Maui County

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After having served in Afghanistan, after serving with real American heroes, I know that the problems and issues facing our community and our country can be fixed through solid leadership and by each and every one of us coming together to do our small part. 

Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald today appointed Shirley M. Kawamura and Paul B.K. Wong to the District Court of the First Circuit (Oahu).

VIDEO: Kapolei Hale Rail Meeting, Feb 28, Prof Randall Roth Speaks

Go-Rail-Go exhibited by their behavior at the rail town hall meetings was to not stay civil, but rather to just go into the meeting and give those respectable men that were here to help us and educate us- to just go and give them a hard time. See it here for yourself....

Teachers who work for 12 months will receive a 36.9 percent differential....

Stay tuned for some youtubes from the meeting that clearly had some pro-railers, the one's out to make a buck off this project that does not provide traffic relief ....

• Mission Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday, February 29 from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Kapolei Hale on Tuesday, February 28, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Grabauskas, a Romney appointee, was forced to resign in August 2009 after the Patrick administration publicly questioned his leadership ....

After catching flack from both fiscal conservatives and the transit lobby, House Speaker John Boehner has postponed consideration of a transportation bill.

Mayor Carlisle talked about his record of being honest, transparent and fiscally responsible. But the truth is, he is none of these....

Today, the city and county of Honolulu stands at a crossroads between being stuck in the paralysis and gridlock of the past, and taking assertive, responsible steps to propel this great city into the future.... 

...Charles is on his way home from Afghanistan after many months of deployment in one of the most dangerous provinces in Afghanistan....

The bill prohibits minors under 16 from riding ATVs, bans ATVs from public streets, bans passengers and requires helmet use....

The 11 are Brian A. Costa, Paula Devens, Nelson W.S. Goo, Shirley M. Kawamura, James S. Kawashima, Stephen H. Levins, Linda S. Martell, Alvin K. Nishimura, Maura McDermott Okamoto, Kevin A. Souza and Paul B.K. Wong.

"...only 9.6% of lower income citizens used transit to get to work. This is not very much higher than the 7.9% of all workers in the metropolitan areas who use transit."

On Monday, the State House Tourism Committee “deferred” HB 2788. If passed, this bill would grant a twenty-year license for one stand-alone casino in Waikiki not in a hotel....

...the damage and loss of documents or information is not nearly as severe as has been reported....

Retired Fire Chief Donald Chang, the President of the Honolulu Fire Department Retirees Association, announced today that the organization of more than 800 members is endorsing Governor Linda Lingle for Hawaii's open U.S. Senate seat....

...with Galileo K-12 Online technology in place and intervention plans implemented, the school saw a 31 percent increase in the percent of fifth grade students passing the statewide assessment in math....

But for the trees, our good senator, can't see the forest. Here are some important facts the senator may have overlooked ....

...permission to spend up to $184.7M on rail design build contracts....

Honolulu Habitat for Humanity invites everyone to upcoming informational meetings, especially families who are interested in applying for a simple, decent Habitat home....

Upcoming Congressional Bills

• Senate: Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012
• House: Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011
• House: Pro-Growth Budgeting Act of 2011
• House: Baseline Reform Act of 2011

We hope to see you Sunday in Haleiwa for your 3rd Annual Cacao Festival... bring your appetites!

...these bills are in response to complaints from Kahala residents and news articles about Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto arranging marble and bronze statues across five property lots....

...Thursday, February 9 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at Kapolei Middle School Dining Room/Cultural Center at 91-5335 Kapolei Parkway....

In response to the $15 per hour fee now being charged at Koko Head Shooting Complex, he has introduced two new bills, Bills 1 and 60 to be heard January 25.

Tragically, the opportunity to liberate Molokai from Ritte's roving gang of welfare bums has been lost, no arrests were made....

...tax paying constituents are paying more than they have to as they are paying for not only the county services they enjoy but for those same services used by those who do not pay for those services....

Senator Slom covered fiscal, budgetary, and educational issues among other topics.

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In the 2012 legislative session Rep. Barbara Marumoto will be introducing two snake bills, two bills to reduce auto costs and a measure to require that the list of names of people nominated for judgeships be released to the public ....

Passage of this bill would almost certainly pose a problem to re-opening the two Catholic-owned (now bankrupt) hospitals, Hawaii Medical Centers East and West ....

The bill, modeled after a Nevada law that allowed Google to test its driverless cars in the state, addresses legal issues that may arise when no human driver is behind the wheel of a motor vehicle....

"I am delighted that former state governor Ben Cayetano has entered the race for Honolulu mayor. Now more than ever Honolulu needs an experienced, fiscally responsible and anti-boondoggle mayor."--Panos Prevedouros

Since I retired as governor in 2002, I’ve watched with growing concern how the cost of living has been increasingly elevated by reckless spending and costly politically motivated capital projects....

In our love affair with “clean” energy alternatives, we have not told our citizens the truth about the real cost of transitioning....

We celebrate and honor our men and women in uniform and are grateful for the military’s many contributions –not just financial - to Hawaii. Yet, through reapportionment, we seek to ignore and disenfranchise them, unlike all other states.

Probably the most controversial recommendation that the Honolulu Real Property Tax Advisory Commission has made in its recently submitted report is to repeal the tried and true exemption for homeowners.

Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced the release of $2.45 million for various design and management Capitol Improvement Projects (CIP) at Honolulu International Airport.

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Nearly all federal civilians at MarForPac are classified as 'less restricted' under the Hatch act, which allows them to endorse candidates and attend, participate, be active members or hold office in political clubs as private citizens ....

“Rail is a huge issue and I’m pro mass transit. This system is not only about creating jobs but really redesigning our city around each of the transit stations." 

There is an essential conflict, the ADF argues, between religious freedom and discrimination lawsuits, because if discrimination against gays and lesbians is based on a religious conviction, then it is protected under the First Amendment.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor will spend a week in Hawai’i from Jan. 29-Feb. 3 as part of the Jurist-in-Residence program at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

A total of 22 injuries were treated at EDs in Hawaii. This was by far the lowest total over the 12-year period for which these injuries have been counted....

Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr, will join Lt Governor James ‘Duke’ Aiona, and OHA Chair Colette Machado to headline a "Celebration of Life, Family & Religious Freedom" at the Koolau Ballroom Wednesday January 11, 2012 from 6:30PM to 8:30PM.

Saturday, January 7, 2012 - 5:30a.m. to 7:00a.m. at McKinley High School Auditorium

" ... urges the legislature to pass legislation requiring motor vehicle insurance carriers to provide information to the counties for development of a system to easily identify uninsured drivers and motor vehicles .... "

Due to budget cuts, the state Department of Agriculture has allowed the brown tree snake program lapse. The dogs used for cargo inspections were actually given away.