Pearl Harbor Salutes Air Force: Free Admission, Sept. 17-25
Retirees, Tourism make Hawaii 10th Wealthiest in Nation
Hawaii Council Impact Fee Making Affordable Housing Out of Reach
Ron Paul Supporter: 9-11 Commemoration Should Honor Conspiracy Theorists
Abercrombie’s PUC Pick demands bigger Ratepayer giveaways to Green Energy Scammers
Mike Champley founded Kahakuloa in 2007, registered it in Michigan in 2008 and in Hawai`i in 2010. In Hawai`i, Mr. Champley serves on the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) Working Group, and as a consultant to Blue Planet Foundation and Haiku Design & Analysis (HDA). At the Hawai`i Public Utility Commission (PUC) he is active in regulatory proceedings involving Feed in Tariffs (FiTs), Reliability Standards, Rule 14H and Integrated Resource Planning….
Curtailment is a major issue in Hawai`i. Between 20-40% of the time the utility will not accept wind-based electricity from wind farms.
AP (August 13, 2011): "Renewable power producers should be financially compensated (by hiking your electric rates, dear reader) for the times when Hawaiian Electric decides it won’t accept their power onto the grid, said Mike Champley ... 'Curtailment or the threat thereof is so overwhelming that it makes these projects basically un-financeable. It causes uncertainty of the revenue stream ... If there were more certainty, one could plan or adjust accordingly.'"
News Release: Governor Announces Appointments Relating To Energy, Human Resources, Health
read … Screaming Conflict of Interest
Futility: Case Begs Unions Officials for a Meeting
I ask now because I understand a few union leaders have suggested to the rest a joint early endorsement of Hirono. This would deny me the opportunity to present my candidacy, correct some clear misstatements on my actual record and positions, and answer your questions, and would deny your members their input on a critical decision that will impact labor both nationally and at home for a generation.
With respect, I don’t believe that’s fair.
Related: Unions Agree to back proven loser Mazie Hirono after pretending to have Democratic Discussion
read … Case Stonewalled
Schatz in charge for next Ten Days as Abercrombie Jets off to Paris
Our governor left us in the dark while California’s former “Governator” shined his star power upon us as we plant tongue in cheek and “flASHback” on the week’s news that amused and confused:
» Gov. Neil Abercrombie secretly declared a civil defense emergency for military ordnance removal that suspends environmental laws, recreational access and fishing rights for five years. We have met the emergency and the emergency is him.
» The Governor’s Office admitted he shouldn’t have waited three months to notify the public about the emergency declaration that was issued in June. But instead of calling it a mistake, they prefer to think of it as a “New Day Auwe.”
» Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz will get a chance to run the state for the next 10 days as Abercrombie and his wife, Nancie Caraway, celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in Paris. The LG’s first move was to replace the Geritol supply in the executive suite with Flintstones vitamins.
read … Kiddie Playland
Robert Bunda selected as tenth HART member
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) Board of Directors Friday selected Robert Bunda as the final member of the 10 member board.
The board voted unanimously in appointing Bunda, who previously served in the Hawaii State Legislature in both the House and Senate.
read … Bunda
Council passes Laie hotel special permit
The City Council granted a request for a special management permit to a developer who wants to build a Courtyard by Marriott hotel on the site of the old Laie Inn The council voted 8 to 1 in favor.
It ordered Hawaii Reserves Incorporated to complete a flood study in the area before any construction goes forward.
A restaurant and banquet facility will be included.
read … Hotel Allowed
Tom Berg Calls for Massive GE Tax Increase
….resolutions introduced recently that could end up back at the Honolulu City Council at a future meeting:
(Investigation of Conflicts of interests preceding acceptance of a $17,500 gift from PRP? Perfect irony.)
read … Resolutions
Hawaii Gov Orders Boards to Post Agendas Online
Gov. Neil Abercrombie has issued an executive memo requiring state boards and commissions to post notices of public meetings online.
Boards and commissions had been required to post information about their meetings on the online state calendar under former Gov. Linda Lingle, but when Abercrombie came into office the requirement fell through the cracks.
Abercrombie in his Thursday memo said his decision will “make the information more readily available and the business of boards and commissions more transparent to the public.”
read … Sunshine
Del Castillo to challenge Hannemann in 2nd CD Dem Primary
Rafael del Castillo, a patients' advocacy attorney, will run in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District and has vowed to protect entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from federal budget cuts….
Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard and state Office of Hawaiian Affairs chief advocate Esther Kiaaina are also running in the Democratic primary in the 2nd District, which covers rural Oahu and the neighbor islands. Former State Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser is raising money for a possible campaign, but he has not formally announced his candidacy. Republicans have yet to field a candidate.
Del Castillo, like Hooser, would likely appeal to progressives.
Del Castillo ran unsuccessfully last year in a special election to fill the remainder of then-Rep. Neil Abercrombie's term in urban Honolulu's 1st Congressional District after Abercrombie resigned to run for governor. He also ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary to replace Abercrombie in Congress, which was won by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii.
read … Progressive vs Mufi
Topless Protest sets up ACLU Rehearsal of Courtroom Antics to Disrupt APEC
On August 21, 2011, Jamie and Tess Meier protested (topless) in Haleiwa Beach Park opposing gender discrimination in honor of Women’s Equality Day. Protests are held nationwide on this day each year. In Haleiwa their protest was without incident, but then they moved (their topless protest) to Waikiki.
There they were confronted with Honolulu Police Department officers who halted their protest and threatened them with arrest. Both were cited and must appear in court on Monday, September 19, 2011 to face charges that they violated Revised Ordinances of Honolulu (“ROH”) § 10-1.3(a)(5): failing to obtain a parks department permit for “meetings or
gatherings or other similar activity held by organizations, associations or groups.”
The Meiers informed HPD of their right to protest, but HPD terminated the protest anyway.
The ACLU and the Davis Levin Livingston law firm will be representing them and contend that protest by two people on a sidewalk or in a public park is perfectly legal and that the ordinance under which they are charged can’t remove their right to exercise free speech in a public place. Also, two people protesting should not require any permit under the ordinance.
The attorneys have asked Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro to dismiss immediately the charges, but so far that has not happened.
Could this be a “rehearsal” for APEC 2011 in November?
HR: ACLU Takes Case Of Topless Protestor; Prosecutors Will Delay For A Month
read … They’re rehearsing Already
Hawaii Guardsmen Rescue Injured at Reno Air Show
The guardsman was watching the air show from the audience, close to the impact zone, when he was injured. He was treated at a hospital and released, said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony. No other soldiers in the Hawaii crew were hurt.
The injured man is one of about a dozen Hawaii Air National Guardsmen from the 204th Airlift Squadron who are on the mainland for a routine airlift mission. They were at the air show displaying their aircraft, the C-17 Globemaster III, when the crash occurred.
"They quickly sprang into action to help with many of the victims," Anthony said. He said some of Guardsmen are trained medical personnel in their civilian lives, such as a doctor and a medic, and provided triage and first aid for victims. Others transported victims away from the crash site.
read … HNG
HPD Officer Targeted for Posting Photo of Burned Copper Thief
The Honolulu Police Department began an internal affairs investigation after KITV 4 News notified the department of the photo Monday.
An HPD patrol officer posted the photo on his Facebook page with the caption: "See when you like steal copper." The photo showed the 40-year-old suspected copper wire thief badly burned earlier this month, in a hospital bed at Straub Hospital’s burn unit. His upper body is exposed with burns to his skin.
Sources told KITV 4 News city prosecutors and police department internal affairs detectives from HPD's Professional Standards Office are trying to figure out if there's a crime they can charge the officer with in this case.
But that's proving to be difficult. First problem: HPD does not have a social media policy. A police spokeswoman said the department is finalizing a social media policy, a task it’s been working to complete since early this year.
Read … Political Correctness
PSD Director Speaks Up for New Maui Jail
The Maui Community Correctional Center is deteriorated and in deplorable condition, and it is filled well beyond its carrying capacity.
The proposed Maui Regional Public Safety Complex would replace MCCC and provide PSD countless opportunities to implement new and progressive programs as well as new job opportunities for the Maui community.
The governor and PSD remain committed to stated goals, including housing inmates in safe learning environments where they can become productive, law-abiding citizens and return to their families and communities.
read … Jodie Maesaka-Hirata
Honolulu wants to transfer control of 12 apartment buildings
The City and County of Honolulu has plans to transfer the ownership and management of 12 city-owned apartment buildings to the private sector….Buyers must have a track record of operating and maintaining affordable housing projects, city officials said.
read … Affordable
Tuition rise would balloon toward end of 5-year plan
Most people won't complain about small tuition increases at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the first two years of a proposed schedule, said David Martin, who pays for his son's education.
But people will balk when the larger increases reach the end of the proposed five-year tuition schedule, he said. "The multiyear proposals almost seem as if it's designed to get through without too much controversy," he said.
read … Tuition
Attention Cronies! Hawaii soliciting bids for employee training contracts
The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has been soliciting bids for employee training providers for two-year contracts worth a combined $2 million — roughly the amount the state projects it will receive in assessments to run the Employment & Training Fund program.
The department currently has 14 training providers listed as qualified vendors whose contracts expire Dec. 31. If demand for the program continues at the current pace, as is expected, roughly the same number of contracts will be issued in this next round, a department spokesman said.
read … Who Do YOU Know?
Eric Lighter Faces California Fraud Charges
A Honolulu man who has deluged federal and state courts with so many voluminous filings that he was dubbed a “vexatious litigant” will go on criminal trial in California next month for federal charges including fraud, blackmail and witness tampering.
Eric A. Lighter, 59, was first indicted in the case with co-defendant Samuel S. Fung, 56, an Oregon tax preparer who pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in San Jose….
Honolulu blogger Ian Lind, a former Honolulu Star Bulletin reporter, has written extensively about Lighter.
read … Lighter
Questions about murder, money and lies follow man to Hawaii
A man questioned about his wife's murder in San Diego is now in trouble here in Hawaii and those who know him are warning others not to fall for his alleged scams….
The mystery begins with a rocky marriage between Anthony Simoneau and Fumiko Simoneau. According to the San Diego police affidavit Anthony filed for divorce in 2002. But Fumiko inherited a significant amount of money and he didn't want a divorce anymore. Instead he went on a spending spree buying four land rovers, a hummer, four boats, a motorcycle and two other vehicles.
But in 2006 he started pawning things like ladies jewelry. On January 4, 2007 he pawned a gold engagement ring. That was also the last day he claimed to see her.
Then on January 20, 2007 her body is found buried in a desert outside San Diego….
read … Predator?
As APEC Approaches, Honolulu TSA is Fourth Slowest in Survey
Waiting to pass through airport security checkpoints is time-consuming. But waiting at Honolulu Airport consumes more time, on average, than at most of the busiest U.S. airports, according to a new survey.
Honolulu tied for having the fourth-longest average security line wait among the nation's 25 busiest airports, according to travel website FareCompare.com.
The website catering to travelers said Honolulu passengers waited 25 minutes on average to pass through federal Transportation Security Administration checkpoints.
Reality? FT: Complacent Honolulu out of its league, not ready for APEC
read … APEC Ready?
TSA fires 28, suspends 15 in Honolulu baggage investigation
The Transportation Security Administration said today it has fired 28 employees and suspended 15 in the aftermath of its investigation of improper screening of checked baggage at Honolulu International Airport.
The TSA investigated 48 employees, 43 were fired or suspended, and three resigned or retired, according to a statement from TSA spokesman Nico Melendez. There was no information on the remaining two cases.
read … TSA
Bird Mitigation at Local Airports Costs Hawaii Taxpayers Millions of Dollars
Hawaii taxpayers are funding the transport of 400 Nene geese from property surrounding the Lihue airport on Kauai to the islands of Maui and Hawaii.
But transporting the endangered species to a new habitat doesn’t come cheap: catching, transporting and quarantining the Nene for up to a year to help them adjust to their new habitat will cost $18,000 per goose. That’s a total of $7.2 million.
read … Nene
Tighter rules on tropical fish collection eyed AGAIN
The effectiveness of Fish Replenishment Areas instituted more than a decade ago have state officials considering new rules further limiting activities of tropical fish collectors.
Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources biologist Bill Walsh said Friday the state Attorney General is reviewing draft rules that include components such as a 40-species "white list," daily bag limits, citing species of special concern, closing the Pebble Beach area to collectors and prohibiting scuba spearfishing. The white list outlines which fish aquarium collectors may harvest.
The rules would have to pass the state Small Business Regulatory Review Board before public hearings are held on the proposal, Walsh said.
read … Another attack on Small Business