Hawaii County

...the geothermal reserve on Earth is 70 million QUADs (hot rock only) but the USA needs only 100 QUAD/yr. In the Philippines they already use 27% geothermal, and in Iceland 100% for electrical power.

During 2010 most Kona coffee went to Afghanistan , where it was very highly welcomed and appreciated.  Some also went to the P.I. and now here at the end of the year I am once again sending Kona coffee to the 25th Infantry Division folks who have recently deployed to Camp Liberty, Iraq.

Multiple renewable energy projects are in rapid development on every island, and plans include $multi-billion inter-island undersea transmission cables.

But if this is all supposed to feel so good, how come our electricity costs are going up up up and it feels so bad?

HONOLULU – The Regents Candidate Advisory Council (RCAC) has presented a list of candidates to Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill four seats on the University of Hawai’i Board of Regents, including two City and County of Honolulu seats, a Hawai’i County seat and a Maui County seat.

Senator Charles Schumer and other congressional leaders have called on government safety agencies to investigate why such elevated levels of lead are coming into contact with our food and leaching into the environment. Perhaps even more alarming, a University of Arizona study found fecal coliform bacteria and E. coli in some of the bags.

EPA standard for lead in packaging materials is 100ppm.  Safeway tests 6.72 times the EPA limit.  Walgreens is 2.98 times, KTA Superstores 2.85 times, and Defense Comissary Agency tests 2.35 times the EPA standard. 

When are you just going to leave us alone to live our lives in peace?

Just because Maui and Kauai and San Francisco and other progressive enclaves have done it does not mean we have to be so foolish also.

Honolulu – Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced the appointment of Gilbert Kahele to represent Senate District 2.  Kahele fills the seat left vacant by Department of Agriculture Interim Director Russell Kokubun.

Lloyd Kimura, a Democrat donor, gambler, and brother of Hawaii County Prosecutor Jay Kimura, pled guilty December 28 in State Court to operating a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme known as Maui Industrial Loan & Finance Co. or Maui Finance Co. (MFC).  He could face up to 20 years in prison.  But Kimura’s admission of guilt is just the beginning....

Rather than create wealth, crony moguls form a coalition with political officials to plunder wealth from taxpayers and other citizens.

At his March 5 sentencing in the Honolulu Federal District Courtroom of Judge Michael Seabright, convicted methamphetamines importer Shawn Aguiar was greeted by over 100 supporters, including failed 2006 Democrat Lieutenant Governor candidate Malama Solomon.  While methamphetamines ravage the Big Island, Solomon urged the judge to minimize Aguiar’s sentence because his imprisonment might reduce the profitability of Solomon’s 1000-acre Honoka`a cattle ranch. 

Governor-Elect Neil Abercrombie today named Kalbert Young as the Budget and Finance Director; and Sen. Dwight Takamine and Audrey Hidano as the team heading up the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations as its director and deputy director, respectively.

The Hawai‘i County Charter (Section 3-17) provides for the empanelling of a Reapportionment Commission every ten years, beginning in 1991, which means 2011 is a “reapportionment year.” Nine citizens (one from each Council district) will be nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the Council by March 1, 2011.

In the instant appeal, we hold that the County’s asserted public purpose for Condemnation was not a pretext for a primarily private benefit....

Governor’s Veterans Day Ceremony, Nov. 11, 1 p.m., Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery, 45-349 Kamehameha Hwy., Kaneohe. Gov. Linda Lingle will give remarks.

HONOLULU - Duke Aiona and Lynn Finnegan today launched a new radio ad, "Twice," to highlight recent endorsements, such as the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald, Maui News, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawai‘i, Maui Chamber of Commerce and Hawai‘i Island Contractors' Association.

"This campaign is about providing balanced, honest and fiscally responsible leadership for real solutions that will benefit all of Hawai‘i. We sincerely appreciate the endorsements of the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawai‘i, and Hawai‘i Island Contractors' Association.”

Just because Neil Abercrombie has had an extreme makeover on the outside, it does not mean his radical ideas and values have cleaned up.  In fact, on the inside, he is just as extreme as he was in the 1970s. 

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawaii, based in Hilo, have endorsed Republicans James “Duke” Aiona and Lynn Finnegan for governor/lieutenant governor.

As Governor, Duke Aiona will expedite contracts for approximately $946 million in approved state capital works projects over the next 18 months. He will also continue to modernize state airports, contracting approximately $2.3 billion over 15 years, and upgrade and expand our state harbors, contracting approximately $618 million over eight years.

John Willoughby is the GOP candidate for CD2 vs Mazie Hirono and Scott Henderson is the GOP candidate for State House Dist 7 vs Cindy Evans. 

"My comments about flu vaccine have been taken out of context and misconstrued by members of the media as well as supporters of my opponent's campaign.

“I've talked with many health care professionals and reviewed the benefits and risks of flu vaccinations. I just got my flu shot."

The Star-Advertiser’s editors endorsed the call for debates, writing:

We like that Aiona has already challenged Abercrombie to six debates, which will serve to enlighten. He's taken the offensive to call for specifics on balancing the budget, growing the economy and jobs, and revamping education. For his part, Aiona vows a "clear path" on how the GOP will lead the state. We can hardly wait -- frustrations linger over Furlough Fridays and legislative stalemates -- and will be listening intently.

Neil Abercrombie’s answer?  “It’s not my job”

Here’s a photo of Hawaii Democrats’ Lt Governor candidate Brian Schatz at a 2006 Dan Akaka primary campaign rally in Larry Mehau’s barn. 

Primary Election Vote on Saturday, September 18, 2010 -- 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Craig Dougall, former CEO of Waikoloa Workforce Housing, LLC, names names of County officials involved in the County’s alleged sabotage of the $40M-plus project.  Dougall describes the specific methods they allegedly used to ensure that no financing could be arranged so the project would collapse.

As thousands gather in Washington, DC, Hawaii Christian Coalition and Hawaii TEA Party groups will hold local rallies Maui, Kona, Hilo.

VOTE EARLY! Here is a complete list of Walk-in absentee/early voting sites and hours for all four counties.

Just in time for September 11th, the State of Hawaii, Department of Land and Natural Resources, has announced a six-figure grant to the 9-11 truthers of the Malu Aina Peace Center.

Jim Albertini is a convicted felon and federal ex-convict once tagged as a "psychopath" by Judge Samuel Wilder King.  Along with his comrades from Malu-Aina, Albertini can be seen every Friday afternoon in front of Hilo’s Federal Building with an “Impeach Obama” sign.... 

I am troubled by the anti-TMT attitude. We are about to reward unprecedented respectful and responsible behavior by the TMT project with open opposition and legal action intended to stop construction. Many are saying the Sierra Club is anti-astronomy while others claim that the TMT is caught in the cross-fire of some long standing anti-UH vendetta.

Results in a pilot study "Native Hawaiian Perceptions of Violence as a Means to Attain Sovereignty" show a sharp contrast between the number of Native Hawaiians interviewed who believe violence is justifiable to achieve sovereignty -- 6 percent -- and the number who believe "the desire to gain sovereignty will result in violence in the future -- 53 percent. Only 24.8 percent felt that violence would definitely not occur.

...the meeting was disrupted by many Hawaiian Sovereignty proponents who dominated the session with loud and acrimonious statements....

The Hawaii Newspaper Guild and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald have signed a contract after nearly six years of negotiations.

The two-year agreement covers all employees at the Hilo newspaper except pressmen, who are covered by a separate contract, and managers. The pressmen's negotiations lasted as long as the Guild's. The contracts are similar.

In County of Hawaii v. Ala Loop Homeowners, (July 9, 2010), the Hawaii Supreme Court held that certain state zoning laws are "environmental" laws that may be enforced by private plaintiffs. The court held "[w]e further conclude that article XI, section 9 of the Hawai'i Constitution creates a private right of action to enforce chapter 205 in the circumstances of this case."

At a Cooper Center hearing in Volcano July 12, the Mauna Kea Recreational Users Group, a broad based coalition of outdoor users,  presented testimony for opening public access to the proposed expansion of the Puu Makaala NAR by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Forestry and Wildlife Division.  

HONOLULU – Governor Linda Lingle has released $10,000,000 to the University of Hawai‘i for renovations to Hawai‘i Community College’s Manono Campus in East Hawai‘i and development of the University of Hawai‘i Center at West Hawai‘i’s new campus at Palamanui.

HONOLULU – Lt. Governor James R. “Duke” Aiona, Jr. has announced that a training program aimed at placing more family physicians on the Neighbor Islands will get funded in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The final tally will become clearer later this month, when Bank of Scotland, now part of Lloyd's Banking Group PLC, completes an auction for the debt on the property on the west side of Hawai'i, or, as it is known to locals, the Big Island. The price is expected to be in the $50 million-to-$100 million range, according to people involved in the process.

In 2006, at the height of the real-estate boom, a private appraiser valued the property, known as Hokuli'a, at between $600 million and $800 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The owner, Lyle Anderson, a Phoenix-based developer, has sold about one-third of the lots. But in early January, he defaulted on its debt, which was in the form of a $1 billion Bank of Scotland mortgage on Hokuli'a and five other less-valuable properties, according to people involved in the project's sale.

How this happened: Hokuli’a Settlement Exposed

The Democratic Gubernatorial Primary features a confrontation between Neil Abercrombie and Mufi Hannemann.  Whether one sees this as a replay of Democrats’ 1986 Abercrombie vs. Hannemann demolition derby or as an echo of the current Case vs. Hanabusa CD1 cage fight, it is not difficult to see what Matsuura might mean by “politics or special interests.”

But what about the song?  “For the sake of the children” is a cry which has been used to justify many things.  Why might it now mean “Aiona for Governor”?

East Hawai`i campaign headquarters will officially open its doors to the public on Thursday, May 13, at 5:00 p.m. The Lieutenant Governor will be on hand for the grand opening ceremony to deliver remarks and talk story with campaign supporters and their families at the new office, which is located at 142D Kino`ole Street at the old Hilo Hotel.

For five and a half years, the US has hunted for Ahmed Hashim Abed--code-named "Objective Amber."  Abed is the alleged ring-leader of an Islamist mob which murdered four US military contractors--including Pa`auilo resident Wesley Batalona--in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31, 2004....After being tracked for five and a half years by US personnel, Ahmed Hashim Abed was captured by Navy SEALS at the beginning of September....Then the complaining began. 

OAHU – Over 4,000 volunteers will fan out on May 8^th across Oahu as part of a herculean effort to renew and beautify 47 city and state parks throughout the island as part of the ‘Mormon Helping Hands’ program.  In all, 6,500 volunteers throughout the state plan to clean-up a total of 81 parks in this one-day effort.

Dennis Gonsalves, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo, Hawaii, and professor emeritus of plant pathology at Cornell, detailed to the 63rd annual meeting of the Western Society of Weed Science in Hawaii how Hawaiian agriculture has done what no other ag sector has; win approval to market a genetically modified food crop in the U.S. and Japan.