Kauai revisits plastic bag ban, Maui plans bird-proof football, new Honolulu mayor has big to-do list, tourism continues rebound, feds buy superferries, poll shows Hanabusa with slight lead, lawmakers probe securities purchase, airport chief says dysfunctional office jeopardizes safety, more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

Honolulu has a new Mayor. KHON2.

New Honolulu Mayor has long list of problems to fix. Hawaii News Now.

The final campaign spending reports for the Honolulu Mayor's race due Monday showed that former acting Mayor Caldwell raised $1,201,595 total for the race while former Honolulu prosecutor Carlisle raised a total $580,557. KITV.

In his first minutes in office, new Mayor Peter Carlisle pledged to follow up on his campaign promise to cut waste in city spending and committed to push full speed ahead on the $5.5 billion rail transit system. Star-Advertiser.

Peter Carlisle once told one of his deputy prosecutors that he would become mayor when pigs learn to fly. At his swearing-in ceremony at Honolulu Hale Monday, the winner of the September 18 special election for mayor unveiled a statue of a pig with wings and wasted no time outlining his priorities. Hawaii News Now.

The latest poll in the First Congressional District race shows Colleen Hanabusa leading Congressman Charles Djou. KHON2.


Former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie spent more than $2.8 million to win the Democratic primary for governor in September, or about $20 a vote in his victory over former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann. Star-Advertiser.

Democrat Neil Abercrombie has more campaign fundraising momentum than his Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, reports show. Civil Beat.

This afternoon, Keith Kaneshiro was sworn into office as Honolulu's new prosecutor. KHON2.

An investigative committee made-up of state lawmakers is probing whether any laws were broken when the Department of Budget and Finance purchased more than $1 billion worth of student loan auction rate securities. KHON2.

Some 93,000 public school students in Hawaii begin taking the Hawaii State Assessment tests next week. Associated Press.

The foreclosure scandal has touched a nerve with the state’s consumer protector. KITV.

The chief for airport fire stations on three islands said today he is dangerously short of firefighters -- because of what he called an “inept” airports personnel office. KITV.

Council to revisit plastic-bag ban. Garden Island.

A hotel, tourism and real estate consulting services firm says a new survey shows Hawaii's tourism industry continues to recover from the economic recession. Associated Press.

Maui hotel occupancy bounded up by nearly 10 percentage points as the entire state enjoyed a "relatively strong summer," according to the consulting firm Hospitality Advisors. Maui News.

Molokai is again without a staff planner with the county’s Planning Department. Molokai Dispatch.

The dream of Friday night lights and football at Lahainaluna High School continues to take shape on the historic campus, as a state-of-the-art system from MUSCO Sports Lighting has been installed at the Luna Athletic Field. Lahaina News.

There were lots of extras to interest buyers -- furniture, apparel, tools, machinery and spare parts. But no one was willing to outbid the federal government for the two former Hawaii Superferry high-speed catamarans at a recent foreclosure auction. Star-Advertiser.

A federal jury has awarded a Texas woman $5.67 million for injuries she suffered when she slipped and fell in a McDonald's restaurant in Kahului. Star-Advertiser.

The owners of Hawaii's second-largest farm are looking to get back $192,000 from the federal court clerk in Honolulu. Associated Press.

Of the six contested County Council races this year, only the South Maui rematch could be called a negative campaign. Maui News.

Mayoral, council candidates to discuss issues at Sunday forum. Garden Island.

Councilman Guy Enriques, responding to voters' concerns that he hasn't shared enough information about himself, is touting his accomplishments as a freshman district representative. West Hawaii Today.

Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono (D- Hawaii) recently announced $10,302,629 in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grants to address pressing construction and renovation needs and expand access to quality health care at community health centers in Hilo and Waianae. Hawaii Reporter.

More good news for "Hawaii Five-0." It is the most played back show in DVR history. That's what Nielsen ratings showed when the information was released by CBS Monday. Hawaii News Now.

Internet outage brings state to a halt, Hawaii schools racing to the top, Hannemann wants Superferry back, more news from around the state

About 400,000 Oceanic Time Warner Cable customers were without Internet, phone and television service after a break in an undersea fiber-optic cable early this morning. Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii is one of 18 states and the District of Columbia named finalists Tuesday in the second round of the federal "Race to the Top" school reform grant competition, giving them a chance to receive a share of $3 billion. Star-Advertiser.

As they prepared to head back to work Tuesday, public school teachers said they were excited about the new school year, especially since furlough days have been eliminated. Maui News.

Hawaii's Democratic candidates for governor proposed competing economic plans Monday, with Mufi Hannemann's ideas focused on construction and Neil Abercrombie's pitch centered on energy and agricultural sustainability. Associated Press.

Mufi Hannemann said Monday if he is elected governor, he will push to get the Hawaii Superferry back in island waters. KITV.


What do the websites of the three leading Hawaii governor candidates tell us? Civil Beat.

Honolulu lawyer Eric Seitz wrote to the Hawaii State Bar Association yesterday "strongly" opposing Gov. Linda Lingle's appointment of appeals Judge Katherine Leonard as the next chief justice. Star-Advertiser.

A consortium of in-state investors has purchased Hilo Hawaiian Hotel for $17.3 million. Tribune-Herald.

Hawaii County property taxes are leaving the state this year. But don't worry, say county administrators, the money will come back. West Hawaii Today.

A West Hawaii ranch owner says a local business owner who bought part of Hokukano Ranch is cutting down old-growth sandalwood in the upper reaches of the property. West Hawaii Today.

Kaua‘i cannot continue on its current path of unsustainability, Ken Stokes said Saturday at the Wailua-Kapa‘a Neighborhood Association meeting. Garden Island.

Campaign season officially begins, Honolulu needs a mayor, Honolulu councilman under criminal investigation, Big Island councilman fights arrest, Maui councilman fights residency requirement, Superferry leaked red ink, more Hawaii news

The Hawai‘i Superferry was sailing under a facade of success in the summer of 2008 — boasting of record ridership — but it had already begun to shortchange the state on its monthly fees, according to an Associated Press review of Department of Transportation records. Associated Press.

Political hopefuls made their candidacy official for the state primaries and the general election Tuesday. KITV.

Hawaii's vastly outnumbered Republicans are looking to make a comeback this election year, with GOP candidates running in almost every legislative district of the nation's second-most politically monolithic state. Associated Press.

This year's election is drawing a lot of interest from both parties and today as many as three dozen more people became candidates in the nick of time. KHON2.

Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann said yesterday that his chief executive experience as mayor of the state's largest city would shape his campaign for governor, but his opponent, former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, dismissed that record as a failure. Star-Advertiser.

The feisty race for governor is on. Hawaii News Now.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann Tuesday became candidate Hannemann after he filed to run for Hawaii governor. KITV.

Neil Abercrombie also had harsh words for his democratic challenger in the governor’s race. KHON2.

As Mufi Hannemann leaves one political arena for another, Hawaii News Now asked three observers to grade his job performance as Honolulu's mayor. Hawaii News Now.

The Hawaii State Office of Elections released the completed list of all candidates for office on the filing deadline, Tuesday July 20. Hawaii News Now.

With a vacancy in the mayor's office created by Mufi Hannemann's resignation to run for governor, the City Council has scheduled a meeting tomorrow to set the date of a special election to fill the final two years of his term. Star-Advertiser.

North Kona Councilman Kelly Greenwell vowed Monday to fight charges after an altercation Saturday with police that Greenwell claimed left him "tethered to a post like a goat while being booked as a criminal." West Hawaii Today.

North Kona Councilman Kelly Greenwell has been arrested and released after getting into a "wrestling match" with a police officer who cited him for speeding Saturday in Kailua-Kona. Tribune-Herald.

The Lanai City hearing in the voter registration appeal against Maui County Council Member Sol Kaho'ohalahala concluded Monday, and now a decision is once again in the hands of the state Board of Registration for Maui County. Maui News.

The Department of the Attorney General  is leading a criminal investigation into mayoral candidate and City Councilman Rod Tam’s spending of city funds, Civil Beat has learned. Civil Beat.

Reading and math learning goals for Hawaii public schools are "mediocre" and "often vague," says a new national report that gives the state a "C" for its educational standards. Star-Advertiser.

Fishermen who use longlines to catch ahi, mahimahi and other fish off Hawaii should use a different kind of hook so they don't accidentally severely injure or kill a rare dolphin species, a federal advisory group said. Associated Press.

A beloved Kauai tradition may be going to the birds. Hawaii News Now.

A former military public affairs officer said she was trying to "inform and entertain" readers when she described Rim of the Pacific naval exercises as "snoozepac" and the "world's largest floating cocktail party" in a separate blog. Star-Advertiser.

The state Supreme Court has affirmed an earlier ruling saying the owners of Turtle Bay Resort must complete a new environmental study if they want to build thousands more hotel rooms on Oahu's North Shore. Associated Press.

A steadily moving lava flow remained about 100 yards from a Kalapana home Monday afternoon, and threatened four others as it continued to make its way eastward toward the ocean. Tribune-Herald.

The Kaua‘i County Council in 2008 budgeted hundreds of thousands of dollars for Kekaha to spend on community improvements in exchange for hosting the island’s only landfill for decades. Garden Island.

A study comparing the cost of trucking garbage to West Hawaii to expanding the Hilo landfill seems to have stalled with the departure of former Environmental Management Director Lono Tyson. West Hawaii Today.

A notice to proceed for design of Phase 2 of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project was given July 7 to Goodfellow Bros. Inc. by the state Department of Transportation, but announced Monday, said Ed Brown, Goodfellow Bros. regional manager. West Hawaii Today.

Because of a staff shortage, trash was not collected as planned in parts of Kihei on Monday. Maui News.

Maui County is invalidating the environmental study for a plant that would treat water diverted from central Maui streams. Associated Press.

There were many people on Monday who wanted to connect to the past when sugar was king in Hawai‘i. Garden Island.

Hawaii Centers for Independent Living offers services to adults with permanent disability and now has an office open on Molokai. Molokai Dispatch.

Superferry may return, more government jobs may be lost, bar owners want smoking back, more news

If you thought the Hawaii Superferry issue was gone, you may be wrong.

The House Transportation Committee approved a bill yesterday to study a state-sponsored ferry system that would be able to buy at least one high-speed vessel to carry passengers and vehicles between the islands

The Army said it plans to look at the environmental impact of basing up to three "joint high-speed vessels" in Pearl Harbor — speedy craft capable of carrying large loads, similar to the defunct Hawaii Superferry's ships.

More than 200 state workers who process applications for government assistance programs could lose their jobs, their union said, and at least 50 eligibility offices statewide could close under a cost-cutting proposal that advocates are worried will make it harder for the poor to access key social services.

Hawaii's largest government worker union says up to 400 people could be on the chopping block and 60 offices may shut down.

State legislators are reviewing bills that would require a minimum of instructional hours or days in Hawaii public schools as they look to restore school days lost because of budget cuts.

A group of bar owners is asking for an exemption from the state's three-year-old workplace smoking ban.

In another sign of hard times, residents have been without a place to swim in Lanai City since landowner Castle and Cooke Resorts closed the island's only public pool nine months ago.

Construction has begun at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands near Kekaha on an Advanced Radar Detection Laboratory facility

Trains, planes and Superferries, legislative budgets, dead whale and other top Hawaii news of the day

The M/V Huakai, the high-speed ferry that never fulfilled its purpose as part of Hawaii Superferry operations last year, will be mobilized for relief duty in Haiti.

One of two high-speed catamarans built for Hawaii Superferry is being sent to Haiti to help with relief efforts following the devastating earthquake.

A pilot with a Coast Guard C-130 airplane out of Hawai'i who flew into Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sunday said the airport was like "the wild, wild west."

Reconsidering a street-level alternative for Honolulu's planned elevated commuter rail line would delay the start of the project by only six months, the American Institute of Architects' Hawai'i chapter said yesterday.

Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday she is worried whether Honolulu will be able to afford to pay for and operate a proposed elevated rail system and that she has heard similar views expressed by the Federal Transit Administration.

Air pollution in Punaluu - it's been four days now since a dead whale's been rotting off a Windward Oahu beach.

Preparations are under way for a one-day walkout at Kaiser's Honolulu clinic, where a strike line is expected to form at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

When the Hawaii Legislature opens Wednesday, state lawmakers will have their minds on money and money on their minds

For South and West Maui legislators, 2010 will be all about hanging on to what they thought they already had.

With a new member sworn in, a new chair elected and a new year underway, the Kaua‘i Board of Ethics last week made dramatic strides toward resolving long-standing conflict-of-interest issues.

Top Hawaii Headlines: Wednesday morning edition

Coffee has become big business in Hawaii. Eleven regions on five islands house some 830 farms statewide. This is great for our economy, and it's even better for our tastebuds. The diversity of farms and locations translates into a tantalizing cornucopia of experiences for our collective palate.

Hawaii Superferry has asked to abandon its two high-speed catamarans to creditors because of the significant cost of maintaining the vessels as the company moves through bankruptcy.

A showdown in court over Gov. Linda Lingle's planned furlough of thousands of government employees has been set for July 2, the day after the governor's plan is set to take effect.

Two state-employee unions asked a judge yesterday to block Gov. Linda Lingle from unilaterally ordering thousands of state workers to take three unpaid days off per month, starting in July.

The state's four public worker unions are starting a low-key public relations campaign to win support while they fight Gov. Linda Lingle's call for 36-day-a-year furloughs.

Five of the 20 students on a summer study trip to South Korea have been confirmed as having the H1N1 virus or swine flu. They remain in hospital quarantine and are being treated with Tamiflu, said a spokeswoman for the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, which organized the trip.

A private company that state officials hope will put Hawaii on the road to the widespread use of electric vehicles expects to begin installing infrastructure here in about six months.

An executive with one of the largest architecture and planning firms worldwide said rail projects such as the one planned on Oahu will help increase business along the transit line

The number of West Hawaii residents calling for their own county increased during the last week, after County Council members from Hilo, Puna and Ka'u engineered a council leadership reorganization.

In a ceremony honoring Kaua‘i’s late mayor — a personal accolade everyone agreed he would have resisted — the state Department of Transportation on Tuesday broke ground on the $30 million Wailua Cane Haul Bridge Widening Project, naming both bridges spanning the Wailua River for Bryan J. Baptiste.

Honolulu police are looking for a local man in his 30s they said sexually assaulted a 15-year-old tourist at a Waikiki Beach on Monday.

A 14-month-old law banning tobacco use at all Hawaii County parks has gone largely unenforced because there's none or too few signs informing people of the prohibition.

The Maui County Council voted unanimously in favor of a bill Tuesday that would ban alcohol from Honokowai Beach Park in West Maui.

Top Hawaii Headlines: Thursday morning edition

The state Supreme Court yesterday denied a request by the Lingle administration and state House and Senate leaders to reconsider a March ruling that led to the shutdown of Hawai'i Superferry.

An effort to balance the state budget could keep visitors from heading to Hawaii. A small change in Hawaii's room tax will make big waves, not only in Waikiki, but across the state - with the island's tourism industry.

The University of Hawaii announced on Wednesday that it will not have the traditional handshake at the Manoa campus graduation.

A Maui resident who became sick in Washington state is among four more cases of swine flu reported for Hawaii, bringing the state's total to 10, according to the state Department of Health.

The Honolulu City Council is pushing a 3-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase and plans to discuss raising property taxes next week.

Honolulu on Wednesday suspended the commuter ferry service known as TheBoat, a spokesman said.

The $2.5 billion attack submarine USS Hawaii left the East Coast yesterday en route to its new home port at Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii County has fired its contractors and taken back the Kamakoa at Waikoloa Workforce Housing project.

Seeking to subdivide his Glenwood property to create homesites for his children, Mayor Billy Kenoi wants one of his Cabinet appointees to exempt the parcels from minimum water requirements.

In typical and traditional Native Hawaiian fashion, Kaua‘i Police Chief Darryl Perry is not just administering his huge department for the present.

Officials yesterday recovered the body of a woman in a ravine off Waimano Trail, in a renewed search effort prompted by the reappearance just hours before of a missing woman's pet dog.

Time to comment on the Superferry

The clock has started ticking on public comments about the environ-
mental impact of the Superferry. The state Department of Transportation today issued its Environmental Impact Statement, which found some negative impacts, but also suggested ways to mitigate them.

Comment period ends Feb. 23. Written comments should be snail-mailed or faxed to:

Katherine Kealoha, Director,
Office of Environmental Quality Control,
235 S. Beretania St., Suite 702,
Honolulu , HI 96813,
fax 808-586-4186;

and

Michael D. Formby, Deputy Director,
Department of Transportation Harbors Division,
79 S. Nimitz Highway, Honolulu, HI 96813,
fax 808-587-3652.

A Superferry spokesman said in a statement this afternoon that the company will continue to work to make its ship safe.

"The draft EIS combined with the data from over nine months of reliable service and 708 voyages provides a clear picture of our commitment to responsible operations and Environmental awareness. We remain committed to working with the state to address impacts raised by the draft EIS," the statement says.

Meanwhile the Hawaii Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on whether the EIS is enough: See a previous allhawaii.news report.

Superferry: No Special Treatment

The Legislature didn’t craft a law specifically to bail out Hawaii Superferry after a court ruling last year temporarily grounded it, the Attorney General’s Office told a skeptical state Supreme Court today.

The five-member court took the matter under advisement, not saying when a ruling would be issued following about an hour of oral argument this morning.

At issue is Act 2, passed by the Legislature after an August 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required an environmental assessment before the Superferry could continue its interisland transport. Once the law was signed by Gov. Linda Lingle, a lower court vacated the Supreme Court’s injunction and the Superferry recommenced operations.

If the law was written strictly to benefit a “closed class,” it would be an unconstitutional abuse of legislative powers, said Isaac Hall, attorney for the Sierra Club, one of three groups filing the lawsuit. Hall contends the law was “conceived, cut and tailored” for the Superferry.

“The Superferry at that point could have appealed to the highest court … instead they appealed and we use that a little loosely, to the Legislature … They could have appealed to you; instead they appealed to the Legislature,” Hall said. “You as the highest court determined we were entitled to an (environmental assessment), and the Legislature can’t take that away from us.”

But the state maintains that Act 2 wasn’t created to benefit a closed class, because the law could apply to other businesses besides the Superferry. In theory, other high-speed ferry transports could come to Hawaii and benefit from the law, said First Deputy Attorney General Lisa Ginoza.

“The appeal is addressing the Legislature’s ability to deal with the important issues of the day,” Ginoza said. “The Legislature speaks on behalf of all of the people of the state … It’s perfectly within their authority to do so.”

But court justices seemed to be having a hard time grasping the concept that Act 2, created in a special session so soon after their ruling, could have been created to benefit any entity besides the Superferry.

“All other businesses have to comply with Act 343 (requiring an environmental assessment), correct?” asked Justice Paula A. Nakayama. “And how many business does Act 2 apply to?”

“Is there any entity that would fit that description except for Superferry?” asked Justice Simeon R. Acoba Jr.

Tough questions by the Supreme Court are just the latest the Hawaii Superferry has had to endure. A legislative auditor report issued yesterday said Act 2 undermines the state’s ability to protect the environment and could set a dangerous precedent.