The Voter Guide for the 2024 General Election is here!
Socialists Team up with Hawaii Judiciary to Expunge Dozens of Criminal Records
Tentative Agreement Reached on UH Faculty Contract
Discrimination lawsuit leads to Federal Oversight of Honolulu Liquor Commission
CB: … A federal judge would monitor Honolulu Liquor Commission reforms as part of a settlement of a lawsuit alleging discrimination against an LGBTQ bar and a gay newsletter.
The settlement this week of the 2021 lawsuit by Scarlet Honolulu and the Gay Island Guide includes a $670,000 payment in addition to the federal judge getting quarterly reports on the liquor commission’s progress in implementing more than 15 reforms contained in several reports and audits.
“We don’t want to push for change and just allow it to sit and languish. We actually are insisting on federal oversight, to ensure that this time the modifications are made and they take,” Scarlet lawyer James DiPasquale said….
read … Federal Judge To Monitor Reforms At Honolulu Liquor Commission
600 Open Beds at Homeless Shelters—Sweeps needed to Fill Them
SA: … If the state of Hawaii can come up with $4 million for a new step-down medical respite project, it should come up with new dollars to increase funding for all the other 30-plus projects by the Institute for Human Services, Catholic Charities, ASI and others that have received basically flat or reduced funding over the last 20 years.
Part of the reason why the shelter system always has 600-plus open beds is because of the lack of funding to pay staff adequately.
Shelters also had to spend time on additional fundraising to cover expenses. The state continues to allocate new money for additional capacity when the existing capacity is underutilized.….
(IDEA: More sweeps to sweep the homeless into those 600 spaces.)
read … Letter: Staff funding, efficiency problems plague shelters
Data breach impacts thousands of current, former state employees
HNN: … The Hawaii State Judiciary confirms that personal data of individuals employed by the Judiciary from June 2021 to the present may have been improperly accessed, impacting approximately 2,600 individuals — about 1,700 current employees and 900 former employees.
According to the state, the data included names, addresses, social security numbers, and birth dates. No bank account information was in these files.
The Judiciary says on Friday, Oct. 4, its IT security system detected the breach of an employee’s email inbox containing files with information for Judiciary employees used for payroll processing. This employee was authorized to have this information….
read … Data breach impacts thousands of current, former state employees
New e-bike rules may appear before year’s end
SA: … An approved e-bike bill at the city level, the Council asserts, also plays into related measures which may emerge from the state Legislature early next year.
But at the meeting some on the Council grew concerned when HPD requested to “defer” Bill 52 for further study.
That request comes as a new working group — led by the city Department of Transportation Services and other city- and state-level agencies as well as the advocacy group, the Hawaii Bicycling League — has begun its review of helmet rules, age restrictions and other legal issues pertaining to e-bike use on public streets, according to the city.
The group has met once, but it plans to meet again in what are deemed nonpublic, “internal” city meetings.
“We’re currently working with the DTS and Director (Roger) Morton,” HPD acting Capt. Michael Campbell told the Council. “Last month, we had our first meeting with the (state Department of Transportation) and DTS.”
“And we have a lot of work to do, regarding laws for electric bicycles and motor vehicles,” he said. “So if we could defer this that would be great.”
“We’d just like to give the working group a chance to put together some applicable laws and have a direction,” he added. “As we saw there is a lot of concern through the communities. Technology is moving very rapidly and our laws need to catch up.” ….
read … New e-bike rules may appear before year’s end
AI Robots to Control Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement
SA: … State law enforcement officials entered into a $3.14 million contract with Microsoft to use artificial intelligence to “accelerate the digital transformation” of the department and use new technologies to improve operations and public safety.
The state contract “positions DLE as a first-in-class law enforcement organization leveraging modern technologies and cloud- enabled capabilities” to improve operational efficiencies, enhance data management and analysis and foster improved community engagement, according to a Friday news release from the DLE.
DLE will use Microsoft Azure AI technologies and advanced collaboration tools to enhance “real-time decision-making and operational efficiency” streamline workflows, “reduce administrative burdens” and improve response times….
KHON: Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement partners with Microsoft for enhanced public safety
read … Hawaii law enforcement invests $3M with Microsoft for AI technology
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