It’s the last Sunday in February and time to “flASHback” on the month’s news that amused and confused:
>> COVID vaccinations were supposed to solve Hawaii’s economic woes, but Gov. David Ige is noncommittal on allowing vaccinated tourists to skip the state quarantine. He’s not comfortable welcoming visitors until they’ve been preserved in formaldehyde.
>> Despite staffers being vaccinated, the state is still refusing to open unemployment offices to thousands of laid-off workers who can’t get through online or by phone. To compromise, the Labor Department offered a supplemental phone line: 1-800-AINOKEA.
>> Ige’s economic development director, Mike McCartney, said the state’s plan to bring Hawaii’s economy out of the pandemic is to “go slow to go fast.” In other words, taking the scenic route to nowhere.
>> After bars were shut in the pandemic and restaurants incapacitated with restrictions, bills in the Legislature proposed to increase taxes on the alcoholic and sugary beverages they’re not allowed to sell. It’s a fiscal theory called “Kick ’Em When They’re Down.”
>> House and Senate bills would force the Department of Education to use federal stimulus money to pay teachers or not spend it at all, even though schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto says the funds are more needed to help students who have fallen behind. Our keiki come first — except when teachers outbid them on campaign donations.
>> House Speaker Scott Saiki is forming a working group to develop a new management structure for Mauna Kea. The panel would include Native Hawaiians, Mauna Kea observatory and University of Hawaii representatives, and a UFC referee.
>> State Rep. Sharon Har was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after being seen driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street near Beretania and Piikoi. More proof that our seat of government is a bar stool.
>> Plans to build a new Aloha Stadium while also redeveloping the area around it for housing, retail and hotels have been broken into two phases. Phase 1 is to make impossible promises; Phase 2 is to break them.
>> Former Councilman Joey Manahan, who for eight years helped preside over Oahu rail’s deep dive into red ink, was handed a $120,000-a-year executive job by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation. In our city, failure is its own reward.
>> U.S. Sen Brian Schatz became chairman of a key transportation subcommittee but said it’s up to new Mayor Rick Blangiardi and rail CEO Lori Kahikina to find $2 billion to cover the rail deficit. Blangiardi demurred, telling the senator, “It’s about you.”
>> Local Republican Chairwoman Shirlene DelaCruz Ostrov resigned after unauthorized tweets were posted on the party’s Twitter account defending supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory. The Hawaii GOP needs a support group called “DramAthonAnon.”
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
Correction: The quote of the month attributed to Sen. Glenn Wakai on fixing Hawaii’s economy in an earlier version of this column was from April 2020, not February 2021, as erroneously reported.
