Auditor: DLNR Held Back Ceded Lands Payments
Honolulu Republican Party Calls for Kaneshiro Resignation
‘Gold star’ marked duplicate driver licenses now available online
Honolulu Bum Patrol Extended -- City Cites 'Good Results'
Hawaii hotel strike linked to lack of economic freedom
DLNR Publishes Dam Evacuation Maps
Hanabusa Identifies Two Key Republicans Behind Hawaiian Tribal Scheme
KITV: …When it comes to those bipartisan relationships turning bills in laws, Hanabusa credits the help two Republican Congressmen: Alaska’s Don Young, and Oklahoma’s Tom Cole. The issue on numerous occasions centered around native Hawaiian rights.
“(Young and Cole) stood by us and said that if the Native Hawaiian portions didn’t go, everything wouldn’t go,” Hanabusa said.
On national defense, Hanabusa believes what didn’t happen at the Pacific Missile Range Facility is another accomplishment. Keeping the site as a testing facility only and not an actual missile defense base, she says, is in the best interest of Hawaii residents.
“One of the things they were always very careful about was maintaining the relationship with the people of Kauai,” she said. “You couldn’t do both, you couldn’t do missile defense and the testing that’s required.” …
Reality: To Help Campaign Contributors, Hanabusa Blocks Missile Defense for Hawaii for 6 Years
read … Hanabusa reflects on time in Congress, talks future in politics
The Cost Of Honolulu Rail’s Westside Stations Keeps Going Up
CB: …HART had boasted of savings from its decision to build the nine stations three at a time. But those savings have disappeared….
change orders for the station work have piled up — and any savings the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation hoped to reap from that strategy have evaporated.
The latest such change order, a $4.7 million cost increase to build rail’s three Ewa-most stations, was approved by the HART board Thursday. It aims to compensate rail contractor Nan, Inc. for 235 days’ worth of construction delays, estimated at $20,000 a day….
The delays stem to February 2017, when crews discovered that underground water lines near the future stations weren’t where engineering firm AECOM had put them in its rail plans, according to Frank Kosich, HART’s design and construction director.
That problem led to several months of added design work in early 2017. Then, crews had to wait until September 2017 — the next available time that Hawaiian Electric Co. could shut off the overhead power lines there — to relocate the power lines underground, Kosich said….
Additionally, HART has had to boost its contract with San Francisco-based PGH Wong, which inspects westside station and guideway work, by an extra $36 million, on top of its original $54 million deal. That’s largely to cover the costs for PHG Wong to handle work on all nine stations simultaneously, instead of sequentially, as originally agreed, HART officials explained last year….
The board also received a closed-door update Thursday on what’s known as the Navy Drum site — a patch of Department of Hawaiian Homelands-owned land in Waipahu where the city has already built rail’s future 43-acre operations center.
The city still hasn’t acquired the property.
HART’s former board chairwoman, Colleen Hanabusa, had flagged that as a potentially big issue in 2015, warning that U.S. Department of Interior officials might not approve a proposed land-swap for the city to own the property….
read … The Cost Of Honolulu Rail’s Westside Stations Keeps Going Up
Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro’s deputy takes leave
SA: … Sapolu along with another top deputy prosecutor, Janice Futa, received what are called subject letters, meaning investigators suspect they engaged in misconduct but need to do more investigation.… Kaneshiro received a stronger letter, saying he is a target of the investigation.
“I received a subject letter and, even though I am not a target of a federal investigation, as a dedicated public servant, my intent is to cooperate with any law enforcement investigation,” Sapolu’s statement said. “I do not make this decision lightly as it has a significant impact on my family. I continue to believe in the hard work of the employees of our office who passionately protect public safety and look forward to returning when these matters are resolved.”
Sapolu’s statement is the first instance in which one of the three acknowledged receiving a letter. Kaneshiro and Futa have issued no public statements….
read … Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro’s deputy takes leave
Hawaii State hospital escapee Randall Saito pleads not guilty to escape and identity theft
KHON: … He remains in custody on $500,000 bail….
read … Hawaii State hospital escapee Randall Saito pleads not guilty to escape and identity theft
Two Groups Compete to Free Rapist and Murderer
HNN: … Washington Judge Mike Heavey says he thinks a peeping Tom killed her and put her body in a pickup truck.
"The guy who left his male DNA, the guy that left his bite mark, the guy that left his t-shirt, he killed Dana Ireland and he's still out there," said Heavey.
"Those three Puna boys, they didn't have anything to do with this crime," he added.
Hawaii County’s Prosecutor has said Heavey’s theories have no factual evidence and generate fear.
But the Hawaii Innocence Project, with mounds of documents, is trying to exonerate defendant Albert Ian Schweitzer, saying DNA at the crime scene doesn’t match the defendants. It’s asked Heavey to stop interfering, but he’s undeterred.….
HTH: Group offers $10,000 for Ireland case DNA testing
read … Retired Washington judge pushes controversial theory on who killed Dana Ireland
Bat Killers Whine About Windfarm Opposition
PBN: … Asked about the councilwomen’s comments, San Diego-based Eurus Energy America said that the company is committed to work with local community members to address their concerns, but called the recent opposition premature.
“It seemed early and premature,” Nick Henriksen, vice president, development at Eurus Energy America Corp, told Pacific Business News. “We’re relatively early on in the process, a lot of the configuration and the design of the project itself will result from the studies that will be done, both from a biological or environmental type studies focusing on flora and fauna, but also the cultural studies that go into the permitting process. So, those studies are required by law in order to actually go through the permitting process. We selected the site with that in mind.”
Henriksen said the company will ramp up the level and the frequency of studies next year, which will ultimately lead to a permit filing. He declined to provide a specific time frame, saying the permit filing date is determined by the results of the studies.
Eurus Energy told PBN that the company is in the process of setting up a meeting with Councilwoman Pine to address her concerns.
Meanwhile, serial entrepreneur Henk Rogers, an outspoken advocate for renewable energy and supporter of the Palehua Wind project, said Hawaii’s mentality of opposing almost any project hurts the state and its residents in the long term.
“Hawaii has a NIMBY issue — not in my backyard,” Rogers told Pacific Business News. “It’s actually a little bit worse. I call it BANANA, which is ‘build almost nothing anywhere near anything.’ Based on that, people will try to stop almost any project.”
Rogers, who is most famous for buying the rights to the video game Tetris and making the game an international hit, is convinced that the failure to embrace ‘new’ technologies keeps Hawaii behind the eight ball….
(Which is really weird because wind energy is an old inefficient technology. But is it an efficient bat killer.)
read … Wind farm developer rejects criticism of new West Oahu project, calls it 'premature'
New VA Secretary: We will do more to help Hawaii’s military veterans
HNN: … New U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie met with Hawaii’s VA leaders Thursday ….
Wilkie promised the group that he would pay close attention to the VA’s Western Region, an area which includes Hawaii, Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands — an area where 129,000 veterans live.
“I need to make sure our delivery is efficient and that our veterans are taken care of,” he said. “We’re fighting for the same types of medical professionals that private healthcare systems are fighting for.”
Among other things, Wilkie says he wants to hire more people to help with neighbor island services, an issue that has plagued the VA in Hawaii….
Wilkie believes the department is now moving in the right direction, and vows that the computer problems that interrupted payments of GI Bill benefits won’t happen again. He says he’s encouraged by Hawaii’s efforts to reach homeless veterans, as well as the use of tele-medicine to service veterans in outlying areas, including those suffering from PTSD and other emotional issues.
“It is much better for a veteran to be on the other end of a computer, rather than bringing him or her into a large room with people and have them feel the pressure of that environment,” he said. …
read … New VA Secretary: We will do more to help Hawaii’s military veterans
Muslim Tries to Recruit from Oahu Prisons
CB: Sitting in a small room at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Windward Oahu, Imam Matiullah Joyia asked a group of inmates what comes to mind when they hear the word “Islam.”
“War,” one of them said (sowing herself to be extremely intelligent)….
read … Imam Tries To Build An Oahu Congregation For A Spinoff Islamic Sect
Teacher Complains Students Not Politicized Enough
CB: … “Hey, guys, can I ask you a question?”
Heads nod in agreement, up down up down. Sure.
“Well, I’m just wondering, out of curiosity, what do you think is a big social problem our state faces right now?”
Crickets. Big eyes staring at me, vacant.
“You know, like what is a problem you hear your parents talking about at home when you’re eating dinner? Or what do you see going on in your neighborhood that bothers you?”
More silence. Eyes have now shifted towards the ceiling, staring at the off-white paint, hoping that Mrs. Takao will stop her interrogation….
read … Fanning The Educational Flame
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