Legislators Announce 2025 Session Calendar
Tax and Trade issues top Taiwan Agenda during Hawaii Visit
How Family Got Justice Decades After Outgoing 19-Year-Old Was Killed in Her Hawaii Apartment
How to make Hawaii more livable
Hunting for a New Place in Renter’s Purgatory
HB: … The National Low Income Housing Coalition says 38% of households in Hawai‘i are composed of renters, the fourth-highest percentage in the nation. The study also says the individual income needed to afford a single-bedroom home in Hawai‘i is $71,185, compared with the national average of $41,850, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
UHERO, UH’s Economic Research Organization, says Hawai‘i has the highest average rent in the nation: $2,000 a month….
read … Hunting for a New Place in Renters Purgatory - Hawaii Business Magazine
$250M Later, Hawaii Kindergarten Readiness Remains Low
CB: … For the second year in a row, less than a third of Hawaii students are ready for kindergarten when they start school, with schools on the Big Island, Maui and the west side of Oahu reporting some of the lowest scores for students, according to new data from the Hawaii Department of Education.
The latest results from state’s Kindergarten Entry Assessment come despite a surge in spending to better prepare students for their first years in school.
Early learning and kindergarten readiness has been a top priority for the state in recent years, with lawmakers pledging to provide preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032. In August, the Executive Office on Early Learning opened 44 new public preschool classrooms on DOE campuses, and the state aims to create 25 more classrooms next year.
In 2022, lawmakers set aside $200 million in a historical investment to build more preschool classrooms across Hawaii. The state also has $50 million in tuition subsidies for families that send their children to private preschool programs.
But researchers and education advocates say it’s too early to see the impact of the state’s preschool expansion on kindergarten readiness, especially when staff shortages and limited spots are preventing nearly half of Hawaii’s 3- and 4-year-olds from attending preschool. Some say the state needs to focus on creating more public preschools in low-income communities, while also offering more support to families with infants and toddlers.
Low-income families, whose students may struggle on DOE’s kindergarten assessment, need more help with child development and nutrition from the time their babies are born, said Kerrie Urosevich, executive director of Early Childhood Action Strategy.
“I don’t feel that the results were surprising,” Urosevich said about this year’s kindergarten assessment….
read … Hawaii Kindergarten Readiness Is Low, Even As Investments Remain High
Green to Testify Before Congress on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health secretary nomination
HNN: … Gov. Josh Green, a medical doctor, says he’ll testify against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as health and human services secretary if the U.S. Senate asks him.
“This guy makes our children unsafe,” Green, a Democrat, said Monday on Hawaii News Now Sunrise. “We could see disease spread across the mainland and some of that could translate over here.”
In 2019, Green, then lieutenant governor, was among volunteer physicians who went to Samoa and vaccinated thousands against measles.
Hawaii News Now was there as a mother got vaccinated after losing her baby to the disease.
Green blames Kennedy for spreading vaccine misinformation.
“He torpedoed the vaccination program in Samoa and you saw 83 people die, most of whom were children; 5,000 diagnosed extra cases of measles, and there were many more,” said Green.
State Rep. Diamond Garcia, House minority floor leader, said of Green’s remarks, “That’s a shameful statement.”
The Republican lawmaker added, “There is no evidence at all that RFK’s positions, statements have caused harm to anyone.”
Garcia says he supports Kennedy for the position.
“He’s not anti-vax. He’s simply for vaccine transparency,” said Garcia. “RFK has a long track record of going against big pharma, fighting for the little guy.”…
read … Governor calls Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health secretary nomination ‘unsafe for children’
Roth announces $10.7 million savings for county from arbitration with Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association
BIN: … Mayor Mitch Roth, on his last day in office on Monday, announced that after nearly two years of negotiations, Hawaiʻi County reached an agreement with the Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association that would save the county $10.7 million from a previous offer.
Roth’s administration reported it was a nearly $15 million difference since the beginning of the arbitration process….
New Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda, who was sworn in after noon today, and his administration will take over ongoing arbitration with three additional public unions currently under negotiation….
HTH: Roth touts savings following arbitration with HGEA - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
read … Roth announces $10.7 million savings for county from arbitration with Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association
2.3% hike in SNAP benefits proposed by U.S. Ag Department to reflect Hawai‘i food costs
KN: … in 2024, Honolulu residents pay the most for food, forking over an average of $589.63 each month. That’s about $171 more than the national average of $418.44 a month.
People living in Virginia Beach, Va., pay the least, dishing out $335.11 a month, or nearly $255 less than an occupant of Honolulu.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday proposed a 2.3% increase to benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often still referred to by many as food stamps, for Hawai‘i to ensure they accurately reflect the cost of food in the state.
The proposal would result in an extra estimated $40 a month for a family of four receiving benefits in Hawai‘i.
Monday’s action continues a U.S. Department of Agriculture rulemaking process to adjust benefits for the islands. It also calls for releasing a report about how an increase in benefits will help Hawai‘i families if the rule is finalized….
read … 2.3% hike in SNAP benefits proposed by U.S. Ag Department to reflect Hawai‘i food costs
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