The State of Obesity in Hawaii
Highest in USA--Hawaii Electric Rates a Burden for Low Income
OHA: Insiders Fighting to Cash In on Kakaako Makai Development
SA: … Akana attorney Jim Bickerton said he believes his client is the target of powerful forces who want her removed from the board so they can more easily develop OHA’s extensive Kakaako Makai property.
“There are a lot of public-private partnerships people want to get going and private developers who want a piece of that action, and a certain number of trustees who are all too ready to wheel and deal behind closed doors. They need to get rid of the few trustees who still fight for sunshine and transparency. Rowena Akana is one of them,” he said….
read … Decision in Akana ethics case not expected soon
Compact Impact: Guam, NMI, Hawaii Must Develop Uniform Accounting Framework
GPDN: …Before introducing legislation, I’ll work with the Republican administration to have the (U.S. Department of the Treasury) pay the entire earned income tax credit, and to have (the Department of Health and Human Services) increase Guam’s Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates.
I also will work with (the Department of the Interior) to develop the accounting framework to calculate Compact-impact costs, as requested by (the Government Accountability Office).
Recently, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke stressed to me that administrative remedies can be more quickly achieved than legislation….
Compact-impact funds have not changed because Guam, Hawaii and the CNMI have not developed a uniform accounting framework to properly calculate true costs. I will work with the DOI and GAO, as well as the congressional delegations of Hawaii and the CNMI, as well as our island universities to formulate this framework.
As a (certified public accountant) and former public auditor, I understand the true costs affecting Guam and how to account for them. Once we have a framework, we can calculate the real economic impact of (Federated States of Micronesia) migration and then use this information to ensure that Congress properly compensates the affected island jurisdictions….
read … Q&A with congressional delegate candidates
A Tale of Two Homeless Shelters: Cut Red Tape and Permitting Takes One Month, not 24
SA: …A little can go a long way — and a long way is certainly the hope as a dozen dome shelters for homeless families prepare to open in Kaneohe. Called “The Shelter,” the enclave will use two fiberglass domes for six full restrooms and about nine others as transitional shelters for homeless women and children. Operated by the First Assembly of God Pentecostal church on one of its six Oahu campuses, the project was in response to the mayor’s 2015 call for the faith community to help with homelessness.
These domes harken to another pop-up shelter project: in Pahoa, where 20 “tiny houses” were erected in less than a month this summer to meet the emergency needs of people displaced by the Kilauea lava flows. More than 700 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable earlier this year.
A community-wide effort, the Sacred Heart Shelter in Pahoa uses 120-square-foot micro-houses on land owned by the Roman Catholic Church Diocese of Honolulu and leased to the nonprofit Hope Services Hawaii. Also key to getting the project up within a mere month: working with Hawaii County officials to get an emergency proclamation that allowed it to move ahead without normal building requirements and red tape….
… In The Shelter’s case, it took two years to come to fruition, aided by design firm G70 to navigate Oahu’s zoning and permitting process. Living at the domes is meant to be temporary, of course, while awaiting permanent rentals. But for the time being, it’ll be a roof over the heads of some families and children — better than living on the streets under tarps.
These two initiatives involving faith agencies show, at the very least, creative ways forward to tackle homelessness. Leaders in the state and counties should be following suit, looking for strips of vacant land to do what these nonprofits have stepped up to do….
read … Church rises to homeless challenge
Navy says most marine mammals won’t be affected by sonar, explosives tests off Hawaii
HNN: …Sonar and explosives training conducted with strict measures in place to mitigate harm would “contribute incremental effects on the ocean ecosystem, which is already experiencing and absorbing a multitude of stressors.”…
There is a 30-day waiting period before final action on the issue, which is expected later this year….
read … Navy says most marine mammals won’t be affected by sonar, explosives tests off Hawaii
Two Dead: 15 Months Later Mental Patient Ready to Walk Free
MN: …A woman acquitted of murder by reason of insanity showed no symptoms of mental illness 15 months after she caused a crash that killed two women and poses a low risk of danger to herself or others if released into the community, a psychiatrist testified Friday.
Dr. Martin Blinder, a forensic and clinical psychiatrist, said Ashley Wellman “is no longer an inpatient-type patient.”
“When they’re no longer a danger to themselves or others . . . it’s very difficult to justify keeping them in a hospital,” he said.
“Had Ms. Wellman come knocking on the door of the state hospital and I’m the admitting psychologist,
I wouldn’t admit her,” Blinder said. “If I can’t justify admitting her now, how can I justify keeping her for weeks and months?”
Appearing by videoconference from the Hawaii State Hospital on Oahu, Blinder testified before 2nd Circuit Mental Health Court Judge Richard Bissen, who will decide what happens to Wellman next. Options range from conditional release to committal to the Hawaii State Hospital, where she has been held temporarily since her acquittal Aug. 7.
Wellman, 34, of Waiehu was indicted on murder charges for the crash the morning of Oct. 8, 2016, when she ran a red light while traveling at least 127 mph in the uphill direction on Haleakala Highway, according to a police investigation.
Police said the 2011 silver Nissan Altima driven by Wellman broadsided a white 1998 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck that had been turning left from Makani Road onto the highway. Pukalani residents Debi Wylie, 63, who was driving the truck, and her passenger and partner Traci Winegarner, 57, died at the scene of the crash.
In acquitting Wellman of the charges, 2nd Circuit Judge Peter Cahill said three doctors who conducted court-ordered psychiatric or psychological examinations of her agreed that, at the time of the crash, she was affected by a physical or mental disease, disorder or defect that substantially impaired her capacity to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law…..
read … Two Dead: 15 Months Later Mental Patient Ready to Walk Free
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