Unanimous Police Commission Names Maj. Susan Ballard HPD Chief
House Speaker and Senate President Name Appointees to HART Board
What Can You Learn from CNHA Failure?
HTA: Visitor Spending and Arrivals up Again
$685K Stolen from Marshall Islands Trust Fund
Mike Huckabee Headlines Hawaii Republican Rally
IRS Admits Harassment of Maui TEA Party Group, Apologizes
Kauai mayor announces bid for lieutenant governor
SA: “I’m an open kind of guy, I’m willing to work with anybody,” he said. “Whoever becomes governor I’m totally willing. Let’s rock and roll, let’s shake hands and go.”
read … Kauai mayor announces bid for lieutenant governor
Kihei Rep Kaniela Ing to Run for Congress in Honolulu
HNN: …the race for an open seat in Congress is unusually quiet.
So far, Maui representative Kaniela Ing is the only person to declare he wants Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa's House seat.
Political analysts believe other potential candidates may be waiting to see if Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin launches a campaign. …
Chin did not respond to a request for comment….
Add another name to the list of Hawaii politicians vying to be lieutenant governor.
Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho announced his candidacy Wednesday at the state Capitol building….
CB: Kauai Mayor Wants To Be Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor
read … Race for lieutenant governor gets more crowded, while congressional race remains quiet
Feds: Bogus Police Report Helped Kealohas Get Hawaii Kai home
SA: Federal prosecutors are moving forward to have the Hawaii Kai home of former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his city prosecutor wife Katherine Kealoha forfeited to the government.
They filed papers in U.S. District Court Tuesday to prevent the Kealohas from selling or transferring ownership of their Mariner’s Cove property….
The indictment charging the Kealohas lists their home as a proceed obtained directly or indirectly through the charged crimes, therefore subject to forfeiture upon conviction.
The indictment says the Kealohas submitted a forged HPD report with their loan application to explain away some negative information on their credit report and secure a $980,000 mortgage from Hawaii Central Federal Credit Union for the 2,123-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath home….
PDF: Honolulu Police Department Form – Report No. 09-278361
read … Feds move to block Kealohas from sale or transfer of Hawaii Kai home
Maui TVR Tax Hike 22%
MN: Maui County Council’s Budget and Finance Committee has been attracting attention by considering a bill, BF-42, that would increase taxes on short-term rentals by roughly 22 percent.
According to the Maui Finance Department, the tax hike would raise an additional $600,000 per year, if the bill is approved.
Lawrence Carnicelli of the Maui Realtors Association testified that, “There are members of this body who went before the state Legislature three weeks ago and said ‘We can’t raise TAT (transient accommodation tax) because it’s going to harm the tourist industry; we can’t raise taxes on the tourist industry.’ And yet that’s what we’re doing now: We’re raising taxes on the tourist industry.”….
read … Let Maui families keep more of their money
Distracted walking law creates Pretext for ID Check
HNN: …City Councilman Brandon Elefante was the one who authored the bill. He believes that people around the world are watching us to see if it will work.
Critics have said this is an overreach of local officials. Elefante said that it's simply a matter of pedestrian safety especially since Honolulu has the 13th highest rate of pedestrian deaths in the country. He is hoping that this law will force them to be aware of their surroundings and lower the statistics.
Criminal defense attorney David Hayakawa, who appeared on Sunrise the day before, said that he is concerned for our civil liberties. He believes this gives officers an excuse to stop almost anyone they want under the guise of violating this law. Hayakawa said, that would give police the time to run anyone's identity through the system….
read … Distracted walking law goes into effect, bill's author defends it
Kakaako: Tweekers Take over Entire Block of Parking Spaces Because Nobody Will Tow ‘their ‘Junk Cars
HNN: …Nineteen cars — nearly all of them in disrepair — line Coral Street.
Illegal campers have turned two rows of cars on both sides of the Kakaako roadway into a reinforced encampment. People and their dogs are living inside and in between the vehicles.
Heather Fillerup and her co-workers won't even walk down the street to get to their office at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.
"We have to change our route. You don't feel safe," Fillerup said.
Just about every unmetered parking stall on Coral Street between Ala Moana and the University of Hawaii School of Medicine has been taken over by squatters.
By the looks of it, most of the vehicles won't start.
The manager at Cutter Chevrolet said the business has also been affected by the encampment. Earlier this week an illegal camper smashed out a window in one of their vehicles. An employee called the police when they found several people sleeping inside.
Loren Kawamoto works across the street from the car dealership in the Gold Bond building.
"This is the worst it's been," Kawamoto said, adding that no matter how early he get's to work there's no free parking near his job. He says his only option is to pay….
"It's been growing about a year now," said Fillerup….
read … In Kakaako, a line-up of junk cars proves a hard-to-tackle encampment
City projects mark 1 year of housing homeless families
SA: …the city’s newly purchased buildings on Beretania Street and Halona Road are aimed at working families who earn 50 percent or less of the area median income, which is $35,200 for a single person and $50,250 for a family of four….
The city also expects the first shipment of modular units to arrive in December for a new project going up across from Waianae High School that’s scheduled to open early next year.
The city also bought a four-story building in Iwilei that will include two floors of housing. And the city’s Department of Land Management is working on two new projects in town, but the details have yet to be announced.
At the same time, Hawaii businessman Duane Kurisu — founder and chairman of the AIO Group, who also serves on the board of directors of Oahu Publications Inc., parent company of the Star-Advertiser — plans to open his Kahauiki Village adjacent to the H-1 freeway viaduct. Kahauiki Village is aimed at 150 homeless families….
read … Not Nearly Enough
A rather sad “like father, like son” story
ILind: Some old timers here may remember Jack M. K. Gonzales, the former longtime executive director of the state’s Campaign Spending Commission, who was convicted and sentenced to a 15-year prison term for his role in a ponzi scheme that defrauded a Hawaii labor organization of $10 million.
I dealt extensively with Gonzales for at least a dozen years, first while working with Common Cause and later as a reporter. Although I often found myself at odds with his handling of matters before the commission, I personally liked Jack and was saddened by his downfall and the harsh legal consequences.
So it was depressing to recently learn that Kamalu Gonzales, one of Jack’s sons, is now serving a 6-1/2 year sentence in federal prison after being convicted of running a similar ponzi scheme in Nevada….
LINK: Justice Department news release
read … A rather sad “like father, like son” story
Lab Report: Hawaii Marijuana ‘Super Dirty’ Drenched in Pesticides, Carcinogens
SA: Most of the homegrown pakalolo tested by Hawaii’s first medical marijuana laboratory is tainted with pesticides and other dangerous contaminants.
Dana Ciccone, the head of the Steep Hill Hawaii lab, said that at least 75 percent of pot grown by patients or caregivers contains yeast, mold and pesticides. Meanwhile pot grown by the state’s retail dispensaries has tested clean, Ciccone said.
“Local weed is super dirty, but dispensary weed is the cleanest in the nation,” he told a medical cannabis legislative oversight group Wednesday….
Medical marijuana must be tested for heavy metals such as arsenic, pesticides, solvents, moisture content, microbial contaminants, intestinal bacteria and pathogens, dangerous molds, and toxins before being sold to patients.
“Growing cannabis in Hawaii is challenging with the humidity, so the easy way to deal with it is with pesticides,” said Brian Goldstein, president of Oahu dispensary Noa Botanicals. “Some pesticides when burned result in carcinogenic compounds….
MJ: 75% of the state’s Maui Wowie is tainted.
(Really Obvious Question: Which will anti-pesticide protesters quit? Protesting or Toking?)
Totally Unrelated: How to Use Anti-GMO Ordinances to Seize Marijuana Plants: A Guide for Police Departments
read … Pakalolo
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