Mauna Kea: It All Came Down to Money
Hawaii Weed Stores to Go Cashless Oct 1 (sort of)
AG Chin Defeats Parents of Disabled Children (again)
DoE SPED: 24% Absenteeism, 40% Do Not Graduate
KGI: “In School Year 2016-2017 the 18,969 students with Individualized Education Plans represented 10.6 percent of Hawaii’s public school students.” …
“Although Hawaii’s regular education 4th and 8th graders have been making gains on the NAEP in past years, the special education 4th and 8th grade scores are among the lowest in the nation,” the report says.
Chronic absenteeism among children with disabilities is high and in Hawaii it is almost double the rate (24.2 percent) compared to non-special education students. This may result in lower graduation rates. In School Year 2014-2015, Hawaii graduation rates were 60.4 percent for special education students compared to 82.0 percent for non-special education students.
Another concern SEAC has is that in Hawaii “roughly 2/3 of Hawaii’s students with disabilities spend the majority of their day outside of the general education classroom, while national averages show the reverse.” “In SY 2016-17, only 37.3 percent of Hawaii students with IEPs spent 80 percent or more of their day in general education classrooms” while the national average was 62 percent….
Despite a significant reduction in due process hearing requests over the last five years, Hawaii still out paces the national average in the number of hearing requests filed, and the number of those requests that result in a due process hearing.”….
read … Profitable for Lawyers
State's failure to conduct random checks on probationers puts public at risk
HNN: Convicted criminals don't have to fear enforcement at home because random, unannounced checks by the state are hardly being done, Hawaii News Now has learned.
Of the 11,156 people on probation on Oahu, an HNN investigation showed, probation officers have done just one surprise visit this year.
And of the 359 sex offenders on probation on Oahu, probation officers have done just five….
Hawaii News Now has reported on a number of high-profile probationers who have been caught committing new, violent crimes. The Honolulu Police CrimeStoppers website shows the majority of wanted suspects listed are also on probation.
"The most important thing is that have face to face contact with that person when they're not expecting it," said Carlisle. "That will put them either on the right track or it will put them in jail."
Defense attorney Bill Harrison agrees.
"There are certain individuals that routinely violate," Harrison said. "Some of them are very violent those people and generally should be supervised and should be involved in home visits to make sure they're not a danger to the public."….
The state Judiciary sent Hawaii News Now a statement for this story that reads in part, "Conducting unannounced visits is time intensive and, given staffing challenges, priorities and the primary goal of improving the defendant's behavior, it is generally not the best use of our probation officers' time."
Critics of the system say the officers depend too much on urine tests to determine drug violations but, they say, that won't show those who are selling drugs or keeping weapons in the home.
The Judiciary also told Hawaii News Now that probation officers are not trained law enforcement, so safety is a factor because they are not armed.
The statement continued that they need verifiable information that the probationer has violated the terms of probation before doing an unannounced visit. However, critics say, probation officers don't need probable cause to conduct surprise visits.
KHON: Jaylin Kema to return to court after violating terms of probation
read … Risk
Hawaii Spends $2M/yr flying Criminals to Arizona and it’s still Waaaay Cheaper than our Corrupt UPW-Controlled Prisons
KHON: …As the debate continues here in Hawaii in regards to if and where to build a new prison, hundreds of Hawaii inmates remain at a facility in Arizona.
Getting them back and forth requires a lot coordination, a significant amount of security, and nearly $2 million of your money each year.
Prisoners on flights don’t get lie-back seats or drink carts, but they do get movies.
The state Department of Public Safety has put aside $1.8 million to hire a company to fly prisoners to and from Arizona where about 1,600 Hawaii inmates are currently being held.
Each year, hundreds of inmates are flown between three stops: Arizona, Honolulu, and Hilo. As you might imagine, it’s not cheap.
So far this year the state has flown 849 inmates between Hawaii and Arizona for a total cost of nearly $1.3 million. That breaks down to just over $1,500 an inmate one way….
read … The price of shuttling inmates to and from the mainland
HHFDC: Operating Affordable Housing Not Our Job
SA: …The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., or HHFDC, is soliciting bids until Friday for six affordable apartment properties with a total of 1,221 rental units on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island. The properties are being offered without an asking price under what would be long-term ground leases — up to 75 years for five of the properties and 40 years for one property.
The agency, which has a mission “to increase and preserve the supply of workforce and affordable housing statewide,” says owning and managing affordable housing is not part of its core function. HHFDC anticipates a private owner will be able to invest some $13 million in needed capital improvements across the six properties, which are on average 26 years old….
Big Q: Do you agree with the state’s plan to lease six of its affordable rental properties to a private investor?
read …. Out of Business
Retaliation Games; Parole chief back at job after investigation
SA: Department of Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda said earlier this year Johnson was reassigned temporarily at the request of Hawaii Paroling Authority Chairman Edmund “Fred” Hyun, who became chairman Aug. 1, 2016….
…A spokeswoman for the department declined to provide any details of the investigation, the outcome of the inquiry or whether any disciplinary action was taken.
Describing the outcome of the investigation, Johnson’s lawyer Eric Seitz said there was no written finding, “but basically, it was a minor disposition of a disagreement over the use of a cellphone, that’s all it was.”…
Seitz said Monday he has been told by a representative of the Attorney General’s Office there will be no criminal investigation.
“I’m trying to correct the impression that he was under investigation for some kind of misuse of overtime, which was never true, and I also want to express my dismay that somebody in state government provided that information, which was against the law,” Seitz said Monday….
read … Retaliation Games
Kim Plans Massive Festering Homeless Tent City for Hilo
WHT: Mayor Harry Kim said it probably will be January before the county is ready to take the next step in its efforts to safely house Hilo’s homeless — while at the same time cleaning up areas frequented by homeless individuals and families.
Kim said earlier this month that he hasn’t completed developing his plan to address East Hawaii homelessness, which will be modeled after what was done at Old Kona Airport Park. But he said much was learned from the steps taken so far at Old A.
An encampment, Hale Kikaha, was created with temporary canopies in the Old Kona Industrial Area. HOPE Services, the main provider of services for homeless people on the Big Island, has worked alongside county staff to find permanent housing. So have veteran service organizations and other agencies, nonprofits and volunteers from the community.
“That camp is much more successful than we all anticipated,” Kim said.
It became so popular that all 28 spaces filled rapidly.
Kim said the county tried to move too fast in Kona, so there was no land ready for a transitional encampment, no infrastructure such as portable toilets and a water supply and no food service. That ended up creating delays for the cleanup and relocation of the homeless at Old Kona Airport Park….
read … Old Kona airport cleanup seen as lesson for East Hawaii
Preschool In Hawaii: Expensive And ‘Ridiculously Hard to Find’
CB: …The $11,232 average annual price tag of center-based child care for a 4-year-old in Hawaii is highest in the nation as a percentage of median income for married couples, according to Child Care Aware of America.
And Hawaii ranks at the bottom of states when it comes to access to public preschool, according to a 2016 report by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Only 2 percent of all 4-year-old children in the state were enrolled in state-funded public pre-K in the 2015-16 school year, compared with the national average of 32 percent….
read … Expensive
City Issues 49 Violations for TVRs
SA: “From Jan. 1, 2017 through Aug. 31, 2017, the Department of Planning and Permitting conducted 937 investigations of residential zoned properties and issued 16 notices of violation (NOV). The DPP also conducted 98 investigations of condo/apartment units and issued 33 NOVs.”
read … Do Nothing
White Nationalist Leader: Tulsi Gabbard Understands Us
HNN: …He goes on to mention a handful of lawmakers who he feels understands the power of Trump's approach to the economy.
And U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was on that list.
"You want to talk about hate crimes? Economic hate crime on the working class people on this country. That's a hate crime," he said.
"Bernie Sanders understands, Sherrod Brown understands, Tim Ryan understands, Seth Molton understands, Tulsi Gabbard understands that that's what can win in this country."
In response to the interview, Gabbard issued this statement:
(After he refused to hire me, I decided to start saying) “Trump's so-called populism has been a fraud. True populism means standing up, fighting for the interests of all the American people, not the big corporations and the 1 (percent). Real populism is caring for all the American people, regardless of race, political party, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation." (But if my guru Chris Butler sees an advantage, I will alter this statement.)
Nearly a year ago, Bannon arranged a meeting between then President-elect Trump and Gabbard, saying Trump was excited to work with her on various aspects of legislation.
More Reality than most can handle: To Stop Mufi, Mrs Abercrombie Joins the Chris Butler Cult
read … Bannon name drops Hawaii congresswoman in national interview
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