UH regents unanimously select Wendy Hensel as next UH President
Sen Mercado Kim co-authors NCSL Report on Higher Education
Federal jobs in Hawaii and Alaska—Sounds like a dream. So why are they so hard to fill?
New AG Website: Help Getting the Insane Committed
FEMA unveils updated Flood Risk Maps for Oʻahu
DBEDT, HHFDC navigate transition following SMS collapse
A Better Deal for Territorial? Blue Hill Asks Shareholders to Reject Hope
Justice Department Appoints US Attorney to Oversee Hawaii Election Complaints
She Begged The State To Save Her Grandkids. Instead, One Is Dead
CB: … The state's Child Welfare Services has not explained its actions — or lack of action — in the case of a 3-year-old killed in June. Her grandmother says she warned the state that the girl and her siblings were being starved….
she said she called Child Welfare Services, the state operation in charge of protecting children from abuse and neglect.
Despite the grandmother’s efforts, four months later one of the grandkids, Sarai, was dead. The almost 4-year-old was covered with bruises. She weighed 29 pounds and had been starved and neglected….
the grandmother and another family member have answered one question that DHS refused to: Yes, CWS had been warned. But for reasons that we still don’t know, the agency did not prevent Sarai’s death.
“I did see something. I did say something,” Sarai’s grandmother said. “But the problem is that it didn’t matter. It didn’t work because no one listened.”….
The grandmother said she called the CWS hotline on Feb. 17. A little more than two weeks later, Perez sent Texeira a text saying CWS’s investigation was over.
In the texts, which Texeira shared with me, Texeira offered to bring over a Costco chicken to help with a meal. Perez responded, “We have a bunch of chicken noodle soup we have to much food. Oh I forgot my mom said I don’t feed the kids.”
Perez sent a photo of a shelf full of soup and other canned food….
(CLUE: That’s all it takes to fool CWS.)
“Oh you can let her know btw because I’ve blocked her on everything that the case was closed for her invalid accusations to Cws.”
Around this same time, a CWS social worker came to the grandmother’s house to check on a complaint to the child abuse hotline that the grandmother was abusing and neglecting her own minor children. She suspects Perez and her partner reported her as retribution for reporting them.
The CWS social worker quickly concluded those allegations were baseless, the grandmother said. But the grandmother took advantage of the social worker’s presence to plead for CWS action.
“I told her multiple times, please, please, please check on my grandkids,” she said.
The social worker said she would come back the following month to close out the case against the grandmother. When she didn’t, the grandmother said she called to find out what was going on.
The social worker finally came in May, and the grandmother said she repeated her request that someone check on her grandkids. The social worker told her to call the hotline again, which the grandmother said she did at the end of May….
Then, in the middle of June, she got a phone call from the man the family believed was Sarai’s biological father.
Sarai, he said, was dead….
BACKGROUND: AGAIN: Another CWS Nightmare--Abused Girl Starved and Beaten to Death
read … John Hill: She Begged The State To Save Her Grandkids. Instead, One Is Dead
Vacant House Tax Worked! Vancouver houses now average $2M
CB: … “Many experts think it probably had some effect. It’s hard exactly to know, because there’s so many other things that are going on at the same time – it’s sort of an everything everywhere all at once kind of policy landscape,” Flynn said.
Like in Honolulu, the goal is to increase occupancy rates and decrease the number of homes sitting empty.
That seems to be working in Vancouver, where the price of a typical single-family home is about $2 million, almost double Oahu’s median sales price for single-family homes.
(CLUE: A market with few vacancies is a market with high rents.)
read … What Honolulu Can Learn From An Empty Homes Tax In Vancouver
Hawaiian Electric Industries May Avert Bankruptcy
IM: … Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI) subsidiary Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) is learning a lot about fires and fire mitigation, from the experience of California utilities, and more generally from Colorado, Oregon, and Australian utilities.
Hawaiian Electric Industries is learning about wildfire financial liability from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E).
Pacific Gas and Electric Company sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 after accumulating an estimated $30 billion in liability for causing wildfires. The bankruptcy settlement resulted in a quadrupling of shares.
HEI began its dilution process by increasing the number of shares by 49% in September 2024. HEI offered 54,054,054 shares of its common stock at $9.25, raising a net gain of $484,999,999.52.
HEI is also considering selling American Savings Bank to Central Pacific Financial Corp for $600 to $800 million.
If HEI were to fully follow the PG&E model of quadrupling its common stock, then an additional $2.4 billion could be raised.
HEI pledged $1.99 billion towards the victims, that after taxes would result in a $1.5 billion liability.
HEI warned of future dilution in its Prospectus issued on September 24, 2024….
read … Hawaiian Electric Industries May Avert Bankruptcy
MECO Avoids West Maui "Red Flag" Power Outage
IM: … "The company monitored weather conditions throughout the day and saw a steady drop of wind speeds in the afternoon. As a result, Hawaiian Electric did not shut off power to customers during the watch because of its PSPS program.” ….
MN: MFD responds to two brush fires Wednesday night
read … MECO Avoids West Maui "Red Flag" Power Outage
Huge Gaps Persist In Details About Police Support For Westside
CB: … In the month since Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan announced a major surge in policing on the Westside, patrols in the area have been staffed at 100% — but a spokesman for the state police union says that’s mainly because existing officers worked overtime.
It’s a patchwork strategy that could undermine the long-term viability of efforts to address crime in the area following a shooting that left four dead.
Additional officers from divisions such as traffic and narcotics are supplementing operations in the area, the department says, but it has repeatedly declined to provide key details about how many officers have been assigned and exactly how it is staffing the surge expected to last at least through the end of the year.
The department has also resisted sharing how quickly police respond to calls in the area — one of several unfulfilled public records requests Civil Beat has made to the department since the Labor Day Weekend shooting on Waianae Valley Road….
read … Huge Gaps Persist In Details About Police Support For Westside
No environmental impacts detected from Maui wildfire debris dump site, county says
HNN: … After 270 days, the amount of Maui wildfire debris at the temporary dump site in Olowalu now weighs about 360,000 tons — nearly the same as the Empire State Building.
Despite its size, the West Maui Temporary Debris Storage site remains in compliance with county, state and federal environmental regulations, the county said Wednesday….
PDF: Read the full quarterly environmental monitoring report here.
read … No environmental impacts detected from Maui wildfire debris dump site, county says (hawaiinewsnow.com)
Bill to allow guest houses on Kauaʻi to address housing shortage passes in committee
KN: … To address housing shortages on Kauaʻi, the County Council unanimously approved a bill on Wednesday that would allow the building of guest houses on land zoned residential, agricultural, commercial, open and university.
Bill 2933 would allow one guest house per dwelling unit on land in those specific zones. Guest houses are defined by the county as units with a maximum of 800 square feet, with an optional kitchen and bathroom. They also can’t be subdivided and sold or owned separately from the main dwelling.
The bill prohibits the guest houses from being used for transient vacation rentals or other short-term stays.
It passed its first reading on Sept. 11, and it will most likely be scheduled for a second reading at a future council meeting. If it passes the second reading, it goes to the mayor for approval….
read … Bill to allow guest houses on Kauaʻi to address housing shortage passes in committee
Maui County housing prices reach all-time high while sales volume drops in September
MN: … In September, the number of single-family homes fell 22.7% to 51, but prices rose 8.8% to $1,408,287. For condominiums, the pattern was similar, except with a higher, double-digit percentage jump in prices: The number of units sold was down 25.4% to 50, but prices were up 27.1% to $990,000 ….
read … Maui County housing prices reach all-time high while sales volume drops in September
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