It’s a busy time for Hawaii lawmakers, but they spent a few hours Monday night showcasing their hidden talents in a show called Capitol Idol.
The show, which plays off Fox’s American Idol, featured members of the Senate, House and executive branch singing and dancing for individual and team trophies.
In addition to bragging rights, the event raised nearly $1,800 for Hawaii Foodbank.
The most recent fuel spill at the Red Hill underground fuel storage facility took a backseat Friday when Deputy Health Director Gary Gill announced to a joint briefing of House and Senate lawmakers that the historical impact of past spills may be greater than initially thought.
A decade before 27,000 gallons of jet fuel spilled from the Red Hill fuel storage facility, the state agency wanted to know if any leak detection systems were in place.
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The Hawaii Senate is having an informational briefing on the fuel leak at Red Hill on Friday at 1 p.m.
Some Hawaii lawmakers are calling a tour of the military underground fuel storage facility at Red hill "spooky."
Sen. Mike Gabbard says lawmakers toured Tank #5 where 27,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked back in January.
The Navy says that tank had just been put back into operation.
"We were very impressed with how open the Navy was in terms of transparency. They're not trying to hide anything," said Gabbard.
Concern over dozens of leaks at the Red Hill fuel storage facility in Halawa Heights prompted the Department of Health to write a letter to the U.S. Navy on Oct. 10, 2003 that demanded a leak detection system for each of the 20 tanks buried underground. The letter was written more than a decade before a leak of 27,000 gallons of jet fuel was detected Jan. 13 at tank No. 5.
It was a stain on a concrete wall that led the military to a problem with its underground storage fuel tanks at Red Hill.
Lawmakers are starting to ask questions with the recent disclosure that the Navy failed to report that for the first time low levels of lead were discovered in one of its Pearl Harbor wells.
Residents and dignitaries gathered together for the grand opening of the new Social Security Administration office in Kapolei, it’s right next to the library.
“To really complete the Second City, we need to provide great housing, jobs, but most importantly, services to the people so they don’t have to drive all the way into town. So this allows them to get the help they need for any of their social security needs,” Honolulu Councilmember Kymberly Pine said.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -
A law designed to provide incentives and ease the minds of electric vehicle owners isn't meeting its expectations because there's no enforcement to ensure it works. Act 89 was signed into law last April and went into effect immediately. It requires all parking lots with more than a hundred spaces to provide an electric vehicle charging station and a designated stall.
It’s one of the biggest complaints the state received from people who drive electric vehicles: others parking in their charging stations when they’re not supposed to.
But police are now cracking down on violators.
State Sen. Mike Gabbard, (D) Kapolei, Makakilo, parks his Nissan Leaf in this electric vehicle stall in Kapolei. But he remembers an incident months earlier when he ran into a small problem.
“I was kind of running low on juice and I live close by, but I needed to get a charge but spaces were being used but they weren’t EV’s,” Sen. Gabbard said.
