Study: Hawaii Health Connector Loses 63% of 2014 Enrollees--Worst in US
Feds Block Deal to Transfer Heald Students, College Shuts Down Monday
The Magical Appearing Tax
Pay to Play: Extent of Rail's influence a mystery
SA: Hundreds — possibly thousands — of subcontractors are profiting from work on Oahu's rail transit project and many donate significant campaign dollars to leaders championing the project, but rail officials aren't required to track most of those firms or how much they're spending.
A Honolulu Star-Advertiser analysis of the rail project's 145 known subcontractors, using a list compiled mostly through voluntary reporting, found that employees or principals from that group donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars in the past five years to Mayor Kirk Caldwell, arguably rail's strongest and most outspoken political advocate.
Their $242,617 in donations between 2010 and 2014 represented more than 6 percent of Caldwell's total donations for that period.
Those subcontractors represent a fraction of the total "subs" working on the rail project. The total number isn't known.
A Honolulu Star-Advertiser analysis of campaign finance reports shows that since Jan. 1, 2010, about 14 percent of Kirk Caldwell’s total campaign contributions of $3.9 million have come from employees or principals of contractors or subcontractors working on the rail project.
8% CONTRACTOR DONATIONS $323,579.20
6% SUBCONTRACTOR DONATIONS $242,616.96
related: Secret Subcontractors: What Honolulu Rail Officials Aren’t Telling You
read ... Bought n Paid For
Anti-Telescope Protesters Bring Invasive Ant Species to Mountain, Weiku Bug Threatened
SA: During a cursory survey of the protest area around April 16, ants that are common at lower elevations but haven't gained a foothold on Mauna Kea's heights were discovered in a pile of palms that was being used to thatch a hale across from the visitor information station at about 9,400 feet, Klasner said. (Did they build that without an EIS???)
Klasner said six of the little black critters known as Ochetellus glaber were collected and others were observed.
"We're concerned about the ecosystem, and we're following through with the mandate of the state to have an invasive species management plan," Klasner said....
"Eventually, that just not only wipes out the (other) insects, but the native plant pollinators. You lose birds, you could lose plants," he said.
Of particular concern is the wekiu bug that's endemic to the upper reaches of Mauna Kea, Klasner said.
He said Mauna Kea is somewhat unique in that it is free of ants.
"Most everywhere else in the state, ants have become established," he said.
The best way to move ants around is in vegetation, "
read ... Invasive ants found at protest site
Enough of the Islands of “No”
PBN: It was a mistake for the governor to call for the first one-week moratorium on construction as if he had no confidence in the legitimacy of his own government and its agreements. Think of the precedent this sets. Ige's actions, and OHA's sudden willingness to go back on its word, are telling the entire world that no commitment made in Hawaii can be trusted.
You can tell a lot about a movement by its fellow travelers. On Tuesday, the Mauna Kea Hui boasted that it had delivered an online petition with 53,000 signatures from around the world, all opposing the TMT. Whose signatures? Well, Occupy Hilo, “in solidarity with ‘Occupy Wall Street,’” has been doing its part to get signatures.
PBN readers, you might recall the Occupy Wall Street movement. These are the folks who hate capitalism, profit, finance, private property, etc. — basically everything that you, as CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners do for a living.
But, they just might win anyway.
Because, while you go to work and try to keep the lights on, they go to the barricades. They swamp the Internet....
We see this again and again. Things the business community supports get killed when that support is invisible. Remember the Superferry, killed by reactionary environmentalists? Alexander & Baldwin’s original plans to develop Kakaako Makai, killed by surfers who didn’t want to lose parking for a favorite break? Right now, activists are trying their best to kill a dairy on Kauai. Turtle Bay Resort’s expansion — curtailed because of “No!”
A thousand people marched from office to office this week against the TMT. Did you so much as email the governor to express your support for it? Will you?
You might want to develop a new habit of speaking out. Because, PBN readers, some of you are the folks who can make big things happen. Imagine Jason Momoa, Hollywood actor, aiming his Pecs of Protest at your project — and winning.
This is a reactionary, religious opposition to a secular, civil advancement. No one seems to recognize this because the opposition isn’t from a familiar, Christian perspective. However, the Native Hawaiian opposition to the TMT is embedded in theological assertions, such as those made by Kealoha Pisciotta, chief figure in the protests: “[Mauna Kea] is home of Na Akua (Divine Deities), Na Aumakua (Divine Deities) and the meeting place of Papa (Earth Mother) and Wakea (Earth Father) who are considered the progenitor’s [sic] to the Hawaiian People.” ...
And to all that, the anti-TMT crowd shouts, “Aole! Desecration! No!”
No to discovery. No to the $3 million a year in economic and educational benefits the TMT will bring to Hawaii. No to international efforts finding a home in the Islands.
What kind of future are the leaders of the anti-TMT movement really building for Hawaiians? Certainly not one that reaches for the stars.
read ... A'ole State
Ige to Meet With Feds About Health Connector
AP: Major decisions are looming on nearly all of the most contentious proposals. That includes plans to build a system of medical marijuana dispensaries, efforts to shore up the finances of the Hawaii Health Connector, and a bill to allow Maui's public hospital to enter an ownership agreement with a private health care provider.
Gov. David Ige is heading to Washington for a White House state dinner honoring Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ige says he'll try to meet with federal officials about the Hawaii Health Connector while he's there.
Reality: Study: Hawaii Health Connector Loses 63% of 2014 Enrollees--Worst in US
read ... Connected?
HMSA Profit Drive Requires MDs to Talk up Costs
SA: The leadership of the Hawaii Medical Association (HMA) and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser editorial board oppose recent language in HMSA's provider contract that requires doctors to discuss cost implications with patients who are going to be referred to an out-of-network physician.
read ... Insurer Profits
DoE on Common Core: Greater Failure Means Greater Success
SA: Results from this spring's tests will be available in August, to be used as a barometer of student progress and one factor among several in future teacher and school evaluations. The DOE has already warned parents that it expects students' overall scores to decline significantly compared to the Hawaii State Assessments in reading and math, which the Smarter Balanced exams are replacing. That is because the new academic standards are more challenging, so the tests aligned with them are tougher too; other Common Core states issued similar advice. The DOE will treat the scores as a new baseline for students.
However, many students will be achieving more, even if proficiency scores drop from the former benchmarks, Matayoshi predicted.
"I think that one thing that is a little hard for people to understand is that even if there's a drop in the number of students proficient, the level of proficiency is higher," she said.
read ... Common Core
'Residential A' Tax Hike Would Mean Higher Rents
SA: City officials are brainstorming ways to tap sources for more revenue.... A raft of such ideas was floated by the city's 2014 Real Property Tax Advisory Commission, but it includes measures that clearly would have unintended consequences, if passed.
Topping the problem list is a bill to apply the higher "Residential A" property tax rate to all properties that are not a primary residence for the owner, regardless of property value.
The consequence here: Many of these property owners are landlords renting to Oahu individuals and families, and they will pass on the increase to their tenants. In a city where rents are already astronomical, this is unacceptable.
read ... Quick Death
NextEra Plan: Keep Rates High for Next Four Years
IM: NextEra assert that they do not have a plan and yet they want to suspend rate cases for four years after the merger is approved.
Some people believe that NextEra wants high ratepayer-derived revenue to be maintained for four years while they wring all of the “waste” out of the utility, cutting expenses to the bone and pocketing the windfall savings. Part of this will be used to compensate NextEra for overpaying to buy HECO and part will be used to strengthen NextEra’s profit margin.
In the meantime NextEra executives are travelling around the State, meeting individuals and groups in small meetings, seeking to understand group dynamics, organizational structures, differences of opinion and approaches, and financial information about players who might support or oppose them, or might be persuaded to change sides.
Florida people in the know assert that NextEra goes far beyond other utilities in researching and understanding societal dynamics. They assert that NextEra is the lion at the gate looking to take advantage of unsuspecting communities.
read ... The Lion at the Gate
Electronic cigarette bill SB1030 may not have been passed constitutionally
DN: ...the Legislature took some shortcuts that may make it unconstitutional.
The House Committee on Health put in language to prohibit the possession or consumption in public places of tobacco products by persons under 18. That was amended in the House Judiciary Committee to increase the age to 21,
That language has never been heard in the Senate. There should be three readings, but there were none....
read ... Electronic cigarette bill constitutional?
Fire chief's excellent rating surprises union president
SA: The Honolulu Fire Commission gave Fire Chief Manuel Neves an excellent rating on his annual performance evaluation despite ongoing tensions between the chief and the firefighters union.
Commissioners gave Neves an aggregate score of 4.4 out of 5 on his interaction with the Fire Commission. Neves' average aggregate scores for leadership qualities and managerial skills were 3.7 and 3.95 out of 5, respectively, which marked an improvement over last year's evaluation. He was rated satisfactory for personal and professional traits.
In 2014, the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association's leadership gave Neves a vote of no confidence, the first issued against any Hawaii fire chief in the union's 51-year history, its president said.
"Between last year and this year, our problems have increased tenfold," said Hawaii Fire Fighters Association President Robert Lee, who was surprised Wednesday by the favorable score.
The 2014 no-confidence vote came because Neves and his deputy and assistant chiefs failed to consult with the union, bypassing its authority on labor-related matters and violating the collective bargaining contract between the union and the city. Major changes in policy and procedure were instituted without consultation of union officials, sometimes violating the existing labor agreement, Lee said last year.
read ... Rating
Off Duty Cop Arrests Knife-Wielding Lesbian
KHON: She admits her fiancée got out of the car and confronted him.
Police say that’s when the woman pulled out a knife.
“I jumped out of the car and my fiancée's on the ground at gunpoint and I’m yelling, ‘What’s going on? What’s going on?'” said Kayla Barros. “He just kept yelling, ‘Get on the ground! Get on the ground!’ And we’re like, ‘Who are you? What’s going on?’ And he would not identify himself or anything.”
Police confirm that the off-duty officer did draw his weapon. However, they said he did identify himself as an officer.
The woman was arrested for terroristic threatening and two unrelated warrants.
Meanwhile: Jenner interview draws 16.8 million on ABC News
read ... Not Seen on Glee?
100 at Hawaii County Democratic Convention
WHT: Almost 100 people showed up at the Honokaa Intermediate and High School cafeteria for a day that saw the election of new officers and a series of educational sessions centered around transportation, environment, disaster response, agriculture and energy. Last year’s convention drew easily twice that.
Hilo resident Phil Barnes, who moved to Hawaii in 1998 after cutting his political teeth leading the political action committee in Alaska for the National Education Association, was elected chairman. One of Barnes’ priorities is to bring younger members into the county party.
Noting that more than half of the Democrats in Hawaii County are 62 years old and older, Barnes quipped that demographic would be of interest “only to funeral parlors.” ...
Barnes takes over from David Tarnas, who led the county party over the past two years, including shepherding area Democrats over a contentious special election to replace former state Rep. Denny Coffman. The special election for the District 5 state representative bogged down amid allegations of backroom dealing and exclusion....
read ... Convention
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