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Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Oahu babysitter gets 20 years for death of infant in her care
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Anna Lobisch, mother of Abigail Lobisch, makes a statement after the sentence is announced for Dixie Denise Villa in the circuit courtroom of judge Faauga To 'oto 'o. 1 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Anna Lobisch, mother of Abigail Lobisch, makes a statement after the sentence is announced for Dixie Denise Villa in the circuit courtroom of judge Faauga To 'oto 'o. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Former Navy housewife Dixie Denise Villa, who appeared for sentencing in a white prison jumpsuit, did not address the court at the advice of counsel because she plans to appeal the case. She is seen departing after sentencing. 2 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Former Navy housewife Dixie Denise Villa, who appeared for sentencing in a white prison jumpsuit, did not address the court at the advice of counsel because she plans to appeal the case. She is seen departing after sentencing. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Anna Lobisch, mother of Abigail Lobisch, reacts today as the sentence is announced for Dixie Denise Villa in the courtroom of judge Faauga To 'oto 'o. 3 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Anna Lobisch, mother of Abigail Lobisch, reacts today as the sentence is announced for Dixie Denise Villa in the courtroom of judge Faauga To 'oto 'o. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Anna Lobisch, mother of Abigail Lobisch, makes a statement after the sentence is announced for Dixie Denise Villa in the circuit courtroom of judge Faauga To 'oto 'o. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Former Navy housewife Dixie Denise Villa, who appeared for sentencing in a white prison jumpsuit, did not address the court at the advice of counsel because she plans to appeal the case. She is seen departing after sentencing. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Anna Lobisch, mother of Abigail Lobisch, reacts today as the sentence is announced for Dixie Denise Villa in the courtroom of judge Faauga To 'oto 'o. The Oahu babysitter who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of a 7-month-old girl under her care in 2019 was sentenced today to 20 years in prison. Judge Fa 'auuga To 'oto 'o sentenced Dixie Denise Villa this morning in First Circuit Court after a jury found her guilty as charged on Nov. 15 for the manslaughter of Abigail Lobisch, who died on Feb. 23, 2019, of an overdose of the active ingredient in Benadryl. The former Navy housewife, who appeared for sentencing in a white prison jumpsuit, did not address the court at the advice of counsel because she plans to appeal the case. Villa remained stoic as the judge sentenced her. Megan Kau, Villa's attorney, asked the court for 10 years' probation since she has no recent convictions and has two minor children. But the judge said he has no choice but 20 years of imprisonment based on the medical records in the case, including the amount of Benadryl found in the baby's blood. Anna Lobisch, the baby's mother, tearfully told the judge that her child was 'only 7 months old when she was cruelly taken from this world.' 4 Comments By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our. Having trouble with comments ? .
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hawaii borrowers in default are among millions nationwide affected by end of payment pause
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Current and former students in default of their federal loans will soon start getting billed by the U.S. government as the Trump administration ends a COVID-19-era loan payment pause. At top, people made their way along the McCarthy Mall at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on Friday. 1 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Current and former students in default of their federal loans will soon start getting billed by the U.S. government as the Trump administration ends a COVID-19-era loan payment pause. At top, people made their way along the McCarthy Mall at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on Friday. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ A woman walked out of the Student Services Building at UH Manoa on Friday. 2 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ A woman walked out of the Student Services Building at UH Manoa on Friday. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Above is the Financial Aid Services office. 3 /3 JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Above is the Financial Aid Services office. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Current and former students in default of their federal loans will soon start getting billed by the U.S. government as the Trump administration ends a COVID-19-era loan payment pause. At top, people made their way along the McCarthy Mall at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on Friday. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ A woman walked out of the Student Services Building at UH Manoa on Friday. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Above is the Financial Aid Services office. A pandemic-era pause for federal loan borrowers in default is set to end Monday, and millions of former and current students nationwide are bracing for renewed loan collections. The U.S. Department of Education's decision to resume collections is a significant step in winding down COVID-19 relief efforts that have been in place since March 2020. The pending change is causing anxiety for Hawaii residents not only in default on their student loans, but also those who are relying on them now for their education. Monthly loan payments and interest resumed in October 2023 for most federal student loan borrowers. But those in default—meaning they had already missed payments for an extended period—were given more time before aggressive collection measures restarted. That protection is now ending, and borrowers who have not taken action to address delinquencies could face wage garnishments, tax refund seizures and other enforcement actions. The change means that residents in Hawaii and throughout the nation who relied on federal loans to fund their education no longer have the safety net of the collection pause. During the 2024 academic year, 6, 382 undergraduate students across the University of Hawaii System alone received federal student loans, with the majority—3, 988 students—enrolled at UH Manoa. The average loan amount for UH Manoa undergraduates was $6, 404. Additionally, 1, 707 graduate students were awarded federal loans, averaging $19, 143 per borrower. The end of the loan pause is a deep source of anxiety for Jen Kim, a Makiki resident and single mother of three. Her eldest son graduated from UH Manoa for his undergraduate studies, then completed dental school at the University of Washington. He is finishing his dental residency in Nevada. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. Between his undergraduate and dental school loans, Kim said her son still owes nearly $200, 000 in federal student debt and has paid back about $12, 000. With interest on those loans resuming at a rate of 6.5 %, she worries that the balance will balloon. 'He's done everything right. He went to school here, got into dental school, and now he's training to serve our people back home, ' Kim said. 'But the interest is brutal. For every payment he makes, it feels like the total barely changes.' Nationally, dental school graduates carry some of the highest student loan debt in the country. The American Dental Education Association estimates that the average debt for the class of 2024 was about $312, 700. While Kim's son's balance is technically below the national average, it still feels staggering to the Kim family—especially with the high cost of living in Hawaii and limited affordable housing options. 'We've already helped him cover basic costs like groceries and rent, ' she said. 'Now we're helping with interest, too, and I'm pulling from my own savings. I just keep thinking : He wants to be a dentist in Hawaii, not in Vegas, but the system makes it hard for him to come home.' The family had hoped the federal payment pause would last until he finished residency, but with the pause ending in 2023 and defaulted loan collections now restarting in May, the pressure is back. 'It's not just the money. It's the stress, the sense that no matter how hard he works, he'll always be behind, ' she said. For Harvey Tagalicud, 23, a junior at UH Manoa's Shidler College of Business, the financial pressure of loans has been a constant companion throughout his academic journey. Tagalicud, a first-generation college student, said his total debt could land anywhere between $18, 000 and $35, 000, depending on how much financial hardship arises during emergencies. His experience with loans has included federal PLUS loans, a short-term 'shell loan ' for emergencies. Taga licud said he has carefully avoided unsubsidized loans thanks to financial literacy support from programs like Upward Bound. 'Loans might be the most valuable way for me to, in the short term, jump through my final semesters in college, ' he said. 'It's kind of a necessary evil—and I believe that's a sentiment for a lot of us in academia right now.' He said choosing the right loan type was just one part of a steep learning curve. 'We're making one of the biggest financial decisions, the first big financial decision in our lives, and something that we can't even comprehend sometimes, Tagalicud said. The psychological toll, he added, is just as real as the financial one. 'We learn in consumer psychology that if scarcity exists for a person, that becomes an overarching thing that always limits in the back of your head, ' Taga licud said. He emphasized that students are not trying to avoid responsibility, and said the current system discourages genuine learning. 'We're not trying to dodge loan repayments. We're trying to learn with genuine passion and curiosity, without being burdened by the financial weight that becomes one of the biggest decisions in our lives, ' he said. 'It's important we create policies that encourage us to become lifelong learners, not just lifelong debt payers.' For Ava Song, a third-year medical student from New York who plans to transfer to UH Manoa's John A. Burns School of Medicine, managing her education means juggling three part-time jobs while taking on more than $180, 000 in student loan debt. Song, who plans to return to Hawaii to serve the community and take advantage of in-state tuition, hopes that JABSOM's unique opportunities and financial aid packages will ease her financial burdens. In New York she's worked as a high school tutor, a clinic assistant sterilizing instruments and a weekend bartender—often logging 14-hour days split between work, classes and clinic rotations. 'It's exhausting, but I don't have much of a choice, ' Song said. 'Every dollar I earn is a dollar I don't have to borrow and a dollar that doesn't rack up interest later.' Alicia Malia, a 37-year-old physical therapist who graduated from UH Hilo in 2011, pointed out that student loan debt does not always end with graduation or even after establishing a career. 'The system told us to get a good education so we could get good jobs and live a good life, ' Malia said 'But the reality is that to get that education, most of us had to borrow a ton of money. We worked our asses off during school just to afford living, and then we graduate into jobs where we still have to work just as hard—not just to live, but to pay back what we borrowed.' Malia said she still owes around $28, 000 in student loans, despite working full time in her field for over a decade. The pandemic-era pause in payments, she said, helped her finally get ahead on other bills and build up some savings. 'That break gave me room to breathe. I could help my parents, fix my car, even take a short trip for the first time in years, ' she said. But now, with payments resumed and collections restarting for those in default, Malia said she's deeply worried about younger generations—including her niece, who just started at UH Manoa. 'They say it's the American dream, but it's just a dream—it's so hard to attain, ' she said. 'We're all chasing this version of success that's tied to college, but the truth is, we were set up. If you don't go to college, it's hard to make a living. If you do, you're buried in debt. By the time we finally pay everything off, our lives have already passed us by.' Students and graduates who are unsure of their loan status can check their accounts at
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
Motion denied for new trial in baby's Benadryl death
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Dixie Denise Villa, who was convicted in the 2019 manslaughter death of Abigail Lobisch, appeared in the courtroom of Judge Fa 'au 'uga To 'oto 'o on Monday for a motion for a new trial. 1 /3 GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Dixie Denise Villa, who was convicted in the 2019 manslaughter death of Abigail Lobisch, appeared in the courtroom of Judge Fa 'au 'uga To 'oto 'o on Monday for a motion for a new trial. GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Dixie Denise Villa and her attorney Megan Kau appeared Monday in the courtroom of Judge Fa 'au 'uga To 'oto 'o. 2 /3 GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Dixie Denise Villa and her attorney Megan Kau appeared Monday in the courtroom of Judge Fa 'au 'uga To 'oto 'o. GoFundMe Abigail Lobisch died at 7 months old on Feb. 24, 2019, at an unlicensed home day care at Aliamanu Military Reservation. 3 /3 GoFundMe Abigail Lobisch died at 7 months old on Feb. 24, 2019, at an unlicensed home day care at Aliamanu Military Reservation. GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Dixie Denise Villa, who was convicted in the 2019 manslaughter death of Abigail Lobisch, appeared in the courtroom of Judge Fa 'au 'uga To 'oto 'o on Monday for a motion for a new trial. GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE @ Dixie Denise Villa and her attorney Megan Kau appeared Monday in the courtroom of Judge Fa 'au 'uga To 'oto 'o. GoFundMe Abigail Lobisch died at 7 months old on Feb. 24, 2019, at an unlicensed home day care at Aliamanu Military Reservation. A circuit judge Monday denied babysitter Dixie Denise Villa's motion for a new trial in the Benadryl overdose death of 7-month-old Abigail Lobisch. Lobisch died Feb. 24, 2019, of diphenhydramine (the main active ingredient in Benadryl ) toxicity at Villa's Aliamanu Military Reservation home, and on Nov. 15 a jury found Villa guilty of manslaugter. Megan Kau, attorney for Villa, said in court that after the trial, new evidence came forth that could have changed the verdict. She said the baby's father, James Lobisch, and Vanessa Barnes, another woman, who babysat Abigail Lobisch, came forward with new information. James Lobisch told Deputy Prosecutor Tiffany Kaeo and a victim's advocate that his ex-wife had not been truthful about the issue of co-sleeping. Lobisch testified that his ex-wife lied during the trial when she testified she never slept with her baby in the same bed and that Abigail instead slept in a sidecar or crib attached to the side of her bed. 'We had shared the bed pretty much with both children since they were born, ' he said, referring to Abigail and their older child, Zachariah, now 8. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. He also provided Kau with photos and text messages to back up his claim. 'I know it sounds crazy, but I wanted Denise (Villa ) to have a fair trial, ' Lobisch said. 'I believe that she is guilty, but I did not want her to have a guilty verdict when somebody lied.' However, Circuit Judge Fa 'au 'uga To 'oto 'o said : 'Even Mr. Lobisch believes Ms. Villa is guilty. What she had was a fair trial. 'The only person who had custody was the defendant. It could not have been any other person.' To 'oto 'o said that based on the medical and other circumstantial evidence, the jury had the basis for finding the defendant guilty. 'The court doesn't believe that this evidence would change the verdict, ' he said. The state contends that Lobisch's motive in bringing up the matter may be that he and his ex-wife are in a custody battle over Zachariah. He denied the allegation and said Anna Lobisch had purchased a 'DockATot, ' which he said 'looks like a hot dug bun, and you put the child in between and you put that between parents.' He said they used it but never really used the sidecar. Anna Lobisch testified she used the DockATot in the sidecar. Kau also used a photo of Anna Lobisch purportedly sleeping on a couch at James Lobisch's father's Florida home, with her sleeping baby girl and Zachariah standing in front. But that photo was actually a live shot or short video taken on James Lobisch's iPhone, which, when Kaeo played it for the judge, revealed that neither Anna nor Abigail was asleep. The issue of co-sleeping was not raised as the cause of death. Kau grilled Anna Lobisch on a range of issues, alleging that lies call into question the truthfulness of her trial testimony. Barnes said Lobisch was suffering from anxiety and left her two children with her because she needed to go to the hospital, Kau told the judge. Kau pressed Lobisch during cross-examination whether she had mental health concerns related to anxiety. She said it was for medical reasons, but after the state objected and the judge instructed her to explain, she revealed she had suffered a miscarriage. Kau said Barnes sent messages to the Honolulu Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division about the anxiety Lobisch was experiencing and having to go to the hospital. Kau asserted that if Lobisch had anxiety, she had the opportunity to put the diphenydramine into the bottles of formula Villa fed to the baby. She alleged that Lobisch's miscarriage, her anxiety and inability to handle her children was motive, opportunity and intent. Villa will be sentenced May 7. Manslaughter has a maximum sentence of 20 years. Villa was running an illegal, unlicensed child care business out of her military housing home, which is the issue of a federal lawsuit by the Lobisches. The case was put on hold until the criminal case is over.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Yahoo
Deportation of German teens raises concern
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Two German teens traveling to Hawaii made international headlines when they were handcuffed and deported. The international arrivals lobby at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport is shown Friday. JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @ Two German teens traveling to Hawaii made international headlines when they were handcuffed and deported. The international arrivals lobby at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport is shown Friday. Two German teens who planned to visit Ha-waii in March as part of a months-long world adventure recently told a German newspaper that they were instead handcuffed, imprisoned and deported—an account making headlines worldwide and raising concerns about the impact on tourism if some international visitors are facing heightened risks at U.S. borders. Charlotte Pohl, 19, and Maria Lepere, 18, told the major daily German newspaper Ostee-Zeitung in a story published April 10, , that they were turned away because they were unable to present lodging confirmation for their entire stay in Hawaii, which was one of the stops on a world trip to celebrate graduating high school. 'They found it suspicious that we hadn't fully booked our accommodations for the entire five weeks in Hawaii, ' Pohl told the Ostsee-Zeitung. 'We wanted to travel spontaneously, just like we had done in Thailand and New Zealand.' But Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham said in an emailed statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the teens were denied entry after attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses. 'One used a visitor visa, the other the visa waiver program, ' Beckham said. 'Both claimed they were touring California but later admitted they intended to work—something strictly prohibited under U.S. immigration laws for these visas.' Lepere told the German online publication , in an April 22 story that 'some of the answers were truly falsified ' in transcripts from their Hawaii ordeal. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. For example, Lepere said she told officials that she wanted to visit the U.S. 'to travel and visit my family in California.' But she said that 'the final answer on the paper was, 'Work for housing and extra spending money.' It reads as if we wanted to work illegally in the U.S., which we never said because it was never our intention.' The two teens told the Ostee-Zeitung that they spent a night in prison in Honolulu and then returned to their home in Rostock, Germany, via Tokyo, Qatar and Frankfurt three days after their arrest. They told that officials booked them on a flight to Tokyo because they did not want to return to New Zealand, the country that they had visited before Hawaii. Denis Salle, honorary German consul in Honolulu, provided this statement : 'The Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in San Francisco is aware of the case and has been in contact with the relevant U.S. authorities. We kindly ask for your understanding that for reasons of privacy and data protection laws, we cannot provide further details on the case. Considering the procedures of the Customs and Border authorities, please refer to the relevant U.S. authorities.' Customs and Border Protection did not respond to the Star-Advertiser's query on how often visitors have been denied entry under similar circumstances in Hawaii and elsewhere and whether there have been any changes to the volume of visitors who are deported or to the policies around visitor deportations under the Trump administration. Still, the Star-Advertiser is aware of at least one other international visitor who was detained and deported from Hawaii since the German teens, and there have been recent media reports of other states deporting international visitors. The New York Times reported about a recent flurry in late March of international visitors attempting to enter the United States from other countries who were denied entry at border checkpoints, leading to either deportations to their home countries or days or weeks of detention. A 28-year-old British woman arrived in Britain the week of March 20 after she was held at an immigration detention center in Washington state for three weeks, according to The New York Times. She had attempted to enter the United States from Canada, and questions arose at the land-border crossing whether she had the correct visa. Her ordeal came shortly after two German tourists in separate incidents were deported after trying to enter the United States from Mexico. The Times said both had spent weeks in a detention center in San Diego, and both said they were unclear as to why they had been detained and deported. International tourism The purported stories from international visitors refused entry are sparking concerns about what travelers can expect at U.S. border crossings, which could further weaken international visitor demand. International arrivals to Hawaii are still far below the 2019 pre-COVID-19 level, and recovery already was sluggish even before the Trump Administration's tariffs, stricter border policies and geopolitical issues like talk of turning Canada and Greenland into states, or the administration's stance on NATO and the war between Russia and the Ukraine. In 2024 some 1.66 million visitors came to Hawaii on international flights, according to data from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. International arrivals were up 6.8 % from 2024 but down more than 45 % from the 2o19 pre-pandemic level. Jerry Gibson, president of the Hawai 'i Hotel Alliance, said Canadian travel to Hawaii already is only about half of what it was in 2019 and that travel from Japan to Hawaii still hasn't rallied despite a more favorable yen-to-dollar exchange rate. 'Next year from Japan I think we'll see 4 % or 5 % improvement, not the 10 % to 15 % that some people are talking about, ' Gibson said. 'Obviously, (European travelers ) aren't thrilled with us, so intuitively, you would think that we would get less, but we haven't been able to prove that yet because we don't get a lot of them.' In January and February, DBEDT reported that only 289, 719 visitors came to Hawaii on international flights, down 6.6 % from the start of 2024 ; and in February only 133, 960 visitors came to Hawaii on international flights, a 13 % drop from February 2024. Gibson said, 'I really hope that nothing like (the deportation of the German teens ) sets any kind of precedent. We are viewed as a very friendly state, and I hope that we can keep that feeling throughout the world.' But on Friday, posters on the Kauai, Hawaii Facebook site brought up the story of the German teens as a cautionary tale when responding to two 22-year-old New Zealanders who said they 'were looking to work on Kauai in exchange for food and accommodation in June and possibly July as a way to explore and immerse ourselves in the Hawaiian culture.' One poster said, 'Don't tell the immigration folks or you may find yourself sent back before you see a beach.' Mufi Hannemann, president and CEO for the Hawai 'i Lodging and Tourism Association and a board member of the Hawai 'i Tourism Authority, said, 'Any negative publicity about policies and procedures, whether it's on the federal or state level, is not good.' Hannemann, who represents HLTA on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, said the group was reappointed under the Trump administration and is awaiting its first meeting. The board is the advisory body to the U.S. Commerce Department on issues and concerns affecting the nation's travel and tourism industry. 'I'm sure that this will be a part of it because we are always talking about issues dealing with entry into our country, dealing with homeland security and Department of State, ' he said. 'That's a priority, especially as we are gearing up for what's going to happen in Los Angeles in a few years, whether it's the Olympics or the World Cup.' Gibson said he hopes there will be some official attempt to find alternative accommodations for travelers who are not criminals and have simply made mistakes at the border. 'We want to treat everyone with respect and aloha. It's tough to hear that (the German teens ) had to stay in detention, and we wish that there was another way that we could have done it, ' he said. Border controls Even before the incident with the German teens in Hawaii, the Trump administration's stringent border policies were garnering worldwide attention. It was just April 4, during a news conference in Brussels, that a journalist asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio what message that he would give to 'foreign citizens who may be afraid to come to the United States because they're concerned about potentially being detained over some minor administrative error or because they might have something on their phone—like criticism of the president or of the Israel-Gaza conflict.' Rubio said, 'I would say that if you're not coming to the United States to join a Hamas protest or to come here and tell us about how right Hamas is or to tell us about—stir up conflict on our campuses and create riots in our street and vandalize our universities, then you have nothing to worry about.' But the German teens arrived in Honolulu on March 18, and a day later Reuters reported that Germany's foreign ministry updated its travel advice website for the U.S. to clarify that neither approval through the U.S. ESTA system nor a U.S. visa entitles entry in every case. Germany's foreign ministry told Reuters that the update did not constitute a travel warning but said it was monitoring whether there had been a change in U.S. immigration policy after three nationals had been detained by the U.S. The three nationals referred to by the German foreign ministry did not try to enter Hawaii and did not include Pohl and Lepere, who alleged that the consequences for their seemingly minor entry oversight was severe. Pohl told the Ostsee-Zeitung, 'We were searched with metal detectors, our entire bodies were scanned and we had to stand naked in front of the police officers and were looked through. Then we were given green prison clothes and put in a prison cell with serious criminals.' Lepere also told the Ostsee-Zeitung that the experience 'was all like a fever dream. We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the U.S. But at the time we didn't think it was happening to Germans. That was perhaps very naive. We felt so small and powerless.' Jeff Joseph, an immigration lawyer in Denver, told The New York Times that those entering the United States with an ESTA are not allowed to study or work a permanent job. In this process, visitors 'waive ' a lot of rights, including the right to contest deportation. Because of that, people using this program can be subject to mandatory detention. U.S. federal law gives government agents the right to search people's property, including their phones and laptops, at border entry points. They do not need to be suspected of wrongdoing in order to be searched, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Army releases final EIS for Pohakuloa Training Area
KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ Members of the Oahu-based 25th Infantry Division run and shoot as they take on enemy forces during a simulated battle on Nov. 2, 2022, at the Pohakuloa Training Area. 1 /3 KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ Members of the Oahu-based 25th Infantry Division run and shoot as they take on enemy forces during a simulated battle on Nov. 2, 2022, at the Pohakuloa Training Area. KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ Members of the Oahu-based 25th Infantry Division take on enemy forces during a simulated battle on Nov. 2, 2022, at the Pohakuloa Training Area. 2 /3 KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ Members of the Oahu-based 25th Infantry Division take on enemy forces during a simulated battle on Nov. 2, 2022, at the Pohakuloa Training Area. KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ A U.S. Army soldier navigates a lava rock field at the Pohakuloa Training Area, one of the world's rarest ecosystems. 3 /3 KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ A U.S. Army soldier navigates a lava rock field at the Pohakuloa Training Area, one of the world's rarest ecosystems. KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ Members of the Oahu-based 25th Infantry Division run and shoot as they take on enemy forces during a simulated battle on Nov. 2, 2022, at the Pohakuloa Training Area. KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ Members of the Oahu-based 25th Infantry Division take on enemy forces during a simulated battle on Nov. 2, 2022, at the Pohakuloa Training Area. KEVIN KNODELL / KKNODELL @ A U.S. Army soldier navigates a lava rock field at the Pohakuloa Training Area, one of the world's rarest ecosystems. The Army has released its finalized environmental impact statement on the prospect of retaining 22, 750 acres of state-owned land at the Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island after its lease expires in August 2029. Situated between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, PTA is the military's largest contiguous live-fire range and maneuver training area in the islands. The state parcel sits between two federally owned pieces of land, collectively making up 132, 000 acres. Army officials call the leased land 'the connective tissue ' of PTA. The Army will be negotiating with the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on its request for a new lease. In recent years, PTA has become central to the Army's new Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, a series of training ranges in Hawaii and Alaska aimed at preparing soldiers for operations in the Pacific amid tensions with China. But the Army, which obtained the parcel at PTA and other lands it uses for training for a mere $1 in 1964, has also faced increasing scrutiny of the effects of training on the environment and ancient Hawaiian cultural sites. The state now considers its parcel at Pohakuloa to be a conservation district. With its rugged fields of lava and volcanic soil, Poha kuloa is classified as a sub-alpine tropical dryland forest—one of the world's rarest kinds of ecosystems—and is habitat for Hawaii's state bird, the nene, as well as the hoary bat and several species that exist nowhere else on the planet. In a news release Friday, the Army said it 'will observe a 30-day waiting period before deciding how much land, if any, it will seek to retain. The waiting period for the final EIS will end 30 days after publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register, after which time the Army will execute a Record of Decision.' Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. The EIS, which follows several drafts that were put up for public review, argues the military needs the land for training. PTA is used not only by the Army but also by the Marines, Navy and Air Force ; it is increasingly used by foreign troops as well during international exercises. Military officials have told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that of the leased lands with leases expiring in 2029, PTA is by far the one most of them view as most important. The EIS states that 'the Army acknowledges the comments received on the Draft EIS and the Second Draft EIS regarding the challenges with obtaining a new lease. The Army understands that the execution of a new lease prior to the expiration of the current lease would be arduous … (and several ) could remain unresolved well past 2029, when the current lease for the State-owned land expires.' The Army has argued that the state's designation of the land as a conservation district did not apply to its operations, as the military already had the lease and had been training since before the designation, essentially grandfathering it in. But the final EIS seemingly concedes that under a new lease, that would not be the case. The document states that 'although a rule amendment to obtain a special subzone would be difficult and the execution of a new lease would be onerous … for analysis purposes, this EIS assumes that the BLNR would establish a new subzone through a rule amendment that would allow military uses in the conservation district.' The Army acknowledges potential harm to native species, water resources and soil through live fire and toxic exposures, though the service also agrees to pursue several new environmental and cultural programs on top of existing ones. WHEN TRAINING isn't taking place at PTA, only five uniformed soldiers are stationed there. The rest of the workforce of about 200 people is made up of Army civilians and contractors. Among them are scientists working to catalog and preserve native species living on the base, archaeologists looking for ancient cultural sites and firefighters tasked with putting out blazes—whether they be natural or caused by military training. The training range has had its share of controversies. In 1989, the Sierra Club sued the Army on behalf of University of Hawaii at Hilo botanist Lani Stemmermann. She had visited an area of dryland forest in PTA in search of research sites to study native plants and found Army bulldozers leveling native naio and mamane trees for a new training range. A 1993 investigation by the Army found that while planning that range, Army officials knowingly cut corners during the survey process, intentionally limited access to scientists and ignored recommendations by Army engineers that called for a comprehensive botanical study of the proposed site. In 2019, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled against the state in a lawsuit filed by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. on behalf of Hawaiian cultural practitioners Clarence 'Ku ' Ching and Mary Maxine Kahaulelio. The court found state officials had failed to ensure the military upheld its duties to clean up Pohakuloa and had harmed Hawaiian cultural interests, and that 'as trustee, the State must take an active role in preserving trust property and may not passively allow it to fall into ruin.' The terms of the Army's lease with Hawaii state the military must 'make every reasonable effort to … remove or deactivate all live or blank ammunition upon completion of a training exercise.' Disagreement over what constitutes a 'reasonable effort ' has been an ongoing sticking point. The military fires live rounds into the 'impact area, ' which is on federally controlled land. Because it's considered an active range, the impact area is regarded as too dangerous for regular removal of ordnance. THE EIS reported that approximately 17 % of the 1, 261 recorded wildfires at PTA 'occurred or were likely to have occurred ' on the state-owned land. Between 1975 and 2011, the Army documented 112 fires within the state-owned parcel at PTA that burned at least 15, 047 acres, though the EIS said 'the data prior to 2012 is considered incomplete.' Between 2012 and August 2024, 96 fires were recorded on the parcel, burning approximately 19, 328 acres. Of the fires that were greater than 100 acres and 'ignited by military activities, or suspected military activities, ' five fires burned portions of the state-owned land. The EIS asserted that 71 % of those wildfires were less than 0.1 acres in size. The EIS noted that it predicts the wildfire risk will only increase, saying 'increased potential for drought from changes to regional temperatures and precipitation patterns due to climate change may result in increased wildland fires. Rising temperatures and prolonged droughts can dry out vegetation, which serves as fuel for wildland fires.' The military and the state have spent years preparing for the renegotiation of the leases. With the leases expiring in 2029, the majority of the negotiations will be undertaken by President Donald Trump's Pentagon team, led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth has vowed to drastically scale back environmental and cultural programs, charging that such programs are 'woke ' and have distracted the military from 'warfighting.' However, Hegseth's Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, promised U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would work with her office and community groups on the land leases and would listen to local concerns about the future of the land. FOR INFORMATION
