Former Hawaii Senate Majority Leader and Cocaine Dealer Sentenced to 40 Months in Federal Prison
Bodycam Video Rep Matt LoPresti DUI Arrest
Ala Wai: Sales Seminars for Next Boondoggle
Rate Hike: HECO to burn $190M 'Hardening Grid' for Global Warming
Poll: Green 48% Kahele 16%, Cayetano 15%
HNN: … Some 48% of Hawaii voters say they support Green.
Meanwhile, 16% said they’d back Kahale and 15% said they planned to vote for Cayetano.
Roughly 1 in 5 of those polled were still unsure who they planned to support.
“I’m struck by how consistent Green’s lead has been throughout this whole race,” said HNN political analyst Colin Moore, director of the UH-Manoa Public Policy Center. “Ballots are going to be mailed out in just a few weeks so there’s not a lot of time to close this lead if Kai Kahele or Vicky Cayetano is going to do it.”…
According to the poll, Green also has strong support across Hawaii’s largest ethnic groups, including those who identify as Caucasians, Japanese and Filipinos. Some 35% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders said they support Green compared to 32% who say they’d back Kahele, who is Native Hawaiian.
Green, who is an ER doctor on Hawaii Island, got the most support from Hawaii County.
Kahele, who is from Hawaii County, saw his strongest support on Kauai.
And Cayetano got the most support from Maui….
PDF: Poll Readout
WE: Absentee congressman trailing in Hawaii Democratic gubernatorial primary poll
CB: Civil Beat/HNN Poll: Green Enjoys 30 Point Lead Over Kahele, Cayetano In Gov Race
read … Civil Beat/HNN poll shows Green with commanding lead in Democratic race for governor
Congressional District 2 Race: Anti Rail Tokuda Vs. Union Owned Branco
CB: … Tokuda is well-known in Hawaii politics and has already mounted two statewide campaigns, including for lieutenant governor in 2022, while Branco is a political newcomer who is just completing his first two-year stint in the state House of Representatives….
Tokuda spent 12 years in the Legislature, where she was the chairwoman of a number of key Senate committees, including Labor and Education and Ways and Means. She’s also a close confidante of U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who she worked for when Hirono was lieutenant governor.
Tokuda, 46, sponsored legislation that established the Executive Office on Early Learning, which helped launch the state’s first publicly funded pre-kindergarten program in 2014. She also introduced a constitutional amendment that voters passed in 2016 to use the state’s surplus revenue to pay down debt on general obligation bonds and retirement benefits for public employees.
In 2017, she found herself on the outs with Democratic leadership when she pushed back on a proposal to extend the general excise tax to help pay for Honolulu’s cash-strapped rail project that today is nearly twice the cost originally projected. As a result she was ousted from her leadership role on the committee.
That grudge carried over to her bid for lieutenant governor in 2018, when a super PAC linked to the Hawaii Carpenters Union and other pro-rail business interests spent more than $1 million to back her opponent, state Sen. Josh Green….
Related: Patrick Branco Part of 'Gay Victory' Plan for CD2
read … Tokuda vs Branco
Record number of Hawaii election observers, new ballot tracking planned
SA: … A record number of volunteer election observers are planning to monitor mail-in ballots as they’re opened and processed across the state, while voters this year also have new tools to track their ballots before they arrive at counting centers and as they’re being tallied.
The number of volunteers for the Aug. 13 midterm, party primary — more than 300 on Oahu and a couple hundred more across the neighbor islands at each county’s counting center — rivals the 2020 November presidential election, which was surrounded by accusations of voter fraud and tampering across the country.
The Hawaii volunteer observers will have access to “everywhere within the counting center,” Aulii Tenn, section head of counting center operations for the state Office of Elections, said Tuesday.
read … Record number of Hawaii election observers, new ballot tracking planned
Hawaii reports 20 additional COVID deaths, more than 4,000 new cases in past week
HNN: … Hawaii on Wednesday reported 20 additional coronavirus deaths and 4,381 new cases in the past seven days.
That compares to 5,362 cases and 15 additional deaths in the previous week….
SA: Hawaii COVID-19 cases keep falling but experts warn subvariants could bring another surge
read … Hawaii reports 20 additional COVID deaths, more than 4,000 new cases in past week
Hawaii schools issue warning to parents over embattled basketball coach
HNN: … Local schools are issuing a warning to parents about a basketball coach who faced a lawsuit — that has since been settled — alleging sexual assault.
Schools, including Punahou and Kamehameha, sent a letter about Dwayne Yuen, who currently work as a coach with the City High Basketball program.
Former Punahou students — including Ilima Lei Macfarlane — filed a lawsuit against Yuen and Punahou alleging sexual assault in the early 2000s.
He was a basketball coach at the time.
The Hawaii Association of Independent Schools distributed a letter from lawyers asking parents to quote: “Carefully consider whether your female students should participate in this program,” referring to City High.,,,
Meanwhile, both City High and Yuen responded to requests for comment.
City High wrote: “Dwayne Yuen has been associated with our organization for three years as a head and assistant coach. He is a valued member of our organization. We support Dwayne as a continued part of our staff.”,,,
read … Hawaii schools issue warning to parents over embattled basketball coach
More terminally ill patients are choosing aid-in-dying, but experts say obstacles remain
HNN: … Hawaii’s “Our Care, Our Choice” Act went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, giving terminally ill patients the right to use prescribed end-of-life medications. Twenty-eight people died that year after being prescribed the medications.
In 2020, the figure was 34.
And in 2021, according to new state numbers, there were 49….
Twenty-one doctors wrote prescriptions for those 49 patients last year. Fourteen were on Oahu, three on the Big Island, three on Maui, and only one on Kauai….
A bill that would decrease the waiting period to 15 days, allow doctors to wave it for patients who might not make it that long, and allow advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants to help died in the last legislative session….
SA: Medical aid in dying gaining more acceptance in Hawaii, report finds
read … More terminally ill patients are choosing aid-in-dying, but experts say obstacles remain
City allows preschool atop deteriorating parking structure to stay put for a year
HNN: … Seagull Schools’ Early Learning Center in Downtown Honolulu was set to close in February after the city revealed the parking structure it was built on is crumbling.
But on Tuesday morning, Mayor Rick Blangiardi granted a year-long reprieve.
He also promised extra inspections to ensure the safety of students and teachers over the next 12 months…
Engineers say decades of water damage is deteriorating the underground parking structure the school was built on.
“We don’t think there’s any threat of collapse right now,” Blangiardi said….
News Release: Seagull Schools’ Early Education Center to remain in current facility until end of 2022-2023 school year
read … City allows preschool atop deteriorating parking structure to stay put for a year
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