August 25, 2022 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Thursday, August 25, 2022

August 25, 2022 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 6:10 PM :: 1955 Views

The cost of employment in each state--Hawaii 7th Highest

Chief Justice Seeks Public Comment on Oahu Judicial Nominees

Ige Seeks Comment on First Circuit Court Nomination

Hawaii County Police Update Permitting Process for License to Carry Firearms

Antivaxxer Election Suit Paves Way for Elimination of Republicans from General Election Ballot

SA: … (antivaxxer) Gary Cordery, who finished third in Hawaii’s Republican race for the gubernatorial nomination, has filed a complaint with the state Supreme Court about the ballot format and the fact that voters must choose a single party slate. He’s surely not the first to find fault with the format; some would prefer a more open primary.

But the way to fix that is not to simply advance all candidates to the general election; it’s to rewrite the rules properly as a constitutional amendment for voters to ratify….

(Clue: If every party is not guaranteed a General Election ballot line, only Democrats will compete in the General Election. The result will be further enhancement of the One-Party System. This has already happened in California. Now it is a Trumpster Republican who is so stupidly introducing this opportunity for Hawaii Democrats to further tighten their monopoly.) ….

SA: Hawaii gubernatorial candidate challenges primary election results

read … Antivaxxer Election Suit Paves Way for Elimination of Republicans from General Election Ballot

Signature issues on Hawaii primary ballots left thousands of votes uncounted

SA: … Despite lower participation in the recent election, more voters on Oahu mailed or dropped off ballots that weren’t counted because of nonmatching or missing signatures on ballot return envelopes compared with the 2020 primary election when mail-in voting became the predominant form of voting in Hawaii under a 2019 decision by state lawmakers.

According to the Elections Division of Honolulu’s Office of the City Clerk, which verifies ballot envelope signatures for Oahu voters, about 2,500 ballots received during the recent election ultimately weren’t counted because of nonmatching or missing signatures. That compared with about 1,700 two years ago and represented a 47% jump….

The increase is surprising given that about 47,000 more people on Oahu voted in the 2020 primary election — 275,744 compared with 228,522 two weeks ago.

Under state law, election officials had to inform all voters who submitted such defective ballots. Many of these voters corrected deficiencies prior to Aug. 13, though they had five business days following the last day of voting, which was Monday, to cure such defects.

On Aug. 14 there were still roughly 3,700 Oahu ballot envelopes with signature problems, and about 1,200 were cured by Monday’s deadline. That cut the number of ultimately uncounted Oahu ballots to about 2,500.

The 1,200 cured ballots will be added to final election results being processed by the state Office of Elections….

On Hawaii island, the county reported receiving 53,382 ballots for this year’s primary election. Of those, 1,007 had a signature problem and 412 of those deficiencies were corrected by voters after being contacted. That left 595 ballots uncounted.

Maui County reported having 1,085 ballots with signature defects as of Aug. 13, and 611 of those weren’t counted while 474 were cured between Aug. 13 and Monday’s deadline….

read … Signature issues on Hawaii primary ballots left thousands of votes uncounted

Aloha to the coal plant, but are we ready for the transition?

SA: … “we’ve traded one fossil fuel for another, at least in the short run.” Despite the efforts of Hawaiian Electric (HECO), not enough independent power producer (IPP) solar projects have been completed to offset the lost capacity. HECO assures us that “the lights are going to stay on,” but in the short run by burning thick, black fuel oil. And bummer, HECO also announces a 7% surge in electricity bills.

Readers should understand the difference between capacity and generation. To replace generation from the 180 megawatt (MW) coal plant will require 720 MW of solar capacity. The reason? Whereas the coal plant could produce 180 MW of power 24 hours a day, solar panels produce nothing at night and about 50% of capacity during daylight hours. The national average is 24.7% “efficiency.” Hawaii projects are probably not much different….

At last year-end, after more than 10 years, 14 utility-scale solar projects had been completed on Oahu, with 196 MW of capacity. Coupled with nine additional projects in development as this year began, the combined 549 MW of capacity will only replace 76% of coal plant generation. It will likely take several more years of additional projects to offset the plant’s closure.

Based on 2021 electricity consumption, 72.8% of Oahu’s electricity comes from oil and coal. In order to achieve “100% renewable,” the equivalent of closing down almost four more coal plants will be required. Where will all of this renewable power come from? We previously discussed the likely end of additional utility-scale wind projects on Oahu, leaving solar as the only logical option to achieve 100% renewable.

Achieving reliable electricity from utility-scale solar projects plus large battery farms will simply be cost-prohibitive. The $200 million battery farm under construction at Kapolei will store less than 3% of one day’s demand. To have enough battery capacity to make solar power reliable for several overcast days will cost billions.

Land use implications are significant. At a typical 7 acres per megawatt of capacity, replacing the coal plant with solar farms will take more than 5,000 acres….

With PUC’s approval, HECO is undertaking a major yearlong process to seek bidders for “firm renewable” energy projects. The expected contenders — biomass, biofuel, hydrogen — will likely be much more expensive than a clean-burning fossil fuel. And whether biomass and biofuel are really “carbon neutral” (rationalized by assuming offsetting CO2 absorption during feedstock growth) is controversial, to say the least….

read … Aloha to the coal plant, but were we ready for the transition?

Katherine Kealoha Accuses Feds Of Ruining Her Three-Way ‘Marriage’ With Cocaine Photo Allegation

CB: … In a handwritten filing submitted in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Kealoha argues that Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat “destroyed” her marriage when he alleged in court records that she once posed for a photo with cocaine on the desk of her husband, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha – a photo she says doesn’t exist. …

The filing is part of a larger effort by Kealoha to reverse her 2019 conviction of framing her uncle, Gerard Puana, for a crime he didn’t commit: stealing her mailbox.

In a motion filed last month, Kealoha accused her former attorney, Earle Partington, of failing to file a notice of appeal in the case within a 10-day time limit of her 2020 sentencing. Katherine was sentenced to 13 years behind bars. She is currently serving her sentence at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

Partington signed a declaration, attached to Kealoha’s filing this week, stating that he had been working with his client on an appeal when they lost contact because of a Covid lockdown at the prison. Kealoha alleges she only learned in March of this year that the appeal wasn’t filed.

Kealoha ultimately wants a federal judge to allow her to appeal the mailbox case on the basis that her court-appointed attorney, Cynthia Kajiwada, was ineffective and that if not for unspecified errors by Kajiwada, Kealoha may have been acquitted, Partington said in an interview.

But Partington, who is no longer Kealoha’s attorney, said he doesn’t think she stands a chance. Kealoha had a one-year window after her sentencing to raise concerns about her counsel, Partington said, and she didn’t.….

HNN: In new court filing, Katherine Kealoha blames prosecutor for ruining her marriage

2021: Prosecutors: To win a bet, Katherine Kealoha once put a line of cocaine on her husband’s HPD desk

read … Katherine Kealoha Accuses Feds Of Ruining Her Marriage With Cocaine Photo Allegation

Blueprint For Hawaii Housing? UH Project For Students And Faculty Is Going Up At Relatively Little Cost

CB: … A Hawaii lawmaker says the public private housing partnership could be a model for state-owned affordable rentals ….

read … Blueprint For Hawaii Housing? UH Project For Students And Faculty Is Going Up At Relatively Little Cost

Setbacks in the plan to monitor wastewater for Covid-19 show that it's still business as usual at the DOH.

CB: … Hawaii does not do this wastewater program despite Department of Health promises and missed deadlines. After many delays, what was supposed to happen this summer is now, according to DOH, delayed indefinitely.

Here the tagline is “all you have do is wait.”

And wait and wait. Plus, the plumbers don’t tell you when they will show up. Not even a phone call.

Ho hum, that’s just the way it goes.

Enough with the ho-ing and the hum-ing. The Covid wastewater situation is the latest example of the state Department of Health’s flawed response to the pandemic. It’s way too much like the DOH has often operated….

read … Setbacks in the plan to monitor wastewater for Covid-19 show that it's still business as usual at the DOH.

The New 988 Mental Health Hotline Is Off To A Busy Start In Hawaii

CB: … Since the introduction of the 988 line, CARES has faced a greater volume of calls. According to the health department, the call center averaged 324 calls a day within the first 11 days of 988’s implementation compared with an average of 282 daily calls between June 1 and July 15.

That has complicated the ability to dispatch mobile crisis response teams to reach the callers in a timely manner.

Staffing shortages over the past six months have made it more difficult for the teams to reach callers within the 45 minute timeframe stipulated in DOH contracts, Danielson said. She added that, in some cases, outreach teams have been flown to Kauai because coverage has been especially strained on the island….

read … The New 988 Mental Health Hotline Is Off To A Busy Start In Hawaii

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