i L i n d . n e t

What do you do when you wake up to find the world’s financial system continuing to crumble? I guess you look at the positive side. Events are adding to the probability of an Obama victory in November as the electoral map appears to be swinging towards the Democrats. It’s a good bet that bad news [...]

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Circuit Court Judge Joel August has ordered Attorney General Mark Bennett and Commerce and Consumer Affairs director Larry Reifurth to turn over a copy of a previously secret legal opinion for court review.
The order came in a legal challenge brought by Akaku: Maui Community Television, represented by Maui attorney Lance Collins.
In a September 29 [...]

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I just noticed an important opinion issued by the Office of Information Practices back in July (Opinion 2008-2).
The opinion, prompted by questions concerning Honolulu’s Mass Transit Technical Expert Panel, came to a two-part conclusion.
First, according to OIP, a board created by resolution (rather than state statute or county ordinance) is generally not subject to the [...]

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Holly Green, who not too many years ago served as staff to the Honolulu Community-Media Council, pleaded guilty to 47 felony counts of theft and forgery in state court this week, the Star-Bulletin reports. Green was charged with stealing more than $329,000 from former Advertiser publisher Thurston Twigg-Smith. The brief non-bylined story doesn’t mention [...]

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Reading through the list of stories receiving awards from SPJ last night is a reminder that there’s a lot of good reporting going on here despite the woes of the news industry.
Along that same line of thought, Liz Donovan’s Informaniac/Behind the News blog (one of those on my regular visit list) points to one assessment [...]

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It finally did rain overnight, a slow, steady rain that over the course of several hours gave the yard a pretty good soaking.
Derrick DePledge has a good follow-up this morning on the state’s claim of “attorney-client privilege” and “executive privilege” to justify the continued withholding of certain internal records concerning the decision to exempt the [...]

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In the midst of last year’s questioning about the extortion case involving former Lingle chief of staff Bob Awana, I filed a Freedom of Information Request with the U.S. Department of Justice. Most people will recall Awana, who resigned his post after it became known that he had been the victim of a blackmail attempt [...]

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Credit Gannett’s Honolulu Advertiser for following through with legal action to force the University of Hawaii to disclose the list of those who traveled to the Sugar Bowl at public expense.
UH did belatedly respond, but the list actually released fell short of full disclosure, with 45 names (over 8 % of the total) blacked out [...]

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