Why OHA Needs a 12-Step Program -- Part 2
Hemp Pilot Program Begins Accepting Grower License Applications
LEAD: Police to Refer Homeless Offenders to Treatment
Cleanest Air: Hawaii joins Oil Rich Wyoming--Green California Remains Filthy and Disgusting
Louise Pagotto recommended to be next Kapiolani Community College chancellor
Legislators Vote $125M for Kauai, Oahu Flooding Relief
House-Senate Conference Committee Begins Real Budget Negotiations
PUC: Elon Musk to get 21% More Money from Hawaii Electric Ratepayers
IM: …“After consideration of these projects, the commission determines that reasonable benchmark for renewable energy projects paired with (Elon Musk Tesla battery) storage is 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). For renewable energy-only projects, the commission determines that reasonable benchmark 9.5 cents per kWh.”…
(Translation: Elon Musk gets an extra 2 cents per kwh. Your rates go up.)
IM: Public Utilities Commission Opens Performance-Based Ratemaking (PBR) Investigation
read … Public Utilities Commission Adopts Performance Incentive Mechanisms for New Generation
Solar Contractor Seeks to Censor Critics
HTH: A Big Island solar contractor is suing a former customer, seeking a court to order the Pahoa man to remove a blog from the internet that the contractor claims was “maliciously created … with the intent to cause financial harm.”
The suit, filed by Hilo attorney Al Thompson on behalf of Ryan Thompson — who, according to Al Thompson, isn’t related — dba Pro Solar Hawaii, accuses Chris Holm of defamation of character, libel, interference with commercial and economic relations and commercial disparagement. It seeks general and special damages in excess of $40,000, punitive damages, attorney’s fees and a court order requiring Holm to remove any internet posts he made about Ryan Thompson and Pro Solar Hawaii and to bar Holm from making any future posts of a similar nature….
Holm countered by saying that five months after his solar system was installed, it was still inoperable.
“The reason for the blog was, hopefully, to get somebody else to see the problems I have, and hopefully, with whoever they hire to do a solar system, not have the same problem,” Holm said. “We paid for the solar system in full when he put everything on the house. He told me all we’re waiting for is the county inspection and (Hawaii Electric Light Co.) is going to come and change the meter. It wasn’t until five months later, after telling them, ‘Look, it’s been five months. I can’t show any savings because I haven’t turned the system on yet because the meter hasn’t been changed.’
“After five months, and I still didn’t have a working system, I didn’t think it was right.”
According to the suit, on July 31, 2014, Holm and Pro Solar entered into a contract to install a solar panel electrical system on the Nanawale Estates property owned by Holm and his mother…..
Target for Censorship: “I was concerned that I was not seeing any savings or that the system was producing energy.”
read … Blasphemer must be silenced
Waikiki lifeguards frustrated as homeless fights, obscene acts distract from job duties
HNN: …But lifeguards are also being forced to deal with disturbing, sometimes violent or obscene acts happening right in the front of them, most in or around the pavilion on Kalakaua Avenue.
Cell phone videos sent to Hawaii News Now shows a woman using part of the tower and the rock wall of the pavilion to brace herself as the sandy walkway becomes her toilet.
On another day in the same area, a homeless man is sleeping, when another starts whacking his face with a towel then dumps water on him. This resulted in a fight between the two. A fight the lifeguard was forced to break up, leaving his tower unmanned….
Even more upsetting, cell phone videos show homeless people engaging in lewd acts, in broad daylight. Some right on the sand. Others try to use the pavilion's shade to hide their obscene behavior.
Angry or frightened tourists take their complaints to the lifeguards, the most visible authority figures on the beach….
The pavilion, which was built decades ago to provide a shady spot to enjoy the world renowned view is becoming a permanent shelter for homeless. The city is currently discussing options for the structure.
One suggestion being considered, involves installing lockers to secure beachgoers' valuables. The locker fees could pay to staff the lockers….
HNN: Man seriously injured in apparent stabbing in Chinatown
read … Waikiki lifeguards frustrated as homeless fights, obscene acts distract from job duties
No Tent Cities -- We Can House Every Homeless person in Modular Structures for $200M
SA: …There are modular dwellings on the market that cost $15,000 or less, have 200-300 square feet of living space, are virtually earthquake- proof, fire-proof, hurricane proof and can be assembled in a few days or less. These can be incorporated into “villages” on government land, that wouldn’t interfere with the continuity of residential, tourist or retail commercial neighborhoods, so “not in my backyard-ism” won’t throttle construction.
Villages would have communal showers, bathrooms, “wrap-around supportive services” for those who need them, access to public transportation, places to lock ID and a mailing address. With this concept, we could house every homeless person for about $200 million. That’s less than we’re already spending on the homeless for emergency medical care, law enforcement, homeless sweeps, property damage and trash removal.
read … ‘Think out of the apartment’ to provide homes for homeless
Second woman says former deputy sheriff groped her in search
SA: …Kumia is not the first woman to accuse Carabbacan of molesting her in the circuit court’s cellblock. Elizabeth A. Mueller, 50, said Carabbacan had her strip down to her underwear and groped her in July 2014. Mueller sued Carabbacan and the state DPS last October.
Both women say DPS confirmed their sexual assault complaints against Carabbacan after the three-year statute of limitations expired for prosecuting him for third-degree sexual assault. They also said DPS told them that corrective action has been taken.
The department said as of June 30 last year Carabbacan was no longer a DPS employee. A department spokeswoman declined further comment because of the pending lawsuits.
Carabbacan could not be reached for comment.
Mueller’s lawyers, who also represent Kumia, told the court in January that they were unable to locate Carabbacan to serve him with the lawsuit….
read … Second woman says former deputy sheriff groped her in search
Kauai police say some flood-trapped residents were extorted during rescues
HNN: …“The boat operators would pull up on the shore and invite people onto the boat, with the idea they would carry them over to by where the St. Regis Hotel is, to get them to a place of safety,” said Kauai Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar.
But heroes, the operators were not; Kollar says they would then stop their vessels about two hundreds yards off shore and demand payment to go any farther. Big Island resident Liana Leaulii, who was hiking along the Kalalau Trail when the severe weather began, says it's exactly what happened to her.
"Once we were out in the middle of the ocean, they were like, ‘Did so-and-so on the beach tell you it was $200 a head on the boat?’“ said Leaulii….
read … Shake Down
Legality uncertain in Navy officer’s shooting
SA: An Ewa Beach resident who shot and killed a Navy man early Sunday outside a home hasn’t been charged, and the legality of the shooting remains a question, according to experts and officials.
The Navy on Tuesday identified Chief Petty Officer John Ellsworth Hasselbrink, a submariner who served 22 years at Pearl Harbor, as the man shot and killed in Ewa Beach early Sunday morning after reportedly attempting to enter another residence near his own.
Citing police reports, the U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine force said Hasselbrink, 41, tried to enter the other home by mistake.
Police said the man who was killed was trying to open the front door of a 33-year-old Ocean Pointe resident’s house at about 3:15 a.m.
The resident yelled for the person outside to leave and fired a single shot through the door, television station KHON2 reported.
Harvey Gerwig, president of the Hawaii Rifle Association, said when it comes to using deadly force for self-defense, “there is virtually no protection of property (allowed) in the state of Hawaii.”….
read … Legality uncertain in Navy officer’s shooting
Doctors Try to Stop Anti-Sunscreen Hysteria
SA: …Testimony in opposition to the bill came from Bayer, which manufactures Coppertone sunscreens; the Hawaii Medical Association; Hawaii Food Industry Association; Personal Care Products Council; and American Chemistry Council.
Bayer said there are limited, active ingredients available within the U.S. with the same proven effectiveness as oxybenzone for sunscreens over SPF 50. The Hawaii Medical Association said it wanted the issue to be studied more deeply because there was a lack of peer-reviewed evidence suggesting sunscreen is a cause of coral bleaching, and overwhelming evidence that not wearing sunscreen increases cancer rates….
CB: After One ‘Study’ and a Little Hype: Hawaii Seems Poised To Ban Coral-Damaging Sunscreen
read … Cancer
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