Two Maui Men Found Guilty of Hate Crimes for Racially Motivated Attack
It’s our kuleana to ensure campaign promises are kept
Hawaii Short 3,873 Healthcare Professionals
Greenwashing: Jason Momoa Slammed for Aluminum Can Hype
Lack of Wind Threatens Rolling Blackouts on Big Island (again)
Lawsuit Blows DoE Cover-up: 9th grader raped at gunpoint on McKinley campus
HNN: … This lawsuit said that on Feb. 11, 2021, the ninth grade suspect showed his classmate a handgun tucked in his waistband. He then lured her into a restroom in a building at the corner of the campus, nearest King and Pensacola streets, where he sexually assaulted her….
According to her attorneys, another student who was a friend of the suspect, told authorities he heard what was going on. “She was saying stop, stop, let me go, let me out of here,” attorney Thomas Otake said….
The lawsuit also said school officials knew the boy “was aggressive and violent towards others. He was unpredictable, had no fear of authority and disregarded right from wrong.”
Rogers said that was the second big failure.
“They allowed him to remain on campus unsupervised and on the day of the incident he had with him on campus a gun and an ax,” he said.
The lawsuit said before the day of the assault the boy told a vice principal that he kept a gun for protection.
The suit also says the girl called her mother immediately after the assault. She told her daughter to report it to administrators, which the girl did.
Administrators called police, but also tried to handle the suspect themselves, the suit says.
“Not a school lockdown nothing,” Rogers said. “Rather, the boy was talked to by a behavioral specialist.”
Attorneys said the boy fled the specialist for long enough to hide both weapons, which the police later recovered….
SA: Family of sex assault victim sues DOE, McKinley High staff
(Hawaii has gun control, but look how gun crimes are handled.)
read … In suit, family of 9th grader raped at gunpoint on campus says attack could have been prevented
'It's cartoon pornography' | Some demand teen novel be pulled from Hawaii library
KITV: … The book, entitled "Let's Talk About It," is intended to help teenagers navigate relationships, friendships, and sexuality. However, some rebuke the book for including some pictures of men and women engaged in intimate behavior.
"It's basically a comic book and instruction guide on how to engage in sexual activity for minors," State Rep. Diamond Garcia said.
Garcia received a complaint from a grandfather who reported he found the book in the children's section at the Kapaa Public Library on Kauai.
Appalled by the images himself, Garcia reached out to the state librarian requesting the book be removed from the library system. Garcia said he has not heard back, so he sent a letter Wednesday. …
2021: Gender Queer: DoE Makes Gay Blowjob Book Available in School Libraries
read … 'It's cartoon pornography' | Some demand teen novel be pulled from Hawaii library
City issues 63 violation notices amid crackdown on illegal vacation rentals
HNN: … Since the ordnance went into effect Oct. 23, the city has issued 63 notices of violation.
Illegal rentals offering stays of less than 30 days face fines of $10,000 per day….
During the height of the vacation rental boom, Oahu was reported to have more 10,000 illegal vacation rentals.
“The initial surveys that I’ve seen say 30 to 40% of pre-COVID vacation rentals have now gotten out of the vacation rentals business, so just by math you still have 6,000 out there,” Egged said….
Rentals of 30 days or less are allowed in tourist hotspots like Waikiki, Ko Olina and Turtle Bay, but they need to be registered online with the city.
read … City issues dozens of violation notices amid crackdown on illegal vacation rentals
Difficult for us to Milk Tourists if Criminals Doing it Too
KITV: … "Most of Waikiki's homeless are imported. November is the biggest time when people from the mainland decide it's too cold and spend their last dollars for a one-way ticket to Hawaii. Now the state, city and county are responsible to give all of them assistance," said Robert Finley, chair of the Waikiki Neighborhood Association.
Many Waikiki board members said they want to focus on making residential homes safer.
"When the streets close and people are kicked off the streets, they go into residential parking garages. We are constantly cleaning out garage of feces, urine and electrical damage," said Finley.
However, some organization leaders at the conference said it is not just the homeless committing crime, but youths from other parts of Oahu.
"A lot of them come here to hijack do a lot of burglaries, stealing and harassing our tourists that come….
CB: Honolulu Police Chief Tries To Rebuild Community Trust One Group At A Time
KHON: Oahu businesses express crime concerns to HPD chief
read … Addressing crime, safety concerns in Waikiki crucial to bolstering tourism, city leaders say
Violent offenders can be kept in custody pending Grand Jury indictment, Hawaii Supreme Court says
KITV: … The Hawaii Supreme Court on Thursday issued an opinion that says defendants can be kept in custody pending a Grand Jury indictment.
This change comes after the court ruled weeks ago that that violent defendants must be charged via a Grand Jury indictment in order to take cases to court.
That decision resulted in the release of dozens of violent offenders and prosecutors had to scramble to re-charge suspects, including those linked to dozens of murder and attempted murder cases.
Thursday’s Hawaii Supreme Court opinion means defendants whose cases are dismissed as a result of the earlier Obrero decision can continue to be held in custody for a specified period of time while prosecutors seek indictments for them.
Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm applauded the court's decision, releasing the following statement:
"The Public Defender's petition had the potential to see over 85 violent and dangerous offenders released and we are happy that the Court averted a public safety crisis. We continue to work diligently to indict these defendants so we can keep them in custody and take them to trial." …
SA: Hawaii’s high court OKs 60-day hold on those uncharged
KHON: Hawaii Supreme Court allows holds in-custody awaiting new charges
read … Violent offenders can be kept in custody pending Grand Jury indictment, Hawaii Supreme Court says
City knew for years about lead concerns at shooting range, but did little to warn workers of danger
HNN: … Former range employee Chris Wong said the concerns about lead at the range date back years….
And in 2013, he started working part-time as a range officer at the Koko Head Shooting Complex.
Two years later, Wong says his boss told him he might want to see a doctor….
“I was notified by a co-worker ― my supervisor at the time ― that his lead levels were elevated. So he suggested I go get checked. And when I checked they were elevated,” Wong said….
In mid-September, officials abruptly closed the complex two weeks ahead of a planned berm renovation project.
A city news release cited a staffing shortage but failed to mention the closure was due to the majority its employees having elevated levels of lead in their blood.
After a month and a half of questioning, parks officials finally admitted nine out of 10 staff who were tested had lead levels above the normal range.
HNN has since learned the city has been aware of lead contamination at the range for at least 20 years.
A 2001 report showed extreme levels of lead pollution at the rifle, pistol, silhouette, trap skeet and SWAT ranges. Of the 20 soil samples taken, 15 tested above state regulatory guidelines.
To give you an idea how toxic it was, the report showed four of those samples contained about 100 times more lead than what the state considers safe for a residential area….
read … City knew for years about lead concerns at shooting range, but did little to warn workers of danger
Retirement Homes Needed for 1,600 Homeless After Lifetime on Streets
KITV: … The senior advocacy group is sounding the alarm in hopes of getting policymakers to fast track low-income housing projects so kupuna can live out the rest of their days with a roof over their heads.
"This is not a place for an older person to die," Viernes added….
SA: One-third of Hawaii homeless and evictions are kupuna (Did you notice that homeless are being mixed with evictions to pump up the number? Do you know that the vast majority of evictions do not end up homeless?)
read … AARP study estimates 1,600 homeless kupuna in Hawaii
Maintaining the Problem: PIT Shows No Progress on Maui Homeless Count
KHON: … Outside in the parking lot, more than 20 care providers, non-profit organizations and government agencies offered free resources and services to anyone who wanted it.
“Do we have homeless? Yes. Have we solved the problem? No. But we’re working on it and we’re trying to get there,” said Feed My Sheep Founder and Board President Joyce Kawakami.
The latest Homeless Point-In-Time Count shows Maui unsheltered are up from before.
Data collected on January 23, 2022 shows there were a total of 371 unsheltered individuals on Mai, compared to 346 in 2020. Data was not taken in 2021 because of the pandemic.
However, the numbers are down from 2019 where the count showed there were 402 unsheltered individuals and 424 unsheltered individuals in 2018….
First Rule of Bureaucracy: Maintain the problem
read … Early Thanksgiving feast served to Maui homeless community
Grove Farm Takes Back Kauai’s Unopened Youth Drug Treatment Center
CB: … Over the last eight weeks, Grove Farm has formed a new nonprofit corporation and a three-member director’s board composed of a former school superintendent, a minister and a retired judge. A Hawaiian culturalist bestowed the building with a new name: Kaulu I Ka Pono Academy, or The Growing Righteousness Academy.
The facility has been power-washed. Defunct air conditioning units are under repair. Long overgrown with hip-high invasive grasses, the five-acre lawn has been cut.
Proposed by the late Mayor Bryan Baptiste, a plan to fill the gap in services for drug-addicted youth materialized in 2003. Then for more than a decade, the plan’s biggest hurdle was finding a place to build it.
Grove Farm agreed to donate a 5.8-acre parcel on Maalo Road in Kapaia to the county to site the facility in 2015. Two years later, the land donation was finalized. A facility was built with federal, state and county taxpayer dollars in 2019.
But the county could never get an addiction program up and running….
Flashback: Office of Hawaiian Affairs Blocks Kauai Drug Treatment Facility
read … Land Donor Takes Back Kauai’s Unopened Youth Drug Treatment Center
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