Trustee Akina Praises OHA’s Support of Court Order to Open LLCs’ Books
Solar Variance Trick Makes Housing Even More Un-affordable in Hawaii
Lyon Corruption: Ex-Schatz, Winer New Gig at Strategies360
Gabbard: Harris Leveled ‘False Accusation’ of Racism at Biden
Free Market Economics with Mark Skousen
Ige Signs More Bills into Law
Apo: OHA Dysfunction May Require Legislative Intervention
SA: … The permitted independence of OHA from the reins of legislative and gubernatorial authority has been misread by OHA as permission to govern in a vacuum of public responsibility to the rest of Hawaii. The fact is that the ultimate trust responsibility for “ … the betterment of conditions of Native Hawaiians,” which includes the existence of OHA, squarely remains with the state of Hawaii as embodied in the Hawaii Admissions Act as a pivotal condition of statehood. If OHA continues to waver in carrying out the privilege of its responsibility much longer, the failure of the governor and state Legislature to intervene would compound the breach of trust….
read … OHA must set aside past dysfunction, overhaul strategic plan
Judge dismisses petition to impeach Honolulu prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro
SA: … Attorneys from the Honolulu Department of Corporation Counsel, which is representing City Clerk Glen Takahashi, had argued that the city has the discretion to not accept electronic signatures and that the policy was based on fraud concerns.
Oahu businessman Tracy Yoshimura collected electronic signatures for his petition and his attorney, Keith Kiuchi, argued that the city should accept electronic signatures. He pointed out that the city accepts voter registration applications that are filed online with electronic signatures.
Crabtree disagreed.
“The court finds it is not unreasonable or discriminatory for the city to take the position that fraudulent and or questionable signatures are a valid concern for online petitions to impeach duly elected public officials,” Crabtree ruled….
“The court finds there is no way to tell based on the record in this case whether the actual or proposed ‘digital signers’ of either petitioner’s initial petition or his proposed amended petition are actually different people, or whether they are duly registered voters of the city of Honolulu,” Crabtree’s ruling said….
Yoshimura plans to refile a petition to impeach Kaneshiro, Kiuchi said.
Kaneshiro has been on voluntary PAID leave since March 7….
(Really Simple Idea: Circulate a paper and ink petition.)
read … Judge dismisses petition to impeach Honolulu prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro
Frameup of Puana Worked—Until Kealoha Stupidly Went Outside the State Judiciary
HNN: … The Kealohas accused Gerard Puana of vandalism, burglary, elder abuse and drug crimes ― but it was the mailbox theft that garnered attention from federal authorities, and it was the mailbox case that got Silvert assigned as Puana’s public defender.
Silvert is credited with finding the evidence against the Kealohas that launched the FBI’s public corruption investigation into the couple.
The ensuing decade has been draining on he and his family, but Puana says he’s grateful that the jury in the corruption case believed him and his mother….
read … ‘The world knows the truth;’ Man framed by Kealohas speaks out for first time since historic verdict
Soft on Crime: 2015 Escapee Charged with Murder of 90 year old woman
MN: A 90-year-old woman who was assaulted while sleeping in her Harbor Lights unit in Kahului during a June 20 burglary has died, police said on Monday afternoon.
Police Lt. Gregg Okamoto said that Jacqueline Oberheim died as a result of her injuries and that the case has been reclassified as murder in the second degree.
Okamoto previously said that the incident occurred when a Harbor Lights unit was broken into. The woman was attacked while asleep and suffered life-threatening injuries as a result….
… In indictments returned on June 28, three people were charged with first-degree burglary of Oberheim’s residence. They are Lewellyn I. Foster Jr., 35, of Kahului; Aaron A.K. Wilsey, 26, of Waikapu; and Chery M. Moniz, 29, of Kahului, according to the indictments and police records.
In addition, Foster was charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree assault. Oberheim was identified as the victim in the robbery charge….
read … Soft on Crime
Boondoggle #2: Honolulu to issue RFQ for Blaisdell P3 redevelopment next week
PBN: … The City and County of Honolulu plans to issue a request for qualifications next week for private entities interested in entering into a public-private partnership for the nearly $800 million redevelopment of the city’s aging Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
Companies will have about three-and-a-half months to complete the process by the Oct. 31 deadline ….
read … Honolulu to issue RFQ for Blaisdell P3 redevelopment next week
Boondoggle #3: Hawaii Governor Approves Funding For New Aloha Stadium
HPR: … Gov. David Ige signed a bill Monday to revitalize the (demolish) Aloha Stadium area and provide funding for construction of a new stadium (which will be smaller). H.B. 1586, now Act 268, allows the Hawaii Community Development Authority to upgrade state-owned property under the stadium authority’s jurisdiction and designates the area around the sports center as the Stadium Development District (Attention Developers: Have you contributed to my campaign fund yet?)
The new law allocates $20 million in general funds to improve the district for public use. It also approves issuance of up to $180 million in revenue bonds and $150 million in general obligation bonds to build a new stadium…. (That’ll cover the design and the EIS plus litigation. We’ll need more to build.)
(Really Obvious Question: How many years decades between the demolition of Aloha Stadium and the completion of the new stadium?)
Big Q: What’s your reaction to the $350 million allocation to redevelop Aloha Stadium?
read … Hawaii Governor Approves Funding For New Aloha Stadium
Resolution introduced ensuring HART pays for its own outside legal council
HNN: … A Honolulu City council member wants to make sure the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) pays for its own outside legal counsel.
Council Member Heidi Tsuneyoshi introduced a resolution Friday urging HART to use the $3.7 million it has allocated for legal expenses to pay for counsel related to three federal grand jury subpoenas.
Tsuneyoshi wants to know why the city administration is allocating $50,000 to pay for counsel when the city charter states HART should foot the bill .…
KHON: Resolution introduced urging HART to pay its own outside legal counsel
read … Resolution introduced ensuring HART pays for its own outside legal council
Telescope Protesters Attempt to Neutralize Hawaii County
HNN: … A Hawaii County Council committee meeting on the county's role in the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope project turned into a marathon session on Monday.
Council member Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder requested a report from Mayor Harry Kim’s administration about the county’s activities on Mauna Kea….
“Our role in this is, again, to ensure public safety and community safety. We’re not going to be securing the mountain. We’re not going to be providing security at the job site,” said Ferreira.
The chief also said that officers won’t be given a choice about working the shifts since they took an oath to enforce the laws.
“These actions of putting our county police upfront - this is hewa. That’s totally wrong and destructive for our communities, which will be torn apart,” said TMT opponent Diane Kanealii….
read … TMT opponents fear county resources will be pitted against protestors as tensions brew
Asset forfeiture fixes necessary
SA Editorial: … The state has been on notice for some time that its practice of taking away property of those suspected of criminal violations does not yet follow proper guidance. Right from the start, in fact. The civil asset forfeiture law was passed in 1988, with the intent that rules would be adopted to provide that guidance.
Thirty years have passed, and those rules are still not on the books, while state and county agencies have carried right on with the asset seizures. According to a state audit, 26% of Hawaii’s civil asset forfeiture cases were closed during the 2015 fiscal year without incurring any criminal charge.
Today, the veto deadline for bills on the governor’s desk, Hawaii residents will see whether the state has the resolve to correct a public injustice….
HPR: Governor Expected To Veto Reform Of Controversial Police Funding Program
read … Asset forfeiture fixes necessary
Debunked: Surfrider Continues to Pretend its Fraudulent Bacterial Readings Are Legit
KGI: … The Department of Health is making a trip to Kauai to explain their recent findings regarding the water quality in the Maha‘ulepu and Waikomo watersheds.
The meeting is scheduled 4 to 6 p.m. July 24 at the Kauai District Health Office. It is targeted at explaining how DOH determined that human waste is not the cause of bacterial contamination in the water tested as part of a study on water quality in the area.
That study was released in June and said the water was safe for swimming.
PhyloChip testing was used to track the source of high bacteria counts in places like the Waiopili Stream and along the shorelines in the Maha‘ulepu and Waikomo watersheds.
Scientists with The Berkeley Lab were contracted by DOH to lead the survey effort. Several conclusions were drawn, including the high concentrations of fecal indicating bacteria in the Waiopili Ditch and Waikomo Streams were not caused by human or animal fecal contamination….
Some folks on Kauai, however, disagree — namely scientists (activists) with Surfrider Kauai’s Blue Water Task Force and members of Friends of Maha‘ulepu, a citizen-group (tourism industry group) fighting for clean water and community access in the watershed (against dairy farms).
Representatives from DOH Clean Water Branch will be at the July 24 meeting. Also available by video conference will be one of the study’s principal investigators, Dr. Eric Dubinsky, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory….
More Reality than Surfrider can Handle: Feds Debunk Surfrider's Fake Bacteria Counts
read … State to explain water study results
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