UHPA: Case shows “ability to draw connections”
Will to Set Priorities for Tax Dollars Absent
Romney Wins Maine Caucuses, Paul Second
Lay Off the US-Build Requirement!
Star-Adv Poll: Rail Opposed 53% to 43%
SA: Support for Honolulu's planned rail system from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center has sagged to less than a majority, with only 43 percent of Oahu voters now saying they believe work should continue on the project, according to a new Hawaii Poll. (And 53% opposed)
Support for rail remains solid among residents who usually vote Democrat, but the rail project is now opposed by more than two-thirds of those who describe themselves as independents and two-thirds who usually vote Republican, according to the poll conducted by Ward Research Inc. for the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now.
The poll shows support for the rail project has slipped as the city moves closer to heavy construction. An identical Hawaii Poll question posed to voters last May found 49 percent of Oahu voters wanted work to continue on the project. (and 45% opposed)
(The polling sample was 61% Democrats whereas Gallup finds that Hawaii is ‘only’ 53% Democrats. Even with all those extra Democrats larded into the polling numbers, the poll still showed that support for rail has slipped sharply.)
Borreca: Serious blow to a project that was never more than marginally accepted “If you burrow down into the poll demographics, rail is least liked by voters who are Republican, white, Filipino or making less than $50,000. Rail's biggest supporters are Democrats, Japanese and wealthy. From all that, it seems that the worst mistake a politician could make in this election is ignoring rail. It is just too critical an issue to not know where you stand.”
(That’s a message directed at anybody running against Mufi in CD2. Mufi can be beaten, but not in the Democratic Primary.)
read … Rail support falls
National Democrats ‘Raise Eyebrows’ by Backing Hirono
The Hill: Cornyn's counterpart, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (Wash.), has raised eyebrows this cycle by endorsing in contested Democratic primaries in Connecticut and Hawaii. In Connecticut, the DSCC is at odds with EMILY's List, a prominent Democratic PAC that has endorsed a different candidate….
Republicans have landed top-tier recruits in Hawaii, Montana and North Dakota, while Democrats have scored big in Massachusetts, Arizona and Nevada. But Cornyn declined to say in which races Senate Republicans would spend big in 2012.
"I don't want to tell Patty Murray where I'm going to put all my money," he said. "I'll make her find out herself."
read … Senate Eyebrows
UHPA Endorses Case, Hannemann
SA: UHPA also announced today that it was endorsing Hannemann for the 2nd Congressional District representing rural Oahu and the neighbor islands, the seat being vacated by Hirono. Also in the race is City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard, former Office of Hawaiian Affairs chief advocate Esther Kia'aina, Big Island attorney Bob Marx and Honolulu attorney Rafael del Castillo.
"The board of directors voted to support Hannemann's candidacy because he brings a variety of life experiences that will enable him to hit the ground running and get things accomplished," said Valdez. "His perspectives on education reform for higher education resonated well with us."
read … UHPA
DLNR: “Impacts” Are Excuse for Latest Fee Increase
KHON: "The number of users that are going in there mostly for commercial activities are starting to have impacts, so we need the funds to start mitigating some of those impacts," says DLNR Dir. William Aila.
Senator Donovan Dela Cruz has drafted a bill that would establish a special fund by charging tour boat operators for non-residents who use 11 specified swimming, snorkeling and diving spots across the state.
- Oahu: Hanauma Bay, Pupukea, Waikiki
- Hawai`i: Kealakekua Bay Lapakahi, Old Kona Airport, Waialea Bay, Waiopae Tidepools
- Maui County Honolua-Mokule`ia Bay, Manele-Hulopo`e (Lanai), Molokini Shoal
"For Molokini island a fee might be added that DLNR would decide what that fee is and use that money to protect asset, and do whatever conservation efforts they need to," says Senator Donovan Dela Cruz, Chair of the Water, Land and Housing Committee.
"Maybe if it's kayaking it might be per person, if it's a someone of a scuba dive tour it could be per person or per boat. We don't have any specifics," says Aila.
read … If it moves, tax it
Star-Adv Praises ‘Hawaii Solution’
SA: President Barack Obama seemed to have settled on a reasonable middle course Friday, adapting what's been described as the "Hawaii solution" to a conflict over coverage of birth-control services under the nation's new health care reform law.
In his explanation of his "accommodation," Obama said that religious institutions that object to contraception won't have to pay for it for their employees, but those employees would access that coverage through a rider from the insurance company. It was loosely modeled on a provision in Hawaii's own health care statutes.
This compromise followed several days of turmoil after the president made an unforced political error by issuing a ruling while his rivals floundered in search of partisan consensus.
He handed them their consensus with an announcement: While churches themselves would be exempt from the rule, any health insurance plan offered to employees of religious-run institutions — such as hospitals, universities and charities — would have to cover contraception, with no co-pay.
This enraged leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, among other religious entities, primarily of the Roman Catholic faith, which officially bars artificial contraception of any kind. What the administration had failed to grasp was that for many leaders of these institutions, there was no real boundary between their work in medicine, education or social work and the church itself.
Most of them are run by religious orders. In Hawaii, for example, the Franciscans operated one of its oldest hospitals for decades, and Chaminade University is a private institution founded by the Marianists. For members of these orders, their work is part and parcel of their religious mission.
Meanwhile back at the Legislature, they are considering undoing the 'Hawaii solution': HB127: Will Legislature Vote to Keep HMC Hospitals Closed?
read … HB127: Will Legislature Vote to Keep HMC Hospitals Closed?
Occupy Whines About Bill 54
SA: The burgeoning homeless population camping on the streets made many in the community uncomfortable — as it should. (We at Occupy are using the homeless as propaganda to make you feel like failed society) But people felt too small and powerless (you are so puny, not like us the enlightened, conscious, and progressive Occupiers) to address the causes of this sudden rise in homelessness and instead appealed to their local politicians to do something to "clean up" the homeless, to put them out of sight, out of uncomfortable public awareness. (Where they cannot be effective propaganda)
The result was Bill 54 (which became 11-29 Revised Ordinances of Honolulu). This ordinance allows for the seizure of attended personal property "stored" on public property such as sidewalks. But of course, the ordinance has nothing to do with storage of property at all. It is simply a device to criminalize homelessness. It takes, or threatens to take, all the worldly possessions (sex toys, porno mags, crack pipes) of those who have the least. (because they spent everything on meth)
SA: City Brings Backhoe, Removes Homeless’ Trash, Sex Toys, Drug Paraphernalia from Sidewalks
read … Bill 54 punishes victims, not perpetrators
Bone marrow drive inspired former anchor's donation
SA: In 1996, two stories Walsh covered changed his life.
"Chris Pablo and Alana Dung both had leukemia and were searching for very rare unrelated bone marrow donors. Chris was 46, Alana was 2," Walsh recalled. "Chris made an incredible discovery in his basket at the driving range. It was a very old golf ball with the words "BEAT LEUKEMIA" stamped on the side. How does that ball find its way into his basket, and not the baskets of dozens of other golfers at the range?"
The awareness for bone marrow donors increased greatly in Hawaii after Pablo's and Dung's stories went public. More than 30,000 residents signed up to be donors after Dung's story broke.
In telling these stories and encouraging viewers to become donors, Walsh knew he had to become a donor himself.
"Quietly I registered as a potential donor at one of Alana's drives. Four years later (in 2000), my career had taken me to California. Out of the blue, I get a call from the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry that I've turned up as a bone marrow match for a 16-year-old boy in St. Louis, Mo. It's the only match in the world," said Walsh. "Doctors drilled into my pelvis, sucked the marrow out, and transplanted it into the boy I'd never met. None of this happens if Chris Pablo didn't find that golf ball in his basket."
(And now, with HMC closed, Hawaii has no Bone Marrow Registry program.)
SA: The new University of Hawaii Cancer Center is well on track to open this year
SA: Collaboration battles cancer
read … Leukemia
Lawmakers push to mandate insurance coverage for autism
SA: A bill that would require health insurance companies to cover diagnosis and treatment for autism is poised for passage next week by two Senate committees, a move intended to help youngsters get vital early therapy.
"We think it's time to take action and make significant inroads on autism," Sen. Josh Green, Health Committee chairman, said Wednesday after conferring with Sen. Rosalyn Baker, chairwoman of the Consumer Protection Committee, at a joint hearing. "We do intend to move the bill forward."
A vote on Senate Bill 2631 is set for Tuesday during a joint meeting of the Health and Consumer Protection committees.
If the bill is ultimately passed and signed into law, Hawaii would join a growing number of states that are requiring private insurers to cover treatment for autism. At least 29 states have passed such legislation, most in the past five years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
California, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia and West Virginia took action last year….
"All the research shows that throwing a lot of money into treatment early, that's the most effective," said Bob Badger, an attorney whose son started treatment before age 3 and made great progress. "It's the cheapest way out and it's the right thing to do."
Also testifying Wednesday was Lorri Unumb, vice president of state government affairs for Autism Speaks and author of one of the first autism insurance laws, passed in South Carolina in 2007. In the five states that first required autism insurance, premium costs rose on average 25 cents per month per member as a result, Unumb said.
read … Lawmakers push to mandate insurance coverage for autism
High court clarifies discipline defense
SA: The 37-page opinion is the latest in a series of Hawaii Supreme Court rulings pertaining to the controversial issue of how far a parent can go in disciplining a child before it becomes assault or abuse.
The high court's ruling does not affect the process in which thousands of residents seek and obtain domestic abuse restraining orders, which are generally granted based on the applicants' allegations.
But at hearings held within 15 days on whether the order is justified, parents can now raise the parental discipline defense against allegations that they abused the children.
THE STATE PARENTAL defense law essentially allows a parent to use force for the welfare of the child as long as it is not designed to inflict "substantial bodily injury" or "extreme pain or mental distress."
"I think it's a good ruling," said Thomas Farrell, who last year was chairman of the Family Law section of the Hawaii State Bar Association. "There was a lack of clarity in the law, and it does seem to me that a parent has a right to use reasonable discipline on a child and shouldn't be the subject of a restraining order for doing so."
read … Discipline
Child maltreatment exacts huge cost
SA: Elected officials play a particularly important role in preventing child abuse because the laws they pass define child maltreatment and determine how much the state will spend on prevention and intervention. This session, legislators considered several bills discussing child abuse and neglect, including SB 2404, which would define excessive discipline of a minor.
The Senate Judiciary Committee recently passed SB 2062, which, among other things, prohibits parents from biting, burning, or cutting their children under most circumstances. Last Tuesday alone, the Senate Committee on Human Services discussed more than a dozen bills related to child well-being.
read … Child maltreatment exacts huge cost
Principal's exit linked with charter schools
SA: The statement said Colson will immediately take a sabbatical leave to focus on statewide charter school issues and opportunities that can benefit charter schools in Hawaii. In his four years at Waimea Middle, Colson raised Hawaii State Assessment test scores and helped prevent furloughs at the school, the statement said.
Colson said in the statement that he valued his tenure at Waimea Middle and felt blessed to have the opportunity to work with its educators, students and the students' families.
"I hope to find a leadership position in education in the area and I also hope to develop partnerships with WMS as a means of staying connected to the dedicated professionals and families of the school," he said.
read … Principal's exit linked with charter schools
Documentary on Internment in Hawaii to be Shown Today
SA: What happened there, in a place the internees called Hell Valley, inspired the 36-year-old Kawamoto to create a documentary that he will screen today for the first time. "The 1,800: The Untold Story of Internment in Hawaii" will be shown — although in a draft form — at the annual day of remembrance ceremony sponsored in part by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. The free event starts at 1 p.m. at the UH Law School.
read … Re-writing the history of AJAs in Hawaii to make them victims
Suicide Tourism? Hemlock Society to Visit Three Hawaiian Islands
News Release: Compassion and Choices and the Hawaii Death with Dignity Society are offering a three island public tour on choice, comfort and control at the end of life.
The public forums will focus on Oregon's 14-year-old death with dignity law featuring a panel discussion with a hospice advocate, a doctor, a cancer specialist and a cancer survivor.
(Anybody who wants to can kill themselves. This is about changing physicians from life-savers to life takers.)
Related: Colette Machado: I look at Kalaupapa--Native Hawaiians will fight against Assisted Suicide
read … Suicide Tour
Dopers Upset by Requirement that they See only One Doctor per Prescription
Section 4 of the proposed bill would amend section 329-32 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes to read:
“(e) A separate registration shall be required at each principal place of business or professional practice where the applicant manufactures, distributes, prescribes, or dispenses controlled substances[,] or recommends the medical use of marijuana, except an office used by a practitioner (who is registered at another location) where controlled substances are prescribed but neither administered nor otherwise dispensed as a regular part of the professional practice of the practitioner at such office, and where no supplies of controlled substances are maintained.”
(Wow, you mean medicated marijuana will be treated like all other medications? Amazing.)
read … Wanna Feel Medicated?
Pepper Spray Is A Nonlethal Weapon Worth Having
News Release: Today’s Absolute Rights newsletter talks about the [proper use of pepper spray, which can temporarily disable an assailant and give the victim an opportunity to leave the area or call for help. It's an effective yet safe preventative response to certain threats that people may face, reveals the Absolute Right newsletter.
Most states allow citizens to carry such devices for self-defense purposes, explains the newest Absolute Rights newsletter, and states that have restrictions on pepper spray are the ones you'd expect: New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Washington D.C., and Hawaii. Restrictions vary regarding the chemical components that are allowed, explains the new Absolute Rights newsletter, the concentration, and even the labeling used.
read … Pepper Spray
Haleiwa land might be auctioned
SA: A key city official said the Carlisle administration is close to deciding how it will dispose of a 3.5-acre parcel across Kamehameha Highway from Haleiwa Beach Park that has the North Shore community deeply divided.
Jim Fulton, executive assistant to Mayor Peter Carlisle, said Saturday night that it's possible the city will auction the property off to abutting property owners who are eligible to purchase the "remnant and underutilized" parcels.
The adjacent property owners in this case are developer and former state Sen. D.G. "Andy" Anderson, who wants to put up an 80-room hotel on the site, and Kamehameha Schools, which has indicated it wants to ensure there is parking space for school buses dropping off students at its next-door Loko Ea Fishpond.
"The city has previously stated that they are looking to sell remnant and underutilized parcels throughout Honolulu to reduce the city's debt," Fulton said.
read … Haleiwa land might be auctioned
Disaster aid drifts in with vog
SA: Calves are born at half the normal weight. Fences that usually last 15 to 20 years need replacing in three. High-value flowers such as roses and chrysanthemums wither.
Ranchers and farmers continue to lose millions of dollars on Hawaii island where thousands of metric tons of sulfur dioxide spew daily from Kilauea's Halemaumau Crater where an active vent opened in 2008.
read … Disaster
Mayor Carlisle to promote Honolulu in Philippines
HNN: Honolulu's mayor is heading to the Philippines to promote the city and encourage investment, tourism and cultural exchanges.
Mayor Peter Carlisle will be in the country Sunday to Wednesday. He returns to Honolulu on Thursday.
read … Another Vacation
Japanese Whalers Send Maui Man Swimming
ENS: Speaking on behalf of the Japanese whalers, the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research, ICR, issued a statement accusing the activists of "aiming to disable the Japanese vessel rudder and propeller" by deploying ropes "more than seven times" just in front of the Yushin Maru No. 2's bow.
The activists used an air gun to fire "several dozens of projectiles containing an irritant chemical" and "threw by hand several dozens of smoke bombs, butyric acid-containing glass bottles and paint-containing glass bottles toward the YS2," the Institute said.
read … Save the Whale Savers
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