COVID: Public is paying the price for government mismanagement and active cover-up
Caldwell Announces More COVID Restrictions--Targets Non-Economic Activity
Republican Legislative Candidate Wanted for Quarantine Violation
How I Beat Homelessness by Working
Former CIA Officer Arrested and Charged with Espionage
Donna Leong submitted Secret Resignation over a month ago—Caldwell Admin Lied About it
CB: … In a letter to council members dated Monday, the mayor said he is appointing Acting Corporation Counsel Paul Aoki to hold the job permanently….
Messages left with the mayor’s office and Leong’s attorney Lynn Panagakos were not returned on Tuesday. However, the mayor’s office shared a copy of Leong’s resignation letter dated July 13.
In it, she states she would retire effective Aug. 1.
“I had hoped to return to work to continue my service to the people of the City and to retire upon the expiration of your term,” she wrote. “Your recent actions make clear that this is no longer an option, and, thus, I submit this letter informing you of my retirement without waiver of my rights under the law with regard thereto.”
She did not specify what she meant by Caldwell’s “recent actions,” and Caldwell Communications Director Alexander Zannes did not respond to request for an explanation.
The city’s top civil attorney had been on paid leave since news broke that she received an FBI target letter, identifying her as someone about whom the feds have “substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice….
As of May 1, the city had Leong use her accrued vacation days as she transitioned to unpaid leave. The mayor’s office never explained the rationale for that transition….
Civil Beat asked Zannes last month if Leong had resigned, and he indicated that she had not – even though she had already submitted her resignation over a week prior.
“Donna Leong is currently on leave without pay and is using her accrued vacation leave,” Zannes said on July 23….
SA: A new corporation counsel, at last
SA: Mayor Caldwell asks Honolulu City Council to confirm acting corporation counsel to permanent appointment
read … Caldwell Files To Officially Replace Corporation Counsel Under Investigation
Hospitals see encouraging signs that COVID-19 surge is slowing
HNN: … The number of people hospitalized in Hawaii with COVID-19 has more than doubled since the first of the month, triggering concerns about hospital capacity.
On Tuesday, 204 patients were hospitalized statewide. That’s up from 75 on August 1.
Despite the increase, healthcare experts say they’re seeing signs the surge may be slowing.
Officials say it appears the rate of infection is starting to drop a bit, likely because of restrictions and closures on Oahu that went into effect earlier this month.
It’s positive news but officials warn the state isn’t out of the woods yet. In fact, plans for field hospitals are being discussed in preparation of another potential surge….
read … Hospitals see encouraging signs that COVID-19 surge is slowing
Ige to extend eviction moratorium
HTH: … “I will be issuing the 12th supplemental emergency proclamation in the next day or so, and that supplemental proclamation will extend the moratorium on evictions,” Ige said. “…We are trying to help those who cannot make payments to support them in staying in the accommodations they have.”
The moratorium, first ordered on April 17, had been extended multiple times, with the latest order set to expire Aug. 31. Ige mentioned how the state has promoted programs in the interim to help keep renters and landlords afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We continue to work with the landlords as well as the financial institutions, in some instances they are mortgage evictions, so that we can support those who are behind in their rent payments and mortgage payments in a way that can avoid evictions,” Ige added….
read … Ige to extend eviction moratorium
Parents stunned after Nanakuli charter school disenrolls more than 270 students
HNN: … A Nanakuli Charter School was enjoying a boom in online enrollment this fall due to the pandemic. But the Ka Waihona o ka Na’auao Public Charter School is now turning away hundreds of those students.
Monday was the school’s first day of instruction. It was the same day the school told the parents of more than 270 students that it didn’t have the approval to teach their children….
Under its contract with the Hawaii State Public Charter School Commission, the school is allowed to have about 650 in-class students and 100 students in its blended online and home school program.
But Ka Waihona’s principal Kalehua Krug said the school mistakenly thought the commission gave the okay to expand its blended program in March when many state schools were opting to go online.
“So, we kept on enrolling utilizing the understanding that we had the flexibility,” he said….
Fall enrollment at Ka Waihona’s blended online and home school program swelled due to the pandemic.
Parents said the blended approach allowed them to protect their children from in-class exposure to the virus and it provided them with the resources to home school their children….
SA: Union says Hawaii students and teachers should telework
read … Parents stunned after Nanakuli charter school disenrolls more than 270 students
About 40% of Oahu Community Correctional Center inmates tested for coronavirus are positive
SA: … Of the 474 inmates tested since Aug. 11, 199 have received positive results. That’s about 42% of those tested.
Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda reported last week that OCCC had 968 inmates on Thursday, so the 199 positive results represent about 20.6% of the total population….
Under orders issued by the Hawaii Supreme Court, about 30 inmates who are (most recently) at OCCC due to petty misdemeanor or misdemeanor convictions are (without regard for past convictions) expected to be released by today (until they are inevitably rearrested for new crimes.) Most of the roughly 270 inmates who fall into those categories do not qualify based on the court’s criteria because they have tested positive or are awaiting test results, Deputy Public Defender Jacquie Esser said….
Under a separate order issued by the High Court, judges are expected to determine by Monday who among the several hundred OCCC felony category inmates qualify to be released….
Will Caron, communications director for the Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, said local media outlets “did have an impact in creating this false (accurate) narrative by amplifying some of the false (true) statements like the prosecutor were making.”
That had an impact on public perception, “which in turn contributed to the premature termination of the program and now we’re in this situation,” Caron said.
(REALITY: If these criminals had not been released, they wouldn’t have been able to get COVID and bring it back to OCCC after getting rearrested for new crimes. The prisoners are purposefully trying to get COVID so they can get out.)
read … About 40% of Oahu Community Correctional Center inmates tested for coronavirus are positive
Cluster of COVID-19 cases linked to shelter in Iwilei grows to 35
KITV: …The total number of COVID-19 positive cases at the Institute for Human Services (IHS) went up from 20 to 35 within the past week.
To help prevent the spread of the virus, it's revamped it's men's shelter in Iwilei into a temporary quarantine center….
read … Cluster of COVID-19 cases linked to shelter in Iwilei grows to 35
Where is the state’s Board of Health when we really, really need it?
ILind: … Last year the legislature, in its infinite wisdom, decided to do away with the Board of Health, which had been around for more than a century.
HB898 SD1 (2019) abolished the Board of Health, which had been established to advise the health director on any matters within the department’s jurisdiction.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Della Au Belatti, House Majority Leader, and Health Committee Chair John Mizuno. An identical measure was introduced in the Senate by Stanley Chang (“by request”)….
One thing apparently forgotten along the way. A public board at the top of a department may become the primary access point for concerned members of the community, and a critical avenue for holding a complex agency accountable to the public.
That was the point made by two people who testified on the Senate version of the bill.
“Eliminating the Board of Health will lead to less transparency of the Department of Health and less accountability,” one person noted in opposing the bill.
A second person wrote:
“To have the department of health decisions made by one or two people is leaving grand decision making in a vacuum of thought. The department of health needs a sounding board and a committee to keep as a voice of reason and understanding of complex issues.”
In hindsight, their concerns appear spot-on….
Even before passage of HB898 SD1 eliminated the Board of Health, it had been gradually starved and allowed to wither away. Vacancies on the board were not filled, until eventually it became a ghost board on the top of the Health Department’s organizational chart….
read … Where is the state’s Board of Health when we really, really need it?
HGEA to Help Harry Kim’s Son Become Fire Chief?
HTH: … An irked Mayor Harry Kim appeared Tuesday before a County Council panel and withdrew his nomination of a union representative for a seat on the Fire Commission after denouncing a process he said became politicized.
At issue was Kim’s appointment of Scott Collins, the Hawaii Island division chief for the Hawaii Government Employees Association. The nomination prompted a letter of opposition to the council Public Safety Committee from Fire Chief Darren Rosario, who plans to retire Nov. 1 and, in written testimony, objected to Collins’ confirmation based on what he saw as a conflict of interest.
Rosario noted in the letter that the Fire Commission is charged with hiring and supervising the fire chief as well as hearing citizen complaints about Fire Department personnel, some of whom are represented by HGEA, which endorsed Kim’s reelection bid. He said a further conflict of interest is created because Kim’s son, Capt. Garrett Kim, is an “eligible candidate” for the position of fire chief.
“The perception of an HGEA union official being appointed to a county commission by its endorsed candidate can create unintended reproach or discredit upon the county, its fire department and the fire commission,” Rosario said in his letter.
Rosario added that Kim’s son being a possible candidate for chief “would be a direct conflict of interest and creates a less than desirable perception and undeserving gossip toward that candidate. There should be no connection between county administrative government and a union official during an important task such as the selection of the next fire chief.”…
read … Kim withdraws Fire Commission nominee: Selection of HGEA rep draws controversy
Feds Revamp Ala Wai Flood Control Plan in Gambit to Bypass Community Opposition
CV: …The Army Corps of Engineers has overhauled its flood-control plans for the Ala Wai watershed, scrapping the upland detention basins that previously sparked much of the local opposition to the project.
In their place, the Corps looks to install culverts and bypass channels to guide fast-moving flood waters swiftly out to sea. It’s no longer looking to hold back their torrential flow in the upland valleys.
It’s an abrupt shift in strategy that local Corps officials outlined in a new “engineering documentation report” released Monday. The changes were necessary, the Corps said, largely due to shortcomings it found in its original modeling compared to the more recent work.
“Significant differences were observed between the two modeling results,” the report states.
That has local critics expressing more concerns about the flood-control effort. They question how the original, $345 million design could proceed so far based on insufficient data and modeling.….
SA: Ala Wai flood control plan gets major overhaul
SA Editorial: Better control for Ala Wai flooding
Background: Ala Wai? Corps of Engineers has Long History of Corruption and Cost Overruns
read … Feds Revamp Ala Wai Flood Control Plan After Community Opposition
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