Author: RMC

Hawaii’s Most Populated Island Passes Sweeping Single-Use Plastic Ban

Posted on December 11, 2019 by RMC

Honolulu passed a bill banning most plastic utensils, food containers and straws on the island of Oahu, where almost 70% of the state’s residents live.

Lawmakers in Hawaii’s largest city just passed what could be one of the strictest bans on single-use plastics in the country.

The Honolulu City Council this week voted 7-2 to pass Bill 40, which bans businesses and restaurants in Honolulu County from serving food and beverages with plastic straws and utensils and containers made of polystyrene foam. The legislation will take effect in phases, with polystyrene foam being banned first in 2021 and disposable plastic being banned in 2022.

The measure will cover Honolulu County, which the council oversees and includes the entirety of Oahu, Hawaii’s most populated island.

PAID FOR BY Happy Family Organics

Lawmakers on the Big Island and Maui County, which includes the islands of Maui and Molokai, have previously banned foam containers but those measures do not cover plastic utensils. Honolulu County followed suit in 2015 and banned plastic bags in grocery stores, making Hawaii the only state at the time to completely ban most plastic bags.

Hawaii’s efforts to reduce use of disposable plastic is part of a growing wave across the country. This year, legislatures and city councils in at least 34 states have passed or considered measures that ban or discourage single-use plastic bags, polystyrene foam and single-use plastic utensils.

California started years ago, passing a statewide ban on plastic bags at large retail stores in 2014; a referendum forced the issue onto the November 2016 ballot where it passed to remain in effect. New York passed a similar measure this April. However, few governments have passed sweeping bans that cover a wide variety of plastic products, such as the one in Honolulu.

Local and national environmental groups are celebrating the measure as a major win in the fight against single-use plastics, which contribute to climate change with greenhouse gas emissions during production and transportation and account for about 85% of trash found in beaches and waterways.

Isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, residents of Hawaii depend heavily on imports for everyday products including milk, gas, bread, clothes and construction materials, making it one of the most expensive states to live in the U.S. Hawaii is also uniquely affected by the world’s plastic pollution problem, collecting plastic trash that originated from various places around the world.

Business groups in Hawaii pushed back against previous versions of the bill, arguing the measure unfairly burdened local businesses, pitting them against big box stores and forcing them to increase their prices ― thus making products in the state even more expensive.

Hawaii’s Chamber of Commerce was concerned the measure would threaten smaller businesses who would have to invest in more expensive non-plastic materials to package their food products.

Hawaiian Chip Co. owner Jimmy Chan, speaking for the Hawaii Food Manufacturers Association, said Wednesday that there aren’t sustainable plastic alternatives that are affordable, the Pacific Business Journal reported. He also said plastic provides consumers with “a certain amount of food safety.”

Before the bill was passed, lawmakers amended it to resolve both environmentalists’ and the food industry’s concerns. The version that was passed this week includes exemptions for prepackaged items such as musubi wraps, chip bags, bread bags, ice bags and plastic bags used for loose items including vegetables, ground coffee, raw fish and meat, and newspapers.

Paul Kosasa, the CEO of ABC Stores, a local general store chain in Hawaii, previously opposed the bill but later accepted it after lawmakers made revisions to the bill to address business owners’ concerns.

Kosasa told HuffPost that businesses like his were initially blindsided when the bill banning plastics first came out but lawmakers started to pay attention to business owners once they protested against the proposed measure.

“While [the bill] is still not perfect, it did enough to alleviate our concerns,” Kosasa said, noting that the exemptions for raw meat and fish products were important for businesses to keep their products safe for consumers.

“There’s more things that have to happen to it but there’s been enough changes to it that gives us some time to become more eco-friendly,” he added.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is expected to sign the bill into law.

(Civil Beat) Criminal Probe Into Rail Might Creep Into Honolulu Hale, Attorneys Fear

Posted on October 23, 2019 by RMC

(Source: Civil Beat)

Honolulu city attorneys worry the federal criminal probe that has ensnared the island’s troubled rail project might soon reach Honolulu Hale as well, according to Councilman Ron Menor.

On Tuesday, the council’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee, which Menor chairs, met behind closed doors to consider allowing the private firm Farella Braun & Martel to represent city employees in the rail matter, but rejected the idea.

The city’s corporation counsel felt the California firm’s expertise would be vital should the federal investigation into rail expand past the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, Menor said.

The semi-autonomous agency, which oversees rail construction for the city, was hit with three federal Grand Jury subpoenas in February. An unspecified number of HART employees have also received individual subpoenas since then.

“We need to anticipate that their investigation will entail attempting to obtain additional information about the rail project from city employees and personnel,” Menor said. “And so this request for information could come by way of federal subpoenas as well as requests on the part of federal prosecutors to interview city employees and personnel.”

Nonetheless, council members shot down the proposal to retain Farella Braun & Martel with a 4-3 vote. The move would have retained the firm’s services for $50,000, according to Menor.

Now, he said, some city employees might eventually have to seek their own legal representation, similar to staffers at HART impacted by the probe.

The corporation counsel department has said it lacks the in-house expertise to deal with the criminal investigation, responding to any subpoenas or interview requests, according to Menor.

Thus, the department hoped to retain Farella Braun & Martell for its “expertise in criminal matters to ensure that federal investigators don’t overreach, or conduct their investigation in an overly broad fashion,” the councilman added.

It’s the same law firm the city hired in January to limit the disclosure of documents seized under a search warrant by federal officials investigating the Kealoha corruption scandal.

That month, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced that Corporation Counsel Donna Leong had received a target letter from the FBI as part of the Kealoha corruption probe. She remains on paid leave.

Paul Aoki, who’s served as the city’s acting corporation counsel ever since, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday after the council’s committee meeting.

During the closed-door briefing corporation counsel officials said Farella Braun & Martell’s work “was favorable to the city,” Menor said. It helped the city obtain a sealed District Court order to limit the documents federal authorities could seize under search warrants served to the Department of Information Technology as well as Budget and Fiscal Services, he added.

In an email Tuesday, Caldwell spokesman Andrew Pereira said he’s not aware of any city employees receiving rail-related subpoenas other than those already sent to HART.

Council members Carol Fukunaga, Ann Kobayashi, Heidi Tsuneyoshi and Tommy Waters voted against retaining Farella Braun & Martell on Tuesday. Councilman Ikaika Anderson and Brandon Elefante joined Menor to vote in favor.

Council members Joey Manahan and Kymberly Pine didn’t attend.

Rail Employees Already On Their Own

The move to hire attorneys to represent city employees in the rail probe follows a similar failed attempt to hire lawyers for HART employees.

At an Aug. 20 committee meeting, council members considered retaining Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP as special deputy counsel to represent HART, its officers and employees “in matters relating to their official powers and duties in matters involving federal criminal law.”

Committee members were split 4-4 and the matter did not advance to a full council vote. As a result, HART employees facing subpoenas in the investigation will have to hire their own lawyers, HART Executive Director Andrew Robbins said last month.

“The corporation counsel is still available — whatever help they can provide,” Robbins said after a Sept. 5 agency meeting, “but we certainly encouraged the employees to reach out to private attorneys if they so felt they should.”

“Some of them even suggested maybe they could bring a friend (for support at interviews), and I guess that would be up to the prosecutors,” he added. “We didn’t know how to advise them on that. I think it’s fair to say the employees were disappointed with the council action.”

“We’re going to comply as much as we can.” – Damien Kim, former HART board chairman

Taken together, federal investigators’ orders for information from HART have been broad, covering multiple aspects of the rail project.

The first sweeping order required thousands of pages from the agency’s records on design, planning and construction work, as well as correspondence on the city’s rail-funding deal with the Federal Transit Administration. The second one called for files on HART’s relocation payments to property owners along the line.

To comply, the agency provided four terabytes of documents to the feds, Robbins said.

The third subpoena — aimed directly at HART’s board — has proven much more complicated. It demands a full and unredacted record of the board’s closed-door meetings, and there’s no exception listed for discussions that might fall under attorney-client privilege.

“We’re going to comply as much as we can,” former HART board chairman Damien Kim said in February when the subpoena was served.

The goal in retaining Farella Braun & Martel was to ensure “there is not going to be any overreach that will enable them to conduct a fishing expedition or to do an investigation that is overly broad,” if the rail probes reach Honolulu Hale, Menor said Tuesday.

That said, “we want to cooperate with the federal investigation,” he added. “We want to turn over…any and all information that is relevant to their investigation” into “whether any wrongdoing was committed by any city official.”

(Civil Beat) Criminal Probe Into Rail Might Creep Into Honolulu Hale, Attorneys Fear

Posted on October 23, 2019 by RMC

(Source: Civil Beat)

Honolulu city attorneys worry the federal criminal probe that has ensnared the island’s troubled rail project might soon reach Honolulu Hale as well, according to Councilman Ron Menor.

Nonetheless, council members shot down the proposal to retain Farella Braun & Martel with a 4-3 vote. The move would have retained the firm’s services for $50,000, according to Menor.

Now, he said, some city employees might eventually have to seek their own legal representation, similar to staffers at HART impacted by the probe.

The corporation counsel department has said it lacks the in-house expertise to deal with the criminal investigation, responding to any subpoenas or interview requests, according to Menor.

It’s the same law firm the city hired in January to limit the disclosure of documents seized under a search warrant by federal officials investigating the Kealoha corruption scandal.

That month, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced that Corporation Counsel Donna Leong had received a target letter from the FBI as part of the Kealoha corruption probe. She remains on paid leave.

Paul Aoki, who’s served as the city’s acting corporation counsel ever since, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday after the council’s committee meeting.

In an email Tuesday, Caldwell spokesman Andrew Pereira said he’s not aware of any city employees receiving rail-related subpoenas other than those already sent to HART.

Council members Joey Manahan and Kymberly Pine didn’t attend.

Rail Employees Already On Their Own

The move to hire attorneys to represent city employees in the rail probe follows a similar failed attempt to hire lawyers for HART employees.

“We’re going to comply as much as we can.” – Damien Kim, former HART board chairman

Taken together, federal investigators’ orders for information from HART have been broad, covering multiple aspects of the rail project.

To comply, the agency provided four terabytes of documents to the feds, Robbins said.

“We’re going to comply as much as we can,” former HART board chairman Damien Kim said in February when the subpoena was served.

(Civil Beat) How To Remove Homeless People From A Park? Close It, Honolulu Says

Posted on October 23, 2019 by RMC

(Source: Civil Beat)

Opponents of the city proposal say closing parks is not the answer when better enforcement and maintenance is needed.

Faced with complaints of illegal drug use, unpermitted camping, and public urination in a Honolulu park, City Council members are moving to close it.

Members of the council’s parks committee voted on Tuesday to advance Resolution 19-250 to repurpose Kamalii Mini Park, a small grassy area located mauka of a Beretania Street fire station.

“Because this location has become a site frequented by people who are homeless and (experience) drug addition and those kinds of issues, it’s a sore spot,” said Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga, the resolution sponsor. “We would prefer to see this area used for purposes other than parks.”

The park is “underutilized by the community,” according to the resolution. And its concrete planters and dividers “appear to provide cover for illegal activity and support for illegal camping structures,” the resolution states.

The police department, parks and recreation department and fire department have tried to address problems with park cleanups and enforcement actions, the resolution states, but those efforts result in only temporary relief.

“Non-park uses, such as expansion of the adjacent fire station, could eliminate the opportunity to use the space for illegal activity, and could contribute to substantial savings in city resources and manpower,” the resolutions states.

The nearby association of apartment owners supports the measure, Fukunaga said, and so does the city parks department. Assistant Fire Chief Socrates Bratakos also testified in support.

One person spoke in opposition to the measure.

“We would like to look more deeply at this because we’re seeing this pattern across the city where we don’t have enough resources for our parks, so therefore the answer is to close them early, to shut all people off from using the park,” said Winston Welch, executive director of The Outdoor Circle, a nonprofit that advocates for green spaces.

Welch said his group sympathizes with the city’s problems, but that closing the park is not the answer. The city should instead make the park a showcase that welcomes people to downtown Honolulu.

“It should be a place of beauty,” he said. “Instead, we’re closing it because we’re not having maintenance and enforcement of existing laws. That’s just a sad indictment of the city right now.”

Honolulu council members are also considering Bill 52 which would allow the city parks director to close parks at night.

Under the proposal, introduced by Councilwoman Kymberly Pine, it would be illegal to enter a closed park, and violators could face penalties of up to $500 and/or imprisonment of up to 30 days.

(Hawaii News Now) Work to remove toxic levels of lead from Kalihi neighborhood delayed

Posted on October 21, 2019 by RMC

(Source: Hawaii News Now)

Work to remove toxic levels of lead from Kalihi neighborhood delayed

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Work to remove toxic levels of lead from Kalihi neighborhood delayed

By Allyson Blair | October 18, 2019 at 9:03 PM HST – Updated October 19 at 10:11 AM

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) – After years of waiting for the government to clean up the toxic dump site it buried beneath a Kalihi Street decades ago, there are new questions over where to put most of the contaminated soil once it’s removed have delayed the project once again.

On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it’s postponing a clean-up that was supposed to start in September until some time next year.

Health officials rediscovered the forgotten site in 2017, warning inaction would put families in danger. Now the asphalt that’s supposed to protect the public is rapidly crumbling, putting neighbors at risk.

EPA officials told HNN they plan to ship 10% of the soil considered “hazardous waste” to a facility on the mainland, but need more time to find a place to put the rest of it — which contains lower lead levels.

It’s troubling news to the people who live there.

“I’m scared. I’m scared,” said Fe Abarra.

“I think this is urgent,” said Mae Buyacao. “And by delaying it — it really just shows that they don’t care.”

There are nearly 2000 people who live within a tenth of a mile of the contamination.

Tests show the highest concentrations of lead are close to where Factory Street meets North King.

Environmental experts say the levels of lead there are so high someone could potentially be exposed simply walking down the street.

“I think that’s a big deal here,” said Ed Merced, who lives nearby. “I mean especially for daily life if everybody’s always playing outside, kids playing.”

It’s been about a month since HNN last visited the site. In that short amount of time conditions had gotten much worse. Potholes were deeper. There was also a new hole in the road, close to two feet deep.

The EPA says in the next month it, “will cover potholes to reduce exposure to contaminated soil until the project can be completed.”

Once the project starts in 2020 officials say work will take about a month to complete.

(KHON 2) Honolulu’s Chief Medical Examiner may be out of job

Posted on October 21, 2019 by RMC

(Source: KHON 2)

Honolulu’s Chief Medical Examiner may be out of job

NEWS

by: Sara Mattison

Posted: Oct 20, 2019 / 06:30 PM HST / Updated: Oct 20, 2019 / 09:55 PM HST

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The highest-paid city employee may soon be out of a job. Dr. Christopher Happy has been the city’s Chief Medical Examiner since 2013. But according to City Council Chair Ikaika Anderson, the Mayor’s office is moving to terminate him.

The City Medical Examiner’s Office plays a crucial role in murder investigations and unattended deaths. And because it can be a challenge to find nationally certified medical examiners in the country, they can demand top dollar. Dr. Happy currently gets paid $310,000 — the highest-paid official in the city. But after about 6 years of employment, Councilman Anderson says there’s an intent to terminate Dr. Happy.

“The Managing Director called me on the phone last week and informed me that the administration was to terminate Dr. Happy,” said Anderson. “I’m not aware of any complaints against the Medical Examiner, but again, the administration did tell me that the dismissal is for cause.”

It took the city about three years to fill the Chief Medical Examiner position after the doctor who previously held the role retired. We asked Anderson if he foresees the city struggling again to find a Chief Medical Examiner.

“I believe it’s too early to say whether the city would struggle in finding another Medical Examiner or not. I don’t know if the city administration started talking to potential candidates to succeed the Medical Examiner or if there’s anyone currently staffed in the Medical Examiner’s Office that may be interested in that position. There’s too many questions and variables out there right now for me to answer that question without any more information,” said Anderson.

In the past, the Medical examiner has asked for more money to hire another forensic pathologist, which does autopsies citing the number of cases they do exceeds national standards. But Anderson says every city department is challenged with a lack of resources.

“Before we chalk that up to resources or lack of staffing or non-performance, I really need to hear the administration’s reasoning,” he said.

The next step requires officials to hold a hearing before the City Council prior to termination. That’s when Anderson expects more information will be revealed.

“I’m both saddened and concerned with the administration’s intent to dismiss Dr. Happy. I personally like Dr. Happy and enjoyed working with him, but again, I’m not aware of the precise reason for cause that the administration says they have for dismissing the Medical Examiner so I’ll reserve my judgment until I hear the administration make the case.”

Anderson says he was told Dr. Happy is made aware of the situation.

According to Andrew Pereira, the communications director for Honolulu mayor Kirk Caldwell, Dr. Happy submitted a letter of resignation: “Dr. Happy came on board in late 2013 and helped to make improvements to the office, including the recruitment of other certified medical examiners. We want to thank him for his service and wish him well as he pursues future opportunities. Dr. Masahiko Kobayashi, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, will serve as Acting Chief Medical Examiner.”

(Hawaii News Now) Roving homeless service center with inflatable tents to debut in Waipahu

Posted on October 21, 2019 by RMC

(Source: Hawaii News Now)

Roving homeless service center with inflatable tents to debut in Waipahu

By Ashley Nagaoka | October 20, 2019 at 5:10 PM HST – Updated October 20 at 5:10 PM

WAIPAHU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) – In an effort to get more homeless people off the streets and into shelters, the state and city are teaming up to launch a mobile hub for temporary housing and services that will be open around the clock.

The three-year, $6 million pilot project is called HONU — short for “Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons.”

The funding is coming from the $30 million state lawmakers approved for so-called “ohana zones.”

The first center will launch in Waipahu in December at the Waipahu Cultural Garden Park.

A second Oahu site is scheduled to open in six months.

City officials say the centers will move to different communities every two to three months, in coordination with homeless sweeps.

They say the idea came from Honolulu police officers who were conducting homeless enforcement efforts at night, when the shelters weren’t open to take anyone in.

“We’re responsible for 24/7 enforcement,” said Sgt. Mike Lambert of HPD. “What was happening is that we didn’t really have the services to match that enforcement, so it was kind of a little bit unfair.”

The city says the hub will have 10 military-grade tents that can house as many as a hundred people, and offer services like laundry, hygiene, medical, food, and transportation.

“We don’t expect to have more than 20, 25 people there at any given time,” said Pam Witty-Oakland, community services director. “Folks can come get a hot shower, get a hot meal, and the next morning we’ll network them with the appropriate shelter space. We expect this to be a 48 to 72 hour turn around.”

Witty-Oakland says the site will also be pet friendly, able to shelter both individuals and families, and allow homeless enforcement efforts to be more targeted.

“(Sweeps) were very complaint driven, and instead, we’ve decided to step back and look at a more strategic approach. Now that we have this resource available, we can target given areas at a given time,” said Witty-Oakland.

Some residents are skeptical.

Members of the Waipahu Neighborhood Board say they appreciate any efforts to address their community’s homeless problem, but they are worried about the location of the site near Hawaii’s Plantation Village.

“There’s not just a residential area, but there’s also a lot of businesses,” said board member Cory Chun. “I know businesses are really concerned with how to deal with the homeless.”

And because HONU is a roving center, Chun wonders what will happen once the tents and services leave town.

“What happens after? The idea is to provide short term solutions to get these folks on their feet, but for some of them, that’s just not going to be enough. We do know there’s still going to be those folks who are just going to fall through the cracks,” said Chun.

(KHON 2) Lawmakers aim to silence excessively loud mopeds

Posted on October 17, 2019 by RMC

(Source: KHON2)

HONOLULU (KHON2) — You’ve probably heard them buzzing through your neighborhood, excessively loud mopeds. Well, lawmakers are trying to tackle the issue. The proposal is supposed to help law enforcement crackdown on excessive noise coming from mopeds. But some say the market to make mopeds louder and faster is not going away anytime soon.

The excessive loud noise from these mopeds has been a constant complaint in neighborhoods like Diamond Head and Kapahulu.

“The proximity of our residential neighborhoods and some of these major thoroughfares is very close and I’m sure everyone has experienced the trauma of going down the street or be at home and hearing the sound of mopeds,” said Richard Figliuzzi, Diamond Head and Kapahulu Neighborhood Board Chair. “If you put one of these mopeds next to a Harley Davidson, the moped would be louder.”

Councilman Tommy Waters, who introduced the measure, says mufflers are required on motor vehicles but under the current law it excludes mopeds.

“So it simply adds mopeds into the requirement for a muffler and we wanted to make sure that you can’t alter your muffler, which would amplify the noise,” said Councilman Waters.

Russell Odegaard manages Moped Garage and tells us the proposal would not impact their business because they sell the new and quieter mopeds. But Odegaard is skeptical the proposal would even work.

He also adds that people who modify their mopeds to make it louder or faster usually do not pass their state safety inspections, to begin with. Yet, people still buy parts to modify their mopeds.

“It’s not going to stop. You can buy it everywhere, on the Internet. It’s not illegal to sell it because when you purchase it, it says that you’re acknowledging that you are buying something that is made for off-highway use,” said Odegaard.

(Hawaii News Now) Powerful Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings has died

Posted on October 17, 2019 by RMC

(Source: Hawaii News Now)

Powerful Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings has died

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At Michael Cohen’s hearing, Rep. Elijah Cummings looks at big picture

By BRIAN WITTE and REGINA GARCIA CANO | October 16, 2019 at 11:24 PM HST – Updated October 17 at 7:43 AM

BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a sharecropper’s son who rose to become a civil rights champion and the chairman of one of the U.S. House committees leading an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, died Thursday of complications from longstanding health problems. He was 68.

Cummings was a formidable orator who advocated for the poor in his black-majority district , which encompasses a large portion of Baltimore and more well-to-do suburbs.

As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led investigations of the president’s government dealings, including probes in 2019 relating to Trump’s family members serving in the White House.

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Trump criticized the Democrat’s district as a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” The comments came weeks after Trump drew bipartisan condemnation following his calls for Democratic congresswomen of color to go back to their “broken and crime-infested countries.”

Cummings replied that government officials must stop making “hateful, incendiary comments” that distract the nation from its real problems, including mass shootings and white supremacy.

“Those in the highest levels of the government must stop invoking fear, using racist language and encouraging reprehensible behavior,” Cummings said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings on Baltimore

On Thursday, Trump ordered flags at the White House, military bases and other federal buildings to be flown at half-staff through Friday to honor Cummings. He also tweeted his “condolences to the family and many friends of Congressman Elijah Cummings. I got to see firsthand the strength, passion and wisdom of this highly respected political leader.” The tweet made no reference to past feuds.

Former President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential bid counted Cummings as an early supporter, said he and his wife, Michelle, were “heartbroken” by the loss of their friend.

“As Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, he showed us all not only the importance of checks and balances within our democracy, but also the necessity of good people stewarding it,” Obama said in a statement, describing Cummings as “steely yet compassionate, principled yet open to new perspectives.”

Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis said that with Cummings’ death, Americans “have lost a great leader at a time of crisis in our democracy.”

“When this nation needed him most, he became a moral voice ‘crying in the wilderness,’ and his words and actions called a reluctant nation to conscience,” the Georgia Democrat said in a statement.

Pelosi pays tribute to Cummings, ‘a leader of towering character and integrity’

Cummings’ career spanned decades in Maryland politics. He rose through the ranks of the Maryland House of Delegates before winning his congressional seat in a special election in 1996 to replace former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who left to lead the NAACP.

By 2016, Cummings was the senior Democrat on the House Benghazi Committee, which he said was “nothing more than a taxpayer-funded effort to bring harm to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”

Throughout his career, Cummings used his fiery voice to highlight the struggles and needs of inner-city residents. He believed in much-debated approaches to help the poor and addicted, such as needle exchange programs to reduce the spread of AIDS.

A key figure in the Trump impeachment inquiry , Cummings had hoped to return to Congress within about a week after a medical procedure for which he didn’t offer details. He’d previously been treated for heart and knee issues.

Cummings’ committee, authorized to investigate virtually any part of the federal government, is one of three conducting the House impeachment probe of Trump. Cummings was among the three chairmen to sign a letter seeking documents into whether Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate the family of Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden, the former vice president. The committees have issued subpoenas of witnesses after the Trump administration’s refusal to cooperate with the impeachment probe and have jointly been meeting behind closed doors to hear testimony.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a veteran Democrat from New York, will for now take over leadership of the House oversight committee, according to a senior Democratic leadership aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the decision publicly.

Separately, Cummings led an effort to gain access to Trump’s financial records. His committee subpoenaed records from Mazars USA, an accounting firm that provided services to Trump. The panel demanded documents from 2011 to 2018 as it probed Trump’s reporting of his finances and potential conflicts of interest. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled the records must be turned over.

Cummings’ office said he died early Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and constituents began mourning soon after.

His widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, chairwoman of Maryland’s Democratic Party, said in a statement: “He worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity and that our nation’s diversity was our promise, not our problem.”

Cummings was born Jan. 18, 1951. In grade school, a counselor told Cummings he was too slow to learn and spoke poorly, and would never fulfill his dream of becoming a lawyer.

“I was devastated,” Cummings told The Associated Press in 1996, shortly before winning his seat in Congress. “My whole life changed. I became very determined.”

Senator Ben Cardin

✔@SenatorCardin

· 6h

Replying to @SenatorCardin

I have lost a friend and a colleague. The death of Chairman Cummings leaves an irreplaceable void in our hearts, in our Maryland and in our Congress. Quite possibly no elected official mattered so much to his constituents.

Senator Ben Cardin

✔@SenatorCardin

.@RepCummings guaranteed a voice to so many who would otherwise not have one, and stood as a symbol for the heights one could reach if they paid no mind to obstacles, naysayers and hate. His commitment to his city and country was unwavering, as will be my lasting respect for him.

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It steeled Cummings to prove that counselor wrong. He became not only a lawyer, but one of the most powerful orators in the statehouse, where he entered office in 1983. He rose to become the first black House speaker pro tem. He would begin his comments slowly, developing his theme and raising the emotional heat until it became like a sermon from the pulpit.

Cummings was quick to note the differences between Congress and the Maryland General Assembly, which has long been controlled by Democrats.

“After coming from the state where, basically, you had a lot of people working together, it’s clear that the lines are drawn here,” Cummings said shortly after entering Congress in 1996.

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Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., (Oct. 17, 2019) was the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Cummings led multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings. He also advocated for the poor in his black-majority district, (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (Source: Patrick Semansky)

Cummings began his long push for civil rights at age 11, when he helped integrate a swimming pool in Baltimore. This year, during a speech to the American Bar Association in April, Cummings recalled how he and other black children who were barred from the pool organized protests with help from their recreation leader and the NAACP.

Every day for a week, when the children tried to get into the pool, they were spit upon, threatened and called names, Cummings said; he said he was cut by a bottle thrown from an angry crowd.

“The experience transformed my entire life,” he said.

While serving in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1983 to 1996, Cummings pushed for a ban on alcohol and tobacco ads on inner-city billboards in Baltimore, leading to the first such prohibition in a large U.S. city.

Cummings then chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2003 to 2004, employing a hard-charging, explore-every-option style to put the group in the national spotlight.

He cruised to big victories in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, which had elected Maryland’s first black congressman, Parren Mitchell, in 1970.

In 2015, when the death of black Baltimore resident Freddie Gray sparked the worst riots the city had seen in decades, Cummings was in the streets, carrying a bullhorn and urging crowds to go home and respect a curfew. He spoke at Gray’s funeral, asking lawmakers in the church to stand up to show Gray’s mother they would seek justice.

“I want justice, oceans of it. I want fairness, rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want,” Cummings said, quoting from the Bible.

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Witte reported from Annapolis. Associated Press Writer Alan Fram contributed from Washington.

(KHON2) Suspect charged after allegedly shooting two men in Kalihi

Posted on October 17, 2019 by RMC

(Source: KHON 2)

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A man arrested in connection with a deadly shooting that happened on Monday, October 14, has been charged.

It happened in the Kalihi Valley Housing area.

Leri Robert turned himself in later that day after he allegedly shot two men. One man was shot in the leg, but refused treatment. The other was taken to the hospital in critical condition where he died.

He was later charged on Wednesday, October 16, for attempted murder in the first degree, and murder in the second degree, attempted murder in the second, and two firearms offenses at 3:12 p.m.

His bail is set at $1,000,000