May 21, 2011 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Saturday, May 21, 2011

May 21, 2011 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:38 PM :: 9950 Views

Maui Armed Forces Day Picnic TODAY

Israel Day Hawaii Celebration May 29

VIDEO: Herman Cain announces GOP Presidential Bid

Abercrombie signs public lands bills into law

Natural Resource Agencies Collaborate to Help Conserve Forestry Lands in Hawaii

Hirono vs. Lingle Round 2?

"This is a new ballgame, and there are a lot of differences between Linda Lingle and me should I be the candidate that emerges from the primary. And I intend to be that person," Hirono said yesterday by telephone from Washington, D.C.

Hirono chose not to make any comparisons between her and Case, but said Lingle has not supported President Barack Obama and did not push hard enough for energy independence or education reform. Lingle made energy independence a major theme of her final years in office and had called during her first term for breaking up the state Department of Education into local school districts with local school boards….

Dylan Nonaka, executive director of the state Republican Party, said there are parallels to the 2002 governor's race because many voters still have the same basic impressions of Hirono, Case and Lingle. He agreed, however, that Obama will be a factor.

Nonaka and other Republicans have referred to the 2000 elections, when Texas then-Gov. George W. Bush did poorly in Hawaii but the GOP picked up seats in the Legislature, as evidence the party can compete locally without help from the top of the ticket.

Unlike state House and Senate campaigns, however, the U.S. Senate campaign will involve many of the same federal issues as the presidential race, so Obama likely will be a presence.

"Nobody can deny that Obama being on the ballot is going to be a factor in this race," Nonaka said. "I don't think it can't be overcome, but it will definitely drive a certain sector of the electorate and that's going to affect every race down ballot."

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Rep. Johanson Selected for Prestigious Emerging Leaders Program

Today the House Republican Caucus announced that Rep. Aaron Ling Johanson has been selected to attend the coveted Emerging Leaders Program.

This national program recognizes a select number of outstanding young legislators in the United States who are demonstrating policy and public service leadership and who have been singled out as future leaders for our nation.

“We are pleased that Rep. Aaron Ling Johanson has been chosen for this prestigious opportunity,” House Republican Caucus Leader Gene Ward stated. “He is an exemplary legislator who will ably represent Hawaii at this national forum.”

The 2011 Emerging Leaders Program will be held at the University of Virginia, founded by President Thomas Jefferson. About 50 state legislators from 39 states will be participating in this year’s program, a collaborative effort sponsored by the State Legislative Leaders Foundation and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

The State Legislative Leaders Foundation will cover all costs and no state funds will be used.

“I am humbled and honored to have been chosen for this program,” said Rep. Aaron Ling Johanson. “I look forward to learning from my fellow lawmakers and bringing solutions back to Hawaii to tackle the social and fiscal issues plaguing our state.”

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Senator Clayton Hee files false ethics reports for years

Senator Clayton Hee, chairman of the powerful Judiciary and Labor Committee, has routinely filed reports with the state ethics commission asserting he and his wife have no outside income or business interests.

In most cases, Hee simply checked the box indicating “Check here if entry is none.”

In 2010 and 2008, Hee listed a mortgage and two jointly owned properties, one on Molokai and one in Kaimuki, but indicated “none” in all other categories. The senator even failed to list his own legislative salary.

However, earlier this year, Hee’s wife, Lynne Waters, was appointed Associate Vice President for External Affairs and University Relations for the University of Hawaii system. Her initial financial disclosure includes a considerable amount of information that has not been disclosed by Hee.

Waters reports income from her previous business, Lynne Waters Communications, between $50,000 and $100,000. She also discloses that Senator Hee is double-dipping by receiving retirement pay from the state Employees Retirement System of $10,000 to $25,000, in addition to his legislative salary. Hee served in the House and Senate before being reelected to the Senate, and also served as an elected trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Waters also reports the couple earned rental income from their jointly held properties of $25,000 to $50,000 in the past year.

Waters then reports being a member of the Judicial Conduct Commission and a board member of the the Honolulu Police Community Foundation.

All of the items disclosed by Waters should have also been disclosed by Hee. Most of them appear to have continued throughout the 2008-2011 period, meaning that Hee failed at each point to make full disclosure as required by law. The omissions were apparently not flagged by the Ethics Commission.

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Sen Josh Green Leads Doctors into Medical Jail

According to Dr. Josh Green, Senate health chairman and medical director of the Hawaii Independent Physicians Association, "The PCMH concept harkens back to old school primary care medicine but with the addition of new collaborations that have emerged as the medical system has evolved.The intention of the PCMH is to create a place for patients in which they will feel comfortable coordinating all of their medical care. Primary care physicians are intended to lead the effort and work with an expanded team of providers to create a full-service medical home."

Patients and physicians wonder whether the initiative will result in a patient-centered medical home or a payer-centered medical jail. Certainly, PCMH is expected to further improve HMSA's bottom line. Patients are sometimes unsure whether they will lose the cherished one-to-one relationship with their physician or gain a team that is collaborating for their benefit.

Some physicians worry that they are being forced to practice health care in a fashion that is too "cookbook" and overly homogenized. They wonder whether PCMH and EMR will erode the art of medicine. Also, for individual or smaller practices, the cost and labor resource required to convert to EMR is simply daunting. For many practices it also will be difficult to expand the team to take on still greater responsibilities for patient care and education.

The Hawaii IPA is an early adopter of this new platform, and many of its member practices have already signed on.

REALITY: Abercrombie’s Medical Homes scheme rejected by Mayo Clinic, other top clinics (Early adopters are suckers.)

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Plata o Plombo? Electronic Medical Records Subsidy Keeps Kona Hospital in Black

Three years ago, hospital officials said they were having trouble paying vendors in a timely fashion. In early 2008, officials told state legislators the hospital was so far behind, its pharmaceutical vendor was within a day of stopping drug delivery. Now, Kreuzer said, vendors are being paid within 60 to 90 days.

The hospital laid off 55 employees in 2008 and continues to retain savings from that decision, Kreuzer said. Other attempts to create more efficiency and save additional money include overtime control and installing an electronic medical records system, Kreuzer said. The hospital is mandated to install such a system by 2013, and when it does, some of the up-front costs will be returned. The electronic records will be compatible with other hospitals, both those that are part of Hawaii Health Systems Corp. and nonsystem hospitals, as well as doctors' offices.

More than that, Kreuzer said, the information collected in the records can be used to show inefficiencies, particularly in hospital staffing, and help the hospital more quickly determine when too many staff members are working at a given time, based on the hospital's census, or daily patient population.

At the same time, the hospital is scoring well on clinical indicators, on which Medicare and Medicaid are moving to base their payments, he said.

REALITY: Your Private Information Public? HHS Audit finds massive Security Gaps in Electronic Medical Records

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Construction industry worries about fallout from rail lawsuit

The state’s construction leaders were counting on the city’s $5.3 billion rail transit project to inject some life into the floundering industry, but those hopes could be dashed should a lawsuit that was filed against the project be successful.

With about half of the state’s 6,800 unionized construction workers on the bench, and contractors searching for work, the rail project was seen as a key to revitalizing the industry. A report by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization in February estimated that the rail project would increase construction jobs by 5,000 to 5,500 at its peak in 2013-2014.

But that optimism was based on the start of construction this year, and that could change because of the pending lawsuit. That has industry officials concerned because of the lack of work over the past three years….

City Managing Director Doug Chin said “unwarranted delays” will mean additional costs to the project. He said former Gov. Linda Lingle’s refusal to sign the final environmental impact statement last year added $129 million to the project’s cost.

(AND ABERCROMBIE’S HASTY DECISION TO SIGN IT HAS PROBABLY DESTROYED THE PROJECT.)

Abercrombie tells Nurses it is their own fault if HGEA doesn’t take care of them

While Abercrombie’s critics have seized on his tax comments, the most revealing part of the video comes at the end, when one of the nurses haughtily explains to the governor that she is no ordinary public worker.

Nurse: I’m not a conedropper, O.K.?

I’m not a conedropper, and I’m not a janitor, and I’m not a clerk. Even though those jobs are important, if that conedropper comes into my ER, I’m going to save their life for 34 percent less than what is out there.

And we’re talking benefits, too. Your benefit package. Your premiums. Your medical …

Abercrombie: Maybe that’s why they didn’t go down to the Legislature and work for you, because maybe the conedroppers and the clerks and so on thought that that’s what you think of them.

And so they didn’t show up for you.

(Abercrombie is instructing the Nurses not to quit the HGEA. He is justifying the HGEA’s negligence toward nurses and blaming the nurses for it.)

VIDEO: VIDEO: Abercrombie squares off with Maui Nurses

HGEA: HGEA to Nurses: State not Responsive to Negotiations

Honolulu Reapportionment Commission Named

Under the city and county charter, the Council is required to name its own Reapportionment Commission by July 1. The nine appointed members have until Jan. 2, 2012 to submit a reapportionment plan to the City Clerk.

The nine members shall be selected “by the Presiding Officer of the City Council with the approval of the City Council, with no more than a majority of the members of the commission being from the same political party.”

Resolution 11-162, introduced this week, names the following nine nominees:

• Rodney Funakoshi
• Reynaldo “Rey” Graulty
• C. Mike Kido
• Kerry Komatsubara
• Albi Mateo
• John Monis
• Anel “Tito” Montes
• Nathan Okubo
• Arthur Park

The chairman of the commission is to be elected among the nine members.

Hawaii Ranks #3 in Homelessness

Abercrombie simply called it a “happy coincidence” that his plans would be in place in time for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, stressing that solving the homelessness issue is one his top priorities.

But his administration has also acknowledged the summit gives it reason to act now.

“We still are focused on solving this problem because it’s our moral obligation to solve this problem. On the other hand, it’s a handy deadline before which we want to have some progress to show our community and the international community,” Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz said.

Hawaii has the third-highest ratio of homeless people to residents of any state, better only than Nevada and Oregon, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Most of Hawaii’s unsheltered live in Honolulu, including those who spend their days and nights on the beaches, parks and streets of Waikiki, the famed neighborhood of white sand and hotels where the APEC conference will be held.

Shapiro: 90 days to oust the homeless? Call it antisocial engineering

HNN: Homeless camp right next to government offices

REALITY: Kapiolani Park: Homelessness industry takes Hawaii tourism hostage, Defeating the "homelessness industry" before it gets a grip on Hawaii

With APEC breathing down their necks, Honolulu Work Crews suddenly become efficient

The old tiles are being removed and replaced with sturdier stone tiles. The city said so far the job's on pace to finish at the end of September, a month before the APEC summit arrives.

Every day on the job is an adventure in the unforeseen.

"There might be old vault boxes or drain boxes that were buried under the sidewalk that no one knew were even there," Baginski said. "Do you abandon it? Do you fill it? Or do you keep it intact?"

Hurdles require huddles with city engineers to problem solve. The goal is to not let delays slow things down.

"Instead of them having to demobilize and work on another area, everyone gets together immediately and finds an immediate solution to what they encounter." said Lori Kahikina, deputy director of the city's Design and Construction Branch.

State Guests “Disinvited” From Pirates of the Caribbean Screening

After consulting with the state Ethics Commission, the state film office “disinvited” a number of state employees who were on the guest list for a special “mahalo screening” of the new Pirates of the Caribbean film at the Dole Cannery cinema complex.

Free tickets to the event were provided by the Walt Disney Company, producer of the latest installment of the Pirates film franchise, “On Stranger Tides,” which premiered nationally Friday.

The “mahalo screening” took place May 18.

“We’ve been doing a lot of training of state employees on the ethics code,” said Les Kondo, executive director of the state Ethics Commission.

“We got a couple of calls from people who attended training” about the propriety of attending the movie screening event, Kondo said.

State Supreme Court issues rules to accompany foreclosure proceedings

The Hawaii Supreme Court has issued temporary rules establishing a process for an owner-occupant of a home to convert from a nonjudicial to a judicial foreclosure proceeding.

The rules, a conversion petition form and other forms are available on the state Judiciary's website at www.courts.state.hi.us.

Hawaii human trafficking suspect appeals civil case loss

Legal problems continue to build for Global Horizons Manpower Inc. chief executive officer Mordechai Orian, who vowed Thursday to appeal a civil decision awarding compensation to 88 Thai farm workers recruited to Hawaii.

The U.S. Department of Justice already has criminally charged Orian and several of his Global employees in what the FBI is calling the largest human trafficking scheme in America for treatment of Thai workers they recruited to work in Hawaii and other states.

In a separate civil case filed last month, Global Horizons, six Hawaii farms and two mainland farms face civil charges from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for alleged labor abuses involving 200 Thai workers. The commission wants back pay for as much as $300,000 for each worker. EEOC alleged worker rights were violated when they had their passports confiscated and were threatened with deportation and violence if they complained about poor housing and working conditions.

Orian also is involved civil litigation in California.

FBI Adopts Waipahu School

During the last year they have run through an abbreviated SWAT team physical fitness test, learned how business gets done at the FBI's offices in Honolulu and, for a culminating project, created an anti-drug campaign.

They aren't agents in training, though some of them might be one day.

They are 135 Waipahu High freshmen who were the first to go through a revamped FBI adopt-a-school project for Hawaii, complete with a curriculum that included the kind of ethics and decision-making training Honolulu police cadets receive.

The FBI program was designed to get students at one of the state's biggest high schools — one with a dropout rate of 23 percent last year — to think more about their responsibilities as students and what opportunities they have after high school.

(Another org doing the job the DoE won’t. If we could get every school adopted we could just put the entire DoE on leave—paid leave that is.)

Hawaii County Illegal Smokers being ticketed

Suspect: But ocifer, ocifer I have a prescription!

HPD: You can’t fool me! Just because you put a few stems and seeds in there doesn’t make it legal. I’d know the smell of tobacco anywhere.

High hopes for ignition interlock

It is too early to tell how much the ignition interlock device will improve safety on Hawaii's roads, but in New Mexico, the state that served as a model for Hawaii's ignition interlock program, traffic related fatalities dropped by 28% after the ignition interlock law was passed.

Drunk driving law in Hawaii changed January 1, 2011. Since then people arrested for the first time for driving under the influence of alcohol have had the opportunity to have an ignition interlock device installed instead of having their driver's license revoked for a full year.

Windward bike-sharing program promotes government waste

Complete with yet another picture of lots of rental bikes sitting unused. Another state-run boondoggle.

E-Waste Recycling program falling apart as trash piles up

Televisions and computers are still being dumped outside a Hilo drop-off center that closed in March, creating an eyesore and potential environmental hazard that's upset neighbors and gotten state regulators' attention.
Tracy Santana, owner of Bay Side Computer Shop, said Thursday he has no more space to accept electronic waste and no money to ship his massive stockpile to a California recycling company.
"It's a nice, quaint little neighborhood. It doesn't need this mess in front of it," Santana said of the old Kukuau Street bakery he rents for use as a storage warehouse.

(Here’s an idea: Throw it in the dump with the rest of the trash! What a concept.)

First Wind issues $200M in notes for new wind projects

First Wind Holdings Inc. has raised $200 million by issuing notes through its subsidiary First Wind Capital LLC, which the company said it will use to pay down debt and finance new wind projects.
The senior secured notes, due 2018, were issued at par with a coupon of 10.25 percent, officials said. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. and RBS acted as joint book-running managers.
According to Paul Gaynor, CEO of Boston-based First Wind, the planned projects will be in the Northeast, the West and Hawaii, and should be operational “by the end of 2012.”

In March, the company decided not to seek to build a wind farm on a mountain in Brimfield, stating that the reason was weaker-than-expected wind resources. First Wind faced strong opposition from local residents since introducing the project last June. The wind farm would have required a local zoning change that only a vote by residents could have enacted, signaling the project might have been impossible for the company. (No mention of their Molokai defeat, hmmmmm.)

Latino Community Grew Almost 40% in Hawaii Over Last Decade

According to U.S. Census demographic data released Thursday, Hawaii's Latino population grew 37.8 percent from 2000 to 2010.

When New York City-born Puerto Rican José Villa arrived in Hawaii 25 years ago, there were few fellow Latinos. But when Villa and his wife traveled across the islands last year encouraging Latinos to participate in the Census. They found pockets of Hispanic culture from Spanish Mass in Kona to Argentine-owned coffee shops on Maui.

"I've seen it grow from almost no community presence," he said. "The Hispanic community here is an emerging market." ….

Hawaii's Latinos are a mix of ex-military, transplants from the mainland and recent immigrants, Villa said, resulting in a more pan-Hispanic community compared to the mainland, where enclaves, or barrios, exist for specific groups.

(Portugee? Puerto Ricans? They’ve been here 100 years and somehow they don’t count.)