Osprey Crash Landing at Bellows: 1 Marine Dead, others wounded
Attorney Seeks Hawaiians Placed on Kanaiolowalu Roll Without Permission
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted May 18, 2015
Crabbe: No one owns Land in Hawaii Until OHA Owns Land
HM: “No one owns O‘ahu,” says Office of Hawaiian Affairs CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe. “No one owns these lands.”
Crabbe works in offices on North Nimitz Highway, not far from the 200-acre site of OHA’s own future Kaka‘ako development. “Even though we live in the 21st century, with capitalism as the main driver of our economy and our lifestyle,” he says, “we have an ancient perspective toward the land—that we can never own it, we can only manage and care for it.” ...
For OHA and Native Hawaiians, the coming year will bring a watershed moment in nation-building. “If we’re successful,” Crabbe says, “we will elect delegates to engage in a convention where we set out a future pathway for self-determination. If our community agrees to open negotiations with the government to return those lands with which we will establish ourselves as a new nation, that will have a ripple effect on our economy and our future—not to interrupt or disrupt, but to come to some sort of resolution as to our place in Hawai‘i.”
BIVN: Both Sides Staying Firm in TMT “End Game”
read ... OHA Land Grab
HB287 to keep data from public gets to the governor
SA: House Bill 287 was proposed by the state Judiciary, which initially asked state lawmakers this year to impose far more sweeping restrictions on records that can be released under the state open-records law.
The original bill would have allowed government agencies to withhold records that are "reasonably likely" to result in physical or other harm including "embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness to an individual caused by the unauthorized use or disclosure of the individual's personally identifiable information." ...
Lawmakers have approved a new exemption to the state open-records law that allows government records to be withheld from the public if releasing that information "would create a substantial and demonstrable risk of physical harm" to a person.
Advocates for open records are skeptical about the need for the measure, because existing privacy requirements already prevent the government from releasing sensitive personal information such as home addresses.
"I think the passage of this bill and the failure of other bills that would have expanded public access demonstrates a disturbing trend toward continuing to limit public access," said Honolulu lawyer Jeffrey Portnoy, who specializes in First Amendment law and the Hawaii public-records law, known as the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA). Portnoy at times has represented the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in open-records cases.
"I think the Legislature is going in the wrong direction, not the right direction," Portnoy said. "The right direction is to continue to try to expand the public's right of access."
read ... Secrecy
Star-Adv: Obamacare Punishes Hawaii for Being Superior
SA: The governor will meet with officials of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week to press Hawaii's case, said Laurel Johnson, Ige's deputy chief of staff.
Although details are still being worked out, Johnson said, Ige's draft "corrective action plan" requests roughly $30 million in federal dollars to make the fixes the federal government requires.
At issue is HHS permission to draw this money from the approximately $70 million of Hawaii's unspent federal grant funds. This money, left over from the $204 million originally granted to the state, otherwise is restricted to cover costs incurred with the initial development of the exchange....
Johnson said the negotiations involve "how much money they're willing to release, and in what increments."
The state of Hawaii would become the grantee of these funds, rather than the Connector, which is a private nonprofit over which government has limited control, she added....
The state's Prepaid Health Care Act ought to prevail once the ACA allows exemptions from the law in 2017. But for the present, the federal government should work with Hawaii officials to make a rigid federal law work in a state that has a superior health program.
We should not be punished for it.
read ... Thanks, Obama
Environmentalists Upset Because Tax Hike Won't Increase Electricity Prices Enough
SA: State lawmakers voted this year to expand an energy tax on imported fossil fuels such as oil, propane and liquefied natural gas but carved out a special tax break for coal that was sought by industry lobbyists.
The exemption for coal was pursued by AES Hawaii Inc., which produces about 20 percent of Oahu's power at any given time by burning about 700,000 tons of coal per year at its plant in Campbell Industrial Park.
The tax break approved by lawmakers could benefit AES for as many as seven years. Jeff Walsh, president and general manager of AES, said the savings to the company from the tax break would be "significant," but declined to be more specific.
That special tax exemption for coal is being questioned by representatives from some local environmental groups, who contend the energy tax should apply equally to all fossil fuels.... (in order to justify the enviros wind farms and solar scams...)
Senate Bill 359 was then approved by the House and Senate, and is now pending final action by Gov. David Ige, who can sign or veto the measure. A spokeswoman for Ige said the bill is undergoing legal and policy review.
Slate: Fluff Piece on Hawaii's Fake 100% Renewable Decision
read ... LOL!
The Hole in the Rooftop Solar-Panel Craze
WSJ: Large-scale plants make sense, but panels for houses simply transfer wealth from average electric customers....
read ... The Wall Street Journal
Billionaire's Website: 'UH Regents Should Let Tuition Hike Move Forward'
CB: ...system President David Lassner last week proposed lowering this fall’s tuition increase by 2 percent to 3 percent, even though many returning students have already registered for classes at the higher rate.
His proposal got a chilly response from UH Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman, who has been struggling to keep body and soul together (fund administrators golden parachutes) at the system’s down-at-the-heels main campus....
Already responsible for making $18.6 million in cuts for next budget year, Manoa and Bley-Vroma were projecting a $500,000 deficit at the rate being charged. The tuition reductions would only deepen an already formidable financial hole....
It’s become fashionable (LOL... suddenly the PC crowd is against 'fashionable' causes) in some circles to be critically condescending toward Hawaii’s public university system, offering glib admonitions that UH needs to tighten its belt even further than it already has. Or to speak of 2012’s Wonder Blunder fiasco or the fractious departures of system President M.R.C. Greenwood, Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple or Cancer Center Director Michel Carbone as though they define the university and justify depriving it of the resources it needs to function at the level Hawaii deserves.
But we follow a path charted by such shortsightedness at our collective peril. The state relies heavily on the university’s campuses and community colleges to supply critical replacement parts for our economy (such as ....) and to answer questions critical to the future of Hawaii (ie brainwash the next generation)....
read .... Make the Peasants Pay
UH Ranks 9th in Scramble for Rich Kids
CBS: In order to boost their revenue by moving up in popular college rankings, public universities are increasingly awarding merit scholarships to affluent students who live within their borders -- and beyond. This often comes at the expense of the institutions' own state residents, according to a new study by the New American Foundation, a centrist think tank that explored the merit aid practices at 424 public colleges and universities.
Below are the state flagships with the highest percentage of its student bodies receiving merit scholarships:
9th University Hawaii, 26.1 percent
read ... Rich Kids
QUICK HITS: