COVID Debt Spending Has Brought Capitalism to an End
Hawaii has the fewest job postings per unemployed worker in the country
A: … the state's climb out of its pandemic-sized hole is moving more slowly….
Its jobless rate peaked near the highest level of all states. It's since recovered some, but remains the highest in the nation.
Hawaii has the fewest job postings (0.7) per unemployed worker in the country, according to ZipRecruiter data cited by the Wall Street Journal. (For comparison, there are more than five open gigs per jobless person in Vermont.)
Friday's employment report will be make or break for the state of the labor market recovery that stalled in April….
Hawaii has recouped among the smallest share of payrolls compared with pre-pandemic times. Only New Mexico has fared worse by that measure, according to ratings agency Fitch….
The job recovery is trailing behind the tourism rebound, according to the University of Hawaii.
"The available labor force has been reduced by outmigration, ongoing virus concerns, and the need to supervise children until schools reopen," researchers wrote last month — noting payrolls won't fully recover for several more years.
"We expect the full recovery of our tourism industry will be beyond 2024," DBEDT director Mike McCartney said in a release last week.
Blame the slow return of international visitors — who tend to spend more daily on average than U.S. ones, McCartney said.
read … Hawaii has the fewest job postings (0.7) per unemployed worker in the country
After largely disappearing from public view, HPD chief quietly ends 35 years of public service
HNN: … Since Ballard’s announcement April 9, records show she has missed close to two weeks of work including seven full sick days, two partial sick days and one vacation day.
She also hasn’t attended any police commission meetings since getting the results of her review.
In a statement, an HPD spokesperson said that the chief “has undergone two medical procedures, one of which has taken a longer time to recover from than expected.”
It went on to say: “(Ballard) has been working to transition Assistant Chief Vanic into his new role as Interim Chief of Police, allowing him to take on a more prominent role in decision making and representing the department while she was still in office.”…
read … After largely disappearing from public view, HPD chief quietly ends 35 years of public service
Meth-Heads Die: Lets Blame the Police
CB: … Dinnan was one of 34 people killed by HPD officers since 2010, according to a database compiled by Civil Beat. An analysis of the data shows that, by several measures, Honolulu is near the middle of the pack in the number of such killings and shootings per capita.
But one difference stands out. In a far higher percentage of cases than for the U.S. as a whole, those killed in encounters with HPD officers died from physical restraint or asphyxiation, as Dinnan did, according to a comparison to database of police killings nationwide….
Rene Velleses was swinging a machete in a shopping plaza when he was shot by police in 2010. After Aaron Torres called the police in 2012, paranoid and hallucinating, police pinned him to the ground in a struggle and he died. In 2013, police responded to a domestic disturbance and confronted Victor Rivera, diagnosed with schizophrenia, wielding a mango picker. He was shot nine times.
After a seven-hour standoff in 2018, during which he stabbed a police dog with an arrow, Steven Allan Kaluahinui Hyer was shot and killed by an HPD officer.
Several of the cases involved subjects who were acting erratically and showing signs of mental distress. Many were under the influence of meth, cocaine, alcohol or other drugs. Some deaths occurred after long standoffs. In other cases, police said the subject was coming at them in a car. People have died at the hands of the police in every corner of Oahu….
read … HPD’s Use Of Lethal Force Is Near The US Average. But There’s Far More To The Story
Bum Coordinator Flies back to Mainland After Kauai Closes Last Homeless Tent City
TGI: … “Maybe this is a blessing in disguise,” Torrie said, looking out at Lydgate Beach Park, her home for over a year.
Monday marked the last day of the county’s Shelter in Place program at this campsite that provided a place with access to running water, electricity and bathrooms for over a year during the coronavirus pandemic.
Napuanani “Pua” McKeague has acted as a resource to many at the encampment, keeping track of over 200 people who’ve utilized the park throughout its operation. Monday, as she walked the site, she took note of her people.
“Ninety-three-plus souls, children, kupuna, mentally and physically challenged with nowhere to go,” McKeague said. “What have we accomplished?…”
McKeague and Torrie teamed up to provide counseling sessions to residents of the park, helping those navigate resources or handle their emotions.
“We wanted to leave this place better than how we found it,” Torrie, who will be flying back to the Mainland after the closure (there’s an accomplishment!), said. She noted that the group was more like a family community….
HNN: Police arrest 6 illegal campers at Kauai park after they refuse to leave
read … Lydgate Beach Park closes to houseless
National Report Spotlights Hawaii’s Need For Suicide Prevention
CB: … Hawaii had more survey participants say they had been thinking about suicide during the pandemic than any other state ....
read … National Report Spotlights Hawaii’s Need For Suicide Prevention
Most Hawaii inmates refusing to get COVID-19 vaccination
SA: … Lt. Gov. Josh Green atributed the latest COVID outbreak among Hawaii’s inmate population to prisoners’ ongoing reluctance to get vaccinated, while warning that unvaccinated correctional officers, as well as health care workers, should be prohibited from working on the front lines.
Some 71 inmates and one staff member at the Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo have tested positive for COVID in recent days even though the state prioritized vaccinating inmates when the vaccine rollout began in December.
The state Department of Public Safety told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser earlier this month that it doesn’t track vaccination rates among inmates or staff, but on Monday Green told Spotlight Hawaii that only 25% to 50% of inmates are vaccinated….
(Because doo-gooder lawyers told them they could get out if enough criminals catch the disease.)
read … Most Hawaii inmates refusing to get COVID-19 vaccination
Hawaii flu season sees only 1 death amid coronavirus precautions
SA: … This year’s flu season has been virtually wiped out amid COVID-19 restrictions and safety precautions. While several hundred Hawaii residents typically die every year from the flu, there has only been one death this season, an adult over the age of 80 who died in October, according to the state Department of Health….
Nationally, there were only about 600 flu-related deaths during the 2020-2021 flu season, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, the flu has killed about 12,000 to 61,000 people a year since 2010.
While the flu has largely disappeared since the pandemic hit, the coronavirus still managed to spread throughout Hawaii, so far killing about 500 residents — a figure that surely would have been much higher if the state hadn’t enacted restrictions to limit gatherings and residents hadn’t widely adopted mask and distancing requirements.
“It does appear that COVID is more contagious than the flu,” said Kemble. “And that is part of the reason why, even with all of those precautions, it’s harder to stamp out, whereas the flu actually seems to be pretty responsive to those measures.”…
read …Hawaii flu season sees only 1 death amid coronavirus precautions
UH-Hilo: International student population dips, will rebound
HTH: … According to Mellon, international students typically make up about 7% of the UH-Hilo student body, but in the 2020-21 academic year that number dropped to about 6%, “which wasn’t, in my mind, a huge significant drop.”
Pre-pandemic, the number of international students totaled about 250, compared to 200 in the school year that just ended….
read … UH-Hilo: International student population dips, will rebound
Judge orders new hearing on Maui water permits
SA: … A Circuit Court judge says he’s prepared to revoke Alexander &Baldwin’s annual permit allowing it to divert up to 45 million gallons per day from dozens of streams in East Maui.
Judge Jeffrey Crabtree, in a ruling issued Friday, ordered the Board of Land and Natural Resources to hold a contested case hearing about the revocable permit and said he would cancel it June 30 unless he sees a formal request to stay his order.
The Sierra Club asked the Land Board in November to hold a contested case hearing on Alexander &Baldwin Inc. and East Maui Irrigation’s request to continue using about 33,000 acres of public land and divert 45 million gallons per day from East Maui streams for the year 2021….
The board denied the request and approved the continuation of the permits, prompting an appeal by the Sierra Club.
On Friday the court concluded in an interim decision that the board violated the nonprofit’s due process rights and ordered a contested case hearing as soon as practicable.
“The court’s order means that for the first time, the Board of Land and Natural Resources will be required to make A&B fulfill its burden of proof before receiving any permits to use public resources,” Sierra Club’s attorney David Kimo Frankel said in a statement….
HPR: Alexander & Baldwin Under Scrutiny in Maui Water Rights Court Case
MN: Circuit Court said contested case should have been held before the state land board
SA Editorial: Water case about good stewardship
read … Judge orders new hearing on Maui water permits
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