China Building Airstrip in Micronesia
Tariffs Unsettling Aloha Stadium Deal?
SBJ: … The new stadium target completion date is still late 2028, though tariffs are unsettling budgeting and construction schedules. The original self-imposed deadline for a finalized contract was extended from June 30 to Aug. 15. Lawyers from both sides are reviewing the deal.
“Just getting to where we are today is a tremendous milestone,” said Morioka, the dean of the University of Hawaii Engineering School. “We’ve never been this close to executing an actual contract.”…
“It’s not just a stadium, so it’s not just an infrastructure project, and it’s not just a development project,” he said. “It’s a combination of the two and the two are very much tied together, so we have four or five different agreements that all get combined into the single contract. And when you make one change in one agreement, it has trickle-down effects in multiple agreements, so just making sure the consistency is there. That’s part of what’s taking us a little bit longer.”…
Read … The state of Hawaii and Aloha Hālawa District Partners are closing in on a deal to redevelop the Aloha Stadium site in Honolulu
Hale Kipa’s container farm program teaches youth shelter residents how to grow weed
SA: … Vulnerable youth and Hale Kipa’s emergency youth shelter residents grow fresh produce, learn about farming, earn a stipend and invest in the community at a recently installed agricultural facility built entirely inside of a shipping container.
The “Freight Farm” will grow 2 to 6 tons of crops a year just inside of a single 40-foot long, 320-square-foot shipping container, tucked away on Old Fort Weaver Road in Ewa Beach, next to Hale Kipa’s 24/7 emergency shelter.
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
Venus Kau‘iokawekiu Rosete-Medeiros, president and CEO of Hale Kipa, said initially the organization had tried to introduce aina-based learning into programs for youth shelter residents but found that not everyone was motivated when working in the hot sun out on a typical farm.
(But now they are reeeeaaalllly motivated!)
“At Hale Kipa we are trying to plant seeds for transformation, so the container is metaphorically what we are doing with our kids,” Rosete-Medeiros said. “We’re taking them (in) and transforming them.”
(Into the next generation of bud trimmers.)
The crops grown at the facility are farmed through hydroponics, a method of growing plants without soil, using nutrient-rich water solutions. Inside of the shipping container, environmental factors like air, light and space all can be controlled to optimize the plant growth.
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
Many of the Freight Farm’s youth workers are ages 12-17 and come from the emergency shelter, but current or past residents from any of Hale Kipa’s campuses are welcome to join in.
(The next generation of bud trimmers gets sucked into the criminal underworld.)
One 15-year-old girl began working in the Freight Farm about six weeks ago while she was a resident in the emergency shelter, but has since transitioned out of the shelter and continues to visit the farm to grow crops.
She enjoys “helping teach everybody else how to do it and trying to get everybody on the same track,” she said as she prepped planters for new lettuce sprouts. “I try to take my mind off of what’s going on, and it’s a space I can feel free with myself and get away from everybody for a moment.”
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
She said that her favorite part about the farming process is learning about the growth process, which can be monitored digitally.
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
“You can all control it just from the computer, through the coding,” she said. “It’s really good experience working with it.”
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
Each crop — like the butter lettuce currently growing — has a corresponding “recipe” that is programmed on a computer, made up of different lighting, nutrients, temperatures and water levels, the 15-year-old said. “Everything that you see in here (the shipping container) is for the plants.”
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
Ron Musch, chief program officer at Hale Kipa, said the computer makes the farm easy to monitor for the workers that oversee the project.
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
“You can hook your phone up to it with an app and I could be at home and go, ‘Oh, there’s a flood. I’d better get down there, or I need to change the recipe,’” he said….
(CLUE: “Grow-op.”)
Read … Hale Kipa’s container farm program turns youth shelter residents into farmers | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
US could require up to $15,000 bonds for some tourist visas under pilot program
R: … A similar pilot program was launched in November 2020 during the last months of Trump's first term in office, but it was not fully implemented due to the drop in global travel associated with the pandemic, the notice said.
The State Department was unable to estimate the number of visa applicants who could be affected by the change. Many of the countries targeted by Trump's travel ban also have high rates of visa overstays, including Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen.
Numerous countries in Africa, including Burundi, Djibouti and Togo also had high overstay rates, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from fiscal year 2023….
Read … US could require up to $15,000 bonds for some tourist visas under pilot program | Reuters
Soft on Crime Crowd: We don’t need to fill HPD Vacancies
CB: … That’s what HPD’s interim chief, Rade Vanic, did recently in Waiʻanae. More troops, more support on the way.
But take a step back here. More police in Waiʻanae means less somewhere else.
These swoops don’t necessarily last, partly because there isn’t manpower to maintain them and, more important in the long run, there is only so much even a fully staffed police department can do to fight crime.
These so-called solutions are often only temporary. They are on-the-spot, seat-of-the-pants responses, which can come across as good policing — for the moment. But talking all these years and using so many seat-of-the-pants responses is a sign of police administration and city government failure.
HPD staffing in Waiʻanae has been a big issue for a long time. For nine years, the city has been building and developing a large police substation there that has never been fully opened because it can’t be staffed.
For the people in Waiʻanae, those delays and promises become a symbol of not caring and lack of good faith. Waiʻanae gets promises, then gets screwed again .….
(KEY TEST FOR NEXT HPD CHIEF: Can you mentally overcome this stream of soft-on-crime bs? Logan couldn’t.)
Read … Neal Milner: More Cops Aren't Coming, And They Wouldn't Reduce Crime Anyway - Honolulu Civil Beat
Two years after wildfires, Maui Fire Department’s changes to staffing, fleet, fire code aim to prevent another tragedy
MN: … The Fire Department’s total budget in the fiscal year ending June 30 went from $60.2 million to $70.2 million, an increase of about $10 million that included $4.6 million for wages and salaries, $2.7 million for equipment and $2.6 million for operations….
29 new Maui Fire Department positions was approved by the County Council. While much of county government is struggling with vacancies, all of those positions will be filled by October, Ventura said….
Read … Two years after wildfires, Maui Fire Department’s changes to staffing, fleet, fire code aim to prevent another tragedy : Maui Now
When Hawaii Criminals Commit Crimes in Arizona Prison, they get charged under Arizona Law
CB: … Six Hawaiʻi inmates have been charged — five of them with first-degree murder — in the death of another Hawaiʻi inmate at an Arizona prison last year.
(One in a box below ground. Six in boxes above ground.)
Anton Myklebust, 46, was beaten and strangled May 4, 2024. His body was found in his cell at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona. He had been scheduled for release last October after serving 20 years for methamphetamine trafficking and kidnapping.
The Myklebust murder and other violence at the Arizona prison last year prompted (are a handy excuse for) the ACLU of Hawaiʻi to (again) call for a federal investigation of Saguaro. The ACLU has cited a variety of problems at the prison including the murder, a separate inmate stabbing last year and drug smuggling and overdose deaths (and they are upset because these criminals are being charged under Arizona law).
Now charged with first-degree murder in the case are Herbert Nao Figueroa Jr.; Tintiru David Moth; Travis Torres, 36; Aaron Bolosan, 32; and Tommy Welle, 24. Ages were not provided for Figueroa and Moth. Repenson Kenan, 23, another Saguaro inmate from Hawaiʻi, is charged with hindering prosecution.
Grand jury indictments dated April 23 allege the murder occurred as the defendants “committed or attempted to commit kidnapping.” Public court documents offer no other details about what happened….
Hawaiʻi does not have the death penalty but Arizona does, and crimes committed in the Arizona prison fall under the laws of that state.
(See? Told you.)
Pinal County tried to impose the death penalty on Hawaiʻi prison gang member Miti Maugaotega Jr. for a 2010 murder at Saguaro prison, but finally dropped that effort in 2023 after an Arizona jury deadlocked over whether to impose a death sentence.
A trial for Bolosan, Moth and Torres is scheduled Aug. 26 in Pinal County Superior Court. Trial dates for the others have not been set….
Read … 6 Charged In Killing Of Hawaiʻi Inmate At Arizona Prison - Honolulu Civil Beat
Trump May Stop Hawaii from Giving Away Free Needles to Addicts
SA: … Clean syringes are now more accessible to drug users in Hawaii under a newly expanded state program, supported by public health officials as lifesaving, but criticized by some downtown Honolulu residents who say it brings drug use and danger too close to schools and homes.
Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center’s (HHHRC) syringe exchange, operated along Kukui Street in Chinatown, is at the center of a divide over how to balance public health with neighborhood safety.
Hawaii ended its one-for-one syringe exchange policy with the passage of Senate Bill 1433 signed into law as Act 106 allowing for needs-based distribution of syringes statewide. The new law also decriminalizes possession of used syringes with drug residue and expands access to harm reduction services for noninjection drug users….
But it might be in jeopardy as President Donald Trump signed an executive order on July 24 that targets harm-reduction organizations, including those that offer syringe service programs (often referred to as needle exchange programs). The order aims to cut funding for programs that it determines “only facilitate illegal drug use” and directs the attorney general to review federal-funding recipients for potential criminal or civil action.
The neighborhood response is just as bifurcated as the divide between federal and state orders. HHHRC and intravenous drug users say that the syringe exchange is a lifesaving service, reducing disease transmission. But in the Downtown-Chinatown community, where the exchange program’s mobile vans operate, residents and neighborhood leaders say the visibility of drug use and discarded syringes near schools threatens public safety.
Heather Lusk, executive director of HHHRC, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that SB 1433 was initiated by the state Department of Health to align the state’s program with the latest national public health ‘evidence’.
(‘Evidence’ of whatever agenda they want to justify.)
“Needs-based exchange is considered ‘best practice’ by public health authorities (who?) because it ensures that people who inject drugs always have clean equipment to prevent HIV, hepatitis C, and other infections,” she wrote in an email….
(‘Best Practice’ of whatever agenda they want to justify.)
BACKGROUND: Trump Executive Order: Clear Homeless Drug Addicts from Streets and Put them in Treatment Centers
Read … Syringe-exchange-faces-uncertainty-under-executive-order
Half of Cesspools Pose No Direct Threat to Water Resources
SA: … According to the state Department of Health, Hawaii is home to approximately 88,000 cesspools — unlined pits that dispose of untreated sewage directly into the ground — with nearly 50,000 on Hawaii island, 14,000 on Kauai, over 12,000 on Maui, more than 11,000 on Oahu and around 1,400 on Molokai
Of these, 43,000 cesspools pose a direct risk to Hawaii’s precious water resources, contaminating groundwater and coastal waters with harmful bacteria, nutrients and pathogens.
(TRANSLATION: "Half of Cesspools Pose No Direct Threat to Water Resources."
About 6,700 cesspools sit within 200 feet of perennial stream channels and roughly 31,000 lie within perennial watersheds across Hawaii island, Kauai, Maui and Molokai — areas critical for sustaining freshwater ecosystems….
Read … Cesspools-contribute-to-water-pollution-crisis
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