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Thursday, November 21, 2019
November 21, 2019 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 7:25 PM :: 2742 Views

Hawaii: 22.3% of Movers Leaving State

Tulsi Gabbard is overwhelming favorite of Kremlin news outlets

Financial Transparency: Hawaii Ranks 20th

Cost of Care Survey 2019: Most Long Term Care Costs In Hawaii Decrease

Acting Honolulu Prosecutor Hit With Federal Subpoena

HNN: City Prosecutor Dwight Nadamoto confirmed Wednesday that he’s received a subpoena to testify before the federal grand jury investigating his boss: Keith Kaneshiro.

He added that he had not planned to publicly announce that he’d received a subpoena, but decided to acknowledge that he’d been called to testify after a media inquiry.

FBI agents delivered the subpoena to Nadamoto on Monday, and Hawaii News Now learned of it the following day.

HNN asked the city Prosecutor’s Office for more information on Tuesday, but received no reply….

Nadamoto has faced growing scrutiny in recent months over how the Prosecutor’s Office has sought to deal with the fallout of the Kealoha scandal.

The City Council had tough questions for Nadamoto last month over why his office hasn’t taken steps to independently confirm how Kealoha abused her office for years for her personal benefit.

In the wake of Nadamoto’s testimony, the City Council asked the acting city prosecutor whether he lied in testimony to the body.

SA: Feds subpoena acting city prosecuting attorney Dwight Nadamoto

KHON: “Why is the acting prosecutor, who is handpicked by the prosecuting attorney, who is being actively investigated by the federal government, why is he sitting in the same position? That’s the concern. The concern is not that he’s received a subpoena.”

AP: Nadamoto was “less than forthcoming and candid” when councilmembers asked him how Katherine Kealoha was able to get away with corrupt acts

CB: Acting Honolulu Prosecutor Hit With Federal Subpoena  -- The subpoena was first reported by Hawaii News Now, which asked the prosecuting attorney’s office about it on Tuesday and didn’t get a response until a press conference was announced. The city administration acted similarly in January when an HNN reporter learned that Honolulu Corporation Counsel Donna Leong had received an FBI target letter. Mayor Kirk Caldwell was tight-lipped until HNN shared the news, and he held a press conference hours after the story broke.

read … Acting city prosecutor gets FBI subpoena to testify in ongoing criminal probe of his boss

Steve Alm, a former judge and U.S. Attorney, announces bid for Honolulu prosecutor

SA: …Alm, 66, said that besides restoring trust in the Prosecutor’s Office, his priorities are putting dangerous offenders in prison and working with local communities to reduce crime.

… An impressive list from Hawaii’s legal community stood behind Alm at his announcement, including former U.S. Attorney Florence Awakuni, former Hawaii Attorney General Margery Bronster, retired Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Dan Foley, former U.S. Marshal Gervin Miyamoto, former Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Takata, a one-time candidate for prosecuting attorney. Also there, in personal capacities, were Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chris Van Marter and former prosecutor Loretta Sheehan, chairwoman of the Honolulu Police Commission.

The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers president Malcolm Lutu announced the union’s support of Alm’s candidacy.

Others who have announced their candidacies include one-time Deputy Prosecutor Megan Kau, former Deputy Prosecutor R.J. Brown and Deputy Public Defender Jacquelyn Esser.

Acting Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Nadamoto said Wednesday that he is contemplating a run….

2011: Judge Steven Alm: Justice Reinvestment and the future of HOPE Probation

2014: HOPE Probation: Judge Steven Alm Speaks at Heritage Foundation Event

read … Steve Alm, a former judge and U.S. Attorney, announces bid for Honolulu prosecutor

Could the Thirty Meter Telescope be built in Spain’s Canary Islands?

EP: … The scientific consortium behind the observatory now has all the permits it needs to start work on the €1.2 billion-project in La Palma, if it cannot go ahead with the plan in Hawaii …

“We are excited and grateful to have been granted the building license in La Palma,” said sources from the consortium. “Mauna Kea continues to be the preferred site for the TMT, but this is a key step in the process to develop the Plan B site in La Palma, if it is not possible to build in Hawaii.”

The TMT partners have called a meeting for November 23, and having approval to build in Puntagorda, could help the group decide what to do. But sources from the consortium explained that “currently, there is no set date to determine our next steps for the building of the TMT.” They added: “The TMT board of directors regularly meets. This is a scheduled meeting to follow the evolution of the project both in Hawaii and in La Palma, as well as other issues.”…

read … Could the Thirty Meter Telescope be built in Spain’s Canary Islands?

After 200 Arrests--Transport of wind farm equipment wrapped up

HNN: … The company behind a controversial wind farm project says they’ve finished the transport of equipment to the North Shore a week early.

Convoys transporting wind turbines and other equipment to the project site have been met with nightly protests. Since the convoys began, police have made at least 200 arrests of protesters.

AES US Generation, the company building the wind farm, had expected to finish the convoys Tuesday….

(Caldwell can arrest 200 for a bat killing tax credit scam windfarm but Harry Kim won’t do this for a cutting edge scientific telescope.)

FH: Call on the Police to Switch Sides

SA: “Even though the transport is over, we are still fighting it.”

HNN: After another night of protests, number of arrests linked to wind farm opposition hit 200

read … Transport of wind farm equipment wrapped up ahead of schedule

Caution: Wind Farm Health Effects

SA: … Are windmills that are located within a half-mile of residents harmful to human health? This is one of the questions at the heart of the AES Na Pua Makani wind farm controversy, along with the equally important questions of environmental harm and social justice the project raises.

AES claims that there will be no effects based upon the conclusions of the Kahuku project’s environmental impact study (EIS). However, after reading the EIS as well as a number of the studies used in the EIS, it seems that there is no definitive answer to that question.

The studies generally agree that there are “no harmful effects on human health,” but add the caveat, “if the windmills are sited correctly.” The studies, however, never define exactly what “sited correctly” means. Rules regarding setback distance and other conditions are usually left up to local jurisdictions to determine on a case-by-case basis. Only two states have set standards for setback distances (Wyoming and Wisconsin), and both, as well as most European countries, require greater setbacks than that of the windmills of Na Pua Makani. …

read … Health effects of Kahuku turbines inconclusive; caution needed

Harry Kim Sends in Police to Clear Downtown Hilo Homeless Camp—Still no Action on Mauna Kea

HTH: … The county removed unpermitted structures from a downtown Hilo lot this morning, dispersing several occupants who were using the property as a homeless camp.

Punahoa Street, between Ponahawai and Mamo streets, was blocked off by police this morning as the county moved in on a homeless camp that has grown on a lot behind Agasa Furniture and Music Store since last year.

At 6 a.m., Barrett Otani, executive assistant to the Mayor Harry Kim, hailed the occupants of the lot, giving them one hour to collect their personal belongings and leave the area. The occupants did so without any resistance, and crews from the Department of Public Works and its Highways Division began dismantling the unpermitted structures on the site….

Meanwhile: Fire damages HPP squatter house

read … Downtown Hilo homeless camp dismantled; no arrests

Lahaina: Enviros Quiver with fear as Supreme Court Weighs The Case They Filed

MN: … Community members confronted Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino on Tuesday night over his decision to move forward with the controversial injection wells case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

But Victorino made it clear that he is leaving the final decision in the hands of the court for “clarity and direction,” to determine whether Maui County violated the Clean Water Act by disposing of wastewater through injection wells at the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility.

“We want to do it right, and we’ve been working to do it right, so that’s why I want clarity, I want direction,” he said Tuesday night during a meeting at the Kaunoa Senior Center in Lahaina. “I want the highest court in the land to say ‘this is the way we do it’ and that way we won’t have no question in where we spend our money and how we get it done and to credit you, the people of Maui County.”

However, the majority of the 20 attendees that spoke or brought questions during the two-hour meeting were less than pleased with the mayor’s choice to overrule the Maui County Council’s 5-4 vote to settle the case….

Wisdom: Full Text: Maui Injection Wells Case Oral Arguments Before Supreme Court

read … Fear

Money: 28 Years Late--Native Hawaiian organizations claim Maui Grand Wailea resort built on sacred burial grounds

KITV: … Members of Malama Kakanilua and Ho'oponopono Makena claim the hotel was built on sacred burial grounds in 1991. They also believe it desecrated the final resting place of about 300 ancestors.

The group hopes to prevent further digging in the area….

read … Money

Hawaii Co Council approves ban on county use of herbicides

HTH: … Urged on by new mothers, beekeepers, organic farmers and a soccer coach (demographics of the hysteria caucus), the County Council on Wednesday passed a bill banning the county’s use of herbicides on public property, making Hawaii County the first local government in the state to do so.

Bill 101, sponsored by Kona Councilwoman Rebecca Villegas, will, throughout a four-year period, ban the use of Roundup and 29 other herbicides in parks and alongside roads, bikeways, sidewalks, trails, drainageways and waterways owned or maintained by the county.

read … Council approves ban on county use of herbicides

New Snags Hold Back Ala Wai Flood Control Project

CB: … On Oct. 29, a Hawaii Circuit Court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from providing its $121 million contribution until the project delivers an environmental impact statement, or EIS, that complies with state law.

State finance officials had hoped to provide those dollars using an obscure funding mechanism called a “certificate of participation,” or COP, by Nov. 21, court records say.

Following Judge Jeffrey Crabtree’s order, however, they’ve suspended that effort pending a final ruling from the court, according to Gov. David Ige’s office.

Then, two days after Crabtree issued his injunction, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell sent Ige a letter with his own concerns regarding the flood control project’s compliance with state environmental law. The city couldn’t accept the project’s existing federal EIS because it doesn’t follow several key requirements under state law.

Specifically, responses to public comments in the EIS’ 2015 draft version weren’t sufficient, Caldwell’s letter to Ige says. Further, the final federal EIS fails to properly convey the greater impacts of the project, compared to what was listed in the 2015 draft version, it states.

Now, the state has to fix those with the Ala Wai project’s federal EIS so that they’ll comply with state law, satisfying both the court and the city.…

read … New Snags Hold Back Ala Wai Flood Control Project

Short-staffed and overcrowded. And for the state’s largest jail, that’s just the start

HNN: … Oahu Community Correctional Center is the state’s largest jail facility, with more than 1,000 detainees. And like the state’s other jails, it’s over-capacity.

The jail, with its peaked-roof modules surrounded by barbed wire, is the latest version of facilities that have been on a Kalihi site since 1914.

Detainees at OCCC are awaiting trial, serving short sentences, or are inmates in work furlough programs. Members of the media were allowed inside Wednesday to take a first-hand look.

It was originally designed to hold 628 detainees. It has a current capacity of 954, but as of Wednesday, there were 1,071 held there.

“They’re short of staff,” said state Sen. Clarence Nishihara, who chairs the senate Public Safety Committee. “On top of that, the numbers are over-capacity for all of them.”

The state Department of Public Safety said there are 413 security staff members at OCCC, with 68 vacancies. Just over 80 adult corrections officers were out on workers compensation leave, with another 14 on extended leave….

HNN: Former Maui inmate recounts large jail riot that left behind millions in damage

read … Short-staffed and overcrowded. And for the state’s largest jail, that’s just the start

Hawaii Disciplinary Counsel To Investigate Lawyer Who Ran Marshallese Baby Business

CB: … The Hawaii office that investigates misconduct by attorneys said Wednesday that it is launching an investigation of Laurie Loomis, a Honolulu lawyer who has specialized in adoptions involving birth mothers from the Marshall Islands. Loomis was the subject of a Civil Beat story published Wednesday….

read … Hawaii Disciplinary Counsel To Investigate Lawyer Who Ran Marshallese Baby Business

Team Trump Applauds Gabbard Debate Performance

NOTE: Gabbard is again attacking Kamala Harris because Harris is the ‘other’ Hindu-supported candidate.  To achieve Chris Butler’s goal of winning recognition from the real Hindus in India, Gabbard needs to unify Hindus in the US behind her candidacy. 

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