SB3381: Stop Lahaina Property Owners from Rebuilding
VIDEO: Biological Parents of Ariel Sellers Speak
Anti-Gun Bills Scheduled for Decision Making Hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee
Pop-Up Village For 350 Maui Fire Survivors Has Been Blocked for Months by Red Tape
CB: … Ohana Hope Village is a cluster of pop-up modular homes spread across 10 acres of land owned by King’s Cathedral in Kahului. The 88 units can house up to about 350 fire survivors for three to five years until they find permanent housing. Three-quarters of the units are designed for multigenerational families with the rest of intended for the elderly. The project is by Kuihelani Highway and Puunene Avenue.
Ashley Kelly, Family Life Center’s chief operating officer, had hoped to have the rent-free housing ready to go within weeks of the fire. Construction started 11 days after the disaster. The government of Hungary provided a portion of the 8-by-20-foot modular units soon after the fire. It flew them to Maui on a NATO aircraft.
Although it had a promising and dramatic start, the project has been bogged down in mundane details, namely permitting obstacles and access-to-water issues that have delayed the grand opening by months….
WaPo: Tiny homes meant for displaced Maui fire survivors are sitting empty The latest hurdle involves an arcane dispute over the project’s water source. An influential real estate company and its business park development controls the closest water line, and Family Life Center said it had rebuffed requests for access. This again delayed the move-in date, Cumming said, because it forced Family Life Center to bore underground to reach another water source. But after The Washington Post began reporting on the back-and-forth, the real estate company, Alexander & Baldwin, contacted Cumming and agreed to help Family Life Center temporarily access the water line, she said.
(CLUE: “Alii Trust Agenda”)
TOTALLY RELATED: SB3381: Stop Lahaina Property Owners from Rebuilding
read … Pop-Up Village For Maui Fire Survivors Battles Red Tape To Finally Open
Lawmakers Question Plans For Governor's Maui Wildfire Death Settlement Fund
CB: … The state has been named in more than 70 lawsuits in connection with the Aug. 8 wildfire, and Gov. Josh Green has proposed setting up a One Ohana fund to quickly resolve at least some of those cases.
The plan is to have the fund pay compensation of up to $1.5 million for each fatality provided that the victims’ surviving family members agree not pursue wrongful death claims in court against the state or a half dozen other contributors to the fund….
In all, Lopez said the fund will total $175 million, and will be administered by retired Third Circuit Court Chief Judge Ronald Ibarra. The protocol for people seeking compensation will be available to the public on March 1, she said.
Green said in December that Hawaiian Electric Co. will chip in $75 million to the One Ohana initiative, and said other contributors included Maui County for $10 million, Kamehameha Schools for $17.5 million and Hawaiian Telcom for $2.5 million.
West Maui Land Co. is also contributing $2.5 million, and Charter Communications, which does business here as Spectrum, will contribute another $2.5 million, according to the governor’s office….
read … Lawmakers Question Plans
SB2475: Stop Recycling Child Molesters
SA: … legislation is moving as it should to institute new safeguards and to eliminate ways bad actors currently can escape penalty.
One is Senate Bill 2475, a measure to create a “harm to students registry” of employees and volunteers working in Hawaii schools who are found to have committed sexual abuse, physical assault or other harassment against children. It is due today for decision-making by the Senate Ways and Means and the Judiciary committees.
The other measures are House Bill 2400 with a Senate companion measure, SB 3089, both seeking to tighten the process of investigating teachers accused of student sexual misconduct or abuse. The House version was amended on Friday to require teachers to surrender their license rather than it being revoked if they resign or retire before an investigation is completed.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will decide on any changes to SB 3089 at a meeting set for 9:30 a.m. Friday. The preamble in both these bills rightly notes the importance of closing a loophole that “allows these teachers to potentially continue their careers in other states or private schools without any consequences.”
A change from revoking a teacher license to suspending it during an investigation is also sought in SB 2475, as part of the establishment of the Harm to Students Registry….
read … Editorial: A chance to curb student abuse | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
Republicans Fail to Oust Nago as Chief Elections Officer
CB: … The Nago haters, several of them with ties to the Republican Party, turned out in droves to testify virtually and in writing before the Elections Commission hearing Tuesday afternoon. They blamed Nago for low voter turnout, for failure to address election complaints, for dated voter rolls, for not ensuring ballot chain of custody, for setting up all mail-in voting and for being in the job way too long — 15 years and counting, as one critic remarked.
Nago did have a supporter or two on hand, including Moana Lutey, Maui’s county clerk. But the naysayers dominated and were often brutal in their condemnation of Nago….
BACKGROUND:
read … The Knives Are Out For Hawaii's Chief Elections Officer
Man already serving life was sentenced in murder-for-hire case tied to the Mike Miske case
HNN: … Dae Han Moon's attorney argued that his client should get a break because he was young at the time ….
In his plea agreement prosecutors agreed to seek no more than 15 years for the plot and for a firearms charge. His lawyer argued that the sentence should be much lower than than that because he was a a youthful follower.
The judge did agree to a lower sentence, saying that he should only spend 7 years and 10 months in prison for a firearms charge and murder for hire. That sentence is to be served after a life sentence Moon got for a Christmas Day murder later the same year….
Moon was convicted in 2018 for the murder two years earlier of 20-year-old Stevie Feliciano during a Christmas day brawl in an Ala Moana Center parking lot.
His friend Lance Bermudez admitted threatening one of the witnesses.
Both have also admitted being part of the failed murder for hire allegedly ordered by Miske in 2016 on a Waimanalo cockfight organizer….
read … Man already serving life was sentenced in murder-for-hire case tied to the Mike Miske case
Vehicle towing rates in Hawaii could more than double this year
KITV: … Right now, there is a fixed rate of $65 for the hookup plus mileage to the tow yard and additional storage fees once it gets there -- the same rates as they were in 2008….
Under a bill introduced by Fevella, the rate for a hookup would go up from $65 to $143….
Mileage rates would more than double from $7.50 per mile to $16.50 per mile.
Storage rates would also be twice as high.
Which means a standard daytime tow, going 8 miles to the tow yard would increase from $150 to $330….
read … Vehicle towing rates in Hawaii could more than double this year | Local | kitv.com
Hale Hookah co-owner pleads not guilty to drug charges
HTH: … Stasik was charged Friday with four counts of first-degree promotion of a harmful drug, two counts of second-degree promotion of a harmful drug, five counts of first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug, second-degree promotion of a detrimental drug, four counts of promoting a controlled substance on or near a public park, and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.
The charges came after police and the state Narcotics Narcotics Enforcement Division executed a search warrant Feb. 15 at Stasik’s business, Hale Hookah at 60 Waianuenue Ave.
Officers confiscated 362 grams (about 12.7 ounces) of dried processed marijuana, 1,109 grams (about 2.4 pounds) of marijuana concentrate and a small amount of cocaine.
According to police, the search warrant and arrest were the result of an anonymous tip which sparked a months-long investigation into the smoke shop and resulted in multiple controlled purchases of illegal marijuana products from the business.
The most serious charge, first-degree promotion of a harmful drug, is a Class A felony that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence….
read … Hale Hookah co-owner pleads not guilty to drug charges
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