while others are contemplating better educational opportunities off-island.
read ... Turnover
Hundreds of Homeless Purposefully Crowd Jails
IM: According to Ted Sakai, Director of the Hawai`i Department of Public Safety (DPS), thirty percent of the people in Hawaii's jails are “frequent flyers.” (Also called ‘frequent fliers’)
The term “frequent flyers” has been used for at least two decades by the medical field for drunks, chronically ill and poor people who rely on emergency medical services for their regular medical needs..
The prison industry has adopted this buzzword. Frequent flyers are homeless people who allegedly prefer three meals and a secure bed in jail to being on the street.
Providing these individuals with social services instead of jail cells would remove them from the criminal justice system and add them to the homeless rolls.
There are 2317 people currently in jail. Relying on Ted Sakai's thirty percent estimate, there are 695 homeless occupying jail cells.
read ... Frequent Flyers
Kauai a Great Place to Send Homeless
KGI: Kauai does not have a panhandling ordinance but can use the disorderly conduct statute.
“More or less, someone who is creating a disturbance may be charged with disorderly conduct or other laws such as impeding or obstructing, for the purpose of begging or soliciting alms in a public place,” said County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar.
As far as Kollar knows, no one has ever been cited under that section on Kauai.
“In general, I am opposed to laws that criminalize houselessness,” Kollar said.
read ... Flights Leaving Every Hour
Star-Adv Helps Solar Scammers Whip up Battery Sales
SA: RevoluSun installed less than a dozen energy storage systems that allowed customers to live off grid since 2009. In the last month, almost 50 customers have called the company looking to take their systems off-grid, said Colin Yost, principal and general counsel at RevoluSun.
Background: No Blackout: RevoluSun Exposed
read ... Lemmings
Hu Honua Hit Again
EH: The Hu Honua Bioenergy plant under construction north of Hilo is facing yet another lawsuit from a creditor. On August 1, Morbark, Inc., based in Michigan, filed a complaint in 3rd Circuit Court, alleging that it is owed $1,023,244.50 for two large wood chippers and related equipment. The lawsuit asks for payment of this amount, plus interest, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other damages determined by the court.
read ... Hu Honua
Kauai Council Votes to Double Garbage Fees
KGI: A divided Kauai County Council committee on Wednesday approved a scaled down version of a proposal that would charge county residents variable trash collection rates based on how much they throw away.
By a 4-1 vote, the seven-member board’s Environmental Services Committee approved an amendment to Bill 2551 that would charge residential customers a monthly, flat $6 fee for access to the county’s five refuse transfer stations and an additional $4 fee, if residents opt to have a 64-gallon trash cart, or two 32-gallon carts, for weekly pick up.
Households who opt to use the 96-gallon carts, or three 32-gallon carts, that are now available, meanwhile, would be charged the flat $6 fee along with an additional $12 fee — a monthly $6 increase from the amount residents pay now.
“Fees are a way to give feedback to the user to promote recycling,” said Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who introduced the amendment. “Just imagine how much greater our water use would be, if it were unmetered. (The environmental religion is used once again to promote tax increases.)
read ... Yet Another Fee Increase
Obama Beach? $500K Bribe Leaves Some Unconvinced
KHON: “I think you should just leave it as Sandy Beach”, said one beachgoer. “I think they should just leave it Sandy Beach, too,” said another.
“I don’t think it’s fair because, personally, he’s done nothing for our beach over here,” Waimanalo resident Kanaloa Kane said. “Maybe he did grow up here, but as a local, I’ve been surfing here for 10 years easy and I don’t think it’s fair.”
“I think it’s definitely going to help for sure,” said frequent beach visitor Beth Amann. “That way, they’re going to keep things more picked up probably, more improvements. Hopefully, nothing will change dramatically as far as the landscape, maybe just better maintenance.”
Part of the plan to rename Sandy’s includes about a half-a-million dollars to improve the area, including the parking lot....
read ... $500,000 Bribe
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