Aiona: “I am committed to making Hawaii the greenest place on Earth”
Djou: “With Ed gone, we are alone in being voice for mainstream in Hawaii”
Jobs: Tax-n-spend policies favored by Hanabusa fail to deliver
No sea level rise: Pacific islands growing not shrinking, says study
VIDEOS: Flotilla “Peace Activists” chant “Oh Jews, the army of Mohammad will return”
Tracy Nakano Bean: “Hawaii Legislature has never met a tax it didn’t like”
Earmarks set aside for campaign donors, report finds (Inouye #1)
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, was the top recipient of money overall with $140,700 in contributions from beneficiaries of his earmarks.
RELATED: RS: Introducing Cam Cavasso, Candidate for Hawaii’s Senate Seat
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Airlift executive files ethics complaint against Sen. Inouye (#2)
Paul Asmus of Humanitarian Air Logistics claimed in an April 8 letter that Inouye broke Senate rules by supporting a $20 million earmark for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Massachusetts while ignoring a similar request on behalf of his firm.
RELATED: RS: Introducing Cam Cavasso, Candidate for Hawaii’s Senate Seat
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WSJ: A Case of Hanabusa
On his way out, Mr. Case wished Ms. Hanabusa luck but warned of “a very difficult election” if she didn’t do more to “listen, adopt and incorporate” the views of Mr. Case’s more moderate supporters.
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Abercrombie accuses Hannemann violating “spirit of the Constitution for his own personal advantage”
Notice the SB headline is: “Abercrombie cries foul: On-air broadcasts give Hannemann, Aiona unfair advantage, he says” but Abercrombie only targeted Hannemann.
"If he is truly running for governor, the Hawai'i State Constitution requires the mayor to resign from office," Abercrombie said in a statement. "Even if he has found a loophole to exploit, he displays a continuing willingness to violate the spirit of the Constitution for his own personal advantage."
Here’s how Aiona was inserted into the story:
Bill Brennan, the mayor's spokesman, said the mayor is not required to resign until he files for governor, and until then is not barred from conducting any duties as mayor.
"We're not aware of any standards of conduct triggered specifically by the announcement of an intention to be a candidate," Brennan said.
He noted that Aiona is also continuing to make radio appearances and should be asked the same question.
But to the casual reader it would seem as if Abercrombie has targeted both Aiona and Hannemann. Obviously what is happening is that the SB is trying to prevent a blow-up between Abercrombie and Hannemann because the progressives in control of the SB don’t want to encourage yet another Republican victory in Hawaii. Unbiased journalism….
Laurie Au, a spokeswoman for the Abercrombie campaign, said it's wrong for Hannemann to continue as mayor and appear in public service announcements and radio programs.
"Neil Abercrombie and Mufi Hannemann have different views of what it means to hold a public office," Au said. "For the last year, the mayor has had no problem taking advantage of his current office while raising money and campaigning for another."
Brennan, however, noted that Abercrombie has had a gubernatorial campaign in place for a while but did not resign from Congress until February…
Actually the resign-to-run law only affects Hannemann because Aiona’s term ends with this election.
REALITY: Honolulu Mayor: Rules for Special Election
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HNN: Layoffs continuing at Star-Bulletin and Midweek
453 people are losing their jobs. It's believed to be the largest mass layoff in the history of Hawaii journalism.
Advertiser workers found out last week who was getting cut. On Friday, Star-Bulletin and Midweek staffers began getting their pink slips.
In a move to consolidate its printing operations to the Kapolei plant, 95 people in the production department at the Star-Bulletin's Kaneohe location will be laid off.
The Star-Advertiser will employ 474 workers, which includes an editorial staff of 117.
KITV: The Honolulu Advertiser To Publish Last Edition
ADV: After 154 years of The Honolulu Advertiser, the newspaper's last day unfolds
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Slom: Hawaii Lost the Honolulu Star-Bulletin; Now What? (Hawaii Reporter print edition?)
Check out the timing of the StarAdvertiser.com site’s online registration. The domain name was created 2/14/2009 and was renewed on 2/14/2010 for 10 years. The Black merger announcement was made 10 days later on 2/25/10.
Investors and others said, “Why are you trying to buy this dinosaur? Start your own paper from scratch. Easier said than done. Besides, there is a genuine affinity for the old Bulletin.
We don’t have to do that. HawaiiReporter.com – Hawaii’s first online electronic newspaper, has been publishing daily since 2002. It recently underwent a complete makeover….We are also negotiating for a web press and a commercial site for an expanded media center. There will be a printed side-by-side edition (weekly initially) to the online Reporter, and greater use of technology and local reporters’ talents. We previously outlined several of our objectives, which can be seen at http://www.savehawaiinews.com.
(Speaking from experience, such an endeavor does not begin with purchasing a web press.—AW)
TOTALLY RELATED: Board of Education: the Transsexual-Libertarian Connection
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Developer 'out of cash,' forced to sell 1,923 acres on Oahu and Big Island
Florida-based Continental Pacific LLC entered the Hawai'i market in a big way starting in 1998, purchasing nearly 12,000 acres of mostly agricultural land on the Big Island and O'ahu. The company subdivided the land, added infrastructure and sold the lots, doing well for a while.
In all, the company invested about $65 million in the land.
Then sales bottomed out in the past few years. And a failed attempt to give 72 Kahuku households a chance to own their old plantation home has cost the company millions.
Today, Continental Pacific has about 1,923 acres remaining on the Big Island and in Kahuku and will liquidate as much of its property as possible….
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Cost of summer school rising
Under a measure approved this week by the state Board of Education, students will pay $190 per class in summer 2011, rather than the current $160.
The increase is the first in more than eight years, but still doesn't fully cover the cost of summer school, officials said. A recent state Department of Education study found that the average cost per student was about $220, including supplies and summer salaries for teachers.
($220 per student, per class…compare that to the per-student expenditure in the DoE budget….)
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Gay Pride Parade Marches Into City
The annual festival is now in its 20th year.
The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Ala Moana Park and concludes at Kapiolani Park.
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KITV: Expert Says 30 Percent Of Hawaii Homeless From Out Of State
The U.S. government pays for some of the cost for the homeless Micronesians but providers said the reimbursements are not enough, and U.S. officials should realize the seriousness of the problem and pay more.
"Hawaii is being impacted tremendously and horribly," said Kanani Bulawan, of Leeward Housing Coalition.
House Human Services Chairman, Rep. John Mizuno (D) said Wednesday one solution might be for lawmakers to reconsider a bill they rejected in the past to pay homeless the price of a one-way ticket home.
"We think a bill like that would help to address the issue. If they would like to go back home, we would like to send them back on a one-way ticket," said Mizuno.
A similar bill to pay to send the homeless home failed in the State legislature two years ago when critics pointed out it would encourage fraud with homeless using the airline tickets to freely come and go from Hawaii.
KITV: Lawmakers Visit Huge Homeless Village
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Former islander in Turkey after flotilla experience
O'Keefe (who invented the ‘save Saddam’ human shields in Iraq) was aboard the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of the six-vessel flotilla of aid ships, when Israeli troops tried to board the vessel from a helicopter and from small boats on Sunday. "He did see people killed," Johnson said. "I got a call Sunday evening from London making me aware of what happened. That was just like panic."
Johnson described her son as a helpful person who developed a particular empathy with the Palestinian people in Gaza. O'Keefe has visited Gaza twice on previous aid missions.
"He has told me that if something happens to him on one of these ventures, please know that he has had a fruitful life, that it will be OK," Johnson said. "He's doing what he believes. I've come to accept that."
Hawaii resident and peace activist Ann Wright, who was also seized during the raid and released Tuesday, has delayed her return to the islands while she publicizes her experience during the incident conducts agit-prop operations in larger media markets, wrote (Member of Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party) Carolyn Hadfield, a friend of Wright's, in an e-mail.
REALITY:
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'Princess Kaiulani' actress arrested at White House (a treehugging actress, how original)
Both were part of a group protesting the destruction of the Amazon rain forest in Peru. This came as President Obama hosted Peruvian President Alan Garcia at the White House. The actress' father is a native Peruvian of Quechua ethnicity.
"I was shocked by Obama's celebration of a political leader who calls his indigenous people second-class citizens and barbaric savages that stand in the way of progress. Being that I voted for Obama, I also feel a responsibility to urge my president to take a deeper look at Garcia and truly investigate Garcia's past" said Kilcher in an interview on the website Democracy Now.
KITV: 'Princess Kaiulani' Star Arrested At White House
(One of the world’s leading causes of deforestation? Biofuels. And then there’s this…)
(Summary: ‘Environmentalism’ causes deforestation.)
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Ka Iwi shoreline reclassified to conservation by Hawaii Land Use Commission
The area is comprised of about 215 acres between Queen’s Beach and Makapuu Lighthouse, a portion of some 300 acres that were acquired by the state from landowner Kamehameha Schools and lessee Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp. through a lengthy and controversial condemnation process that ended in 2001.
Nearby residents had fought for two decades to preserve the coastline from unwanted development.
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Metal piling up on Moloka'i
The county Solid Waste Division shut down its metals recycling facility on Moloka'i in December after finding that the operator running the service had violated state Department of Health permit requirements numerous times and was not able to stay in compliance.
Okuma said the operator had allowed a significant amount of material to accumulate on the site, and her department became "very concerned" that the county could be held responsible for the violations.
(When they did this on Maui, it took 2 years to get a new scrap metal recycler.)
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Taxes: Hawaii Council to tackle budget, amendments
The $376 million budget, its 40 amendments and proposed property tax hikes ranging up to 31.5 percent are just the beginning.
The council will also discuss cutting meetings in West Hawaii to one per quarter, the minimum required by the county charter. It will take up bills banning hiring county retirees on 89-day contracts and charging Hele-On bus riders at least $1 each way.
(Washington Monument gambit: fake proposal to reduce West Hawaii Council meetings. That’s just sucker bait to get WHI residents demanding more gov’t services instead of opposing tax increases. Who could possibly fall for that trick?)
But South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford called the measure "spitting in the face of the people who are feeding us."
Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong agreed.
"We are disenfranchising half the island in my estimation," he said. "It's the west side that ends up getting slapped in the face."
(Oh well…)
TOTALLY RELATED: 'Lost Malihini Tribe' and PASH Aim to Take Over County Council
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Hawaii officer had census worker arrested for trespassing
Question: Why is the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s office pursuing this absurd case???
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