A Short History of Islam in Hawaii
‘Hawaii’s George Soros': The Hidden Funding Behind Efforts to Disrupt Hillary Clinton’s Opponents
Wanna Be A Drug Dealer? Hawaii has an Opportunity for You
After Telescope defeat: “It would be very hard for a new project to come here, ever”
AP: …If the project dies, not only will that be bad for Hawaii astronomy, but for any high-tech industry considering Hawaii, said Paul Coleman, an astrophysicist at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.
“If it’s not possible to get around this, then it really kind of shines a bad light on Hawaii,” he said. “This will be a global disappointment. I would think it would be very hard for a new project to come here, ever.”
A group of universities in California and Canada plan to build the telescope with partners from China, India and Japan. Coleman said he’s hopeful the countries involved “feel this is a project worth hanging on for.”…
Doug Simons, executive director of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope already on Mauna Kea, is concerned that abandoning the project could prevent other Big Island students like Kaluna from educational opportunities in science. Thirty Meter Telescope officials launched the Hawaii Island New Knowledge Fund for STEM education, a fund that will contribute $1 million annually for the 19-year Mauna Kea sublease with the University of Hawaii.
“We don’t have that kind of philanthropy flowing into the school community,” Simons said. “That would be a huge loss.”…
Reality: Telescope: For OHA, it’s all About the Rent Money
read … Bad Light
Hawaii's Telescope Controversy Is the Latest in a Long History of Land-Ownership Battles
Sci Am: The current standoff between Native Hawaiian protesters and proponents of the planned Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) can take some lessons from similar disputes in the past….
read … The Latest
Hoana Medical—Another Act 221 Tax Credit Company Goes Bankrupt
SA: Hoana Medical Inc., a Honolulu-based medical device firm, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization this week after financial setbacks stemming from (insert excuse here)….
2010: Hoana Medical a Model of What Act221 is Supposed to accomplish (ooops!)
read … Welfare Queen
Ige Still Chasing Vaporware – The Key to 100% Renewable is a non-existent technology
SA: …Ige said the location of the leadership of the newly formed company under NextEra’s ownership is another concern. NextEra is based in Juno Beach, Fla.
“At least the leadership in HECO (Hawaiian Electric Cos.) is here,” Ige said….
Ige also commented on a recent PUC decision to end a popular incentive program for rooftop solar. He said he agreed with the decision because the large number of rooftop solar systems can pose a problem for the grid.
“If rooftop solar is saturated and we don’t solve the storage challenge, then we will really start to get to instability in the grid,” Ige said….
Ige said that cap could change once energy storage becomes cheaper. “The key to 100 percent renewable is storage,” he said. (Which does not exist.)
read … Against
Obama Coming to Hawaii Dec 19
SA: White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed today that, unless events in Washington or elsewhere keep Obama at work, the first family will leave for Hawaii the night of Dec. 18.
No information was released on the arrival time, but motorists can expect freeway and road closures as the president’s motorcade travels to their rented vacation home in Kailua late that night or early morning on Dec. 19.
read … Eighth Visit
Thanks to ACLU, Kakaako Makai Homeless Sweeps Tangled up in Red Tape!
SA: State officials plan as early as next week to begin removing an estimated 180 homeless people from encampments that mushroomed along the Kakaako shoreline after the city spent six weeks clearing a nearby camp that had prompted intense scrutiny of the handling of Oahu’s homeless, Gov. David Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Friday….
But a number of details still need to be worked out, such as reaching an agreement with a private disposal company to clear out the encampments, and finding a place in Kakaako where seized homeless possessions can be reclaimed by their owners, said Lindsey Doi, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Community Development Authority. The authority owns the state property where the encampments are located.
The HCDA also needs to find a secure, large location for long-term storage of the property it seizes.
“We definitely want to make sure all of our actions are legal and defensible,” Doi said. “We’re being very diligent in our efforts.”
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor last month issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the city from immediately destroying the personal property it seizes during its ongoing homeless sweeps. Gillmor also ordered city maintenance crews to video-record any items they destroy….
read … No Sweeps
Police Union to Fight Against Deployment of Body Cams on Kauai?
SA: “Our position is we don’t need their approval. We meet and confer with the union and implement the program,” he said. A supplemental agreement, Perry said, is attached to a collective bargaining agreement and subject to negotiations, “which I cannot do.”
Maafala said camera use is not a “meet and confer” situation, under which police chiefs can give a courtesy notification to the union and implement policies that don’t violate contract provisions for work hours, conditions, salary or wages.
“That’s where the hang-up is right now,” he said.
The rollout of 105 Axon Flex cameras will start Monday. The total cost of the cameras is $176,718. Perry said the department will issue the cameras over the next couple of weeks, and officers will undergo refresher training on the use of the devices.
Perry sent a letter to the union Thursday to inform it of the department’s plans. He received a letter from the union last month saying it intends to file a complaint with the Hawaii Labor Relations Board if the cameras are distributed without a supplemental agreement.
read … Body Cams
Doped Up Cop, firefighter told medical pot not OK at police, fire departments
HNN: One Honolulu police officer and one Honolulu firefighter have tested positive for marijuana in recent years and they presented their medical marijuana permits as the reason, sources told Hawaii News Now Friday.
But police departments across the state and the Honolulu Fire Department are not allowing employees to use medical marijuana.
Sources said the Oahu firefighter and police officer who both tried to use their medical marijuana cards after testing positive were told that was their “one strike” that allowed for a positive marijuana test and they both had to complete counseling and were then allowed to return to work.
They were told they had to stop using medical marijuana if they wanted to keep their jobs….
read … Doped Up
Homosexual Child Molester Chases Boy in Kaneohe
KHON: The state Department of Education is asking parents and guardians to be on alert this morning after one of the students in the Kaneohe area was reportedly harassed and chased by a man while walking to school.
A private school in Kaneohe reported the incident yesterday morning….
KHON: Repeat offender receives consecutive life terms for sexually assaulting girls
read … Another One
All Four Counties Switching to LED Streetlights
PBN: The County of Hawaii is the latest county in the Islands to move ahead with plans to replace its streetlights on the Big Island with more efficient LED lighting…
The City and County of Honolulu is currently looking into replacing about 52,000 of its streetlights to LED lighting.
In October, Hawaii regulators approved Kauai Island Utility Cooperative’s plan to retrofit nearly 3,500 streetlights owned by the county and state with LEDs.
Maui County also plans do undergo the same type of project
read … LEDs
Attorney: Aloha Stadium turf inspection finds flaws
HNN: …Stadium officials insist that the field is safe for soccer but one attorney who also reviewed the field said that many of the soccer team's concerns about the field were warranted.
"The field was just a mess, there was filler on all of the seams that has the pebbles that were noted by the team," said attorney Brandee Faria.
"There's large segments of patches from a couple of feet to ten to twenty feet complete with seams either being raised or having gaps."
Faria and her partner John Perkin are suing the Stadium Authority and the U.S. Soccer Federation on behalf of several consumers who lost money when the game was called off.
She said the seams or gaps are in the middle of the field and next to the North and South goal lines….
read … Flaws
Court Upholds Right to Tresspass
KE: In a unanimous decision, the court upheld Kauai Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe's ruling dismissing charges against Kui Palama, who was arrested in early 2011 for hunting pig on Gay & Robinson land.
Kui was charged with simple trespass and hunting on private property. But his attorney, Tim Tobin, successfully proved that Palama is a descendant of the indigenous peoples who occupied the Islands prior to 1778; the G&R land where he was hunting is mostly undeveloped, and pig hunting is a traditional and customary practice.
All three criteria must be fulfilled in order to meet the standard for exercising traditional rights as protected by the state Constitution and established in the Hawaii Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Nansay Hawaii vs Public Access Shoreline Hawaii (PASH).
read … Tresspass
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