27 Candidates Fail to File Financial Disclosures
Bill to Address Disparities in Data Collection for U.S. Territories
Industrial toilet paper supply issues resulting in park bathroom modifications
Maui: 'Yes In My Backyard'
Affordable Housing: Bribery Has Been Going on For Years
SA Editorial: … “They enriched themselves to the tune of more than $10 million,” Connors said.
What’s more troubling are indications that it was an inside job that went undetected for years. Rudo was a Hawaii County affordable-housing specialist who allegedly helped his co-conspirators push through the necessary paperwork.
While the indictment said that Rudo got involved in the conspiracy in December 2014, federal authorities only learned of it in 2018 — initially from reporting by Environment Hawaii, a Hawaii island newsletter that covers environmental issues.
The case is reminiscent of the recent scandal involving the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP), in which five employees past and present were charged with accepting bribes to accelerate building projects. Some familiar with the system said those charges are symptomatic of a larger culture of pay-to-play at DPP….
read … Editorial: A housing scandal on Hawaii island
Jewish leaders condemn Kahele campaign’s use of meme resembling Hitler
HNN: … An already heated Democratic gubernatorial primary now includes an allegation of hate speech.
Members of the local Jewish community say Congressman Kai Kahele’s campaign should apologize for using a caricature they said resembles Adolf Hitler.
“To us, that kind of a meme is totally, totally unacceptable,” said Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky of Chabad Hawaii. “It’s anti-Semitic and has no place in Hawaii or anywhere anywhere in the country.”…
given the likeness of the image to Hitler and the history of Jews being forced to show their papers in Nazi Germany, local Jewish leaders said Kahele’s use of the meme is offensive — especially when it’s used against a Jewish opponent….
This is not the first time Green has been attacked with anti-Semitic messages.
Green’s father is Jewish, his mother was raised Christian and several of Green’s aunts and uncles are Holocaust survivors. During one of many anti-vaccination rallies, protesters placed posters attacking Green’s Jewish heritage outside of his downtown apartment.
“There’s no words that can express the hurt,” said Krasnjansky. “There’s so many survivors, many Holocaust survivors are alive today. And surely children of Holocaust survivors living here in Hawaii.”…
read … Jewish leaders condemn Kahele campaign’s use of ‘Mr. Men’ meme, citing it resembled Hitler
Kalima case lawyers calculate damages for Native Hawaiians in $328M settlement with the state
HPR: … Damages are being calculated for more than 2,700 Native Hawaiians in the Kalima case — a class-action lawsuit filed by Native Hawaiians waiting for homestead land. Now, lawyers for the claimants are working to ensure the $328 million settlement approved by the state gets to those who deserve it.
Honolulu attorney Tom Grande, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the Kalima case, is in the process of compiling all the data he’s accumulated over the last 23 years to calculate his clients’ claims.
“Mainly their application and award dates or the start and ending dates of their damages,” says Grande. “That’s been a very arduous task, there’s been lots of records that are missing. But we hope to have that process completed by the end of September.”
Class members will then receive notices on their application date, award date, and the amount of their damages. All of this culminates in a final approval hearing set for April 2023.
But for 1,100 class members who have died since the lawsuit was filed in 1999, Carl Varady, co-counsel in the Kalima case, says it’s a matter of tracking down their relatives ….
read … Kalima case lawyers calculate damages for Native Hawaiians in $328M settlement with the state
Catch n Release: Maui Meth Heads Stealing 41% more cars this year
MN: … “Why is it the bad guys don’t have to suffer, but the good people do, the people that work for a living to pay for what’s theirs. I know it’s happening all over, but when it happens to you, it really hits a nail.”….
Through July 28, police said 511 vehicles were reported stolen in Maui County this year, for a nearly 41 percent increase compared with the 363 vehicles stolen during the same period last year.….
When he got there and saw the truck, Prentice called 911 and used his wife’s car to pin the truck in. He said a police officer arrived quickly, followed soon after by two others. The 31-year-old man who had stolen the truck was passed out in the passenger seat, Prentice said, and a methamphetamine pipe and syringe were found in the vehicle.
The man was arrested but posted bail the same day.
The solid steel base plate under the truck had been removed and its muffler was cut on the bottom, Prentice said. Because the truck is diesel, “there’s no valuable metals in there,” he said….
The $84,000 truck is still being repaired, with damage estimated at $16,000 so far, Prentice said. He has rented a truck to use for his business, Pacific Greens Turf….
When Driggers again called police after getting her burned license plate the afternoon of June 2, officers arrived and a crowd gathered around the Wili Pa Loop area in Wailuku. She saw three boys walking by and recognized them from social media posts showing them in her neighbor’s car, which was stolen the same morning from the same parking lot as hers.
When police approached the boys, she called out to one, “Why did you take my car? Why did you do this to me?”
The boy responded, “I’m sorry. It’s all messed up. I didn’t burn it,” Driggers said.
She said the boy was handcuffed but wasn’t arrested. An officer later told her the teenager was admitting to taking the car belonging to her neighbor, who declined prosecution after the car was returned undamaged.
Asked about Driggers’ stolen car case, Maui police spokeswoman Alana Pico said, “At this time, no arrests were made, as the suspected offenders are juveniles.”…
As for reports that stolen cars are being burned in the Piihana area, Pico said: “Unfortunately, fires in the Piihana area are not uncommon and cannot be directly linked to stolen vehicles but are being investigated.”
On the afternoon of July 24, the Fire Department responded to a 2-acre fire off Piihana Road that burned an area of brush containing abandoned vehicles and trash.
Photos from the fire showed vehicles grouped in one area, which some said wasn’t the case a few weeks ago.
“I don’t understand it,” Driggers said. “Why are they not doing anything about it? There’s burned cars everywhere.”…
read … County sees 41% increase in stolen cars this year
Homeless ‘Do Not Want’ Housing--threaten more crime
SA: … The area gets cleaned every three or four months, Nahuku said, and the pattern is always the same: Everyone leaves and then rebuilds their structures after police and parks crews leave.
Nahaku wanted to find housing but did not want to go to a traditional shelter or the city’s Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons, or HONU, a triage shelter made up of tents to help transition people off the street and into more stable housing.
(By eliminating five words, I have made this an honest sentence.)
HONU was the city’s answer to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled that cities cannot enforce laws that require homeless people to move off of public property, if there is not enough shelter space available….
Regardless of what they’re called, out on the street the city’s “sanitation” actions have grown increasingly aggressive, said Kapiolani “Sweetie” Nahaku, who is one of the leaders of the Lualualei Beach Park encampment and has lived there for the past five years.
The result has led to more thefts by the homeless, Nahaku said.
“That’s why they get so much crime,” she said….
(Translation: Let us live on the streets or we will attack you.)
(QUESTION: How would we know the difference?)
read … Cleanup of Waianae homeless encampment isn’t sweep, city says
Hawaii students finally returning to classrooms without COVID-19 restrictions
KITV: … It's been a long time since Henry Guzman's students were able to sit next to each other.
The sixth-grade science teacher is looking forward to "more collaboration just because with social distancing in the classroom it's kind of difficult to do science labs so kind of excite them about that."
For the first time in two-and-a-half years, 160,000 Hawaii public school students will be returning to the classroom next week without having to mask or social distance….
And Jarrett Middle School says it will have safety protocols -- students will still be in pods at recess and go to lunch by grade level.
But quarantine won't be required when there's a potential exposure in school….
read … Hawaii students finally returning to classrooms without COVID-19 restrictions
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