Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted February 27, 2021
Missile Defense Agency to Reopen Public Scoping for the Homeland Defense Radar – Hawaii EIS
COVID Relief includes $70 million for Rail
KITV: … Additional funding is set to make its way to Honolulu as Congress works to pass the newest COVID-19 relief bill. Included in the bill is a $70 million grant expected to go to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) rail project….
Schatz, who was recently appointed Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee, secured funding for the rail during House discussions of the bill.
“This critical $70 million of additional federal funding will enable HART to continue working toward its critical path construction goals,” said Lori Kahikina, Interim Executive Director and CEO for HART. “We are very appreciative of the work of Senator Schatz in securing these extremely important funds for the rail project. It is such an honor for us to have the support of the Senator and the support of the entire Hawaii congressional delegation.
The federal funding is expected to help the rail project overcome a recent shortfall in local tax revenue as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
“These additional federal funds are extremely important for the rail project,” added Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “We applaud Senator Schatz and the Hawaii Congressional delegation for the many ways they are helping the people of Hawaii during this challenging time.”
The Senate is expected to vote on the bill in the upcoming week….
read … $70 million secured for Honolulu rail project in latest COVID-relief bill
If Honolulu Wants to Keep Homeless Lunatics out of Jail, We Will need a Lunatic Asylum
CB: … In Alameda County, California, which started a modified version of CAHOOTS last year, the crisis workers respond alongside police officers. That collaboration is important for the safety of the mental health responders, according to Karl Sporer, the county’s emergency medical services director.
(We skipped most of the article which advocates copying homeless policies from Portland, Seattle, SF, and NYC—all notable failures.)
“My concern is everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of trying to take PD out of this equation, and there will be people who will get hurt who work for me,” he said.
Some mental health advocates in Honolulu also expressed support for the CAHOOTS concept but were concerned about crisis responder safety.
“It’s definitely a good option to explore,” said Alicia Rodriguez, a former HPD psychologist who is now in private practice. “The hard thing is it can go from zero to 60 really quick and a crisis worker isn’t comfortable with that.”
Another challenge in Honolulu is the lack of stabilization facilities and affordable housing for people in crisis, according to several advocates. So even if crisis workers were able to calm people down and get them to accept help, there are few places to bring them for long-term care.
“We don’t have anywhere to take them,” said Kumi Macdonald, executive director of the National Alliance for Mental Illness Hawaii. “There really are no stabilization beds. There really is no place for them to go … If we don’t have a stabilization center, we can’t really do this project.”
(HINT: You closed the insane asylums 50 years ago. And never built the so-called ‘community assisted treatment’ centers. Now the lunatics cycle between street, jail and emergency room. Thanks a lot.)
CAHOOTS’ strength is in being a facilitator for people in crisis, Black said. But without a place to bring people that will address their needs, the program would fail.
“The only reason that CAHOOTS is as successful as we are keeping folks away from jail or out of the hospital is because we have a network of other resources in our community to rely on,” Black said.
“If we didn’t have those other resources available, we would just be helping cycle people through the hospital, and folks would still be going to jail. If a community like Honolulu is really considering mobile crisis (response) inspired by CAHOOTS, there also really needs to be an evaluation of what resources are lacking in the community for folks in crisis.”…
read … Here’s What Happens When Social Workers, Not Police, Respond To Mental Health Crises
Ige Again Withholds Funds from Commission Planning to let Lots and Lots of Criminals out on to the Streets
SA: … Two years ago the Legislature passed what was hailed as major corrections reform: It placed the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state’s jails and prisons, under the oversight of a five-member commission (Designed to let Lots and Lots of Criminals out on to the Streets.)
The commission was given the power to inspect and monitor correctional facilities, investigate complaints, report findings to the public and shepherd in broad reforms, transitioning the state from a punitive to rehabilitative correctional system.
(In other words: Let Lots and Lots of Criminals out on to the Streets.)
But since enactment of Act 189 in July 2019, the Hawaii Correctional Systems Oversight Commission still lacks a salaried administrator to lead those efforts, and likely won’t have one anytime soon. Gov. David Ige declined last year to release $330,000 in funding to allow the all-volunteer commission to hire staff, a decision several commissioners at the time said they learned about only after reading an August 2020 story in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser….
(Good.)
This year Ige has again decided not to fund the position. Mark Patterson, the commission’s chairman, told the Star-Advertiser that he wasn’t aware that the funding was being withheld again until the newspaper contacted him Friday.
(Good.)
The Attorney General’s Office had requested $369,250 in funding for four commission staff for the next two fiscal years, beginning in July. But Ige rejected the request, budget documents show…
(Idea: Use this to compensate crime victims.)
SA: Correcting Corrections in Hawaii
read … Ige again withholds funding for corrections oversight staff
HSTA Member Charged with Rape of Child in Kihei, Extradited to Face Child Molestation Charges in Oregon
MN: … Lawrence Schumacher, 67, had his Maui case dismissed Friday so it wouldn’t interfere with his extradition, said Deputy Prosecutor J.W. Hupp.
The dismissal was without prejudice, so the charges could be brought against Schumacher again.
He was arrested in August on a Maui County grand jury warrant charging him with continuous sexual assault of a minor and three counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child under age 14. The offenses occurred between September and December 2019, according to the indictment.
Schumacher posted a $200,000 bail bond to be released before he was arrested Feb. 16 in the Oregon case. A grand jury in Clackamas County, Ore., indicted him Dec. 4 on charges of first-degree sexual abuse and third-degree sexual abuse, according to court documents.
In the Oregon case, Schumacher is charged with committing a sexual offense in 2015, while he was a schoolteacher, by rubbing the inner thigh of a child under age 14, according to a motion filed in court by Hupp.
The motion said the Maui case alleged that Schumacher “committed sexual offenses, while in the position as a schoolteacher, by rubbing the inner thigh of a child under the age of 14.”
Schumacher had been a teacher at Kihei Elementary School but is no longer employed there, officials said.
After Schumacher was arrested and held without bail in the Oregon case, his bond was surrendered in the Maui case.
At a 2nd Circuit Court hearing Wednesday, Hupp said the Oregon case was going forward first because it would be handled more quickly than the Maui case. Trials in sexual assault cases are being conducted within four months in Oregon, Hupp said….
read … Kihei man to be extradited to Oregon on child sex charges
Legislative News:
Corona Virus News:
QUICK HITS: