Representative Gene Ward's Celebration of Life
American Samoa 125th Anniversary Flag Day
Daughter-in-law in Hawaii crime syndicate sentenced to 7 years
HVCB CEO: 'I am here to end Tourism as we have known it'
TW: … Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau CEO Aaron Sala said at the Travel Weekly Hawaii Leadership Forum on April 15, "Tourism as we have known it is over."
Sala was hired last September, coming to the HVCB as a business entrepreneur and educator. As president and CEO of Gravitas Pasifika, he led a boutique firm dedicated to advancing Native Hawaiian talent.
Sala's hire is in line with Hawaii tourism's movement toward prioritizing the well-being of Native Hawaiians (including tourism workers), environmental protection and cultural preservation, while de-emphasizing growth in visitor numbers.
"The traditional model is not just outdated, it is extractive, colonial, dangerously romantic," he said. "It asked communities to perform authenticity while their futures were auctioned off for occupancy. It celebrated arrivals while silencing the voices of those displaced by rising rents and eroding shorelines. And yet this traditional approach remains the one too many are still polishing, buffing the rust off a machine that was never built to serve all of us in the first place."
Sala said that he did not come to the HVCB to maintain the status quo, but rather to end it. …
RELATED: 35 Years of Stagnation: Tourism Income Flat Since 1988
read … Hawaii travel executive: 'Tourism as we have known it is over': Travel Weekly
Pay Hike Mania: Maui mayor’s salary to outpace Hawaiʻi governor’s until mid-2028
MN: … Starting July 1, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen will earn $245,000 annually — more than Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green‘s salary through the end of their current terms in office in 2026. Then, after a series of phased-in raises, annual pay for the governor will surpass that of Maui’s mayor beginning July 1, 2028, when the compensation for governor reaches $254,554.
(TRANSLATION: It takes skill to not notice that Lahaina burned down. That kind of skill is being rewarded.)
After Green requested a more modest pay hike earlier this year, the Hawaiʻi Commission on Salaries scaled back its earlier recommendation of $250,116 starting in 2025 and peaking at $304,308 in 2030. Instead, the governor’s salary will increase gradually, beginning at $217,908 this year and topping out at $275,304 in 2030. The governor’s chief of staff told the commission that he believed its proposed pay raises were “too high” for the state’s chief executives.
The Maui County Salary Commission, which operates independently of the state commission, has sole authority to set salaries for Maui’s elected and appointed officials.
Both commissions conducted extensive studies, looking at — among other things — public officials’ duties and responsibilities….
CB: Divisive Maui Pay Hikes: Should A Mayor Earn More Than A Governor? - Honolulu Civil Beat
read … Maui mayor’s salary to outpace Hawaiʻi governor’s until mid-2028 : Maui Now
Online sports betting’s illusory value not worth human toll
SA: ... In the age of smartphones, online sports gambling is the nation’s growing public health crisis. If HB 1308 becomes law, the floodgates of the most predatory form of gambling will swamp Hawaii’s society. It’s the Pandora’s box — a foul pestilence of false hope and devilish enslavement of our most vulnerable citizens. Its business model relies on 85% of its profits coming from just 5% of its gamblers. Our government should not partner with an industry that profits from losses of our own citizens. What would the late U.S. Sens. Dan Inouye or Dan Akaka say? Govs. William Quinn or John Burns? ….
Astonishingly, HB 1308 may generate only $10-$15 million in new revenues based upon a give-away tax rate of 10% for four licensees. For context, this is less than one-tenth of 1% of our $10 billion general fund…
read … Column: Online sports betting’s illusory value not worth human toll | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
UH: Senate Robs Cancer Center to Line Contractors Pockets with Unnecessary CIP
SA: …… As the 2025 state legislative session enters its final weeks, the University of Hawaii is closely watching ongoing conference committee negotiations that will determine how much state support the university will receive in the coming fiscal biennium….
One of the most pressing issues is the future of funding for the John A. Burns School of Medicine and the UH Cancer Center. While both the governor’s and House budgets include funding to help cover debt service and operational costs for these institutions, the Senate version does not.
This omission comes at a critical time. Young warned that federal funding for biomedical research is expected to decline under the new federal administration, though research at JABSOM and the Cancer Center remains essential to improving health outcomes for Hawaii residents….
This omission comes at a critical time. Young warned that federal funding for biomedical research is expected to decline under the new federal administration, though research at JABSOM and the Cancer Center remains essential to improving health outcomes for Hawaii residents.
“First, nothing in the legislative budget request is to address any issues related to the federal supplantation of funds, so that worry has not yet been addressed,” Young said. “There will come a time when a question will be put to the university and the state about how those services and programs will continue if they are to continue without federal funds.”
According to Young, the state originally had chosen to fund the medical school and Cancer Center in the 1990s through special revenues — primarily cigarette taxes and tobacco settlement funds — rather than general funds. But those revenue streams have been shrinking for years.
“Cigarette consumption has been waning each year over year,” Young explained. “The amount of the master settlement agreement that comes to the university to pay for the debt service at the medical school was already short this year, and it is forecast to be even farther off this coming year and every year until the finishing of the debt.”
He added that the Cancer Center’s funding source is also projected to be insufficient starting next year.
Despite the shortfall, Young stated that the university will not default on its debt. He indicated that tuition revenues could be affected as a result, adding that it is likely tuition revenues will be used to address the gap.
The broader concern looming over UH is the predicted reduction in federal biomedical research funding. While the current budget debate focuses on capital and operational expenses, the larger issue is whether the university can sustain its research capacity without federal backing.
“Some (research) is on the radar from the current administration that may get curtailed or canceled,” Young said. “That’s probably more into the next fiscal year and beyond … That will be a bigger question, bigger than the debt service.”
The Senate’s proposal to allocate $252.9 million for UH capital improvement projects includes $120 million for student and faculty housing at Kauai Community College. However, Young said this support is misaligned with the university’s actual capital priorities….
(REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION: Which Dela Cruz campaign contributor is slated to get this $120M contract?)
UH: Legislative update: Senate budget omits UH priorities | University of Hawaiʻi System News
HNN: Senate slashes University of Hawaii 2026 fiscal budget
CB: Senate Slashes Millions Of Dollars From UH Budget Request - Honolulu Civil Beat
read … University of Hawaii faces uncertainty over Senate budget
City to lose only $11 million in federal funding
SA: … The city will lose more than $11 million in federal funding for seven programs and projects that provide special-needs housing, small-business assistance and address environmental and climate efforts.
The biggest losses will mean a $4.8 million cut for planning for a potential rapid transit bus program for the Waianae Coast, followed by a $3 million loss in federal funding for special needs housing improvements….
read … City to lose over $11 million in federal funding | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
The State Spent Millions On Housing For The Homeless. Show Us The Receipts
CB: … Green wants $50 million more from the Legislature for his program to address homelessness. The Legislature has yet to agree on that funding as lawmakers consider what requirements to attach to the money to build kauhale villages across the state.
House and Senate lawmakers have disagreed on the terms of the kauhale bill and must hash out differences during a conference committee, which has not yet been scheduled. A key point of contention is whether to require at least two bids for the construction of the villages….
With the procurement code suspended under the state of emergency, Hawaiʻi waived competitive bidding and went with a no-bid development contractor, HomeAid Hawaiʻi, to implement the program. The initiative calls for creating “affordable spaces for housing and healing our people, through intentional ‘kauhale’ design and operation.”
Critics, including of late Green’s former homelessness coordinator John Mizuno, have raised questions about operating costs of some kauhale. And Civil Beat’s review of construction expenditures highlights potential lapses in the Department of Human Services’ oversight of those projects.
The department was unable to provide documents to show spending by HomeAid on two of the priciest kauhale projects to date — Middle Street’s Phase 2 and another one in Kahului on Maui — totaling more than $14 million. Work on those projects has just recently begun, officials said, although the nonprofit has received about $2 million up front.
Details on two other contracts were also lacking. For one of those contracts – to deliver 273 homes statewide – HomeAid CEO Kimo Carvalho billed the state for nearly the entire cost of the contract all at once and provided almost no detail on how funds were used.
On another contract for the Alana Ola Pono kauhale in Iwilei, the state paid out $2.5 million – half the value of the contract – up front with only a brief description of work that would be performed. Details on what became of the rest of the money weren’t provided in response to a records request from Civil Beat. That project opened in December, but is about two weeks away from completion, Carvalho said….
SA: Column: CEO’s lived experience informs affordable housing blueprint | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … The State Spent Millions On Housing For The Homeless. Show Us The Receipts - Honolulu Civil Beat
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