Djou: "I don't care for Mr Trump"
State Sues Tech Firm for Buying Influence with Abercrombie Administration
Big Solar's Subsidy Bubble
Former World Bank Chief Economist: Jones Act Very Costly
Honolulu Recycling Plan Needs Revisions
Apo: Failure of Akaka Bill Creates Power Vacuum
CB: From my perch it seems the ship of nationhood is about to set sail without a rudder, a captain, or a crew. The failure of the Akaka bill and the vacuum that failure has left since 2009 have had the chilling effect of denying the emergence of any present-day center of political gravity or clearly defined leadership....
Of all the political challenges faced by the ‘Aha, the single most critical question is about who will constitute the citizenry of this nation?
While the current nation-building process is intentionally limited to Native Hawaiians, it is not likely that a Hawaii nationhood model limited exclusively to Native Hawaiians would stand a political test that is unofficially referred to as “continuum.” A continuum means that if a nation is to be restored, the construct of the nationhood model must have existed at the time its sovereignty was usurped. So pursuing the restoration of a nation is not likely to succeed if the nationhood model being proposed is different from the original. However, once the restored nation is recognized by the U.S., or under international law, it can then proceed to make constitutional changes to the national model.
The concept of continuum is critical to the process of restoring a Hawaiian Nation. At the time of the coup d’état in 1893, the Hawaiian Nation was a multi-ethnic one. It remained a multi-ethnic nation in 1898, when Hawaii was annexed to the U.S.
So it would be disingenuous for delegates to emerge from the ‘Aha with a proposal for a Hawaiians-only nation that never existed going back to the time when Kamehameha I united the Kingdom in 1795.
Some scholars may disagree, but academic scholarship aside, I do not believe a Hawaiians-only nationhood proposal would survive the political vetting process of U.S or international scrutiny....
read ... Who Are We Building a Nation For?
Chang: Telescope Gonna Lose at Supreme Court
CB: The Hawaii Supreme Court oral arguments on the Thirty Meter Telescope case was different from most court proceedings. It is not often that one sees and feels justice in the air. One could tell there was something different — an extreme politeness by the court staff, conch shells carefully identified so that there would be no confusion when they were picked up.
Half-naked Hawaiian men covered with tattoos proudly passed security, women draped in red mingled in line with celebrities, former governors, Princess Abigail Kawananakoa, the attorney general and the chairperson of the Land Board. It was a community moment, a democratic moment, as if it were Sunday at Kawaiahao where every soul was important as every other.
The protectors of Mauna Kea and their fellow supporters gravitated to the back seats as extra chairs were added to the courtroom. Quietly and respectfully, they began to sing in Hawaiian. No one stopped them. The voices in song were as solemn as they must have been during the days of the Kingdom. That moment was remarkable for its pageantry and sense of community.
What This is About: Telescope: For OHA, it’s all About the Rent Money
read ... $50 Million a Year Rent
Council re-vote on rail measures considered
HNN: Honolulu City Council Chairman Ernie Martin said he's considering holding a re-vote on nearly a dozen rail transit-related bills tainted by ethical conflicts by former city Councilmembers Romy Cachola and Nestor Garcia....
Martin said he's asked staff to look into the legality of rail measures and resolutions dating back to 2006. Cachola was fined a record $50,000 by the city Ethics Commission for accepting gifts from lobbyists linked to rail and for not reporting potential conflicts on votes affecting that lobbyist. Garcia was fined $8,100 for similar ethics breach allegations.
The move comes as Campbell Estate heiress Abigail Kawananakoa is threatening to sue the city if it doesn't cut off funding on some rail projects voted on by Garcia and Cachola. Kawananakoa's attorney said the ethical conflicts are deep.
"This was an institutional failure. We're not talking about one or two measures. We are aware of over 100 bills and resolutions where councilmembers didn't disclose conflicts prior to voting," said lawyer Bridget Morgan.
"The process here was dirty and it needs to be cleaned up."
Besides rail, Morgan said measures that need to be voted on again including a number of land-use and development bills approved by the council. She believes Cachola was well aware of the conflict reporting requirement but chose not to disclose those conflicts when it came to rail votes.
"Here are over 60 disclosures Cachola chose to make on other measures. So it appears to be a deliberate and systematic violation of ethics laws," she said.
The re-votes could happen as early as this month.
SA: Council might redo disputed rail votes
read ... Re-Vote
New Proposal Means More Questions for Hawaiian Electric?
CB: ...The PUC made 142 additional information requests Monday, the same day the two companies filed just over 1,000 pages in response to previous questions about the merger.
But that’s just a fraction of what’s expected to come later this month as the 28 intervening parties in the case digest the new information that’s been provided and file follow-up requests.
Life of the Land, a Honolulu-based nonprofit headed by Henry Curtis, has already submitted 16 additional questions for NextEra and Hawaiian Electric.
His latest queries, filed Tuesday, ask the companies for emails and other correspondence they may have sent to encourage people to attend the public listening sessions that the PUC plans to hold throughout the islands, which start Friday on Maui.
Curtis wants the companies to disclose which consultants may have been involved, if any, to drum up support for the public meetings and encourage them to speak out.
He also is trying to pry out any potential conflicts of interest that former PUC members or their families may have in the case....
(This article was titled: “What Would a Nuclear Disaster in Florida Mean for Hawaiian Electric?“)
read ... More Questions
Does Health Connector Ineptitude Mask Wrongdoing?
SA: ...Taxpayers already know many foul details about the Hawaii Health Connector’s bumbling dealings with its contractors, but nonetheless there’s plainly more to discover.
The latest ration of appalling information comes in the form of a report from the state auditor, Jan Yamane, the second audit on the troubled health-plan exchange agency to be issued this year. The Connector is a private nonprofit established under state law to implement the online system of selling health plans under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The previous report found, among other failings, that the Connector’s governing board and executives did not procure and manage contracts competently.
In particular, concerns over fees paid to one contractor, Mansha Consulting LLC, led to the second audit. The specific findings — and Yamane’s characterizations of the “multitude of missteps” and the “abuse of public funds” — should prompt state officials to conduct further investigations into potential wrongdoing by the parties involved.
This means that the state’s Office of the Attorney General should use the audit as a starting point for a full inquiry into how contracts were awarded and whether the contractors for the Connector were held fully to account for what they delivered — and what they did not....
That’s essential to ensuring that a cloud described as ineptitude doesn’t obscure actual wrong-doing, committed at the public’s expense.
Background: Auditor: Hawaii Health Connector Sent $21.6M to a House in Virginia
read ... Connector deal needs scrutiny
State officials want to Build Homeless Housing on Waianae Coast
CB: ...Sandra Pfund, who heads the city’s Strategic Development Office, is pursing similar modular projects all around the island — three of which are planned for the Leeward Coast.
The furthest along of the three projects is a modest plan to put three modular units on Halona Road in Waianae to house 12 homeless people.
But the plan was shot down by the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board in April.
Cedric Gates, a board member, says neighborhood residents were worried about increased criminal activities.
“They assumed that the tenants of that property will be more inclined to engage in those activities because of the fact that they were previously homeless,” Gates said.
Kellen Smith, vice chair of the board, says another concern centered around who will be selected to live in the units.
“Many of us think (the city officials) would move houseless residents from town into this project rather than allowing our current existing Waianae houseless residents to move in,” Smith said.
Pfund says her team is going back to the community with a modified plan, which will rely on local service providers to screen homeless families in the area and select them for the units.
“I think we underestimated when we first went to the Neighborhood Board that the focus of the concern would be more on social service and support side versus the actual concept of having container modulars as an alternative and efficient housing product,” Pfund said.
Pfund says she’ll be applying the lessons she’s learned to push for the other two projects, which are substantially bigger than the Halona Road project.
One will install 16 modular units on undisclosed private property to provide 100 beds, while the other will make use of land owned by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. to open a 50-bed facility using 12 modular units.
read ... 'Temporary'
Kailua residents concerned with growing number of aggressive homeless
HNN: Break-ins, assaults, and illegal drug use.
That's few of many crimes one Kailua business owner say he’s been dealing with lately.
Lindsey Dymond owns Kalapawai Market on Kalaheo Avenue and Kalapawai Café and Deli on Kailua Road. He says in the last month he has been attacked, spat upon, insulted and burglarized. He says the homeless are causing a lot of the nuisance....
A week and a half ago, the family-owned market was ransacked. The surveillance video shows the thief grab a soda out of the refrigerator, take a sip, and put it down. He then turns to the shelves and steals motor oil, toothbrushes, duct tape, WD-40 and Super-Glue. He also cracked open two safes running away with thousands of dollars.
"Aside from the break-ins of course...panhandling has been a big one. We've also had some other incidents where people would come in drunk or on drugs and they have actually hassled the customers and I have to kind of have to get them out of here. A lot of those occasions it's something where they will actually try to fight me," Kalapawai Market General Manager Eric Dobrinski said.
A couple weeks before the break-in, Dymond said he and one of his employees were attacked while they were closing up the restaurant.
"A couple of the guys didn't like the lights in my truck on and they decided to let us know and unfortunately it was not with words," Dymond said.
Dymond said he also took video several months ago approaching people doing drugs near his property.
“We witness drug sales on a regular basis, drug use. I've videotaped drug use right in the street…they were smoking some sort of drugs and it did not smell like weed," he said....
read ... Aggressive
Kakaako homeless camp attracting flies
KITV: It is part of the parks keeper's job to make sure the bathrooms at Kakaako Waterfront Park are checked daily, cleaned and stocked with toilet paper.
But not everyone uses them. Some opt to do their business in buckets that they leave for someone else to clean up -- and that's where you can find a proliferation of flies....
“The flies! They are terrible. The just attack you! You’ll get rid of the flies when you get rid of the people,” said Alvin Wayne James, who recently moved down to the area.
Even outreach workers who visit homeless camps across the island have noticed an increase....
Crews know full well the cleanup, which sometimes includes human waste, can be a nasty job. You don't have to look far to find the flies.
"It is a concern for public health and safety, so we do deal whatever debris, whatever trash. We do deal with public and that's why a good deal is more than trash," said Ross Sasamura, Director of the City’s Department of Facilities Maintenance.
The state health department said the living conditions of the homeless may potentially attract more flies to the area. It’s a problem it expects will be alleviated as the city and state try to get more of the homeless off the streets....
read ... Flies
Assault reported on another worker at State Hospital
SA: ...A 28-year-old male patient allegedly attacked the 21-year-old employee at about 7:25 am. Wednesday, police said.
Officers arrested the patient on suspicion of second-degree assault.
Charges are pending against another patient who allegedly attacked a 44-year-old male worker July 23 and a 56-year-old female worker on Aug. 5....
read ... Lunatics Run Asylum
Oahu teacher sent to ER due to heat exhaustion in classroom
HNN: "I started to feel dizzy, and I started to feel really fatigued, and I couldn't hold myself up," she said.
She drove herself to the emergency room where doctors treated her for hours.
"They told me that I was dehydrated," she said. "They told me that I had heat exhaustion, and they told me I had issues that would lead up to possible heat stroke," she said.
Pimentel teaches at Ewa Beach Elementary, top school on the DOE's list for air conditioning.
KHON: Can HECO handle the heat as demand for power hits record highs?
read ... Heat Exhaustion
Council approves mayor’s bill for accessory dwelling units
KITV: Hawaii’s housing crunch is legendary, and according to a recent state report, Oahu alone needs an additional 26,000 to 30,000 units over the next decade.
A bill passed unanimously Wednesday by the City Council is expected to help. Under Bill 20, homeowners with lots of 3,500 square feet or more would be allowed to build an accessory dwelling unit on their property. So-called ADU’s could only be built in areas where sewer connections, water supply and transportation facilities are adequate.
read ... ADUs
Refined Oil is Hawaii's Largest Export
WS247: Though Hawaii has two refineries in the Honolulu port area, it does not produce any petroleum on its own. In fact, largely for this reason, Hawaii is the most petroleum-dependent state in the nation. Enormous quantities of oil pass through Hawaii both as imports and exports. Between 2013 and 2014 the value of Hawaii’s petroleum exports more than quadrupled from 106.7 million to 569.3 million, surpassing aircraft and aircraft parts as the state’s most valuable export....
read ... Top Selling Products From Each State - 24/7 Wall St.
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