Even with Drop in Unemployment, Hawaii Ranks 49th in Bounce Back from COVID
COVID Count: 20 new cases out of 1,640 tests
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Miske Mob Were All Union Drivers on Set of Hawaii 5-0
CB: … And like hit man Ronald Ching and other local organized crime figures, Miske has been a member of the Hawaii Teamsters Union Movie Unit, driving visiting stars and expensive equipment to and from cinema and television productions based in the islands.
Ching drove vehicles on the original “Magnum P.I.” television series while feeding a serious heroin addiction.
Miske reportedly drove actor John Goodman to sets during the 2015 shooting here of the film “Kong: Skull Island.” Miske’s half-brother, John Stancil, a co-defendant with Miske in the new federal case as well as two earlier well-publicized assault cases, was also an occasional Movie Unit driver.
Another driver in the unit is Miske’s co-defendant Harry Kauhi….
The union has a long and notorious history nationally and locally of connections to organized crime. The U.S. Justice Department began overseeing Teamster activities in 1989 because of its chronic mob ties. The court-ordered oversight required the union to avoid “racketeering activities” and knowingly associating with members of organized crime….
read … Oahu’s Alleged Mob Boss Has A Well-Documented Life Of Crime And Violence
State won’t be ready to reopen Sept. 1, – Schools Should not Welcome Mainland Students -- Kim says
HTH: … The state isn’t ready to reopen to tourists Sept. 1 and it’s not ready to bring out-of-state college students back to campus Aug. 24, Mayor Harry Kim said in an hour-long interview Thursday….
Plans to use a combination of preflight testing with 14-day quarantines for those who aren’t tested or who test positive, simply aren’t feasible without a way of differentiating between the two groups and properly monitoring the quarantiners, Kim said.
The state wasn’t ready to do that Aug. 1, its first planned reopening, and it won’t be ready Sept. 1 either, Kim said. He said he’d urged the governor and his fellow mayors to not attach a date on reopening, but to wait until the state is ready, especially with the “explosive” situation of double-digit increases in cases and deaths on the mainland….
Students attending college at campuses on Oahu and Kauai will be allowed the modified quarantine, under plans currently in the works. Kim and Maui Mayor Mike Victorino weren’t supporting the plan, so those islands aren’t reopening as quickly to students. Kim said about half of university of Hawaii at Hilo students come from Texas, Nevada and California, the states with some of the highest COVID-19 hotspots….
UHH: Planning for the unknown, with hope
read … State won’t be ready to reopen Sept. 1, Kim says
Reopening May Bring COVID but not Tourists
Shapiro: … Hawaii’s COVID count is already rising with the reopening of the local economy, and welcoming visitors back under these circumstances could invite a nightmare scenario of too few tourists to rekindle the economy, but plenty enough to spread more coronavirus infections than our medical system can handle.
The visitor industry says the reopening can’t be further postponed without risking our most important economic engine. This may be necessary, however, if we fail to resolve the safety concerns that stopped the Aug. 1 opening.
Interestingly, the pressure to reopen has come mainly from hotel owners, while employees have worried about their safety and the concern that hotels will use the pandemic as an excuse to permanently reduce their workforce….
read … Our economy won’t return to health in a sick community
COVID: Five months of work and tough decisions have been erased
SA: … five months of work and tough decisions have been erased in some states.
On July 11, Hawaii health officials reported 42 new confirmed coronavirus cases, the state’s highest one-day total. The number beat the previous high of 41 new cases on July 7.
“We’re back in March again,” Ige said. “The virus is surging again.” …
Ige, who is nearly halfway through his second term, talks with the mayors of Hawaii’s four counties three times a week, and even they’re not always in agreement on issues including when to lift Hawaii’s 14-day self-quarantine for incoming travelers, which he extended to Sept. 1 in his 10th emergency proclamation Friday.
Asked about the response from big and small businesses across the islands that have been hobbled and shuttered by the clampdown on tourism, Ige said: “They’re disappointed. They recognize it’s a challenge. … People do see how things are connected. People understand.”…
He’s particularly puzzled that more younger people don’t wear masks and maintain social distancing in Hawaii despite what Ige calls their overall “commitment to community” and desire to “work for a broader mission. … They want to have a cause. They want a job that aligns with their personal views. How do we reach them?”….
read … Hawaii Gov. David Ige faces public and personal challenges caused by coronavirus pandemic
Legislators need right job-creation map
SA: … Worried about the loss of tourism, widespread unemployment and economic slowdown? Fear not. The Hawaii Legislature plans to fix it all through its powers of legislation.
That might seem a bit optimistic for a legislative body that has already adjourned for the year, has yet to do something as simple as create an effective management mechanism for the state’s airports, and is borrowing billions of dollars rather than reducing spending to balance the budget.
But if it’s possible to create new jobs by wishing and hoping, our state lawmakers will not be left behind. A Senate resolution passed this session pledges to create 100,000 permanent new jobs in the state by 2022.
How our senators exactly would create those new jobs is left rather vague, which suggests they don’t know quite how to do it. Instead, their resolution calls on the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to come up with a list of recommendations in time for the 2021 session.
Based on past efforts, we’re most likely to see plans that involve giving state funds or tax breaks to projects that look great on campaign literature: software and technology, public works projects and something that includes the prefix “eco.”
And it raises an obvious question: If it’s possible to create new jobs and a booming economy by legislative fiat, why haven’t they done so already?
Much of the advice being given to state policymakers revolves around the idea that the government can spend its way out of a statewide recession. This government-centered approach to economics doesn’t have a successful track record. It is, however, very good at funneling state funds to favored industries and individuals with political influence.….
CM: High living costs make people poor
read … Legislators need right job-creation map
Hanabusa Mafia: Amemiya Company Made Millions from DMV Relocation
SA: … In 2015, the city moved its Kapalama satellite city hall and driver’s licensing services to a Dillingham Boulevard property via a lease with owner Tradewind Capital Group. Three years later (after paying $5M in rent), the city exercised its option to buy the property ($27.5M). Keith Amemiya, until last summer, was an executive vice president with Island Holdings, the parent company of Tradewind Capital.
Both Keith and Roy Amemiya said they were not involved in the transaction. Roy Amemiya said the property was first identified by his predecessor, former Managing Director Ember Shinn, and that he purposely stepped away from negotiations because he saw a possible appearance of a conflict of interest due to his cousin’s ties to Tradewind…..
Aloha Aina Oiaio was formed by Native Hawaiian activist and small business owner Lopaka Cuban, 30, 11 days after candidates and political action committees were required to file six-month reports. Skeptics suggest that was done intentionally so the public cannot immediately know where its money is coming from because the next full reports aren’t due until July 29, less than two weeks before the Aug. 8 primary election….
A Facebook account belonging to Cuban included postings, some deleted in recent days, indicating he supports the mayoral campaign of former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
Hanabusa told the Star-Advertiser she has nothing to do with the super PAC or its ads. She said she’s known Cuban and that they have discussed Native Hawaiian issues and her views. While he was a one-time volunteer with her campaign, Hanabusa said she hadn’t seen him in about a month (LOL!)….
(In the old days, Inouye kept these crooks from speaking out about each others crookedness.)
KHON 2016: Oahu’s main DMV moving next month amid questions from lawmakers (Kobayashi, Ozawa question deal)
Ozawa, Kobayashi, Hanabusa: Leaving GOP, Djou Eyes Council, Mayoral Races
Links: Video, Mailer 2-sides
read … Super PAC material
PR Flack for alleged gang leader convinced Civil Beat to hide ownership of Kamaaina Termite
ILind: … On the morning the column appeared on the Civil Beat website, an email from Adrian Kamalii, a public relations consultant representing Miske, denied the businessman had any ownership interest in Kamaaina Termite. Kamalii had previously appeared before the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board to publicly defend the tree lighting proposal.
“This is a request to edit your article or retract the company name from your blog post in Civil Beat today,” Kamalii wrote. “Mike Miske is not the owner of KTPC as explicated in their DCCA filings. Would appreciate the accuracy and having the named removed, if possible. KTPC has nothing to do with this story.”
Kamalii repeated his demand in a series of emails.
“I’m trying to make sense of mentioning a company who has no bone to pick in your perceived exposé. Just remove the company name. Or if you really want to mention KTPC, I can send you to all the orgs we donate our services to on a yearly basis,” he wrote.
Kamalii also disputed Miske’s connections with other companies, which the federal indictment now describes as being owned by Miske.
“Is your intent is to harm the companies’ reputations, affect our employees and business by mentioning them in an article about Mike?,” Kamalii asked in another email.
With the disputed article already online, and the clock ticking, I wasn’t able to muster sufficient documentation to defend my assertion to a properly skeptical editor. My bad. Although business records and other documents made clear Miske had been the owner of Kamaaina Termite, I had not yet turned up definitive documentation of his continued ownership of the company. Given the denial conveyed by Kamalii, I reluctantly agreed to drop the reference to Kamaaina Termite from the column ….
PDF: Miske Attacks Students at St Louis School
read … Alleged gang leader tried to hide ownership of legitimate businesses to hamper federal probe
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