Video: Screams as Tour Boat Hit by Lava Bomb
Federal judges not supposed to be political
Why no Mobile Homes for Lava Victims?
Caldwell issues directive on climate change and sea level rise
Federal Appeals Court: No Property Right In A Clean And Pure Environment
Farm Fair 2018: Eating the GMO Papaya
Another Hawaii Hi-Tech Scam Busted
CD1: Case 36, Chin 27, Kim 14
SA: …Some 36 percent of likely voters surveyed said they would choose Case if the election were held today; 27 percent said they would vote for Chin; and 14 percent said they would vote for Kim….
By contrast, Kim and Chin were in a near tie in the Hawaii Poll in March, with slightly more of those surveyed in favor of Kim, 32 percent, to Chin’s 29 percent.
The latest poll has the other main primary contenders polling in the single digits with state Rep. Kaniela Ing picking up 6 percent of the vote, Honolulu City Council Chairman Ernie Martin capturing 2 percent and state Rep. Beth Fukumoto at 1 percent. Some 14 percent of those surveyed said they were undecided….
Case also scored significantly higher than the other candidates on favorability, with 54 percent of those surveyed saying they had a favorable opinion of him and only 5 percent saying they had a negative opinion of him. Some 91 percent of those polled said they recognized him….
read … Beth Who?
Lt Governor: Green 34, Tokuda 14, Carvalho 14
SA: Some 34 percent of likely statewide Democratic primary voters said they would cast their ballot for Green if the election were held today, according to the poll, conducted last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy.
That gives the Hawaii island senator a 20-percentage-point lead over his two closest competitors, state Sen. Jill Tokuda and Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho, who both tallied 14 percent in the poll….
Undecided voters totaled 22 percent — enough to fuel hope among Green’s rivals — but that number was about half the level from the last Hawaii Poll in March….
Green showed the greatest percentage-point gain from March, when he scored 19 percent. His 15-point swing compares with Carvalho’s unchanged total and a 2-point improvement by Tokuda.
Former Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto doubled her total from March, getting 10 percent in the latest poll.
Former state Sen. Will Espero, who resigned from his legislative seat in late May to focus on his campaign, saw his support slip to 6 percent, compared with 9 percent in March….
read … Hawaii Poll: Josh Green ahead in lieutenant governor race
Idiots Give Kaniela Ing $377K—What will he do with it?
HNN: …Federal campaign spending reports that were due to be filed Monday show Kim has raised about $629,000 since she began campaigning. Lieutenant Gov. Doug Chin has raised nearly half a million dollars.
State Rep. Kaniela Ing is showing surprising fund raising ability, given he committed highly publicized errors in several of his campaigns for the state House. Ing has raised about $377,000.
Honolulu Council Chairman Ernie Martin has collected about $360,000. Former Congressman Ed Case has lent his campaign more than $150,000 of his own money, bringing his total raises to about $272,000. Rep. Beth Fukumoto, who has talked openly about her discomfort asking for money, has raised only about $69,000….
June 5, 2018: Kaniela Ing Faces More Campaign Finance Questions — This Time From Feds
read … Donna Kim winning race for cash in battle for Congressional seat
76% Believe Gabbard Should Debate
SA: …76 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in the 2nd Congressional District said in the Hawaii Poll they think Gabbard has an obligation to debate her political rivals. Another 16 percent said she has no obligation to do so, and 8 percent said they were unsure….
Shapiro: Hawaii News Now enables Tulsi Gabbard’s campaign hypocrisy
read … Hawaii Poll voters think Tulsi Gabbard should debate rivals
Lawyer Claims Cell Phone, Laptop ‘Stolen’ Just Before he was to Submit them to Kealoha Investigators
HNN: Honolulu police are searching for missing evidence relating to the FBI's massive corruption case against the Kealohas.
Last week, Attorney Christopher Woo reported to HPD that his cell phone and laptop were stolen from his Alewa Heights home, just days after Woo got a subpoena to testify before the federal grand jury this week. (Uh-huh.)
He was told to bring the devices with him. (Shoulda just raided his house.)
Woo was one of the attorneys for Jesse Ebersole, the Hawaii County Fire Battalion Chief who pleaded guilty to lying to the grand jury about his affair with Katherine Kealoha….
According to Ebersole, Mrs. Kealoha arranged for Woo to be his attorney at the grand jury. …
Woo was arrested last month for failing to appear before the grand jury. He was released on bond and ordered to appear this Thursday.
HNN noticed multiple surveillance cameras at his home during the arrest. Woo told HPD the cameras are for live feeds only, and that they do not record images. (Sure. Whatever.)…
Woo is blaming a former roommate, a 35-year old man, and the man's 23-year-old girlfriend, for the theft of his phone and laptop, saying he was hosting a party on July 8 (with a bunch of criminals), when he saw the woman leave with his cellphone.
Woo said he went after her, and that's when the the former roommate and several other men, who he did not know, took off with his laptop.
Ken Lawson, of the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson School of Law, says the claims are suspicious.
"I mean, It may have happened the way he said, that somehow, after the subpoena came through, 'lo and behold all of my stuff got stolen," Lawson said.
Lawson says it sounds like a tactic many of his past (oh-so-innocent) defendants have tried….
HPD is still investigating the reported theft and searching for the suspects, who are both convicted criminals seen driving Woo's Toyota SUV….
read … HPD searching for missing evidence related to public corruption investigation
HART: $134M Budget Bloat is a Good Thing
SA: …Jacobs Engineering, the project management oversight contractor (PMOC) working on behalf of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), recently performed its biennial “risk refresh” exercise for the Honolulu rail transit project. Jacobs recommended that the project budget should be $134 million more, or 1.6 percent higher than HART’s budget of $8.165 billion. Jacobs also estimated full passenger service could begin in September 2026, eight months later than HART’s full service date of December 2025.
The fact that the view of the PMOC is so close to HART’s estimate validates HART’s hard work in turning around the project and managing both the project’s cost and schedule. HART now uses a robust risk management and cost control program to manage the project, and it is certainly showing positive results. Gone are the days of billion-dollar shortfalls, runaway costs and long-term schedule overruns….
The PMOC report also correctly pointed out that there is potential to benefit from significant cost-saving measures in the City Center section of the project, which has yet to be procured. We certainly agree and believe that, with more than $4 billion worth of work remaining in the project budget, HART will have the ability to generate costs savings that will more than offset the difference in the HART and PMOC estimates.
This also reinforces HART’s plan to pursue a public-private partnership (P3) to provide increased cost and schedule certainty for the remainder of the project. Under a P3 or design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) approach, cost and schedule risks are transferred to the private sector partner.
By having the private sector partner take responsibility for a significant portion of the financing for the construction work, a strong incentive is put in place to enforce timely completion within budget and to prepare the entire system for passenger service. The inclusion of long-term operations and maintenance as part of the P3 partner’s responsibilities requires the P3 partner to run train operations according to strict performance guidelines, including such tasks as ensuring clean stations and maintaining operational elevators and escalators, all within a fixed and predictable cost.
The P3 partner also must account for long-term rail system replacement needs so that the transit system is always well maintained….
read … Oahu SA:rail budget, schedule remain unchanged
Honolulu Cab Companies ‘Discouraged’ By Caldwell Pricing Proposals
CB: …Bill 44, submitted by Caldwell, would give taxi companies more freedom with fares and allow them to charge a flat rate like Uber and Lyft, or a pay-by-the-mile fare.
Bill 43, introduced by Councilman Trevor Ozawa, would allow all private transportation companies to set in advance the total fare for a single ride, as long as prices are disclosed up front and made available to the passenger’s cell phone. Taxicabs usually charge based on time and miles traveled, with the final price determined at the destination.
Ozawa’s bill would also eliminate taxi certification numbers, but would preserve the requirement that taxi drivers provide passengers with receipts when requested.
David Jung, owner of EcoCab, said deregulating taxi cabs — instead of placing more restrictions on Uber and Lyft — will hurt consumers and taxi companies….
Dale Evans, president and general manager of Charley’s Taxi, said deregulation would eliminate consumer protection and give ride-hailing companies “a free ride.”…
The new bills were proposed after Caldwell vetoed Bill 35, which would have limited prices that ride-hailing services can charge through surge pricing….
read … Honolulu Cab Companies ‘Discouraged’ By Caldwell Pricing Proposals
Judge Orders More Free Lawyers for Kealohas
SA: A state judge says the Honolulu Police Commission should have agreed to provide legal representation for a police officer who is being sued by Katherine Kealoha’s uncle.
The uncle, Gerard Puana, claims he was framed for the theft of his niece’s mailbox and is suing Kealoha; her husband, retired Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha; retired officers Dru Akagi, Walter Calistro and Niall Silva; and current officers Minh-Hung “Bobby” Nguyen and Daniel Sellers.
The lawsuit is on hold pending the outcome of a related federal criminal case….
Circuit Judge Keith Hiraoka ruled Friday in Nguyen’s favor.
Chairman Loretta Sheehan says the commission likely will discuss Hiraoka’s order and whether to appeal it at next week’s commission meeting.
The commission approved legal representation for Akagi but denied it for Louis Kealoha. Sellers’ request is still pending. Calistro and Silva have yet to make requests.
Kealoha is suing the city and the commission for denying his request and for ignoring his wife’s request….
CB: Judge: Officer in Kealoha Civil Case Entitled to City-Funded Attorney
read … Judge overrules Police Commission in Kealoha civil case
Maui: No Homes for Working People Since 1980s
HPR: …Former Maui County Councilmember Vince Bagoyo Jr. is president and owner of V. Bagoyo Development Consulting Group, which specializes in workforce housing.
“When I was Director of Housing and Human concerns under Mayor Hannibal Tavares, I think that was the last administration that developed homes for working people.”
That was in the early 1980’s. Bagoyo worked in various capacities for Maui county from 1974-1990, and is the consultant or developer for several affordable housing projects underway now on Maui, including one on Waiale Road.
He and partners are currently pitching a 100% affordable workforce project, Wailuku Apartments, on 12.5 acres on Waiale Rd. They’re scheduled to present to the County Council August 1st for approval for these 80 homes. at 70% of median income…..
…If you want to move the working people into the middle class, you have to provide them with a house. That’s what many of the agricultural workers did. They were given the opportunity to own a home and guess what? That was the only equity they had in a lifetime….
read … Struggle for Housing on Maui
10 percent of isle students receive special-ed services
SA: …Almost 10 percent of Hawaii public school students were enrolled in special education during the 2017-18 school year, according to the state Department of Education. Of 179,255 students overall, 161,976 were enrolled in regular education, and 17,279, or 9.6 percent, were enrolled in special education, which is tailored to meet the needs of students with disabilities.
These numbers include students in department and charter schools, both of which are public.
Depending on the student’s need, special-education services might include (HSTA make-work) academic, speech, language, psychological and counseling services, and physical and occupational therapy, according to the DOE website. Services are available to students ages 3 to 22, at no charge to their families, once the student is evaluated and deemed eligible….
read … 10 percent of isle students receive special-ed services
Super-Gonorrhea: Hawaii is #1 in USA
HNN: Hawaii has one of the highest rates of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea in the country, according to staff at the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Clinic in Kakaako.
The mutated sexually transmitted disease was first detected in the islands in 2016. And according to Jefferson Remo, the Hawaii health clinic's STD program coordinator — it's becoming increasingly difficult to treat.
"We have a lot of people from southeast Asia who get treated, or they treat themselves with the wrong antibiotics," Remo said. "If you don't finish your antibiotics or if you're taking the wrong ones, what happens is that the bacteria is able to sort of mutate and build resistance."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 30 percent of new gonorrhea infections are resistant to at least one drug….
Hawaii now ranks 14th in the nation for the number of chlamydia infections and reported syphilis cases. With reported cases being two times greater in women than they are in men.
According to Dr. Christina Wang, the highest rates of both gonorrhea and chlamydia are showing up in people between the ages of 15 and 26.
Sexually active people are advised to undergo routine testing every three to six months. Free tests are available at the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center clinic at the corner of Ala Moana and Keawe Street….
read … Hawaii continues to lead U.S. in number of antibiotic-resistant STD cases
Addicts Get 15,000 Free Needles a Month in Kailua-Kona
HTH: …While addiction recovery resources in parts of the island are limited, particularly when it comes to residential treatment centers, health professionals throughout the region are working to help residents change their lives.
HIHAF is one of them, exchanging anywhere from 10,000-15,000 needles a month in its Palani Road office as part of a statewide syringe exchange program overseen by the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center.
It runs on a specific model geared toward harm reduction, where the approach is to center the health and well-being of clients, such as those whose use of injection drugs puts them at high risk of contracting HIV as well as Hepatitis B and C in addition to risk of an overdose, without passing judgment.
“It means we meet people where they’re at,” said Teri Hollowell, director of programs at HIHAF. “We don’t preach. It’s not about abstinence.”…
HTH: Opioid crisis averted or inevitable?
read … Free Needles
Poll: 62% Fooled by Homeless Safe Zones
SA: 62 percent said they support safe zones while 20 percent oppose them, a 3-to-1 margin. The remaining 18 percent of those who responded said they were undecided….
(As long as the ‘safe’ zone is far far away from meeeeee…..)
read … Fooled
Feds Will Spend $345 Million To Prevent A Devastating Waikiki Flood
CB: Congress has appropriated $345 million for a major revamp of the Ala Wai Canal and the watersheds flowing into it, a project federal engineers says is needed to keep a massive flood from wiping out Waikiki….
read … Feds Will Spend $345 Million To Prevent A Devastating Waikiki Flood
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