OHA Illegally Using State Resources to Campaign Against Akina, others
COVID Count: 207 new cases
Federal Agent Shot Dead at Maui Police Station—News Kept Secret 3 Days
Maui News Aug 3, 2020: …A Maui-based federal agent died Tuesday July 28, 2020, after he was accidentally shot in the line of duty, according to an initial investigation by police.
(Really Obvious Question: Did he accidentally shoot himself on Tuesday, July 28, or on an earlier date?)
John Bost III, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was assigned to Maui County and had worked closely with the Maui Police Department since 2015, according to a news release Friday.
An initial investigation by MPD found that Bost “died from a wound received from the accidental discharge of a rifle” in the department’s Kihei Division. ATF, MPD and the Maui County Medical Examiner’s officer are continuing to investigate his death.
(This implies that death was not immediate.)
Bost, a North Carolina native, had been a special agent since November 2005 and served as a Charlotte police officer before joining the ATF….
Maui Now July 31, 2020: BREAKING: Federal Agent Dies at Kīhei Police Station on Maui, Incident Ruled Accidental Line of Duty Death (read the comments)
Star-Adv Aug 4, 2020: ATF agent dies in accidental shooting at Maui Police Department office
Maui Now Aug 4, 2020: Federal Agent Honored During Final Sendoff at Kahului Airport “ATF Special Agent John Bost III. End of watch–July 28, 2020 at 0800 hours."
read … MPD: ATF agent’s death ‘accidental’
Green says new statewide lockdown might be only way out
SA: … State Health Department officials reported only 45 new cases Sunday morning but said they were “not a complete and accurate picture due to the temporary delay in receiving complete data” from Clinical Labs of Hawaii, a private laboratory conducting most of the tests in the state.
Lt. Gov. Josh Green said Sunday evening that DOH had sorted out the accounting issue and that the “number does appear again to be in the triple digits.”
“The only way we are going to bring our numbers back down is either an immediate full-court press on all cases — tracing and testing on active cases and isolating them,” Green said, “or if the cases continue in the triple digits, the state of Hawaii will have no choice other than widespread shutdown — which will be extremely painful and nothing that I want to put people through.”
Green said the state is at a crossroads now, and “this week is the last week to get the numbers under control without having to take dramatic measures.”
“If we see another week of triple digits, the only sensible thing to do is to have a two- to four-week shutdown with only essential work occurring to keep ourselves alive,” he said. “It certainly makes the opening of schools problematic and any trans-Pacific travel problematic.”…
SA: Hawaii tallies record 207 new coronavirus cases after missing data over weekend deflated counts
read … With coronavirus cases spiraling, Lt. Gov. Green says statewide lockdown might be only way out
Summer School Tied to Six COVID Cases
SA: … DOE officials last week revealed to news media that six cases of COVID-19 had been reported since June 26 in connection with summer school, with each involving either a student, an employee or service provider. In such cases, DOE notifications go only to individuals directly affected. The state Health Department, meanwhile, takes the lead on publicly reporting individual positive cases, in compliance with laws on privacy related to schools and health.
The state’s chain of responsibility aside, this sort of muted reporting, which largely leaves the public in the dark — in the absence of media inquiry — undermines public confidence. The DOE and DOH must craft a more candid communications protocol through which parents are quickly notified about the basics of COVID-19 cases by way of email and text messages….
read … Schools need clear COVID-19 guidance
Hawaii's Tourism Industry Has Ground To A Halt, Taking State Revenue Down With It
NPR: … Hawaii is facing a potential budget shortfall of more than $2 billion. In the span of two months, the state's economy went from having the lowest unemployment rate in the country to one of the highest….
read … Hawaii's Tourism Industry Has Ground To A Halt, Taking State Revenue Down With It
Hawaii County Bill 179: PRP, Carpenters Union Try to Block Affordable Modular Housing
HTH: …At issue is an appendix to Bill 179, a 197-page consolidation of building, plumbing, electrical and energy codes to create a streamlined process replacing numerous permits with just one construction permit. The County Council has scheduled final reading of the bill Wednesday, but council members have sponsored several more amendments before it gets its last vote.
Affordable housing advocates support the concept as a way to put more homeless or potentially homeless families into housing more cheaply and quickly. The factory at Shipman Business Park can produce two modules weekly, at the cost to the consumer of under $100,000 for a two-bedroom home….
The factory built housing appendix is a statewide code that’s been in the building code since 2012 and is being used on Oahu and Kauai to create affordable communities to house homeless families. But it’s become controversial after Hawaii County consulted with HPM over the past two years to make the code more workable.
(Translation: The Statewide building code text effectively blocks affordable modular housing for single family residences. Hawaii County is about to change that. PRP is fighting to keep housing expensive.)
“HPM Building Supply has positioned itself to build (factory built homes) and worked closely with the County of Hawaii Building Division for the last two years to develop and implement policies that will fast-track FBH,” said Christopher Delaunay, government relations manager for the carpenter-backed Pacific Resource Partnership in a letter to the editor of the newspaper. “While they were developing Bill 179 and FBH policies, members of the public were left in the dark on how the bill came together.”
(Translation: You peasants must pay more for housing so union carpenters will have more jobs. If you don’t like it, move to the mainland.)
Fujimoto described the consultations with the county as a collaborative process focused on solving a problem. Because modular housing is a new concept in the county, it doesn’t fit the old construction code and adaptations needed to be made, he said….
(Translation: PRP wrote the statewide code to obstruct modular housing thus keeping housing costs high. If Hawaii County breaks the pattern, other counties may follow.)
Meanwhile: Pushing Overpriced Hu Honua Electricity, PRP, ILWU Trying to Buy Big Island Council Seat
read … HPM touts modular housing as controversial bill comes up for final reading
Proposed Hawaii Island Tree-to-Electricity Saga Enters New Phase
IM: … Hu Honua BioEnergy LLC proposed clearcutting unspecified Hawai`i Island forests, perhaps including invasive vegetation, and perhaps importing wood, and then burning the material to generate "clean" electricity. Hu Honua now calls itself Honua Ola BioEnergy (HOB).
Many people thought that the saga ended when state regulators dismissed the proceeding in July 2020. But the process merely went into a new phase dealing with a new motion by Hu Honua asking the Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its ruling….
Meanwhile: Pushing Overpriced Hu Honua Electricity, PRP, ILWU Trying to Buy Big Island Council Seat
read … Proposed Hawai`i Island Tree-to-Electricity Saga Enters New Phase
Large Discrepancy in Reported Union Campaign Contributions
ILind: … there were large differences depending on whether I looked at the union/PAC data or the candidates data.
For example, according to Civil Beat, the Hawaii Laborors’ PAC contributed $101,200 to candidates during the period January 1-July 24, 2020.
But candidates only reported receiving $62,000 in contributions from the union’s several related political committees. That means that 39 percent of the union’s contributions were not disclosed in the candidates reports.
So I took a closer look at the Laborers Union report. It turns out the union made most of their contributions (46 of 52) on July 15, 2020. Most candidates reported receiving the union contributions within a few days, well before the July 24 reporting deadline. But some candidates did not, and that perhaps is the explanation of what happened to the other 39%.
The state’s campaign spending law provides all campaign contributions and other campaign funds “shall be promptly deposited in a depository institution.”
Unfortunately, “promptly” is not defined, so its hard to tell whether some campaigns are just a bit tardy in getting their contributions into the bank….
read … An unexpected twist when following the labor union money
My mail-in ballot was rejected…so I’m voting in person
GH: … I tried voting by mail but my ballot was returned by the office of elections with a note saying my signature did not match with the signature they had on file. My first thought was that I may have signed my middle name, or my middle initial, or not…and the therefore the sample they have on file did not match. Upon investigation, I discovered my return envelope and my wife’s return envelope had inadvertently been mixed up and we signed the wrong envelope.
So…since I did not want to just guess, take a chance and re-sign, and re-mail…I went down and voted in person. While in theory today is the final day to put your ballot in the mail, I’m encouraging everyone to consider voting in person ….
read … My mail-in ballot was rejected…so I’m voting in person
Plaintiffs seek judgment in Maunakea Access Road lawsuit
HTH: … The lawsuit, filed in February by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, argues the departments of Transportation and Land and Natural Resources have used the more than 65 acres of land around the Maunakea Access Road illegally and without providing compensation for decades.
According to the complaint, the state failed to obtain authorization from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands or the Hawaiian Homes Commission to build the Maunakea Access Road on DHHL land in 1964. Therefore, subsequent use of the land has been unlawful, and the DHHL has failed in its duties to act exclusively in the interests of its beneficiaries, the lawsuit argues….
Debunked: DHHL-HDoT: Joint Statement on Mauna Kea Access Road
Meanwhile: Anti-Telescope Activists at UC Regents Meeting
read … Plaintiffs seek judgment in Maunakea Access Road lawsuit
Oceanit Schemes for COVID Subsidy Money with Copycat Saliva Test
SA: … Hawaii’s Oceanit Laboratories has developed a “spit in cup” test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that can be done at home, gives results in three to 10 minutes and will cost about $20. (HINT: It looks just like this one being used in the UK.)
Within the next few weeks, The Queen’s Medical Center plans to start human clinical trials of the test, called Assure-19, having received a green light from its institutional review board last week, said Dr. Todd B. Seto, the center’s director of academic affairs and research.
Patrick Sullivan, CEO and founder of Oceanit Laboratories and author of “Intellectual Anarchy: The Art of Disruptive Innovation,” said a cheap, easy-to-administer, fast test is needed to open Hawaii’s economy….
If the Queen’s clinical trials are a success, he said, Oceanit will seek rapid approval from the FDA and to raise enough money to start manufacturing tests in Hawaii, stimulating the local economy and ensuring enough tests for island residents and visitors while distributing the rest worldwide.
In addition, the National Institutes of Health has selected Oceanit to compete in its $1.5 billion “Shark Tank”-esque Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics competition aimed at accelerating the development of quick, accessible COVID-19 tests….
Reality: Britain has been using saliva tests for months now.
read … Oceanit Subsidy Hunt
ACLU: We made you close the insane asylums, now we will force you to stop arresting crazy people when they commit crimes
SA: … Most arrests are for crimes of poverty and homelessness, for substance abuse and mental health issues — things the criminal legal system handles poorly….
(Simple Solution: Reopen the insane asylums. Put the crazy people back inside.)
We know mass incarceration is not working because our recidivism rate is at 60%, meaning over half of people released from jail will return within three years.
(So lets move that up to 100% by not arresting them in the first place.)
read … Hawaii residents ready for a reformed criminal legal system
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