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Monday, September 28, 2020
September 28, 2020 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 7:02 PM :: 2748 Views

Kai Kahele holds online forum backing Jones Act

COVID Count 90 new cases out of 1,302 tests

Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal

NYT: …“People are basically good” was eBay’s founding principle. But in the deranged summer of 2019, prosecutors say, a campaign to terrorize a blogger crawled out of a dark place in the corporate soul….

read … Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal

Here’s Why Rapid Testing For Hawaii Flights Might Just Save Travel

F: … Yesterday United Airlines announced it would begin offering rapid COVID-19 testing at San Francisco Airport for passengers traveling to Hawaii. Results take around 15 minutes. This is just one airport, for flights on one airline to one destination – and yet it may just be a watershed moment for travel in the era of COVID….

United has worked with Hawaiian authorities to establish a testing protocol that will be available to all passengers in order to travel freely and skip quarantine on arrival. If it works as planned and Hawaii can avoid a surge in infections, it will provide a blueprint for every other airport, airline and government to follow.

United’s test offering is due to go live October 15, the same day Hawaii will begin allow travelers to enter without a 14-day quarantine provided they bring along a negative test….

NR: Hawaiian Airlines to Offer Guests Drive-Through Pre-Travel COVID-19 Tests

NR: Infrared Cameras Partners with NEC Corporation of America to Help Hawaii Airports Increase Passenger Safety

read … Here’s Why Rapid Testing For Hawaii Flights Might Just Save Travel

How Honolulu’s Mayoral Candidates Would Tackle The Pandemic

CB: … If Rick Blangiardi, the former Hawaii News Now general manager, is elected, he said residents can expect a mayor who is committed to keeping local businesses open safely and will focus on getting Oahu residents back to work.

If Keith Amemiya, a former insurance executive and nonprofit leader, is the winner, he pledges to carry out a data-driven pandemic response that is guided by experts and carried out in a transparent and predictable way.

read … How Honolulu’s Mayoral Candidates Would Tackle The Pandemic

Pandemic Exacerbating Hawaii’s Housing Affordability Problem

HPR: … Although activity in the housing market dropped precipitously in April, as regional economies across the United States locked-down, it has since rebounded.

John Connelley, principal broker with the local real estate firm Locations, said after an initial decline of 40%, there is now robust activity in the local housing market.

“We are getting multiple offers, sometimes more than 20 offers for a new listing,” Connelley said in a phone interview.

The combination of rock-bottom interest rates, and Hawaii’s long-running lack of supply, have created stiff competition in the local housing market. The median price of a single-family home on Oahu was just shy of $840,000 in August, a 6% increase from the same time last year.

However, it is a different story in the market for condos, which Connelley says has experienced greater headwinds.

“Single-family homes have had a much more robust recovery than condominiums have,” he noted.

There are a few reasons for that trend. With work-from-home and remote learning, people are spending much more time at home, and are thus looking for more space.

Multiple county governments in Hawaii have also enacted tougher restrictions on short-term rentals in recent years, which Connelley says have made condos less appealing as investment properties.

However, there is also a deeper reason for the divergence between condos and houses that relates to who has lost their job.

This recession has overwhelmingly hit low-wage earners in the service industry. Those are the people for whom an $800,000 house was never an option, but they may have been able to afford the down payment on a condo.

“Those people who have been impacted most by job layoffs were people who might have been in the condominium market,” Connelley explained.

Data from the Honolulu Board of Realtors data show that condo sales in August are down 20 percent compared to the same time last year, although there does not yet appear to be downward pressure on prices….

read … Pandemic Exacerbating Hawaii’s Housing Affordability Problem

Column: An arcane federal law puts Young Brothers on the ropes

SA: … YB blamed its financial woes on decreased shipping volume due to the coronavirus crisis. But there was more to it than that.

Also affecting its bottom line was the federal Towing Act of 1940, which requires any tug involved in hauling goods between American ports to be built in the U.S. Similar to the effect of the Jones Act on U.S. ocean cargo carriers, the Towing Act adds considerable capital costs to Hawaii’s interisland tug and barge operations.

Shipping expert Michael Hansen, president of the Hawaii Shippers Council, noted in July that the cost of buying U.S.-built vessels, “even for tugs and barges now, is a multiple of four or five times what it is in other countries.”

Young Brothers, he said, recently acquired four new tugboats. They were purchased in 2017 and delivered in 2019.

“They were $20 million apiece,” he said. “That’s an outrageous amount of money.”

The state Consumer Advocacy Division concurred. In testimony before the PUC in July, it said Young Brothers’ finances might have been in the black, had it not spent $80 million to buy the new tugs.

Nevertheless, Young Brothers claimed its dire situation was all about the coronavirus….

read … Column: An arcane federal law puts Young Brothers on the ropes

Plans to close Dillingham Airfield back on track, worrying struggling businesses

HNN: … Lawmakers and community leaders are urging the state to save the Dillingham Airfield.

“There’s jobs here. It’s 130 people ... There’s nearly a dozen businesses. Their life’s investment is on the verge of being eradicated,” said state Sen. Gil Riviere, (D) Haleiwa, Waialua….

“This is the absolute worst time to be shutting down the airfield, which brings in millions of dollars in economic growth," said state Rep. Lauren Matsumoto, (R) Mililani, Mokuleia.

“This is something we need to desperately keep open not just for community but for the entire state.”

Tenants said the gliding and sky dive operations, which attract tens of thousands of visitors each year, won’t be able to relocate….

KHON: The Hawaii Department of Transportation sent out a letter, asking tenants to start the eviction process.

read … Plans to close Dillingham Airfield back on track, worrying struggling businesses

Maui community to rally around Haiku teacher put on leave

HNN: … A Maui community is planning to rally around a Haiku Elementary School kindergarten teacher who was escorted off campus Friday.

Monica Gouveia-Nakahashi’s daughter says her mother has been a teacher for 40 years but is now on leave after the state Department of Education notified her that she’s under investigation.

The DOE would not disclose what the investigation is about but said it’s in response to recent social media posts involving one of its teachers.

Nakahashi’s daughter said it came several days after her mother complained about the new principal who started in the summer.

“Seeing my mom come home day after day distraught by the humiliation, the disrespect form this administrator, breaking her down is horrible, but nonetheless, my mother returns every day because of the students,” Kimberly Naylor said. 

MN: Community rallies around longtime Haiku teacher

read … Maui community to rally around Haiku teacher put on leave

HB2997: Ige Legalizes Edibles

NORML: … The legislation, House Bill 2097, allows licensed dispensaries “to manufacture and distribute edible cannabis products.” Though enacted some two decades ago, Hawaii’s medical cannabis law had previously not allowed for dispensaries to engage in the sale of cannabis-infused edible products.

The state’s Department of Health will oversee the establishment of rules governing the production, labeling, and packaging of edible cannabis products.

The new law also for the first time permits dispensaries to “provide, disseminate, and publish educational and scientific materials related to medical cannabis and its approved products and sponsor events about medical cannabis.”

Governor Ige signed the measure into law earlier this month. The new law takes effect on January 1, 2021….

read … Keep the People Doped Up

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