COVID Testing: DLS Lab Corrects Caldwell Admin
COVID Count: 2 deaths, 5 new cases, 8 released
KIUC Reports 56% Renewable Generation for 2019
Chinky Mahoe Sued for Child Molestation
BJ: … This civil lawsuit filed by attorneys Randall Rosenberg and Charles McKay is based on the 1998 alleged sexual abuse of a dance student identified only as Plaintiff N.O. It says he was a minor child at the time of the alleged abuse. He was a student and performer in Mahoe’s Halau Kawaili’ula.
This lawsuit apparently stems from Mahoe’s criminal conviction that same year for abusing unnamed boys he mentored.
The lawsuit says in the 1990s it was common for Mahoe to invite students to overnight at his Kailua house. It says the boys had tried on malos for fit, then took them off, except that Mahoe told N.O. to keep his on. It alleges that Mahoe sat next to N.O. and began massaging the boy’s penis. It says the abuse continued and that on a plane trip to California for competition, Mahoe played with N.O.’s penis under a blanket.
In 1998, Mahoe was convicted of sexual abuse of halau students and is currently a registered sex offender but has continued running his halau….
SA: Kumu hula Howell ‘Chinky’ Mahoe accused of sex assault
April 4, 2020: Lawsuit Alleges Another Pedophile Ring at Kamehameha
BJ: Another Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against KS
PDF: Complaint
read … Lawsuit Names Kumu Hula
Friday is Deadline for Child Molestation Lawsuits
CB: …In 2012, the Legislature approved a statute allowing victims to file civil claims against their abusers long after the statute of limitations had passed. The time limit had been extended every two years until this year, when another extension was going to be considered. Then the COVID-19 pandemic put the Legislature into an abrupt recess.
Now, with the window closing Friday and no extension in the works, attorneys have been flocking to the courts to file new claims against Kamehameha Schools and other institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church and a few other schools.
read … Deadline
Self-Employed, Gig Workers Unemployment Checks Must Wait for DLIR to Build New Computer System
SA: … Jodi Kealoha, owner of 808 SUP, “A Mom and Son Shop,” applied for unemployment the fourth week of March after COVID-19 lockdowns closed her Haleiwa business.
A month later her application is still pending even though she’s spent several hours a day trying to get into the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations’ website and to contact the department by phone or email.
To make matters worse, she is self-employed and just this week discovered that the state must build a new system before it can distribute federal pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) to self-employed individuals. The federal funds, which were approved as part of the CARES Act, offer support for self-employed, independent contractors, gig economy workers and freelancers. The PUA program also might cover some people who are seeking part-time work, lack sufficient work history or otherwise don’t qualify for regular unemployment compensation or extended benefits…..
State Sen. Donna Kim (D, Kapalama-Alewa-Kalihi Valley) was distressed Wednesday when Suzuki told a COVID-19 Senate committee that the PUA system likely wouldn’t be running until around mid-May.
“They (the unemployed workers) don’t have any money, and they’ve been out for a month. Now you are telling us it won’t be until the middle of next month. You can’t sustain people that way,” Kim said….
SA Editorial: Unemployed pay the price for Hawaii’s failure to upgrade IT
KITV: The state is using "a technology that's been around the 50s"
read … Its going to be a very long wait
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell outlines plan to reopen Hawaii businesses
SA: Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Thursday he might allow some businesses, shut down due to the coronavirus, to open starting May 1.
They include golf courses, automated car washes and limited operations of car dealerships and real estate companies, as well as other smaller businesses, such as a piano teacher with a single student at a time, Caldwell said.
After that the next round of openings could include retail stores with ample physical distancing, pet grooming, office environments and outdoor malls….
A “high risk with modifications” category of businesses that would open later includes restaurants, beauty parlors and nail salons, and gyms. Restaurants that could be modified might pose less risk and “could actually be opened up earlier.”
Some deemed “high risk, difficult to modify” could be the last to reopen, he said. Those activities would include bars, marathons or other running races, concerts, conventions, sporting events and larger religious gatherings, he said….
read … Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell outlines plan to reopen Hawaii businesses
How to rescue Maui from the coronavirus recession
MN: …Removing government barriers is the best and quickest way to expand opportunities, encourage innovation and make it easier to recover….
Related: 18 Ways To Get Hawaii Back On Its Feet Again
MN: Maui Mayor tempers talk about lifting of restrictions
read … How to rescue Maui from the coronavirus recession
Caldwell: Use Kauai as Guinea Pig for COVID Tourism
SA: … Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is being sharply criticized today for suggesting in a televised interview Wednesday evening that Kauai or “some neighbor island” might be the best place to test out the re-launch of the state’s tourism industry as the risk of COVID-19 recedes.
That remark drew a rebuke from state Senate President Ron Kouchi, who (decided Caldwell won’t be good for Governor in 2022 and) ticked off a list of steps this morning the state still needs to take before the visitor industry can resume anything close to normal operations, including blanket testing of incoming tourists to ensure they are not infected.
“I want to be clear to Mayor Caldwell. Kauai does not appreciate being identified as a potential test case to go bring in the tourists so you can make better decisions on Oahu,” ….
Kouchi was responding to comments Caldwell made during a Hawaii News Now interview Wednesday evening in which Caldwell suggested Kauai might be a logical place to begin to reopen tourism because it has had no new cases of the new coronavirus for five or six days….
HNN: With promising signs, Kauai could be the first to slowly ease restrictions
CB: Honolulu Mayor Slammed For Offering Kauai As Coronavirus Test Case
read … Caldwell criticized for suggesting Kauai could be a ‘test case’ for restarting tourism
25% of Hawaii’s COVID-19 patients who are 60 and over have been hospitalized
KHON: … One in 4 Hawaii coronavirus patients 60 and older have required hospitalization, according to new figures from the state Health Department.
That’s higher than it was earlier this month.
In early April, just 11% of patients 60 and older required hospitalization.
State Health Director Bruce Anderson noted the increase in a recent news conference at the state Capitol and said that authorities were trying to investigate the trend. ….
Hospitalization rates for other age groups are far lower.
For those 40 to 59 years old, it was 7%. For those 20 to 39, it was just 2%.
And none of the COVID-19 cases in those 19 and younger have required hospitalization….
CB: Department of Health also reported seven more seniors have been hospitalized.
read … 25% of Hawaii’s COVID-19 patients who are 60 and over have been hospitalized
Visitor: I was Here for Two Weeks, took Four Flights to three islands—nobody checked on me
TGI: … The visitor, who agreed to share his story on the condition of anonymity, had to take four flights to his end destination of Lihu‘e Airport. During boardings, flights, layovers and deplanings, he says nobody in an official capacity told him about a 14-day, state-mandated quarantine instituted on March 26. And during his time here, nobody checked on him….
read … Falling through the cracks
More than 3,500 visitors have come to Hawaii since quarantine began
SA: … More visitors came to Hawaii by air Wednesday bringing the total visitor count to 3,561 since the state initiated emergency orders designed to collapse tourism to conserve resources for locals.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority reported today that 421 trans-Pacific passengers arrived on Wednesday, including 109 visitors and 166 residents. The count also included 76 airline crew members, 24 transit passengers who are catching other flights and 45 intended new residents for Oahu and one for Lihue….
NYT: Hawaii to Visitors: We’ll Pay You to Leave
CNN: The Hawaii Tourism Authority is now paying for visitors to leave
read … More than 3,500 visitors have come to Hawaii since quarantine began
Hawaiian Airlines Got $654 Million From Feds
CB: … The airline says the money helps buy time for Hawaii’s largest private employer, which is burning through more than $4 million per day…..
read … Hawaiian Airlines Got $654 Million From Feds
Homeless Tent City Expands
SA: … About 50 homeless people are staying in tents and being monitored at Keehi Lagoon Beach Park at the Provisional Outdoor Screening and Triage Facility, which is being expanded.
“POST” is a safe place where people without homes who have no symptoms of COVID-19 can live in tents provided for them, adequately spaced apart for social distancing. The site is part of government efforts to prevent spread of the disease among vulnerable folks who have few options.
Another 24 tents went up at the grassy field Wednesday, bringing the total to 84, and four more people had moved in by midday Thursday….
Meanwhile in Hilo, no tents: Residents start moving into 32 temporary housing units in Hilo
read … Tent City
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