Hawaii Lost the Most Construction Jobs Between July and August
"Good intentions are not alone enough"
Ninth Circuit Upholds Planned Pentagon Buildup on Guam
U.S. Territories, Not States, Bear The Scars Of World War II
Transit and the Mania for Density
Caldwell Signs Bills to Delay TVR Registration, Ease Building Permit Requirements
Hawaii Attorney General and Ethics Commission Join Forces to Address Fraud, Waste and Abuse
COVID Count: 110 new cases out of 5,852 tests
“50 to 60 deaths” Expected at Okutsu Veterans Home
SA: … The death toll at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo has risen to 18 as authorities scramble to stop the worst coronavirus outbreak at a Hawaii nursing home.
Health officials finally confirmed 12 COVID-19 deaths at the beleaguered nursing home, bringing the total recorded fatalities due to the outbreak to 15. Three others are pending verification.
“It’s damn near every single resident. It’s kind of scary. It’s very sad. It just seems like it shouldn’t have had to happen. It’s old people dying and old people sometimes dying alone,” said Jackie Gardner, Hawaii island East side long-term care ombudsman. “We are the worst nursing home in Hawaii. We’ll have 50 or 60 deaths from it at the rate we’re going.”
As of Friday, 69 residents and 30 employees had tested positive for the coronavirus — with 28 of the residents being treated in a COVID-19-designated ward of the nursing home and four residents hospitalized at Hilo Medical Center. The hospital reported that 19 residents and seven employees have recovered….
(Editor’s Note: As we explained on Sept 3, these deaths are happening because early COVID patients were not removed from Okutsu. Nursing homes should all be required to transfer COVID patients to a separate facility. Again and again we have seen that COVID at a nursing home produces disaster. The entire state has been turned in side out to slow a disease which mostly kills the elderly, yet this simple precaution is not taken when the disease actually reaches the elderly.)
read … ‘It’s old people dying and old people sometimes dying alone’ Ombudsman for beleaguered nursing home speaks out
1,688 Oahu primary ballots not counted due to missing or mismatched signatures
SA: … A total of 1,688 ballots cast on Oahu for the Aug. 8 primary were not counted because the voter did not correct a missing or initially unverified signature, according to the Elections Division of the Honolulu City Clerk’s Office….
>> 912 ballot envelopes were returned unsigned.
>> 1,821 ballot envelopes were returned with a signature problem requiring clarification (the signature did not match the voter’s signature on file).
>> Of those 2,733 problems, 1,045 were resolved. The resolved ballots were counted.
>> That left 1,688 signature problems unresolved. Those ballots were not counted.
A total of 275,744 ballots were counted on Oahu, according to the state Office of Elections. So signature problems affected fewer than 1% of all the ballots cast on Oahu.
read … Fewer than 1% of Oahu’s primary ballots scratched due to missing or mismatched signatures
Hawaii Supreme Court Considers Petition To Impeach Keith Kaneshiro
CB: … While the court’s forthcoming decision is unlikely to affect the race for prosecutor, it could affect future cases involving electronic petitions….
HNN: Questions renewed over e-signatures in ongoing effort to impeach Kaneshiro
AP: The justices didn't immediately issue a ruling.
read … Hawaii Supreme Court Considers Petition To Impeach Keith Kaneshiro
Special agents check on 95 different rooms of people in quarantine in three different hotels
KITV: … Investigators said they are doing follow up on two rooms because there was no one present….
KHON: Sept. 18, they got a higher volume of reports than usual.
read … Special agents check on 95 different rooms of people in quarantine in three different hotels
Inmates continue to be released from OCCC, HCCC to mitigate COVID-19 spread
KITV: … On Wednesday, Joshua Nelson was released from O'ahu Community Correctional Center. He was behind bars for drug and assault charges.
The state also released one more inmate from the Hawaii Community Correctional Center….
KITV: Effort to test all inmates and staff members at correctional facilities across the state continues Friday
read … Inmates continue to be released from OCCC, HCCC to mitigate COVID-19 spread
Man released from custody 3 times back in jail
HTH: … A 30-year-old Hilo man judges recently released three times from custody without monetary bail despite prosecutors’ objections is back behind bars after allegedly committing more crimes.
Kiky Kikku is charged with burglary during a civil defense emergency, second-degree assault, first-degree terroristic threatening and marijuana possession….
“The fact that some of these guys have been released and are committing other crimes is very disturbing,” Roth said. “There are others besides him.”
On Aug. 31, Kikku was granted supervised release without monetary bail on a misdemeanor assault charge and three counts of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, a Class C felony, by Freitas, according to court records. The prosecutor in the case, Andrew Son, had requested Freitas maintain Kikku’s $16,000 bail in the case.
And in a petty misdemeanor trespassing case, Kikku was granted supervised release despite Son’s objections by Larson on July 7 and on Kikku’s own recognizance on Sept. 8 by Freitas despite objections by Deputy Prosecutor Keyra Wong, after Kikku was arrested on a revocation of terms of release warrant. His original bail in that case was $1,000.
According to court documents filed by police in the current case, Kikku was arrested at about 8:10 a.m. Sunday after an Ohai Street resident reported Kikku had entered his home brandished a knife and told the resident and his housemate “I’m going to kill you.”
One of the men, a 50-year-old, reportedly told police he grabbed a metal rake to try to fend Kikku off, but that Kikku lunged at him and stabbed him under his left armpit. The men reportedly told police they were able to get him out of the house, and Kikku fled on foot….
Court records indicate Kikku was sentenced to five years in prison in 2010 for two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, and had missed court on Sept. 4 for sentencing on charges including second-degree assault, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and resisting an order to stop. His failure to appear led to the revocation warrant.
read … Man released from custody 3 times back in jail
10,000 HPD citations for COVID-19 violations in the last week
HNN: … Wayne and Janice Watanabe, ages 76 and 75, of Hawaii Kai are headed court in November, over a COVID-19 citation at Maunalua Bay. "I took my wife eye doctor. On the way back we pick up food at Rainbows and I came to the Hawaii Kai launching ramp. It's open, not taped off. We went in there, I parked my truck, we sat in there. I didn't even get out of the truck. The police came down. First question was, 'You guys know what the violation was? You're in violation COVID rules.' I ask the cop, 'What are we doing? I'd like to know what we doing wrong.' He started threatening to arrest me," Wayne recalls….
read … 10,000 HPD citations for COVID-19 violations in the last week
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