Lahaina: DoE Abandons Kamehameha III School Site
JSC Seeks Nominees for Oahu First Circuit Judge
Gamblers behind push to get Hawaii out of Mountain West
WaPo: … Hawaii has data showing unusually high betting activity on its late-night football games. It hopes to parlay that into a lucrative broadcast deal….
Sportsbooks profit big on Hawaii football. Sometimes bettors might, too. And with sports betting legal in 38 states, the school believes it could leverage immense gambling activity on its home games for more television money.
Those games often start just before midnight on the East Coast. This is commonly referred to as a “chase game” in gambling, the final chance to recoup losses — or win a bit more — before the sun rises on another day of opportunity. Hawaii, a football-only member of the Mountain West, has a special carve-out for its own TV deal, allowing it to shop a handful of home games per season. Its current contract with Spectrum expires at the end of June. Here is where Mike Kawazoe comes in.
In recent weeks, he has started circulating a 35-page slide deck to various networks and streaming companies, piquing at least cursory interest from their executives. The deck, which The Washington Post obtained, was put together by IC360, a gambling watchdog company that provides exclusive data to regulators, college conferences and, in some cases, specific athletic departments. Kawazoe, a businessman and Hawaii booster — not to mention a UNLV grad and former intern at the Bellagio on The Strip — pumped a conference contact to get an IC360 presentation, hoping to show how the money gambled on Hawaii home games illustrates untapped TV value. Then, with permission from Hawaii Athletic Director Craig Angelos, he began operating as a third-party connector between the school and potential new partners.
…Kawazoe also heads Hawaii’s donor-funded name, image and likeness (NIL) collective….
Angelos told The Post he had an “investigatory” Zoom call with a major streaming service this month. One catch, though, is that intrigued networks would be significantly more intrigued if Hawaii had broken off from the Mountain West and went independent in football. That’s no longer an option — at least for the foreseeable future — after Hawaii signed on Thursday to remain a football-only member until 2032. With conference realignment in full swing again, the Mountain West offered financial incentives for a renewed commitment from its remaining schools. Hawaii chose that over leaping into the abyss.
In theory, independence would have given Hawaii more latitude to schedule its home games and dictate start times, which could have put even more contests in that chase game window. But because Hawaii will still have its TV carve-out, sticking with the conference hasn’t deterred efforts to monetize the scheduling quirk. They just might look a tad different now….
Big Q: Should the UH football team leave the Mountain West and continue to pursue joining the Pac-12? (CLUE: Quit Mtn West with no promise of entering Pac-12 = Go independent.)
read … Gamblers love betting Hawaii football games. Can the school take advantage?
Bits of the Miske backstory
ILind: … how he ran his business operations, both legal and illegal ….
read … Bits of the Miske backstory
Kapiolani Medical Center nurse lockout forces family to flee
KITV: … Since he was born, baby Kaloa has been in Kapiolani Medical Center. But ever since the hospital locked out its nurses, replacing them with temporary hires, his mother Anna Miles said it's been a nightmare.
"The nurses were careless," she said. "The nurses were not knowledgeable on just the simple things."
Despite what will be a hefty price tag, she decided to transfer the 11 week old thousands of miles away to Stanford Medical Center.
"On top of the hospital bills, now we have travel bills and, you know, we have to still pay our rent, we still have to pay our bills," she added….
read … Kapiolani Medical Center nurse lockout forces family to flee
Federal mediator joins negation talks between locked-out nurses and Kapiolani Medical Center
KHON: … Negotiations between locked-out nurses and Kapiolani Medical Center are set to resume on Friday with the assistance of a federal mediator, who was brought in on Thursday to facilitate discussions.
In a related development, the state Department of Health (DOH) is investigating two anonymous complaints regarding the hospital….
read … Federal mediator joins negation talks between locked-out nurses and Kapiolani Medical Center
New Hawaii coffee law hurting Kona businesses
HNN: … Hawaii’s coffee industry, half grown in Kona, is weathering changes because of a new state law.
Act 198 aims to address deceptive labeling, raising the mandatory percent of Hawaii-grown coffee to a minimum of 51% by 2027.
“If you’re going to call it Kona, Ka’u, Kauai, Maui coffee, you have to have at least 51% from that origin of,” said David Bateman, Hawaii Coffee Association….
The coffee industry supported the new law, even though they say it actually hurts business.
“We did the right thing for Kona. We did the right thing for Hawaii with the right things for farmers, but you can do the right thing and it can still have an effect on you and that’s the effect that’s driving demand down,” said Bill Myers, Heavenly Hawaiian CEO.
The new law comes after a Hawaii coffee farmers lawsuit fought counterfeit Kona and was settled last year. Myers says now the big-box buyers of coffee are skittish about buying Kona.
“It scared them away from Kona coffee, because they saw that they were vulnerable to these lawsuits,” said Myers.
Experts says after historic highs, Kona coffee prices are expected to drop 20% from two years ago. Myers expects the market to stabilize so right now the best news is for coffee drinkers….
read … New Hawaii coffee law hurting Kona businesses
Honolulu Council mulls bill to allow some banned ‘consumer fireworks’
SA: … Bill 22, if adopted, will allow some currently banned “consumer fireworks” — specifically, ground-level fountains and sparklers — to be legally sold to those with permits, during designated periods like New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July.
In spite of government seizures to quash illegal fireworks on Oahu, the Council’s Committee on Public Safety voted Thursday to recommend approval of Bill 22….
read … Honolulu Council mulls bill to allow some banned ‘consumer fireworks’
City proposes working group to study e-bikes
SA: … Bill 52 defines an e-bike as “a bicycle equipped with fully-operable pedals, a saddle or seat for the rider, and an electric motor of less than 750 watts,” while their motors cannot allow the machines to go more than 20 mph.
The measure, which passed the first of three readings before the full Council in early September, also seeks to revise city laws to include a three-class system that’s based on the top speed and components of e-bikes, which other jurisdictions have adopted around the country.
At a committee meeting Tuesday focused on further review of Bill 52, Morton said his department supports the measure’s “intent.”
However, he said, “There’s been so much going on with e-bikes in the Ewa region — all over the island, really — that I think the public expects more than just defining the bills.”
“So for that reason the department has decided to stand up a working group to take a comprehensive look at e-bike use and regulation in Hawaii,” he added.
Besides DTS, he said the Honolulu Police Department, city Emergency Services Department, city Department of Customer Services, city Department of the Corporation Counsel and state Department of Transportation would largely comprise the planned working group….
read … City proposes working group to study e-bikes
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