Up to 72% of Council Campaign Contributions from Hoopili and Rail
Expert Slams Hawaii Legislature for Lumping E-Cigs in with Tobacco
Calling all Cronies: Marijuana Dispensary License Application Now Available Online
Legalize Marijuana-Criminalize Fireworks
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted January 11, 2016
Kasich for America Files to Appear on Hawaii Ballot–Djou to Lead Campaign
From Inside the Supreme Court, the Key Exchanges on a Case Pitting Unions vs. First Amendment
Pro Life? Hawaii Ranks 43rd
Five Unanswered Questions About Honolulu’s $6.6 Billion Rail Project
CB: Will the extra money be enough to complete the project?
Will HART’s cost containment strategy work?
How much will the city pay to run the trains?
How much sway does Ernie Martin have, really?
What does this all mean for the 2016 Honolulu mayoral race?
SA: Rail construction above, danger below
read … Unanswered
Why Did DLNR Hire A Cop Who’d Been Fired By HPD?
CB: …Civil Beat has written about Ferguson before. In a 2014 story, Civil Beat reported that the only information available about his discharge comes from an annual report submitted to the Legislature about police officer misconduct. That’s because the department said it had already destroyed his full disciplinary file. That annual report, which noted Ferguson’s discharge as coming in 2013, describes his offense this way:
“The officer transported a juvenile female runaway without a supervisor’s authorization and was untruthful during the investigation. It was also determined that the officer altered another officer’s name and badge number in a police log book and submitted a falsified mileage record.”
The report also says Ferguson violated HPD’s Standards of Conduct related for “Obedience of Laws and Regulations.”
According to a Hawaii County Police Department press release, Ferguson was charged Friday with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. His bail was set at $13,000 and he was scheduled to make his first appearance in court Monday.
It’s unclear whether DLNR knew if Ferguson had been fired from HPD….
read … Why Did The State Hire A Cop Who’d Been Fired By HPD?
Stock Analysts finally Figure out that NextEra’s purchase of Hawaiian Electric won’t happen
PBN: NextEra Energy Inc.’s proposed $4.3 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Electric Co. won’t go through because of the current challenges the Florida energy giant is facing, according to a recent analysis by financial services giant UBS that was obtained by PBN.
The report, produced by UBS’s energy analysis team in New York, said it continues to “bias towards the deal breaking up given persistent consternations from an array of constituencies in Hawaii.” …
The debate (rhetoric) around [NextEra Energy’s] commitments to Hawaii’s renewables-goals have been an area of concern for quite some time now, and we think the debate (rhetoric) will intensify.”…
The UBS report follows a couple of other reports by Fitch Ratings and Wells Fargo Securities, which contradict each other.
Fitch said that the sale is likely to be completed, and the Honolulu utility’s credit rating is expected to remain stable after the sale goes through.
The Walls Fargo Securities report downgraded its expectations for Hawaiian Electric Industries, saying that there is only a 50 percent chance the acquisition will go through.
read … Finally Figure it out
Long Term Care Mandate: Mainland Progressives Want Hawaii GE Tax Hike
AP: Hawaii may soon become the first state in the union to offer universal long-term care for seniors, (Translation: Lock up gramps in nursing home) as state legislators prepare to roll out a bill that would tackle the nation’s elder care crisis head-on.
Slated for introduction in the 2016 legislative session, Hawaii’s innovative bill could become a national model for states looking for ways to help families afford the high costs of elder care....
Hawaii’s program would work like this: Every person who files a Hawaii state income tax for ten years would be eligible to receive $70 a day, for a total of 365 days. The benefit would be underwritten by a slight increase (Translation: Massive Increase) in the state’s General Excise Tax....
read … Hawaii Long-Term Health-Care Bill Serves as National Model
Bishop Museum to Sell Waipio Valley
HTH: Bishop Museum is committed to include Waipio Valley community members in the process as it works to find a new owner for its land within the historic agricultural community and popular tourist attraction, museum CEO Blair Collis said Monday.
The museum intends to sell its 547 acres in Waipio, which amounts to a little more than 50 percent of the valley, as well as the Amy B.H. Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook. Together, the properties were valued a few years ago at about $10 million, Collis said.
FH: Tell Bishop Museum Waipi’o Valley is not for Sale
OHA Buyer? Not >>> Surprise: Entire OHA Trust Fund Frozen by Gentry Pacific Boondoggle
read … Waipio
Star-Adv: OHA Not Doing Enough for Hawaiian Youth, Broken Families
SA: …Ke Kama Pono, a residential safe house in Kalaeloa for teen offenders; it’s run by Partners in Development Foundation. The recidivism rate for its teens, tracked for three years after leaving the program, is 37 percent. That’s far below the 75 percent recidivism of juveniles released from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility between 2005 and 2007.
Wahi Kana‘aho received $441,000 from the DHS Office of Youth Services to fund 17 months of operations. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs also contributed $200,000. Although the programs serve a range of ethnic groups, the Hawaiian focus suggests that they could use even more robust support from OHA.
Reversing the dismal downward spiral of these children should be an even higher priority for OHA, Kamehameha Schools and other entities serving Hawaiians. They are forward-looking programs, and changing futures for children dealing with a difficult past is the right strategy that public and private partners should adopt….
read … Too busy Stealing from Hawaiians
Wanna Be Marijuana Dealers Concerned About Illegal Competitors
SA: Several experienced Hawaii businessmen have said they plan to apply for licenses….
The costs of running a legal dispensary will push up the price of marijuana.
“(Marijuana) will undoubtedly be cheaper on the black market, and that’s a huge concern,” said Bill Jarvis, chief executive officer of mobile phone provider Mobi PCS, who formed Pono Wellness to compete for a dispensary license.
At $5 million in costs to pay for certified farms, retail outlets, labor and utilities, Jarvis estimates the retail price of medical marijuana in Hawaii could be as high as $380 an ounce, compared with $250 on the mainland.
“It probably burdens the cost by 30 to 50 percent,” he said. “It will likely result in probably somewhere between $500,000 to $1 million in incremental costs that will get passed on to patients a year.”
The costs of running a highly regulated business and competing with the black market is worrisome, said Michael Irish, CEO of kim chee manufacturer Halm’s Enterprises Inc. and Keoki’s Lau Lau, who also plans to compete for a dispensary contract.
“The question is, Can we bring medical marijuana to market at a price that works for the people….”
read … Keep the People Doped Up so the Don’t Notice What You’re Doing
More Ignorant Babble about Hemp Replacing Sugar
PBN: Alexander and Baldwin Inc. is prepping to plant hemp for its diversified agriculture model in Hawaii after its announcement last week that it was “transitioning out of farming sugar” at its Maui plantation.
“It is unclear under what conditions the federal and state laws allow the cultivation of industrial hemp, but we are pursuing legal interpretations,” a spokesperson from A&B said. “Once we are assured the activity is legal, we stand ready to begin trial plantings at [Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar]. There is much to learn about the performance of hemp cultivation in our tropical climate.”
Question: What’s the difference between sugar and hemp? Answer: Sugar is everywhere and everyone needs it. Hemp is nowhere and nobody needs it.
What’s Next? Luxury Homes.
read … Pipe Dream
State Can’t Find Way to turn Hana Pier into Recreational Site
Borreca: …The problem is the community wants an oceanfront place to stroll, a spot to fish from and a safe place for the kids to play. It does not want a commercial harbor; it doesn’t want big ships coming in, or barges or more industry.
In something of an existential dilemma, the state Department of Transportation noted that it is charged with managing commercial harbors “for the loading, off-loading and handling of cargo, passengers and vessels.” The DOT does not maintain boardwalks, promenades or places to make “small kid time” memories.
Enter Gov. David Ige, who has never met an overly ambitious government project he couldn’t say no to.
So Hana’s pier must go, Ige said.
The lesson is that doing nothing is not free. Tearing down Hana Pier is estimated to cost $3.5 million.
The Hana community doesn’t want it torn down; the state appears unable to find a department that fixes piers for park use.
Want to bet that like the Natatorium, the condemned pier outlasts the Ige administration?
Background: Hana Pier to be Removed due to Public Opposition to Repairing it
read … Hana
Homeless Threaten HNN Photographer with 2x4
HNN: …a restaurant manager who had been assaulted…and she told us one of her co-workers had been stabbed with a pair of scissors. Other Chinatown workers reported similar experiences going back months. And the violence isn't restricted to nighttime hours. Just the other day on River Street…one of our news photographers was threatened by a woman with a two-by-four.
The same day as our report…their frustrations were aired at the neighborhood board. Residents and businesses complained police response to their calls was slow…perpetrators get away…possibly to commit other violent acts. It had become so bad some public events meant to encourage people to come into Chinatown have been moved or canceled.
Homelessness in the area is not new… but in the past the concerns were mostly about unsanitary conditions on streets…sidewalks and parks. The violence was a serious escalation of the problem.
read … Scissors Assault
Homeless Come up With New Excuse for Refusing Shelter
HNN: …When Hawaii News Now asked Amantiad if sweeps made him want to go into shelter, he shook his head.
"Oh no. It makes you, it makes us feel angry at the state," he said. (Quick IQ Test: Do you buy this?)
Other homeless agreed…
Amantiad, who's living in Ala Moana Beach Park, said he doesn't think sweeps are the answer.
"The way they're doing it is wrong," he said. "You can't push the homeless into another district, just keep moving them around if you don't have a real solution (you know like goin to a shelter or something."
read … Insult to Intelligence
Maybe We Can Fool People into Accepting Homeless Tent Cities if we call them Hawaiian Grass huts
KHON: …“Some people call them grass shacks, some people call them huts, we call them hale,” said cultural practitioner Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu.”A traditional Hawaiian home structure will have the main post and the support posts and in traditional times was thatched.” (Translation: It’s a tent city. Were you fooled?)
Wong-Kalu has been in talks with lawmakers about the idea of building traditional Hawaiian homes for the homeless and now those discussions could become a reality.
“The bill would ask for possibly land, either state or private land, but to permit kind of like this kauhale or village type homes to be built on more traditional Hawaiian and Polynesian style homes,” said Senator Chun-Oakland….
read … Just a Tent City
4 women inmates accuse 2 guards of sex acts
HNN: …Some of the encounters allegedly were recorded on a cell phone, sources said.
The two corrections officers have been placed on leave without pay, as state prisons officials and police investigate the allegations.
The latest allegation came Friday by a woman inmate who said a man who's been a prison guard for less than two years repeatedly coerced her into having sex with him over a seven-month period.
She told investigators she has DNA evidence from the guard that she saved on her prison uniform….
read … Accuse
Kauai Council Finally Gets Around to Regulating Lobbyists
KGI: Kauai is the only county in Hawaii that doesn’t have an ordinance governing lobbying. On Wednesday, the county will be taking a first look at a draft for an ordinance doing just that.
read … Lobbyists
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