Briefs of News in Your Hawaii
By Star-Bulletin Staff
By Star-Bulletin Staff
Ikeda says people in the state's general assistance program could get full benefits for a full year because the $3.8 million needed to bolster the program can be found.
It could come from "juggling" Department of Human Services funds and by getting federal reimbursements paid back sooner, she says.
Gary Smith, executive director of the Protection and Advocacy Agency of Hawaii, calls the development "good news." But he says advocates will continue to fight for elimination of all time limits so disabled clients can get welfare benefits whenever needed.
A bill to extend the program to a year and to keep full payments at $418 monthly goes before the House Finance Committee tomorrow.
The family has refused to sign another five-year permit with the park service to stay on the land, citing restrictions it claims would prohibit their cultural practices.
State officials and Hawaiian leaders are meeting today to find ways to defuse the situation. Yesterday, a state legislative committee passed a resolution supporting the Pai ohana's right to live on their ancestral lands despite the fact it never received title to the land. The measure also asks congress to intercede and rescind the park service's eviction notice.
Meanwhile, the Pai ohana and hundreds of supporters have begun gathering in Waiopio for a non-violent protest this weekend against the eviction.
"We know what massage is, we know what the practice involves, but we don't know what 'body shampoo,' 'relaxation therapy,' all of those terms mean," said Alvin Yamamoto, executive officer for the Board of Massage.
The board yesterday discussed the impact businesses offering those services are having on the massage industry in light of last week's arrests of four women working in such establishments.
The women were charged with allegedly offering undercover police officers massages for money despite being unlicensed, and with prostitution for allegedly negotiating a sexual act for fee.
The board will look into massage services offered by these businesses and see how they compare to its definition of massage, Yamamoto said.
"If there has ever been a time for a senator to stand up and make a decision that is really going to matter, now is the time," said Jack Hoag, co-chair of Hawaii's Future Today.
The group, which ran a newspaper advertisement yesterday, favors a House bill that would put before voters in November a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban homosexual marriage.
But the bill is languishing after Senate leaders said they do not have the two-thirds vote needed for it to pass the chamber.
Detectives yesterday arrested Jeremy Salvador of Makakilo as an adult for criminal solicitation. He allegedly sought the help of two boys who visited him at a youth detention center Nov. 25 to kill the key witness who was to testify at his murder trial.
Salvador was to be tried next week in the stabbing death of Teri Caldwell, 51, at her Waikiki apartment last November.
Robert Lagunilla, 15, who lived in Caldwell's building, testified at Salvador's preliminary hearing that he saw him stab her in the back with a knife.
Salvador is charged as an adult with second-degree murder.
Police said Morandi, who had lived in Princeville for two years, died within 24 hours of being found.
His body was discovered at 7:30 a.m. by a friend who had been asked by Morandi's family to check on the man after not hearing from him for a while, police said. A homicide investigation was opened based on the injuries and other evidence.
- Remains identified as missing man