Entries for April 2014

The top-performing states—Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Hawaii—lead the nation across most dimensions of care, and have done so over time....

...analysis from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy shows that teen childbearing in Hawaii cost taxpayers at least $32 million in 2010....

Total expenditures by visitors who came to Hawaii in March 2014 fell 3.5 percent compared to last March to $1.2 billion....

...You’ll never see it as a line item in the budget....

...UNITE HERE Local 5 union officials have an ugly history of violating the rights of the workers they claim to represent....

This newfound abundance has come primarily from the application of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing....

This study analyzes the effects of the resulting changes at the individual employee level ....

...an unholy union of big government, big business, and big special interests twists public policy to benefit Washington insiders....

... Queens, Pali Momi, Straub, and Moanalua all scored 'A' ....

...four major decisions and orders that collectively provide key policy, resource planning, and operational directives to HECO....

...Tesoro indicated that domestic supply was not competitive, in part due to Jones Act restrictions....

"Congress needs to follow up on this presidential trip by passing trade promotion authority to conclude a free-trade agreement across Asia and the Pacific”

Shippers are increasingly moving crude to a refinery in Canada....

...the budget specifically appropriates $300,000 of general obligation bond funds toward design ... another $2 million is appropriated for the actual construction of an air conditioning system....

...$6M of added work due to unidentified utilities, design changes and added work scope....

The budget, which provides $6.189 billion in general funds and $12.147 billion in all means of financing, was characterized by House Finance Chair Sylvia Luke as measured and prudent....

VIDEO: House Republicans speak out on Hawaii State Budget during final debate today....

Despite claims to the contrary, relatively few Hawaiians would benefit from the increase....

Do conservatives still want to repeal Obamacare?  It would seem the media don’t want you to think so....

...what if America had never been founded?...

Super PACs and special interest groups look set to have the opportunity to hijack all future elections in Hawaii if HB2590 CD1 passes....

The Hawaii Refinery Task Force has completed its year-long study of the potential impacts of refinery closures....

...Design funds for plans to modernize the case management system for the Social Services Division. The current system is approximately 25-years-old....

Ige said he would vote against confirming Brian Tamamototo permanently to fill a small-business seat of the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA)....

...how your hard-earned money helps subsidize loans for people in other countries....

• Kihei Maui May 6
• Kona & Hilo May 7
• Honolulu May 8

We continue to advocate for the State of Hawai‘i to remove Basic Health Hawai‘i from Hawai‘i Administrative Rules and repeal Haw. Admin. Rules Chapter 17-1722.3....

At OHA's Kana'iolowalu Roll Meetings the message from the people comes across loud and clear....

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for 38,978 adults aged 18 years or older from 6 states: Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Wisconsin....

Kobayashi Group is in partnership with the Howard Hughes Corporation to build ONE Ala Moana, the ultra-luxury condominium being built above Nordstrom’s parking in Ala Moana....

...bills up for final reading in the Senate and House on Tuesday, April 29....

A quick glance at the table below, and you see how powerful the money committees are....

...may the challenger institute a quo warranto lawsuit in state circuit court?

...the rebirth of an issue that should have been finished once and for all with the Supreme Court decision in Rice v. Cayetano....

...without registered voters who take the time to participate in every election opportunity, we will continue to be ruled by tiny minority who do not share our values....

"It would be an opportunity for us to within the existing resources acquire the easement." --Ige

“...investment in enhanced biotechnology is an essential component of the solution to some of our planet’s most pressing agricultural problems” -- President Barack Obama 

...SB3122 conference hearing continues Friday, April 25, 2014 at 11:30am in conference room 312 (State Capitol)....

Biofuels made with corn residue actually release 7 percent more greenhouse gas....

A new Rasmussen poll shows that 61 percent of the American public favor building the pipeline....

Hawaii has 144 structurally deficient bridges....

A student ordered by administrators to stop handing out copies of the U.S. Constitution at the University of Hawaii at Hilo has filed a lawsuit today in federal court....

Not surprisingly, they almost always report that funds spent on advertising translate into tourist spending and tax revenues many multiples of the original outlay....

Charlie Cook, a respected political journalist, ranks campaigns across the country.  On April 17th, he moved his ranking of our race....

The terms will begin on July 1, 2014 and last for three years....

Many well-known people such as Governors Lingle and Abercrombie, Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw, Blue Planet Foundation's Henk Rogers, and Hawaii's only billionaire Pierre Omidyar have Sopogy egg on their face....