Honolulu Civil Beat

civilbeat.com — There might not have been one singular take-away line from Wednesday night's mayoral debate a la the "Dan Inouye is out of touch" doozy that carried the Honolulu news cycle for days after the first time Ben Cayetano, Kirk Caldwell and Peter Carlisle got together.

civilbeat.com — Whether the shooting death of Kollin Elderts on Nov. 5 by a federal agent in town for APEC was justified isn't the only question to be answered in upcoming Honolulu Circuit Court proceedings. At stake too, and much sooner than any verdict, is transparency in the courthouse and whether people have a right to inspect records that are widely regarded as public.

civilbeat.com — As with anything related to the Honolulu's rail plan, this week's ceremonial groundbreaking and blessing comes with controversy. The anti-rail camp is preparing to show up and picket the ceremony. Leading the charge are nonprofit groups like the League of Women Voters and persistent rail critic Panos Prevedouros, who lost last year's special election to Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle after a previous failed run against former Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

civilbeat.com — Honolulu's homeless problem is so troublesome that Mayor Peter Carlisle says it's worse than a rat infestation. "You don't want to make analogies that sound inhumane, but when you have, having cleaned up one of the big homeless (camps) on the Waianae Coast, you would have been better off to have a rat infestation," Carlisle said during an editorial board meeting at Civil Beat headquarters last week.

civilbeat.com — No more Mr. Nice Guys. Forget ginned-up indignity about disrespecting Hawaii's senior senator. On the eve of the first televised debate in the 2012 mayoral campaign, the Pacific Resource Partnership on Wednesday launched a two-pronged attack against anti-rail candidate Ben Cayetano.

tumblr.com — A pro-rail construction group has new poll results it says show growing support for the project and waning support for anti-rail mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano. Pacific Resource Partnership released the poll results today. Likely voters were asked "Now as you may know, a few years ago voters approved the Honolulu Rail Transit project connecting East Kapolei with Ala Moana Center in Honolulu.

civilbeat.com — Candidates running as Democrats in Hawaii this year must pay $500 a minute to address party delegates at the annual convention this week. So far, only one contender - U.S. Senate candidate Mazie Hirono - has accepted the fee. She'll speak for eight minutes Saturday at the Sheraton Waikiki, setting her back $4,000.

tumblr.com — Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Karen Ahn has told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and other local media outlets that they can fight to keep certain records open to the public in a case involving the shooting death of Kailua resident Kollin Elderts at a Waikiki McDonalds. Elderts, 23, was killed by Christopher Deedy, a 28-year-old U.S.

civilbeat.com — State officials on Tuesday granted the developer of a proposed 12,000 home master-planned community in Ewa extra time to file legal documents, pushing back what was supposed to be a major decision on the controversial development's fate. The nine-member Land Use Commission voted in favor of the extension with with one dissenting vote - Thomas Contrades from Kauai.

tumblr.com — No more love for Dog? Our Entertainment blog reports that Hawaii-based Duane "Dog" Chapman's "Dog the Bounty Hunter" series has been canceled by the A&E cable network after eight seasons. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a network spokesman confirmed the cancellation on Monday.

civilbeat.com — Hawaii's elections can move ahead as planned under political boundaries that exclude nonresident military personnel, a panel of federal judges ruled Tuesday. The court denied a preliminary injunction seeking to toss out the redistricting plan approved in March by the state Reapportionment Commission.

civilbeat.com — Editor's Note: This is the second in a three-part series on Japanese real estate investor Genshiro Kawamoto and the controversy he's generating along Kahala Avenue. Part 1: Land Barren: Japanese Billionaire Is Raising Eyebrows, Razing Houses Hawaii has known of Genshiro Kawamoto for nearly a quarter century now, but still little is known about the famously reclusive real estate mogul.

civilbeat.com — It's baaaack. The so-called "birther" movement did not die off completely when President Barack Obama placed his "long-form" birth certificate on the White House website in April 2011. That action, you may recall, came after gazillionaire Donald Trump (who was flirting with a GOP presidential run) raised the issue.

tumblr.com — A final decision by the state Land Use Commission in the Hoopili case is set for Tuesday. However, D.R. Horton, the project developer, has requested a two-week extension to file additional documents laying out its argument for why the commissioners are permitted to reclassify important ag land for urban development.

civilbeat.com — Hawaii's historic preservation agency was given more than $600,000 by the Legislature in the past year to beef up staff in order to avoid losing its federal certification. But the State Historic Preservation Division didn't spend any of that money on new hires.