Kahele on Federal Recognition: “My role is trying to figure out what the future path looks like….”
Why the Kapolei Casino is a Trojan Horse
DPP seeks comments on Primary Urban Center plan ‘sneak preview’
COVID: Ige Approves Caldwell's 10th Emergency Proclamation
Small Business COVID Resource Guide
Hostage Exchange: Ige, Kauai Trade 'Resort Bubble' for Local 'Safe Travels'
''A virus like any other virus" Auditor Slams DAGS COVID Cleaning
City and County of Honolulu releases inaugural Climate Action Plan
Hawaii Officials Promise Changes to Seawall Policies
Finalists named for Honolulu County appointments to Board of Regents
Ige: Federal COVID Relief Won’t Prevent Tax Hikes
CB: … Hawaii Gov. David Ige acknowledged that while the relief package helps, it won’t be enough to save government workers from summertime furloughs due to what’s estimated to be a $1.4 billion budget shortfall for each of the next four years.
“The new federal funding is welcome, but it’s not sufficient to cover the state’s projected revenue gap,” Ige said in a statement to Civil Beat.
“It did provide support that allowed us to delay furloughs, but we still need to get direct aid to state and local governments in order to avoid significant program cuts and the impacts that would have on state services and employees.”….
read … Tax Hikes Coming
Dear Mayor-Elect Blangiardi: Please Add Transparency To Your Agenda
CB: … Blangiardi the mayor-elect has been less available, speaking through press releases and spokespersons and often declining comment altogether such as on troubling developments within the Honolulu Police Department….
(IDEA: Mayor can direct County departments to comply with UIPA despite Ige’s Emergency Declaration suspending it.)
(WISDOM: Ige suspended UIPA but he did not order government departments to disregard it.)
read … Dear Mayor-Elect Blangiardi: Please Add Transparency To Your Agenda
“Lands on Maunakea are some of the best managed and protected lands in the entire state.”
HTH: … An independent assessment of the University of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan has found success in some areas and failure in others.
The seven-month review conducted for the Department of Land and Natural Resources by Honolulu public relations firm Kui‘walu Consulting assessed UH’s Office of Maunakea Management’s success in carrying out the goals of the Comprehensive Management Plan, which was implemented in 2009….
The evaluation conclusion found that material for Maunakea staff and visitors lacked context for the land’s significance to Native Hawaiians, that OMKM has been slow in achieving other goals such as the decommissioning of summit telescopes, and that OMKM has failed to adequately communicate with stakeholders and the community about what takes place on the mountain at any given time.
On the other hand, the report noted “We heard many comments that the cultural and natural resources on the state conservation lands on Maunakea are some of the best managed and protected lands in the entire state. The area is clear of trash, the invasive species are being removed not only by OMKM but volunteer groups, and the OMKM Rangers to ensure public safety on Maunakea.”…
“The results show overall solid management by UH on the protection of the mountain’s natural and cultural resources, but lacking in the equally important work of relationship building and meaningful inclusion of many people who care deeply about the mauna,” said DLNR Chair Suzanne Case….
read … Mixed results for Maunakea management, DLNR review finds
Nearly $70M spent statewide through Hawaii Restaurant Card program
PBN: … The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism shared final figures on the program:
Number of cards issued statewide: 148,576
Number of eligible displaced workers assisted: 142,504 (about 6,000 cards were not activated)
Total dollars spent statewide: $69,982,631
Assisted more than 4,200 restaurants, bakeries, caterers, farmers, fishermen and restaurant supply businesses statewide
Generated more than 1,770,000 transactions
Resulted in an Economic Multiplier Output for the state of $151,233,083
State tax revenue generated: $8,858,929
Jobs created/retained: 1,162
Officials noted that the remaining $5 million left on the cards after Dec. 15 has been applied to the unemployment insurance loan.
read … Nearly $70M spent statewide through Hawaii Restaurant Card program
Katherine Kealoha got a 13-year sentence, but she’ll be released in 2030. Here’s why.
HNN: … Katherine Kealoha was detained between the verdict and sentencing.
“So she gets that 17 months credit automatically,” said Silvert.
There is no parole in the federal system but Silvert said there is credit for good behavior, which could also be factored in. An inmate can get 54 days a year taken off the sentence as an incentive to be a model prisoner….
Lawson served time in the federal system and said there are also a lot of classes that inmates can take to reduce their sentence even more. His 24-month sentence for drug crimes was reduced when he took an intense, in prison drug treatment class.
Kealoha has already completed a similar course while locked up.
“There are a lot of incentives that the government tries to give you with the goal in mind, go out there and this time make yourself better. Be useful to society and don’t come back,” Lawson said, adding t’s also likely Kealoha will actually be out of prison months earlier than the July 2030 scheduled date.
About six months before release, an inmate is often transferred back to their home state to a halfway house to prepare for release.
Silvert said a federal prisoner usually spends about 80% of their sentence behind bars….
read … Katherine Kealoha got a 13-year sentence, but she’ll be released in 2030. Here’s why.
Hawaii’s UPW-Controlled Prisons: When Inmates had guns
CB: … Shimabuku was originally convicted of manslaughter for a 1958 stabbing outside the former Pink Elephant Bar on North Beretania Street, and in the years that followed was twice found guilty of first-degree murder in two separate shootings.
He was sentenced to two life terms without possibility of parole in those cases, and was imprisoned continuously in state or federal correctional facilities for more than 56 years, from 1964 until he died on Dec. 4.
Shimabuku was no criminal mastermind, but he was a violent survivor in an era when Hawaii’s prison system was so wildly dysfunctional that inmates had access to guns. One of Shimabuku’s murder convictions was for shooting a fellow convict to death in the hobby shop of the former Hawaii State Prison….
read … Criminal Finally Croaks
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