Leaked Docs: Wong, Dwyer, and Harry Mattson Got 26% of Kanaiolowalu Contacting Budget
Takai: TRICARE is Gay
Agenda Driven: After Two Years of Silence, Media Suddenly Remembers Gabbard's Hare Krishna Cult
Dealmaking for Ching in the Senate
$25.8B State budget to take stage this week in Legislature
AP: The House Committee on Finance combed through the budget and recommended $12.7 billion in spending for fiscal year 2016, which begins July 1, and $13.1 billion in 2017.
The full House plans to vote on the proposed budget this week, facing a deadline to get it to the Senate on Wednesday.
read ... Budget
Price Hikes, Tax Hikes Cause Visitor Dissatisfaction
SA: Raise prices and expectations soar, too. So it's little surprise that visitors who are paying more for their vacations are also finding more to gripe about. Still, that the Hawaii Tourism Authority's annual Spring Marketing Update regarding visitor satisfaction was predictable makes it no less troubling.
Most alarming: Only 62 percent of visitors from Japan rated their most recent trip to Hawaii as excellent, down 12.7 percent from the previous survey. Visitors from Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the eastern United States also were less pleased with their experience, although none of the percentage drops for those groups reached the double digits. The overall percentage of visitors who rated their vacations as excellent dropped 2 percent, to 78.5 percent.
The findings demand a comprehensive and sustained response from airlines, car rental companies, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that cater to tourists — a response that brings customer service to the level that international visitors, especially, have come to expect.
The stakes are very high, as the tourism industry finds itself in "a very delicate situation" after three record-setting years. That's the assessment of David Uchiyama, HTA's vice president of brand management, who warns that the drop in visitor satisfaction, coupled with rising prices and unfavorable currency exchange rates, could deter enough prospective travelers that the industry misses its aggressive targets for 2015.
read ... Squeezed too Hard
Hawaii Voter Turnout Drops 9%
CB: ...Hawaii’s voter turnout last year ranked it at No. 32 across the country.
That’s up from the No. 36 position we held in 2010, according to a new analysis from Nonprofit VOTE.
All told, Hawaii had a turnout of 36.5 percent among citizen eligible voters in 2014....
Hawaii saw a 9 percent drop in this category, ranking it at No. 25 in the nation....
To get a good voter turnout, it also helps to have competitive statewide races.
read ... Turnout
UH Manoa Sex assault awareness training may become mandatory
KL: As 574 UH Mānoa students have taken a voluntary sexual assault on-line training course as of March 9, the university may make this training mandatory.
The university is looking at different options on enforcement such as placing holds on student accounts so that they are unable to register and unable to receive financial aid. The important thing is that students are aware of how to prevent sexual assault, according to Director of Media Production Dan Meisenzahl....
The course, called "Haven" is provided by EverFi, whose courses were created to help students address critical life skills in preventing sexual assault.
read ... Assault
Atrazine Hype Not Justified by Science
CB: Just look at the nearly 7,000 studies that have demonstrated atrazine is safe to use. Or ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has twice approved atrazine after extensive safety reviews. As EPA has stated, the class of herbicides that atrazine comes from poses “no harm” to “the general U.S. population, infants, children … or other major identifiable groups.”
Meanwhile, the use of atrazine has been declining dramatically in Hawaii for many years. Air sampling by the University of Hawaii on Kauai found no detectable levels of atrazine. And according to a 2013 report commissioned by the state Legislature, atrazine levels have not exceeded the extremely conservative, extremely safe levels set for both human health and the environment since 1993.
WSJ: Anti-GMO, Biotech Factions Clash at Food Summit
read ... The Science
Surfrider Foundation elects slate of officers
KGI: Carl Berg, former vice chair, was installed as chair and remains as Blue Water Task Force coordinator. Barbara Weidner was elected vice chair and is beach cleanup coordinator. Scott McCubbins was elected treasurer and will be beach cleanup co-coordinator. Lori Stitt will serve as secretary.
Gordon Labedz is the Rise Against Plastic, Styrofoam Free Kauai and legislative coordinator. Robert Zelkovsky is the media and publicity coordinator and also the membership coordinator. Rob Brower is the newest executive committee member.
(These clowns donated $10K to stop the dairy farm on Kauai.)
read ... Crackpots
Hawaii Civil Air Patrol Loses Members, Morale
KGI: CAP is an Air Force auxiliary, and as a nonprofit corporation it is audited annually and has a joint compliance inspection every four years. It did very poorly in 2013, Bishop said.
There were 86 deficiencies discovered across the board in the 2013 inspection, and 33 of them involved safety or mission critical areas that required immediate action. How many were at the Kauai squadron wasn’t specified.
But things have improved recently, Bishop said. Overall discrepancies were reduced to 10 in just six months, and all discrepancies were resolved as of two weeks ago.
“Right now we are operating with zero discrepancies and that is highly efficient,” said Hawaii Wing Inspector Gen. Charley Rodriguez.
But the process of regaining a good standing came at a price: low morale.
After Bishop and Regional Vice Commander-Pacific Col. Virginia Nelson offered a guarantee of no retaliation to those who wanted to speak their minds, they heard from around 25 members Tuesday about issues concerning the Kauai squadron and the state commander.
Concerns ranged from a sense of mistreatment, indignation and feeling maligned by the state wing. Others said the state wing labeled them as cronies or troublemakers. Some stayed on and others left, saying the atmosphere affected their work and personal life.
Since 2013, the number of Kauai volunteers has fallen from 120 to 40, and the number of mission-ready pilots has fallen from 18 to three, according to members who have either left or moved to inactive or patron status.
read ... CAP
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