Grapevine: Hawaii saying goodbye to homeless?

Plan to buy homeless people tickets to mainland

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

A college student is getting a $4 million dollar pay-day from the feds -- after he was locked in a jail cell -- with no food or water for four days.

Daniel Chong was brought in during a drug raid at a friend's house in April of 2012.

He says the officer told him he would not be charged and said quote -- "Hang tight, we'll come get you in a minute."

Over the next four days he drank his own urine to stay alive and tried to carve a goodbye note into his arm.

When he was found he was dehydrated, had kidney failure and a perforated esophagus.

He had lost 15 pounds.

The Justice Department says Chong accepted the $4.1 million dollar settlement.

The DEA has new policies in place as a result of this case, including daily cell checks and cameras in cells.

Aloha's Other Meaning

Hawaii wants to say aloha -- as in goodbye -- to the homeless.

The 50th state has budgeted $100,000 to buy the homeless one-way tickets to the mainland.

The Honolulu Civil Beat reports the state's 17,000 homeless are overburdening the system and the cost of getting rid of them is a worthwhile investment.

The Department of Human Services tells Hawaii News Now it is concerned people will buy a ticket to Hawaii knowing they'll get a free trip home.

A Fish Tale

The president of Belarus is joining a growing list of people mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest show of outdoorsmanship.

Last week, pictures and video surfaced of Putin reeling in an impressive pike -- which the Kremlin claims weighed 46 pounds.

Some Russians say something's fishy here.

Seasoned fishermen posted pictures of their own fish, which looked larger but weighed much less.

One person posted online -- quote -- "Wonder who planted that fish for Putin to catch"

And yesterday, Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko raised the stakes a bit on Putin's fish tale -- claiming to have caught a 126-pound catfish -- one of his deputies saying quote -- "It was as long as I am tall."