SHOPO Endorses Sam King for OHA Trustee
Gang Member and Accomplice Sentenced for Waianae Game Room Robbery
Indictments: Choy Paid $2M Bribes to Maui County Environmental Management Director
HNN: … Federal prosecutors Thursday charged the Hawaii businessman at the center of the state Capitol bribery scandal, alleging he also paid about $2 million in bribes to a former Maui official.
Federal prosecutors charged Milton Choy, owner of H20 Process Systems, with a single count of bribery.
They also charged former Maui wastewater official Stewart Stant for receiving a bribe….
Choy is the businessman who provided bribes to disgraced former state Sen. J. Kalani English and ex-state Rep. Ty Cullen, both of whom pleaded guilty….
In the complaints unsealed Thursday, federal investigators said that Choy conducted “millions of dollars” in business with Maui County in the form of non-bid contracts.
A Hawaii News Now analysis of county procurement records shows that since 2012, Choy’s firm received more than 40 non-bid contracts valued at around $20 million….
read … Prominent Hawaii businessman charged in state’s largest public bribery case
HART Planning to use Cracks as Excuse to Keep Rail from Opening
SA: … The severity of damage from hairline cracks on pillars that hold up the rail system’s overhead tracks could delay the launch of paid ridership expected early next year, the head of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program Wednesday.
(REALITY: HART has wildly optimistic ridership projections. They have to hide the reality from the Feds. Keeping rail closed hides the ridership overprojections which underlie financial projections.)
Five rail stations on the west side of the project are affected, with a total of 11 to 12 pillars — or “hammerheads” — involved, Lori Kahikina, HART’s CEO and executive director, told Spotlight.
The cracks were discovered in 2018 and have since “grown” in both length and width, Kahikina said. “You can see it with the naked eye, but probably not on the ground because these are elevated,” she said. “You would have to get up higher and be right there where you can measure it.” She estimated the largest gap at about a tenth of an inch.
Many options remain, Kahikina said, including the possibility that the cracks would still allow for full service with riders, or could require only minor patches to keep out moisture and prevent future damage.
The results of one engineering survey of the damage are expected at the end of this month and will have to be verified by separate engineers from the city’s Department of Transportation Services and others hired by HART.
(Translation: We can make this go any way we want.)
All of the engineers will have to agree on the extent of the damage and how to repair the cracks, Kahikina said. Whether repairs are simple or more complicated, she said that HART cannot turn over the rail project to DTS for passenger operations “until addressed appropriately.”…
(Bottom Line; If HART needs to continue hiding its ridership shortfalls from the Feds, they will use this as an excuse to keep rail from opening. It all depends on whether HART gets the Feds to release the $750M the Feds have been withholding since 2015.)
Related: Rail: Feds Urged to be Skeptical of HART 'Recovery Plan'
read … Start of rail ridership hinges on damage, repairs to pillars
Honolulu Council to consider auditing Department of Planning and Permitting
SA: … The Honolulu City Council is slated to consider a measure to launch a performance audit of the Department of Planning and Permitting to address operational deficiencies.
In a written statement, Council Chair Tommy Waters, who introduced proposed resolution 22-219, said the audit would be tasked with examining “systemic challenges facing DPP,” with its findings allowing the Council to “better assist” Honolulu Hale by “identifying specific policy and budgetary actions” needed to improve DPP operations.
The resolution comes just over a week after DPP Director Dean Uchida resigned from his position, citing strategic differences with Mayor Rick Blangiardi regarding how to reform the department. Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, who had served as DPP’s deputy director, is now the department’s acting director.
“The challenges facing DPP have been present for many years. Given the discussion over the direction of the department, I believe that this audit is an integral way to look at the long-standing problems that have plagued the department, and provide actionable recommendations that the Council can support,” Waters said in the statement….
read … Honolulu Council to consider auditing Department of Planning and Permitting
A Major Overhaul Of Honolulu Land-Use Rules Has Been Quietly Advancing. Now, Some Say Not So Fast
CB: … The wide-ranging bill would change zoning rules for thousands of Oahu properties. But it has gone largely unnoticed until now….
City officials are rewriting a big chunk of Honolulu’s zoning code — the first such effort in decades — raising concerns in many corners, including with City Council Chair Tommy Waters, who is taking steps to slow it down.
The measure would affect a wide range of properties, including agricultural lands, mixed-commercial areas, housing construction, residential treatment homes and agritourism destinations. Bill 10 has drawn hundreds of comments, many critical, as people learn through the grapevine about the proposed zoning changes….
read … A Major Overhaul Of Honolulu Land-Use Rules Has Been Quietly Advancing. Now, Some Say Not So Fast
Homeowners’ Omissions Provide More than $30 Million to Honolulu Treasury
HB: … More than a third of all owner-occupied homes on O‘ahu are not covered by property tax exemptions because owners did not submit the paperwork. You have until Sept. 30, 2022 to fix that oversight….
read … Homeowners’ Omissions Provide More than $30 Million to Honolulu Treasury…
Homeless roadmap: How to waste $10M without ending Homelessness
HTH: … The priorities, set by a diverse group of community members led by OrgCode Consulting Inc., are part of a report called “Strategic Roadmap for Homelessness and Housing,” that the County Council Committee on Government Operations, Relations, and Economic Development will hear at its 2 p.m. meeting Tuesday. The 32-page report can be found on the County Council records website as Communication 986….
Rounding out the list of a baker’s dozen priorities were supporting people with special needs, expanding street medicine, providing storage solutions to people experiencing homelessness, technical assistance with housing development, improving transportation options for people experiencing homelessness and expanding bridge and interim housing options.
Simple Solution: Build 1,000 SROs out of plywood at $2K each and then enforce a vagrancy law. This would actually END homelessness.
read … Homeless roadmap: Permanent housing, detoxification lead priority list
Report: Ethnicities of students, teachers at Hawaii public schools
KHON: … For the 2020-2021 school year, there were 174,704 students attending Hawaii public schools, according to the annual report published by the State of Hawaii Department of Education. There were also 11,627 public school teachers.
The report includes a breakdown of numbers for enrollment, dropout rates, statewide assessment programs and the ethnicities that are self-reported on enrollment forms.
read … Report: Ethnicities of students, teachers at Hawaii public schools
Amid severe shortage of nurses, Hawaii nursing schools reject 100s of qualified applicants
HNN: … While Hawaii’s hospitals grapple with a dire shortage of nurses, nursing schools across the state are rejecting hundreds of qualified applicants.
The reason: There aren’t enough instructors to teach them.
Officials say the number of instructor vacancies has doubled since 2016.
Of the 131 full-time teaching positions at nursing schools across Hawaii, 24 need to be filled….
It’s a career more than 1,500 qualified applicants tried to pursue at nursing schools across Hawaii last year.
But over 800 of those prospective students ― more than half ― never made it to the classroom….
KHON: Senator Hirono explains need for immigrants to address Hawaii’s health care crisis
read … Amid severe shortage of nurses, Hawaii nursing schools reject 100s of qualified applicants
Judge allows murder suspect to travel to Las Vegas
SA: … A Circuit Court judge has granted Ray T.K. Sheldon, awaiting a murder trial in the shooting death of a 31-year-old man, permission to travel to Las Vegas this week.
Sheldon filed a motion Aug. 31 for permission to leave the jurisdiction to watch his daughter play in a volleyball tournament scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Judge Kevin Souza granted the motion Friday over the state’s objection.
A mistrial was declared Aug. 26 in Sheldon’s murder trial when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. A new trial is scheduled for Dec. 5.
Sheldon claimed self-defense when he fired a rifle and a handgun the night of April 19, 2019, at Hansen Apo in front of his Punaluu house, then dragged the body to a banana patch behind his home.
Sheldon said for seven years he had feared Apo, who had just gotten out of prison….
SA: Acoba: Judges, public safety and a fair, impartial system of justice
read … Judge allows murder suspect to travel to Las Vegas
Honolulu police crack 50-year-old cold-case killing--Suspect is former Nevada deputy attorney general
SA: …A former Nevada deputy attorney general was arrested Tuesday, five decades after police allege he stabbed a young woman more than 60 times and left her body in a pool of blood in her Waikiki apartment….
Tudor Chirila earned a master’s degree in political science from UH in 1970, according to university registration records. Seven years later he graduated from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law.
Chirila practiced law for more than 40 years in Nevada and worked at the state level as a deputy attorney general and as a Carson City deputy district attorney. He ran unsuccessfully in September 1994 for a seat on the Nevada Supreme Court, securing 17,805 votes, according to a 1994 article in the Reno Gazette-Journal.
In May 1995, Chirila allegedly kidnapped his then-girlfriend; bound her mouth, hands and legs with packing tape; pinned her to the floor of their apartment; and threatened to kill her with a pair of scissors if she left him, according to a report in the Gazette-Journal.
In that case, Chirila was initially charged with felony kidnapping, battery with intent to commit sexual assault and assault with a deadly weapon, according to a Jun. 4, 1995, Associated Press article. The charges were later dropped, and the files in the case sealed by a Nevada judge….
read … Honolulu police crack 50-year-old cold-case killing
City agrees to cease controversial Waimanalo development project
HNN: … A three-year battle to redevelop Waimanalo Bay Beach Park is now on hold indefinitely.
The Blangiardi administration confirmed Wednesday a settlement with the Friends of Sherwood Forest and closed its Special Management Area Permit.
Under the new agreement, the city must apply for a new permit if they want to restart any redevelopment projects.
Friends of Sherwood Forest is celebrating their victory….
read … City agrees to cease controversial Waimanalo development project
Hawaii Green Energy Scam: Moving the Smokestack
IM: … Leakage is a process whereby one community consumes products and services made by greenhouse gas products but the blame for the release of greenhouse gases is shifted to other regions.
Over the past quarter century, developed countries exported manufacturing to less develop countries, bought the goods produced, and blamed the less develop countries for the emissions.
More than half of the greenhouse emissions caused by Hawaii activities are blamed on others. Hawaii imports goods with embedded emissions. Hawaii relies on aviation where most emissions are attributed to other states and countries….
read … Friction Exists Between Competing Climate Activism Camps
Bank of Hawaii, venture fund join to boost state’s Phony Tech Startup Schemers and Gabbard Cult
SA: … (Former Tulsi Gabbard staffer) Alana Penaroza, (Chris Butler Cult) left, co-founder of Tag Aloha Co., talked with Meli James, co-founder of Mana Up, at a cohort workshop for entrepreneurs on Aug. 30 at Mana Up headquarters in Honolulu….
Mana Up, an accelerator and venture fund for Hawaii-based products, said Wednesday it is partnering with Bank of Hawaii to boost the success of Hawaii entrepreneurs in an effort to diversify the local economy….
Reality: Volta Securities Fraud: Did Latest Hawaii High Tech Fail Take a Bite out of ERS?
LINK: Penaroza Krishna Cult Family
read … Bank of Hawaii, venture fund
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