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Wednesday, October 30, 2024
October 30, 2024 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:27 PM :: 1072 Views

Will SCOTUS Hear Hawaii Second Amendment Appeal?

Green Appoints Water Commissioner, Salary Commissioners

Small Business Regulatory Review Board Elects Officers

Enrollment up at UH’s 10 campuses, surpasses 50K

Hawaii Early Voting On Pace for Extremely Low Turnout

CB: … It was less than three months ago that Hawaii saw the worst voter turnout in any Primary Election since statehood in 1959.

Only 269,912 of the 839,618 people registered statewide — a measly 32.1% — bothered to fill out a ballot.

As of Monday, 226,646 ballots had been received by the offices of the four county clerks for the General Election….

Returned ballots on the Big Island totaled around 35,000 as of Monday, not including ballots still to be mailed in or retrieved from drop boxes, said Henricks.

With a week still to go in voting, it seems possible that Hawaii County may come close and even exceed the 50,490 primary turnout.

As of Monday, 155,097 ballots had been received by Oahu officials, including 837 from in-person voting. The primary turnout was 177,108….

Maui’s returned ballots totaled 24,192, Lutey said Monday. The primary count was 29,026….

The returned ballots for Kauai County as of Monday numbered 12,537, according to the clerk’s office. Just over 600 came from in-person voting. The turnout in the primary was 14,721.

In spite of the apparent enthusiasm for the 2024 general election, it’s not clear whether voter turnout will be anywhere near the 579,000 ballots cast statewide in the 2020 general election. That was the highest turnout since 1994….

UPDATE: 376,635 Early Votes cast in General Election

read … Hawaii Voting On Pace To Exceed Dismal Primary Turnout

In-person voters complain daily about mail-in ballots

SA: … Detractors show up every day at Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale to vote in person and to loudly complain about Hawaii’s mail-in ballot process, which voters overwhelmingly prefer.

The volume and number of complaints about mail-in ballots by people voting in person at voter service centers coincides with former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss and repeated claims that the election was “stolen.”

The complaints to Honolulu election employees happen in every Hawaii county, said Honolulu Election Administrator Rex Quidilla.

None of the incidents have turned violent or threatening, Quidilla said, but they can be “loud and uncomfortable for anyone in earshot.”

In one instance a voter confronted a voter service center manager and “came within a centimeter of his face,” Quidilla said….

He declined to identify which political party the mail-in complainers tend to support but said they are part of the national “denier movement, the anti-vote-by-mail movement.”

“They say vote-by-mail is illegitimate, and they have concerns that we’re cheating, cheating,” Quidilla said. “So far, no one has had to be removed from a service center, but it’s happening in Hilo and Kona and Lihue.”…

Federal law prohibits threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.

State Election Chief Scott T. Nago said no Hawaii elections workers have been threatened, unlike some incidents on the mainland….

RELATED: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day:  City Clerk Plans to do it Again in 2024

read … In-person voters complain daily about mail-in ballots

Money and Retaliation: OHA Wants Out From Under Hawaii's Sunshine Law

CB:… The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is considering asking the Legislature to exempt meetings of its board of trustees from Hawaii’s Sunshine Law.

OHA says it needs to be able to act expeditiously and discuss confidential and financial matters that could be hampered under the public meetings law. The office is also proposing safeguards to ensure some public reporting and participation stays intact.

The proposal is part of OHA’s bill package for the 2025 legislative session. The board is scheduled to discuss it in committee meetings Wednesday morning….

It also wants to be able to discuss legal matters and investment practices dealing with the Native Hawaiian Trust, valued at nearly $600 million, in private.

OHA wants to be able to discuss personnel matters and grievances in private as well….

It also suggested setting up rules that keep discussion on things like grant awards, various programs and certain budget issues open to the public while exempting cultural matters and other negotiations from public meeting.

But the board of trustees can already take up many of those matters in executive session, Brian Black, executive director of the Public First Law Center, said.

“This proposal to exempt them entirely doesn’t make sense,” Black said….

Another proposed bill would give the trustees the power to convene OHA’s salary commission.

Right now that power rests with the governor. Commissioners are supposed to meet every four years to recommend salary adjustments for the trustees, but OHA said past administrations have failed to convene the salary commission.

With a salary of $58,560, OHA trustees are some of the lowest paid elected officials in Hawaii…

Secrets: OHA to Take Control of Kahana Valley Living Park?

read … OHA Wants Out From Under Hawaii's Sunshine Law

US EPA and Hawaii DoH Criticize Board of Water Supply for ‘Creating Public Confusion’ about Red Hill

HNN: … In another letter obtained by HNN, the U.S. EPA and state health department also expressed concern to Board of Water Supply that BWS presentations quote “created significant public confusion about the overall safety of Oahu’s drinking water.”…

In its letter, the Navy says it’s collected numerous samples from its water source the Wai’awa shaft and remains in compliance with state and federal drinking water standards.

The Board of Water Supply says it wants more information from the Navy on what specifically is “misinformation.”

Anthony said BWS did not share the letters with the media. He said a meeting that was supposed to happen this week between the larger Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative and the Navy got abruptly canceled at 6:45 p.m. Friday. That was after HNN’s story broke….

read … ‘It scared the hell out of me’: Emotions pour over Red Hill crisis at BWS meeting

Attorney General: Top Way To Protect Hawaii From Wildfires – form a Committee

CB: … The top priority is for Hawaii to look at other states for guidance on appropriate wildfire policies and use a multidisciplinary team to address the litany of factors feeding Hawaii’s perilous fire problems ….

(TRANSLATION: Do nothing.)

read … Attorney General: Here Are The Top 10 Ways To Protect Hawaii From Wildfires

Three Proposed Hawai`i Solar-Storage Projects Are Withdrawn due to “HECO financial uncertainty”

IM: … there are some proceedings such as the HECO Request for Proposals for Renewable Energy and Energy Storage (RFP Stage-3) proceeding where the Commission bans all intervention.

In these proceedings, everyone is being asked to “trust” that regulators and the regulatee are acting in the public interest absent all public interest oversight.

Hawaiian Electric selected three Clearway Energy to the Final Award Group  Projects as part of HECO’s Stage 3 Request for Proposals for Renewable Dispatchable Generation and Energy Storage for Oahu and Hawai`i Island.

Makana La Solar LLC’s project is a 80 MW photovoltaic generating facility coupled with a 80 MW/ 480 MWh battery energy storage system proposed for the island of O`ahu.

Puako Solar LLC’s project is a 60 MW photovoltaic generating facility coupled with a 60 MW/ 240 MWh battery energy storage system proposed for Hawai`i Island.

Kaiwiki Solar LLC’s project is a 55 MW photovoltaic generating facility coupled with a 55 MW/ 220 MWh battery energy storage system proposed for Hawai`i Island.

Negotiations on the Power Purchase Agreements have been underway for several months.

Clearway wrote a letter to HECO on October 7, 2024.

“We sincerely appreciate Hawaiian Electric`s efforts to address Clearway`s concerns regarding the ability to finance the Projects in light of the changed circumstances that resulted in Hawaiian Electric`s ongoing financial uncertainty….“

HPR: Solar developer pulls out of 3 major projects, citing HECO's 'financial distress'

read … Three Proposed Hawai`i Solar-Storage Projects Are Withdrawn

Chinatown businesses still waiting for claims after outages

KHON: … It has been over four months since a couple of hours-long power outages hit Downtown Honolulu, but businesses have yet to be reimbursed by Hawaiian Electric for their losses….

read … Chinatown businesses still waiting for claims after outages

DHHL may have a wealth of geothermal energy—but they just can’t figure out how to say ‘yes’ to drilling

HPR: … Geothermal is Hawaiʻi Island’s second largest source of renewable power, trailing only solar.

Scientists think that the energy the island currently uses may be a fraction of the resource’s potential, and an abundance of geothermal power could lie below land set aside for Hawaiian homesteads.

“We know we have the resource. We don't know how much we have of it, but we know we have the resource here,” said Makai Freitas, West Hawaiʻi commissioner for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

DHHL would have control over any geothermal found under land in its trust. Freitas thinks it could end up being a big economic opportunity for the department….

(CLUE: The ‘opportunity’ is low cost clean baseload electricity.  Unfortunately DHHL has its hands out looking for a cut.  Result: Inaction)

read … Hawaiian homesteads may have a wealth of geothermal energy — but can it help beneficiaries?

Kauai property owner target of online ‘threats’ after iwi found at construction site

HNN: … He said they were instructed by DOH to upgrade from cesspools to septic tanks and followed state and county protocols.

“We recognize that people have questions with the process and procedures as directed by DOH and SHPD, but abuse and threats toward anybody is not an acceptable reaction,” said Arreguin.

The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation is involved with the case.

“The government heard the cries of descendants, heard that there were concerns, sufficient enough that it was appropriate to just pause the work,” said Makalika Naholowaa, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, executive director.

“Were all these processes followed because the descendants and community were very much aware that there’s burials here and so that’s really the outcry,” Naholowaa added.

In the meantime, Wong says the owner is not on Kauai and is encouraging kapu aloha as the community is searching for a peaceful resolution.

There is a community meeting next Monday, Nov. 4. from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Waipa Foundation, click here….

read … Kauai property owner target of online ‘threats’ after iwi found at construction site

Meth Heads Aging Out

SA: … Conclusions drawn by a trio of University of Hawaii- Manoa researchers who pored over records from the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System — a subsection of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Overdose Data to Action Program — mark meth as the main substance associated with cause of death for overdose victims between the ages of 50 and 75, from July 2020 to December 2021. One hundred fifty-three deaths were recorded in this demographic, 75.8% of which were attributed to methamphetamine poisoning, according to post-mortem toxicology. That compares to 48.2% of deaths of users 14 to 49 years old.

Study statistics suggest long-term users prefer meth — 76.5% of middle-age and older people had histories of substance use — a choice that leads to pronounced and serious consequences. Of the cohort’s 50-and-older group, autopsies showed 25.5% died from cardiovascular or neurological complications, which researchers associate with chronic and long-term meth use….

(CLUE: Young people got a really good look at what meth does and they want no part of it.)

read … Editorial: Isles’ aging meth abusers need help | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

'It's unsafe,' public housing residents on illegal activity

KHON: … Residents who live in public housing reached out to KHON2 and said they see illegal activity happening constantly. When they report it to management, nothing happens. Other residents said they fear retaliation for speaking out and are afraid to go outside.

Multiple shootings linked to Kalihi public housing complexes are shining a light on what residents said is a much larger issue of violence and illegal activity in the Kuhio Park Towers community.

“No, I don’t feel safe,” said a KPT resident who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation.

“For somebody to walk up to my son and point a gun to his head, and this person just got done talking with the so-called securities,” he said. “It’s unsafe.”

He said he’s reported numerous incidents to management, each time things get worse.

“I report an incident about the shooting in the front of my house, the next day there was a gunshot on the side of my car. My gas line was cut. I left the house and fire in the back of my unit.”

“Historically, Michaels Development has been slow to respond to resident’s concerns. We are hoping they are much more proactive in the future,” Ganaden said….

 “Hawaii public housing is the state agency that has the oversight over Michaels Development,” Ganaden explained. “We had a meeting here the beginning of summer and we might need to have another one to make sure that resident concerns are being addressed.”…

KPT isn’t the only public housing development where residents said their concerns aren’t being addressed. It’s also happening at Kam IV housing.

A resident of Kam IV, who asked to remain anonymous, said they’ve launched years of complaints that have fallen on deaf ears.

“The management, she’s not doing anything about it,” the resident said. “Drug dealers come in here, buy dope, and people, residents smoking the dope on the on the grounds. Neighbors here fighting, police coming in and out of this place like nothing. It’s not safe for me and my family, me and my kids. It’s dangerous in here already. it’s not safe.”…

read … 'It's unsafe,' public housing residents on illegal activity

Honolulu YMCA Ends Rental Subsidies For Long-Term Tenants

CB: … Suzanne Spencer has lived across from the upscale Ala Moana Center in Honolulu for nearly five years, but for her, the prime location isn’t a matter of luxury, it’s a necessity. 

The 57-year-old who pieces together a living doing temporary work and odd jobs she finds on Craigslist has been renting a room at the Central YMCA on Atkinson Drive for $300 a month since December 2019. …

As of Friday, they’ll be charged the YMCA’s regular rate of $400 a week, or $1,600 a month, for a single room and a communal bathroom. That’s an increase Spencer said she and other long-term residents, including older adults and people with disabilities, can’t afford.

read … Honolulu YMCA Ends Rental Subsidies For Long-Term Tenants

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