Hawaii teachers union hesitant on plan to reduce furlough days  (exactly as predicted)

The teachers union yesterday did not directly answer whether teachers were willing to give up their planning days to restore 15 furlough days.

"We are willing to go back to the classroom, as long as the governor provides money and resources. The amount the governor is willing to provide would determine how many furlough days could be restored," Wil Okabe, president of the HSTA, said in a written statement.

Okabe said the governor has other options available to reduce the furlough days without tapping the state's rainy day fund.

"As stated by House Finance Chair Marcus Oshiro, there are multiple ways to accomplish this (ending furloughs)," Okabe said.

Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa), has suggested the governor rescind her restriction of money already appropriated to the Department of Education. The governor cut the DOE's appropriation by $134 million when state tax revenues declined.   (Rescinding the restrictions would be a raid on Charter School funding)

PRECISELY AS PREDICTED:  Furlough negotiations: $50M ransom offered, but unions balk at releasing hostages

SB: Teachers willing to return for restored furlough days

HSTA: HSTA Meets with Governor, DOE and BOE About Furlough Fridays

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Legislators cancel party plans  (its tough everywhere)

Set by the state Constitution for the third Wednesday in January, the opening of the 60-day session has always been a time for legislators to invite supporters and family to sit with them in the koa-lined Capitol chambers.

The cream of Waikiki entertainers typically performed for the crowds, and all the legislative leaders gave speeches.

In past years about 400 invited guests would fill the House and Senate chambers, including past governors, county and state leaders, and Cabinet officers.

In the afternoon the legislators would open their offices for parties and free food for supporters and friends.

"I can recall when I was first elected, there would be full-on buffets and the Society of Seven and Don Ho entertaining," said Marumoto (R, Kalani Valley-Diamond Head). "There also was so much alcohol and some parties going until late at night."

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Shakeys' Stimulus: $675,000 for a non-existent Honolulu pizza parlor?

Shakeys Pizza Parlor received $675,000 loan, according to Recovery.gov. The business claims to be on Ethel Street in Honolulu. Although Shakey's Pizza says it is opening a branch in Waipahu on its national web site, Hawaii Reporter could not find such street name. The business was not registered in Hawaii, according to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs web site, until yesterday....

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State on track to have 6.5 million tourists this year

Do the math: 6.5M visitors / 1.2M residents = 5.4 visitors per resident.  If each visitor stays an average of one week, that is 0.104 visitors per resident, per week = 1 visitor for every 9.6 residents at any given moment.  So every tenth person in Hawaii is a super-taxed cash cow with no vote whose sole propose is to support the bloated State bureaucracy. 

Maui News: Tourism continues on downward path

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Matson to hike shipping rates 3.8%

Matson Navigation Co. said it plans to raise rates on its Hawai'i service by an average of 3.8 percent at the beginning of next year.

According to Matson, the average cost to ship a 20-pound bag of rice will go up by 10.8 cents when the increased shipping and terminal handling charges kick in. For a 12-ounce can of soda or beer, the shipping and terminal handling charges will rise by nearly half a cent....

Do the math:

$0.108 / 0.038 = $2.84 to ship 20 lbs rice

$0.005 / 0.038 = $0.13 for can of soda x 6 = $0.79 to ship six pack 

Thee are royalties the Matson monopoly collects on everything imported into Hawaii thanks to the monopoly-protecting Jones Act and the efforts of State regulators to suppress Jones Act compliant competition from Pasha Lines and protesters driving out the Superferry. 

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Mayor weighed SHPD letter in path decision (OHA: Evolving Sacredness)

“With due respect to OHA’s concerns, SHPD believes that a mauka alignment has greater potential to disturb historic sites than the currently proposed alignment makai of Kuhio Highway along Wailua Beach,” it concludes.
OHA Administrator Clyde Namu‘o said Tuesday that it was “regrettable” that OHA’s original position in 2004 — that the path should go on the beach and not the mauka route due to cultural concerns — was different than the one stated in September.
“SHPD can say whatever they choose to, but the position we’re taking is the sands of Wailua are in fact sacred, so we would encourage the county to move the path to a more mauka position,” Namu‘o said. “I don’t see anything unclear about our position.
“We’re not trying to be combative here,” he said. “We strive to keep as much information on sacred sites as we can. It’s an evolution.”

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LINK: Saddam Hussein's 1982 Honolulu Attacker flushed from Iraq: FBI announces $5M reward

LINK: Gay Civil Unions coming back in 2010 session, protest planned