Abercrombie unveils $11.1 billion no-new-taxes budget, lesbian couple sues Hawaii Kai B&B, Bank of Hawaii one of best, Hawaii Supreme Court sets oral arguments in reapportionment lawsuit, Kamehameha Schools to get $1.4M back in discrimination lawsuit, and more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Budget Director Kalbert Young, courtesy photo

 

 

Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Monday that the state won't need to increase taxes or cut spending any further to balance the budget during the upcoming fiscal year. The state will also be able to pay back the rainy day fund that was used to balance the budget this year, he said. Associated Press.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, setting an optimistic tone for the next session of the state Legislature, released a budget draft on Monday that calls for a modest increase in state spending and anticipates a healthy surplus as the state moves out of a recession. Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii Gov. Proposes Bigger Budget For Next Year — With No Tax Hikes. Civil Beat.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie's administration submitted its supplemental budget to the legislature on Monday. Under the proposal, the state budget would increase from $10.9 billion to $11.1 billion dollars. Hawaii News Now.

Hawai’i’s Chief Executive was upbeat about his balanced budget proposal. Hawaii Public Radio.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie proposed a supplemental budget proposal for the second year of the state’s two-year budget cycle Monday that includes no new taxes. KITV4.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie presented his supplemental budget request to state lawmakers Monday by touting the fact it contains no new taxes. KHON2.

Governor Submits Balanced Budget Aimed at Funding High-Priority Programs and No Tax Increases. Abercrombie news release.

The Hawaii Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments Jan. 4 in two lawsuits over new legislative maps that some say shorted the Big Island a fourth state Senate seat. West Hawaii Today.

Kamehameha Schools will receive $1.4 million in a settlement of its lawsuit alleging a breach of a confidential agreement that ended a court challenge to the schools' admissions policy giving preference to students with Hawaiian blood, the schools announced Monday. Star-Advertiser.

Charter Schools' 'Glaring Concerns' Raised at Briefing. Civil Beat.

A recent report by the State Office of the Auditor found Hawaii’s public charter school system riddled with poor performance, a lack of accountability, and unethical and illegal spending and employment practices. Hawaii Independent.

Bank of Hawaii has been named one of the top investor-owned banks in the country for the third consecutive year by Forbes magazine. Pacific Business News.

Emily's List Endorses Tulsi Gabbard for Congress. Hawaii Reporter.

State roundup for Dec. 20. Associated Press.

Oahu

Two Los Angeles women filed a discrimination lawsuit Monday against a Hawaii Kai bed-and-breakfast, saying its owner refused to rent them a room because they are a lesbian couple. Star-Advertiser.

The Honolulu City Council will start debating an overhaul to the property tax system next month, even though the idea is already been dismissed as a dead-on-arrival election-year tax increase. Civil Beat.

Sarah Perez was in tears Monday when she tried to go to Hawaii Medical Center in Ewa for severe shoulder pain and saw a sign that read, "Emergency Room Closed." Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii

There will be a lot of trash talk Wednesday when the County Council meets in Hilo. West Hawaii Today.

New beds for nursing program. Tribune-Herald.

Lander telescope clears trial hurdle. West Hawaii Today.

Big Island police are investigating the theft of coffee cherries from trees in the Ka'u District. KHON2.

Maui

A group of residents on a short, one-way street behind the Wharf Cinema Center is so upset about the county's plan's to switch the direction of traffic on Luakini Street between Prison and Dickerson streets to accommodate Maui Bus that they are organizing a protest today. Maui News.

Despite internal disagreements and a lawsuit, the third annual Rice Festival as held Sunday night - at the school across the street from Binhi at Ani - with many participants saying that honoring the sakadas who came to Hawaii before them and celebrating the holidays comes before anything else. Maui News.

Kauai

Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative took a step closer toward renewable energy sources, lessening the island’s dependence on oil, Friday with the dedication of its battery energy storage system its the Koloa substation. Garden Island.

A bright idea by a Kaua‘i High School student has powered an energy agreement intended to turn the island’s schools a little greener. Garden Island.

New Hawaii program aims to stem foreclosure, from Wall Street to Hilo-Town, Kauai losing sugar mills, Maui looks to small farms, holiday pay due Hawaii County workers on leave, more news from the islands

Hilo protest (c) 2011 All Hawaii News

About 100 residents in Hilo joined like-minded citizens across the country Monday as they stood up and showed their support for the Occupy Wall Street campaign that began three weeks ago in New York City. Tribune-Herald.

Over 4,800 miles from New York City on the Big Island of Hawaii, residents inspired to demonstrate in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement lined roads on either side of the moku. Big Island Video News.

(c) 2011 All Hawaii News

A small group of what some bystanders described as "graying hippies" gathered outside the Merrill Lynch building in Hilo, Hawaii, on Monday afternoon to back the "Occupy Wall Street" movement that has been building and spreading to other cities since it started in New York City two weeks ago. Hawaii Reporter.


They've paid their debt to society, but many Hawaii ex-convicts are now having trouble finding a job to pay off their other debts. KITV4.

Hawaii on Monday introduced a mortgage foreclosure dispute resolution program that will allow owner-occupants with homes in nonjudicial foreclosure to have the opportunity to meet directly with their lenders. Pacific Business News.

Local homeowners facing foreclosure now have options based on a recently enacted law. Hawaii Public Radio

Homeowners facing foreclosure now have another way to try to stay in their homes. KHON2.

Daniel Inouye's Guide To Getting Elected. Civil Beat.

Last week, consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch released documents obtained from Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie’s office that shed light on the governor’s recent position reversal in support of a controversial fish farming bill. Hawaii Independent.

The number of adult community schools would shrink to four from 11, and students would have to pay $20 or more for classes that are now free, under a plan to save adult education services that would also require the state to restore more than half of the $5 million in funding cut from the program for next year. Star-Advertiser.

Oahu

Waianae-area residents still can't be certain whether seafood they harvest off their shore is safe from dangerous levels of arsenic and lead. Civil Beat.

Buoys went up this morning to keep swimmers at bay while city crews remove hazardous pieces of the Natatorium's aging sea wall. Hawaii News Now.

T.J. Maxx, the national discount retailer, will fill the second floor of the Ward Village Shops, and Ward Centers will get a $3 million face lift as the property owner studies plans for a major redevelopment of Kakaako. Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii
A South Kona property owner's protest of a county land acquisition has hit the end of the road. West Hawaii Today.

Hawaii County employees on unpaid leave -- even for disciplinary reasons -- must nonetheless be paid for holidays, the Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled last week. West Hawaii Today.

State and county officials used federal funds to put new numbers in an old North Kohala agricultural park plan that could be exempted from county zoning and subdivision rules. West Hawaii Today.

University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program will close its Kailua-Kona office by Nov. 1. West Hawaii Today.

Maui

Over the last five years, an independent contractor who annually inspected a troubled state affordable housing project on Maui made only passing references to the ever-rising vacancy rate at the complex, according to copies of the inspection reports. Hawaii Reporter.

While there may be fewer examples of the traditional, larger family farm on Maui than there once were, more people apparently are specializing in growing vegetables and breeding exotic birds and other livestock on a small scale. Maui News.

Kauai

The future doesn’t look sweet for Kekaha and Lihu‘e sugar mills. The asbestos-laden ghosts of a bygone plantation era are slated for destruction, more than a decade after the end of their productive lives. Garden Island.

Pioneer Hi-Bred opens doors to the public. Garden Island.

Hang onto your wallets, the Legislature is in session, one coqui captured, beach encroachment banned, DUI arrests up, more top Hawaii news

State senators yesterday moved toward a general excise tax increase to help with the state's budget deficit after finding that targeted tax hikes on businesses would likely be passed on to consumers and could undermine economic growth.

A plan to raise the general excise tax 1 percentage point is on the move, but Senate leaders are predicting it will not get far.

The Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee has scuttled a proposed tax on Hawaii health insurance premiums.

House lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stopping private landowners from planting vegetation that encroaches onto public beaches.

Authorities said drunken driving arrests are up in Honolulu, in part because police are stepping up enforcement of DUI laws

It took a lot of trying, but the lone Mānoa coqui frog has been captured.

The skipper of a Pearl Harbor-based attack submarine was fired this week after he was found guilty of drunkenness and conduct unbecoming an officer.

The city's planned route for a new $5.3 billion rail system runs too close to runways at Honolulu International Airport, and that has become a major sticking point holding up the project.

Central Pacific Bank has announced a new chief executive - and a new strategy to build its cash reserves as required by federal banking regulators. The new strategy includes downsizing, and employees have been told there may be layoffs.

Everyone Acts Small in Local Banking

Hawaii's House of Representatives wants to spend $200-plus million to build Big Island schools, roads and even a hydroelectric power plant that may never move beyond a wish-list status.

Although Kaua‘i has the restrictive agricultural-land subdivision rules, people have still been able to navigate around the system and establish residences on prime agricultural lands while not necessarily being engaged in substantial farming.

The Hawaii County Council has been given the Big Island Press Club's 13th annual Lava Tube award. According to the club, the award recognizes the year's most notable offense against the public's right to know.

Mayor Billy Kenoi's administration has done an about-face on selling its coqui frog sprayers following an outcry from a community group that's been conducting its own eradication program.

The coming months will result in the most difficult Maui County budget process in memory, Mayor Charmaine Tavares said Monday as she revealed her administration's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal.

With $53 million less in the county's anticipated fiscal year 2011 budget revenues compared with last year, Mayor Charmaine Tavares on Monday proposed to increase or "adjust" the real property tax rates for several classifications.