State pension woes raise specter of county bankruptcies
Bureaucracy thwarts state modernization
Who Gets a Tax Cut Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?
Scientists: Latest Round of Kauai Hysterics Wrong
DoH: $1.75B Needed to Replace Cesspools Statewide
After Years, State finally goes public on Rat Lungworm
Bloomberg: The Jones Act serves no purpose
Hawaii 70% Ready: Health Emergency Preparedness
Caldwell’s Latest Police Commissioner – Daughter of HPD Officer Charged with Theft
CB: …Alivado has her own connections to HPD. Her father, Rudy Alivado, spent 28 years in the department and rose to the rank of major. He worked in Kalihi for several years, and spent much of his time addressing youth gang issues in the area.
In 1989 he was suspended for five days (for $5000 theft) when he and another high-ranking officer were caught skipping out on a conference in Los Angeles related to gang issues.
Rudy Alivado was later a co-defendant in a gender discrimination lawsuit involving the Hawaii Department of Public Safety that resulted in a $4 million legal settlement.
In 2003, then-Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle decided to nix Alivado’s six-figure airport security (total $836K over 7 years because he was a friend of Cayetano) consulting contract after officials in the administration discovered a number of irregularities in the terms and conditions that they believed to be inappropriate….
read … Caldwell’s Police Comm
Kam Schools Psychiatrist was at Center of Network of Homosexual Child Molesters
HNN: Long-hidden documents show how the same man, prominent Honolulu psychiatrist Dr. Robert Browne, (a member of the Hawaii ACLU Board of Directors), played a central role in two of Hawaii's biggest sex abuse scandals.
Browne is accused of sexually assaulting more than 30 former students at Kamehameha Schools over nearly three decades, from 1958 to 1985.
And, the documents show, he was also treating Catholic priests in Hawaii who had been caught abusing children.
Those priests weren't turned into the police, but were often instead sent for psychiatric treatment — to be "cured" of their pedophilia problem. Not surprisingly, one priest in particular who was getting therapy from Browne went on to molest kids for decades….
Altogether in Hawaii, about 125 victims have filed civil suits against the church, after a state law opened a four-year window for them to come forward and make claims — no matter how much time had passed since the abuse.
Records obtained as a result of the lawsuits reveal that Browne, a sexual predator himself, was one of the psychiatrists who treated pedophile priests.
Among those who went to Browne, starting in the late 1950s: Father James Jackson, who worked at Maryknoll and St. Anthony Church on Oahu, and in parishes in Laupahoehoe, Kona, and Hilo on the Big Island.
A document signed by Browne notifies church leaders that Jackson had a "surgical correction ... on his left testicle." Browne blames that procedure for his abuse of boys, saying that afterwards Jackson "began to notice strong, obsessive feelings to touch the genital areas of male teenagers."
Court records show that Browne treated Jackson for years, saying the priest has shown "slow, but steady improvement" and that the "sexual preoccupations have practically disappeared."
He said he did not "feel that they present a potential problem or risk."
Jackson went on to molest boys for the next 25 years, until the 1980s…..
read … Homosexual Child Molesters
Is KSBE Apology Enough to Sweep Child Molestation Under Rug?
SA: The recent apology to students who were victims of abuse while attending Kamehameha Schools by CEO Jack Wong means absolutely nothing without a full accounting of any and all the adults who had knowledge of this egregious act of violence who chose to remain silent and do nothing to help the victims when they needed it most….
Silent voices. Choosing to do nothing. Looking the other way. Lawyers, administrators and trustees who are more concerned about liability, lawsuits and image than the welfare of the children they are charged to protect….
It is another shameful and unforgivable chapter in the history of Kamehameha Schools and its penchant for cover-ups, settling claims and preserving a false image of being an advocate for Hawaiian children and their education….
these vile abuses were covered up for years until the victims themselves stepped forward as adults to expose the crimes committed by “Dr.” Robert Browne….
To begin to make things right, Kamehameha Schools must start with the following:
>> Hold accountable every single adult in its employ, past and present, who had any knowledge of these abuses and remained silent, by naming names, terminating employment, revoking any and all retirement benefits….
read … Account for abuse of students
April, 2018 Deadline: Will Supreme Court to issue speedy ruling on TMT case?
HNN: …"They've heard it before. We're hoping they make a speedy decision,” Ige said Tuesday on Hawaii News Now Sunrise.
The governor is hoping the high court will fast track the case because the project faces a looming deadline.
"We're working toward a deadline of April 2018 to either build here on Mauna Kea or in the Canary Islands,” said TMT spokesman Scott Ishikawa….
Kealoha Pisciotta said rushing the Supreme Court is a bad idea….
Legal experts said the high court can take anywhere from one month to a year to issue a ruling…. (or 14 years for that matter….)
read … Governor urges Supreme Court to issue speedy ruling on TMT case
Carbon Tax: Scheme by White Environmentalists to Drive You Out of Hawaii
IM: Senator Brian Schatz has been a long-time supporter of a carbon tax. Hawaiian Electric and Blue Planet support a carbon tax….
Boulder Colorado imposed the first carbon tax in the nation. The tax on kilowatt-hours of electricity sales adds a couple of dollars per month for the average family. Industry pays more. (Yes. This is a tax hike. Do not be deceived!)…
Taxes on businesses are passed on to consumers in the form of higher costs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey reported that the lower 20% of consumers spend an average of 4.8% of their net annual income on gasoline and motor oil, while the upper 20% spend only 1.7% on gasoline and motor oil. Thus, a National Bureau of Economic Research study concluded that a carbon tax is a regressive tax.
The University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO) noted, “Carbon taxes are perceived to be regressive because fuel comprises a greater share of spending for low-income households. However, mandates are more regressive than a revenue-neutral carbon tax which can redistribute revenues to taxpayers by cutting other taxes (e.g. payroll, personal income, and corporate taxes) or through direct payments (flat `check in the mail`).”
(IQ Test: True or False: I will get a check in the mail if Hawaii adopts a carbon tax. (LOL!)
Instead of a carbon tax, Hawaii imposed a barrel tax on oil, but exempted coal….
One issue that was always in the background with the Washington State I-732 initiative was how the white carbon tax proponents would safeguard, or poison, the interests of communities of color and labor. …
As Explained: WaPo: Schatz Represents Hawaii's new White Ruling Class
read … To Carbon Tax or Not Carbon Tax in Hawaii
Usual Suspects Line up to Raise Your Taxes
Will Gorak Case Change Way Gubernatorial Appointments are Handled?
MM: …On December 7, the Hawaii Supreme Court (HSC) heard oral arguments for the lawsuit I filed challenging the interim appointment of Thomas Gorak to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission by Governor Ige in June 2016. It will have a broad affect on how nominations and appointments are handled in the future for all boards and commissions should the definition of vacancy be expanded to include the end of a set term….
The crux of this case is the word "vacancy." In American jurisprudence an office vacancy is defined as empty as a result of a resignation or death of the office holder. There is agreement that the Governor can use his constitutionally given Interim Appointments Power to fill a vacancy and appoint someone to a board or commission when the Senate is not in session. However, the State of Hawaii is attempting to expand the definition of vacancy by now including the end of a set term. Governor Ige did this through a 2016 Attorney General opinion which supplanted two previous opinions which have stood for more than 30 years….
read … HSC Oral Arguments/Morita v Gorak, State of Hawaii
Caldwell Supports Moratorium on Multi-Generational Houses (thus proving talk of affordable housing is empty rhetoric)
SA: Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is backing a call by some City Council members for a moratorium on large-scale houses in residential zones until permanent language can be imposed putting limits on the so-called “monster houses” that have been sprouting up in older Oahu neighborhoods recently (Recently? Families have been building these things for years….)
(Caldwell is eliminating one of the key ways local families have been solving the affordable housing crisis for themselves.)
Bill 110 calls for the Department of Planning and Permitting to immediately halt issuing building permits for large-scale houses until the Council can adopt stricter regulations on the structures, or up to two years….
Earlier this month the Council approved Resolution 17-276, instructing the department to come up with a bill that would restrict houses to no more than a certain size based on an as-yet-to-be-determined floor-to-area ratio or density. It would also place a yet-to-be-determined limit on the number of wet bars allowed per dwelling, and require each dwelling to have a minimum of two parking stalls for the first 2,500 square feet and one extra stall for every additional 500 square feet….
Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, executive director of the Hawaii Construction Alliance, said there’s a clear nexus between larger houses and the lack of affordable homes. His organization supports Bill 59, which offers a series of breaks for housing developers including waivers from various city fees, charges and even park requirements, as well as property tax breaks during construction and, for rental projects, for the duration of the affordable phase.
Rental projects have not been built in several decades because they don’t pencil out financially without any incentives, Dos Santos-Tam said, noting that the Legislature is expected to take up measures to address that point when it begins meeting next month.
Bill 58 overhauls the city’s current affordable-housing policy by requiring developers to make units available to those making less money and to keep those units affordable for a longer period of time than now required, in exchange for building fewer affordable units than current rules require…..
SA: Don’t let deal hurt low-income renters
read … Caldwell looks to rein in ‘monster houses’
Overcoming NIMBY Pushback Against Kahaluu Homeless Shelters
KITV: Plans to build "Dome Homes" for homeless people in Windward O'ahu are just waiting for a building permit from the city. Frustrated community members voiced major concerns at a Kahaluu board meeting on Tuesday.
“It’s being pushed upon us. This isn’t O.K.” voiced a community member at the meeting.
The First Assembly of God says 12 domes would go on church property, and would house a total of 45 single women and their children. Prospective candidates would be vetted by the institute for human services, and would have to be drug and alcohol free.
Pastor at the First Assembly of God Church, Daniel Kaneshiro says the project has been presented multiple times to the Kahaluu neighborhood board for community input since May 2017. He's trying to address the neighbors' issues such as noise levels.
“There’s an 8 o’clock curfew. We’d like to have the kids and their families in their domes. We’ll work with the community and the direct neighbors as far as noise issues.” Said Kaneshiro.
The project would also include around the clock security, making some advocates of the plan.
“I’m for the idea because it is important to take care of impoverished women and children.” Said neighbor Stacy Sterenberg. …
read … NIMBY
Homeless Camp Still in Cemetery—Tomb Vandalized
HNN: Peter Fernando is one of several volunteers who spends his weekends cutting the grass there. He says having regular maintenance is a good start but more is needed.
"Getting the homeless out. That would be the first major step to this thing. The next major step in this thing would be try to secure the place if you don't secure the place it's going to be happening all over again," said Fernando.
Because the cemetery is private property it's up to the owner to file a complaint with police to have the homeless camp removed.
read … Need Dental Gold to buy meth
Enviros: Give us $2M so we can go diving and Attack Fishing Fleet
CB: ‘Devastation’ Discovered In Deep Sea From Industrial Fishing … But without a $2 million donation, it may be the last expedition for the Hawaii-based research submarines and support vessel that conducted the study…. (LOL!)
read … ‘Pay us and we will put on a show
Trump Nominates Jill Otake to Be Federal Judge in Hawaii
AP: President Donald Trump is nominating prosecutor Jill Otake to be a federal judge in Hawaii.
She will succeed Susan Oki Mollway if the Senate confirms her nomination. Mollway is now a senior judge, having retired from active service two years ago.
Sen. Mazie Hirono said in a statement Wednesday Otake is well-qualified. Sen. Brian Schatz says she is an excellent choice…..
read … Otake
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