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Gannett has backed off its earlier demand and agreed to extend its current labor contracts beyond their June 9 expiration while negotiations continue, according to a mention at the end of the "business briefs" in yesterday's Star-Bulletin."What (the company) did was solidify the evergreen clause by signing an extension to the contract that will keep the contract in force while we're negotiating it," Cahill said. "It's an ongoing extension which either party can cancel with 30 days' notice."Pacific Business News also reported yesterday on the talks at the Advertiser, adding details:
Gannett's negotiator, John Jaske, was brought in from Virginia to negotiate the contracts, which will affect 700 union employees belonging to the Hawaii Newspaper Guild, Honolulu Typographical Union, Graphic Communications International Unions 413N and 501, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the ILWU.I haven't seen any mention of the contract talks in the Advertiser.
The Advertiser did report this in its "breaking news/p.m. updates" online section yesterday: "C.S. Wo opens Z-Interiors."
"It must be a very slow news day," says the reader who passed the item on to me.
I can't deal with the cat situation yet, so you'll have to wait for an update. Apologies.
I read the Star-Bulletin last week, so I know that Windward Community College has a new provost."Angela Meixell has been appointed provost of Windward Community College after serving as interim provost for the past two years," the SB reported. The Board of Regents approved the appointment, the brief item noted.
So I was surprised to find out that the appointment approved by the Regents expires in December. Even after this appointment, Meixell is one of those administrators who have already been notified that they will be terminated at the end of the year unless El Presidente decides they are worthy. The Advertiser, by the way, did report this nuance, although without noting its significance.
Does this make any sense? A major executive search leads to this appointment, and it may all be repeated, with taxpayers footing the bill, in six months? And even if Meixel is eventually asked to remain, she and others in the same position are subjected to months of slow administrative torture while they await word on their fate? Is this the way to develop loyalty and commitment to the institution? I doubt it.
Anson Chong. Now there's a name that would not have occurred to me as a potential candidate for governor. But there is was on Tuesday morning, an unsolicited email address to Hawaii Democrats from a faceless group identified as "Citizens to Elect Anson Chong Governor." The only contact for the group is Anson's email address.
Our scan of the Hawai'i community has turned up one person who COULD sweep Lingle away and offer a TRUE change of direction for the good people of Hawai'i. He has the background, as a former State Legislator, he is Native Hawaiian, he is intelligent, well-spoken, and comes out of left field, to take the Republicans to task. The man we offer as THE most congenial, knowledgable, and charismatic candidate is Anson Chong, currently a political science and economics lecturer at University of Hawai'i."Knowledgable?" I don't know. But at least one part of this is accurate--he "comes out of left field."
On the home front, we're trying very hard not to obsess, but it's a losing battle. Lizzie hasn't been home since Sunday night, as far as we know. But yesterday we at least figured out where she's been hanging out.
After days of checking the regular spots across the street, I extended the search grid across the stream that's behind the row of home below us. The stream bed is cut quite deep into the rocks, twenty feet or more deep in some places. Not hospitable to people, but apparently not a problem for a determined cat. On the other side of the stream is a small single-family condominium development called Kaaawa Park Lane. And at the very top of Kaaawa Park Lane, where homes border on jungle, there are several homes with large yards. One is empty and undergoing renovations. And folks up there have seen Lizzie through the week. She was spotted on the lanai of one home, and she visited the construction site. Every one agrees--she's been around. A regular visitor.
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Lizzie's playground
This area is directly across the stream from the houses where I've retrieved Ms. Lizzie before. So we see her heading for the houses across the street, but she keeps going, trots down through the stream bed and up the other side to a wide-open cat playground.So now the friendly folks up there are watching for us, and are armed with our cell & home phone numbers. If Ms. Lizzie doesn't show up here, hopefully she'll make friendly with them up there. What happens then is another source of anxiety. I'm for kitty valium. But I don't want to get ahead of our current circumstance, which is that she's still missing.
I heard about Indigenous Media from a friend this week. An interesting project. A statement by Mililani Trask appears in the current news.Yesterday's protest at the city council against continued tax breaks for Hawaii hotels, led by hotel workers, was a breath of fresh air. A series of hotel workers testified, and it was clear that tax credits are no longer a vague and distant technical term. They understand that if hotels aren't paying taxes, then their employees will have to pay more to make up the difference. Making that link is so important, and so rare, in the general public. Local 5 leader Eric Gill deserves a lot of credit, in my book at least, for giving his members a broader understanding and perspective.
The Advertiser has a story by Robbie Dingeman, but it's buried in the online edition among other local news. No link on the main page. It's often like that when labor union activities are involved.
It was 15 years ago, on June 6, 1987, that we left our old apartment in Kahala, climbed into the car, and headed out, determined to return with a kitten.
We succeeded, and brought home Ms. Kua from a pet store in Kalihi. That's her, on the left, getting cleaned up by Miki, who was then less than a year old herself.
Miki is still with us. Kua isn't. But we still have vivid memories of our second calico.
Kua & Miki
Lizzie still absent. We're getting concerned, but have leads.
More on the recent Maui judicial appointment mentioned here on Monday. I understand there was fierce lobbying of Gov. Cayetano by supporters and opponents of Maui Prosecuting Attorney Richard T. Bissen, Jr., who was one of the nominees for the position. But Cayetano was miffed because someone who has held several positions in his administration was an applicant for the position but was not put on the short list of nominees by the Judicial Selection Commission, despite what Cayetano saw as strong qualifications. In the end, Cayetano expressed his apparent displeasure by failing to make the appointment and turning it back to the Commission.Cayetano's explanation to people who asked was "I forgot to fill the position." However, I'm told he was getting faxes and letters right up to the last minute furiously lobbying pro and con on the Maui prosecutor, so it would have been hard to "forget."
From the National Writers Union, this info on a bill to give collective bargaining rights to freelance writers:
On May 3, Rep. John Conyers (D) and Rep. Chris Cannon (R) introduced HR 4643, the Freelance Writers and Artists Protection Act of 2002. This act, if passed, will fulfill the union's long term goals of modifying current anti-trust laws to allow collective bargaining and a greater balance of power between freelancers and media giants. The bill came about through the joint efforts of the NWU, our sister union the Graphic Artists Guild (UAW 3030), and our international, the United Auto Workers (UAW).Thanks to the lobbying of union activists, the bill is already gaining support on capital hill--more than 20 representatives have already expressed interest in co-signing, including Rep. Barney Frank, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and Rep. James McGovern, among others.
You can check the status of this bill on Thomas, the Library of Congress Internet site.
It's an upsetting week here in Kaaawa. Ms. Lizzie has gone missing again. It isn't her longest absence, but its been a couple of days since she's been home. Over the last couple of months, we've wavered between forcing her to stay in the house, and letting her go out so that she wouldn't see returning as aversive. It's been very hard to find the "best" approach with Lizzie. Right now, we're nervously awaiting her return.
It was a day for interesting reader feedback on several recent items.Regarding Gannett's Hawaii.com web site, which was "reintroduced" with lots of fanfare last week:
Having looked at it for a couple of days, I have no idea what the site is really for. Is it a travel agent? Then why is the booking engine so clumsy and lame? Is it a news site? Then why bury the links at the bottom of an already hyper-busy layout? Frankly, it looks to me like Gannet and Stephens let some harebrained Web designer have his way with the site or it was designed by a committee of executives. The end result is virtually unreadable.I vote for the "committee of executives" explanation.
And then a reader comment on Jim Dooley's story on the investigation of airport contracts:
The thing I found interesting about Dooley's piece was that the State denied Dooley's FOIA request, even though the UIPA provides that government purchasing information shall be available notwithstanding the exceptions to non-disclosure (except for confidential commercial and financial information). Also, the procurement office administrative rules provide the same (bid file is open after bid opening).Very interesting.
We've noticed an image revolution underway in one small segment of the supermarket shelves. It appears that you can no longer purchase prunes. Apparently the word wasn't marketable enough. Now you get "dried plums". Same product, new name. Part of a marketing driven rewrite of the language.But dried plums? Aren't we talking crack seed? I guess that's not something well known enough on the mainland to upset the marketing cart.
I also just noticed an April 27 press release from the governor's office concerning two judicial appointments. After announcing the appointment of District Judge Marcia J. Waldorf to a spot in First Circuit Court, the release continues:
The Governor also released the list of qualified applicants sent to him by the Judicial Selection Commission for the vacancy in the Circuit Court of the Second Circuit. Because the Governor did not fill the vacancy, the Judicial Selection Commission appointed Maui attorney Joel E. August to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Artemio Baxa.So what's the story here? Why didn't the governor make this appointment? Is this the equivalent of allowing a bill to become law without the gov's signature? Did he reject all of the nominees forwarded by the Judicial Selection Commission? Was he holding out for a candidate who didn't make the initial list? It feels like there's something interesting hidden between the lines of this bland release.
As promised, week #5 in the lives of Cybelle's kittens is now chronicled. With the uncertainty caused by the appearance of the yellow stray, and the sudden appearance of two curious toddlers, I'm afraid that our other cats are a bit unsettled.
One interesting item of cat behavior. Leo heads for the top of the kitchen cabinets every time he sees the yellow cat come begging. But this appearance of a dominant male has also dramatically reduced Leo's inappropriate marking of various parts of the house. I'm not quite sure how this works out, but we noticed the change right away. It is, after all, something you do notice.
The kittens are out of the closet.
It's just really nice to get up on Sunday morning and read a good story by Jim Dooley. His piece today on state airport contracts is a great example of the value of a negative answer. His request for contract records was denied, but the denial revealed an ongoing criminal investigation. Aha!
This morning is a brunch in Waikiki honoring Kaaawa's recently retired postmaster, Jarrett Pang. You know your community is the right size when your local postmaster is a focal point of the neighborhood, known and relied on by all. That's certainly one of the things that makes Kaaawa such a nice place to live, and worth the commute.
Photo from the Maryknoll H.S.
Class of 1959 web site
Watch for another kitten update, hopefully late today.
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