Entries for November 2018

...potential civil penalties of up to $25,000 per day per violation and potential criminal prosecution....

...the County intends to develop a new groundwater source within five years, or sooner, which will eventually provide for the full instream flow standard....

...Hawaii has one of the most onerous business tax situations. Another drawback: the highest cost of living in the U.S. Hawaii’s median home price of $708,000 is $115,000 more than any other state....

...Pew found “symptoms of structural deficits” in Hawaii (96.9 percent)....

...to distinguish good public-private partnerships from bad ones, we use the same principles employed whenever we evaluate government action: cost, accountability and risk....

...Public Encouraged to Apply for the County's First-Time Buyer's Program....

...$185,000, according to a UIPA’d documents obtained from the Hawaii Attorney General’s office....

..."It's high-time that Republicans set a bold agenda for the public to judge," said Representative Ward....

...Dewanto’s team found the rigid body of an orangutan, half buried under a fallen log next to a scar of freshly cut forest in a peat bog being razed for a new palm plantation....

...Report: One-third of states have passable fiscal transparency, the rest need improvement....

...the opening of the application period for its Community Grants Program, which will make available $7 million....

...Provo, Ogden, and Salt Lake City have the youngest homeowners....

...The average daily census (i.e. number of visitors on any given day) in October was 210,960, up 1.8 percent compared to a year ago....

...$3.56 Million to Support 130 Hawaiian Culture, Natural Resources and Community Programs....

...Establishes a creepy DC-based "Carbon Dividend Trust Fund" that seeks a backdoor two-child limit on families....

...Any carbon-pricing mechanism should be “adequate to change behavior.”  The commission had considered asking that it be “practical” as well, but Sen. Karl Rhoads convinced the members that was a bad idea….

...However, Bill 64 requires certain mandates that residents and contractors should be aware of....

...After a fierce Neighborhood Board meeting in April where the Board and many in the community opposed the project for its perceived insensitivity to the area, many including myself were under the belief that this project would not proceed until those concerns were addressed....

...direct spending by foreign students in Hawaii was $241.5 million for the calendar year 2017.  This estimate includes the total living expenses and institutional tuition and fees....

...WalletHub determined the most charitable of the 50 states by comparing them across 18 key indicators of charitable behavior....

...In addition, the state is searching for individuals to serve on a variety of boards and commissions....

...Keli'i Akina and Joe Kent discuss the latest research by the Grassroot Institute on rail, vacation rentals and the unfunded liabilty of Hawaii's public pension system....

"...Michele Golojuch and her entire immediate family...leading a public misinformation campaign to conduct a character assassination against me for months...filing a bizarre and recklessly fabricated slanderous complaint against me trying to remove me from the Democratic Party...." -- Matt LoPresti

...“Remind students that one of the central missions of the university, which justifies its existence, is to get at the truth.”....

...mass deaths, global food shortages, economic destruction, and national security risks....

...why such a seemingly trivial matter has become such a big deal....

...From Office of Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security....

... The Public Works, Infrastructure & Sustainability Committee will publicly discuss its Draft 1 of Resolution 18-221 [1] in the City Council Committee Meeting Room, on the 2nd floor of Honolulu Hale, at 1:00 pm Weds ....

...a long and hotly litigated property tax case from Maui....

...U.S. agents shot several rounds of the gas after migrants tried to penetrate several points along the border at the San Ysidro border crossing....

...Volcano Lawsuits Force Abrupt Change; Payouts in the Tens of Millions to Victims....

....Cato Institute Conference featuring Keli'i Akina and Michael Hansen from Hawaii....

...Businessman convicted of tax fraud has Guam, Micronesia deals....

...DBEDT revised its projection on Hawaii’s economic growth downward to 1 percent for 2018 from 1.5 percent....

...Why would any court trust 'exculpatory' evidence submitted by a convicted felon?....

...a milestone for our efforts to reduce the preventable tragedies caused by the lack of inpatient treatment....

... Largest reservation: Nanakuli Hawaiian Home Land ....

...Attorney General Russell A. Suzuki joined a coalition of 20 state attorneys general urging the Trump Administration to abandon efforts to adopt a definition of “sex” that would exclude transgender and gender nonconforming individuals....

...HIDOE is redesigning its facilities maintenance program to align the Department’s strategic focus....

...The DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) hearing will be held at 6:00 pm on Thursday November 29, 2018 at Kaʻala Elementary School, 130 California Avenue in Wahiawa....

...statistically significant upward adjustments on average are observed across utilities that experienced decoupling....

...The Justice Department said in reaction Monday that the claims by the senators “ignore centuries of practice and precedent.”....

... Teresa Shook Demands Resignation of Muslim-Aligned Co-Chairs ....

...These feel-good ideas are placed upon farmers with no consideration of the consequences of its impacts....

...Hawaii is precariously stretched to fund debt obligations....

... warming, drought, heatwaves, wildfires, precipitation, floods, storms, sea level rise and changes in land cover and ocean chemistry.... (and lions, tigers, and bears)

...HRS 134-9 has been used to effectively block our citizens’ Second Amendment rights....

...Hawaii is among only seven states retaining an outdated standard requiring that harm to self or others be imminent for a person to qualify for inpatient commitment....

...weekly update from GovTrack.us ....

...These companies received cash and property, including 1,600+ acres of land in Waimea Valley, from OHA....