Sen Ernst Targets Honolulu Rail for Elimination
Life and Death in OCCC: “Drugs, phones, whatever they want.”
CB: … Testimony for the prosecution in the trial has painted a grim portrait of life in the gang module, with current and former inmates describing a violent structure dominated by a “work line” run by gang members who controlled everything from room assignments to a brutal system of inmate discipline.
Inmates were prohibited from directly approaching the guards for anything, the jury was told, and the gang members even read all outgoing mail before it was sent.
When asked what the work line got in exchange, one prisoner testified: “I’d say they get whatever they want — drugs, phones, whatever they want.” …
Deputy Attorney General Adrian Dhakhwa asked another inmate witness Wednesday what the two corrections officers on duty in the module did while Vaefaga was being fatally beaten in his cell.
The inmate compared the noise from the beating in the cell to construction noise, or the pounding sound of a jackhammer. “They did nothing,” he said of the guards.
“Was that surprising to you?” Dhakhwa asked.
“Not at all,” the inmate replied….
At the trial, the cellmate described “thumps and screams” during the beating that attracted the attention of inmates who were watching TV. But two corrections officers on duty in the module stood looking straight ahead, “giving the appearance of everything is in order,” the cellmate testified.
An inmate tattoo artist was then summoned to the cell to cover a West Side gang tattoo on the back of Vaefaga’s neck, signifying he was expelled from the gang, according to the grand jury testimony.
An autopsy found Vaefaga died sometime after the early afternoon attack of blunt force injuries that caused bleeding in his brain. He also bled from one eye and his ears, and suffered a broken rib.
The jury heard testimony last week that an inmate cleanup crew went to Cell 201 to help wipe up the blood, and the next shift of corrections officers did not discover Vaefaga had died until after 8 p.m….
The gang problem blossomed during the pandemic, Rodriguez said, when transfers between correctional facilities were strictly limited to try to curb the spread of the virus. He said that offered the gangs an uninterrupted opportunity to recruit and build a “foundation” at OCCC….
Staff members observed that when they ordered inmates there to do almost anything — including return to their cells for lockdown — the prisoners first looked to the gang leaders, he said.
“As soon as they say, ‘Yeah, lock down,’ then everybody locked down,” he said.
There was also an increase in contraband including drugs, vapes and cell phones, Rodriguez said.
“They had the keys to the house,” he said of the Murder Inc. leaders.
Staff members who monitor gang activity at the jail wanted to move Tuitelapaga, Tuitelelepaga and Sorensen to Hālawa Correctional Facility in late 2022 to separate them from each other and other gang members, which Rodriguez described as an effort to “cut the head off the snake.”
The request was routed to Michael “Mick” Hoffman, administrator of the Institutions Division for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, who had previously served as the department’s acting deputy director for corrections.
Only Director Tommy Johnson could approve the move to Hālawa, Rodriguez said.
“But to no avail. We couldn’t get them up there because we were denied.” …
Read … Jail Security Chief Says He Wanted Top Gang Members Moved Before Killing - Honolulu Civil Beat
Campaign Donations Plummeted During Legislative Session
CB: … This year, members of the House and Senate reported raising just over $45,000 during the session that ran from mid-January to early May. That’s 10 times less than in previous years and the lowest in at least a decade.
Much of that dropoff could be attributed to a ban on in-session donations from lobbyists, which went into effect last year.
Organizations and individuals lobbying the Legislature still topped the list of donors for the first six months of the year, but those donations primarily came after the session ended.
Park Hotels, which owns the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikīkī, was the top donor to state lawmakers. It testified against House Bill 1639, which would have taken a scythe to tax credits, including those the hotel company says it relies on to do business in Hawaiʻi.
Labor unions were also major donors, as were two lobbying firms — MK Advocacy and SanHi Government Strategies — that had dozens of clients seeking to influence legislation….
Read … Data Dive: Campaign Donations Plummeted During Legislative Session - Honolulu Civil Beat
Maui County Reaches Grim Milestone In Fire Victim Identification
CB: … Long after officials had identified all 102 Lahaina fire victims, the Maui Police Department was left with a conundrum: What to do with remains so fragmented they could not be separated out with even the most advanced science.
The remains belonged to previously identified people who had died huddled closely together. Using DNA, fingerprints and anthropological markers, the medical examiner’s office had matched bones and put a name to each person who had died. But fragments and fine dust remained….
Read … Maui County Reaches Grim Milestone In Fire Victim Identification - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii Theatre insurance premiums rise 4,500%
SA: … Dunn said insurance premiums went up last year by 4,500%, and that property insurance for the coming year is in the $430,000 range. The rise meant that the theater’s operating costs, excluding major capital repairs, rose from around $10,000 a day to some $15,000 a day….
Read … Celebrity friends help Hawaii Theatre after insurance premiums rise 4,500% | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Bus fares to rise?
ASD: … Council mulls updates to TheBus fee structure, looking to close the gap between $50 million in passenger revenue and $430 million in expenses….
The Honolulu City Council is considering a long-in-development proposal to update the city’s bus fare structure, a process which will simplify a range of fare discounts but will also increase most fares across the board.
Under the proposal, a single adult fare, paid in cash, will increase from $3 to $3.25. And while the cost of a HOLO Card two-hour pass or day pass will remain the same — $3 and $7.50, respectively — a HOLO Card monthly pass will increase from $80 to $90, while an annual pass will increase from $880 to $990.
Youth fares will face similar increases. Single cash fares will increase by $0.25, monthly passes will go up from $40 to $45 and annual passes from $440 to $495. As before, two-hour and day passes will cost the same as now.
DTS Director Roger Morton told Aloha State Daily that these hikes are expected to generate about $2 million in additional revenue, which will go to offset the deficit that the transit system typically operates at.
Morton explained that the department’s budget this year is about $430 million, while revenue from passengers is only $50 million. While he said that this is “a large delta,” he added that most municipal transit systems operate at a deficit ….
Read … Bus fares to rise?
Running from Something? CNHA Changes Name to “Hawaiian Council”
MN: … The Hawaiian Council, formerly known as the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA), today unveiled its new name, logo, and tagline as part of a broader rebranding initiative. ….
Read … CNHA reintroduces itself as the Hawaiian Council; Rebrand marks a new chapter : Maui Now
More of the “Fat Boy” story
ILind: … Digging around in my digital archive of scanned documents, I happened to find a ticket to the 6th Annual Hawaii Sheriff Association banquet honoring Tom “Fat Boy” Okuda. It was held on November 16, 1988.
The event was effectively a very public “middle finger” to Okuda’s critics that were attempting to apply routine standards of government ethics to Okuda and his organization….
ILind: Still more from the “Fat Boy” files | i L i n d
Read … More of the “Fat Boy” story
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