BoE Moves to Dump Matayoshi
Hawaii fourth and eighth graders show improvement in science
Grassroot Backs Suit Against 10% Rail Skim
The People v. The Powerful - Summarized in a Caldwell Ad
Ewa Homeless up 98% since 2015
Homeless migrating to East Oahu
Obama Admin: N Korea can Nuke Hawaii—and we should just accept that
CNN: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday it's a "lost cause" to try to get North Korea to surrender its nuclear weapons -- a view that runs counter to official US policy.
"They are not going to do that," Clapper said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where he touched on a number of foreign policy challenges facing the US -- including a scenario under which the Russians might try to down American fighter plans in Syria.
"They are under siege and they are very paranoid. So the notion of giving up their nuclear capability, whatever it is, is a nonstarter with them," Clapper added. "The best we could probably hope for is some sort of a cap."
The North Korean regime views its nuclear program as "their ticket to survival," the intel director said….
While Clapper said there is no hard evidence the North Korean regime could strike the US with a nuclear-tipped missile, he added that the intelligence community still believes that Pyongyang has the "capability to launch a missile and have a weapon on it that could reach parts of the United States, Alaska and Hawaii."
AP: Lost cause? North Korea nuclear threat awaits next president
read … Thanks to Obama’s Leadership
With Formby Fleeing, HART board selects interim executive director
SA: The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board announced today that Krishniah Murthy will lead the agency. Murthy told the board and audience at its meeting that he has 40 years in the management of rail projects, most recently at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority helping to launch rail lines across the sprawling Southern California city.
He’ll take the reins Dec. 5 during yet another tumultuous period for the largest public works project in state history, as it faces a renewed budget shortfall of at least $1.8 billion.
Murthy will replace Acting Executive Director Mike Formby, who took the helm at HART after Dan Grabauskas, the former executive director, resigned under a mutual agreement with the agency in August.
A special board sub-committee unanimously selected Murthy.
Formby said he will formally resign from the city and his role at HART on Nov. 7. Murthy will lead the agency on an at-will basis for a year while officials there seek a permanent replacement for Grabauskas. Murthy will be paid a base salary of $400,000 with the potential for a 10 percent bonus if he hits certain benchmarks, board member Colbert Matsumoto said.
“I’ll tell you that it wasn’t easy” to find highly qualified but short-term candidates, Matsumoto said during the board’s meeting. However, Matsumoto said he was confident Murthy was a solid hire who fit the bill.
Murthy said his main goal is to get the project back on track, in part by scrutinizing HART and its technical capabilities….
Big Q: What’s the outlook for Oahu’s rail transit project, now that a new interim CEO has been named?
SA: New rail director will inherit agency plagued by turnover as the People who sold us Rail Flee Their Sinking Ship
LINK: HART News Release
read … HART board selects interim executive director
HART defends rail property purchases years ahead of construction
KHON: …Kobayashi says the city is losing out on property taxes when those businesses close down, but HART says the move saves taxpayers money in the long run.
Prime properties in Kakaako sit empty surrounded by wire link fences and “no trespassing” signs.
Jolly King, owner of Ala Moana Surfboards, says her business was told to move here three years ago though rail construction is still years away….
A spokesman for HART says buying these properties now will save taxpayers money because it’s more than likely that in the years ahead the value of these properties will go up.
HART has sent a letter to council members which estimates that of the property acquisitions made so far, it has saved $8.6 million.
But the city has also lost $2.6 million in property tax revenues….
read … Defend
Star-Adv: Get Rid of Brower
SA: Tom Brower, the Democratic incumbent, has been controversial since he took a sledgehammer to homeless people’s shopping carts in 2013. His frustration over a growing problem was understandable but the aggression was not. In June 2015, he was assaulted at the Kakaako encampment; that violence would spur a needed clearing of the area’s public spaces. Now comes Republican Kathryn Henski, a retired businesswoman, whose intriguing resume includes turning her hostel in Alaska into a de facto shelter for homeless people. In the span of three years, she says, some 3,000 homeless were sheltered, then helped on their way. Henski and her husband also have fostered 35 medically fragile children. Both candidates are earnest and have a good grasp of their district’s challenges — Kakaako overdevelopment and Waikiki growth, for instance — but Henski’s hands-on, can-do vibe is refreshing. Perhaps it would prove infectious in the Legislature….
DN: “Democrat-ridden??” Like, “lice-ridden” or “disease-ridden?”
read … Refreshing
City acquires 24-unit building on Beretania St. to house homeless
KHON: …Tenants must be experiencing homelessness (sheltered or unsheltered) and make less than 50 percent of the Area Median Income, which is $35,160 for a single person and $50,250 for a family of four.
Housing Solutions Incorporated has been selected as the property manager and will begin accepting applications from prospective tenants in December….
Rents follow Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation affordable rent guidelines and are capped at $942 for one-bedroom units and $1,131 for two-bedroom units.
Tenants receiving housing subsidies such as Housing First, HUD-VASH, or Section 8, pay a rent of 30 percent of their income, with the remainder of the rent covered by the subsidy.
There is no operational funding for the project, and property management and tenant services will be paid for through rental income….
read … City acquires 24-unit building on Beretania St. to house homeless
Pandering to Anti-GMO Morons? Gabbard, Schatz and Hirono are Tops
SA: …All three members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation scored high marks on the (anti-GMO) Food Policy Action’s National Food Policy Scorecard, which ranks lawmakers’ votes on issues relating to food safety and access, farm subsidies, animal welfare, labeling requirements and the effects of food production on the environment.
U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard received a perfect 100 percent score, while U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono received a score of 94 percent and Sen. Brian Schatz received a 91 percent rating.
The late Rep. Mark Takai was on medical leave much of the year and missed many of the votes.
Senators were graded on 10 votes and 12 bills, while members of the House of Representatives were graded on 16 votes and 15 bills.
The scores were largely split along partisan lines, with most Republicans scoring under 60 percent in the ratings and most Democrats scoring above 60 percent. The overall score average was 57 percent….
read … Pandering
Without Challengers, Money Still Rains Down upon Hawaii Congressional Candidates
CB: Shoo-In Candidates For Congress Raise Nearly $1M, Spend More….
read … Bought n Paid For
Former Big Isle Man Punished for Failing to Show Proper Obsequience to The Hillary
WHT: …A Big Island native and former editor of West Hawaii Today resigned from his CEO post of the U.S. Space Foundation on Monday, about three weeks after coming under fire for making crude Facebook comments about Hillary Clinton.
In February, Elliot Holokauahi Pulham linked on his Facebook page to a news article titled “Hookers for Hillary: Meet the sex workers caucusing for Clinton in Nevada.”
Before posting the link, Pulham added his own comment, which reads, “It takes a whore to know a whore? Hookers for Hillary. You can’t make this (expletive) up!”
Early this month, the online news site “Nasa Watch” took a screen shot of Pulham’s comment, critiquing it as an “utterly inappropriate profane NSFW [Not Safe For Work] comments.” (Translation: An underling spotted a way to move up.)
Pulham later posted in response: “From time to time, I do post some irreverent things to Facebook … if something I’ve said has pierced your oh-so-tender, and oh-so-thin skin, please feel free to unfriend me!”
Pulham resigned Monday, according to the Denver Post, and was replaced on an acting basis by the nonprofit’s Chief Operating Officer Shelli Brunswick….
read … Political Correctness = Censorship
Why Bill Clinton Encouraged Donald Trump to Run
CB: Pollsters predict Clinton will win, but even if she does, she and her supporters would be wise to ask: ‘What if her opponent had been less self-destructive? What if the rebellion had found a respectable messenger?’
read … Run
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