Lawsuit by State Hospital Medical Director Details How Retaliation Games Keep Hospital Understaffed
Why Hawaii lawmakers should adopt interstate telehealth
Eight apply to serve as interim Honolulu police chief
SA: … The Honolulu Police Commission will select an interim chief from eight candidates who have applied to replace Arthur “Joe” Logan, whose retirement was announced June 2.
Three of the four new business items on the commissioners’ agenda for today’s meeting at 2 p.m. are related to Logan’s retirement. The seven commissioners will discuss the “HPD Chief of Police Retirement,” the “Selection Process for Hiring HPD Chief of Police,” and the “Appointment of Interim HPD Chief of Police.”
The applicants are retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Thomas K. Aiu; HPD Maj. Ryan T. Hironaka; HPD Deputy Chief Keith K. Horikawa; former Maui Police Department Lt. Wayne K. Ibarra; HPD Assistant Chief Brian Lynch; Hawaii Police Chief Benjamin T. Moszkowicz; HPD Capt. Clifford K. Ramson; and HPD Deputy Chief Rade K. Vanic.
Moszkowicz, a former major with 22 years at HPD, was one of four finalists for chief when Logan, 66, was selected May 23, 2022. Aiu also applied to be HPD’s 12th chief. Vanic served as the interim chief before Logan was selected….
AIU RELATED: The Secret History of the Mercado Kim Crime Family
Read … Eight apply to serve as interim Honolulu police chief | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Honolulu City Council Votes To Shake Up Its Leadership
CB: … Honolulu City Council members voted Tuesday to reshuffle their leadership in an apparent response to a recent dustup over sewer rate increases.
The council’s new vice chair is Andria Tupola, replacing Matt Weyer, who had held the post only since January.
The new floor leader is Esther Kiaʻāina, replacing Radiant Cordero. Cordero supported the change, describing it as “democracy in action.”
Councilman Tommy Waters remains the chair after the full council approved the resolution 9-0, with three members voting with reservations — Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, Augie Tulba and Weyer.
Tulba said that it was clear that the majority of the council had already lined up behind the change, and there was no point voting against the resolution if leadership was already fractured.
“I do think the public needs clarity,” Tulba said. “If this is a retaliation that needs to be said.”…
The resolution proposing the shakeup was introduced on June 6, just two days after the council voted 5-4 in favor of a sewer rate increase plan proposed by Dos Santos-Tam, the budget committee chair, that was opposed by Waters.
The chair had his own plan for lower sewer rate increases paired with an infusion of money from elsewhere in the city budget, but he interestingly called for a vote first on the Dos Santos-Tam proposal at the June 4 meeting. Tupola also had an alternative rates plan.
It may have been a test of loyalty. If so, Weyer and Cordero apparently failed it by joining Dos Santos-Tam, Tulba and Val Okimoto in approving the plan. Tupola, Kiaʻāina and Scott Nishimoto joined Waters in opposition….
SA: Honolulu City Council leadership reorganized during intense meeting | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HNN: Honolulu City Council leadership shakeup draws heavy opposition
Read … Honolulu City Council Votes To Shake Up Its Leadership - Honolulu Civil Beat
Update: Stories from the ‘Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure’
ILind: … If you occasionally find yourself wondering about kind of unethical mischief public officials can get tangled up in, or if you’re an official hoping to steer clear of potential ethical misdeeds, you should definitely take a look at a little known report prepared by the Department of Defense General Counsel’s Standards of Conduct office….
Read … Update: Stories from the ‘Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure’ | i L i n d
Trump contradicts Tulsi Gabbard’s assessment on Iran’s nuclear program
SA: … President Donald Trump today repudiated Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s assessment that Iran has not been building a nuclear weapon, publicly contradicting his spy chief for the first time during his second term.
In rejecting his top spy’s judgment, Trump appeared to embrace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s justification for launching airstrikes last week on Iranian nuclear and military targets, saying he believed Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned early to Washington from the G7 summit in Canada, Trump was asked how close he believed Iran was to having a nuclear weapon.
“Very close,” he responded.
When told that Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead, Trump replied, “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.”…
BACKGROUND: Archives: Tulsi Gabbard
Read … Trump contradicts Tulsi Gabbard’s assessment on Iran’s nuclear program | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
It’s Not Just Tourists: Hawaiʻi Residents Drown At Alarming Rates
CB: … But nearly half of the 800 people who drowned in the ocean in Hawaiʻi over the last decade — and more than half of people on Oʻahu and the Big Island — were not inexperienced out-of-towners, but people who call the islands home.
Hawaiʻi has the second-highest per-capita rate of resident drownings in the country, with the lives of 187 residents lost in the ocean between 2020 and 2024 alone. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children under 15 in the state and Hawaiʻi residents of all ages are more likely to drown than to die in a car crash. …
Read … It’s Not Just Tourists: Hawaiʻi Residents Drown At Alarming Rates - Honolulu Civil Beat
After Master Lease is Signed, UXO Cleanup to Become Big Business for 8a Contractors
CB: … For decades, clearing heaps of unexploded bombs, spent ammunition and other potentially dangerous ordnance from former military training sites has relied on little more than advanced metal detectors.
In Hawaiʻi that presents a unique problem: The detectors throw off false positives because they can’t tell the difference between the targeted debris and metallic rocks that naturally appear in volcanic soil.
“It’s about 50% effective, which is not very good,” said Andrew Alling, a University of Hawaiʻi College of Engineering student.
This summer, Alling is part of a team of students and professors — joined by the university’s official drone squad — that will test methods of detecting unexploded ordnance that don’t rely on magnetic fields.
The effort comes at an opportune time, just as the U.S. Army has given notice that it intends to return to the state the vast majority of the lands it leases for training on Oʻahu. That includes more than 780 acres of the nearly 4,200-acre Mākua Military Reservation, which community members and cultural practitioners have pressed the Army to return for decades as it promised to do in the 1940s….
Read … Hawaiʻi Needs New Tech To Clean Up Old Bombs - Honolulu Civil Beat
Drones Could Be Dispatched As First Responders To Crime Scenes In Hawaiʻi
CB: … State police want to use license plate readers and drones to fight crime on Hawaiian homelands. Futuristic law enforcement technology could also be deployed soon in Waikīkī…
Read … Drones Could Be Dispatched As First Responders To Crime Scenes In Hawaiʻi - Honolulu Civil Beat
State survey reveals workforce housing would keep Hawai‘i educators in classrooms
BIN: … A survey commissioned by the Department of Education revealed that retention of Hawai‘i educators would increase with the availability of workforce housing.
The results of the survey were presented to the Hawaiʻi School Facilities Authority June 3 meeting. The state agency, established in 2020-21, was created to be a smaller, more nimble state agency separate from the education department, giving it the power to partner with public and private development agencies to develop housing projects on school lands.
Hawai‘i School Facilities Authority (claims it) is ready to execute the build of 2,500 rental housing units to serve 11% of the educator workforce by 2030.
Brian Canevari, SFA program manager responsible for workforce housing, presented 25 potential teacher workforce housing sites statewide, including four on Hawai‘i Island at Kealakehe Intermediate and Elementary Schools, Honoka‘a Elementary and High Schools, Kalanianaole Elementary and Laupahoehoe High and Elementary Schools.
Click here to see Canevari’s full presentation…
DOE: HIDOE breaks ground on development aimed at stabilizing Lahaina’s educator workforce – Hawaiʻi State Department of Education $425K per unit
Read … State survey reveals workforce housing would keep Hawai‘i educators in classrooms : Big Island Now
Happy News: State Spends no Money to Stop Feral Chickens
MN: … Nearly a year after Gov. Josh Green signed into law a measure intended to help Hawaiʻi counties tame unruly flocks of feral chickens, the initiative remains unfunded and unimplemented, leaving counties without state assistance and the birds free to roam island streets and neighborhoods.
Enacted on July 3, 2024, Act 185 (formerly Senate Bill 2401) required the state Department of Agriculture to work with the counties on feral chicken control programs. However, the department confirmed Monday that no state funds have been appropriated or distributed to implement the law.
“Although Act 185 was enacted, there was no funding approved,” said department spokesperson Janelle Saneishi. When asked about next steps, Saneishi said further action rests with state legislators….
(IDEA: Repeal Act 185. Chickens aren’t really a problem.)
Read … A chicken-or-egg predicament: No funding; no feral chicken control : Maui Now
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