Rail Suit to Be Heard August 12, Quick Ruling Expected
Deadline for Public Comment on Rail AIS May 30
Farmer: Anti-GMO Activists Burn Two Tractors on Maui
$2.5M Per Job: Honeywell CEO Defensive About Kapolei Biofuel Refinery
Blocking Banner Keeps Sister-Isle Patients Flowing to Oahu Hospitals
Making Reimbursements Could Incur Tax Liability
PDF: How Major Bills Fared at the capitol
12 Cents an Acre: DHHL Commissioner, Senator, Other Cronies in Hawaiian Land Grab
SA: Dozens of tenants are leasing more than 38,000 acres of mostly undeveloped land from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for as little as pennies per acre monthly, with the deals administered through a revocable-permit program plagued by lax oversight and selective enforcement, a Star-Advertiser investigation has found.... Native Hawaiians are only about a third of DHHL revocable permits....
A former DHHL commissioner, a state senator, two former DHHL employees and a former Department of Land and Natural Resources administrator have been among those who have benefited. (We're gonna have to wit til Tuesday to meet the Senator)
"This isn't even a broken system," said Kahaunani Mahoe-Thoene, a beneficiary advocate on Oahu. "There's no system."
Though the permits are meant to be short-term and the properties can be reclaimed with just 30 days' notice, which the department cites to justify the deeply discounted rents, the agreements frequently become long term, giving tenants sizable rent breaks for much longer than what was envisioned. Several permits have been in place for more than 30 years, and dozens are at least 15 years old. The average age is 11. Rents are reviewed annually.
"I would hate to use the word (corruption), but I believe it to be so," said Renwick "Uncle Joe" Tassil, a commissioner who is pushing for reforms. "It is, in fact, part of government corruption."...
Stuart Hanchett...began leasing 316 acres of ranch land from the agency in 2003 and served as DHHL's Kauai commissioner from July 2005 until June 2011. He was appointed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle.
Hanchett told the Star-Advertiser that he built a house on the property before he became a commissioner and began living there around 2004 — even though the revocable permit specifically prohibited residential use....
In November 2010 two Kauai homesteaders wrote the agency to protest a proposal to convert Hanchett's revocable permit to a 20-year license to a newly formed nonprofit that he heads. The protests prominently mentioned the unauthorized home....
In March 2009 the commission revoked the permit held by brothers Westin and Nowlin Correa for 105 pastoral acres in Waimanalo. The commission took the action after the brothers had committed multiple permit violations, including holding large commercial gatherings on the property, known as Correa Ranch, and accumulating more than $200,000 in city fines for grading land without a permit, according to DHHL records. Today, more than four years later, the Correas still have the property. As recently as last month, a company that arranges commercial wedding packages touted Correa Ranch as a venue....
The brothers' late mother, Naomi Correa, was a longtime Democratic Party of Hawaii vice chairwoman. Asked whether the family's political connections were a factor in explaining why the brothers haven't been evicted, the department declined comment....
As far back as 1983, a federal-state task force urged DHHL to establish such rules to ensure permits were issued in a fair and uniform basis. The department never heeded the advice....
...monthly rents to individuals for ranch or pastoral land are as low as 12 cents an acre, while similar rates for for-profit companies are as low as 17 cents an acre....
read ... Finally this story begins coming out
Hunt Development Grabs Control of Kalaeloa
SA: There are 3,700 acres of land, formerly under the control of the Navy, that were turned over to the state as part of a national series of base closures. The transfer of land comes with a pretty spectacular stretch of shoreline in Hawaii, a place that's world-famous for its land values. It shouldn't take long for it to be developed.
Or so one would have thought....
Geological conditions and a half-century of Navy custody here have shielded some endangered species and cultural artifacts — which many now want to preserve.
There is also the outdated infrastructure. For example: The Navy ran its own power grid, so turning Kalaeloa civilian can't happen until some expensive connections to the utility grid occur. Water supplies and sewage are still military facilities, too.
The closure of Barbers Point in 1999 was ordered by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, but 14 years later about 615 acres of land still hasn't been transferred to the state. One of the problems is that an endangered plant best known by its Hawaiian name, akoko, grows on some of the land on the makai side.
The Navy has to ensure that the plant has protected habitat and would like the state Hawaii Community Development Authority — the agency overseeing Kalaeloa's redevelopment — to take over that duty, said Anthony Ching, HCDA executive director. No deal on that has been inked yet....
HCDA is also working with nonprofit partners on plans for a cultural heritage park makai of the residential and business sectors. The aim, he said, is to preserve artifacts such as a heiau, burial sites and the remnants of an ancient stone-paved trail. This roadway connected those working in the dry makai reaches to the mauka uplands where many more people lived....
Hunt Cos., the Texas-based firm that's just unveiled its master plan. Hunt acquired about 540 acres of the former Barbers Point station in 2009, and is roughly following an outline for the area and the zoning rules that the HCDA adopted....
Colon said Hunt is taking charge of the rental renovation — rental housing is a principal part of the company's business model — and has managed to get the existing tenants up and running on the Navy power grid.
The rest of the development, however, is a far more long-term proposition, rolling out over the course of the next decade or two, depending on market conditions, Colon said....
"If you came here you'd be blown away, because you would see clear remnants of a trail, mauka and makai, and some sinkholes — you'd see the possible uses and significance of those sinkholes.
"Historically, without all these roads and impervious surfaces, you had a system of underground rivers that actually drained from the mountains to the sea," he added. "They had function as a source of water for agriculture."
Last week a small group did take a close look at these sinkholes, also called anchialine pools, during a tour of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife preserve.
Activist John Bond was in the group, along with Mike Lee, a Hawaiian practitioner who expressed amazement at the range of native plants that had survived and were even thriving. The 37-acre preserve is spotted with the anchialine pools — pits in the coral strata of the land that connect to the nearby ocean tides and sometimes to the freshwater that drains from the uplands.
The ponds are breeding grounds for the Hawaiian shrimp, opaeula. Lee also noted the presence of Hawaiian plants, such as maiapilo, usually seen only on relatively new lava flows rather than amid the remnants of ancient reefs.
Dave Ellis of the Fish and Wildlife Service said the ecology of the pools is still very much under study.
"It's new and there's not a lot we know about them," he said.
Hunt: Follow the money: $10B Guam pork project benefits Abercrombie contributor
read ... The promise and potential of Kalaeloa
Two Dozen Doctors targeted amid rise in painkiller deaths
SA: The state Department of Health is beginning an extensive study to attempt to link deaths related to prescription drugs with overprescribing physicians.
The study is driven by a dramatic increase in fatalities primarily due to overdose of painkillers, also known as opioids, an alarming trend that has grown in recent years both locally and nationwide.
Poisoning has become the leading cause of injury death in Hawaii, with 120 deaths in 2011 compared with 86 in 2007, according to the Health Department.
"The sad thing is we're starting to see prescription drugs in our schools, and we're seeing kids at younger ages utilizing these drugs," said Keith Kamita, chief of the state's Narcotics Enforcement Division....
The number of children between the ages of 10 and 19 admitted into hospitals for drug overdose jumped 42 percent to 172 in 2012 from 121 in 2007, while admissions for seniors between the ages of 60 and 69 soared 74 percent to 204 from 117, according to the Hawaii Health Information Corp....
Over the past decade, the most prevalent type of drug abuse has turned from street drugs like heroin to prescription painkillers, and there's been a significant increase in use by the adolescent and college population, said Lisa Cook, head of a holistic healing center for drug abusers....
"Nine out of 10 intakes are now for prescription drug (addiction). The folks who are using prescriptions are pretty young, between 20 and 26 years old."....
The national trend prompted health insurer UHA, also known as University Health Alliance, to put in place an opioid policy last year that set thresholds for reasonable amounts of prescriptions for members, excluding cancer patients.
The health plan also began monitoring pharmacy benefit data to see who was receiving "industrial doses of narcotics" and found more than two dozen physicians who were prescribing an "extraordinary amount of morphine-related medication.... we knew so much of this drug was being prescribed it boggled the mind. Nobody could be taking dozens of high-dose narcotic pills a day."
Related: Oxycontin Contributions: Clayton Hee, Josh Green, Karl Rhoads and HB466
read ... Doctors targeted amid rise in painkiller deaths
Act 221 Scammers Score $6M
SA: The Hawaii Growth Initiative, which the governor had envisioned as a $20 million investment program supporting entrepreneurial business ventures, was scaled back in conference committee to a more-reasonable $6 million.
read ... Welfare Queens
'New day,' new bills mostly promise new headaches
Shapiro: Lawmakers provided Hawaii taxpayers little relief, but took care of Hollywood moguls by increasing the already munificent 15 percent film tax credit to 20 percent on Oahu and 25 percent on the neighbor islands. Lights, camera, campaign donations.
Abercrombie formally launched his 2014 campaign for re-election, saying he wants a second term as governor so he can build on his accomplishments. It was a long speech, but it can be summarized as a simple mathematical formula: 2 x 0 = 0.
The governor took credit for Hawaii's improving economy and repeatedly trumpeted his largely unfulfilled "New Day" agenda. With no major announced opposition, his only competition is seeing if he can say "new day" more often than Guy Hagi says "severe weather."
read ... 'New day,' new bills mostly promise new headaches
Calvin Say Twists Arms to Win Passage of Abercrombie's Voucher Program
SA: In a session where a new House leadership coalition celebrated a narrative of greater transparency, one of the biggest decisions — like many at the Legislature — played out behind the closed doors of the majority caucus room.
The House needed 34 votes from its 51 members for the constitutional amendment to automatically qualify for the ballot. A simple majority, or 26 votes, would have meant that both the House and Senate would have to approve the bill again next session to put the question before voters.
By Tuesday afternoon, sources say, 19 Democrats had told House leadership they were voting no. Most of the seven Republicans were also opposed.
"At that point, it's like, ‘Holy smokes!' It might not even get 26 to get a simple majority," said Rep. Roy Takumi (D, Pearl City-Waipio-Pearl Harbor), the chairman of the House Education Committee, who was the bill's shepherd....
A possible tipping point in private caucus, sources say, was when Rep. Calvin Say (D, Palolo-St. Louis Heights-Kaimuki), the former speaker, asked House leaders where they stood.
House Speaker Joseph Souki (D, Waihee-Waiehu-Wailuku), who had said when he took over from Say in January that his days of arm-twisting were behind him, answered simply that he supported the chairman, referring to Takumi.... (Say uses new leadership in old technique.)
When lawmakers returned to the House floor, about two dozen spoke publicly on the constitutional amendment, including Souki, who urged his colleagues to approve the bill. One by one, the no votes turned to yes....
Reality: Abercrombie 'School Readiness' Plan Based on Proven Failure
read ... Say Twists Arms
Bill 8 Puts Police at Disadvantage Against 'Meanderers'
SA: Supporters of the new law note that, at the request of city Parks Director Toni Robinson and city attorneys, language in the measure states specifically a person walking through a closed park on the way to the shoreline must use the most direct route and is not allowed to meander.
During a Parks Committee hearing, Deputy Corporation Counsel Dawn Spurlin said anyone wishing to access the shoreline has a constitutional right to do so and that Honolulu police allow it.
But William Aila, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, in written testimony to the City Council just before Bill 8's final vote on April 17, expressed concerns about unintended consequences caused by "broad language" in the bill.
"The language in the bill as currently written would allow anyone to enter and traverse a closed city park to reach a shoreline that may be managed by the department," Aila said....
Chang urged Council members to rethink the bill.
"This is going to affect the Honolulu Police Department, the Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement division and everybody else who is going to have to conduct law enforcement through public safety in these areas," he said.
Closing the parks at night "gives law enforcement the advantage" in combating illegal activity, Chang said. The law would require officers to "do selective enforcement" and determine if people in park lands at night are there legitimately or not.
Reality: Caldwell Signs Bill 8: Protecting Politicians' Midnight Bathroom Escapades
read ... Meandering, Uh huh
SB883: Tourist Drownings Caused by Lack of Lifeguards' Bargaining Unit
SA: Ten of the 11 recent Kauai drownings occurred in areas with no lifeguards. Professional lifeguards are trained to observe and evaluate ocean conditions and to prevent the unwary from getting into trouble. When warnings and advice go unheeded, lifeguards put their own lives in danger to rescue these folks.
The fact is that we need more properly trained and adequately equipped lifeguards on our beaches statewide....
State legislators recognized the importance of Hawaii's lifeguards by passing Senate Bill 883, which creates a new collective bargaining unit for state law enforcement personnel and water safety and ocean safety officers. The bill now awaits the governor's signature.
read ... No Unit, No Budget?
SB693: Espero's Traffic Cam Bill Dies in Conference
SA: Senate Bill 693 would have created a three-year pilot program for cameras across Oahu. However, the bill failed to make it out of a House-Senate conference committee, said Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, who introduced the bill.
"It's dead," Espero said Wednesday. "It just was not its time."
However, Espero added that he was encouraged that the effort advanced further than in the past. The bill remains in conference and could be taken up next year, he said.
"I feel there's another opportunity next session," said Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point).
Espero and other backers say the cameras would protect pedestrians, but the programs have been controversial in other cities such as Los Angeles, which canceled its red-light program in 2011.
Hawaii's Office of the Public Defender and the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the state's measure in this year's session, arguing that the cameras had the potential to mistakenly identify the wrong drivers and the wrong license plates. They also cited privacy issues
read ... I'll be back
Strange Bedfellows: Life in the Senate
Sen Laura Theilen: ...being a legislator is different from any other job.
In today’s world, most of us spend time with people who agree with us, who think like us. You pick your sport, church, hobbies based on what interests you. You pick your friends, your spouse and raise your family with the same beliefs.
In situations like work where you can’t avoid someone who you don’t agree with, everyone generally respects social norms to avoid the topics where you disagree – religion, politics – and sticks to safe topics, general pleasantries.
But in the Legislature, we don’t get to avoid the uncomfortable topics at work. We don’t get to limit our contacts to people we agree with. You put us here specifically to deal with many of the issues people passionately fight over....
read ... Strange Bedfellows
Did Hanabusa Block Ko'olina Boat Ramp?
CC: What happened to the Ko'olina boat ramp? It still hasn't been rebuilt. Carroll brings you up to date on the situation, including why Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, then a state representative for the area, did nothing to help the fishermen who lost local access to the ocean at Ko'olina. It should be noted that she lived in Ko'olina at the time and received special favors from Jeff Stone.
read ... Ko'olina
Honolulu 2nd Worst Traffic in USA
- Congestion score: 26.0
- Population density: 1,586.7 people per sq. mile (5th highest)
- Average commute time: 27 minutes (27th highest)
- Pct. driving to work: 79.5% (14th lowest)
Honolulu is one of the densest metro areas in the nation, with more than 1,586 people per square mile, as of 2010. Commuters were also considerably less likely to get to work by car, truck or van than most Americans, and were far more likely to walk or use public transit. Although just two Honolulu road segments, barely totaling 11 miles, were among the nation's 100 most congested corridors in 2012, the area still ranked exceptionally poorly. However, the city's congestion score improved from 2011, when it had the worst levels in the country. After years of planning and delays, Honolulu broke ground on a massive public rail transit project in 2011. The project has long been controversial due to its environmental impact, cost and the possibility of disturbing the burial sites of Native Hawaiians' ancestors.
read ... USA Today
Accreditation Agencies' Racket
HT: Accreditation agencies protect the education industry from the market forces that raise quality and reduce costs in competitive industries. Unelected and largely unreported, they define "quality" in terms of inputs and so protect the jobs and revenue stream of the US K-PhD education industry. The role of accreditation agencies receives attention here and here. Credit by exam would bust this racket.
read ... Harriet Tubman Agenda
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