Lahaina Fire: How Maui Emergency Operations Center Lost 'Situational Awareness'
Red Hill moms organized by Antivaxxer RFK—in DC to Attend Confirmation Hearing
HNN: … some impacted by the Red Hill tainted water crisis are there now to support President Donald Trump’s controversial nominee.
Army Maj. Amanda Feindt, whose family drank contaminated tap water during the Navy’s Red Hill fuel leaks around Pearl Harbor in 2021, has participated in events with the military chapter of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit founded by Kennedy.
“I first became knowledgeable on RFK Jr. and his passion for our children about a year ago when CHD (Children’s Health Defense) military chapter reached out to me to support me,” said Feindt.
Feindt says she doesn’t work for the organization, but says Children’s Health Defense developed a military chapter in 2023.
“It started off to support the military service members and their families, who are being impacted by the military COVID vaccine folks, who wanted religious accommodations and medical freedom,” she said.
Feindt says the chapter grew to include toxic exposures like the Red Hill tainted water crisis and moldy barracks.
But national Democrats, including Green and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, blame Kennedy and his nonprofit for casting doubt over the COVID vaccine and contributing to a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019.
“It is not an exaggeration to say lives will be lost if he is confirmed,” said Schatz last week.
“I cannot speak to the incident that happened in Samoa,” said Feindt.
“As they are advocating for their own views, I’m advocating as a mother and as an impacted family, one of 93,000 who are poisoned and the bottom line is the health and safety of our children has not been prioritized for years,” she added.
Kat McClanahan was also sickened by the fuel leaks.
“It’s not a political reason to support or not support. It’s an opportunity just to get the story and the tragedy and the ongoing medical effects of Red Hill in front of another set of eyes,” she said.
McClanahan and Feindt have seats for Kennedy’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a hearing for former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, selected by Trump for director of national intelligence, will be on Thursday.
Feindt and McClanahan say they are also in D.C. to support her confirmation as well….
read … Red Hill moms voice support for Trump’s health nominee
Hawaii Governor, a Doctor, Blames R.F.K. Jr. for Measles Deaths in Samoa
NYT: … It was a spasm of tragedy on a remote Pacific island that only a few months later was overshadowed by a global pandemic. But to Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, the measles outbreak on neighboring Samoa that killed 83 people, mostly babies and children, was a preventable catastrophe wrought by the man President Trump now wants to steer American health policy.
In December of 2019 Dr. Green, an emergency medical physician and Hawaii’s Democratic lieutenant governor at the time, rounded up a medical team and thousands of vaccine doses and flew to Samoa to help. Last month he flew to Washington aiming to alert lawmakers from both parties about the role Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mr. Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary and a longtime vaccine skeptic, played in the Samoa outbreak.
Mr. Kennedy’s confirmation hearings are on Wednesday and Thursday before two Senate committees, which will then vote on whether his nomination advances to the full Senate.
Democrats are attempting to leverage Mr. Kennedy’s connection to the Samoa outbreak to build opposition to his nomination. Dr. Green recently appeared in an ad by a liberal advocacy group, 314 Action, saying, “R.F.K. Jr. had spread so much misinformation that the country stopped vaccinating, and that caused a tragic and fatal spread of the measles.”….
read … Hawaii Governor, a Doctor, Blames R.F.K. Jr. for Measles Deaths in Samoa - The New York Times
A $4B settlement for Hawaii wildfire victims is in legal limbo as an unusual trial starts
AP: … The trial won’t determine fault. Defendants blamed for the blaze including the state, power utility Hawaiian Electric and large landowners have already agreed to the settlement amount.
At issue is how much money various groups of plaintiffs might receive, including some who filed individual lawsuits after losing their family members, homes or businesses, and other victims covered by class-action lawsuits, including tourists who simply had to cancel trips to Maui following the inferno.
Lawyers for the two groups failed to come to an agreement, leaving it up to Judge Peter Cahill to determine how the $4 billion should be shared….
Attorneys representing the class didn’t respond to messages from The Associated Press. In their trial brief, they challenged the idea that everyone who has a claim worth suing over has already done so. Many people have held off hiring attorneys, the brief said, because of the fire’s disruption to life, “distrust in heavy attorney advertising, and a desire to see how the process plays out first.”
Further complicating the matter are questions before the state Supreme Court, which is considering whether insurers can separately sue the defendants for reimbursement for the $2 billion-plus they have paid out as a result of the fire, or whether their share must come from the $4 billion settlement.
If the court says insurers can sue separately, that will likely torpedo the entire deal. Preventing insurers from going after the defendants is a key settlement term, and allowing them to do so would drain the money available for fire victims and lead to prolonged litigation, lawyers for the individual plaintiffs say….
read … A $4B settlement for Hawaii wildfire victims is in legal limbo as an unusual trial starts
Fireworks patient in Arizona dies, raising Aliamanu death toll to 5
HNN: … One of the six patients hospitalized at a burn center in Arizona has died, officials confirmed Tuesday.
This raises the death toll in the Aliamanu fireworks explosion to five.
Honolulu police said a 29-year-old man died at approximately 6:40 a.m. HST….
read … Fireworks patient in Arizona dies, raising Aliamanu death toll to 5
Relief from soaring Hawaii property insurance costs is elusive
SA: …More affordable solutions to exorbitant homeowner insurance policy costs in Hawaii don’t appear near under an emergency state effort initiated in 2024.
Members of two legislative committees Monday expressed frustration instead of optimism over the initiative to have a pair of state insurance programs provide relief to homeowners who since 2024 have been forced to pay staggering premium increases or opt for reduced or no coverage.
“We’re in an emergency, but we’re not moving like there’s an emergency,” Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, told board leaders of the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund during a briefing at the state Capitol…
Representatives of the Hawaii Property Insurance Association told members of the Senate committee and the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that it likely would take more than a year from now to be ready to begin writing condo building policies, though serious challenges that include obtaining enough capital to offer such insurance remain.
Teri Fabry, HPIA’s plan administrator, explained that the program is already “very thinly” capitalized for its biggest current line of business insuring homes in the highest-risk lava zones on Hawaii island.
HPIA, established in 1991 to provide insurance against lava damage after two destructive flows in the 1980s, has about 2,200 policies covering property valued at about $900 million. The nonprofit association had about $34 million in reserves at the end of 2024, and lost about $14 million since 2018 with losses in six of the past seven years.
Fabry said HPIA has not completed an assessment of what it would take to begin writing condo policies but that she has heard estimates that it could require anywhere from $30 million to over $2 billion in capital depending on the scope of coverage.
What’s more is that if HPIA’s board decides to write condo polices, the coverage isn’t expected to be less expensive than what can be found in the regular market.
That’s largely because HPIA does not get public subsidies, is a relatively small entity and faces the same cost spikes to buy reinsurance that reduces exposure against catastrophic losses. The nonprofit was created to be a market of last resort when a property owner cannot find an insurance company willing to provide coverage.
“We’re not the last resort yet for (condo property owners),” Matthew Cheung, HPIA board chair, said during the briefing.
Sen. Angus McKelvey (D, West Maui-Maalaea-South Maui) expressed doubt that Hawaii condo owners would see relief through HPIA.
“The more I hear about it, the more I think you are not really set up at all to do this,” he said.
Cheung said in response, “You are absolutely correct.”
Members of the two committees had more troubling concerns with Hurricane Relief Fund leaders expanding to provide property insurance coverage for other perils.
Ed Haik, the hurricane insurance program’s board chair, said insurance firm Aon has been selected to assess how to go about providing condo property insurance, though a contract for the work has not yet been signed.
Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-Kailua) said it doesn’t appear that the work, overseen by the state Insurance Division, is on any kind of fast track despite the governor’s emergency proclamation being issued in August.….
read … Relief from soaring Hawaii property insurance costs is elusive | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
SB214 End of Tip Credit Could Put Restaurants out of Business
KHON: … Should the state eliminate the tip credit? A new bill, SB214, is pushing to phase out the credit for employers, which would then require them to pay tipped employees minimum wage. One law maker said it’s only fair, but others believe it could put restaurants out of business….
read … How a tip credit, or lack thereof, could impact all of us | KHON2
Not all recyclables are recycled on Oahu; what happens to all those blue bin items
HNN: … Henry Gabriel, Honolulu Department of Environmental Services Refuse Division assistant chief, said nearly 20% of the 25,000 tons from residential blue cart items do not belong there and end up at H-Power in Kapolei.
There, everything is mixed in with the trash from the residential gray carts to be burned at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“The steam is used to turn a turbine generator. That’s what generates the power that we sell to HECO,” said Ahmad Sadri, energy recovery administrator for the Honolulu Department of Environmental Services Refuse Division.
Sadri said H-Power generates about seven percent of the island’s electricity, enough to light up an estimated 60,000 homes and that could go up, if HECO needed more….
Sadri said the ash then goes to the landfill, reducing the volume by about 90%.
“That’s huge for the landfill. Without that, we would have had to close this landfill 20 years ago,” Sadri said….
Other plastics will end up at H-Power to be burned….
I: Can Jason Momoa Save Hawaii From Drowning in Plastic? (CLUE: ‘No’)
read … Not all recyclables are recycled on Oahu; what happens to all those blue bin items
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