18 Months After Wildfires Destroyed Some 2,000 Homes on Maui, Only 3 Have Been Rebuilt
18th Homeless Kauhale Opens in Waianae
Hawaii AG: Local Law Enforcement Cannot be Commandeered by Trump
VIDEO: 2025 State of the Judiciary Address
ACLU, Judiciary Plot to Release Hundreds of Criminals onto the Streets
Robotics teams to compete in the 2025 Hawaii VEX Regional Championships
Hawaii offshore wind farm plan frozen by Trump order
SA: … The political winds in Washington, D.C., have shifted against offshore wind energy plans that include at least one ambitious and controversial project proposed for Hawaii.
President Donald Trump on Monday stopped further consideration of leasing federal waters, at least temporarily, for wind energy projects nationwide.
The move, one of more than 40 executive actions taken by Trump on the first day of his new term as president, freezes use of federal waters for new wind farms pending a comprehensive review by his administration ….
“This withdrawal shall go into effect beginning on January 21, 2025, and shall remain in effect until this Presidential Memorandum is revoked,” Trump’s order said.
It’s uncertain how long the review, to be conducted by leaders of six federal agencies including the Interior Department, might last and whether the review results in more of a short-term stall or long-term stop.
The company seeking an offshore wind farm lease in Hawaii, Aukahi Energy LLC, would not comment on Trump’s order and potential impacts.
Donalyn Dela Cruz, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement, “Aukahi Energy remains committed to helping Hawaii reach its renewable energy mandate and looks forward to working with the state on how it intends to proceed in securing renewable energy and in fighting climate change.” ….
Aukahi has asked BOEM to hold an ocean site lease auction in 2026 to accommodate many years needed for reviews, permitting and construction so that operations can begin by 2035….
Aukahi received largely negative feedback to its plan in 2024 at two public meetings in Waimanalo and Hawaii Kai. Concerns were raised over impacts from hurricanes and tidal waves on turbines as well as impacts from turbines on views, wildlife and military training….
BOEM held one town hall meeting on Oahu in 2024 and had yet to identify an area considered for a lease. Under its procedures, the agency solicits public comment on a tentative lease site before making a final site selection ahead of a lease auction….
As Explained: Trump Orders Temporary Withdrawal of Offshore Areas from Wind Leasing
read … Hawaii offshore wind farm plan buffeted by Trump order | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HB109/SB184: Double Hawaii bottle tax to feed corrupt ‘recycling’ program
KHON: … Hawaii’s five cent beverage container fee has been incentivizing recycling since 2005 when it was established. A new bill introduced this legislative session seeks to increase that incentive to 10 cents.
(CLUE: Recycling is a fraud. Your plastic is being dumped in the jungle somewhere overseas.)
“Maybe by increasing it, it will encourage people to recycle,” said State Representative Cory Chun, who introduced House Bill 109.
According to the State Department of Health, the state’s Deposit Beverage Container Program has recycled over 10-billion containers over the last 20 years ….
(CLUE: DoH is lying. Recycling companies make up whatever numbers they want to. The State Auditor says they have been doing it since the beginning. Nobody at DoH checks.)
The House companion bill, Senate Bill 184, is being heard Friday before the Committee on Agriculture and Environment….
(Reality: They are all laughing at you.)
HB109: Text, Status
SB184: Text, Status
REALITY:
read … Bill introduced to double Hawaii beverage container fee | KHON2
Lawmakers looking for answers from UH athletics department
KHON: … More hard questions from lawmakers for the UH athletics department. They want answers as to how the school can recover from a massive budget shortfall.
(TRANSLATION: UH Admin is expected to facilitate several crony contracts for Senators’ buddies. To ensure compliance, Legislators are threatening UH Athletics. See: Washington Monument Gambit. Only difference: At UH the politicians work the Gambit backwards against the bureaucrats.)
The University of Hawaii’s acting athletics director Lois Manin took the hot seat in front of the Senate’s higher education committee to answer one simple question.
“What is the plan to get us into the black,” asked Sen. Troy Hashimoto, (D) Senate higher education committee. “I think there’s a lot of things that we say ok we’re gonna raise more money, that’s one thing. But is that really gonna get us into the black.”
The athletics department is asking for $3.2 million from the legislature in both fiscal year 2026 and 2027. The department estimates it lost $2.1 million in fiscal year 2024.
“What I’m trying to drill down to is what is the cost driver that we’re trying to figure out,” said Hashimoto. “What is the thing we really need to understand that we know, cuz expenses are going up. And we just need to know why.”
UH officials note hosting football games at Ching Field versus Aloha Stadium significantly lowers revenue….
BACKGROUND: Shakedown: DelaCruz, Kim Torture Hensel for Four Hours
read … Lawmakers looking for answers from UH athletics department | KHON2
Charter Commission Votes To Close Down Kamalani Academy In June
CB: … The Wahiawa charter school was originally set to close in 2023, when the charter commission voted to shut it down for running an unauthorized online learning program and failing to properly maintain student records. But the school successfully appealed the decision to the Board of Education and received a two-year reprieve with requirements to better maintain its budget and records and replace its governing board, which oversees Kamalani’s academic and financial plans.
Commissioners said on Thursday that the school has struggled to make progress addressing its financial and organizational challenges, citing audits that showed Kamalani hasn’t paid its rent since October.
The school did not say if it will appeal the commission’s decision to the Board of Education in the spring….
read … Charter Commission Votes To Close Down Kamalani Academy In June - Honolulu Civil Beat
Oahu Group cracks down on 'predators;' posts meet ups on social media
KITV: … Johnson said he repeatedly gives the men chances to back down.
"I'm 15 years old. Is that a problem? And they nine times out of 10 they say, 'No, it's not a problem,'" he said. "They all just end up asking me like, 'Do you maybe want to come over my house sometime or do something or meet up somewhere.'"
He and his friends then video tape the meeting and expose the suspects online.
The videos have gone viral with mixed reviews….
"A lot of people are supporting us with doing this and couple people are hating on us because we're doing this," said vigilante Alex Koutsoukos. "But if you hate on it, then something is wrong with you."
They said what they're doing has led to at least one arrest by Honolulu police….
read … Group cracks down on 'predators;' posts meet ups on social media | News | kitv.com
Hawaiʻi Finally Revokes Professional Licenses Of Registered Sex Offender
CB: … The state of Hawaiʻi has revoked the licenses of an acupuncturist and physical therapist convicted two and a half years ago of arranging to have sex with an undercover agent he believed to be a 13-year-old boy.
The actions in November, announced by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs in recent weeks, also came 20 months after California had revoked Edward Hsu’s physical therapy license for the same felony conviction in a Hawaiʻi court.
The agreements required Hsu to wind down his practices, including making other arrangements for his patients. He can’t (can) apply for reinstatement for (in) five years….
read … Hawaiʻi Finally Revokes Professional Licenses Of Registered Sex Offender
Months after announcing retirement, embattled KPD chief won’t reveal departure date
HNN: … More than two months after Kauai’s embattled police chief announced he’s retiring, Todd Raybuck still won’t reveal exactly when he’ll step down.
Meanwhile, the police commission has made little progress to find his replacement. It’s uncertainty the union says is worsening morale and complicating the department’s ability to plan for the future.
HNN Investigates checked in with Chief Raybuck, but all he would tell us about his retirement plans is that he’ll leave the department some time in the next 11 months.
In a statement, Chief Raybuck said, “I don’t have a set date yet, but it will be sometime in 2025. My notification of pending retirement was to allow the Police Commission to begin the necessary process for hiring a new Chief.” …
It’s a response the union called “absurd.”
“An issue that important, we shouldn’t be guessing,” said State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers spokesperson Dustin DeRollo. “It’s not fair to the employer. It’s not fair to the employees or the community to leave people hanging.”
(TRANSLATION: We got rid of him. We want him out so a ‘local’ can be acting chief.)
read … Months after announcing retirement, embattled KPD chief won’t reveal departure date
COVID Free Ride Over: DoE Starts Charging for Summer School Again
CB: … Last year, over 220 public schools in Hawaiʻi offered free summer school, up from just 30 schools in 2019. The free programs included credit recovery for middle and high school students as well as enrichment classes and transition programs for incoming kindergarteners. Many working families have also come to rely on summer school for reliable child care.
But some of these programs could be coming to an end after this year. The federal Covid-relief funding that paid for much of the expansion has now ended, and the Department of Education projects that schools will need to start charging tuition again in summer 2026.
The department is also looking to incrementally raise the maximum tuition fees that schools can opt to charge for summer programming from $190 to $260 next year and then up to $490 by the end of the decade. The last time DOE raised summer school tuition was in 2010. …
read … End Of Free Summer School Is A 'Huge Equity Issue' In Hawaiʻi - Honolulu Civil Beat
HB212: ‘Return-to-Home program’ proposed for homeless people to return to their home states
KN: … A bill introduced by 13 representatives in the state House calls for establishing a permanent “Return-to-Home program” with an as yet undetermined amount of funding to return homeless people in Hawaiʻi to their home states.
House Bill 212 would make a pilot program with the Institute for Human Services on Oʻahu permanent, calling it “a success” after it returned more than 100 homeless individuals back to their home states.
The measure would require the Statewide Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions to institute Return-to-Home a program, with as-yet-undetermined funding and a requirement that the office report progress to the Legislature….
HB212: Text, Status
read … ‘Return-to-Home program’ proposed for homeless people to return to their home states : Kauai Now
‘Help us’: Public housing redevelopment forces 60 Kuhio Park Terrace tenants to relocate
HNN: … Changes are coming to the Kuhio Park Terrace public housing complex in Kalihi — and they’re stirring concern among some residents.
“Whatever’s going on with the housing, it’s not happening in the right way,” resident June Talia said.
She’s lived there for nearly 40 years. Lehua Willets has also lived at KPT all her live.
Now, they’re among 60 tenants that have until Feb. 28 to move, clearing space for a $212 million state redevelopment project that’s been in the works since 2011.
In phase one, The Michaels Organization is set to build 304 affordable units with community spaces, replacing the low-rise apartments where Willets lives with her family.
“Especially hearing it from my kids too, they’re begging me to keep us in Kalihi, but not a lot of places that are open in Kalihi,” Willets said….
read … ‘Help us’: Public housing redevelopment forces 60 Kalihi tenants to relocate
Falls of Clyde removal contract awarded
KHON: … The DOT impounded the vessel in 2016 after decades of corrosion and announced it was seeking bids for its removal in mid-2024.
“It’s had several, I guess, near misses with destruction, but it seems like this might be its last its last stand, so to speak,” Dr. Askman said.
The Friends of Falls of Clyde took ownership of the vessel in 2008 but were unsuccessful in several fundraising efforts to repair it. There are still some artifacts like the ship’s wheel and nameboard that they would like to see preserved — their president says they need clearance from the State to go out and get them….
Details over the multi-million dollar contract have yet to be ironed out, the DOT did not confirm whether the vessel will be cut into pieces or sunk and when the work is scheduled to begin….
The State Department of Transportation awarded a $6.5 million contract to a mainland marine engineering company to finally remove the Falls of Clyde from the Harbor….
KHON: State receives six bids for Falls of Clyde removal from Honolulu Harbor
read … Falls of Clyde removal contract awarded
Chinatown Fire Ended Bubonic Plague Epidemic
CB: … In the fall of 1899, rumors of bubonic plague spread through Chinatown, according to Mohr, but residents kept the information to themselves. Local people distrusted American doctors because the territory had handled a recent cholera epidemic in a heavy-handed way, injuring local businesses and intruding on people’s privacy. But in December, a young bookkeeper named You Chong died, and it became clear that the cause was the Black Death….
Chinese Counsel Yang Wei Pin acknowledged the fearsome disease but said that the Board of Health’s approach to solving the problem was “unnecessary and ruinous to the merchants.” He said the Board of Health was operating out of racial animus to Chinese people.
Others, however, fearful of contracting the disease themselves, applauded the targeted fires in news editorials.
“The good work of destroying Chinatown was proceeded with this morning when the balance of the shacks in the block on Pauahi, Nuuanu and Smith streets was burned down,” blared a newspaper, The Independent, on Jan. 19, 1900.
The next day, a fire that was supposed to have been carefully managed burst out of control in high winds and leveled the densely packed neighborhood. Some 38 acres of Chinatown, representing almost a fifth of the city’s buildings, were turned to ash, according to Mohr.
“Chinatown is wiped out,” the Hawaiian Star declared on Jan. 20.
About 5,000 people lost their homes, jobs, businesses and possessions. They were forced to live in detention camps until the threat of disease had passed. Many received financial compensation for their losses but it was hard to make up for what had been destroyed.
Soon afterward, the epidemic disappeared. According to Richter, 71 people had been diagnosed with bubonic plague, and 61 had died (in two months)….
(TRANSLATION: It worked.)
CB: The Fire: A Poem About The 1900 Chinatown Fire - Honolulu Civil Beat
read … Kirstin Downey: A Fire That Echoes More Than A Century Later - Honolulu Civil Beat
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