Hawaii gambling opponents urge Legislature to reject proposals
Advertiser: Honolulu police, city prosecutors and members of the Hawaii Coalition Against Legalized Gambling spoke out against gambling yesterday. "Does Hawai'i really need one more addiction," City Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle asked at a capitol news conference. "We don't need it here in Honolulu."
"Gambling is not going to save the budget of the state of Hawai'i," said John Kindt, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, who is in Honolulu to lobby against the bills. "You can't gamble your way to prosperity. It's such an outrageous drain on the economy."
Star-Bulletin: Nothing to see here, Gambling Appears dead for Session
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Australia: Angry fire survivors blame council 'green' policy
During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs Creek on Melbourne's northern fringe, Warwick Spooner — whose mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their home in the Strathewen blaze — criticised the Nillumbik council for the limitations it placed on residents wanting the council's help or permission to clean up around their properties in preparation for the bushfire season. "We've lost two people in my family because you dickheads won't cut trees down," he said. "We wanted trees cut down on the side of the road … and you can't even cut the grass for God's sake."
Toll: 181 dead as of Feb 10
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San Francisco blocks American Apparel: Magic in the Mission
They are not serious people. They live in a world where facts like 27 vacant storefronts on Valencia Street and 9.3 percent unemployment statewide and nearly 600,000 jobs lost nationally last month do not matter. The few who read books know no authors beyond Naomi Klein. They do not believe that the world has changed since the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. This accounts for both the static nature of their vocabulary - "no formula retail!" is their death chant, though anyone who has picked up a newspaper in the last five months could tell you that there isn't a single retail establishment with a formula today - and the juvenile nature of their worldview. They do not want to see businesses be successful. They do not want the Mission District to be welcoming to different types of people.
What they want is magic.
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Hawaii County fees likely on the rise
The state is looking at possibly reducing or taking all of the revenue provided by the Transient Accommodation Tax, which this fiscal year is budgeted to bring in approximately $18 million -- a $2 million decrease from last fiscal year, she said. A portion of the hotel tax usually goes to the county but Crawford did not have exact figures.
"If we should lose that, it would result in severe budget cuts -- it would be catastrophic," she said. "It's fair and right that we should have our portion of the TAT and the mayor is working hard to ensure that we continue to receive that revenue."
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Kauai: Coco Palms up in the air since Iniki
When Weinstein suggested that such substantial changes to the plans could necessitate a new round of public hearings and possibly a new permit application process, Ross said the time and money already spent on the project should not be ignored. He later quantified the investment to date in the range of $30 million.
“For those in the development industry, it’s important to have entitlements including permits and zoning classifications,” Ross said. “Without the continuation of those entitlements , you’re taking away ... ammunition to encourage a joint venture partner to join me in the development of this property.”
Wash, rinse, repeat for 17 years...
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