What’s going on over at the state Department of Defense? Makes you wonder…are these guys armed?

The DOD is in the process of hiring two consultants to conduct confidential, one-on-one interviews with up to 70 employees “to obtain comprehensive, genuine, and sincere feedback on their feelings about their work environment.”

The interviews will be analyzed to identify “issues, concerns and problems that prevent the development of a positive and wholesome work environment.”

The DOD proposes splitting the work between Dr. Neal Milner, Emeritus Professor at UH Manoa and former campus ombudsman, and Mr. Henry Kanda, an experienced personnel manager, each being paid $7,500.

The proposed investigation into the DOD’s workplace environment was disclosed in a request filed last week to exempt the contracts from standard procurement requirements.

I wonder how many of these investigations into toxic office atmosphere would have to be done if employees could request them on an “as needed” basis?

A joint hearing of the House Committees on Judiciary, and Consumer Protection and Commerce this afternoon will be considering several bills relating to mortgage foreclosures, including HB1875, which would implement the further recommendations of the mortgage foreclosure task force.

A task force of the Community Associations Institute’s local chapter is recommending alternative language that they say would deal more appropriately with situations faced by Hawaii’s thousands of condominiums.

To get in the mood, you might want to check out ProPublica’s package of stories on the foreclosure crisis, or the Mortgage Fraud Blog, both of which offer lots of informative reading.