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Classroom Heat
Hawai’i Aloha: How Rev. Lorenzo Lyons helped save the Hawaiian language
Aloha Stadium project ‘may cost $5 billion to $6 billion and span 25 years’
SA: … Realizing the NASED vision has challenges, in part due to the stadium site not being part of a dense urban community. Instead, it’s largely isolated by highway and freeway arteries. On top of that, the biggest regular previous user of Aloha Stadium was high school football. The UH football team plays seven home games. By comparison, Major League Baseball teams play 81 home games a year.
Ways to make more regular use of the planned new stadium include attracting professional rugby and soccer teams, as well as concerts and other entertainment arranged by AHDP, which will operate and maintain the stadium for 30 years.
ASM Global, one of the world’s largest event venue operators and manager of the Hawai‘i Convention Center, is to run the stadium for AHDP.
Carr’s team intends to have other developers help build 4,500 homes on some of the 78 acres surrounding a new stadium on 20 acres. AHDP also will continue the popular existing swap meet and plans to integrate the city’s adjacent Skyline rail station with new development.
In total, Carr estimates the entire project may cost $5 billion to $6 billion and span 25 years.
Demolition of the existing stadium is slated to begin by the end of the month. A replacement is projected to be done by March 2029 along with initial pieces of the entertainment district….
SA: Editorial: Stakes high for delayed Aloha Stadium | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Aloha Stadium project partners include sports arena and entertainment district pros | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
“The County of Maui will be sued if it passes the unconstitutional Bill 9”
MN: … Chipchase acknowledged “there’s legal risk associated with any measure that a council passes, particularly when you’re phasing out uses that have been historically on the books for many, many years.”
If the bill passes, he said he expects lawsuits to follow.
Greg Kugle of the law firm Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert was certain of the risk, saying in a statement to the Hawaiʻi Journalism Initiative: “The County of Maui will be sued if it passes the unconstitutional Bill 9.”
“The U.S. and Hawaii constitutions prevent counties from taking private property without just compensation,” said Kugle, who represented the Hawaiʻi Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance against the City and County of Honolulu. “Bill 9 has no mechanism for payment of just compensation to landowners making it constitutionally suspect.”…
read … Owners mulling legal action if Maui County’s short-term rental bill passes. Could it stand up in court? : Maui Now
Belatti, Awa Call for More Election Day Polling Places
CB: … Just when President Donald Trump is making it harder for people to vote by vowing to end mail-in voting throughout the country, Hawaiʻi voting rights advocates say they will make another push this coming legislative session to expand automatic voter registration systems. Similar bills died in the 2025 legislative session.
That’s the word from last week’s “People’s Promise” town hall at the Capitol Modern (formerly known as the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum), sponsored by Common Cause Hawaiʻi. Democratic Rep. Della Au Belatti, a co-author of two of the AVR bills, and Republican Sen. Brenton Awa, were featured speakers at the forum and both said they’d like to see more places to vote in person on election day. On Oʻahu, only two locations are open — Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale — creating long lines and late closing of the polls….
RELATED: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again
Borreca: On Politics: Hard-won voting rights, mail ballots face rollbacks | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … The Sunshine Blog: Ed Case Aims To Cement His Support For Voting Rights - Honolulu Civil Beat
Civil Beat Questions Your Right to Live in Hawaii
CB: … Being able to call Hawaiʻi home is a tremendous privilege (right), and one that I enjoy as a direct result of historical wrongs (working hard, saving money, and buying a home) ….
(Edited to induce accuracy.)
read … Eric Stinton: Can Settlers Ever Be Pono In Hawaiʻi? - Honolulu Civil Beat
HNL Build: ‘DPP Going Backwards’
SA: … Dec. 31, 2025, marks the final day that homeowners can install rooftop solar and directly benefit from the 30% federal tax credit. This vital support — federal funding flowing directly into local families’ pockets and into our economy — vanishes on Jan. 1….
Our state will lose millions in federal funding, and progress toward Hawaii’s clean energy future will stall — and every remaining barrier must be removed within days, not months.
The launch of the City and County of Honolulu’s new permitting software, HNL Build, unfortunately has added to these challenges. Despite positive actions and prompt attention from the mayor’s team, permit processing in the City and County of Honolulu has moved backwards at the worst possible time. …
read … Column: 19 weeks left to keep Hawaii solar on track | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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