News Archive for June, 2009

KPT residents ask for more say

June 22nd, 2009

By Mary Vorsino
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Kuhio Park Terrace residents want more say in a planned redevelopment of the public housing project.
At a Hawai’i Public Housing Authority board meeting last week, the residents said they wanted to be involved in the process of choosing a developer for the project and defining the terms of the redevelopment.
“We need [...]

Church people worthy of regular coverage

April 11th, 2009

By Mary Adamski
Parking lots were crowded this week outside hotels where Passover Seder meals drew hundreds of members of the island Jewish community. The same is true today at Kapiolani Park, where the Thai community hosts a New Year festival rooted in Buddhist observance of Buddha’s birth. And thousands of members of the majority religion [...]

Immigration raids protested

April 2nd, 2009

Church leaders say federal officers violating civil rights during searches
By Eloise Aguiar, Advertiser Staff Writer
Clergy from Maui and O’ahu yesterday presented a letter of protest to the office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over what they say are overly aggressive tactics used to find illegal residents.
The group said it supports American laws concerning illegal entry [...]

Group decries treatment of migrants

April 2nd, 2009

A group of religious leaders from Maui and Oahu held a demonstration in Honolulu to deliver a letter asking President Barack Obama for immigration reform.
Standing near the building that houses U.S. immigration officials on Ala Moana Boulevard yesterday, some in the group of 16 people complained of alleged racial profiling by Maui police and a [...]

‘Know your rights’ campaign

March 28th, 2009

Immigration crackdown leads to movement
By ILIMA LOOMIS Staff Writer

KAHULUI - Maui’s Hispanic community and local churches are organizing a “know your rights” campaign in the face of a crackdown by federal immigration officials on undocumented immigrants.
Community leaders said there has been a significant increase in raids on businesses and searches of private homes by U.S. [...]

FACE Summit Addresses Maui’s Affordable Housing Challenges

March 23rd, 2009

Cornelia Soberano attends Good Shepard Church in Wailuku, and is a founding member of the Maui Filipino Working Group that advocates for social justice. Like many of the more than 150 people attending the Faith Action for Community Equity Maui (FACE) of Maui Affordable Housing Summit, she hoped to leave better informed and able to [...]

FACE Health Care Summit II

March 13th, 2009

About a hundred and thirty people braved stormy weather to hear from Representative Neil Abercrombie, Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, Senator Rosalyn Baker, House Speaker Calvin Say, and Representative John Mizuno talk about health care issues facing our State. We also heard from Mr. Joshua Wisch (Representative Mazie Hirono’s Field Service Director), Dr. Kenneth Fink, Med-Quest Division Administrator (representing Lillian Koller), Daniel Kerwin from Unite Here, Local 5 and Mr. Richard Bettini, CEO of the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.

Transparency needed in Medicaid contracts

March 10th, 2009

Opinion
It’s hard to argue with the wisdom of managed care, at least in theory, as a means of improving efficiency and passing on some of the savings in the form of better health coverage for the clients.
But translating theory into practice is what counts, and the first operational month of the Quest Expanded Access (QExA) [...]

Medicaid breakdown

March 8th, 2009

Well-intentioned but plagued with problems, Hawaii’s new Quest Expanded Access program is failing those who need it the most
By Bob Nakata, Dana Alonzo-Howeth Arleen Jouxson-Meyers, May Akamine
Taking care of and advocating for the rights of Hawaii’s most vulnerable population — the aged, blind and disabled (ABD) — requires a tremendous amount of patience and optimism. [...]

Isles’ new Medicaid plan off to bad start

February 27th, 2009

34,750 calls made in 3 weeks involving QExA problems, confusion
By Greg Wiles
Advertiser Staff Writer
Administrators heading the state’s new Quest Expanded Access program admitted the new system got off to a rocky start this month, but that the problems were to be expected and were being fixed.
“Some of this is inevitable,” said Dr. Kenneth Fink, state [...]