DLNR Evaluates Mauna Kea Management Plan
HDOT Highways Division Annual Report Released
Despite sexual misconduct suit, city Enterprise Services director returned to work
HNN: … After more than four months on paid leave after a sexual misconduct lawsuit was filed, city Enterprise Services Director Guy Kaulukukui returned to work in September but with limited duties.
The attorney for the alleged victim blasted the city for not conducting an investigation before bringing him back.
“It is a slap in the face of my client and all survivors of sexual assaults. It’s really, really disgusting,” said Jon Jacobs, attorney for the woman who filed her suit anonymously.
The woman, now 50, is a former Kamehameha School student who alleges that during the mid-1980s Kaulukukui groomed her and sexually assaulted her when he was her teacher and track coach.
She is suing Kaulukukui and the school….
The woman’s attorney shared letters with Hawaii News Now that Kaulukukui wrote to her in the mid-1980s showing that the two had a close personal relationship.
“It’s clear he’s purchasing her clothes, he’s asking her for pictures, he is wishing sugar coated dreams, it’s unbelievable ... These letters end with him saying love Guy,” said Jacobs.
While there’s nothing overtly sexual in the letters, the woman’s attorney said they show that Kaulukukui was grooming her for sex.
“These letters are written contemporaneously with the sexual assaults by Mr. Kaulukukui against my client,” he said.
Kaulukuki’s last official day at the city was Friday because Mayor Caldwell’s term ends Saturday.
read … Despite sexual misconduct suit, city Enterprise Services director returned to work
A Higher priority Than You: COVID vaccine to be available early this year for inmates
HTH: … According to Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz, staffers in the state’s jails and prisons are included in Phase 1B of the state’s vaccinations plan, and those who elect to receive the noncompulsory two-shot vaccination are set to do so early this year….
“We hope that all our staff and the inmates will consider it in their best interest to get the vaccine when it is offered to them,” Schwartz said.
According to Schwartz, vaccinations will be available to inmates after staff are vaccinated.
As of Wednesday, 457 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at Oahu Community Center, with 448 listed as recovered, according to the DPS website. One inmate was listed as currently infected and was in isolation there.
At Halawa Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison with a special needs facility, 450 inmates have tested positive, with 227 inmates actively infected and 219 in medical isolation. HCF reports 226 inmates have recovered.
And at Waiawa Correctional Facility, a minimum-security prison, 213 inmates have tested positive, with one hospitalized and the remainder listed as recovered.
Staff at those facilities also have been affected by the virus. At OCCC, seven staff are actively infected, while 96 were listed as recovered. At Halawa, 28 staff were reported actively infected as of Tuesday, while 34 have recovered.
Three staffers at the Women’s Community Correctional Facility on Oahu and one at Kauai Community Correctional Facility have tested positive, but all have recovered, according to DPS. No inmates tested positive at those facilities.
On the Big Island, one inmate and one staffer at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo tested positive. Both have since recovered….
(IDEA: No vax for inmates who already had COVID.)
read … COVID vaccine to be available early this year for inmates and staffers of state’s jails and prisons
Lawsuit: DOE Failed To Help Hilo Student Who Was Harassed And Bullied
CB: … The federal lawsuit is directed against the Hawaii department and board of education for failing to intervene and stop the nearly yearlong bullying…. The bullying escalated to such a degree that the minor’s mother, identified as Jonelle Fukushima in the complaint, pressed charges against the students after one incident and filed a temporary restraining order against the kids, which a judge granted later that year….
“This girl was in band, in athletics — she had to quit all that,” Green said on Thursday, adding the teen entered therapy to cope with the bullying, suffered failing grades and transferred to a new school….
read … Lawsuit: DOE Failed To Help Hilo Student Who Was Harassed And Bullied
Hawaii’s ban on sunscreens and plastic goes into effect New Year’s Day
HNN: … On New Year’s Day, Hawaii’s ban on the sale of certain suncreens goes into effect. Starting Friday, suncreens with oxybenzone and octinoxate will be illegal to sell….
The ban does not apply to wearing them, or the sale of any cosmetic products with those chemicals.
On Oahu, a ban on plastic utensils and containers will begin after a 90-day education period, which starts Friday. The second phase of the measure bans polystyrene foam and will go into effect in 2022.
And on Kauai, disposable plastics will no longer be allowed at all county properties and facilities.
That includes bottled water, straws, cutlery and plastic bags….
Exemptions will be made for some essential items like trash bags and emergency products.
SA: Hawaii’s new sunscreen law to protect coral reefs begins in 2021
read … Hawaii’s ban on coral-harming sunscreens goes into effect New Year’s Day
Licensed to Work
HB: … If you are like most people, you don’t need a license to work. But more and more occupations require one – in the last 20 years, the number of occupations and professions that require licenses in Hawai‘i increased from 46 to 52….
read … Licensed to Work
2020 Year in Review
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