Busted in Ibiza: Bumpy Kanahele's Fake 'Diplomat'
Hawaii doctor under investigation for murder in woman’s euthanasia death
Honolulu Traffic 19th - Worst in USA
Schatz: With $1.6B in federal funds, rebuild Lahaina homes now
SA: … Almost a year-and-a-half later, life in Lahaina is still nowhere near back to normal. And above all, they want — and deserve — stability and security. Last month, Congress took a big step toward delivering that by approving more than $2 billion to support Maui’s continued recovery.
As disaster response gives way to disaster recovery, one immediate need stands above all else: housing. Just a handful of permanent homes have been rebuilt to date in place of the thousands that were incinerated by the fires.
And in the meantime, survivors have had to constantly move from one temporary housing unit to the next — some as many as five or six times — without the peace of mind that comes with a place to call their own.
Building housing takes time — and enormous resources. Which is why this new federal money — particularly the roughly $1.6 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding — is so important. Over the years, disaster recovery funding has been a lifeline for so many communities across the country that have been devastated by disasters. And the program’s success in states like South Carolina offers important lessons for Maui as it charts a path forward. Among them: we need to keep things simple.
We can’t outsmart ourselves. We need to focus this significant infusion of resources into housing projects that will deliver units quickly. The faster we build homes, the faster people in Lahaina can get back on their feet — it’s that simple.
There are any number of important and worthy causes and community programs that need funding. In fact, there are hundreds of millions of dollars within the package Congress just passed to support small businesses, provide child care, rebuild roads and water infrastructure, and more. But nothing is more pressing than housing….
SA: Editorial: Do more to house Lahaina survivors | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
SA: Feds to give Maui $1.6B for wildfire recovery | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
MN: Federal disaster funding signals a shift for Lahaina | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
Flashback: Do Lahaina Property Owners Have the Right to Rebuild?
read … Column: With $1.6B in federal funds, rebuild Lahaina homes now | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
I Moved to Hawaii but Would Return to Oregon Due to the Cost of Living
BI: … The cost of living is one of Hawaii's biggest downsides. When I lived in Oregon, my rent for my three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage home with a yard was $1,500. Electricity was, on average, $250, and my water bill was around $80. Car registration for both of my cars totaled $275 for two years. Groceries cost us around $500 a month.
Now, my rent, which my family helps with, is $3,550 for a slightly larger home than I had in Oregon. Our electricity is almost three times the amount I paid in Oregon, running on average $660 and up. Water is around $220, and car registration is $445, but only valid for one year….
read … I Moved to Hawaii but Would Return to Oregon Due to the Cost of Living
Miske’s ‘Defend Hawaii’ co-defendant sentenced
ILind: … Two more of Michael Miske’s original ten co-defendants were sentenced this week, with each receiving three years in federal custody.
On Monday, Federal Judge Derrick Watson sentenced Buntenbah, 52, to a 36-month term of imprisonment. He had pleaded guilty in March 2022 to a single count of conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering and agreed to cooperate with the government. The charge carries a maximum 5-year prison sentence. The 36-month sentence reflects a one-level downward departure from sentencing guidelines for pleading guilty in a “timely fashion,” but Watson denied Buntenbah’s request for an additional reduction in sentence. In addition, Buntenbah was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine, and to serve an additional year on supervised release.
As part of his plea agreement, Buntenbah agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the continuing law enforcement investigation of Miske’s racketeering organization. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop two drug trafficking charges which would have each carried a 10-year minimum sentence.
Buntenbah’s sentencing had originally been scheduled in November. However, Judge Watson deferred sentencing in order to give prosecutors time to consider whether to set aside Bunetanbah’s plea agreeement and potentially pursue a longer sentence, apparently because Buntenbah was rearrested earlier this year for assaulting several men in a Waikiki restaurant/bar while free on bond pending sentencing. In the end, the government did not move to set aside the plea, and agreed to the 36-month sentence.
However, Buntenbah had already been ordered to forfeit a $250,000 mortgage on a Kaneohe property as a result of the Waikiki brawl. That decision is currently pending appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco….
On Wednesday morning, Preston Kimoto, 46, a former manager for Miske’s Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, was sentenced to 37 months, with an additional three years of supervised release. Judge Watson granted a sealed motion filed by prosecutors, which apparently spelled out substantial assistance Kimoto had provided the government, and provided an 8-level downward departure from federal sentencing guidelines….
Watson recommended that both men serve their sentences in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center rather than being transferred to a facility on the U.S. mainland. …
read … Two more Miske co-defendants sentenced
Honolulu Rail Supposed to Reach Airport, Middle Street in 2025
HB: … The second segment of the Skyline rail line is expected to open in late 2025, according to both the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and the city’s Department of Transportation Services. That segment will extend the line from Aloha Stadium to the Middle Street Transit Center in Kalihi, with stops at Pearl Harbor, the airport and Lagoon Drive.
Every day, an average of 4,000 passengers ride Skyline between West Kapolei and Aloha Stadium. Transportation officials say they knew that first segment would attract few passengers, but they expect many more once the line to Middle Street is open….
Morton says HART has always acknowledged that Skyline should stay open later, but says expanding the hours wouldn’t make financial sense until the second segment opens and there are more riders. When that happens, he says, the hours will be expanded….
read … Next Stops for Honolulu Rail: Airport to Middle Street in 2025 - Hawaii Business Magazine
Feasibility of a Red Hill Pumped Storage Hydro Facility
IM: … The RAND National Security Research Division published an 80-page “Analysis of Alternative Uses for the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility” in 2024.
Congress tasked the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to commission an independent study examining potential beneficial reuse alternatives for the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility site.
The Navy tasked the RAND Corporation, a federally funded research and development center, to conduct the study.
Five alternatives were examined: no beneficial reuse, energy storage using pumped hydropower, energy generation using renewable sources, water storage, and a museum.
Each alternative was evaluated against four criteria: executability, economics, nonfinancial considerations, and robustness to uncertainty.
The optimal alternative proposed is that policymakers should delay any decision on alternative reuses of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility for the foreseeable future….
PDF: Analysis of Alternative Uses for the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility
read … Feasibility of a Red Hill Pumped Storage Hydro Facility
State Sees A Rare Surge In Death Taxes
CB: … The state is benefiting from a one-time bump in inheritance taxes this fiscal year, but a panel of experts is predicting somewhat slower growth in overall state tax collections in the years ahead.
The state Council on Revenues, a committee tasked with projecting state tax collections, is projecting general fund tax collections will grow from about $9.57 billion last fiscal year to nearly $10.2 billion in the year that ends on June 30.
That faster-than-expected growth in tax collections this year means the state general treasury will have about $280 million more than Gov. Josh Green’s administration expected in December when they prepared the administration’s proposed budget for the next two years….
The extra tax collections for this fiscal year came from a sudden, unexplained $315 million surge in state inheritance taxes late last year. Taxpayer information is confidential, and state tax officials are not disclosing the exact source or sources of that unusual windfall for the state….
(QUESTION: Abigail Kawananakoa?)
read … State Sees A Rare Surge In Inheritance Taxes - Honolulu Civil Beat
OHA asks lawmakers for more than $2M to ‘fund positions’
HPR: … The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is asking the state Legislature for more than $2 million to fund 13 full-time positions over the next two years.
OHA CEO Stacey Ferreira pleaded her case to the Senate Joint Committee on Ways and Means, and Hawaiian Affairs on Monday. She said the staff positions within OHA will be focused on developing and implementing the agency’s Mana i Mauli Ola strategic plan….
read … OHA asks lawmakers for more than $2M to carry out strategic plan | Hawai'i Public Radio
Illegal Fireworks Won't Stop Until Neighbors Take Action
CB: … The recent proposals to stop illegal fireworks are not going to work the way their supporters want. They have unrealistic expectations about the power of laws.
There needs to be a different approach. We need to accept the limits and inflated promises of laws and focus on fireworks as a neighborhood issue.
That moves the concentration from the courtroom to the more human side — what can be learned from the tragedy at 4144 Keaka Drive, the Salt Lake house where fireworks exploded New Year’s Eve.
Why not rely on laws to do the job? Three reasons.
First, making tougher laws is far from a guarantee that people will be more likely to obey them.
Harsher sentences do not guarantee more obedience. As the psychologist Tom Tyler has shown, people obey laws not because they fear punishment but because they think the law-making institution has legitimacy.
The Fourth of July Is Just 6 Months Away
People also often have other goals and desires that make disobedience worth the risk. The history of fireworks laws in Hawaiʻi is a history of disobedience and non-enforcement.
As Civil Beat described it, “The primary reason for the lack of progress on fireworks bills is that fireworks are popular, legislators say, and they fear the wrath of their constituents.” Even a simple bill calling for the state to study the social and economic impacts of permitting the sale of aerials was never heard.
Why should more of the same suddenly bring dramatic results? Neither shaming nor scaring is enough to turn this well-established pattern around.
HNN: Morning Beat: Why it's so hard to enforce a ban on cockfighting
read … Neal Milner: Illegal Fireworks Won't Stop Until Neighbors Take Action - Honolulu Civil Beat
Solemn procession in downtown Honolulu honors firefighter killed in McCully fire
HNN: … His body was moved from the Medical Examiner's Office in Iwilei and the procession made its way through Downtown….
KHON: Honoring a hero: Honolulu mourns fallen firefighter
KITV: Fallen firefighter’s family visits site of McCully fire | News | kitv.com
HNN: ATF sends team to Honolulu to help investigate fatal McCully fire
read … Solemn procession in downtown Honolulu honors firefighter killed in McCully fire
DLE Proposal to create Hawaii highway patrol gets mixed reactions
HNN: … The state Department of Law Enforcement wants to get more involved with DUI and speeding on Oahu highways, but Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan says he’s against the idea.
It’s a proposal that is also catching some lawmakers by surprise, and part of a huge expansion of the agency….
CB: That Cop Pulling You Over May Soon Be A State Deputy Sheriff - Honolulu Civil Beat
read … Proposal to create Hawaii highway patrol gets mixed reactions
Alternative to Suicide: Hawaii Hospice Collaborative Launches Into ‘New Era’ of Care Delivery
HN: … Six nonprofit hospice providers recently joined forces to form the Hawai‘i Palliative and Hospice Care Collaborative. The initiative is an effort to ensure sustainable access amid rising demand for end-of-life and serious illness care.
The new collaborative includes Hawai’i Care Choices, Hospice Maui, Kaua‘i Hospice, Navian Hawaii, North Hawaii Hospice and St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii’s hospice program.
“This collaborative represents a new era for end-of-life care in Hawaii,” Hawai’i Care Choices CEO Brenda S. Ho told local news. “By coming together, we are amplifying our voice, strengthening our resources, and ensuring that every community across our islands has access to care that honors the culture and preferences of each patient and their ‘ohana.’” …
TGI: Collaborative to strengthen Advanced Illness Care - The Garden Island
MN: Hawaiʻi Palliative and Hospice Care Collaborative forms to strengthen advanced illness care across state : Maui Now
read … Hawaii Hospice Collaborative Launches Into ‘New Era’ of Care Delivery - Hospice News
Maintenance cited as possible cause of Kamaka crash
SA: … A preliminary review of air traffic control communications from the Federal Aviation Administration shows that the Cessna 208B was cleared to depart runway 4L at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and take a right turn.
But instead of turning right, the plane immediately started turning left at the departure end of the runway.
The Honolulu tower controller asked the pilot to confirm they were turning right.
“We are … we have … we are out of control here,” the instructor pilot responded.
Robert M. Katz, a Dallas-based commercial pilot and flight instructor with 43 years of experience, suggests the issue could have been avoided with proper maintenance. Also, the pilot might have neglected to run through a preflight checklist of items, which could have caught the problem before takeoff, he suggests.
He suspects the rigging of the cables between the control wheel and control surfaces was done improperly during maintenance.
He said the cables control ailerons — “little flippers” located on the trailing edge of each wing tip. When making a right turn, the aileron on the right wing should flip up; and the one on the left wing should flip down, he said.
“If rigged backwards, then just the opposite will occur,” Katz said.
KHON: Federal investigators have not cited any specific cause for December’s Kamaka Air plane crash that killed two men.
KITV: NTSB releases preliminary report of the Kamaka Air crash | News | kitv.com
read … Maintenance cited as possible cause of Kamaka crash | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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