Maui ban on foam containers will go into effect in 2018
WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — Polystyrene foam containers will be banned on Maui by the end of next year after, making it the first Hawaii county to ban the popular restaurant food takeout containers.
Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa signed a bill on Tuesday that prohibits the sale and use of polystyrene food containers as of Dec. 31, 2018.
But he also urged county councilors to reduce fines of $1,000 daily for those that violate the ban.
Arakawa wrote in letter to the Maui County Council that the ban “furthers the environmental protections for our community.”
Ban supporters have said the measure will reduce pollution. Opponents have said small businesses and consumer will face higher costs for biodegradable containers.
Arakawa characterized the fines for violating the ban as excessive, urging councilors to reconsider the fine amounts. The Maui ban exempts foam ice chests and containers designed to store raw meat, fish and eggs, he said.
Maui acted as Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell pledged his support for a bill that would require Oahu stores by 2020 to provide customers with thicker plastic bags than the ones they currently give out.
The stores already provide clients with reusable plastic bags but Caldwell and environmentalists said the bags currently sold make their way to the ocean.
“Our animals are eating this,” said Kahi Picarro, executive director of the Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii group, “Other animals eat those, and they eventually end up on our plate again.”
Report: Native Hawaiian men in worse health than woman
HONOLULU (AP) — The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs has released a report concluding that Native Hawaiian men are in considerably worse health than women.
The state office’s findings were released last week.
Native Hawaiian women have lower rates of obesity, asthma, deaths from cancer and mental health problems and have longer life expectancies, according to the report.
The report also said Hawaiian children are more likely to come from single-parent households than other children in Hawaii and experience disproportionately high levels of child abuse and neglect.
Much of the report’s data comes from annual state Department of Health surveys.
“But they don’t disaggregate it, they don’t break it down by ethnic group or gender, so we had to do that,” said Kamana’opono Crabbe, OHA’s chief executive officer. “It was a multiyear process to get that information, and once we were able to obtain the data files, we were able to distill it down into our own analysis.”
The report links many of the health problems to the changes that transformed life in the islands following Western contact in the late 1700s and the subsequent influx of immigrants that dramatically changed the cultural landscape for Native Hawaiians.
It calls for better policies and programs to provide “holistic interventions” rather than “a more traditional, siloed approach of education, early detection, and treatment.”
The report is said to build upon the E Ola Mau study, which was written in the 1980s and led to the passage of the federal Native Hawaiian Health Act.
The document recommends a further statewide study to produce a complete data set, including information on cultural practices and values to enable researchers to begin to make correlations between various social causes of poor health of Native Hawaiian men.
OHA is developing a report on the health of Native Hawaiian women, scheduled for release in May.
Retired Navy commander pleads guilty to fraud
HONOLULU (AP) — A retired U.S. Navy commander in Hawaii charged in a growing corruption scandal pleaded guilty Tuesday to lying about his relationship with a Malaysian defense contractor known by the nickname “Fat Leonard.”
As part of a deal with federal prosecutors, David Kapaun entered the plea to a count of fraud and false statements in federal court in Honolulu involving his relationship with Leonard Francis, who prosecutors describe as “the center of a colossal bribery and fraud scandal.”
Kapaun said in court that he omitted Francis from a security clearance update form because he knew “I did have a past association with him that was unfavorable.”
He also didn’t disclose receiving dinners, hotel stays and prostitutes from Francis, said his defense attorney, Victor Bakke.
Francis has acknowledged bribing Navy officials with cash, prostitutes and other gifts in exchange for classified information to help his company, Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia. The company provided services such as trash and sewage removal, food, water, security and fuel to U.S. Navy ships, according to prosecutors. He’s awaiting sentencing.
“He played a minor role in the overall scheme that was conducted by Fat Leonard,” Bakke said of Kapaun. “He’s remorseful. He realizes he should have used better judgment. But just like the number of other Naval officers that are involved in this case, he was seduced by this guy.”
Twenty-one current and former Navy officials have been charged so far in the scandal. Kapaun is the 11th to plead guilty.
The allegations prompted Kapaun to resign earlier this year from his civilian position as deputy chief of staff for U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific.
Kapaun could face up to five years in federal prison when he’s sentenced on Sept. 11. The terms of his plea agreement will require Kapaun to pay $50,000 restitution and a $25,000 fine, Bakke said.
Kapaun retired and was honorably discharged in 2008 after a 25-year Navy career, Bakke said.
“Even though he’s retired, they could pull him back to active duty and court-martial him if they wanted to,” Bakke said.
Hawaii fireworks trial ends in not guilty verdicts
HONOLULU (AP) — A federal jury has found a Hawaii man and his company not guilty of mishandling fireworks involved in a deadly explosion.
Jurors on Tuesday acquitted Charles Donaldson and Donaldson Enterprises of storing and treating hazardous waste without a permit. Jurors had been deliberating since Friday after listening to about three weeks of testimony.
Donaldson and the company weren’t charged with the 2011 explosion that killed five Donaldson employees. Prosecutors say the blast showed how dangerous the fireworks were.
During the trial, a judge dismissed a count alleging Donaldson lied about completely destroying fireworks the government seized. The judge also dismissed a conspiracy charge.
Donaldson’s defense attorney Thomas Otake says the explosion was the result of an accident, not criminal conduct.
Civil lawsuits by the families of the men who died are pending.
