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Tuesday, August 24, 2021
August 24, 2021 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 7:18 PM :: 2790 Views

Oahu Workplace Survey: 1 in 3 Already Have Vaccine Mandate

Beam-in-the-Eye Environmentalism

City submits revised short-term rental bill to Planning Commission

Pope Francis: "Getting the vaccine is an act of love"

Limit gatherings but don’t curb tourists, Hawaii visitor industry execs say

SA: … “We were obviously disappointed to hear Governor Ige’s remarks today as we’re not aware of any COVID-19 spread-related issues tied to tourism. In fact, all the data suggests that Safe Travels has been the most effective program of its kind in the country and allowed us to get back to work and bring jobs back to our Hawaii economy safely.”

Rafter, who serves on the HTA board, said telling people not to come to Hawaii could have long-term impacts. Instead, he said, the focus should be on telling people, “Please get vaccinated, please be responsible, please wear a mask and please limit your group settings, especially if you are not vaccinated.”…

Yesterday: Ige Tells Tourists to Stay Away -- Admits Most new COVID result of residents traveling off-island

Big Q: What do you think of Gov. David Ige’s call to curtail Hawaii travel through October, due to COVID-19?

ILind: Ige surprises with a call for residents to stay home and visitors to stay away

read … Limit gatherings but don’t curb tourists, Hawaii visitor industry execs say

Defiant Prosecutor Chastises HPD And Judge For Actions In Sykap Case

CB: … At a press conference, Alm chided HPD for allowing the officers involved in the shooting death to write their reports in the same squad room….

Alex Garcia, a retired police lieutenant and former union official, said there is nothing nefarious or unusual about the practice.“You want to make sure you’re accurate,” he said….

The prosecutor also took issue with Judge William Domingo, saying that several parts of the hearing “puzzled and disturbed me,” including the judge’s decision to block an expert witness for the prosecution, a former HPD trainer. …

John Frierson, an HPD corporal who retired in 2018, trained police recruits in Honolulu, including Fredeluces. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Van Marter told the court that Frierson would testify that the officers “did everything in that scenario that they were trained not to do,” including escalating the situation….

Alm said that the officers violated HPD policy. Ultimately, the police chief will determine whether a policy violation occurred and whether the officers will face discipline. Interim Chief Rade Vanic was not available for comment…

SA: Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steven Alm stands by failed attempts to prosecute 3 officers

KHON: Honolulu prosecutor disagrees with judge’s ruling but will not seek further action in Sykap case

KITV: Alm 'disappointed' in Sykap case ruling, but will not continue prosecuting case

HNN: City prosecutor says he was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by ruling in Sykap case

read … Defiant Prosecutor Chastises HPD And Judge For Actions In Sykap Case

Lee Loy hit with ethics complaint: Business owner alleges conflict of interest in building code bill

HTH: … A Kailua-Kona business owner has filed an ethics complaint against Hilo Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy, alleging she has a conflict of interest in voting on recent construction code measures because her daughter works for HPM Building Supply, which could benefit from provisions streamlining inspections of factory built housing.

Joe Belisario, owner of Hawaii Design Group, a degreed draftsman and end user of building codes, alerted the County Council during testimony Wednesday that he filed an ethics complaint that will “directly impact” Bill 44, a rewrite of the county construction code….

Belisario also said Lee Loy should step down as chairwoman of the council Committee on Public Works and Mass Transit, which handles bills submitted by the Department of Public Works, because of a possible conflict of interest.

Lee Loy’s husband, Ian Lee Loy, entered a no contest plea last year to misdemeanor harassment for a July 25, 2019, assault on Neal Tanaka, the county Building Division’s acting deputy chief.

The councilwoman denied in a text message to police in court records that she had a relationship with Tanaka….

Lee Loy characterized the complaint as an attempt at “political leverage.”

Her daughter, Ashley Kapua Aguiar, 32, is senior kitchen and bath designer at HPM, which has an employee stock ownership plan where employees own 100% of the HPM stock.

Aguiar is also Lee Loy’s campaign treasurer…

Lee Loy didn’t disclose her relationship with her daughter during discussions of the bill and amendments that directly impact HPM, as the only factory home builder on the island….

The Board of Ethics will likely take up the issue at its next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 13….

July 9, 2021: Police Corruption Scandals Revenge for Gambling Prosecutions?

PDF: Ethics Complaint

read … Lee Loy hit with ethics complaint: Business owner alleges conflict of interest in building code bill

Hu Honua Electricity Costs 3x other Projects:  Asserts High Price is Irrelevant

IM: … The Public Utilities Commission showed the extremely high price of Hu Honua BioEnergy generated electricity in a chart filed in its July 9, 2020 decision….

According to Hu Honua: “Commission unlawfully and erroneously opens the door to consideration of the “total cost” and “energy and capacity costs” of the Amended PPA in addition to the costs associated with GHG emissions. “

Hu Honua also asserts that its project will reduce greenhouse gases, thus making even the cost of GHG impacts irrelevant.

Thus, according to Hu Honua, the Commission should simply approve Hu Honua so that Hawai`i Island residents can increase the wealth of Hu Honua billionaire investors….

IM: Hu Honua Fighting Public Disclosure of Public Facts

read … Hu Honua Asserts That Its High Electricity Price is Irrelevant

City Council Leaders Urge Honolulu’s Mayor To Find More Quarantine Rooms

CB: … Darrah Kauhane of Project Vision Hawaii knows of people in homeless shelters or in crowded households who tested positive and weren’t able to get into city isolation facilities.

She’s often called to do in-home testing or in-home vaccination for households of 15 to 20 people living in two or three bedrooms.

“There’s no way you can safely isolate if there’s only one bathroom,” she said….

Civil Beat reported on Aug. 10 that Oahu had just 64 quarantine rooms with a waitlist of 30 coronavirus patients. A year ago there were over 300 quarantine rooms….

read … City Council Leaders Urge Honolulu’s Mayor To Find More Quarantine Rooms

Hundreds of National Guard members will continue to aid Hawaii in COVID response

HNN: … President Joe Biden has granted the governor’s request to extend aid from the Hawaii National Guard’s Joint Task Force in providing COVID support for the state.

Officials said there are currently about 550 soldiers and airmen from the Hawaii National Guard who help with various COVID response tasks.

The Guard supports multiple state agencies with airport passenger thermal screenings, administering COVID tests and vaccines, contact tracing, providing outreach to at-risk communities and distributing PPE….

read … Hundreds of National Guard members will continue to aid Hawaii in COVID response

Fewer mainland nurses arrive than were expected as Hawaii’s hospital crisis worsens

HNN: … On Saturday, hospitals admitted 57 COVID patients ― a single-day record.

Meanwhile, a team of relief healthcare workers who arrived from the mainland over the weekend was much smaller than expected.

“It is challenging procuring enough staff because there is so much demand nationally for those travelers,” said Hilton Raethel, head of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.

He said he had anticipated more than 250 traveling nurses and respiratory therapists from the mainland to touch down at Honolulu’s airport but only about 200 showed up.

“Another wave of healthcare workers is expected to arrive the end of this week,” he said.

With the number of active infections in Hawaii now topping 9,300, COVID hospitalizations continue to set new records almost daily.

Eight days ago, there were 300 people hospitalized with the virus statewide.

In one week, that number jumped to 390. And on Monday, it stood at 410.

Who are those requiring hospitalization?

“We know of very few visitors,” said Queen’s Health Systems CEO Jill Hoggard Green. ”The far majority are residents. And they are residents who are unvaccinated.” ….

MN: Relief nurses arrive as Maui hospital sees more COVID-19 patients

SA: Queen’s Health Systems has welcomed 81 medical workers

KHON: COVID patients keep hospitals full on Oahu

read … Fewer mainland nurses arrive than were expected as Hawaii’s hospital crisis worsens

City’s Rental and Utility Relief Program processing 5,000 applications

KHON: … The City’s Rental and Utility Relief Program has been temporarily paused after receiving 5,000 new applications. The break will allow community partners to process applications and distribute funds to landlords and utility companies.

Those who have already started their applications should continue to send their materials using the personalized account they created.

Thus far, the program has helped approximately 7,000 households on Oahu, distributing $58 million in rent and utility support since April.

The program will reopen at a later date….

LINK: News Release

read … City’s Rental and Utility Relief Program processing 5,000 applications

University of Hawaii Welcomes Coeds Back with 14 all-gender restrooms at Manoa campus

SA: … The University of Hawaii at Manoa announced today that there are now 14 “all-gender restrooms” on campus.

These restrooms are available on the the third floor of Hamilton Library, first floor of Kennedy Theater, first floor of Miller Hall, the second floor of the biomedical sciences building, third floor of the architecture building, and several other venues.

UH-Manoa reminded those on campus that they have the right at all UH campuses to use the gendered facility that corresponds to their gender and not one’s assigned sex.

UH has provided all-gender restrooms since August 2016, according to an earlier news release. These restrooms are similar to “family restrooms” that can be found in some shopping malls and airports, and are lockable, with ADA accessibility and privacy.

At Queen Lili‘uokalani Center for Student Services, an all-gender restroom with multiple stalls is available on the third floor.

A map of UH-Manoa’s all-gender restrooms is available at go.hawaii.edu/S9P….

read … Coeds Welcome!

Plan laid out to realign highway away from Laniakea Beach

 

SA: … The state Department of Transportation intends to proceed with a relatively small rerouting of Kamehameha Highway about 50 feet inland from where it exists today alongside Lania­kea Beach.

Construction is projected to cost $12 million and take 24 months starting at the end of 2023 if regulatory approvals, design work and a contract come together without difficulty (pigs fly) …..

read … Plan laid out to realign highway away from Laniakea Beach

13-Time Loser Finally Gets Some Real Justice--From Federal Courts of Course

HTH: … A 44-year-old Hilo man was sentenced last week to 15 years in federal prison for possessing more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson also ordered that Cory George Young be placed on five years supervision after his 15-year sentence….

Young, who had 13 prior state felony convictions, was on parole for a felony drug conviction at the time, and his case was originally prosecuted by the state until the feds assumed it in May 2020 (at which point Young stopped laughing) ….

Do the math: 44 - 18 = 26 / 13 = felony conviction every 2 years since adulthood but still paroled onto the streets by Hawaii Judiciary.

read … Not in State Judiciary

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