With Help from Maui Council, Convicted Sovereignty Scammer Keanu Sai Launches ‘Hawaiian Kingdom’ Bond Sales
Guam Congressional Delegate Investigated: Forgery, Bribery, Mistress on Staff
Sue Big Oil? Of Course it is Maui that Falls for Debunked Litigation Scheme
Maui Enviros Sue in State Court to Yank Case Away from US Supreme Court
As Honolulu police clear roads for wind farm, some ask why the same can’t be done for TMT
HNN: … So far, police have made 127 arrests at wind farm protests to clear the roads for trucks carrying heavy equipment to Kahuku.
The arrests come as the Thirty Meter Telescope protest drags on with no resolution in sight….
Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim says he doesn’t want to see people arrested. But with no hope of a breakthrough, he knows it may be necessary.
“I don’t think government has a choice on an issue like this,” said Kim. “The law needs to be enforced.”… (Yeah. Any time now, Harry….)
SA: Can Ige be Impeached for not Clearing road?
HNN: Group urges Japanese officials to review support of TMT project
read … As Honolulu police clear roads for wind farm, some ask why the same can’t be done for TMT
Police outnumber demonstrators at Kahuku, Kalaeloa wind-farm protest sites
SA: … Demonstrators against the planned Na Pua Makani wind farm project remain resolute as the nightly transport of turbine parts to Kahuku continue.
Kamalani Keli’ikuli of the group, Ku Kia’i Kahuku, said, “The people of Hawaii deserves protection and honesty. We are coming together to protect Hawaii lands from greed and corruption.”
Police outnumbered demonstrators at Kalaeloa and Kahuku as four large trucks delivered three tower parts and one blade to the project site overnight. There were no arrests.
On Sunday night, police arrested 16 demonstrators in Kalaeloa as they attempted to block trucks carrying turbine parts from passing through. So far, police have arrested 127 people since Oct. 17 ….
read … Police outnumber demonstrators at Kahuku, Kalaeloa wind-farm protest sites
Kealoha Handed Her Victim off to Another Prosecutor
HNN: … Once, she invited him to the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s office, where she was a high ranking deputy.
“She gave me a check and we sat down and signed some papers. I’ve signed blank papers, papers that had writing on it. I just signed whatever she told me to sign,” Taito said.
In April 2016, Kealoha picked him up in a Maserati, took him out to eat and told him he was going to the grand jury the next day.
She told him he had to testify that he got all the father’s money in the account or the feds would arrest his mother, because according to Kealoha, the mother stole it.
The day of the grand jury proceeding, Kealoha arranged for an attorney to meet Taito and his sister on the steps of the federal courthouse. “She said she couldn’t represent me, that someone would be there, that he was a super cool guy."
The attorney was Jake Delaplane, who worked with Kealoha at the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office….
read … ‘We trusted her’: Man explains how Katherine Kealoha abused his trust
Meth: Kauai councilman accused of hitting officer with vehicle
KHON: … Kauai police arrested a county councilman Tuesday afternoon after authorities say he attempted to flee from police during a traffic stop.
Officials say Arthur Brun of Waimea was arrested for Resisting an Order to Stop a Motor Vehicle in the first degree and Assault Against a Law Enforcement Officer in the first degree.
According to a preliminary investigation, officers pulled over a dark tinted silver Honda sedan fronting the Lihue Post Office during a traffic stop.
When police approached the driver, officers say he fled with the vehicle, hitting the officer.
Police followed the vehicle to Kauai Beach Drive where they stopped and detained the driver ….
2002-4: Brun Convicted of meth-related crimes
Hooser: How Brun Can be Removed from Office
TGI: Kauai councilmember arrested following traffic stop
read … Just another day in the nei
Death Row not-a-pimp gets Bail Reinstated
SA: … A state judge reinstated Isaiah McCoy’s eligibility for release with added conditions Tuesday pending a trial for robbery but refused the former death row inmate’s request to reduce his $100,000 bail.
Circuit Judge Todd Eddins told him, “I see today where you are perhaps in a better frame of mind. You are conducting yourself as you did previously in our court matters, in a professional, respectful way, which leads me to believe you would not defy court orders.”
Eddins revoked McCoy’s bail Oct. 10 after state sheriff deputies arrested him at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport three days earlier attempting to board a commercial flight to Los Angeles. McCoy, 32, had a one-way ticket and $4,520….
read … Innocence Project Progeny
How Honolulu Police Handled A Mental Health Crisis
CB: … Hyer was a disabled Air Force veteran. He received regular mental health care from the Veteran’s Administration to cope with psychiatric symptoms brought on by a severe head injury he sustained while serving in the military in his early 20s.
When HPD officers arrived at Hyer’s apartment on the evening before his death, it was their second complaint of the day over what neighbors described as Hyer’s delusional, argumentative behavior.
During this second visit to Hyer’s apartment, an officer called a police psychologist who instructed officers to transport Hyer to a psychiatric facility. When Hyer refused to leave the apartment, police called in a SWAT team — a move that the complaint describes as “overkill, excessive and unreasonable.”
“The neighbors heard what the SWAT officers were saying, which was: ‘Come out, you delinquent. Don’t be a coward,'” Hsieh said. “And at the same time saying, ‘If you come out peacefully, everything will be alright.'”
“But simultaneously they were shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at him into his room. It was obvious to me that there was nobody out there overseeing the situation and supervising what was going on.”
In an attempt to force Hyer out of his apartment, officers eventually deployed a police dog….“The cops say he stabbed the dog and that’s why they shot him,” Hsieh said….
read … How Honolulu Police Handled A Mental Health Crisis At Center Of Lawsuit
Judge halts effort to fund Ala Wai flood control project
SA: … A judge issued an injunction today stopping the city and state from funding a controversial flood control project that would build walls and berms around the Ala Wai Canal and put huge flood-control structures in the upper reaches of the watershed.
The federal government has offered to pay $220 million of a $345 million Army Corps of Engineers project designed to protect Waikiki and the upper reaches of the Ala Wai watershed from flooding. Supporters have argued that current modeling indicates that a 100-year event would result in damage to more than 6,000 structures with approximately $1.14 billion in structural damage and damage to critical infrastructure.”
The city and state signed a memorandum of agreement, effective Sept. 19, committing the state to pay the project’s $125 million cost share by Nov. 30 and the city to maintain the project. The state had planned to raise the money by selling certificate of participation (COP) bonds, which don’t require legislative approval like general obligation bonds.
In his ruling, Judge Jeffrey Crabtree, senior Environmental Court judge for the 1st Circuit, enjoined the proposed COP funding absent an accepted environmental impact statement. His order also prohibited placing the COP funds in an escrow account….
read … Judge halts effort to fund Ala Wai flood control project
HMSA plan challenges Hawaii family medicine
SA: … Recent numbers revealed that Hawaii, already short nearly 800 physicians, lost the equivalent of 108 physicians since last year.
The recent commentary by pediatricians Calvin C.J. Sia and Galen Y.K. Chock highlighted concerns shared by many of Hawaii’s family medicine physicians under HMSA’s current “payment transformation” program (“Family-centered medical home eroding,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, July 14).
Under the constraints of this model, we are finding it increasingly difficult to provide the high-quality care that our patients deserve. Many of us are demoralized by the impact “payment transformation” has had on our ability to care for our valued patients.
“Payment transformation” has placed many family physicians in a precarious financial situation, struggling just to meet overhead, with some ultimately realizing that practice survival is impossible. Hawaii is losing physicians. Change is needed before this crisis worsens beyond repair…..
read … HMSA plan challenges Hawaii family medicine
Zippy’s says stricter ban on plastics could cause closures
KHON: … A stricter plastic ban is headed to a final reading at the Honolulu City Council. If passed, one lawmaker says the city will help businesses deal with the change. But Zippy’s Restaurants say the ban could possibly lead to closures.
Under the proposal, no food business shall provide “single-use plastic service ware” to customers like containers and utensils, items you would normally use for takeouts.
“The worst thing about Bill 40 is it only applies to local companies it does not apply to mainland companies and it’s an inherent unfairness,” said CEO Jason Higa of FCH Enterprises, the parent company of Zippy’s and Food Solutions International.
Zippy’s tells us the proposal could hurt its food manufacturer. Food Solutions International provides food not only to Zippy’s but other businesses and they use plastic packaging.
“We would be unable to use this (shows bag of chili) or be granted that exemption, but that exemption is one that comes with a lot of uncertainty. Would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for us to continue to reinvest in Food Solutions,” said Higa. “The downfall of Food Solutions International could result in the downfall of Zippy’s Restaurants.”
City Councilman Joey Manahan, who introduced the measure, says the Department of Environmental Services will work with the businesses. The specifics of granting exemptions will be hammered out in the administrative rules…
(Summary: Playing pretend green is expensive.)
read … Zippy’s says stricter ban on plastics could cause closures
Recycling Doesn’t Work When 3rd World Refuses our Trash
CB: … Greg Goodale, who heads Hawaii County’s Solid Waste Division, estimates that the change will mean that the county will be shipping “possibly 4,000 tons per year of extra material” to the West Hawaii Landfill, the island’s only active facility, once the Hilo Landfill closes in November. In the short term, that’s not a major problem, he says, since the West Hawaii Landfill has “as much as 150 years of space available.” But he adds, “If you have a lot of room, you still don’t want to squander it,” especially when it means running dozens of extra garbage trucks on the island’s narrow roads.
In 2018, about 224,200 tons were landfilled in Hilo and Puuanahulu (Kona) after more than 58,800 tons — about 20.8% — of waste were diverted, including 37,915 tons of green waste and nearly 21,000 tons of recyclables.
These changes are happening because of China’s “National Sword” recycling directive that imports should have only minor contamination such as food particles or incorrectly sorted plastics.
The dirty waste streams from developed countries had previously been shipped first and sorted once they got there — filling shipping containers that would otherwise have gone home empty after delivering Asian consumer goods to Western markets.
But the dirty waste stream was creating environmental havoc in the destination countries. Other Asian nations such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam soon followed China’s lead, announcing new restrictions on the import of Western recyclables.
The county had an annually renewable contract with Business Services Hawaii to handle recycling. But after China’s policy shift, Business Services began losing markets and money, and told the county it didn’t want to renew….
(Really Obvious Solution: H-Power.)
read … County Recycling Cutbacks A Sign Of Global Market Changes
Three DoE Bureaucrats Quitting—Solution? More Pay Hikes of Course!
CB: … The pending retirements of a third of the DOE’s complex area superintendent roster — there are 15 total — underscores the fast-approaching retirement eligibility of the DOE’s leadership.
Of the 5,300 “civil service & exempt” DOE positions, 15% are currently eligible to retire while 30% will be eligible by 2023, according to a state workforce profile compiled by the Department of Human Resources Development.
The impending departures of the complex area superintendents were foreshadowed at a Board of Education meeting last month, in which the DOE executive team requested the base pay for the position be increased from $135,000 to $145,000 to entice more applicants.
read … Hawaii Schools May Soon Experience A Wave of Retirements
Military Personnel Being Charged Commercial Rate for Electricity?
IM: … HECO further asserts that “current commercial rates, such as those paid by the Army, were set at higher rates of return than residential rates and provide contribution to the recovery of the residential rate cost of service.”
The PUC is currently engaged in changing the way HECO is rewarded from Cost of Service (COS) regulation to Performance-Based Regulation. One issue being debated is whether there will be rate cases in the future.
HECO asserted that the acquisition will be included in future rate cases. “In a future Hawaiian Electric rate case, the expenses and return of and return on rate base components associated with the Contract are expected to be included in the test year, and the revenues associated with the Contract are expected to be included in the test year as other operating revenues.”….
Related: Town Hall Meeting: Soaring Electric Bills in Kapilina
read … Hawaiian Electric Files Application to Acquire Army`s Electricity Grid
In Effort to Help Russia, Iran, Syria and India: Tulsi Gabbard Demands US End Saudi Aid, Ties Government To 9/11 Terrorist Hijackers
NW: … Gabbard demanded the U.S. government release documents tying the Saudi Arabian government to the 9/11 terrorist hijackers and called for an end to all Saudi aid Tuesday in New York.
Gabbard spoke at the 9/11 Tribute Museum in lower Manhattan alongside the family members of victims from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Gabbard sought to end a decades-long search for "truth" about the Saudi government's role, if any, in aiding or abetting the 9/11 hijackers, 15 of whom were citizens from Saudi Arabia.
The 2020 Democratic candidate called on the Justice Department and the FBI to "declassify and release" any investigative documents which may implicate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the attacks which left nearly 3,000 people dead….
read … Tulsi Gabbard Demands US End Saudi Aid, Ties Government To 9/11 Terrorist Hijackers
Soft on Crime: Two Child Molestation Cases in One Day
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