Who will be left to pay OHA Rent? Legislators Recommend Removing All Observatories from Maunakea Permanently
State Closing COVID Quarantine Facilities -- Says Delta, Omicron too Fast
Navy has been Blocked from Flushing out Water Lines for Two Weeks
HNN: … The Navy, Army, EPA and state Health Department agreed on the process Friday, gathering at U.S. Pacific Fleet for a photo opportunity….
(Do you think affected residents wanted them to wait for a big photo-op?)
As early as Sunday, 21 granular activated charcoal units will start filtering 25 million gallons of water neighborhood by neighborhood.
(Flown in by Antonov.)
“We’re going to start the first set of flushes perhaps as soon as Sunday and so from 17 days after that, that community could have restored safe drinking water,” said Rear Adm. Blake Converse, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The Navy says the order of the neighborhoods depends on engineering factors.
The Health Department says the treated water will be taken to wastewater treatment plants.
Hawaii News Now reported on Navy water being flushed on to streets early in December, and the state subsequently ordered the military to stop. State enforcement staff will be overseeing the process to make sure treated water isn’t flushed onto streets or down the drain this time around….
(Translation: In order to keep a small amount of fuel out of the ocean, the State demanded the Navy leave it in peoples’ homes. This helped exacerbate the sense of crisis.)
“We don’t want to send the effluent from the flushes from the main distribution lines directly into the storm drains so we are going to get a permit to send the filtered effluent,” said Converse….
(CLUE: Diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel evaporate within 24 hours when spilled on the ocean.)
read … Following state’s OK, Navy effort to flush 25M gallons of water could begin this weekend
Kahele: Fuel Spill Caused by Operator Error
HNN: … Large amounts of leaking fuel. Some spills caused by human error. Understaffing. Those are some of the shocking revelations made to U.S. Rep Kai Kahele during a recent high-level tour of the Navy’s Red Hill underground fuel storage tanks.
…The Navy says a Nov. 20 spill likely caused the contamination of its waterline while Lau says an earlier pipeline break on May 6 could have been “catastrophic.”
Kahele says the that spill and other events were caused by human error.
“May 6, basically that was the result of operator error and inadvertently pushing the right buttons, not following procedures which caused a rupture of a line with thousands of gallons of jet fuel,” he said.
Kahele said he was also shocked to learn only four full-time workers are stationed at Red Hill….
read … Kahele details ‘disturbing’ revelations gleaned during tour of Red Hill fuel facility
Hawaii records 3 new coronavirus-related deaths, 707 additional infections
SA Dec 18, 2021: … Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count by island includes 622 new cases on Oahu, 22 on Hawaii island, 32 on Maui, 22 on Kauai, and nine Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state.
State health officials have been including probable infections in its total case counts. Probable infections include people who never received a confirmatory test but are believed to have had the virus because of their known exposure and symptoms or because of a positive antigen test….
Health officials also said today that, of the state’s total infection count, 3,417 cases were considered to be active. Officials say they consider infections reported in the past 14 days to be a “proxy number for active cases.” The state’s total number of active cases increased today by 575….
read … Hawaii records 3 new coronavirus-related deaths, 707 additional infections
A media tidbit from the new book about the Kealoha corruption case
ILind: … I’m in the middle of former federal defender Alexander Silvert’s book, “The Mailbox Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Greatest Corruption Case in Hawai‘i History.” It is a very good read!
The book is available from the publisher, or as an Apple Book or in Kindle format….
At an early stage, Silvert describes his decision to approach several reporters.
He hoped that by asking questions and reporting the story, they could get Louis Kealoha on the record talking about the mailbox caper in ways that could trip him up later….
Silvert had been struck by Kealoha’s cautious tone when talking about the video clearly showing HPD Sgt. Darren Cachola chasing and hitting his girlfriend in a Waipahu restaurant back in 2014, when he said the tape didn’t necessarily tell the whole story, could have been doctored or edited, and that a rush to judgement would be a mistake.
The contrasted with Kealoha’s quick accusation that the man caught by in a blurry surveillance camera video taking the Kealohas’ mailbox was actually Puana.
“Hypocrite” was the word Silvert used to describe Kealoha’s divergent reactions to the two videos….
read … A media tidbit from the new book about the Kealoha corruption case
Former HPD recruit: Injury caused by embattled commander years ago was a red flag
HNN: … “I remember we were in dojo and we were all sitting in the mat room,” the woman said, adding that Gerona told her she was going to be part of the demonstration for a leg strike.
“I expected probably like a 10% to 20% strike, and it felt like full force.” …
Her recruit classmate, Paul Torres, who is currently a Honolulu police officer, also remembers the incident. “You could see the pain in her face,” Torres said, describing the woman as the smallest in the class. “He could have easily taken someone bigger.”
It’s clear, what happened still bothers him today. “I was angry and I knew I couldn’t do anything about it. None of us could do anything about it,” Torres said….
read … Former HPD recruit: Injury caused by embattled commander years ago was a red flag
6 men accused of violent takeover of OHA headquarters indicted on multiple felonies
HNN: … An Oahu grand jury has indicted six men after an attempted takeover at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs two years ago.
Sadhu-Bhusana Bott, Jordan Faletogo, Ene Faletogo, Rheece Kahawai, Remedio Dabaluz and Peter Laban were charged with kidnapping, assault and terroristic threatening.
The members of “The Kingdom of Atooi” wore badges and law enforcement clothing when they allegedly tried to takeover OHA headquarters on Nimitz Highway in 2019.
The group turned themselves in and were released on bail Friday pending trial….
ILind: Occupation of OHA offices in 2019 finally leads to felony indictments
PDF: 1CPC-21-0001525 Indictment
Background:
read … 6 men accused of violent takeover of OHA headquarters indicted on multiple felonies
Data shows repairs to Koko Crater trail significantly reduced emergency rescue calls
HNN: … David Nixon, the president of the Kokonut Koalition, said Honolulu Fire Department data over the past five years was used in his research.
The analysis showed a 70% decrease in rescue calls….
According to court records, this wasn’t the first time or the last. A Honolulu police sergeant who worked at the academy with Gerona filed a lawsuit a year later ― in 2009.
DeeAnn Koanui pointed out in her complaint that a “number of women were subjected to harsher treatment than their male counterparts in the dojo.”
In a letter to internal affairs in 2009, Koanui also wrote, “I want it to be known that Lt. Stephen Gerona is targeting female recruits.”
She said it is an ongoing problem that she had already reported….
read … Data shows repairs to Koko Crater trail significantly reduced emergency rescue calls
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