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Saturday, April 9, 2016
April 9, 2016 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 6:15 PM :: 3364 Views

DoH: Marijuana Dispensary Selection May be Delayed

NEM Lawsuits: Rooftop Solar companies will play only if the game is stacked in their favor

9th Circuit Says Hawaii Cannabis Church Bogarted Evidence

Hawaii Family Forum Legislative Week in Review

City Council Chose near impossible Dillingham Blvd. rail route

Does DHHL Know What it is Doing?

SA: …The Honolulu Star-Advertiser has for years now tracked sub-par administrative performance at DHHL, chronicling its lack of land-use expertise, fairness and oversight for its controversial revocable permitting system.

Critics also have cited shortcomings with the way DHHL manages its assets, given the persistent waiting list of beneficiaries. Whatever DHHL proposes to do with its new hires, that kind of staffing investment should be repaid with more progress in whittling that overflow.

Before the Legislature approves a budget with the new amounts dedicated to DHHL, lawmakers should be persuaded that a reform program is in the works. Otherwise, they are likely to feel they are throwing good money after bad.

An increased allotment is a good thing, as long as those at the receiving end show they‘ve improved in knowing what they’re doing.

read … Demand plan on how DHHL will use funds

Telescope Techs Visit Mexico, Spain After Hawaii Rejection

TL: In December 2015 the State Supreme Court of Hawaii invalidated the TMT's building permits, ruling that due process was not followed when the permits were issued.

On hearing the news, Rafael Rebolo, director of the Canaries Astrophysics Institute (IAC) in the Canary Islands, wrote to the TMT scientific council and proposed the Spanish islands as a perfect alternative to Hawaii.

"From what we understand, we are among the alternatives, together with two locations in Chile and one in Mexico," Rafael Rebolo, director of Canaries Astrophysics Institute (IAC) told Spanish daily El País.

Four members of the scientific council, including the head of the project Gary Sanders, visited the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma in March, and in April five more technicians will visit to assess the islands’ suitability.

read … Bye Bye Telescope

Cocaine use on rise but pot still tops list

SA: …The number of people testing positive for cocaine rose to 0.3 percent in the first quarter from 0.2 percent in the year-earlier period, according to a report released Friday by Honolulu-based Diagnostic Laboratory Services Inc.

Marijuana, which most frequently shows up in workforce drug testing, rose slightly to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent in the previous quarter, but was down from 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2015.

The use of methamphetamine, or “ice,” increased to 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent in the previous quarter, though it was down from 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2015….

read … Drugs

Economist on Kauai: Poisonous debates rage around pesticides and those using them

E: …Agricultural firms say the furore is unfair for several reasons. Less than a third of their land is in use at any one time. Second, pesticides add greatly to their input costs, so wanton use of them is out of the question. Third, they operate under more intense scrutiny than other RUP-spreaders such as gardeners and groundsmen. On 16 occasions between 2006 and 2014 a school was evacuated because of pesticide drift. In more than half these cases the nasties were sprayed by householders, according to Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture. Its head, Scott Enright, says biotech companies apply pesticides in the state “better than anybody ever has”.

The debate has inspired a smattering of local research, but little across Hawaii. A recent draft report from a group appointed to look into pesticide use on Kauai concluded that such chemicals are not harming residents or their surroundings….

Biotechnology companies in Hawaii release increasing amounts of information to the public about their spraying activities. Mr Enright is keen to take one voluntary local reporting scheme statewide. More detailed knowledge of the geographical co-ordinates and a survey of firms’ field-base maps could help determine more exactly how much of a restricted-use pesticide is being sprayed in one place at one time. Such information from seed companies, and the many others spraying away, would calm controversy; more accurate exposure testing and fairer regulation could follow. The current dearth of data sows only seeds of discontent.

(WRONG.  Anti-GMO is pure hype & hysteria.  Data has nothing to do with it.  You cannot reason somebody out of a position they have not been reasoned in to.)

V: Why People Are So Pissed at Del Monte Foods for Siding With the Food Babe

read … The Economist

Isle solar industry could reach cap by 2017

SA: …A coalition of solar companies said Friday that the industry reached 23 percent of the total amount of solar systems the state allows to receive credit for excess energy sent to the grid in March, less than five months after regulators placed a cap on the incentive program.

The Hawaii Solar Energy Association said the industry reached 8 megawatts of a 35-megawatt cap the state Public Utilities Commission placed in March on a program called customer grid-supply. The program credits customers roughly 15 cents per kilowatt-hour for the excess energy they send to the grid….

The PUC created the cap in October when it ended net energy metering, a program that credits customers the full retail rate for the excess energy their systems produce….

read … Cap

Hawaii Only State Without Excessive Lead in Water

AP: …An analysis of lead contamination data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by The Associated Press found that Hawaii and Washington, D.C., were the only areas whose water systems didn’t test over the federal limit for lead in the past three years.

Hawaii health and water officials say there’s multiple factors, including abundant groundwater sources, few industrial pollutants and pipes built without lead, that help keep Hawaii’s tap water clean.

read … Lead

Four File for Open HD14 Seat

CB:  …It’s only been seven days since state Rep. Derek Kawakami announced his intentions to run for Kauai County Council this fall, but four familiar names have already thrown their hat in the ring to replace him in the Legislature.

Fellow Democrats Nadine Nakamura, (anti-GMO whackjob) Fern Rosenstiel and Jan Kimura along with nonpartisan candidate Sandra Klutke have all pulled papers to run. Nakamura and Rosenstiel filed theirs this week….

read … HD14

Hawaii 5th Lowest In Fed Funding For Homeless

CB: …Despite having among the worst rates of homelessness in the nation, Hawaii received the fifth-lowest level of funding per capita of any state or territory from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s McKinney-Vento homeless assistance program.

A report by the National Homeless Information Project found that Hawaii received just $1,365 per capita, compared with the national average of $2,822….

If funding were equalized among states and territories, Hawaii would receive an additional $4.5 million, the report concluded.

Pg 10: Honolulu 4th Lowest Percentage of Permanent Housing Beds to total Homeless Beds…

SA: Crews enforce rules affecting homeless in city, Waimanalo

read … Fifth Lowest

Faculty No Confidence in KCC Chancellor

SA: The Faculty Senate at Kapiolani Community College is conducting a vote of no confidence against Chancellor Leon Richards, after a faculty union survey found that 78 percent of respondents opposed keeping him on the job.

The senate voted 9-3 in executive session Monday to have senators initiate a vote of no confidence in their departments and units at the Diamond Head campus. All faculty will soon have a chance to express their opinions via electronic ballot on a no-confidence motion and call for his removal, according to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee….

The vote is the latest sign of concern over Richards’ leadership of the college, where he has served as chancellor since July 2007. Richards received the lowest ranking of all 10 University of Hawaii chancellors in a recent survey of faculty on each campus conducted by the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly. Results were made available to union members March 10.

Altogether, 127 out of 277 UHPA members at Kapiolani responded, the highest participation rate among the campuses, with more than 78 percent calling for nonrenewal of Richards’ contract, according to the letter.

In the survey results the chancellor was criticized for failing to support faculty and let them make academic decisions, failing to communicate, keeping the budget process under wraps, allowing a hostile work environment and failing to provide adequate resources or make decisions in a timely manner, according to the letter….

Since his initial three-year contract as chancellor, he has not had a contract with the university, he said. “I serve at the pleasure of the vice president and president of the university,” he said….

Asked about the outcome of discrimination complaints filed against him a few years ago, Richards said none had been upheld.

read … No Confidence

Hawaii Air Guard and active-duty members are back from the fight

SA: The Hawaii Air National Guard’s F-22 Raptors made history on a just-concluded deployment to the Middle East in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The 199th Fighter Squadron dropped bombs on enemy forces for the first time in the Hawaii Air Guard’s 70-year history, said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony. It was also the first operational deployment of the stealth fighters from Hawaii.

History aside, more than 200 Guard and active-duty Air Force pilots and maintainers are just happy to be home following the six-month tour of duty….

read … Hawaii Air Guard and active-duty members are back from the fight

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