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Friday, May 20, 2016
May 20, 2016 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:34 PM :: 3636 Views

Floating Windfarm Electricity Costs More Than Double

Full Text: Eric Gill Sued by Local 5 Dissidents

Bankruptcy for Code Rebel: Yet Another Hawaii High Tech Tax Credit Implosion

DoH: Marijuana Licensees Scored

Auditor: Ag Department Still Not Checking Weights, Measures

CD1: ‘Djou Would be a Great candidate’

KHON: …With the filing deadline for candidates less than three weeks away, the clock is ticking. A political expert says you’ll likely see a mad scramble of interested candidates in that short a time.

Political analyst and Hawaii Pacific University professor John Hart says a vacant seat in Washington D.C. would entice a lot of familiar names, which would then have a trickle effect in local politics.

“Look for your city councilmen who don’t have to run for re-election eyeing this,” he said. “Look for someone like Colleen Hanabusa, who had the job before, massive name recognition. She would be an obvious candidate. Is Mufi Hannemann done? You’ve got a short amount of time. You only need about 25 percent of the vote. Anyone that has name recognition and can put together a team quickly will be the presumptive favorite.”

We reached out to Hannemann and Hanabusa but have not heard back.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, who ran against Takai in the primary, says she probably won’t run but has not ruled it out.

“At this moment, I say 90 percent of me says no, I’m not going to go, but I would probably need at least a night to talk about it with family,” Kim said.

Other names being tossed around include Ed Case but he tells KHON2 he’s not interested.

Hart says this also increases the likelihood of putting a Republican in the seat. “Republicans will be watching closely. If it’s a weak Democratic candidate that emerges, they will no doubt try for this seat,” he said.

We reached out to Duke Aiona, who says he’s not interested, but mentioned another Republican, Charles Djou, would be a great candidate….

read … Djou

Three weeks before the regular candidate filing deadline

SA: …the timing of Takai’s announcement less than three weeks before the regular candidate filing deadline works to the advantage of his fellow Democrats.

If Takai had won re-election this year and was later forced to resign from office because of illness, a crowded special-election ballot would likely result in a more competitive race for a strong Republican candidate.

Absentee voting in the primary election begins in about eight weeks, which leaves little time for candidates to raise money and mobilize for a large-scale congressional campaign.

State Sen. Will Espero, who ran for the District 1 Urban Honolulu congressional seat in 2014, said that “obviously, somebody with a degree of name recognition is going to step up, so we’ll see what happens in the next week.”

Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) has already filed to run for re-election for his state Senate seat, but he could withdraw from the race if he chooses to join in the U.S. House race instead.

“I’ll be noncommittal at this time, but I’m going to see what’s going to shake out in the next week,” Espero said.

Other candidates who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2014 were state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Halawa-Moana­lua), Honolulu City Councilman Ikaika Anderson, Honolulu City Councilman Joey Manahan and former Honolulu City Councilman Stanley Chang. Also running in 2014 was former Republican U.S. Rep. Charles Djou.

Kim, Djou and Manahan were unavailable for comment. Chang has already filed to run for the East Honolulu state Senate seat held by Republican Sam Slom, and Chang declined to say Thursday whether his plans will change because of Takai’s announcement….

read … Timing

Court order ‘devastating’ to transition

MN: Maui Memorial Medical Center's chief of staff said Thursday that a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals delay in transferring Maui public hospitals to a subsidiary of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals by July 1 will be "devastating" to the progress toward better health care in Maui County.

"Critical vendor and employment contracts are terminating; diagnostic equipment, supplies have all been adjusted to reflect a changeover," said Dr. Ron Boyd, in a written statement. "It is near impossible to simply reverse course. This will lead to drastic gaps in coverage with no capacity to fill. This delay is devastating to the forward momentum to offering better care to Maui County."

Hawaii Health Systems Corp. Maui Region Chief Executive Officer Wesley Lo agreed, saying that "with each day that goes by, the risk of not providing basic medical services to Maui County becomes an actuality.

"We are already a system with reduced staff levels preparing for new leadership and operations," Lo said. "We are already a system that has divested critical operations in anticipation of new management. This injunction is a disservice to Maui County and our hands are tied with no recourse."

(Why are the 9th Circuit Court Judges doing this?  To force Ige to sign the deal described in the next article.)

read … Activist Judges Flogging for Massive HGEA Payout

State addicted to spending, and unions among enablers

Borreca: …Under legislation now up for approval or veto by Ige is a bill that could offer taxpayer-funded severance of up to half a year’s pay to all workers, even if they keep their jobs. Hospital workers will become private employees, so they won’t be contributing members to the retirement system, which will mean a loss in retirement system contributions. Estimates are that this Christmas-in-June present under the bill could cost $40 million in payouts and increase the strain on the retirement system by between $11 and $15 million a year in contributions….

The Pew Charitable Trust has put together a complete review of all 50 state pensions, their health care benefits and the states’ debt. It matched that data against each state’s annual income, which gives you a ratio to understand each state’s economic income….

The pensions are in Hawaii’s Employees’ Retirement System and the health care costs are medical insurance payments for public workers. According to new accounting requirements, each state is supposed to tuck away money every year to pay for everything.

The study points out that we have the highest debt levels at 10.6 percent of personal income, but to be fair, that is because the state of Hawaii builds schools, while in most places, the county or the city handles schools.

What we don’t have is an average annual income to pay for these public employee costs, nor do we have a legal way to stop paying….

As Explained: Hospital Privatization: Vested Employees Score $366,500 each in Freebies

read … Addicted

City prosecutor, police brass testify in FBI probe into police chief

HNN: High-profile city law enforcement officials were summoned to the federal courthouse Thursday to testify in the federal probe into Honolulu's police chief and his wife, a deputy prosecutor.

(You know, the investigation everybody had been pretending does not exist?)

City Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro and the second-in-command at the Honolulu Police Department, Deputy Chief Marie McCauley, testified before the federal grand jury, which will decide if Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, should face charges of civil rights violations and public corruption.

Since the secret grand jury proceedings began late last year, Hawaii News Now has spotted several current and retired police officers arriving to testify. But this was the first time such high-level law enforcement were called.

Defense attorney Victor Bakke said the development is "a very good sign of just how far this investigation is going." …

Kaneshiro and McCauley arrived at the federal courthouse in the back seat of a government vehicle that belongs to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Sources say they arranged to be picked up and taken to the basement of the building, where cameras are not allowed. That way, they didn't have to walk into court through the public entrances like every other witness….

read … Investigation, Remember?

EMS Forced to Respond to Emergencies in Personal Vehicle Because Caldwell Won’t Fix Ambulances

KHON: …They’re a key component in saving lives, but we’ve learned the city’s ambulance fleet is now stretched thin.

That’s because every backup ambulance is out for maintenance and repair, or waiting to be serviced. Many are currently sitting in a city facility maintenance lot in Halawa.

This means for the 20 daily operating ambulances, there currently isn’t a backup vehicle.

The situation led to Wailupe emergency responders operating out of an SUV and partnering with a private ambulance operated by American Medical Response on every emergency call Tuesday.

Officials with Honolulu’s Emergency Medical Services tell us it’s the first time they’ve been in this situation.

With EMS getting an average of 220 911 calls a day, is the department still capable of responding to emergencies?

read … Ambulance

Could light rail help train reach Ala Moana and beyond?

KHON: …Years ago, as the city closed in on launching the rail project, people on the job recall the atmosphere as officials pushed for heavy rail.

“They, the Honolulu client, were going to ram the thing through the process and ram it through downtown,” said Douglas Tilden, who served as the project’s chief architect at the time for rail consultant InfraConsult. “It was wrong. It was going to be so very, very expensive and going to have such tremendous environmental and visual impact.”

(And HART has already built the parts on the Ewa plain which could have most easily been put on the ground.)

But the city wanted support from the community. An extensive study paid for by Kamehameha Schools and supported by Hawaii’s professional organization for architects – AIA Honolulu — advised the city to go with light rail that was mostly at-grade and went up above where it had to.

“We had a nationally recognized transportation expert — a lover of trains — develop that study,” said local architect Peter Vincent. “Rail is great. We need a fixed guideway to help the traffic congestion, but it should have been light rail from the get-go.”

That study said light rail would be nearly $2 billion cheaper than a heavy-rail, all-elevated train. It also would have been just 12 minutes slower end-to-end. That means light rail was $150,000,000 cheaper per minute, and that’s was before the cost of the overhead rail system doubled in the years since.

“It was a very valid study and it was just dismissed by the authorities….”

Light Rail Transit Report to Kamehameha Schools: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

KHON: Honolulu mayor committed to seeing rail reach Ala Moana Center

read … Light-Headed

Maui: Arakawa Takes Stand Against Activists’ Latest Attempt at Seizure of Ag Land

MN: …Here on Maui there's a ballot initiative that has good intentions to try and bring more farms and gardens here but it goes about it the wrong way. The Maui Community Organic Farmland Initiative seeks to convert all of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar farmlands into public lands via the power of eminent domain. This means we condemn HC&S land and pay fair market value for it.

I oppose this initiative for two reasons. One, because condemnation is not a power you want to wield with impunity. You essentially force a person or an organization to give up their property, then you pay them the fair market value price, which in this case would drain county funds and prevent us from doing many needed infrastructure projects involving our roads, parks and sewer and waterlines.

Secondly, the initiative states that once the land is condemned, only organic farmers would be allowed to farm the land. This discriminates against every traditional farmer out there, some whose families have been farming on Maui for generations.

I realize there's a new generation of farmers with new techniques and new ideas, and that's a good thing. We need fresh blood for the agricultural industry to survive, but cutting out all of the traditional farmers who came before them is not right. I'm 100 percent against that.

HC&S is willing to lease land out to farmers and my office has been assisting with gathering that information. I've seen at least one organic farmer on that list and there's room for more.

Also, after being in South Korea and seeing how it has created this harmony between civilization and nature, I think we need a plan with more balance. We still have a lack of affordable housing and affordable rentals in Maui County, not to mention finding emergency housing for our homeless population.

read … Mayor opposes farmland initiative, urges action on emergency homeless housing

Study: GMOs not behind health woes

KGI: Genetically modified food has been cleared of connections to health problems in a 388-page report released Tuesday from the National Academies of Science….

A committee of agriculture and industry experts, scientists and researchers delivered the report.

It declares GMO foods have not caused increases in cancer, obesity, gastrointestinal illnesses, kidney disease, autism, or allergies. The finding was distilled from more than 900 studies and data from over the span of 20 years.

For everyone who respects evidence, this report helps us better understand the purpose and wide-ranging benefits of genetically engineered crops,” said Rob Deveraturda, Hawaii Crop Improvement Association spokesman.

The report says with the line between engineered and natural foods blurring, thanks to newer techniques such as gene editing, regulators need to make their safety focus more on the end-product of the food that’s made rather than the nuts and bolts of how it’s made.

The report’s authors said labels aren’t needed for food safety reasons….

Kauai Councilman (and anti-GMO whack-job) Gary Hooser said on Hawaii, the debate isn’t about eating GMO foods (Really?  They’re just making this up as they go along.) ….  

Jeri Di Pietro, president of Hawaii SEED, (contradicting Hooser) said the strategy is to increase education and awareness (the flow of lies and ignorance) on genetically modified food in general.

“What makes them (genetically modified foods) unsafe is that it’s crossing unrelated species, and then secondly they shoot in the foreign DNA randomly,” Di Pietro said. “Depending on where that viral promoter of the foreign DNA lands, it can turn on dormant cancer genes.”  (IQ Test: If you buy this you are a completely typical and average anti-GMO activist.)

She said what she thinks happened in the National Academies of Sciences report is that the genes in those studies were hand-picked.  (Uh-huh.  900 studies over 20 years.)

“They selectively pick a couple of proteins, say from a GMO and a non-GMO corn type, and they say ‘oh, these are the same and there’s no allergic affect,’” Di Pietro said.  (IQ Test: If you buy this you are a completely typical and average anti-GMO activist.)

read … Totally Debunked

County Manager: Council’s Secret Power Grab

KE: …Yes, that badly flawed concept is still alive. Even though the Council's own legal analyst, as well as the county attorney, have told them the county manager they wish to control would have to go through the civil service process, the Council refuses to give it up. Now they want the AG to weigh in. Meanwhile, The Garden Island still has not revealed the full scope of this power grab, including longer Council term limits and giving the manager authority over the police and planning commissions….

read … Musings: Sharp Contrast

The NFL Pro Bowl Is Moving to Orlando

B: …In Orlando, the game will be played at the Citrus Bowl, which underwent a $200 million renovation two years ago. Greg Creese, a spokesman for Florida Citrus Sports, which promotes local tourism, declined to comment.

The NFL’s Pro Bowl contract with Hawaii’s tourism authority expires on May 31, and the league can opt out of the agreement.

The Pro Bowl drew a 5.0 overnight rating on ESPN this year, down from 5.6 the previous year on the same network. It drew a 6.7 on NBC in 2014. While ratings have slipped, the Pro Bowl is consistently the highest-rated all-star game among the four major U.S. pro sports leagues….

SA: Sour Grapes

read … Bloomberg News

Ganot’s contract extension: Regents Squirm to Avoid Responsibility for Next UH Debacle

SA: …Ganot and his immediate supervisor, athletic director David Matlin, were scheduled to sit down this week on a number of items, including a contract extension and raise for the Big West Coach of the Year.

An issue, we are told, is the length of that extension. Ganot has told boosters he wants three years added on. Matlin has been offering two.

The prudent path, if you are UH, with an expensive and extensive history of buying out contracts, and somebody coming off his first season as a head coach, is two years.

That would fairly address not only the record-breaking 2015-16 season but the 2016-17 campaign of an NCAA postseason ban currently hanging over the program….

A three-year extension, meanwhile, means a five-year deal and contracts of more than four years usually require Board of Regents approval. The last UH coach to have more than a five-year deal was Dave Shoji.

If it lands in their laps, you have to wonder how keen the board would be to endorse that long of a term in the wake of the millions of dollars in buyouts UH has forked over in recent years: Gib Arnold, Norm Chow, Greg McMackin, Bob Nash etc….

read … Ganot’s contract extension needs to be settled soon

Nobody Applies to be State Ethics Director

CB: …The Hawaii State Ethics Commission has yet to receive a single application from anyone interested in replacing Les Kondo as executive director.

The commission has been advertising for the position since May 3. Kondo stepped down to serve as state auditor, a job he started May 1….

Commissioners decided Thursday that they would wait until May 31 to see who might apply. If they get a good pool of applicants by then, they’ll start winnowing them down to make a final selection. If not, they’ll extend the deadline….

Susan Yoza, longtime associated director of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, was unanimously chosen to serve as the interim executive director Thursday….

read … Hawaii Ethics Commission Picks Interim Director

LNG Plan Would Reduce Oil Imports 80%, Cut Electric Bills

HTH: …As soon as 2021, the company said oil imports would reduce by 80 percent, or 8 million barrels.

On the Big Island, where oil is used to produce about 62 percent of its energy, natural gas would be used at the Keahole and Hamakua Energy Partners power plants.

HELCO submitted an application with the PUC in February to purchase Hamakua Energy, an independent power producer, for $86.2 million.

Hawaiian Electric estimates customers would save $100 a year on the island following the transition….

read … Green Energy Scammers are Panicking

Developer of unfinished $225M Hawaii biomass plant goes after HELCO

PBN: Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC, the developer of a $225 million biomass plant on the Big Island of Hawaii that is about 50 percent complete, is asking state regulators to investigate a Hawaiian Electric Co. subsidiary’s attempts to cancel the power purchase agreement with the two companies, Hu Honua said Thursday.

In March, Hawaii Electric Light Co. terminated its power purchase agreement with Hu Honua Bioenergy, developer of the 21.5-megawatt plant, after it missed several deadlines that were part of the agreement between the two companies.

So far, more than $100 million has been invested in the plant….

SA: Biomass firm calls for PUC to investigate HELCO actions

read … Biomess

Hawaii Supreme Court hears case involving 2012 ballot problems

ILind: …This case arose out of the 2012 General Election. It is undisputed that mistakes were made. There was a shortage of paper ballots in English at a number of precincts across the State. In addition, when reserve ballots were sent out to the polling places, there was a mix up of the ballots sent to two locations; this resulted in 57 voters casting votes on incorrect ballots….

read … Hawaii Supreme Court hears case involving 2012 ballot problems

Star-Adv: Mega High School Needed for Kapolei

SA: …The state Department of Education (DOE) is proposing a bold move to handle the population boom in the Ewa Beach-Kapolei area: Build a “mega high school” in East Kapolei that would serve 3,200 students….

Campbell High, for instance, has morphed into a mega high school by default, serving 3,049 pupils on a campus built for 1,700 — and by 2020, that population is expected to grow to 3,545. Far from optimal.

Kapolei High is expected to grow by 300-plus students to 2,373 in the next five years.

To address the unrelenting growth, DOE has outlined short-, mid- and long- term steps toward handling the student populations.

It is moving forward on a plan to build a 30-classroom, multistory building at Campbell. It had requested $35 million at the state Legislature, but lawmakers unfortunately cut that to $12 million in the state budget, pushing back the project another year.

Lawmakers will have to put aside pet projects and make the expansion of overcrowded Leeward District schools a priority next session. DOE plans to request the rest of the money for the Campbell High building, plus funding for a similar project that would add 15-25 classrooms at Kapolei High — and it should receive that money….

As Explained:

read … ‘Mega high school’ could work

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