The last time Congress created a new state
Hawaii climate change bill shelved amid federal cutting spree
State Public Charter School Commission Votes to Not Renew Kamalani Academy Charter Contract
43% of HECO Customers now have solar--but Hawaii Energy Remains 90.8% Fossil Fuel
Surfing the environmental permitting bureaucracy in Hawaii
Former Maui police chief defends Pelletier amid 'Diddy' lawsuit allegations—Mayor Flees State
KITV: … Pelletier has been denying the accusations against him in the civil case, which are set to be discussed at the Maui Police Commission meeting on Wednesday.
Retired Maui police officer Thomas Phillips, who served as department chief for 11 years, did not believe the allegations against Pelletier….
"I think he's (Pelletier) provided enough information to show that there's no way it was him," Phillips argued.
On Monday, Pelletier sent a packet to the commission with evidence he believes would exonerate him.
The submission includes receipts Pelletier argued prove he was in Las Vegas during the time of the alleged 2018 sex assaults and not in California, where it all reportedly happened.
Pelletier also provided screenshots of text messages and emails he said indicate he was on call in Las Vegas on the day of the alleged abuses.
Court documents included a picture of Combs and a bald man that was said to be Pelletier, but the chief sent in photos of himself with a crew cut during that time.
"I've got to know him (Pelletier) pretty well over the last few years. The photo that they showed didn't even look like him. When I met him four years ago, he had hair. He wasn't bald at that point and it didn't look like him any way, to me," Phillips added.
Additionally, Phillips shared that throughout his 11 years as Maui’s top cop, he too was named in several civil lawsuits during previous mayoral administrations.
The complaints ranged from officer-involved shootings to permit denials—all were resolved in the department’s favor.
Phillips said he was not asked to step down during any of the legal proceedings and believes it would be unfair to ask Pelletier to do so now, especially because he has not been charged with anything….
read … Former Maui police chief defends Pelletier amid 'Diddy' lawsuit allegations | News | kitv.com
Maui Prep Academy dumps transsexual agenda
HNN: … Vashti Daise … was a math teacher at Maui Preparatory Academy in West Maui for about a year and a half, until last month. “I was called into the office at the end of the school day on Friday, the end of contract time when no one is there on Friday, and was told that it was time for us to part ways, and given no reason other than it’s time for us to part ways and this is your last paycheck. This is your last day of health care,” Daise said.
Daise said even though no reason was given, she believes it is because she does not agree with a new policy that is expected to take effect in the fall at the private independent school in Napili with about 300 students from preschool through high school.
The new policy states, “Maui Prep recognizes biological sex assigned at birth as the basis for determining participation in athletics, overnight stays, and access to facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms.”…
(TRANSLATION: This is a good school for your kids: Apply Here)
“I sent an email to all of the faculty and staff saying that if we are going to enact a discriminatory policy against trans children or any kind of children, I would no longer be able to stay at the school,” said Daise….
(TRANSLATION: Aloha also means goodbye.)
Dec 20, 2024: Maui Prep Dumps Trans Agenda: "Children should not be deciding if they want to change their gender”
(REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION: How can I get my kid into Maui Prep? Answer: Apply Here.)
read … Maui teacher says she was fired for speaking out against anti-trans policy
Council Vote: Big Island to Become Sanctuary for Illegal Aliens?
CB: … “We don’t want to to be involved in immigration. That’s not our role,” Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz told the Council Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs. He said his officers had become “tangentially” involved with two recent ICE enforcement operations only for “humanitarian” reasons.
Because two committee members were absent, the resolution was sent on for a full council vote April 2 with an “unfavorable” recommendation, which appears to be largely a technicality in this instance.
The resolution involves longstanding Memorandums of Agreement between the department, the FBI’s Honolulu Safe Streets Task Force and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit that drew attention for the first time this year.
The MOUs with ICE call for embedding two Homeland Security Investigations agents in the police department and designating some police officers as customs officers. Moszkowicz said language remains in the MOUs that they are not conveying to police officers “the authority to enforce administrative violations of immigration law.”
Although the MOUS had been in place for at least a decade, supporters of immigrants had raised alarms that they could make it easier for local officers to be enlisted in mass deportations as President Donald Trump presses his campaign against millions of people he has characterized as foreign invaders....
Mar 17, 2025: Teachers want DOE’s new immigration enforcement policy to include more than just administrators
read … Big Island Committee Punts Approval Of Police MOUs With Feds To Full Council
‘Affordable’ Housing is Fake: Units Sell for $685K
CB: … Gentry Homes is building a 390-unit development, a mix of single-family homes and townhouses, in Kalaeloa on Oʻahu’s West Side. Under state rules, at least 20% of the development’s square footage must be reserved for affordable units. They’re priced lower and available only to buyers whose incomes are below a certain threshold.
The problem, Andrew Kamikawa of Gentry Homes told a Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority board, is that affordable units at Kaʻulu by Gentry are selling about half as quickly as market-rate units, and that’s slowing down the whole project.
The reason, Kamikawa said, is that market-rate units are priced too close to the affordable ones — or “reserved” units, in the development authority’s parlance. Though prices vary by unit, a market-rate, three-bedroom townhouse is listed for about $750,000; a smaller, three-bedroom affordable unit is about $685,000.
Kamikawa said buyers are choosing market-rate units rather than the affordable ones, which require that they live there and don’t sell for five years….
The solution? Raise the price of market-rate units in upcoming phases of the development. The hope, Kamikawa said, is that this “makes the reserved units more desirable” in comparison….
(IQ Test: Are you laughing?)
The affordable units at Ka’ulu by Gentry aren’t heavily discounted. Three-bedroom affordable homes in the next phase of construction will be listed for $15,000 less than their $700,000 appraised value, according to a price list Gentry provided to the housing authority. Two-bedroom units will sell for $10,000 less: $610,000 compared to appraised values of $620,000….
read … To Sell More Housing in West Oʻahu, This Developer Plans To Raise Prices - Honolulu Civil Beat
High Court Releases Formal Ruling Against Insurers
CB: … Maui wildfire victims seeking their share of a $4.04 billion settlement reached a milestone this week when the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court issued its formal opinion prohibiting insurers from suing the parties responsible for the 2023 fire.
The court’s formal 80-page decision issued Monday follows a concise order issued in early February that was needed for the proposed landmark settlement to be made final. The opinion closes the loop, spelling out state law as it relates to insurers’ ability to recoup claims paid out to victims, as is commonplace in wildfire litigation in other states….
The insurance industry argued in vain that Hawaiʻi law allowed them to sue the wrongdoers, but the court ruling now means the insurers’ so-called right of subrogation is limited. Insurance industry officials have said this could affect policy premiums.
Adam Romney, a lawyer for the industry, declined to comment on the court’s ruling, saying his clients were still analyzing the lengthy opinion….
There’s also the question of how insurers might pursue liens against policyholders — a move that would likely be unpopular with their customers. It is also unclear how the Supreme Court’s ruling will impact insurance rates in Hawaiʻi — and whether insurers will pull out of Hawaiʻi as they have from other fire-prone states….
Barring an unexpected move (appeal to the US Supreme Court) by the insurers, the cases now go back to Maui Circuit Court Judge Peter Cahill to oversee proceedings to finalize and distribute the settlement…
PDF: Maui Wildfire Supreme Court | DocumentCloud
read … High Court Rules Against Insurers. Now It's Time To Divvy Up $4B - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii Senate committees slashes DHHL’s $600M request to $50M
HNN: … Two Senate committees moved a proposed bill forward Tuesday, but took a big cut to the DHHL’s $600 million request.
The chairs of the Senate’s Housing and Hawaiian committees agreed to lower the amount to $50 million.
House Bill 606 would have given the DHHL another $600 million to clear its waitlist for homes, which matched what the department was given in 2022….
Fevella voted “with reservations,” and Senator Samantha DeCorte voted against the proposed bill.
All other members of the committees helped pass the measure.
However, this is hardly the end of the line for House Bill 606.
The final funding amount will be negotiated between the state House and Senate….
HPR: DHHL Director Kali Watson on latest homestead projects, blood quantum and more | Hawai'i Public Radio
read … Hawaii Senate committees slashes DHHL’s $600M request to $50M
State considers bio-control to fight coconut rhinoceros beetles—Ag Dept wants to make it into a Capital Improvement Project
HNN: … On Monday, the head of the Department of Agriculture told lawmakers that New Zealand has been using a type of nudivirus to kill the beetles by giving them fatal infections.
But there’s a hitch. Hawaii has different version of CRB, and the state will need to test the virus to see if it works on our bugs.
“They found a strain that is effective, they think, on the G virus. It clogs up their system and they die. In order to rear that virus in a safe environment, we need a mobile facility,” explained Department of Agriculture director Sharon Hurd.
Hurd said New Zealand could do the testing on Hawaii’s CRB right now, but it would cost millions of dollars….
Federal biosecurity rules recommend the mobile facility must be air-tight.
Agriculture officials say they need two, and the department already has $600,000 for planning. It estimates it needs $3 million more to buy them and set them up in Wahiawa.
But the department likely won’t be ready to request the money until next year….
(Dead bugs become CIP in afterlife.)
When asked how much the department would need to eradicate CRB, Hurd responded, “That’s a really open-ended question. If I came up with tens of millions, it wouldn’t be far from the truth.”
Even with full funding, Hurd said it would be several years before the testing facilities could be running, and then even longer for experts to take that fight into the wild….
(A bureaucratic empire based on dead bugs.)
read … State considers costly solution to fight coconut rhinoceros beetles
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