Perry and Price : News Bits
News-bit for Tuesday, March 4, 2008:
National:
HOUSTON, Tx (KSSK): Barack Obama approaches today's voting in four states as a chance to drive rival Hillary Clinton out of the Democratic presidential contest for good.
"Don't expect that to happen. Here local campaign manager, Senator Hanabusa predicted that she would go to the National convention with the nomination."
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): Thursday is the day by which the House and Senate must exchange their proposed legislation. If they don't, they are dead for the year.
"The Judicial retirement bill is biggest issue at the Square Building. It would lift the mandatory age for retirement from 70 to 80. It has more to do with the Governor's appointment of a Supreme court Judge. In this case the Chief Justice."
News-bit for Monday, March 3, 2008:
National:
NEW YORK (AP) (KSSK): A National Sleep Foundation survey of 1,000 speople found paarticipants average 6 hours and 40 minutes of sleep a night on weeknight, even though people estimated they'd need about 45-minutes more to be at their best.
"Let's face it, you need to do your best at work even if you are not 100 %, or missed out on a full night sleep. It's part of the deal, so don't use this survey as an excuse to goof off. You are incharge of sleeping not your employeer."
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): The number of Hawaii Teachers considered below federal standards has dropped. About 19-percent of Hawaii teachers have been designated as "not highly qualified" in their subjects. That's down from 48- percent at the beginning of the school year. The No Chid Left Behind act requires that teachers meet national qualification standards.
"This is one of those stories that mislead the public. 'Not highly qualified' does not mean the teachers are not qualified to teach certain subjects. It's one of the problems of meeting national standards. If you don't show progress to achieving the federal standard they withold federal funding. In this case $13-million. There is not where in the U.S. Constitution that says the federal government is in the public education business. It's true; however, if you want the federal money, you must conform to the standard. Unfunded mandated programs and mystical national standards are one of the problems with public education these days."
News-bit for Thursday, February 28, 2008:
National:
SAN FRANCISO, Cali. (KSSK): The Vallejo City Council is dealing with declining revenues and balloning employee expenses. Members plan to vote today on whether to follow the city manager's recommendation to file for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy protection. That would allow city officials to negotiate with its creditors.
"This should be a wake-up for the City & Country of Honolulu. You just can't spend more than you make forever."
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): Fired Hawaiian Telcom CEO ichael Ruley is getting a big cash send-off. He will be paided about $1.3 million undeer a severance agreement. The former CEO also is to be paid nearly $24,000 a month for consulting services over the next six months.
"It's really not a bad deal for a CEO to get fired for being incompetent anymore is it?"
News-bit for Wednesday, February 27, 2008:
National:
CAPITOL HILL (KSSK): Federal Reswerve Chair Ben Bernanke is signaling that another interest-rate cut is in the works to steady the economy. Bernanke warned Congress today that the nation is in for a period of sluggish business growth.
"How come economics is such a dismal science? No one every seems to be happy about the money being made around the country. In professional sports athletes are making millions of dollars; in Hollywood actors are making millions of dollars; in college football even coaches are making millions of dollars. What's all the grumbling about?"
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): The state's largest doctor organization, Hawaii Medical Association, is trying to convince lawmakers to change medical liability law to reduce the state's a doctor shortage. They are trying to get the House Judiciary Committee to hear the tort reform bills. Similar efforts in the Senate have failed.
"Well if the lawmakers won't listen to HMSA, the people who hold your well-being in the palm of their hand, there is really no hope they will listen to concerned residents. We don't even have legal access to needles and other painful procedures. What's that one they have to detect colon cancer. That might make them think twice about hearing the tort reform bills."
News-bit for Tuesday, February 26, 2008:
(Inter)National:
IRAN, United Nations (KSSK): The UN nuclear agency presented documents Monday that diplomats said indicate Iran may have focused on a nuclear weapons program after 2003---the year that a U.S. intelligence report says such work stopped.
"Delegates to the IAEA dismissed the information show cased by the body as forgeries. Say no more."
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): The state Senate Ways and Means committee has approved the governor's proposal for the state to buy the Turtle Bay Property to save it from further development...The governor was out of town and unavailable for comment.
"Oh Wow! When the governor's people hear the news they may have a disbelief attack. How often has that happened?"
News-bit for Monday, February 25, 2008:
(Inter)National:
KOSOVSKA, Mitrovica, Kosoyo (KSSK): Serb protesters have rallied against Kosovo's independence in the new nations tense north today. The banners read, "KOSOVO IS SERBIA." the also burned European Union flags. the protest have become a daily occurrence.
"Have to assume that democracy isn't very popular or efficient form of government. What were they before they became a democracy?
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): The department of Hawaiian Home Lands is ordering a private volunteer group to remove two portable toilets from South Point land it owns. They say they never wanted to install toilets at South Point because it doesn't want to encourage visitors to the area, which is private property.
"Sounds like a new kind of Aloha Spirit eh? Why not just fence the property and let loose some killer dogs."
News-bit for Thursday, February 21, 2008:
National:
SERBIA, (KSSK): Serb protestors broke into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade and set the building on fire today. They are angry America sided with Kosovo's weekend declaration of independence. Here we go again. Serbs consider Kosovo to be their religious heartland and are irate about Kosovo's secession.
"Another war breaking out because of the location of a religious heartland." Maybe it's time to forget about establishing Religious Heartlands. They always seem to cause trouble later on.
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann will deliver the State of the City address today,.it will be the mayor's 4th State of the City Address before members of the Honolulu City Council, the state legislature, and military business and community leaders. It begins at 10 am, KSSK will carry the speech live.
"Hopefully it will be a short message since we are short of revenue this year." A short speech is a good speech.
News-bit for Wednesday, February 20, 2008:
National:
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (KSSK): Space Shuttle Atlantis and its crew are back home after a smooth landing in near-perfect weather this morning . That wraps up a two-week, 5 million-mile journey highlighted by the successful delivery of a new space station lab.
"If things go according to the script, maybe we'll be able to shoot it down from Barking Sands on Kauai in 20-years.
State:
HONOLULU, HI (KSSK): Bad weather north of the Hawaiian Islands are causing rough seas, which may be a problem for the USS Lake Erie, a Pearl Harbor based cruiser armed with two SM-3 missiles who have been ordered to shoot down the dead spy satellite falling from the sky.
"Not a very awesome weapon that can only be fired accurately if the weather is perfect. In wartime, the weather is never perfect is it?"
