Hawaii Teacher Certification Wins Praise from Heritage Foundation
Army and HDOT Set to Negotiate 50-Year Lease for Dillingham Airfield
Displaced Lahaina residents will be placed in Short-Term Rentals for Years and Years to Come
SA: … Fire survivors will need housing for up to (well over) two years while permanent replacement units, and a new Lahaina, are built (‘mulled’). Other interim housing types are being encouraged and planned, including additional dwelling units on residential properties and tiny home communities. (Translation: Nothing is being built anywhere.) But these fixes can’t provide adequate housing as quickly as STR conversion can….
(REALITY: Those ’fixes’ are just empty talk. The idea here is to build nothing and exploit fire survivors to gut the STRs in favor of ILWU-controlled full service hotels. Survivors are just a tool to re-shape the tourism industry to the benefit of special interests.)
SA: Letter: Forcing property owners to rent is an overreach
read … Editorial: It shouldn’t take STR ban to aid fire evacuees
Hawaiian Airlines Open To Other Merger Offers
BH: … Clearly, Hawaiian is looking to be acquired. That makes sense for various reasons, as the company deals with the complexity of further expansion and modernization as a regional carrier. And especially given the $900 million in debt it has racked up over the past few years.
It isn’t clear, however, as to who another offer could come from. While questionable in terms of its feasibility, we’ve suggested for years that JetBlue might be a contender. Could it be easier to get that merger through the government regulators since those two airlines do not overlap routes like Alaska does with Hawaiian.
In the SEC filing, this question arose, “Are you open to other offers? What if Alaska backs out of the deal?” Here’s what their board said: “(We) may consider other unsolicited offers for Hawaiian Airlines with the best interest of our shareholders in mind. However, we are focused on the agreement we reached with Alaska Airlines, which we believe is the best path forward for our company.” ….
Hawaiian Airlines open to other merger offers (spectrumlocalnews.com)
read … Hawaiian Airlines Still Open To Other Merger Offers | Further Details Exposed - Beat of Hawaii
Legislative Agenda: GE Tax Hike, TAT Hike, State-Run Bank
CB: … His top proposals include ensuring the entire state, not just Maui County, participates in generating funds to support rebuilding Lahaina through taxes and fees, and establishing a special Maui recovery fund to ensure those revenues are used expressly for that purpose.
“If the whole state chips in for Lahaina and we bump the GET slightly statewide and the TAT slightly statewide then we can generate the money over the years,” said McKelvey, whose district encompasses West and South Maui. “Putting it all on Maui’s back is very hurtful because in order to make that kind of money simply out of Maui’s stream of revenue would destroy the economy.”
He said he also plans to propose standing up a state bank to provide concessionary lending with terms more friendly to fire survivors than what profit-driven lenders can offer. …
When state Sen. Angus McKelvey called a meeting Tuesday night to hear what Lahaina residents want from the Legislature in the upcoming session, a little more than a dozen people showed up to weigh in.
The sparse attendance at the Lahaina Civic Center could perhaps be chalked up to “meeting fatigue” from a steady schedule of official gatherings in recent weeks meant to provide information to those impacted by the devastating Aug. 8 wildfire.
Just the night before, hundreds turned out for a county meeting at the same venue on a controversial proposal to locate a final disposition site for ash and debris cleared from the Lahaina burn zone….
read … Maui Senator: Lahaina Recovery Requires That ‘The Whole State Chips In’ - Honolulu Civil Beat
Honolulu Fireworks Cases Almost Always Get Dismissed
CB: …On the last day of 2017, the Honolulu Police Department cited Allan Badua for setting off illegal fireworks. For unknown reasons, the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s Office dropped the charges.
A few years later, police responded to an argument at a Makiki home between Badua and his girlfriend and discovered hundreds of pounds of fireworks, Hawaii News Now reported. The fireworks were seized and the two were released pending further investigation – but no charges were ever filed, according to court records.
A year later, a woman in Moanalua noticed a man she identified as Badua setting off “bomb”-type fireworks in Moanulua. She told him to take it to his own neighborhood and called 911. An HPD officer photographed the fireworks in a box next to Badua’s car, took the spent fireworks and cited him.
Again, the charges were dropped.
And in October, a woman called to report Badua had set off fireworks at an intersection in Aiea. She watched him on a moped setting up the device on the street and riding away as it exploded — twice. Police found him sitting in a car and cited him. A month later, the charges were dismissed.
Each year, Honolulu police cite dozens of fireworks scofflaws, usually when patrolling officers on New Year’s Eve witness them in public places shooting off aerials, which are illegal. It serves, in some measure, to placate members of the public up in arms over the months-long fusillade of illegal pyrotechnics leading up to New Year’s Eve.
But the enforcement numbers add up to little more than theater. In 94% of cases over the past five years – as in Badua’s cases – the charges are simply dismissed,…
read … Honolulu Fireworks Cases Almost Always Get Dismissed.
Court document: HPD brass ignored sex harassment, retaliation complaints against embattled major
HNN: … Honolulu Police Maj. Stephen Gerona was shielded from complaints filed by rank-and-file officers, even against the recommendations of the city’s Equal Opportunity Office.
That’s according to a new court filing that’s triggering new scrutiny of the department.
The document, filed on Nov. 24, is part of an ongoing civil lawsuit filed by HPD Detective Maile Rego.
Rego alleged sex harassment and retaliation by the department.
The filing alleged Deputy Chief Rade Vanic administratively closed a previous sex harassment and retaliation case filed by another female HPD officer — despite the city’s own Equal Opportunity Office administrator recommending action.
The document said the EOO administrator asked HPD to reconsider and take action against Gerona — something Police Chief Joe Logan then refused to do….
In a 2021 interview with HNN Investigates, Rego said that the department leaders help their friends and punish their enemies.
“My client is still shocked, with the long history of allegations that still, this man is in a position at HPD today to be overseeing the rank and file officers,” said Joseph Rosenbaum, Rego’s attorney….
read … Court document: HPD brass ignored sex harassment, retaliation complaints against embattled major
Police and Courts Find Way to Get DUI case dismissed against former UH football coach June Jones
KITV: … A district court judge dismissed a DUI charge against former University of Hawaii football coach June Jones with prejudice, which means the case cannot be retried.
On June 30, Jones was driving on Waialae Avenue when he arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Jones' attorney said there was a problem with the police stopping him, because the officers did not properly "pace" his car to determine he was speeding….
(Yeah. Right. Whatever.)
read … DUI case dismissed against former UH football coach June Jones | Local | kitv.com
One Homeless Alcoholic May Move Back to Mainland
SA: … ended up homeless and drunk in various communities across Oahu, drinking a pint of rum — but mostly vodka — a day.
In the nearly three years since, Saia has been beaten six times, including last week in Aala Park around the corner from IHS, in an attack by two men that left Saia with a welt under his left eye.
Just four days into his detox program, Saia said this week that he was planning to move back to Rhode Island to reunite with his ex-wife and parents, who are both 89.
The timing could not be too soon for Saia, 52.
In Honolulu the average life span for a homeless person is just 53.
He attends daily workshops to address his alcoholism and says he can already see a better life ahead….
read … One down, 9,999 to go
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