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Monday, July 24, 2017
July 24, 2017 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:07 PM :: 3261 Views

North Korean Media Identifies Hawaii And Alaska As Possible Targets

US Prepares Another Missile Defense Test as North Korea Ramps Up Threat

Caldwell Could Fix Police Commission Anytime He Wants

CB: …Caldwell has the perfect opportunity to bring the seven-member Police Commission the professionalism it and the public deserves. There is one unfilled position, created when Marc Tilker left a few months ago. And another commissioner, Luella Costales, is still serving even though her term expired in December….

read … But he lets the current majority rule

Honolulu to Ban Compostable Plastic Bags, Split 15-Cent per bag Profit with Businesses

KHON: …On Monday, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell will sign Oahu’s plastic bag ban expansion into law.

Bill 59 (2016), FD1, CD3 would ban stores from providing any plastic bags, even ones that are considered reusable or biodegradable, starting in 2020….

Starting July 1, 2018, non-exempt businesses are required to charge customers a minimum of 15 cents per bag for groceries or other merchandise.

That bag needs to be reusable, compostable, or a paper bag that contains 40-percent post-consumer content.

But after January 1, 2020, even those thicker plastic bags will no longer be considered reusable.

Bill 59: Text, Status

read … Honolulu mayor to sign expanded plastic bag ban bill for Oahu

Anti-GMO documentaries on Hawaii farming warp reality

GLP: Hollywood has a long history of romanticizing and misrepresenting Hawaii. Now indie directors are getting into the act with a slew of “documentaries” that gravely distort agriculture in the Islands, most especially the GMO seed crops.

These flicks have become so common in recent years — not coincidentally coinciding with the rise of the anti-GMO movement in Hawaii — that they’re in danger of creating a whole new genre: earnestly erroneous docudramas. They all follow the same cookie-cutter formula: “Paradise” is being “poisoned” by multinational chem companies, and it can be saved only by white knights (read Caucasian activists) and a return to ancient agricultural practices.

Though most of the filmmakers are unknowns, actor Pierce Brosnan’s wife Keely recently got into the act with “Poisoning Paradise,” as did pro surfer Cyrus Sutton with “Island Earth.”

You might reasonably ask what a celebrity’s wife and a surfer know about agriculture. The answer, upon viewing their films, is very little….

read … Reality

Hilo Hospital ‘58% Ethical’

HTH: …Brinkman said nearly half of hospital departments — 47 percent — will need “assistance and resources” to help transform the hospital into a great workplace.

Just 39 percent agree their unit is adequately staffed, 47 percent think the hospital offers enough career development, and 38 percent say different levels of the organization communicate effectively with each other….

But Brinkman said response to the item, “This organization conducts business in an ethical manner,” is concerning. Fifty-eight percent agreed. But the remainder were neutral or disagreed.

The hospital’s overall ethics score of 3.59 is 0.49 below the national average….

read … Striving for greatness: Hilo Medical Center looks to improve following employee survey

Years Late, Legislature Acts to Reduce Charter School Cronyism

SA: …In 2012, amid several cases of glaring misuse of public education funds and administrators faulted for hiring their relatives, the Legislature moved to reform the state’s charter schools program, which had been more focused on support services rather than accountability standards.

The Legislature created the Public Charter School Commission as part of an overhaul of state law, tightening oversight and accountability for the schools that first came on the scene here in the mid-1990s.

This new, tougher approach manifested itself most recently on July 13, when the commission approved one application for a new school while turning down two others because they didn’t meet the requirements. The approved school, DreamHouse Ewa Beach, will open in 2018….

Meanwhile, one charter is now tackling the problem by way of a promising partnership with a traditional public school. Green-focused SEEQS — the School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability — is leaving its rented space in Kaimuki to move a few miles down the road to the Kaimuki High School campus, which has space to spare….

This could be a win-win arrangement, and model for other public schools. In the interest of maintaining full use of its campuses, the state Department of Education should update its enrollment/capacity inventory with an eye on considering other charter-traditional pairings. A DOE study based on 2013-14 figures found that several campuses have classrooms that are not being used for teaching or other school-related functions. At Kaimuki Middle School, for example, capacity was 1,675 students; enrollment, 979; and the campus had 11 unused classrooms….

read … Maintain progress for charter schools

Big Island schools see uptick in most serious types of offenses

HTH: …Offenses such as bullying and harassment were on the decline last year in Hawaii Island public schools, though the number of more serious misconduct cases — such as fighting and use of illicit drugs — increased slightly.

Big Island schools tallied at least 1,654 Class B violations in the 2016-17 school year, down from 1,755 the school year prior, according to data provided to the Tribune-Herald last week from the state Department of Education.

Class A violations, meanwhile, increased from at least 734 in the 2015-16 school year to 839 last year.

Class A violations include possession or use of a dangerous instrument or substance, possession or use of illicit drugs or drug paraphernalia, fighting, property damage or vandalism, sexual offenses and terroristic threatening.

Class B violations include cyberbullying, hazing, theft, disorderly conduct and inappropriate use of the internet.

Schools are required to track the student misconduct statistics each year and report them to the DOE.

The data provided to the Tribune-Herald isn’t necessarily all-inclusive because the DOE redacts totals under 10 to protect student privacy.

read … Big Island schools see uptick in most serious types of offenses

Hawaii Trump Approval Rate Increases

WaPo: Unsurprisingly, those states that view Trump positively are also among those that supported him the most during last year’s election. Some states stick out, though: Texas, where Trump is viewed net negatively; and Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the three states that gave him that crucial 78,000-vote margin of victory.

It’s worth noting that in 47 of the states, Trump’s approval rating is now below the percentage of the vote he received. The three exceptions: Hawaii, Utah and Montana.

 Those exceptions give a hint of what’s going on. Utah was unusually lukewarm about Trump’s candidacy, compared with other Republican states, and Hawaii was fervently opposed to Trump. The former case was a reversion to the norm; the latter, a nowhere-to-go-but-up situation.

read … Increase

Peter Kema Sr. sentenced to 20 years for son’s death

HTH: …Peter Kema Sr. was sentenced Monday in Hilo Circuit Court to 20 years in prison for the 1997 death of his 6-year-old son, Peter Kema Jr.

Kema, who had lied to authorities for almost 20 years for the whereabouts of the chronically abused boy, also known as “Peter Boy” and “Pepe,” didn’t address the court….

read … 20 Years

Marco Polo Fire

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