DoD Report: 14,000 Military Personnel Victims of Homosexual Rapists
VIDEO: Honolulu Airman Trains Afghan National Police
Hawaii Lowest Alzheimer’s Mortality in USA
NOAA expects below-normal Central Pacific hurricane season
GOP: Investigate Donna Mercado Kim
$139K per Unit: $48.3M for Public Housing CIP
Maui TEA Party in DC for IRS Hearings
CB: Doyle said a staff member for committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Ca., contacted him on Monday while he was vacationing in Arizona and asked him to jump on a plane....
Doyle didn't get to testify and share his own experience with the committee, but he said he's sticking around until Issa's office tells him otherwise.
Doyle last week described to Civil Beat a 26-month ordeal with the IRS that involved the agency asking what the Inspector General has called “unnecessary” questions regarding the identity of its donors, membership and activities.
“As I tell this story I have chicken skin because it’s chilling,” Doyle said last week.
Doyle on Wednesday said he and other tea party members from around the country met with committee staff and told their stories. He watched the hearing from inside the committee room, and wasn’t impressed by the explanations, especially Lerner's statements that she hadn't broken any laws or violated any IRS rules.
He watched as Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to not incriminate herself. “That was pretty bad form,” he said.
His impressions? “It’s rather mystifying how no one in government takes responsibility for anything,” he said.
Related: Maui TEA Party Leaders to Testify Before Congress
read ... Maui Tea Partier In D.C.: IRS Scrutiny 'Chilling'
CD1: Case, Takai, Espero, Hannemann, Anderson?
RC: Honolulu City Councilmember Stanley Chang, a young Harvard-educated politician, has already announced he is running in the 1st District.
Other potential Democratic candidates include:
- Former Rep. Ed Case, who represented the state’s 2nd District until he unsuccessfully challenged former Sen. Daniel K. Akaka in a Democratic Senate primary in 2006. Since then, he’s made two failed attempts to rejoin the congressional delegation: a 2010 special-election bid for the 1st District and last cycle’s loss to now-Sen. Mazie K. Hirono.
- K. Mark Takai, a state representative since 1994 who represents a strong military district that includes Pearl Harbor.
- State Sen. William Espero, who serves as the majority floor leader.
- Mufi Hannemann, former mayor of Honolulu, who ran in 2012 for the 2nd District. He lost to now-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
- Honolulu City Councilmember Ikaika Anderson.
read … Roll Call
Muslim Infighting behind Honolulu Eye-Gouge Attack, Two Other Assaults
SA: Ganjali told the Star-Advertiser on Monday that he was hoping Morris would be charged with attempted murder and not be given the opportunity to post bail.
"He's a danger to society and to himself," Ganjali said of Morris. "It is in the best interest of everyone that he is not free to do more crimes."
Ganjali said Morris attacked him after he gave Morris a ride from Manoa Valley mosque. Ganjali said Morris tried to take out his right eye and bit and hit him repeatedly on the face.
Ganjali said he is fearful that Morris has an "agenda" and has been threatening other members of the Muslim community. He said Morris has mentioned the names of others from the mosque whom he has targeted.
In another development, the executive director of the Hawaii Public Housing Authority filed for a temporary restraining order Tuesday against Morris. Hakim Oansafi, also Hawaii Muslim Association president, filed for the TRO against Morris. A court hearing on Oansafi's application is scheduled for June 4.
London: Muslim hardliners ID London terror suspect as one of their own
2011: Jihadi Wanna-be Names Names in New York and Hawaii
read ... Muslim Eye-Gouge
Honolulu Has no Emergency Room Capacity for Disaster, Terror Attack
DN: ...we are in Honolulu with a shortage of emergency room capacity to the point where ambulances are reported to be diverted as ERs become unable to accept new patients.
Dr. Farmer said, “you need backup teams and backup teams.” Do we have those?
Following the Boston bombing we had a number of false alarms here in Honolulu, but thankfully no copycat disaster. The packages abandoned on the street did not explode. But suppose a large public event should be targeted in the future?
CB: No Preparation for Ala Wai Canal Flooding
read ... No Preparation
Hawaii: 12,000 Medicated Pot Heads
SA: Approval of medical marijuana was recognized in 2000 by Hawaii, the first state to do so.....
Coinciding is the change in Senate Bill 642, which changes the amounts of marijuana that patients may possess, from 4 ounces and seven total plants to three mature plants, four immature plans and 1 ounce of usable marijuana per each mature plant.
Presumably, that should address more intended needs for medical purposes.
The bill also would allow a patient to obtain a medical marijuana certificate from a primary-care physician. Patients now are issued blue cards, and that number has risen from 225 from the program's first year to 8,000 two years ago and 12,000 today.
Skeptics have noted that the bulk of marijuana permits are for residents in their 20s and 30s, and most have cited severe pain as their medical conditions. What needs to happen now, under Health Department auspices, is to devise a tighter system for how medical marijuana is prescribed, dispensed and used — and not abused.
read ... They're medicated
Restraining orders often slowly or never served
KHON: We found fewer than half took only about a day or two to get into the hands of the respondent. A quarter of them took up to a week. Nearly 1 in 5 took a month to track down the recipient, sometimes even longer.
And a full 15 percent — nearly 1 in 6 – of this year’s filings are simply unserved. Whether that’s because it’s still in the victim’s hands — never taken in for service — or in a police to-do stack, or whether they’re un-findable by authorities isn’t clear from the court record.
read ... Restraining orders often slowly or never served
HCDA: Tear Down Blaisdell, Build 700' Tower
SA: The authority released a summary of the plan on May 10, unveiling broad strokes of the proposed draft rules — including raising tower height limits to 550 feet from 400 feet in some areas, plus authorizing three towers up to 700 feet.
The site for one of those towers — the Blaisdell — is described in the full 206-page draft, a copy of which was released Wednesday.
"This is a perfect opportunity — should the city take it," said Anthony Ching, the development authority's executive director.
A representative of Mayor Kirk Caldwell's administration could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who represents Kakaako, said she's open to a private-public partnership redeveloping the Blaisdell with new public facilities.
"That's probably the only way to get funding," she said. But Kobayashi added that any redevelopment should fit the neighborhood. "It's hard to envision a 700-foot tower next to McKinley High School."
Sites for the other two envisioned 700-foot towers would be near the city's two planned rail stations, but are not more precisely specified.
Link: HCDA TOD Overlay
read ... About the New Old PLDC
County Council OKs property tax hikes 5-1-3
MN: The resolution passed with a lone dissenting vote cast by Council Member Don Couch and with several testifiers opposing higher rates.
Council Members Stacy Crivello, Elle Cochran, Mike White, Don Guzman and Council Vice-Chairman Bob Carroll all voted in favor of the measure. Council Chairwoman Gladys Baisa, and Council Members Mike Victorino and G. Riki Hokama were absent and excused.
After the meeting, Couch said he voted against the property tax rates because, through the years, taxpayers in the commercial category "have been hit quite a bit" with proportionately higher property tax rates versus those in other categories, especially homeowners. In fiscal 2014, the commercial category will see its rates climb from $6.90 to $7.05, per $1,000 of net taxable assessed valuation.
read ... Tax Hike
Kenoi Pushes Tax, Fee Hikes--Uses Unions as Excuse
HTH: Hikes in property taxes, park fees, bus fares and vehicle registration and weight taxes will balance Mayor Billy Kenoi’s proposed $394.3 million 2013-14 budget, a 7.9 percent increase over this year.
But there’s still a wild card in the mix: Two major public worker unions have yet to complete collective bargaining agreements.
The budget accounts for the ending of employee furloughs at a cost of $4.2 million. Salaries for United Public Workers and Hawaii Government Employees Association union workers negotiated at the state level will be increased about 4 percent, adding another $2.9 million to the budget.
“We’re still awaiting arbitration on police and fire,” Hawaii County Human Resources Manager Nick Hermes told the county Merit Appeals Board on Wednesday.
Kenoi said he didn’t include possible raises for police and fire in his budget....
(But he sure does have lots of 'vacant positions' funded.)
read ... Police, Firefighter unions wild cards in budget
GPS School Bus Tracking Expands to Oahu
KITV: ...last June, the Department of Education launched a small pilot program in Kona on the Big Island, testing just how well GPS tracking systems, with real-time data, would streamline bus service. And it worked beautifully.
"We can track the path of each of the buses, where they pick up their kids, the times, the speed, and even the idle time," said Iosepa Transportation operations manager David Oasay.
"I'm relieved that it's bearing fruit," said DOE assistant superintendent Ray L'Heureux.
In August, the pilot program expands to Oahu in the Aiea-Pearl City area.
"If you don't have that accurate tracking data, you don't know how many buses to service for that particular area," he said.
And conditions are ripe for change.
Contracts are up for 71 percent of the bus companies in that area....
by 2014 all bus companies must be equipped with student and routing tracking systems....
they're also stretching out the bidding process from three months to a year, to give mainland companies a real chance at a contract....
Read ... Program soon to be expanded to Oahu, Aiea-Pearl City area
Hanabusa Cons Congress into Wasting $70M on Jones Act Shipyards
CB: One authorizes $70 million in new funding for the Maritime Guaranteed Loan Program, also known as the “Title XI” program. It guarantees commercial loans for privately financed commercial ship construction and shipyard modernization in the United States.
“Private sector capital is needed to inject new life into the American shipbuilding industry,” she said.
The Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces also authorized provisions to procure two Virginia-class subs and prohibits the early retirement of Ticonderoga Class Cruisers.
Related: Jones Act U.S.- build requirement is a sham
read ... Something Civil Beat Claims is Beneficial
UH spends $1.3 million upgrading empty College Hill mansion
HNN: In the last three years, the University of Hawaii has spent $1.3 million on repairs and upgrades to College Hill, the presidents' home that UH President MRC Greenwood has chosen not to live in. UH Chancellor Tom Apple told Hawaii News Now he's exploring the idea of turning the home into offices for the UH alumni office…..
Dr. Jeremy Lam has lived next door to College Hill for 30 years.
"I think this is extreme government waste," Lam said. "I think when (former UH President Evan) Dobelle started, it was a million dollars put in and there was subsequent projects for re-roofing and doing the portico there and one project after another comes up. And a historical residence doesn't have to be perfect."
Lam said other homes in the neighborhood also built in the early 1900s have been completely re-done for far less money, only several hundred thousand dollars.
read … College Hill of Money
Tesoro Layoffs to Start June 14
PBN: In a letter to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Texas-based Tesoro said that its employees would be laid off during a 14-day period beginning on June 14 as it “has been able to postpone certain employment separations because of previously unforeseeable operational considerations regarding the timing and sequence of the shutdown process.”
Tesoro also said that a second group would be laid off during a 14-day period starting on June 28, and a third and final group would be laid off on July 12.
Employees originally were going to be laid off on April 30, but conversations with a potential buyer made the company extend that date.
read … Layoffs
Senate Extends Sugar Subsidies
MN: The US Senate has rejected a measure that would have likely killed off Maui’s sole remaining sugar plantation and crippled the nation’s sugar producers.
Both of Hawaii’s senators voted against the amendment to the 2013 Farm Bill.
Hawaii lawmakers said the measure would have removed protections for American sugar workers and flooded the market with cheap, foreign sugar, threatening an estimated 142,000 sugar producer jobs nationwide.
The bipartisan amendment, which failed to pass the Senate in a 45-54 vote....
read ... Sugar Subsidies
Judge won’t block seizure of Occupy belongings
SA: In two separate rulings Tuesday, U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright said (de)Occupy Honolulu’s constitutional violation, negligence and criminal property damage claims against the city can move forward. Seabright did dismiss the group’s conspiracy, fraud and punitive damages claims.
In refusing the group’s request for a preliminary injunction, Seabright in essence upheld the constitutionality of the version of the city’s stored property ordinance in effect for the past year. He said (de)Occupy Honolulu has not shown that it is likely to prevail in its constitutional free speech and due process challenges to the ordinance at trial.
Richard Holcomb, lawyer for (de)Occupy Honolulu, had no comment on Seabright’s ruling.
read ... Occupy
Hanabusa And Schatz Differ Over Making Drug Companies Pay
CB: In a move that highlights a key policy difference with Sen. Brian Schatz, Colleen Hanabusa is scheduled to be a guest speaker on a telephone “Town Hall” meeting sponsored by an organization opposing a bill co-sponsored by Schatz.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., would try to reduce federal Medicare spending and cut the overall federal debt by making drug companies pay a rebate to the federal government. Among its supporters is the AARP, which argues the rebates are preferable to other Medicare cost-cutting measures like raising the co-pays or increasing age requirements for Medicare recipients.
However, Hanabusa, who is running against Schatz for his Senate seat, has opposed the idea, signing a letter last year saying drug companies would pass on the cost of the rebate to consumers.
The issue is expected to come up in Thursday’s conference call, which was organized by the Healthcare Leadership Council. The council is a diverse national organization made up of hospitals, health plans, medical device manufacturers, biotech firms, academic health centers, and also pharmaceutical companies that would all have to pay the rebates in Rockefeller’s bill.
The call is scheduled for 8 a.m. HST....
read ... Drug Companies
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State law requires review of property over 50 years old
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