UPW Endorses State Legislative Candidates
UHERO Annual Hawaii Forecast: Tourism Hot, But Broader Growth Still Elusive
Gallup: Hawaii, Rhode Island Top Democratic States
HART: Reducing Rail PR is a Federal Civil Rights Violation
$170/barrel? PUC Rejects AKP Biofuel Contract
Cost of Rail Jumps another $160M
SA: The latest financial plan for the Honolulu rail system shows the city has increased the design and construction cost estimates by $160 million since last fall, and is dipping deeper into the cash reserves for the project.
The largest cost increase shown in the new rail financial plan is for professional services such as design, engineering and project management, which are now expected to cost $153 million more than the city had budgeted last September for those activities.
Other major cost increases in the new financial plan include $83 million that will be needed for site work and "special conditions" related to rail.
At least some of those design and site work costs will go to pay delay claims filed by rail contractors, but city officials say they are still negotiating exactly how much will have to be paid to settle those claims.
Despite those new cost increases, the rail project is still within its overall $5.26 billion budget. That's because the total budget for rail includes a large cash cushion known as "contingency" funding
read … Slush Fund not Exhausted Yet
Another city road division supervisor under ethics probe
HNN: Kalahiki is the focus of an ethics probe after someone reported he allowed a private company where his friend or relative works to dump several loads of construction waste at the Sand Island city yard, instead of paying to dispose of it at a landfill, sources said.
According to city records, Kalahiki, a 20-year city employee who's a heavy truck driver, is paid roughly $41,000 a year.
In another case, City Traffic Signs Supervisor Patrick Costa is on leave and being investigated for consistently leaving work and spending much of the work day at his home along Keolu Drive.
Costa, a 24-year city employee, oversees about two dozen staffers who install and maintain signs and handle lane striping along city roadways.
Enter his address, 1334 Keolu Drive, into Google Maps and you'll find a picture from June 2011 of his white city truck sitting in his garage during the day. Sources said that's not a vehicle he was authorized to take home.
Former city street sweeping supervisor Manuel Castro was sentenced to a year behind bars in January 2011.
Castro was also ordered to pay back the $20,000 in overtime he collected in a scheme in which he collected kickbacks from city street sweepers whose bogus overtime he approved.
All three supervisors accused of wrongdoing work in the road division which is headquartered in the city's Halawa yard. City officials said they can't comment on these cases because they are personnel matters.
read … Another day in the nei
UHPA, Sierra Club Burn Money on Case, Gabbard
PR: University of Hawaii Professional Assembly has dropped $20,000 on a direct mail piece critical of former Gov. Linda Lingle in the U.S. Senate race
UHPA has now spent more than $257,450 on behalf of Case leading up to the primary.
The Sierra Club, meanwhile, has spent more than $50,950 on a new radio ad on behalf of Honolulu City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District. The group reports spending more than $138,250 on Gabbard’s behalf so far.
ILind: What’s the evidence Mufi Hannemann opposed curbside recycling?
SA: Case trails Hirono, Lingle in Senate campaign fundraising
PR: `The Facts’
read … Progressives Futilely Burning Money?
Watch Those Surcharges On Your Bills!
HR: … that ½¢ surcharge on O’ahu for the $9.03 billion rail, nets close to $300 million a year. That’s a lot of half-pennies.
Or, starting September 1, 2012, another ½¢ tax increase per container on the Hawaii Beverage Deposit tax. This tax of course has nothing to do with recycling or the environment; it is a naked tax grab from your family.
No matter how hard you try to cut down or use less of a product or service, you see your costs escalating.
Use less electricity, and your rates go up. Cut down on your water usage, and your water rates climb. Use restraint, and still your sewer rates increase. Tune in your cable television and see fee driven rate hikes. Then there are those airline baggage fees. Don’t get me started!
I thought I would make it a little more graphic by including some of these charges that almost all of us pay every month. Here are a few, selected bills of mine for August, 2012.
read … Sam Slom
Alert: New Push Poll Attacking Cayetano Underway
HR: Kailua resident Larry Bartlett disclosed he received a call from (808) 597-6390 today, which traces back to Hawaii Research Associates. At the other end of the call, a pollster who asked him questions about former Gov. Ben Cayetano, the leading candidate for Honolulu Mayor.
But this was no ordinary political poll. Bartlett said the caller shared negative information about Cayetano in the form of questions. These are called "push polls", and experts say legitimate polling companies won't conduct them.
While Bartlett said he did not catch the exact wording, he said the automated call featured a female voice that claimed that Cayetano's opposition to rail will lead to more traffic congestion and increase gasoline prices. A third question attacked Cayetano for allegedly receiving illegal campaign contributions when he was governor.
Bartlett reports the poll gave slanted "facts" against Cayetano, then asked whether or not the 'fact' would make him more or less likely to vote for Cayetano.
ILind: FHB says “yes” to Ben Cayetano’s mayoral campaign
read … Push Poll
HGEA, UHPA, Sierra Club Launch Anti-Pono Chong Campaign
CB: The Hawaii Government Employees Association, the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly and the Sierra Club held a press conference Friday (Aug. 3) to announce what they are calling a “NotPono Campaign.”
KITV: New coalition targets House Majority Leader
Totally Unrelated: Henkin: Rumors of Hee-Wooley Affair “Scurrilous”
read … HGEA, UHPA, Sierra Club Launch Anti-Pono Chong Campaign
As UH Manoa Closes in on HQ, Abercrombie, Steve Case, Meet with Tax Credit Scammers
KHON: Steve Case and Governor Neil Abercrombie toured the Manoa Innovation Center, which (UH Manoa is gonna shut down because it doesn’t) serves as an incubator for technology companies. (This sounds like a set up for a joke.) As one of the nation's most accomplished entrepreneurs, Case was a welcome sight. (He wrecked Hukilau Fish Farm but somehow he’s still) chairman of the Start Up America Partnership which helps attract investors. (Obama but him there, nuff said.) And he says the time is right for Hawaii to bring in more resources (federal tax dollars).
"Build that momentum (Do you mean Hoku’s momentum towards bankruptcy? Or First Wind’s momentum towards inferno?) so that it creates a sense of possibility which attracts the talent (cronies) which attracts the capital (tax credits) which allows a lot of great things to happen," said Case.
That's because there's a lot of great talent from Hawaii who have left…. (But Abercrombie’s still here, hint, hint.)
"Instead of being suspect or cynical or skeptical (Solyndra) we should say hey maybe that is a good idea, maybe it is gonna be a great company and really lift up these entrepreneurs scammers" Case said.
(Hoku has an office in the Manoa ‘Innovation’ Center. Will Case and Abercrombie be there for the post-bankruptcy asset auction?)
SA: Hi Tech Scammers Complain of Media Disconnect on Economy
read … AOL founder offers business insight to Hawaii companies
Army, HECO Plan 50 MW Biofool Plant at Schofield
PBN: Hawaiian Electric Co. and the Army are moving ahead with the development of a 50-megawatt biofuels power plant at Schofield Barracks.
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved HECO’s request for a waiver from the competitive bidding process for the purpose of allowing discussions and negotiations to happen between the two entities.
“The decision by the PUC is not approval of the project,” HECO spokesman Darren Pai told PBN in an email. “As with any major capital investment, the PUC would conduct a thorough review of all details of the project and its costs as part of an approval process down the road.”
read … Wait til Obama’s Gone
Arrest of Waikiki Pawnbroker, Meth Dealer Leads to Call for New Regulations
SA: Kealoha and Maj. Rich Robinson, who heads HPD's Criminal Investigations Division, said they will make a push at the state and city levels for laws they believe would make it easier for police to spot and track fenced items.
One change in the law HPD wants is to require that pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers use a computerized tracking system for all pawn transactions, making such information readily available to police.
"It's much more restrictive, but I think it presents a very fair balance between allowing a business to conduct a legitimate business while also providing protection for people who've had their property stolen," Robinson said.
John Spiker, president of the Hawaii Pawn Brokers Association, said his group of about 30 pawn dealers statewide supports HPD's efforts to uphold laws and applauds police action against unscrupulous merchants who make law-abiding businesses look bad.
"HPD does a great job, and they did a great job with this arrest," said Spiker, owner of A All Hawaii Gold & Silver Co. in Kaimuki for more than 30 years.
"If computerization (of transactions) will help HPD, we're interested in it if it's reasonable and if it's effective," Spiker said, noting that there would be a cost to pawn and secondhand dealers.
(Kaneshiro for Prosecutor show)
read … New Regulations
Do-Gooders Desperate to Shovel Free Breakfast Down Kids Throat
SA: When kids eat a nutritious breakfast, they're more likely to do well in school.
But many kids skip a morning meal. And only about 20 percent of Hawaii's children from low-income households eat breakfasts offered free or at a reduced cost to them at schools.
A Honolulu social justice law group is proposing a solution: Give all children, even if they're not low-income, a free breakfast to eat in the classroom as the day begins.
Jenny Lee, staff attorney at the Hawaii Appleseed Center, said making sure students eat breakfast could actually boost the achievement of kids — and schools.
The center has teamed up with three schools (Linapuni and Kaewai elementary schools in Kalihi and Kaala Elementary in Wahiawa) for a universal breakfast pilot program.
Lee hopes the schools can start offering breakfast in classrooms as early as January, but funding and planning issues could push the start of the program to July.
read … Obesity?
Unopposed Hawaii Co Council Candidate Admires Clayton Hee, Billy Kenoi
WHT: Kanuha, a graduate of Kealakehe High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, with a minor in business administration, from the University of San Diego. When he returned to Hawaii, he worked a year with state Sen. Clayton Hee, an Oahu Democrat, then moved to Kona and worked for Kamehameha Schools in the land assets division. He recently resigned from that position to prepare in earnest for his forthcoming position on the County Council.
He named Hee, Mayor Billy Kenoi and former Kona Councilman Curtis Tyler as Hawaii politicians whom he admires. (What an insult to Curtis Tyler!)
read … Unopposed
Punatics Grab for $200K Geothermal Payoff
HTH: A group called the Puna Pono Alliance is seeking $200,000 from the county’s geothermal asset fund to study potential health impacts of Puna Geothermal Venture.
The group, made up of nearby residents to PGV, already have a study outline and formal proposal in hand, prepared by Neuro-Test Inc. of California.
The largest single emission was in 2005, when air monitors detected 0.789 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide. It takes 50 parts per million for the gas to act as a “respiratory irritant,” according to the state Department of Health.
The agency has done two studies, both limited to air quality, that also found no health risks from the plant.
Still, some residents are concerned (‘Concerned’ in Puna? Say it isn’t so!) and Kuykendall said he hopes the study would provide some answers.
read … Group seeks $200K for geothermal health study
Star-Adv: Which Religion Should the State Establish: Old Pagan or New?
SA: The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, citing the population studies, has petitioned the federal government to remove that status in two stages: first, by classifying the Hawaiian turtle population as a "discrete population segment," distinguishing it from other green turtle populations; and second, by delisting the Hawaiian turtles.
The association's petition was drafted and edited by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, an agency that has often clashed with environmental groups (new pagans) over conservation rules, including restrictions on longline fishing to protect leather-back and loggerhead turtles. But commercial interests don't appear to be at issue here. There is little evidence that the green turtles' protected status has done harm to recreational and commercial fishing.
Rather, the association says a delisting would return responsibility for the honu to the state and its citizens, including Native Hawaiians and cultural practitioners. Such a change in management would raise some new possibilities and difficult questions: Should Native Hawaiians, however they are defined, be allowed to resume the traditional harvesting of honu? Should rules against the incidental hooking or netting of honu be relaxed, or should the population be protected as closely as it is now?
The National Marine Fisheries Service will consider whether the scientific evidence justifies a delisting, a process that could take more than a year. Regardless of the outcome, however, it's hard to justify a situation that would leave the green sea turtle with the same status as most other aquatic life in Hawaiian waters — open to indiscriminate harvesting. The association doesn't want that, and neither should anyone else. It has taken years for the turtle population to recover. As an aumakua, (old pagans) it has cultural and historical significance. And it is certainly far more valuable as a living creature, enjoyed by countless ocean visitors, than as a source of meat.
read … Its OK, as Long as they are not Christians
Rejected by Greens, Wanna-Be President Rosanne Barr tries Peace & Freedom Party
SN: Barr, 59, lost her earlier bid to be the Green Party's nominee but has not given up hope of getting her name on the ballot.
She has now joined up with fellow anti-Semite Cindy Sheehan as her vice presidential running mate.
The pair are competing against up to four other presidential hopefuls at the party's convention in Los Angeles this weekend.
read ... typical progressives seeking approval
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