UHERO: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Maui’s Immigrant Community
Hawaii AG Backs Suit Against Trump's DEI Ban
Mindless Hysteria: Trump Cuts Almost Nothing on Maui, Becomes Excuse for Council Budget Bloat
MN: … The Maui County Council will have a first reading today of its fiscal year 2026 budget of $1.56 billion, which at $55 million more than Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed version is due in part to concerns over protecting local programs from possible federal funding cuts.
REALITY: Trump has cut only two manini arts grants in Maui County.)
The council’s increases are mostly in county operations, by nearly $45 million, while increasing capital improvement project funding by $10.4 million, according to the budget committee’s report.
“Circumstances are different,” Council Chair Alice Lee said Thursday. “Initially, we wanted to cut the budget. But, with the way Washington policies kept changing a lot, we thought … that we better be more conservative.”
(TRANSLATION: We’re just making this up as we go along.)
Not all council members are happy with how the budget has shaped up.
“There wasn’t a real understanding by the leadership of what we were doing — if the goal was to come in near to or under the mayor’s budget,” said Council Member Tamara Paltin, who holds the West Maui residency seat.
(TRANSLATION: We’re just making this up as we go along.)
Before Bissen presented the council with his $1.51 billion budget in March, Lee and other council members said they were preparing to make cuts wherever they could because of the uncertainty over the Trump administration’s policies.
(TRANSLATION: We’re just making this up as we go along.)
Now, they say that’s the reason why they decided to keep funding in the county’s budget and add programs where needed — to make sure there is enough money locally for organizations that may lose grants, residents facing higher expenses and developers grappling with the rising costs of building homes. …
(TRANSLATION: We’re just making this up as we go along.)
Another change included allocating $25 million toward the “shovel-ready” Līpoa Apartments rental project in Kīhei. The council did this by shifting nearly $14 million from carryover savings to the Affordable Housing Fund and reducing a $12.4 million loan for a housing project in Nāpili to a $2 million grant, which the project developer agreed to, according to the committee report.
(NOTE: This is the only mention of actual affordable housing construction.)
To cover the increase in costs, the council made changes that included cutting some projects and raising taxes for some property owners. For example, bumping tax rates for non-owner-occupied properties increased revenue by nearly $12.3 million. Increased rates for timeshares, hotels and resorts and short-term rentals also lifted revenues by a combined $14.4 million.
(TRANSLATION: Tax hikes are all Bush’s fault. Ooops. I mean Trump’s fault.)
MN: Maui Council passes fiscal 2026 budget on first reading; final reading set for June 3 : Maui Now
REALITY: Hype? Hawaii Trump Cuts only $95M – Mostly at UH
read … Concerns over Trump’s federal funding cuts push Maui County Council to bigger budget than mayor’s : Maui Now
City Council OKs foreclosure of illegal vacation rental
ASD: … The Council approved on Wednesday a resolution authorizing the City and County of Honolulu Corporation Counsel to begin a foreclosure action against the trust of Diana Tsui Hung Lee after trustees repeatedly operated an ‘Ālewa Heights property as an unpermitted short-term rental.
Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting issued the trust five citations in 2021 for advertising and operating the property as, variously, an unpermitted short-term rental, transient vacation rental, bed and breakfast, with each citation carrying a fine of $10,000 per day of violation.
According to the Council resolution, those fines have yet to be paid. And Anson Lee, representative of the trust, told the Council Wednesday that it’s unlikely they ever will.
“I don’t have a million dollars,” Lee said. “I don’t. I’m not rich.”
Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who represents ‘Ālewa Heights, told Aloha State Daily that the fines on the property totaled more than $953,000.
“But the home also has higher liens on it,” Santos-Tam said. “There are more fines, but some of those are still appealable.”
A 2025 real property tax assessment by the city pegged the property’s value at just over $1 million.
“The reason I did AirBNB is for my two sons who’re going to college,” Lee told the Council. “But the college has already been paid off and they’ve already graduated … But it’s really no reason for me to break the law, and I’m paying the price for it. It’s not worth it.” ….
read … City Council OKs foreclosure of illegal vacation rental
Mexican national to be sentenced for selling meth in Hawaii
SA: … He faces a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison and a fine of up to $10 million. After he gets out, Murillo-Ramos will be on probation for at least five years.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday at 1:30 p.m. before the Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig S. Nolan is prosecuting the case.
Murillo-Ramos is represented by defense attorney Michael Green and is navigating court with the help of a Spanish interpreter.
He is in custody at the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu ahead of sentencing.
According to a June 29, 2023, indictment, Murillo- Ramos conspired with George Nick Zamudio, 39, aka “Joker,” to possess and sell methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and heroin from November 2021 to until May 9, 2022.
On Feb. 27, Seabright sentenced Zamudio, who was on probation when he was arrested, to 11 years in federal prison followed by five years of probation.
Zamudio must disassociate “from the South Side, Calle UVA, Watts, TWS, and 107 gangs, and must not voluntarily and intentionally associate with any individual whom you know is associated with the South Side, Calle UVA, Watts, TWS, and 107 gangs or any other gangs that are involved in criminal activities,” according to federal court documents.
During March and April 2022, federal law enforcement used an informant who was a customer of Murillo- Ramos and Zamudio to conduct “a series of controlled purchases from the defendant and Zamudio,” according to the plea agreement.
Working from the East Coast, the informant communicated with Murillo- Ramos and Zamudio by phone and written messages to set up the shipping of “wholesale quantities of controlled substances to addresses in Hawaii and Pennsylvania.”
Murillo-Ramos and Zamudio shipped methamphetamine to Hawaii and cocaine, fentanyl and heroin to Pennsylvania.
Federal law enforcement seized the methamphetamine, about 8,779 grams, a little more than 19 pounds….
(CLUE: Modern-day version of the Opium Wars with US as China.)
SA: HPD looking for man who tried to kidnap 10-year-old in Kalihi | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Mexican national to be sentenced for selling meth in Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
(Again) Feds to Cut DHHL Funding because it is not being spent
SA: … President Donald Trump (copying Obama) is proposing to eliminate the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program as part of a rough budget plan for the next federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1
In a May 2 letter from Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (copying Obama) to the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, OMB Director Russell Vought indicated that the federal grant funding for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands should be cut off in part because DHHL has an accumulation of unspent proceeds from prior years.
“The program has large balances and only one grantee, which would be more appropriately funded by the State of Hawaii,” the letter said.
Annual funding from the program in each of the last three years has been about $22 million.
However, such funding at times has been much lower, and got zeroed out during the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama in 2016 because DHHL had amassed a pile of unspent funding that drew the ire of some state leaders and DHHL beneficiaries….
(See? Told you.)
read … Federal funding for Hawaiian Home Lands on chopping block | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
DOBOR Hassles Canoe Club
HNN: … Club member say trouble began with a simple act of kindness: Some community members offered to put in a new fence to replace the one that stood ofr years between the canoe hale and the highway.
“Everything was the same fence, how was up 40 years ago, you know. Six Feet high and a hundred fifty feet long,” said canoe club president Clint Anderson.
But shortly after it went up, Anderson said the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation sent him an email.
“You gotta take down the fence, it’s illegal, this and that. You don’t have no permits, no nothing whatsoever.”
DOBOR also said the club had to disconnect a water line that it had put up years ago for a shower -- again because of no permit.
“We’re all shell-shocked. No more water. I mean, not only us. It’s everybody who comes here,” said canoe club member Dean Watson….
read … Canoe club’s supporters turn out after fears that complaints could close it down
UH AD Search Firm Refuses to Interview Craig Angelos
SN: … A UH spokesperson declined to provide a specific number of applicants to Spectrum News on Friday, but it’s known that UH has begun winnowing the pool for the high-profile position that it hopes to have filled by the end of the summer.
Former UH athletic director Craig Angelos, who was fired by then-president David Lassner in November “based on performance,” only to reapply this spring, said he was informed on Thursday that he would not be given an interview.
“I talked with the search firm yesterday and he told me that they were not going to interview me and are moving ahead with other candidates,” Angelos told Spectrum News on Friday, confirming the news first reported on Kanoa Leahey’s Let’s Talk Sports morning show on ESPN Honolulu….
UH has enlisted a local 10-person search committee and a national search firm, Atlanta-based Parker Executive Search.
Hensel announced this week that in addition to those, UH has formed a “small internal advisory committee” to provide feedback.
That committee was said by Hensel to include “student-athletes, coaching staff and faculty.” A UH spokesperson declined to reveal the names of the committee members, saying the reasoning was so that the committee members would not be contacted by members of the public seeking to advocate for a particular candidate.
Others known to have interest in the position are former HHSAA executive director and Honolulu mayoral candidate Keith Amemiya and former Rainbow Warrior basketball guard and sports agent Jarinn Akana….
read … University of Hawaii touts 'robust' field of AD applicants
Hu Honua Bioenergy -- Federal Round No. 3
IM: … For its second bite at the federal apple, Hu Honua revived the federal lawsuit. After several briefings, U.S. District Court Judge J Michael Seabright put the final nail in the coffin when he rejected all remaining federal issues on April 17, 2025.
Hu Honua had four options: ending the fiasco, seeking a new power purchase agreement, filing an action in state court to address alleged violations of state law, or to file an appeal.
Hu Honua opted for its third go at the federal level, by filing an appeal of the U.S. District Court decision on May 14, 2025….
CN: Electric monopoly | Courthouse News Service
PDF: hu-honua-hawaiian-electric-complaint-oahu | Courthouse News Service
read … Hu Honua Bioenergy -- Federal Round No. 3
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