Abercrombie Proposes another $11M in Spending

SA: Gov. Neil Abercrombie is proposing to spend $11 million a year through the next decade to create 150 jobs and stop destruction of watershed areas by invasive species.

In a speech Thursday before the 2011 convention of Society of American Foresters at the Hawai'i Convention Center, Abercrombie said his administration's goal is to double the amount of protected watersheds in the state over the next 10 years and halt the shrinking of freshwater supplies

read … While pushing tax hikes

Hannemann has been Rejected by 2nd CD Voters Before

This is not his first run at the 2nd District. When Daniel Akaka was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1990, Hannemann tried to take the vacant seat, but he lost the Democratic primary to Patsy Mink by fewer than 1,800 votes out of 138,000 cast. Mink became unbeatable, holding the 2nd District seat until her death in 2002.

read … Hannemann touts ability to compromise

Former Waipahu High School business manager charged with theft, money laundering of $500K

Hawaii Attorney General David Louie announced Friday Warren Harada is charged with first-degree Theft and four counts of Money laundering.

The complaint against the 61-year-old Manoa resident says he allegedly stole Waipahu High School funds between July 28, 2005 and Feb. 11, 2010 while working as the school's business manager.

read … $500K because there is no audit

Zhou Enlai Peace Prize to Push Back against China’s Nobel Embarrassment

KHON: The Zhou Enlai Peace Institute based on Oahu's north shore will launch next week and share stories about the Chinese leader with the hope of creating peace in our communities and abroad. The non-profit plans to create a student exchange program, an international peace award (to compete with the Nobel in the eyes of the insular CCP elite) and free visitor center in Beijing.

We're trying to use mass murderer Zhou Enlai as an example of how a life of peace from the inside out can be lived,"says North.

The organization will launch its formation with a public luncheon next Friday hosted by former Gov. John Waihee and featuring various local politicians and leaders from China.

The purpose of our event is straight on peace, we are going to the root of it and saying find peace in” … (the graveyard), says John Waihee, former Governor of Hawaii.

read … Hey, “Free Tibet” remember?

Brothers Want U.S. To Pay Attorneys Fees After Failed Aloun Farms Trial

Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway on Friday morning heard nearly two hours of arguments over whether the federal government ought to reimburse brothers Mike and Alec Sou for roughly $500,000 in defense costs.

Related: Human Trafficking: Did the US DoJ Purposefully lose the Aloun Farms Case?

read … It pays to be connected, eh?

Wahiawa Veterans Day Parade Should Not Be Canceled Because of APEC Conference

HR: I am so mad right now with the majority of government officials in the state of Hawaii, the City and County of Honolulu and President Obama's administration.

Everyone who has ever served in any military branch should be embarrassed beyond belief that the Wahiawa Veterans' Day Parade has been canceled for November 11, 2011.

HR: APEC Conference Leads to Demise of Wahiawa Veterans' Day Parade

read … Wahiawa

Star-Adv Hassles Marines over Animal testing

Did you have a sausage for breakfast this morning? Why aren’t animal liberation activists hassling you? They have plenty of time to hassle combat medics who learn field medicine on live animals.

read … Marine Corps in Hawaii should find alternatives to animal testing

SA: Private and public schools can work together to help all Hawaii students

More public and private schools are beginning to explore effective partnerships, in many cases collaborating with community nonprofits. Examples include:

• Hawaii's "Race to the Top" successful funding award by the federal government specifically connects the mutual resources of public and private schools.
• Private schools are partnering to raise the aspirations and preparation of more of Hawaii's children to attend college. Through the Clarence T.C. Ching PUEO program at Punahou, students at 38 public and charter schools are working to increase their readiness for higher learning, many as the first college-bound members in their families.
• Private school leaders are helping to build advocacy for early childhood education, encouraging political leaders to give Hawaii's youngest children a great start in school.
• Private schools are working as partners with Teach for America and in collaboration with public charter schools.
• Kamehameha Schools provides support to 17 Hawaiian-focused charter and conversion charter schools and their 3,880 students. Recently, this has included supporting the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools in helping charter schools gain accreditation. Through its Literacy and Support program and summer Explorations Series, Kamehameha serves 3,500 kindergarteners through third- graders at 21 public schools and more than 3,500 middle-schooler, respectively.
• Private schools are also launching professional symposia and conferences about innovations that invite participation from educators across the state. For example, the Professional Development Center at Hanahau'oli School, with funding from the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, offered courses last summer to 31 public and private school teachers in support of 21st-century skills for the early childhood and elementary levels.

We applaud these and other efforts, which reflect a commitment by school leaders to work collaboratively. We also recognize that there is much more work to be done.

read … Private-Public

SA: HMC needs financial cure

The loss to the greater community that closures would represent can't be stressed enough. HMC West, with its 102 acute-care beds, provides critical emergency services to a growing community. Without it, Pali Momi is the closest, and that gap in services to Oahu's Second City can't be tolerated.

HMC East provides the only transplant services in the state, is home to the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry, maintains the only ambulatory center treating liver diseases and serves patients with kidney ailments. And the economic distress to HMC's nearly 1,000 employees also should be avoided, if possible.

If HMC is able to secure a new lease on life, the state needs to do its part by ensuring that it doesn't add to the challenges, keeping reimbursement delays to a minimum. There is hope for more stable days ahead. Ultimately health care reform can bring more paying customers to support hospitals, and the various efficiency efforts should yield savings in the long term, but in the short term there are growing pains.

The saga of Hawaii Medical Center stands as testament to the fragility of the state's health care infrastructure. And each hospital's closure directs more of the patient load, including those paying little or none of the costs, to the remaining facilities. Hawaii is the world's most remote location; maintenance of a robust medical-services network is critical everywhere, but nowhere more so than here.

read … HMC needs financial cure

Kauai Water board approves rate increase

The Kaua‘i Board of Water Supply took a little over an hour Friday morning to approve a proposed 11.2 percent water rate increase for island customers.

The decision still has to go before the state Small Business Regulatory Review Board for consideration and public hearing before going back to the board for final approval.

If the proposal goes into effect, the new rates would raise the Water Department revenues annually through 2014, keeping up with critical capital improvement projects to the island’s water system, according to the department’s deputy manager, William Eddy.

“The recommended rate structure provides for cash funding of capital projects in the amounts ranging from $4 million to $7 million per year over the next 5 years,” Eddy said.

read … rate increase

4,000 Elevators Overdue For Safety Inspections

HR: Some 4,000 elevators in Hawaii are overdue for safety inspections and to clear the backlog, the state must double the number of inspectors now on staff, lawmakers heard today.

But hiring new inspectors will be difficult because the starting salary of a state inspector is $42,00, while their counterparts in the private sector are paid $50 per hour and earn as much as $110,00 annually before overtime.

So officials from the state Department of Labor say they will probably ask the Legislature in January to approve steep new increases in elevator inspection and permit fees to pay for sharp increases in the compensation of inspectors.

read … 4,000 Elevators

FACE Renews Push for State Bank

Seven states, including Hawaii, introduced legislation in 2011 to create a "state bank." North Dakota has found a way to fund agriculture and small business loans and get a bigger bang out of our tax revenue. What would a state bank mean for Hawaii?

read … FACE

After 5 Years, Smoking Law Still Lacks Enforcement

KITV: Nearly five years after a workplace smoking ban took effect in Hawaii, there is still no specific plan in place to enforce it. The ban had a long, slow road to reality, since it took almost four years to put together the administrative rules for the smoking law.

Read … smoking

Kauai Homeless Attack Easter Seals

But recently, she said they have become bolder — on one occasion, getting into the kitchen and using the microwave to prepare food belonging to the clients.

Then last week, one came and entered the classroom, Ching said.

“When one of the staff asked that person to leave, the individual became huffy, retorting, ‘You folks leave!’ Our first concern is for our participants, so we called the police,” she said.

But the incident didn’t end there. The following morning, there appeared to be retaliatory action because the door to the kitchen was scarred using some kind of sharp object, Ching said.

Retaliation is one of the concerns of business owners who are having to cope with Lihu‘e’s homeless. Another business owner who has also had to rely on police for help in dealing with some members of the homeless population remarked that it is expensive to replace items broken in retaliation.

Read … Homeless

No Payoff for Walter Ritte: Molokai protesters Greet Mini-Cruise Yacht

Despite what some see as a benefit to Molokai’s economy and local businesses, others are upset that the venture was not discussed ahead of time in a community meeting, and that what they consider proper local protocol was not followed. Many also worry about the precedent this may set for future cruise companies.

“It’s critical that there’s a proce$$ in which the community can re$pond to you,” Molokai activi$t Walter Ritte told ASC officials last week….

The Safari Explorer is scheduled to make weekly stops to Molokai with a maximum of 36 passengers per visit. During their stay, guests will tour Halawa Valley, the plumeria and macadamia nut farms and attend a pa`ina and history lesson at the Molokai Museum and Cultural Center. ASC is also buying local produce and beef to serve onboard.

read … Walter Ritte again $$$$$$

New Book Touts Obama’s Muslim Heritage, Upbringing

A new biography of President Barack Obama contends that his early years in multicultural Hawaii and Muslim Indonesia prepared him to be the nation's first global president. BOOK CHAT Dinesh Sharma, a cultural psychologist and marketing consultant, will discuss his new book, "Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia: The Making of a Global President," at appearances this weekend.

read … Muslim Heritage