Oahu Circuit: Public Comment on Judicial Nominees for Four Positions
Open Access for Broken Trust Book
Best Cities for Disabled? -- Honolulu Ranks 62nd
Fastest Growing? Honolulu Ranks 333rd
Hawaii Joins States with Highest-Rated Health Insurance Plans
Abigail Kawananakoa Marries Transsexual Partner
CB: Princess Abigail Kawananakoa, the 91-year-old Hawaiian heiress who inherited $215 million from the Campbell Estate, married longtime companion Veronica Gail Worth (birth name 'William Worth') on Sunday.
An announcement emailed to numerous friends and acquaintances by Worth said the couple were married by retired state Supreme Court Justice Steven Levinson, who supported same-sex unions and wrote an opinion calling marriage a “basic civil right”decades before it was legalized in America. Worth said he (Yes--Civil Beat did write ‘he’—they changed it later) and the princess have been in a relationship for 21 years…..
(Discuss: Is this really a gay marriage?)
Worth, 64, is a key figure in a legal fight over the heiress’s fortune — which has been under control of Kawananakoa’s former attorney of almost 20 years, Jim Wright, after she suffered a stroke. Wright has said Worth has repeatedly sought large sums of money.
But Michael Lilly, Kawananakoa’s attorney and a former state attorney general, said in documents that her doctor found she was doing “very well” and her mental health was “really back to baseline” upon release from the hospital…..
In 1985, Worth and her then-husband, Earl Harbin, were indicted on two counts of attempted theft by the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. They tried to sell stolen electronics for money or dugs, officers said at the time….
Reality: Kawananakoa Estate: Sex, Drugs, and Inequality
read … Hawaiian Heiress Gets Married
Surveys: Majority in Hawaii Want to Dump Jones Act
Overrun with Homeless, Kakaako Park to Close
HNN: …The closure begins Sunday at 10 p.m., according to "no trespassing" signs posted at the park Tuesday.
The state has grappled for years with homelessness at the park, which is also a popular spot for residents and home to the Ehime Maru Memorial….
Photos: More ‘safe zone’ follies in Kakaako
read … Popular Kakaako park to close indefinitely for safety reasons
Special Interests Spend Big On Their Lobbyists
CB: ….Max Sword of Outrigger Hotels and Resorts spent a lot of money on receptions, meals, food and beverages — about $9,500 since 2014.
Kyle Datta of Ulupono Initiative plucked down just over $600 for the same things and spent 10 times that much on gifts over about the same period.
Ron Amemiya and Mel Kahele of the Ironworkers Stabilization Fund each spent tens of thousands of bucks on lobbying since 2013…..
Some lobbyists have multiple clients, such as Melissa Pavlicek, who represents Apple, Bishop Museum, Chevron, DOW AgroSciences, Hawaiian Airlines, Kamehameha Schools, Safeway and Time Supermarkets.
Bob Toyofuku is another super-lobbyist — for Uber Technologies, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Compassion and Choices, Hawaiian Humane Society, Hawaii Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company, Comcast and Johnson Controls….
read … Special Interests Spend Big On Their Lobbyists
State eyes hike to well permit fees
PBN: Permit fees for drilling water wells and installing and repairing pumps will surge under new rules being considered by the state Commission on Water Resource Management.
The fee will increase by more than tenfold from $25 to $300. The fee applies to private wells in addition to wells constructed and operated by the county Department of Water Supply.
Fees haven’t been raised since 1987, said Roy Hardy, groundwater hydrologic program manager for the commission….
Public hearings on the rule changes are slated for 6 p.m. Nov. 8 at the West Hawaii Civic Center and 6 p.m. Nov. 9 at Aupuni Center in Hilo.
The rules state “no well shall be constructed, altered or repaired and no pump or pumping equipment shall be installed, replaced or repaired without an appropriate permit from the commission.”
There were about 600 public and private wells on the Big Island,…
Well-drilling companies contacted Monday declined comment until they could read the proposed rules.
Fines for noncompliance also would go up under the rules, from $1,000 to $5,000. The increase covers general fines for violations concerning water use, wells and stream diversion….
Related: Harbors Division Fee Hike designed to boost $77M OHA Slush Fund
read … State eyes hike to well permit fees
USDA: Hawaii has Lowest Rate of ‘Food Insecurity’ in USA
SA: …While the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently named Hawaii as having the lowest rate of resident households reporting food insecurity compared to the rest of the nation, the harsh reality is that hunger is still a major problem in our state, forcing many families to make difficult monthly decisions.
In fact, the latest survey of our clients found that many of them must choose between food and other daily necessities:
>> 62 percent reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities.
>> 48 percent reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for housing.
>> 56 percent reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine/medical care.
>> 30 percent reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for education expenses….
read … Food Bank
Star-Adv: Matayoshi’s work on AP Classes Paying Off
SA: Over the past year, 6,599 public high school students statewide took one or more AP exams in May — 11 percent more than the previous year — and the tally of students who passed with scores of 3, 4 or 5 increased by 15 percent to 4,178….
Academic researchers have been keeping an eye on AP, trying to understand its relative value. Challenge Success, a nonprofit that partners with schools to improve academic programs, published a study in 2013, titled “The Advanced Placement Program: Living Up to Its Promise?”
For starters, the study concludes, the parent or educator should hesitate before weighting AP programs too heavily as keys to success. “When implemented thoughtfully and effectively, the AP program may benefit certain students and allow for common assessments across schools and districts,” the report stated. “However, the presence of an AP program in a high school is not necessarily a valid indicator of a school’s quality.”
There’s too much variability in classes and teachers to assume too much about the role an AP program plays in college success.
But Hawaii is nowhere near the point where there’s danger of overdoing things. The work by the administration of Kathryn Matayoshi, the past superintendent, and her team to promote the program is paying off….
read … Then Ige’s team fired her
Move to Hawaii, Become Less Racist
PS: The racial attitudes of white college students from the mainland shift after nine months on the islands….
CB: Study: Living In Hawaii Can Make You Less Prejudiced
PDF: Study
read … Move
ACLU Chooses Hawaii to Launch Litigation for Mandatory Abortion Pills Nationwide
BF: The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday over a rule preventing commercial pharmacies from offering the abortion pill by prescription.
The ACLU argues that the current restrictions on access to medicated abortion violates the 2016 Supreme Court decision Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which emphasized that no “undue burden” can be placed upon women’s access to abortion.
The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Hawaii on behalf of a doctor in Kauai, Hawaii, Dr. Graham Chelius....
SA: Kauai doctor sues to have abortion pill sold at pharmacies
read … Rubber Stamp until the US Supreme Court
Former Hawaii resident shot twice, describes horror of mass shooting in Las Vegas
KHON: …The death toll stands at 59 with more than 500 others wounded.
Former Waipahu resident Ashley Quiocho was among the wounded.
She is recovering from two gunshot wounds, but tells KHON2 she’s lucky considering the horror she saw Sunday night.
Quiocho was at the concert with a group of friends when they heard a burst of gunfire from a distance.
She says they didn’t realize what they were until people started to run, including the musicians on stage.
“All ducking down, everyone’s freaking out, crying, and I just don’t know what’s going on. It was pretty incomprehensible,” she said.
Like everyone else, she and her group started to run and duck also. When they thought it was safe, they started running again, and that’s when she was shot in her right hand and also in her backside.
But they kept running.
“Everyone’s running and then they shoot again and then we duck down again, and my friend’s like, ‘Oh my God. They’re dead’ and I go, ‘What’s going on?’ And you couldn’t really tell if they’re dead or not, but you see people lying there and just bleeding,” Quiocho said. “I also saw somebody shot in the head. I think they were fine, because they were at the hospital. I saw them alive.”
Her friends helped her get to an ambulance and then to a hospital, but for most of the night, she had to wait because there were so many others whose injuries were more severe.
“Everybody in the hospital was bleeding. There were some in the gurneys that were pulsing. They were just trembling. Some weren’t even moving,” she said.
Quiocho wound up having to go to another hospital where her wounds could at least get cleaned out and stitched up….
read … Las Vegas
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