An Interesting Agreement
Wealth Is a Sin?
Honolulu Population Loss 2% Since 2010
Alm v Kau for Honolulu Prosecutor
Borreca: … The facts are stark. Keith Kaneshiro, the elected prosecutor who has served in that office in various stretches for almost 20 years, has been told by the federal government that he is the target of a federal investigation, and was forced to take a leave of absence.
Honolulu’s crime-fighting reputation is in tatters: The former deputy prosecuting attorney and her husband, the former Honolulu police chief, both now have “convicted felon” attached to their names. Their convictions mean the pair are expecting to spend years in federal prison.
The Prosecutor’s Office does not enjoy a reputation for either its ability to mete out justice or professional prosecution.
It is an elected office and there are now a half-dozen candidates; even the acting Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Nadamoto said Wednesday that he is thinking about running.
Of the major candidates so far, two have the most organized campaigns.
Former deputy prosecutor and now private attorney Megan Kau, 41, and former state judge and federal prosecutor, Steve Alm, 66, have different stories, but both now see the office in trauma, needing immediate aid….
read … Scandals have bruised Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, so new blood would be very welcome
Airports Division Evicting Naval Air Museum Barbers Point for Honda Jet Training Center?
SA: …Naval Air Museum Barbers Point, a nonprofit adjacent to Hangar 111 at Kalaeloa Airport that is being evicted over a contract dispute, questioned what, if any, interest Wing Spirit has in the property.
The company has emphasized that it will operate its charter flights out of Honolulu airport.
Tim Sakahara, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said, “Multiple entities have expressed interest in the Kalaeloa Airport facilities including Wing Spirit, which has announced its intention to operate in Hawaii. However, formal plans and airports are yet to be finalized.”…
Japan Aviation Academy had discussed the “general concept and goal of developing an aviation institution and campus in Hawaii,” including the possibility of acquiring land or developing a campus in Kalaeloa, according to the letter.
UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said UH-Hilo is now exploring how a new aeronautical sciences program there can collaborate with Japan Aviation Academy.
Honolulu Community College ran a commercial aviation program in the 102,000-square-foot Hangar 111 at Kalaeloa Airport at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station until it was canceled amid controversy in 2015.
John Morton, then UH’s vice president for community colleges, testified that year that the program “was simply not financially viable for either the college or for the students.”
Forman, the coordinator of the program, said in 2017 that the flight training “was growing rapidly with minimal staffing” and would have been profitable had it been turned over to a four-year institution such as UH-West Oahu where the tuition was higher.
“They really should find a way to pull (Hangar 111) into the University of Hawaii system and use it again,” Forman said in a phone interview, “because there’s a tremendous need for flight training — particularly on this island.”....
UPDATE: Barbers Point Air Museum: State Seeks Contractor to Destroy Historic Airplanes
LINK: Petition: Save Naval Air Museum Barbers Point
read … New air charter service landing in Hawaii
Enforcer: Small Businesses are not protected under the public trust
TGI: … Private commercial uses like Kauai Springs Inc.’s water-bottling and commercial-sale operations are not protected under the public trust. To be clear, the amount of people that enjoy Kauai Springs Inc.’s water, who their customers are, and how much water the company gives away to charities or at sports events does not make their proposed use protected under the public trust.
To the contrary, private commercial uses are subject to higher scrutiny. Where members of the public raised their concerns that the water extraction would result in harm to recognized public trust purposes, including Native Hawaiian practices and the ecology and environment downstream of Kauai Springs Inc., the commission took those concerns very seriously and had to do so to fulfill its constitutional mandate….
NOTE: Hawaiian cultural practitioners are proponents of a religion 'established' --in violation of the First Amendment-- by the State of Hawaii. The 'public trust doctrine' is an unconstitutional expression of that religion's power over the populace. This essay tells the story of an enforcer.
read … Planning Commission upholds public trust
Draft EIS Proposes 14 Commercial Aquarium Fishing Permits For West Hawaii
BIVN: … The Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources has not issued new aquarium permits since September 2017, and the Supreme Court ruled in October 2017 that existing permits for use of fine mesh nets to catch aquatic life for aquarium purposes are illegal and invalid.
The 490 page draft EIS, which includes a voluminous cultural impact assessment, concludes that the Preferred Alternative “does not involve an irrevocable commitment or loss or destruction of any natural or cultural resource,” the EIS summarizes.
The full document can be downloaded from the Office of Environmental Quality Control.
Statutory 45-day public review and comment period has started. Comments are due by January 7, 2020, officials say….
read … Draft EIS Proposes 14 Commercial Aquarium Fishing Permits For West Hawaii
Legislative Agenda: Fuel tax change still wheeling around
WHT: … eliminating the fuel tax would remove a disincentive for people to use traditional petroleum-fueled vehicles, putting the state at odds with its own commitment to transition to entirely clean energy by 2045….
So far, the state has made no official statement on how the road usage fees would be determined for commercial vehicles….
(IQ Test: This is a plan to raise taxes T/F?)
read … Fuel tax change still wheeling around
Legislative Agenda: University of Hawaii seeks more funding for student mental health and scholarships
SA: … The University of Hawaii wants to beef up mental health services for students, expand a popular scholarship program and start training medical students on Maui to address the doctor shortage.
The proposals are among highlights in the university’s supplemental operating budget request for the 2020-21 fiscal year, approved by the Board of Regents at its meeting Thursday at Kauai Community College. It will be submitted to Gov. David Ige for consideration in the executive budget and also given directly to the Legislature.
The university is seeking $2.6 million to hire 19 psychologists for the 10-campus system and to expand programs that aim to prevent suicide, reduce mental health stigma, raise awareness through peer education and alert new students and parents to the challenges of transitioning to college….
UH Manoa currently has eight psychologists, UH Hilo has three, UH West Oahu has 1.75 positions and each community college has one position, according to Allyson Tanouye, who directs the UH Manoa Counseling and Student Development Center and coordinates mental health throughout the UH system….
SA: UH should expand grants, mental-health aid
CB: Mental Health Services On Hawaii Campuses Lag Far Behind Demand (Translation UH wants mo money)
read … University of Hawaii seeks more funding for student mental health and scholarships
Losing Their Religion: Enviros Still Lost Dazed and Confused as 3rd-World Countries Refuse to take their ‘Recycled’ Garbage
WHT: … “Short term, there is nothing we (the county) can do about plastics and plastics recycling,” said Bill Kucharski, director of the Department of Environmental Management. “There’s nothing. I have no idea what to do….”
On Oct. 16, the county’s two-bin recycling program downsized and began accepting only corrugated cardboard, brown paper bags, and glass bottles and jars.
Before that date, the two-bin recycling program included a bin for recycling of paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum and tin, and a bin for non-HI-5 glass….
Kucharski said every day on the Big Island, about 360,000 pounds of paper and about 134,000 pounds of plastic goes to the landfill…
(Simple Solution: Send it to H-Power. Duh!)
Here’s Why: Malaysia to send 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste back to countries of origin (Check out the photo of where your ‘recycling’ ended up!)
Reality: Crichton: Environmentalism is a religion
read … Still solution-less: Forum focuses on next steps after recycling change
‘Still Employed' Plea change expected for jail guard facing meth charge
HTH: … Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said in an email Thursday Espejo’s records “show that he’s currently employed with the department.”…
According to police, Espejo, who is assigned to Hale Nani Correctional Facility, a minimum-security jail on the southern outskirts of Hilo, was pulled over by a Hilo patrol officer just after midnight May 2 because the pickup truck he was driving had a defective brake light.
Police say the officer also discovered the weight tax and safety check stickers on the truck were expired.
The officer saw drug paraphernalia in plain view, arrested Espejo and a then-29-year-old woman passenger — identified in a police log as Krystal Kahalioumi of Hilo — and impounded the truck as evidence, according to police.
A search warrant was executed on the vehicle, and officers found paraphernalia items with methamphetamine residue, police said….
read … Plea change expected for jail guard facing drug charge
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