Hawaii House seeks 200 temps for 2019 session, Caldwell signs monster home bill, humpback whale sightings down, more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

Window washers at Hawaii Convention Center ©2018 All Hawaii News

Hawaii Convention Center anticipates more robust 2019. Business at the Hawaii Convention Center, which turned its first profit in 2016, has softened as the facility celebrates its 20th anniversary. Star-Advertiser.

Construction industry enjoys unexpected growth to help boost Hawaii’s economy. Hawaii’s construction industry should provide a little more oomph to the local economy this year than previously expected, according to a report by economists released Friday. Star-Advertiser.

Ed Case And Cam Cavasso Far Apart On Kavanaugh Nomination. Hawaii’s top candidates for the 1st Congressional District found common ground on the Jones Act and the Honolulu rail project but disagreed about marijuana legalization and Native Hawaiian sovereignty during a forum Friday hosted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Civil Beat.

Mazie Hirono, the Hawaii senator in the national spotlight for her blunt criticisms of male behavior surrounding the controversial Supreme Court nomination said questions about one of her own male political allies with a checkered domestic past are nothing more than “more manufactured moral outrage led by the Republican leadership.” West Hawaii Today.

State House of Representatives Hiring for 200 Temporary Positions. The House of Representatives is accepting job applications for the 2019 Legislative Session. Maui Now.

Humpback whale sightings are becoming less common in the Hawaiian Islands. Associated Press.

State’s Hawaii Department Dashboard recognized by global company. KITV.

Air seats expected to increase 7% through October. Scheduled nonstop air seats to Hawaii between August and October increased 7.2 percent to 3.1 million seats, with a 24 percent increase in scheduled service to the Big Island to 282,542 seats. Pacific Business News.

Oahu

Builders of so-called illegal monster homes and other city building code violators now face stiffer penalties under a bill signed into law by Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Thursday. Star-Advertiser.

Second dock unusable at USS Arizona Memorial. The shoreside dock at the memorial’s visitor center is sinking, making it too risky for visitors to get onto the boats. Star-Advertiser.

Docks at the WWII Valor memorial partially submerged after taking on water. That led to the cancellation of boat tours Sunday. Hawaii News Now.

Boat tours at Pearl Harbor suspended for at least a week while crews fix sinking dock. KHON2.

Families filled the Kapolei High Cafeteria this weekend hoping to be selected as awardees of land in an upcoming subdivision. Lots in this subdivision are a part of the East Kapolei 2 master-planned community being developed by the DHHL on the Ewa Plains. Hawaii News Now.

This Waianae Homeless Camp Is Going Legit. Residents, who fought off state plans to sweep the camp at the Waianae Boat Harbor, want to create a new self-made village for up to 300 homeless people. Civil Beat.

Can Hawaii’s Oldest Dive Bar Survive Chinatown’s Invading Hipsters? The owner of Smith’s Union Bar in Chinatown, opened in 1935, worries his landlord won’t renew the bar’s lease. Civil Beat.

Three Hawaii public school teachers were named today as finalists in a nationwide competition sponsored by Farmers Insurance and all three could win $100,000 each for their schools if they get enough support from the public. Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii Island

A lawsuit filed by a Big Island group seeking to limit helicopter traffic over the island will go before the U.S. Court of Appeals in November. Tribune-Herald.

A panel debated the upcoming November ballot question, “Shall the legislature be authorized to establish, as provided by law, a surcharge on investment real property to be used to support public education?”, during a forum in Hilo on Thursday night. Big Island Video News.

Proponents for and against a proposed amendment to the state constitution that aims to better fund public education debated merits of the upcoming ballot measure during a moderated panel forum Thursday at the Arc of Hilo. Tribune-Herald.

Years after the development of a preservation plan designed to protect historic properties at Laaloa Beach Park, a subcommittee of the county’s Cultural Resources Commission is pushing the county to make full implementation of that plan a priority. West Hawaii Today.

Puna Councilwoman Jen Ruggles sent a letter to the CEO of The Queen’s Health Systems stating the state’s largest private employer “may have committed the international crime of genocide against aboriginal Hawaiians.” Tribune-Herald.

Maui

The Maui Ocean Center has recently been named among the “Top 10 Aquariums in the World” by TripAdvisor 2018 Travelers’ Choice awards. Maui Now.

Dream of water meter can come with nightmare of added costs. Most homeowners find they can’t afford water system improvements. Maui News.

Lights that will be installed at Central Maui Regional Park in the upcoming months will be on fields farthest away from the Maui Lani subdivision and near the park’s parking lots, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which coordinates the planning and construction for the park. Maui News.

Kauai

The Kauai Chamber of Commerce interviewed 11 of 14 candidates for Kauai County Council, and has posted those interviews on YouTube. Garden Island.

They’re fuzzy, they’re endangered and there are now 19 of them growing in man-made burrows on Kauai’s North Shore. They’re Newell’s shearwater chicks, and they make up the third round of chicks translocated from Kauai’s mountain burrows to a protected nesting site within a predator-proof fence in Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. Garden Island.