Temporary Injunction: Judge Blocks Enforcement of Maui Anti-GMO Law
Army completes EIS for possible Hawaii force reductions
Manoa Graduate Students Spur Campus-Wide Protest
City to host free TOD symposium Saturday, November 22
As the Nation Turns, Hawaii is Still Driven
Wahiawa celebrates veterans during 68th annual parade
Obama Administration, Kiribati Cut off More Ocean Fisheries
Meetings to Discuss Changes to the State’s Land Use System
Hawaii Obamacare Exchange Projects $20M Deficit
AP: Enrollment fell far short of projections, reaching about 10,000 people instead of the 100,000 to 200,000 some public officials predicted. The enterprise only collected about $121,000 in issuer fees instead of the $1 million it anticipated in its budget. That left officials asking for money from the state, which granted $1.5 million for the current fiscal year.
Despite that infusion, the exchange is still heading for a deficit of $1.8 million in 2015.
If the exchange is able to enroll 130,000 people over the next four years — adding about 30,000 per year — it could break even between fiscal year 2018 and 2019. But under that plan, which critics call unrealistic, the entity still faces deficits of $7.7 million in 2016, $6.7 million in 2017 and $3.4 million in 2018.
If the plan works, the Connector would have a surplus of $1.2 million in fiscal year 2019, after amassing a cumulative deficit of $20 million, according to a sustainability forecast Kissel compiled immediately after starting the job. Lawmakers had long sought such a document.
"My second day I presented that to the board, because nobody was focusing on that, and the numbers were all here," Kissel said.
But critics who lived through inflated projections and disappointing sign-ups last year called the assumption that the Connector could add 30,000 people per year unrealistic.
read ... Health exchange head hopes to win back customers
Is Anti-GMO, Anti-Superferry Fanaticism Hawaii's Future?
MN: Many people were disgusted by the negative and threatening messaging, false and racial statements spread throughout various media, paying for signatures, stealing of signs, vandalism, etc., and it made them turn away from the polls instead of drawing them in. They believed "there was no way the initiative would pass." They were wrong and those supporting a "no" vote did not do enough to explain how important and needed each vote was.
So, where do we go from here? We shared that a lawsuit would be forthcoming if the initiative passed. That is true and happening. It will cost us all more as previously stated. We simply have to take that nasty pill and wait to see what the courts decide.
In the meantime, our community is changing. This issue went far beyond passion to ugly and illegal acts.
Those involved in fervent debates over the years (such as the airport runway extension, H'poko wells and the Hawaii Superferry) saw this escalate to a whole new level that is not reflective of Maui Nui and the spirit of aloha we are known for.
The environmental moment afoot is very different from a sustainable movement (where balanced and sustainable solutions are sought), with some willing to take their beliefs to fanatical levels, regardless of whom they hurt. Is this our new reality? If not, did the election provide a significant wake-up call to mobilize those who were silent? Are residents ready to stand up and take action or will they allow this behavior to continue unchecked? Time will tell, but one thing is certain, silence is not golden or helpful.
read ... Maui Chamber of Commerce
Mayor wants to sign expansion of sit-lie law
KITV: ...shortly after the 7-2 vote, Caldwell told reporters he wants to sign the bill into law within the 10 business days allowed. He said the bill must first be reviewed by city attorneys to make sure it can pass legal muster.
"It sounds like it's been massaged enough that it should be OK to sign," said the mayor. "But you know, the detail is in the fine print. The bill will be coming up to Corporation Counsel (and) it'll be reviewed by them and then submitted to me. It's my hope that it'll be OK."
Under Bill 48, sitting or lying down on a city sidewalk within one of the proposed districts would become a petty misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and as much as a $1,000 fine. The current sit-lie law in Waikiki is in effect at all hours of the day or night, but the 15 additional districts would prohibit such behavior from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
read ... Sit-Lie
Why did it take 17 years for the Peter Boy Kema case to move forward?
HNN: In her only media interview, Lina Acol tells Hawaii News Now that she saw her mother kiss the lips of her brother, who was motionless. She says her father was beating Peter Boy's chest at the same time. She later realized, her parents were performing CPR on his lifeless body. She says she also remembers her father burying a box.
Lina has more clarity now than ever before. She believes the details have become stronger as she has gotten older.
"A 4-year old is clearly not going to know CPR so what she's doing is, she's retrospectively reconstructing this in adult terms and reinterpreting," says Dr. Robert Marvit, a forensic psychiatrist who has testified in court many times.
"We need to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt, that's our bottom line," says Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth....
Roth will only get one shot. If there is a not-guilty verdict, he cannot try again. And the statute of limitations has run out to try lesser crimes....
read ... Peter Boy
UH teaching assistant positions may be cut
HNN: There are 180 graduate students who are teaching assistants in the University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Natural Sciences. They get a tuition waiver and $17,500 a year to teach an average of two classes per semester to about 25 students per class. Whitney and other TAs in the College of Natural Sciences said they have learned TA positions will be cut in the Spring and Fall semesters. He is in his last year and he's worried.
"This means I would have to drop out. And if the budget system doesn't improve, maybe never return," he said.
Biology professor Marguerite Butler said losing TAs would increase class sizes and force some classes to be cut, affecting undergraduates.
"This is going to be a lot of required courses for majors," she said. "That means that students won't be able to register and they'll have a delay in graduation."
Bill Ditto, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences, said a handful of TA positions will be lost in the Spring Semester when some TAs graduate and vacancies go unfilled. In the Fall, 18 of the 180 TA slots in his college could be downsized because of budget constraints.
read ... UH teaching assistant positions may be cut
Hawaii 2nd Most expensive housing market, but only Because Most Expensive Areas lack Listings
PBN: The average listing price in Waianae is $445,850, while the average listing price in Kapolei is $625,085. Ewa Beach ranked between the two markets, with an average listing price of $560,400, the company said.
One reason that wealthier areas didn't make the list is that each market had to have at least 10 active listings during a certain time period, from January to June, said Kalama Kim, principal broker with Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties.
Realtors in Hawaii say that lack of inventory is one of the biggest problems facing the Hawaii real estate industry.
Overall, Hawaii ranked second in the country after Massachusetts as the most expensive state to own a home, where average listing price for a four bedroom, two bath home was $540,000.
read ... Massachusetts is #1
Election chief absolved in Puna primary
SA: Chief Election Officer Scott Nago complied with all existing laws in carrying out the 2014 primary election and acted appropriately in response to problems on Hawaii island resulting from Tropical Storm Iselle, the state Elections Commission said Friday in declaring that no disciplinary action would be taken on the matter.
read ... No Surprise
Morita Under Attack for Rejecting $250M AKP Biofuel Ripoff?
IM: HECO asserted that the Aina Koa Pono contract would be so expensive to HELCO ratepayers that HECO ratepayers should subsidize the operation.
Life of the Land determined that the subsidy would be $250,000,000.00 (250 million dollar) over a 20-year period....
in a recent Pacific Business News article it was suggested that Hermina Morirta should not be re-appointed as Chair of the Public Utilities Commission because the Commission rejected AKP....
read ... AKP Revenge
KIUC to Spend $1000/head to Store Erratic Solar Energy
KGI: The project is designed to address the challenge of how to capture cheap and plentiful solar energy generated during the day, store it, then use it at night when demand for electricity is at its peak. Total cost of the project, which could be completed by 2019, is estimated at $55 million to $65 million....
The system would generate about 25 megawatts at night and would produce about 13 percent of the electricity used on Kauai....
While pumped storage is the most common form of energy storage in the world, the Kauai project would be the first of its kind in Hawaii....
read ... KIUC plan moves forward
Restructuring Nepotistic charter school offers lesson
SA: The complete overhaul of Halau Lokahi Public Charter School is the necessary next step for a campus that has long struggled financially amid accusations of nepotism and mismanagement, but also retained a loyal core of families who appreciate its combination of online and Native Hawaiian- focused learning....
The entire staff will be laid off at semester's end, and the school will reopen in January with a total payroll that costs 50 percent less....
It's an extreme approach that will require enormous effort to succeed....
And if it doesn't, it is time to pull the plug, knowing that this pioneering charter school received every chance to succeed....
read ... Restructuring charter school offers lesson
Hawaii VA Misplaces Veterans Personal Information
FS: ...an employee from a community-based outpatient clinic in Hawaii discovered VistA reports containing personal health information, including full names and social security numbers, belonging to 55 veterans on the bottom of a magazine holder that had been setup at the Maui County fair from Oct. 2 through Oct. 5.
read ... VA readies scheduling RFP amid onslaught of security challenges
Black Sand and Navy Blue
WSJ: James Haley would have us believe there was precious little good about the old Hawaii, the mid-Pacific archipelago that Captain Cook happened upon in 1778 and named the Sandwich Islands for his Admiralty sponsor. Despite the use of the alluring noun in his chosen title, it never really was any kind of paradise. Back in the 18th century, Mr. Haley declares toward the end of this solid new history, “a native Hawaiian would stand 999 chances in a 1,000 that he or she would be a fisherman and taro digger, even more impoverished than now, and subject to chiefly whim or sacrifice, tied to a tree and strangled.” No paradise that, for sure....
Hawaii exists as it does, you realize, not for the promulgation of native lei-and-aloha culture, but rather to protect the American mainland from attack. The islands make up the first line of this country’s outer defenses, our great wall from China, set down prettily in a seemingly tranquil sea....
“Captive Paradise” begins with a memorably fine account of the murderous moments leading up to Captain Cook’s death at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island in 1779. Mr. Haley then weaves his way through the tortuous history of the various monarchs and princes....
read ... Captive paradise
Jones: All GOP needs to do is Celebrate Gay Marriage and they will suddenly be winners
MW: Did you have a moment last Tuesday when you wished you were a Democrat? When you realized you’re stuck again with eight state House members and one senator? Not very heartening after all your work.
Republicans can get elected in Hawaii but they need more social liberalism in their quivers. I’m thinking the late Sen. Hiram Fong, and Gov. Linda Lingle before she vetoed civil unions in 2010 and started her legacy on a downhill path.
Totally Unrelated Story: Hollywood Homosexual Child Molesters Much Worse Than Believed
Boylan: Republicans Should Switch Parties
read ... Advice for the foolish
QUICK HITS: