Hawaii 4th Graders Being Brainwashed Against GMOs
MIT: Scientific illiteracy in left-wing politics
61 Hawaii Bridges Need Structural Repair
DoE Announces Statewide Graduation Dates for 2015
Hawaii Senate creates panel to review Sen. Brickwood Galuteria's qualifications
I Oppose Gay Marriage. Should I Still Be Able to Get a Job?
ADHD in Hawaii: 70% on Prescription Drugs, 61% Get 'Behavioral Therapy'
Council votes back extension of GE Tax for rail
SA: Meeting in a special session deliberately scheduled to fall on April Fools' Day, the Council voted 7-1 to approve on first reading Bill 23. That measure would remove the Dec. 31, 2022, sunset of Oahu's 0.5 percent surcharge funding most of the project. Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, a staunch critic of how the 20-mile, 21-station project has taken shape, cast the dissenting vote. Councilwoman Kymberly Pine was not present.
The move came about two weeks before a key deadline for tax-extension bills still alive in the state Legislature, where lawmakers first would need to approve such an extension for it to have a chance at passing.
Several of those state lawmakers have openly questioned why they haven't heard formal support from the Council for the controversial and politically risky move....
Council Chairman Ernie Martin previously said he picked April 1 for the special session "as an indication that members will not be fooled again by misrepresentations or insufficient information." (Which is odd, because the Council vote reflects the fact that they have again been fooled by HART misrepresentations and insufficient information.)
The Council also voted 7-1 Wednesday to adopt Resolution 15-7, an agreement between the city and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation that sets the terms for city-backed debt financing of rail construction. Kobayashi again dissented....
She levied blunt critiques at HART and rail officials, accusing them of misleading the public over the years and obfuscating financial details.
"You can't keep playing with people, and you can't keep playing with taxpayers' money," Kobayashi told HART board Chairman Ivan Lui-Kwan and HART Executive Director Dan Grabauskas.
"I just want the truth. It would do so much for public confidence. … I never get a straight answer. I can't trust the company that is asking to borrow city money," Kobayashi added, referring to HART.
She noted that three years ago HART had planned to borrow $100 million in the first year of a debt-financing plan. Now the agency plans to borrow $350 million in commercial paper in the first year instead. Grabauskas and HART officials said after the meeting that the revised $350 million plan will save the project money in borrowing costs.
Several rail opponents spoke out against Bill 23 and Resolution 15-7, including Katherine Kupukaa. The Mililani resident referred to rail's price tag of $3.7 billion in 2008 and noted that it has nearly doubled since then.
"Who is kidding who with this deception?" she testified Wednesday. "With the project less than 10 percent completed and the $1 billion contingency used up, do you dare ask for more money from the taxpayers?"
Dolores Mollring, a downtown resident, said (on cue) this week's nightmare traffic on the H-1 freeway showed that the rail line remains desperately needed on Oahu. "I'm not thinking of the cost, I'm not thinking of the dollars — I'm thinking of the poor people who were stuck in traffic yesterday," Mollring said. "Their concern was four hours in traffic, and these people are complaining and complaining about their taxes." (And HART Thanks DoT for scheduling the traffic jam to coincide with this vote.)
read ... 7-1 Vote
Several nonbinding resolutions urge changes by HART, including cost-cutting
SA: ...Lawmakers on both sides of Punchbowl Street are weighing a handful of nonbinding resolutions that would call for piecemeal reforms to the Honolulu rail project.
The state Senate's Transportation Committee and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee looked at a combined total of five rail-related resolutions during hearings Tuesday, and advanced three of them.
The approved measures urged that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation seek more cost-cutting measures (Senate Concurrent Resolution 63), develop a detailed plan to fund rail operations and maintenance (SCR 143) and incorporate bus rapid transit links from several parts of the island into the future rail line (SCR 65).
Senate members deferred SCR 112, which would have urged an audit of the state Department of Taxation to discover why rail's GET revenues are down despite an overall increase in state GET collections. Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point), who heads the Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee, said the group made that decision based on the Department of Taxation's written testimony.
Tax officials stated that the law would prevent them from providing the auditor access to taxpayer information without that taxpayer's approval.
Those officials also blamed the discrepancy between lagging rail revenues and growing GET collections on "timing differences," or a delay between when taxpayers fill out a return and when their payment is actually deposited.
HART officials have already said that a processing delay doesn't fully explain why the rail project hasn't received more cash. They still aren't satisfied as to why the rail project's GET revenues are lagging approximately $40 million behind what they had been projected to be at this point.
The Senate Transportation Committee also deferred a resolution urging the state auditor to help look into the status and progress of rail's completion. In her written testimony, acting state Auditor Jan Yamane said the measure would create a conflict when she subsequently audited "any and all matters related to rail." ...
read ... Lawmakers express rail wishes
Senate shaves less than 1 percent from the governor's funding proposal
SA: ...Last month, the House announced that its draft of the budget would test out a new budget approach for the University of Hawaii system by making more than $369 million available to the university in a single budget classification, and letting university officials and the Board of Regents decide how to distribute that money around the sprawling UH system.
The Senate budget does not embrace that idea, and instead would generally continue the traditional method of having the Legislature specify the amounts of funding given to different components of the university system by spelling out those instructions in the budget.
However, Tokuda said the Senate proposal would set aside more than $13 million over the next two years that could be used for "performance-based funding" that would be distributed under a system that would be developed by the university president and the Board of Regents.
The proposed Senate budget draft also includes $21 million for the network of state hospitals that includes Hilo and Maui Memorial Medical Centers to cover cash shortfalls due to public worker raises and other costs.
Sen. Sam Slom, the Senate's lone Republican, said he was glad the budget does not include any tax increases, but also said it does not include any tax reductions.
Slom (R, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai) gave his colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee a brief and mild scolding, telling them "instead of thanking each other and slapping each other on the back, we should be thanking the taxpayers, because they have to pay for all of this."
read ... Disciplined?
Mauna Kea: OHA Demands Payoffs for Mountain
Peter Apo: ...how does one bridge the apex where science slams head on into culture? ... (By giving OHA a lot of money, that's how...)
The State Land Board had signed off on a notice to proceed with construction on March 6 and now is apparently ignoring a few last-ditch legal challenges. As of this writing, undeterred, and with increasing commitment, opposition to the project has escalated to civil disobedience by protestors led by Kealoha Pisciotta, leader of the organization Mauna Kea Anaina Hou.
She is quoted as saying: “We are not giving up, and we’re standing for what we believe in.”
The protestors, in growing numbers, are intent on slowing or halting all construction-related traffic attempting to get to the construction site and police are threatening arrests. Protestors are now beginning to organize on the UH Manoa campus. The project is at a flash point.
To understand why this is so important to Hawaiians like Kealoha Pisciotta we need to understand the history as to how we got here.
(Good Idea: Lets flash back to 2008 and read Pisciotta's $50M demand letter: LINK)
An expensive, congressionally supported attempt to bridge the gap between the two sides gave rise to the Hilo-based ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, a cultural science museum and planetarium which is intended to bring the Hawaiian community and astronomers together to discuss and mitigate their differences. While ‘Imiloa has been an educational boon for Hilo, from a political perspective, it seems to have fallen short of its diplomatic objective of building a bridge between the two camps....
It would be an understatement to characterize the situation as jittery. I get the same feeling about the character, commitment, and high stakes nature of this protest movement that I had during the early days of the stop the bombing of Kahoolawe movement. In that case, Native Hawaiians took on the entire military industrial complex of the United States and the rest is history....
read ... Give Us the $50M
HB819: Bullying the Gay Agenda into Schools
CB: House Bill 819 would codify a bullying definition that would include ... sexual orientation and gender identity....
Second, it would extend that definition not only to public schools, including charters, but to any agency or entity that serves youth and receives state or county funding....
The bill would further create a gubernatorial task force, with broad representation from education, mental health, community and faith organizations, to create a model bullying policy and would require annual anti-bullying training for educators and youth-serving staff. The gubernatorial task force would also be responsible for promulgating free and reduced cost training opportunities, to mitigate budget impacts.
How This Works: The transsexual agenda for Hawaii schools
read ... Bullying
HSTA: Blame Common Core for Upcoming Low Test Scores
SA: The goal of Common Core standards is to develop critical thinking skills that, by their nature, are likely to lead to diverse "correct" responses. If our students achieve the aims of these standards, it is unlikely that they will receive high scores on any standardized test.
This is not because the students are unable to think critically, but rather because they can, and their ability to do so cannot be confined to any standardized assessment — no matter what the curriculum developers promise.
Through Common Core curriculum, our students are being taught how to look at information and determine what it is conveying, what bias an author might have in conveying that message, and whether or not the writer or the source is credible. From that, they are to form their own thoughts and positions on issues.
While they may all be using the same facts, each student adds something unique: themselves. It is the reason that Einstein could use the same information that was available to other scientists of his day and come up with the theory of relativity. It is why both Fox and MSNBC can use the exact same information to come up with two opposing positions.
read ... Excuses in Advance
Kenoi Refuses to Say Who He Partied With at Hostess Bar Brothel. "I came to represent Big Island."
HNN: ...April 1, 2015: What was supposed to be a night out with friends at a local hostess bar has turned into a political crisis for one of the Democratic Party's rising stars.
Earlier this week, Big Island Mayor Billy Kenoi said he used his government credit card to buy drinks and meals at the Club Evergreen on Kapiolani Boulevard in December 2013.
Today, he admitted that he charged nearly $9,000 on his county pCard for personal expenses during the past five years. According to West Hawaii Today, the charges include $1,200 for a surfboard and $1,900 on bicycle equipment....
The use of the cards is supposed to be restricted and monitored by staffers. There's supposed to be an automatic block a large range of goods, including alcohol or sports equipment.
As for the Club Evergreen outing, Kenoi said he met with friends after coming to Oahu on official business. He declined to provide further details on the club expenditures.
"I had a cultural event that day. I had a tea ceremony. I 'came' ... to represent Hawaii island," he said. (LOL!)
read ... Tea Ceremony With Friends, Yeah
Kenoi Billed Taxpayers for Surfboard, Bike, Clothing and Hostess Bar: Kenoi releases credit card statements, pays back $7,500
WHT: A $1,219.69 surfboard at a Honolulu store, $1,909.47 worth of equipment at a Kailua-Kona bike shop and $78.27 in sportswear from a Honolulu Quiksilver shop were among personal purchases Mayor Billy Kenoi made on his county charge card since being elected mayor in 2008.
All of the charges were reimbursed or credited back on the card, according to documents provided today by the county Finance Department.
In addition, Kenoi on Tuesday paid the county $7,503.90 in charges and interest attributed to purchases from 2009 to the present that he says were charged in conjunction with official county business....
read ... Kenoi releases credit card statements, pays back $7,500
Kenoi Racks Up $26K in Illegal P Card Expenses
SA: Hawaii island Mayor Billy Kenoi revealed Wednesday he has reimbursed the county for a total of $26,000 in charges and interest on a county credit card — roughly half of which went for personal purchases.
Kenoi said he thought it was OK to charge personal purchases on his county credit card — including an $892 tab at a Honolulu hostess bar, a $1,200 surfboard and a $1,900 bicycle — if he paid it back right away.
Of the $26,000 charged, starting with purchases in 2009, Kenoi said he paid $7,500 back on Tuesday after "a final review," and $19,100 prior to that was made monthly for personal purchases....
Kenoi said the county is responding to requests by the Star-Advertiser and other media for the credit card statements from 2008 to the present. West Hawaii Today's requests were made since 2010. An April 21, 2014, clarification from the newspaper renewed the request and it was renewed again March 18, but it obtained the December 2013 statement showing the Club Evergreen charge from another source.
The county Finance Department provided the documents Wednesday to West Hawaii Today....
read ... $26,000
Legislators so far have wisely resisted anti-GMO hysteria
SA: Committees of the state House and Senate have wisely deferred or amended a passel of lousy bills that pretend to be public-policy approaches to pesticide abuse, but are really just propaganda instruments for a "movement" that behaves as though strident rhetoric must always trump logic and intelligent decisions.
In so doing, these committees have recognized that many people throughout Hawaii are concerned about pesticide abuse, but that a loud, extreme activist wing has whipped up this concern and tried to shape it into raging hysteria.
The bills would have imposed complicated and arguably unnecessary new requirements on large farming operations — exclusively those run by GMO (genetically modified organism) seed companies.
And that's what this is really about — not pesticides. It's about finding an indirect route to attack GMO agriculture, even though genetic modification of corn, for example, has been routine since the 1920s. It's a controversy about a radical political objective of barring GMOs — even those cleared for the market under strict federal standards — for no valid scientific reason....
For their trouble, the chairs and members of the committees that have acted responsibly by refusing to be stampeded have found themselves vilified. But they are the good guys (and women), not the dark side in this sorry episode in Hawaii legislative history.
read ... Hysteria Resisted
Green Energy Schemers Miffed After PUC Misses Chance to Stuff Even More Money in their Pockets
CB: One of the top clean-energy nonprofits in Hawaii sharply criticized the state Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday over its much anticipated order on decoupling, which separates Hawaiian Electric’s revenues from its sales.
Blue Planet Foundation, headed by Jeff Mikulina, said the commission failed to adopt proposals to tie the utility’s revenues to clean energy performance.
The nonprofit also faulted the PUC’s rationale for not doing so, noting how the regulators’ decision says performance-based utility regulations are “impractical” at this time because the utility lacks a clear strategic plan and because the pending sale of Hawaiian Electric to NextEra Energy could have a major impact on the operation of the Hawaiian Electric companies.
read ... Miffed
Mauna Kea Blockade Intensifies, Arrests Expected
BIVN: Opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea are planning to make a stand Thursday, despite the threat that they will be arrested by Hawaii County police should they choose to block construction crews from access to the summit.
Things were quiet on Wednesday, the calm before the storm. Many of the self-described protectors of the mountain expect today to be the day of reckoning. Police already informed them what would happen if they do not stand aside. Many indicated they would not, and are prepared to be arrested for their cause.
WHT: TMT protesters ‘willing to be arrested’
read ... Mauna Kea Blockade Intensifies, Arrests Expected
Feds Raid Honolulu Museum of Art, Seize Stolen Antiquities
KITV: It's like a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents converge on the Honolulu Museum of Art to retrieve stolen antiquities. This is part of a worldwide investigation....
SA: Museum surrenders works of art to feds
read ... Federal Raid
Ige appoints 6 to serve on UH Board of Regents
SA: Ige has named Michael McEnerney, a certified public accountant and attorney, to one of the board's seven Honolulu seats. McEnerney will replace longtime regent Chuck Gee, whose term expires at the end of June....
Ige also appointed Ernest Wilson to one of the board's two Maui County seats, effective July 1....
Former regents John Dean (Honolulu), Carl Carlson (West Hawaii island), Tom Shigemoto (Kauai) and Ota (Maui) resigned last summer, citing privacy concerns over a state law that added members of the Board of Regents to the list of public officials whose financial interests are disclosed to the public.
Because Abercrombie's four interim appointments on the board were never confirmed by the Senate, Ige has submitted his own nominations for two of the seats, using a previous list of names from a screening committee prescribed by state law. Ige has named:
» David Iha, a retired secretary to the Board of Regents, to fill the Kauai seat through mid-2017. Iha previously served as provost of Kauai Community College for 16 years and director of the college's administrative services for more than a decade. He would replace Abercrombie's interim appointment of Dr. Dileep Bal.
» Wayne Higaki, chief development officer for North Hawaii Community Hospital, to fill the West Hawaii island seat through mid-2016. He would replace Abercrombie's interim appointment of Peter Hoffman.
» Simeon Acoba, a retired Hawaii Supreme Court associate justice, has been reappointed through mid-2017 to the Honolulu seat he currently fills.
» Nielsen, a co-founder of the Maui Coastal Lands Trust, has been re-nominated to continue in the Maui seat only through June 30.
LINKS: GM546 thru GM551
read ... Appointees
Hawaii Senate to Post Résumés of Nominees on Website
CB: ...Kim said that, after conferring with Gov. David Ige, the Senate Clerk’s office will post the information on the Legislature’s website “as soon as possible” after appointment letters to the Senate are received from the governor’s office.
Any questionnaire by Senate committees, which offer advise and consent, to nominees “and any other documents” submitted by the governor’s office along with the nomination letter will remain confidential unless the nominee submits them as testimony.
Hawaii’s governor appoints and nominates to more than 170 boards and commissions, including the Campaign Spending Commission, the Hawaiian Homes Commission and the Board of Land and Natural Resources....
read ... Resume
Honolulu's construction costs highest in the U.S.
PBN: Honolulu’s construction costs skyrocketed by more than 13 percent in 2014, the highest percentage in the United States and more than double the national average, according to a new report.
The Rider Levett Bucknall first quarter 2015 construction cost report for the U.S. noted that costs continue to rise because the industry is smaller than it was prior to the start of the Great Recession.
read ... Costly
Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative officially ends after 7-year run
PBN: ...HCEI makes way for HCEI 2.0, the next phase of the initiative, which involves a recommitment to a set of transportation goals, a move to confront new challenges in going beyond 40 percent and reassessing efficiency goals.
Mark Glick, administrator of the state Energy Office, told PBN in July that the new transportation roadmap goals will look at ways to reduce the amount of fuel the state uses.
Transportation accounts for more than 60 percent of the energy consumed in Hawaii, and while air transportation uses the largest portion — nearly 40 percent — trucks, buses, and cars consume roughly 20 percent.
The parties that signed the amendment to do away with the original HCEI also noted that it has been advanced or superseded by subsequent events, including the introduction of importing liquefied natural gas as well as the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission’s directives to HECO regarding future energy planning and strategic direction.
Additionally, the parties shed light on the HCEI, which they said, never was intended to be binding and enforceable by its very nature against any third party, but rather stands merely as a good faith expression of the commitment of the parties to certain policy goals and directions.
Also in September, the state and the U.S. Department of Energy signed an agreement to continue to work together as Hawaii moves into its next phase of its clean energy transformation, which includes the use of alternative fuels in ground and marine transportation such as natural gas and hydrogen.
NR: Ige, Mayors Launch 'Dashboard' to Track 'Sustainability' Initiatives
read ... Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative officially ends after 7-year run
Call for More Lanes, Tunnel Under Pearl Harbor
HNN: ...LoPresti believes more lanes need to be added to at least ease the hours-long gridlock that paralyzed traffic to West Oahu after both Zip Mobiles couldn't run.
Two options for a new roadway may return. Both of them involve cutting through or beneath Pearl Harbor.
"Some possibilities that have been floated is either a bridge over to Ford Island or perhaps a tunnel under the harbor, but that second option would be very expensive and very problematic," said LoPresti.
University of Hawaii civil and environmental engineering professor Panos Prevedouros has advocated reversible express lanes from the H-1/H-2 merge to the downtown area, which he calls a critical stretch for commuters.
"If we had it yesterday, two or three lanes, express to the H-1/H-2 split, it would be like nothing happened," he said.
Prevedouros is also a longtime rail critic. He estimates five percent of commuters would use the rail, which barely would have put a dent in Tuesday's traffic meltdown. He also said more cars will be hitting the road as more developments are approved in Central and West Oahu.
"They may have up to 80,000 new residences. Two-hundred fifty thousand warm bodies, with 90 percent of them -- cars," he said....
read ... Tunnel
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