Direct Impact? Hurricane Lane to Turn Towards Oahu, Kauai
Maunakea Administrative Rules Public Meetings
Hawaii Community Colleges: How Does Your School Rank?
“The entire North Shore will have no vacation rentals”
CB: …The mayor would crack down on absentee owners who rent entire houses to tourists, but allow anyone to rent out a room in their home….
In some areas, such as Oahu’s Windward communities of Kailua, Lanikai, Kaneohe and Waimanalo, the net effects could be modest ; as many as 760 rentals now operating could be shut down, but as many as 608 new one could be allowed, resulting in a net increase of 152 homes for rent to locals.
But a more profound impact could be felt in the North Shore communities of Haleiwa and Waialua and nearby Kahuku, Hauula and Laie, where as many as 1,173 rentals could be shut down and only 540 permitted, a net decrease of 633,…
since the measure also would for the first time allow several thousand short-term rentals in areas zoned for apartments, the net effect would be an addition of approximately 2,000 homes put back in the local market, data indicate….
“The entire North Shore will have no vacation rentals,” he said, but added that exceptions will be carved out for small areas zoned for apartments and mixed use….
CB: Caldwell’s Short-Term Rental Plan Holds Real Promise
SA: Buyers purchased 1,546 residential properties at resorts in Hawaii last year
read … How Caldwell’s Airbnb Bill Could Ease Honolulu’s Housing Crunch
Vacation rental bans firmly in place on Kauai and the Big Island
SA: …The shutdown of vacation rentals on Kauai and Hawaii island remains in effect, despite improvements to flood-damaged areas of the Garden Island and an easing of the lava flow on the Big Island.
The volcanic eruption that began May 3 in Lower Puna on the Big Island may have slowed, but not enough for Hawaii County to lift a May 12 order requiring all vacation rental owners in the area to cease operations….
Kelly Wooten, Hawaii County Civil Defense eruption information specialist, said in a statement, “Vacation rentals are still not allowed in restricted areas in lower Puna. This will continue until the areas are no longer restricted.”
Sarah Blane, chief of staff for Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., said Kauai’s emergency rule is intended to keep nonresidents out of restricted areas while highway and other repairs are underway.
Blane said Kauai’s emergency rule runs through Sept. 9 but is anticipated to be extended because the state Department of Transportation has said that it doesn’t expect to complete Kuhio Highway repairs until the end of October.
“It is my intention to continue this emergency rule until the roadwork repairs on Kuhio Highway, from Waikoko to Wainiha, are completed and the highway is deemed safe for normal travel,” Carvalho said in a statement….
Airbnb, an online vacation rental booking site, said it complied with the orders by blocking host calendars in the affected parts of Hawaii island and Kauai….
Airbnb said it deactivated booking calendars from some 30 of its hosts on Kauai and 162 on Hawaii island. The company said that’s largely the reason its Hawaii island cancellations hit 20 percent through July. Airbnb could not readily provide updated Kauai cancellations; however, the company had reported earlier that 14 percent of its Kauai bookings were canceled between April 14 and June 18….
read … Vacation rental bans firmly in place on Kauai and the Big Island
Ige: If Feds won’t pay for Abortions, We Don’t Want Their Money
SA: …Health care clinics that largely serve low-income, uninsured women and college students may have to cut services or absorb losses if Hawaii forgoes more than $2 million in annual federal funding for family planning services.
In July, Gov. David Ige and three other governors pledged to reject the Title X funds if a proposal by the Trump administration goes into effect prohibiting the grants from going to providers that perform abortions or refer patients to abortion providers. Critics of the proposed rule changes said they amount to a gag order and could undermine women’s health care.
However, there are no plans to make up for the lost federal funding, and health care experts say the rule changes could take effect as early as October….
Under the new rules, Planned Parenthood would automatically lose its funding because it performs abortions. None of the other clinics funded by Title X in Hawaii offer abortion services, but critics say curtailing health care providers’ ability to counsel patients about abortion, even if a pregnancy puts a woman’s health at risk, infringes on free speech and jeopardizes women’s health.
(IQ Test: Can you spot the hypocrisy?)
Big Q: What do you think of the state rejecting $2 million in federal Title X family planning funds due to new anti-abortion restrictions?
Hypocrisy: After Attempting to Force Pregnancy Centers to Promote Abortion, Planned parenthood Cries Censorship over Cutoff of Funds
read … Uninsured affected in federal funding feud
More than $30M approved for those affected by eruption
WHT: …More than $30 million in federal aid has been approved for people affected by the Kilauea eruption in lower Puna.
Funds come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had approved $6.2 million in grants as of Friday, and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The SBA has approved more than $25 million in loans to residents and businesses. Most of that, about $18.4 million, went to residents.
The deadline to register with FEMA is Monday.
read … More than $30M approved for those affected by eruption
Homosexual Child Molester May have 12 Victims in Hawaii
SA: …Among the priests: the late Rev. Robert E. Hannon, who ended up in Hawaii after requesting and receiving a transfer in the late 1970s. Over some 27 years here, Hannon was assigned to St. John the Apostle Church, St. Elizabeth in Aiea, Holy Trinity Church in Honolulu and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace; he died in 2006. The Catholic dioceses in Erie, Penn., and in Hawaii knew that Hannon had “admittedly abused at least 20 youths,” the report found, with Hannon acknowledging such while receiving treatment at a psychiatric facility in New Mexico.
That commitment to justice for the victims must now include disclosure of Hannon’s proclivities while in Hawaii. Using subpoenas, the grand jury was able to quantify eight known victims acknowledged by the Erie, Pa., diocese — but points out that Hannon himself admitted to abusing at least 20 victims between ages 12 and 19. So it’s frightening to conclude, as the grand jury does, that “there were many more, as yet unknown, victims, both in the Diocese of Erie and in Hawaii.”
The investigation was unable to identify any more of Hannon’s victims, in part, because it did not have access to the pertinent files from Hawaii’s Diocese. That silence must be lifted, via full disclosure and active support for true victims….
Related: Hawaii laws do not allow state grand jury investigations
read … Homosexual Child Molester
Soft on Crime: 37 Priors out on the Street Does it Again
KHON: Honolulu Police are looking Tony Leaai. He has 37 prior convictions and is now wanted on a warrant in connection with an armed kidnapping.
Police say on May 2, 2018 at about 6:30p.m., the victim was driving her vehicle in the Ala Moana area. When she later stopped at a traffic light, a male suddenly opened the passenger's side door, brandished a firearm, and instructed her to drive to the Wahiawa area. Upon arriving in Wahiawa, the male briefly stepped out of the vehicle. The victim was able to escape and notify police. Through the investigation, the male was identified as Tony Leaai.
He was arrested for kidnapping, terroristic threatening, and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle.
He's now wanted on a $75,000 warrant in connection with that case for not following the terms of his supervised release.
Leaai is known to frequent the Pearl City area. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
read … Soft on Crime
Civil Beat Pushing ‘Ranked Choice Voting’ Again
CB: …With ranked choice, voters can indicate not only their top choice but second choice, third choice and so on down the ballot. If no candidate receives a majority of top-choice ballots, elections officials eliminate the lowest vote-getter and a new round of counting ensues.
In the second tally of ballots, top-choice votes for the last-place candidate are eliminated and those voters’ second-choice picks are converted into top-choice picks for the remaining candidates. This continues round by round, with the lowest vote-getter eliminated each round, until someone wins by having half of all remaining top-choice votes.
When there are a lot of candidates, it can take several rounds to declare a winner….
Hawaii lawmakers have proposed using the system in a couple of different ways.
A 2016 bill would have used it in primaries, special elections and general elections, but it never made it to a hearing. A set of bills introduced in 2017 would have only instituted ranked choice voting in special congressional elections.
In special congressional elections in Hawaii, candidates of all parties run on a single ballot with the top vote-getter winning regardless of percentage. This is what allowed then-Republican Charles Djou to win the 2010 special election for the 1st Congressional District with 39.4 percent of the vote when two Democrats took 58.4 percent of the vote combined.
If ranked choice voting had been used, it’s possible one of the Democrats would have emerged as the winner….
SA: Centrist Democrat rare election victor
Reality:
read … Should Hawaii Convert To Ranked Choice Voting?
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