VIDEO: Case, Cavasso Debate Jones Act, Rail, Akaka Tribe
Ray L'Heureux: A Vision for Changing Hawaii
Guam case that echoes Rice v. Cayetano to be argued before Ninth Circuit at UH law school
City Issues 467 ADU Permits--New Sewer Boosts Kaneohe ADU Capacity
2018 Digital States Survey Grades Hawaii B+
Hirono: Heretics Must be Excommunicated from Government
Democrats Celebrate Serial Rapist Dan Inouye
HART Diverts Millions from Rail Budget to Do HDOT’s Job
KITV: …more overnight lane closures as the road is resurfaced.
Phase one, a 2 mile stretch from Acacia Road to the power plant, is expected to be finished by Thanksgiving. But work on the highway will stretch into much of next year.
"The second phase will go from the power plant to Aloha Stadium, and that will start in January and be completed before Thanksgiving of next year," said HART Project Director Sam Carnaggio.
When it is finally finished, it will look similar to the highway in Waipahu, which has been redone, with center turn lanes installed, and a smooth street surface, all along the rail route….
Along with the repaving, curb ramps, bus stops and retaining walls will also be put in.
All that work will take place 5-6 nights a week, between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. …
Background:
read … One more rail project for Pearl City
Hawaii Citizen Initiatives: Designed to Fail
CB: …The courts, not the city of Honolulu or its voters, made one of the most important decisions that allowed the launching of Honolulu’s multi-billion dollar rail project.
Or rather, it was a decision the courts never allowed the citizens to make.
Stop Rail Now, a group that fought rail development in 2008, argued that they collected enough petition signatures for a ballot initiative that would allow Oahu’s registered voters to decide on an ordinance prohibiting development of the rail transit system.
Hawaii courts blocked the proposed ordinance from the ballot….
The outcome of many of the initiatives proposed by voters in Hawaii’s history, whether they passed or not, were ultimately decided in courtrooms.
“Ballot initiatives tend to tackle controversial topics, and the losers are oftentimes motivated to challenge the initiative if it passes,” said Kenneth Miller, a professor at Claremont Mckenna College who studies the effect of courts on ballot initiatives.
Ballot initiatives are often vulnerable to challenge because of their wording. Most aren’t written by legal professionals and in turn open themselves to legal challenges, he said….
read … On Citizen Initiatives, Courts — Not Voters — Often Have The Last Word
Rising ocean could reach a mile inland or something
SA: A study published last week in the Nature journal, Scientific Reports, indicates that Hawaii should brace for sea level rise within the next century that reaches beyond shorelines to some low-elevation areas a mile or two inland.
(Maybe someone should teach these dullards the difference between weather and climate.)
The potential impact of an 3.2-foot rise in sea level on Oahu could include the loss of nearly 18 miles of major roads edging the island and some 3,800 structures, including Waikiki hotels. (And the impact of the Moon falling into the ocean would be even worse.) One of the study’s authors, Charles “Chip” Fletcher, a University of Hawaii professor of geology, has been issuing warnings about threats tied to climate change for many years….
(IQ Test: Do you buy this?)
Reality: Sea Level Rise? Nonsense, Oahu is Rising From the Sea for Next 1.5M Years
read … Some Mindless Hysteria
Anti-bullying lawsuit gains momentum
KITV: …Seitz is an attorney representing families in a class action lawsuit against Hawaii's Department of Education and its superintendent. He claims DOE violated federal bullying laws by not having policies in place to help students. Once news of the lawsuit got out, his office was inundated with bullying claims.
"We've gotten constant phone calls, constant emails," said Seitz. "We're making a file of everyone who sends us information."
At first, there were three plaintiffs. Now there are four and the case is building and building….
"Filing complaints is not the problem," he said. "The problem is what are you doing to prevent bullying."
The state has until the end of this week to issue their response to the class action lawsuit….
read … Anti-bullying lawsuit gains momentum
Hawaii’s criminal laws on domestic violence are convoluted and often result in unjust outcomes
SA: …Hawaii’s criminal laws on domestic violence are convoluted and often result in unjust outcomes. Section 709-906 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, which encompasses the penalties for domestic violence crimes, is a mess and needs to be overhauled. The Women’s Legislative Caucus attempted a comprehensive revision in the last session with Senate Bill 2343, S.D. 2. This bill was the product of months of careful deliberation and meetings that included every stakeholder — but it died in the waning days of the session, a heartbreaking defeat for advocates.
Our biggest challenge in law enforcement is the understandable reluctance of victims to participate in a process that almost seems designed to fail victims. Victims often need to take multiple days off of work, arrange child care and spend hours in court — only to see their cases continued, sit in the same room with the person who abused them, and jeopardize their financial and personal security. And only to testify to juries that usually acquit their abusers….
read … Do more to fight domestic violence
Should Psychologists Be Able To Prescribe Drugs?
CB: …A local movement to win prescriptive authority for Hawaii’s psychologists is gearing up for a new legislative session during which advocates say they’ll renew a decades-old fight to compel lawmakers to grant psychologists the power to medically treat their patients with drugs, in addition to talk therapy….
Hawaii lawmakers first considered extending prescriptive powers to psychologists in the 1980s. Most recently, the topic spawned impassioned debate before dying on the floor of the Legislature in 2017.
The closest a bill has come to becoming law was in 2007, when a bill passed that would give psychologists a chance to further their training in order to prescribe.
It was vetoed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle….
Bracken Gott is Hawaii’s only psychopharmacology student. He’s also the last.
Designed to train psychologists to prescribe medication, the University of Hawaii Hilo’s post-doctoral master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology shut down to new students in 2016 after a six-year run.
The cancelation came on the heels of the death of a state bill that would have given psychologists who graduate from the program the authority to medically treat their patients.
When the bill died, nine students in the UH program dropped out. But Gott, a private practice psychologist with offices in Honolulu and Kailua, decided to stick it out.
“There really isn’t much of a point unless Hawaii passes a bill that allows psychologists to prescribe,” Gott said of the master’s degree he’s on track to receive in the spring of 2019. “But since I started the program, I wanted to finish it.”
Judi Steinman, the program’s former coordinator, said she is confident that the university could build a new course in the future.
Steinman said some program graduates are actively prescribing medication, just not in Hawaii where the practice is not permitted. Trained psychologists already have prescriptive authority in New Mexico, Louisiana, Illinois, Iowa, Guam and the U.S. military….
read … Should Psychologists Be Able To Prescribe Drugs?
Child Molester Gets 90 Days
HNN: …A plea deal has been reached in the case of a former Damien Memorial High School band director accused of sexually assaulting a minor between 14 and 16 years old.
Under the deal, 63-year-old Peter Rucci, pleaded guilty to charges of second- and third-degree sex assault.
He was initially charged with nine counts, including first-degree sex assault.
With that charge, he could have spent up to 20 years in prison.
But under the plea deal, he’ll spend 90 days behind bars and serve five years probation….
Rucci previously worked as the band director for Damien Memorial School and had also worked as a substitute teacher and band director at Le Jardin Academy. The assault reportedly happened before he was employed at Damien, and it did not involve any Damien students….
read … Former private school band director pleads guilty to having sex with minor
Philippines evangelist accused of running a child sex ring
HNN: …Kristina Angeles came to Hawaii on a religious visa in 2014 working for Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church in Waipahu.
But in court documents, her attorney said Angeles was one of several minors forced to have sex with Quiboloy, who calls himself “the appointed son of God.” The lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Grant Giventer, made the allegations in a court case, in which his client is being accused by a female church member of sex assault.
“If this matter goes to trial, I’m confident that once the jury learns of the brutality and rape perpetrated against Ms. Angeles and other unwilling minors by Pastor Quiboloy, the complainant and other ... witnesses will have their credibility eviscerated,” Giventer wrote in a March 19, 2018 memo to prosecutors.
But the church’s local attorney Michael Green said the accusations against Quiboloy are a diversion….
FBI officials also have requested police records in which Angeles alleged three years ago that she and other followers were forced to sell manapua and Krispy Kreme on the streets of Honolulu. Angeles said church officials yelled at her, punched and kicked her if she didn’t sell enough.
Angeles also said that while in the Philippines, she was sent to a church compound where they made her wear an “orange t-shirt” and shaved her head.
Salinas was arrested by police in 2015 for allegedly assaulting Angeles….
Giventer added that the girl who accused Angeles made similar accusations against another church member, which prosecutors declined to pursue….
read … Philippines evangelist accused of running a child sex ring
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