DBEDT Reduces Hawaii Economic Growth Rate to 1.7%
Kewalo: Gather to celebrate the death of bill SB 534
$21.19B: House Finance Committee Approves State Budget
SB350 Fakes Contraceptive Protection in State Constitution
Kaluas Allegedly Spent Month Dissolving Ariel Sellers’ body in Acid
HNN: … Last month, the defense attorney for Lehua Kalua filed a motion to dismiss the murder charge because the indictment was incomplete, lacking key elements.
Attached to the motion were the grand jury transcripts of testimony by Isabella “Ariel” Kalua’s older sibling.
The sibling told the panel that in August 2021, Lehua put the girl in a dog cage and put duct tape on her mouth then went to sleep. Some time during the night, they woke to find the child was not breathing.
The older sibling said the Kaluas started going to different public beaches about every other day.
They “poured this green stuff into the public toilets” the sibling said. Lehua was washing dishes at the beaches, “pots and pans and... other cooking materials” that Lehua used.
When the deputy prosecutor asked what the sibling was doing while this was going on, she told the grand jury panel that she was the lookout, told to “watch if somebody’s coming.”
She said the Kaluas poured green stuff down the drains of the bathrooms after they were done.
“We were just horrified by what the survivors were subjected to,” said Randall Rosenberg, one of the attorneys for the siblings.
Rosenberg said the older sibling was apparently forced to assist “in disposing of the body.”
Another attorney for the other children, Trevor Potts, believed the green fluid was possibly acid….
A hearing on the motion to dismiss the murder charge is set for April 14….
read … New court filings may explain why body of murdered 6-year-old was never found
Hidden Links Exposed: Hawaiʻi Fireworks Bust Tied To Mainland Suppliers
CB: … One mysterious address on shipping documents in a seizure at Honolulu Harbor is the first in a chain of clues that lead across the country and through the decades — a mysterious web of connections between the legal and illegal fireworks trade….
Nick Folino was identified by the news site Maui Alert as a worker at a seasonal store, Pacific Fireworks, in the Maui town of Kīhei. …
Until 2012, Pacific Fireworks was run by a notorious fireworks outlaw who in the early 2000s defied a federal consent decree by shipping fireworks to Hawaiʻi.
Larry Lomaz was the kind of guy who referred to himself in the third person. He once described himself as “The Muhammad Ali of fireworks litigation.” An Ohio newspaper mentioned as early as 1999 that he had outlets in Honolulu….
CB: Civil Beat tracks one big shipment of illegal fireworks
read … Hidden Links Exposed: Hawaiʻi Fireworks Bust Tied To Mainland Suppliers
Carr: New Aloha Stadium Just a Black Hole
CB: … Carr’s plan comes right out of the modern stadium builders’ playbook where the stadium is just the start of something big.
In Carr’s as well as the state’s proposed “entertainment district,” the stadium is just a part of a complicated mosaic.
The stadium by itself is, in Carr’s hardboiled words, just a “black hole.” While the entertainment district is the Holy Grail….
This week, the House passed a bill that would stop Carr Stadium and instead enlarge the football stadium on the University of Hawaiʻi campus. …
read … Neal Milner: Sorting Out Honolulu's Stadium Aspirations And Fantasies
Hawaiʻi pays 64% above national average for electricity
KN: … With an electricity bill averaging $213 per month, Hawaiʻi tops the nation with the highest electricity bills despite have over two times more renewable energy.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Hawaiʻi relies heavily on petroleum for 67% of its electricity generation and must import all of it since there is no local production.
While Hawaiʻi’s average monthly usage is lower than the U.S. average, its average rate per kWh is significantly higher, at 39.62 cents per kWh, which is well over double the national average of $137 per month.
Over the past decade, Hawaii’s electricity prices have surged by 50.75%, ranking as the 9th steepest increase nationwide….
read … Hawaiʻi pays 64% above national average for electricity : Kauai Now
Mountain View man was free on bail when he allegedly slayed ex-girlfriend’s sister
HTH: … A 28-year-old murder suspect who was shot and killed by police Tuesday night in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was free on $7,000 bail in a felony domestic abuse case.
The victim in that case was Isaiah Kaleo Jiaan Fourshey’s ex-girlfriend, the sister of Latisha Soares, the 25-year-old woman Fourshey allegedly shot and killed early Tuesday morning at her Plumeria Street home in Mountain View.
Fourshey’s ex, who was reportedly at the residence, was uninjured by the gunfire.
Following the Jan. 11 domestic abuse incident, Fourshey was ordered by the court to stay 100 yards away from his ex-girlfriend’s home and workplace. He also was ordered to not consume alcohol or illegal drugs….
According to court records, Fourshey’s driver’s license was suspended at least three times since 2016 for drunken driving. In December 2024, his license was suspended for six years.
The fatal shooting — plus an incident minutes earlier at the home of the women’s mother on Hibiscus Street in Mountain View in which Fourshey allegedly shot at the mother’s husband with a handgun multiple times but missed — touched off a 14-hour manhunt for the Mountain View man.
Hawaii Police Department officers and National Park Service rangers found Fourshey at about 6 p.m. near HVNP’s Namakanipaio Campground off Highway 11 in Volcano.
According to Hawaii Police Department Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz, Fourshey engaged in a gun battle with law enforcers and two HPD detectives, one with 15 years service and the other with seven. Both discharged their firearms, hitting Fourshey.
Fourshey was taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center, where he died around 8 p.m….
read … Mountain View man was free on bail when he allegedly slayed ex-girlfriend’s sister - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Armed security coming soon to select Hawaii schools
KHON: … Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan said work is underway with the Hawaii Department of Education to get school resource officers in high priority areas.
“What we’re looking to do is starting the next school year and then in two schools, one on the west side, either Nanakuli, Waianae High or Kapolei High School,” Logan said. “Another one would be one on Central Oahu, So McKinley, Kaimuki, that kind of area, and those schools generally have more underrepresented community members.”
West side lawmakers said their communities are in dire need of authoritative figures to make an impression on keiki. Sen. Samantha DeCorte said fights are constant on campuses.
“The schools just don’t have enough security to break those fights up. So what happens most of the time is the school has to shut down, which means everybody goes into their classrooms,” Sen. DeCorte said. “We come from a community that lacks law enforcement presence. So to be honest, I haven’t heard any pushback from the community. I think we welcome it.”…
Logan said the armed security will be recently-retired HPD officers who have experience in school settings or community policing teams….
read … Armed security coming soon to select Hawaii schools
Honolulu Will Allow Some Architects and Engineers To OK Their Own Projects
CB: … Paul Lam, who develops affordable rental housing, said the program could make a big difference in how quickly he can work.
“When I acquire a piece of land,” he said, “instead of that year or more of getting the permit to start construction, now I’m hoping that we can self-certify in months. And if we’re able to cut a year out of the equation, can you imagine the number of projects that I can build?”
Only certain types of projects are eligible for the program, including commercial interior renovations, projects on property controlled by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and low-rise affordable rental housing, which the City Council has pushed to make easier to build. The program affects only the issuance of a building permit; after construction, DPP will inspect the building in person before issuing a certificate of occupancy.
The program is meant as a temporary measure to chip away at the backlog as DPP replaces its outdated software and fills dozens of vacancies. …
read … Honolulu Will Allow Some Developers To OK Their Own Projects - Honolulu Civil Beat
‘Calculation error’ discovered in Skyline audit – Rail Ridership Down ‘only’ 44%
SA: … The Office of the City Auditor admitted Wednesday to a significant calculation error found within a recent audit in which it was determined Honolulu’s rail operations continue to suffer poor ridership numbers.
In a report issued Feb. 27 involving the audit of the city Department of Transportation Services’ Skyline operations, the city auditor found the audit mistakenly cited a 77% decrease in rail ridership from July 2023 to December 2023.
The correct percentage decrease in ridership on the city’s rail line was later determined to be almost 44%, according to Acting City Auditor Troy Shimasaki….
RELATED: Audit: Poor Design of Honolulu Rail System Contributes to Low Ridership
read … ‘Calculation error’ discovered in Skyline audit | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaii County, HGEA reach 15% Bonus COVID compensation agreement – Honolulu Next
HTH: … The arbitrated agreement will pay certain Hawaii Government Employees Association members who were county employees 15% of their hourly pay over a two-year period based on when the pandemic began and when cases began to flatten….
According to both Alameda and HGEA Executive Director Randy Perreira, the agreement will cover only those employees and former employees who worked in their offices or at remote locations and not from at home. And for those who split their working hours between home and the jobsite during the pandemic, only the time spent on the job away from home will garner extra compensation….
The county estimates that overall, COVID hazard pay for unionized employees will be about $70 million.
For Alameda, the issue likely secured his victory over Mitch Roth, the then-incumbent mayor, in last November’s General Election.
Roth balked at granting COVID hazard pay, citing fiscal issues, and both HGEA, which represents some 5,400 Big Island workers in state and county positions, and the UPW endorsed Alameda.
“I’m holding true to our promise,” Alameda said. “And I made a point to settle this before Friday, which is Employee Appreciation Day, so I could give them a good, genuine gesture of appreciation.”
Because arbitration was involved, Perreira called the agreed compensation “not really a settlement.”
“The key element here is that we were locked in what I would characterize as contentious litigation with the former administration,” he said. “An arbitration decision was rendered. We found that decision to be flawed, but at that time, the then-mayor applauded the decision and characterized it as a victory — and actually was happy that employees were not getting what we believe they were entitled to.
“So, we filed an appeal, and the arbitrator saw the error in his original ruling and amended his ruling. But the significance today is that the new administration with Mayor Alameda immediately realized it as the appeal was being processed and had expressed a willingness to accept the outcome.”
The arbitrator’s ruling appealed by HGEA was for 15% of hourly pay over a six-month period.
The only county or municipal government that HGEA hasn’t reached agreement with is the City and County of Honolulu.
“We’re rather close with them,” Perreira said. “We’re working with Mayor (Rick) Blangiardi at this point and … I should be meeting with the managing director (Michael Formby) before Friday….
read … County, HGEA reach COVID compensation agreement - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
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