“How 'bout give the people their homes back.”
Bribery: Last DPP Criminal Sentenced
Emergency action plans are critical to disaster response, experts say. Where was Maui’s?
HNN: … HNN Investigates has spent weeks trying to find out more about an emergency operations plan experts say Maui should have had to respond to last month’s disaster.
It’s an official document called an emergency action plan.
A 2019 survey found 99% of counties have one.
Despite requests to Maui County, Maui Police Department and even the state’s Emergency Management Agency, no one’s provided HNN with a copy of Maui’s emergency action plan.
It’s still unclear if one even exists.
While both state and county officials have refused to confirm whether or not Maui had an emergency action plan in place to help steer its response during the disaster, HNN Investigates was able to sit down with the head of Oahu’s Emergency Management Agency to get a better understanding of what the document might contain — and why it’s so vital….
read … Emergency action plans are critical to disaster response, experts say. Where was Maui’s?
How a Front Street roadblock obstructed Lahaina's evacuation
KITV: …"It was obvious the fire was out of control, so that's when I decided to leave the vehicle completely," Herzog told Island News.
Passing vehicle after vehicle, he noticed of those on the bridge...
"All of those cars were still sitting there, just same exact spots," Herzog said.
Island News previously reported on the other side of the Cannery Mall that Herzog passed by in the 4 p.m. hour. The highway was completely shut down for two and a half hours at Keawe Street until at least 5:24 p.m. -- traffic routed towards Front Street.
At 5:30 p.m., Herzog comes to the end of Front Street and to his surprise:
"It looks like two police vehicles parked kind of nose to nose at that exit for Front Street, kind of at a V like this. The traffic had basically bottlenecked right there," Herzog said. "So there were cars in both lanes trying to go north by this point, but everyone was stopped on Front Street right there."
As the local window washer walked past the gridlock, heading north on foot, at 5:33 p.m. motorists had been fleeing into the water, as seen in Noah Tomkinson's video, one mile to the south of the Front Street roadblock, near Baker Street -- two blocks south of where Herzog had abandoned his car…
KITV: Utility trucks blocked roads during evacuations in Lahaina, witnesses say
read … How a Front Street roadblock obstructed Lahaina's evacuation | Devastation in Lahaina | kitv.com
Life of the Land & PUC File Fire Related Questions to HECO
IM: … Life of the Land filed a motion with the Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission inquiring as to why the commission is not opening an investigation of the wildfires as mandated by state law.
Hawai`i Revised Statutes §269-9 “Report accidents. Every public utility shall report to the public utilities commission all accidents caused by or occurring in connection with its operations and service, and the commission shall investigate the causes of any accident which results in loss of life, and may investigate any other accidents which in its opinion require investigation.”
Life of the Land included numerous Information Requests to Hawaiian Electric Company. The answers would go a long way to explaining the current conditions and how to make changes to prevent another catastrophic wildfire.
Almost one hour after our filing, the Public Utilities Commission filed Information Requests to the HECO Companies.
Both documents were filed in the PUC regulatory proceeding where the HECO Companies have requested approval to spend $190 million over five years for their Climate Adaptation Transmission and Distribution Resilience Program….
CB: Hawaii Utility Regulators Could Be The Next To Investigate Maui Fires - Honolulu Civil Beat
read … Life of the Land & PUC File Fire Related Questions to HECO
Hawaii Needs To Build Hundreds More Miles Of Firebreaks To Protect Against Wildfire
CB: … Hawaii maintains a network of firebreaks to keep wildfire from spreading, but that system includes hundreds of miles of gaps that need to be filled to protect communities around the state.
Public and private land managers dealing with the danger face bureaucratic barriers and a lack of money and collaboration….
read … Hawaii Needs To Build Hundreds More Miles Of Firebreaks To Protect Against Wildfire - Honolulu Civil Beat
USO News: 137-time loser on trial for extorting ‘evidence’ from crime victims
SA: … In a Sep. 8 motion to detain Inouye without bail until trial, Nolan identified Inouye, Albert Bactad, Borges and Takiguchi as “USO Gang members with criminal histories.”
“USO” stands for United Samoan Organization, but the notorious prison gang includes all ethnicities into its membership inside and outside of Hawaii’s prisons and jails.
In 2013 the U.S. Department of Justice declared the USO Gang, allegedly founded in 1998, the dominant prison gang in Hawaii and a major player in mainland prison gang activity.
Borges has 137 arrests in his record and 25 prior criminal convictions at the state level, including for robbery, fraudulent use of a credit card, car theft and felony assault and drug promotion.
(Hawaii Soft on Crime: 137 arrests, 25 convictions and somehow this guy is out on the streets.)
Albert Bactad has 18 prior state convictions, including for witness tampering and 10 separate assault cases. Inouye has 15 prior state convictions, including for assaulting a police officer and robbery. Takiguchi has 17 prior state convictions, including for felony drug promotion and forgery.
Mahina Bactad, Albert’s wife, has no prior criminal history….
Albert and Mahina Bactad allegedly directed the actions of Inouye and Takiguchi, who confronted the two victims in early August and “procured false written statements from the two victims,” wrote Nolan.
Both victims “believed that they would be assaulted if they refused to sign the statements.”
Mahina Bactad allegedly got the false written statements and “delivered them to Albert Bactad’s unwitting attorney for the purpose of committing a fraud” upon the court through use at trial of the statements, which have been designated by Albert Bactad’s counsel as defense trial exhibits, according to Nolan’s motion….
read … 3 plead not guilty to coercing crime victims | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
Arizona Prosecutors Will Try Again To Get Death Penalty For Hawaii Inmate
CB: … A Hawaii prison gang member who murdered another inmate in an Arizona prison cell in 2010 will once again face the possibility of the death penalty.
An Arizona jury convicted Miti Maugaotega Jr. of first-degree murder last year for attacking and repeatedly stabbing fellow prisoner Bronson Nunuha on Feb. 18, 2010, as Nunuha lay on his bunk in a cell in the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona.
But that same jury deadlocked earlier this year over whether to sentence Maugaotega to death after hearing descriptions of the abuse Maugaotega endured as a child and his troubled teenage years steeped in drugs and violence in gang territory in Waipahu.
Arizona prosecutors plan to ask a new jury to impose the death penalty on Maugaotega, according to Michael Pelton, spokesman for the Pinal County Attorney’s Office….
read … Arizona Prosecutors Will Try Again To Get Death Penalty For Hawaii Inmate
Convicted Felon and Ex Con Banned from UH Campus--Cries ‘racism’, LOL
HNN: … In the court filing, Lawson says he’s that being retaliated against after he filed a discrimination complaint last year over pay inequity.
He also touches on an incident in February after which he was told to teach his classes remotely.
The directive came after the school’s diversity committee organized an event for Black History Month but — Lawson said — no African American teachers or students were part of the planning panel. The Black Law Students Association called for a boycott of the event for being excluded from the planning. And during a subsequent faculty meeting, Lawson said he expressed his frustration.
Other employees described Lawson’s statement as “disrespectful” and wrote in an email to the school dean that Lawson used “abusive language and behavior.”
An investigation was launched and he was banished from campus — forced to teach online only.
He’s remained on online-only teaching for the last seven months.
Lawson is a well-known law teacher at the law school and co-director of the Hawaii Innocence project, which has gotten national attention for work to help those wrongfully convicted of crimes….
Law.com: U of Hawaii Law Professor's Suit Against School, Administrators Alleges Free-Speech Violations | Law.com
Background:
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2012: Cincy Magazine Fluff Piece “He was convicted of organizing a drug ring with a local doctor and sentenced to two years in prison.”
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read … Popular UH law instructor banned from campus amid racial bias case against school (hawaiinewsnow.com)
Lahaina Fire News:
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