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Saturday, May 18, 2013
May 18, 2013 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:28 PM :: 3771 Views

IRS to Maui TEA Party: "Provide details of your relationship with Dylan Nonaka"

Mitsunaga Launches New Attack on Kobayashi

Hawaii leads nation in per-capita debt for unfunded union benefits

'Hating Breitbart' Now Showing in Honolulu

Gov. holds secret meeting with UH regents on presidential search

HNN: Abercrombie invited the UH regents to a private meeting with him Wednesday afternoon in his office at the Capitol, a day before they held their first official regents' meeting following last week's resignation announcement by UH President MRC Greenwood.

"The meeting was really off-the-record and not-for-attribution, because really we wanted to have a candid conversation about where we go from here," Abercrombie said.

Abercrombie said nearly all of the 15 regents attended the meeting.  He added they did not discuss the names of specific candidates to be Greenwood's successor. 

"That's their business," Abercrombie said.

He said his message was simple: "It's time to move forward.  I think the time for accusations and finger pointing is over with." 

(Translation: The only reason I was pushing accountability was to get rid of Greenwood. Now that she's gone, we need to shut down the investigations to avoid collateral damage.)

The state's sunshine law allows the governor to meet with more than one member of any board and discuss practically anything without publishing an agenda or giving the public six days notice, as long as they don't make a decision judging the outcome of any case.

Abercrombie said the law has "gone over the extreme edge of the cliff."

"If you have to post a six-day notice in order for more than two regents to speak to one another, then it's almost impossible for them to conduct any business with one another," Abercrombie said. "The regents right now are hamstrung because they can't even have a telephone call with one another.  Not to speculate or to conspire or to plot and scheme, but to just have a conversation to try to clear their own minds and clear the air as to what direction they want to go in and to be able to speak informally to one another."

(Translation: I can manipulate the Regents.)

Mixed Messages: Mitsunaga Launches New Attack on Kobayashi

read ... Gov. holds secret meeting with UH regents on presidential search

Salmonson Appointment a Swipe at Hoosier, Anti-Superferry Protesters

SA: Gov. Neil Abercrombie described Salmonson, who previously led the OEQC from 1999 to 2007, as "experienced in working across public and private sectors toward resolution and environmental compliance."

Gary Hooser, a former Kauai state senator who had been tapped by Abercrombie for the OEQC, often clashed with the administration on environmental policy. Hooser left after being elected last year to the Kauai County Council.

Interestingly, Salmonson led the OEQC during the controversy over the Hawaii Superferry project. The state determined that $40 million in harbor improvements for the Superferry did not require an environmental review, a decision that was rejected by the state Supreme Court and ultimately doomed the project.

read ... Salmonson

UPW Negotiations Required to Mandate Physical Fitness for Prison Guards

KHON: Changes are just beginning. For this class, there’s new training on crisis intervention dealing with inmates who are extremely difficult.

The key lesson is using physical force only when all else fails.

There are also changes in the works to make sure that officers stay in shape.

The state said that still needs to be negotiated with the union.

“We want to ensure that in the future that our correctional officers maintain the fitness that they have achieved while they’re in their basic correctional training and we’re hoping to do that through annual fitness tests,” Department of Public Safety Deputy Director of Administration Martha Torney said.

Basic Corrections Training includes 440 hours of classroom time and physical training.

Recruits learn suicide prevention, self-defense, and spotting gang activity.

Torney said the whole training process is about to be scrutinized.

Because of all the training changes, it will be another four months before another recruitment takes place.

And there could be even more scrutiny on who gets to apply.

read ... New changes to officer training after blunders in prison system

HSTA Leaders Spent $700K on Futile Labor Board Case

SA: Union officials would not say how much has been spent on the complaint, but some have privately estimated legal costs at upward of $700,000.

The union's attorneys had sought to withdraw the complaint without prejudice, which would have allowed HSTA to bring the same claim again in the future.

But the state's attorney objected to that move.

Labor board Chairman Jim Nicholson agreed with the state, allowing the case to be withdrawn, but with prejudice, meaning HSTA cannot refile the complaint. He wrote that there was no basis to dismiss the complaint without prejudice.

"This case is closed," Nicholson wrote.

read ... HSTA drops labor complaint against state

Federal Judge Refuses To Toss (de)Occupy Honolulu Suit Despite City's Efforts

CB: (de)Occupy Honolulu had its day in court, and it looks like it will get another.

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright decided not to dismiss (de)Occupy’s federal lawsuit against the city of Honolulu, which claims the city’s stored property ordinance is unconstitutional.

Among other things, the lawsuit alleges city officials have violated protesters’ free speech rights and other constitutional guarantees during organized raids on (de)Occupy’s encampment at Thomas Square in downtown Honolulu.

DN: (de)Occupy hearing confirms that court order will require City to follow the law and cease destroying property

read ... deOccupy

Integrative approach gives Kaiser edge in health care

SA: The Affordable Care Act ... directs Medicare to contract with accountable-care organizations, or ACOs....

Up to this point, the latest sea change in health care has been the transition to the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH....

In contrast, the ACO model includes clinics that have converted to PCMH together with specialists and hospitals to lower costs by reducing inappropriate emergency department visits and hospital readmissions.

At every level, the health care industry in Hawaii is in high gear. It is widely anticipated that Hawaii Pacific Health and Queen’s will soon roll out competing programs.

The recent legislative session saw attempts by Banner Health, a Phoenix-based nonprofit operating 23 owned and leased hospitals in seven states, to enter the Hawaii market. At the same time, independent physician associations are vying for position and considering their own offerings.

Many physicians believe that this may be the last and best opportunity for medical doctors to influence health care and ensure that the soul of medicine is not eroded by large health care organizations.

Physicians are also concerned that the economic benefit of improved clinical outcomes and cost savings will not trickle down to providers in an equitable fashion....

read ... Integrative approach gives Kaiser edge in health care

Demolition starts next week at former HMC-West hospital

SA: Queen's Health Systems will begin demolition Monday of the former Hawaii Medical Center hospital in West Oahu.

Parts of the Ewa facility, which has not been updated in 25 years, will be gutted and expanded to double the capacity of its emergency and operating departments when it opens next spring.

Queen's is spending more than $70 million on renovations, new equipment and the acquisition — the largest in recent history. Its last purchase, in 1987, was of Molokai General Hospital, which has 15 beds.

read ... Demolition starts next week at former HMC-West hospital

Sex Assault Becomes Excuse to Place Military Justice under External Control

SA: All four members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation have signed onto a bill that would for the first time remove from the military chain of command decision-making over whether serious crimes are prosecuted.

The proposal follows outrage over high numbers of sexual assaults in the military, as well as high-profile cases including an Air Force lieutenant colonel’s sexual assault conviction that was overturned by a commander, and an Army commander allowing a Wheeler Army Airfield helicopter pilot to resign when he was twice accused of rape.

The Military Justice Improvement Act would remove the prosecution of all crimes punishable by one year or more in confinement from the chain of command, except crimes that are uniquely military in nature, such as disobeying orders or going absent without leave.

read ... Military Justice?

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