Maui County Nurses Plan Three Day Strike
OIP Issues Eight New Opinions
Star-Adv Endorses Akina for OHA
SA: OHA At-large race: Incumbent Keli‘i Akina took the most votes for this seat in the primary election, but fell far short of a voter mandate, so faces former trustee Lei Ahu Isa in a runoff.
Ahu Isa, a broker, has years of political experience and emphasizes fiduciary responsibility as a trustee; she served from 2014 to 2022. Akina, elected in 2016, has a reputation as an independent voice — and it’s that very contentiousness and outspokenness that makes him the more worthy candidate. Akina played a vocal part in the departure of former OHA CEO Kamana‘opono Crabbe in 2019, after mishandling of OHA funds was exposed in an audit. And while Akina supports development by OHA in Kakaako Makai, he has openly questioned the agency’s strategy for seeking public acceptance. Airing these divergent viewpoints is good for OHA, which must craft positions that stand up to public scrutiny....
LINK: Keliʻi Akina for OHA
read … Editorial: Trust OHA stewards needed | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Lien, foreclosure threats add anxiety over insurance-driven condo fees
KHON: … “We got this large notification of insurance increase of over 164 percent for coming year, and basically another 100 percent for the following year,” he said.
That means what used to cost him around $640 a month is now over $1,830 a month — that’s more than $14,000 extra a year. And he says there’s no end in sight, with projected insurance quotes already just about doubling again for the following year according to a letter from their association.
“And then next year, you know, it could be well over $2,000 a month that they’re looking for,” he estimates.
Elliott is not alone. This is happening to thousands and thousands of property owners statewide. And to make matters worse if they can’t pay up?
“They’ll fine you a monthly fine upon the amount that you owe, and then they’ll just put a lien on your property,” Elliott explains….
Honolulu City Councilmember Val Okino Okimoto says the insurance crisis has quickly jumped to one of the top problems she’s hearing from constituents.
“They get notices, and sometimes it’s within the month they’re asked to then pay this absorbent amount of money that they don’t have, and following that, it’ll come with foreclosure notices,” Okimoto said. …
read … Lien, foreclosure threats add anxiety over insurance-driven condo fees
Maui PD Recognized Nationally for Lahaina Human Remains Recovery
HNN: … MPD took to Facebook to announce its “Coroner’s Office” had been honored with the 2024 Medicolegal Office of the Year Award, for excellence in death investigation, performed in the wake of last year’s wildfire….
The next police commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. at the Maui Service Center on Alaihi Street. Click here for more details.
In a statement received after HNN’s broadcast deadline, MPD spokesperson Alana Pico wrote:
“Thank you for noticing the award from the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. They awarded this due to the efforts of the forensic team, which consisted of our medical examiners, and the work they performed during the August 2023 wildfires. In addition, the Law Enforcement and Security Coalition of Hawaii proudly presented our forensic team with the Judge C. Nils Tavares award last week at the Top Cop Hawaii event for their extraordinary efforts in identifying the victims of the Maui Fire.
It is vital to understand that discussion and continued discussion of the events that occurred 14 months ago may cause our affected community and those who lost loved ones tremendous pain. We want to be very cautious when those wounds are reopened.
Regarding your questions, all the information you seek has been painstakingly documented in the after-action reports by the Hawaii Attorney General and MPD. The GPS coordinates are diagrammed in our after-action report, and the coordinates were released in the Attorney General’s report. Concerning protocols, we utilized best practices from our federal partners who worked with us, specifically the FEMA USAR teams (it should be noted that these teams worked on recoveries from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and are the foremost experts). We also were privileged to have the Department of Defense DOD team, which helps recover POWs and MIAs. This is the highest threshold possible, and this is the practice that was used. We utilized all available personnel, including police officers who were in the Academy at the time and with other first responders, all of which did a remarkable job.
The initial acts of that day and the days after that of a rescue, which unfortunately quickly became a recovery, is a painful and traumatic situation for all those involved, and we are sympathetic and understanding to those who lost loved ones. We are continually looking to be proactive and provide information not just to our department but to departments nationally and internationally that may go through critical incidents. The dramatic catastrophic and dynamic events from the multiple fires that affected Maui were rapidly evolving, and where we can improve, we certainly will look at them. We thank the community for its resilience, trust, and patience as we move forward.
Law and statutes establish the police chief and other chiefs within the state as the coroner. As documented in our after-action report, the police department maintains the forensic facility that houses the morgue.
We ask that if you use our response for your story, you do not piecemeal it but use its entirety."
RELATED: SHOPO Senses Opportunity to Remove Maui’s ‘Outsider’ Chief
Maui PD: (20+) The Law Enforcement and Security... - Maui Police Department | Facebook
read … Maui PD boasts ‘Coroner’s Office’ award following reports it mishandled fire victims’ remains
Tribes want you to pay them for the privilege of curing their diseases
AAAS: … It’s this history of unethical use of Indigenous data that Hutchins and others are trying to change. Infamous examples include the misuse of blood samples collected by a University of British Columbia researcher from the Nuu-chah-nulth people in Canada for a study of rheumatoid arthritis. When that researcher left to go to a different institution, he took the specimens with him and also shared them with other researchers for unrelated studies—including on migration and retroviruses—without the knowledge or explicit consent of the Nuu-chah-nulth people. In a different instance, misuse of DNA samples collected from the Havasupai Tribe by ASU researchers led the Havasupai to discontinue all research and banish ASU researchers and employees from its reservation. The Havasupai filed a lawsuit against ASU researchers and the Arizona Board of Regents that ended in 2010 with $700,000 in compensation to the tribe and the return of its citizens’ DNA.
For many Indigenous community members who remember examples of such data misuse, the solution is to decide which data are shared and whom they are shared with. “It’s not a free-for-all,” says Rosie Alegado, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii and a Native Hawaiian, adding, “‘Accessible’ means somebody can access it but you are still allowed to regulate it.” To scientists who might feel strongly about unrestricted access to data, “You should check your ethics,” she says. “That kind of thinking assumes best intentions, but [is] a little bit naïve, and within that naïveté is where bad actors can slip in.”
(TRANSLATION: $700K sounds good to me.)
read … ‘Not a free-for-all’: Indigenous communities want limits on how their data are shared | Science | AAAS
Ancestral Remains Conflict Means Trouble For Hawaii Cesspool Owners
CB: … Members of the Native Hawaiian community have protested at the property in recent weeks over concerns about the disturbance of iwi kupuna during the conversion of four cesspools.
The order comes less than a week after police arrested three people for trespass when a group occupied the property for several days.
Megan Wong, who is among the group who say they are descendants of those whose remains were found, said “the order to stop work on the Naue burial grounds of our iwi kupuna is a relief. But the work is far from over.”
Bernie Bays, an attorney for owners Chris and Jennifer Arreguin, said that the DOH stop work order was moot because the owners were already following a burial treatment plan created by SHPD in early October.
That plan had been created because the owners reported the presence of iwi kupuna during work on the septic system to SHPD, which recommended keeping the remains in place. The owners complied with that order, he said.
But Makalika Naholowa’a, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said that the ban was needed because there was a question about whether work on the site had been carried out in accordance with burial law, and that litigation was a possibility if it had not….
KNN: Lua Kupapaʻu O Nohili expansion rededicated to accept and guard West Kauai iwi kupuna : Kauai Now
KNN: State stops work on wastewater project in Wainiha after human burials uncovered : Kauai Now
HNN: Health department orders construction halt at Kauai property after arrests and iwi discovery
read ... Ancestral Remains Conflict Means Trouble For Hawaii Cesspool Owners
Neighborhood Boards Want Exemption from Sunshine Law
CB: … Hawaii’s Sunshine Law is again causing consternation, this time at the local level on Oahu as neighborhood board members struggle to figure out what they can and can’t talk about at their monthly meetings.
Most recently, board members have been scratching their heads over a seven-page letter to the Neighborhood Commission from the state Office of Information Practices, which oversees open meetings and public records laws. The letter, in response to a request for guidance from a board member, has proved confusing, several board members say, especially when it comes to talking about important issues occurring in the community.
The situation has prompted Patrick Smith, who chairs the Nuuanu-Punchbowl Neighborhood Board, to propose a resolution for discussion on Monday at the Neighborhood Commission meeting that would ask the Legislature to exempt the local boards from the Sunshine Law.
Smith said he’s proposing the resolution in his role on a commission subcommittee that oversees boards’ rules, not on behalf of the Nuuanu board.
The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Monday at the commission’s office and will be livestreamed. People can submit testimony in advance as well. Details here.
read … Is The Sunshine Law Working For Oahu's Neighborhood Boards?
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