Newswatch
But he also said lawmakers have the power to rewrite laws and amend the state Constitution if they don’t support judicial rulings.
“As you know, in our legal system, statutes trump common law and constitutions trump statutes,” he said yesterday as the first chief justice invited to deliver his address to a joint session of the state Legislature.
“We are ever mindful that the Legislature - the peoples’ representatives - holds the highest trumps.”
Moon made no reference to any court decisions, but lawmakers have criticized rulings on same-sex marriage, opposed by about 70 percent of those polled in recent surveys.
Police Lt. Gordon Isoda says Arnel Cacal, 29, had nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood and likely was speeding when his vehicle crossed the center line of Kaumualii Highway west of Kalaheo and plowed into a car carrying four people.
Cacal died at the scene of the 10 p.m. crash, along with Oahu residents Kathryn Saena, 22, Fesilafai Niumata, 25, and Kuinise Auelua, 18.
A passenger in Auelua’s car, Tibor Jesze, 30, was seriously injured and remains hospitalized.
The union is preparing a counter offer to a state proposal that would raise teachers’ pay over the next two years but also require them to teach 10 more days a year.
Motokawa says the union wants to separate the salary and work year issues.
In his State of the State speech Tuesday, Gov. Ben Cayetano said Hawaii’s school year is the shortest in the nation and he hoped teachers would extend it.
The union is preparing a counter offer to the state’s Jan. 17 contract offer. For 1997-98, the state offered teachers a 4 percent salary increase, plus 2.73 percent to pay for adding five instructional days.
For 1998-99, it offered a 4 percent pay raise, plus 2.66 percent to add another five days, according to the HSTA’s negotiations update line.
The state offered no retroactive pay increase for 1995-96 or 1996-97.
He allegedly was approached in the Smith Street parking lot just before 4:30 a.m. by a man wanting to buy drugs. The buyer allegedly claimed the drugs were bad and threatened to return with a gun. He went to his car, returned with a knife and stabbed the man who sold him the drugs, police said.
The seller made it to the Risque World of Fun video arcade at 36 N. Hotel Street, where he collapsed.
A 15-year-old Mililani boy has been charged with attempted murder and two counts of robbery. A 15-year-old Waipio boy has been charged with second-degree assault and two counts of robbery. Both were runaways, police said.
The boys, both with knives, allegedly approached the visitors waiting on Kamehameha Highway outside Waimea Falls Park and demanded money, police said.
The couple refused to comply and fought back. The woman was stabbed in the stomach and her husband slashed in the arm.
Waimea Bay lifeguards, summoned by passers-by, came to the couple's aid and apprehended the two suspects on the beach near the jumping rock.
The youths are being held at a juvenile detention home.
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