HawaiiFreePress.com

… to support the 200 households (more than 500 individuals) currently residing in Non-Congregate Sheltering (NCS) hotels, the NCS program has been extended until June 30, 2024 ….

A Long-Awaited Federal Report On The Cause Of The Lahaina Fire Is Just Waiting For Maui County To Release It

… CYA News: Maui County awards contract to write secret review Aug. 8 fire response ….

More than 100 tackle heated debate over phony pretend phase-out of Maui vacation rentals

… Property cannot be seized under eminent domain without compensation to the owners. There is no money to buy these units ….

Doomed Hawaiian Electric Seeks $1.1B Rate Hike In Futile Effort to Save Itself as Old Boy Power Center

… the cost to ratepayers for more than $1 billion in planned grid resiliency and wildfire mitigation projects ….

Bankruptcy Looms: Will State Finally Allow Hawaiian Electric to Use Cheap Clean Natural Gas?

… when Hawaiian Electric goes BK, old boys will lose a key power center to outside interests. Too bad the old boys were too stupid to allow LNG conversion back when Abercrombie pushed for it. ….

Kauai Island of Retaliation: Year in Jail After Putin Dupe Passes Along ‘Threat’ from Schizophrenic

… Cowden had made the entire incident about herself ….

How Mexican cartels target Hawaii with meth, fentanyl

… Sinaloa and its rival, the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, known as CJNG — run drug pipelines through California and Nevada to flood Oahu with meth and other drugs, including fentanyl ….

Homeless people can be fined for sleeping outside, Supreme Court rules

…Gorsuch said “a handful of federal judges” couldn’t “begin to ‘match’ the collective wisdom of the American people” in deciding policy solutions for homelessness….

Honolulu Medical Examiner Flooded with Drug Overdoses

… Drug overdoses, particularly those involving opioids and the narcotic fentanyl, are the driving factor straining short-staffed medical examiner ….

Sara Yara Bill to punish traffic scofflaws may face governor’s veto because Public Defender doesn’t want it

… The criminals’ lawyers want this veto. Their workload matters more than your life. ….

Hanabusa to Quit HART? — Board OKs multi-year contract with CEO Lori Kahikina, subject to negotiations

… In July bids will come in high for the Civic Center section of rail ….

Red Hill Whistleblower Details How Her Warnings Were Ignored Even As Disaster Loomed

… no one on the military side was qualified to review the contractors’ work ….

4th Hawaii sheriff’s deputy arrested — ‘Reckless Endangering’ of Black Deputy

… On Wednesday, Deputy Sheriff William K. Keahi, 40, was arrested at 8:30 a.m. on suspicion of reckless endangering and harassment ….

Shakedown Begins: Pay the ‘Hawaiian Intellectual Property Group’ if you want to use a Hawaiian Name

… You can rent a ‘copyright’ for ‘’Okina’, ‘Lono’ or ‘Kuleana’ if you pay enough money to the Native Hawaiian Intellectual Property Working Group ….

Can Hawaii afford climate change lawsuit settlement?

“…There’s going to be some pain….”

Did Hawaii just pave the way for court enforcement of California’s climate promises?

… The settlement provides benchmarks for a greenhouse gas reduction plan that will be overseen and enforced by a court through 2045 ….

Hawaii Water Wars: If you don’t claim a ‘taking’ you lose

… those standards only apply where there’s a takings claim present. And there’s no takings claims here ….

Supreme Court overrules landmark ‘Chevron’ precedent on government authority

… For 40 years, the Chevron precedent has been the backbone of administrative law, limiting judicial decision-making in favor of agency ‘expertise’ ….

Biki Bikeshare abandoned by owners, operation handed over to City

… as of Monday, July 1, 2024, Bikeshare Hawaiʻi has turned over its oversight role of the Biki bikeshare system to DTS ….

Maui TVR phase-out plan unconstitutional

… The county cannot ignore the constitutional rights of Maui property owners in its race to address its housing problems ….

Maui TVR phase-out wrong means for good goal

… virtually all local economists realize the main cause of Hawaii’s housing crisis is the state’s extremely high number of land-use and other housing-related regulations that have hindered homebuilding ….

Maui Short-Term Rentals, the Minatoya List, and Housing Supply

… we would expect to see significant–possibly double digit–declines in condominium prices on Maui ….

Green Announces Appointments, Creates Insurance Task Force

… The positions and appointees are listed below; House and Senate appointees also are included ….

Freedom in Hawaii is having a moment

… This year our freedoms were expanded with the passage by our state lawmakers of important legislation. Those expansions covered taxes, housing and healthcare ….

Update development standards to allow more apartment housing

… if Honolulu were to revise upward all the other development standards as well — the minimum setbacks, the height limits, the maximum lot coverage and minimum lot widths and depths — the number of newly legal units could skyrocket ….

Intent to Veto: Budget Drama Continues

… Intent to Veto: HB 1800, which is the state’s budget bill, and HB 40, which is the bill that puts $300 million into our rainy day fund and $135 million into the pension accumulation fund ….

May 2024: Tourism Declines Again

… tourist count down 4.8%, spending down 4.0% ….

State Supreme Court: Is Gov’t Imposed “Church Purposes” Deed Restriction Void?

… the Hawaii Supreme Court hears oral arguments ….

Government says Red Hill plaintiffs are asking for too much in damages

… Seventeen plaintiffs are asking for $7 million ….

Fate of Hawaii’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ hike hangs in balance at appellate court

… Advocates to keep the stairs told the court that demolishing them will threaten the state’s official mammal, the Hawaiian hoary bat. ….