Why everything Pam Bondi said about ‘hate speech’ is wrong
Bissen Dumps Water Down Streambed--PGA TOUR Dumps Kapalua
Hawaii, West Coast States Issue Unified Vaccine Recommendations
17,000 Students Flee Hawaii DoE Since COVID
CB: … This fall, the department enrolled roughly 150,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12, compared to more than 170,000 a decade ago. Schools have seen a steady decline in student enrollment since 2014, partially due to families moving out of state and Hawaiʻi’s low birthrate, according to a previous DOE presentation. …
The department hasn’t closed a school since 2011, when it shut down Queen Liliʻuokalani Elementary in Kaimukī amid strong community pushback. …
Earlier this year, the department announced plans to study closing and consolidating small elementary schools that may struggle to provide high-quality education or upkeep their facilities. The study was supposed to be completed within a year, with the Board of Education voting on which schools to close by spring 2026.
But the department has changed its course and plans to consider redistricting schools instead of pursuing campus closures. Over the summer, principals and other school leaders urged the department to consider alternatives for filling unused campus space instead of studying consolidation, according to a recent memo from DOE Deputy Superintendent Tammi Oyadomari-Chun....
KHON: Hawaii public school enrollment falls 17k since pandemic
read … DOE Aims To Avoid School Closures Through Redistricting - Honolulu Civil Beat
Featherbedding: Hawaiʻi School Superintendents Could See Big Increases In Pay Ranges
CB: … Twenty-four superintendents could see their maximum potential pay increase by 5% to 36%, although most wouldn’t be earning the maximum amount, said Wes Lo, who chairs the board’s Human Resources Committee and wrote the proposal. The goal, he said, is to make pay more equitable across leadership positions after the board declined to raise the salaries for some superintendents in recent years….
MEANWHILE: Hawaii Worst State for Teachers
read … Hawaiʻi School Superintendents Could See Big Increases In Pay Ranges - Honolulu Civil Beat
Homeless Mental Cases Recycled back to the Street Again and Again
CB: … The homeless man with salt and pepper hair watched attentively as a judge explained that he had been found mentally unfit and couldn’t be prosecuted for the trespassing charge he’d been arrested for in August.
“You’ll be released today,” the judge said on Sept. 3. “I hope that you will take advantage of the services that you’re being directed to, so that hopefully we don’t see you back under these circumstances.”
The man nodded, but even a cursory glance at his record shows how thin that hope was.
Five years ago, Hawaiʻi enacted a law meant to keep people with mental illness who commit nonviolent petty misdemeanors out of jail and get them help faster. Too often, officials noted at the time, jails were serving as de facto mental health treatment facilities — a costly, ineffective and unfair system.
In the beginning, the new law was lauded as a great success, saving the state millions of dollars and dramatically decreasing the time people were sitting in jail waiting for a mental health assessment. But five years later, longer-term data is painting a very different picture.
The number of people admitted to the state hospital with petty misdemeanor charges under Act 26 has soared by almost 2,000% since the act took effect in 2020, further straining the already overwhelmed facility. More troubling, experts say the approach is failing to get people the help they need. Diverting people into treatment can mean simply dropping people off at a shelter run by the Institute for Human Services, where they often walk away….
The act’s shorter deadline for determining mental fitness — a week at the start, recently increased to two — also means people aren’t being held long enough to receive meaningful treatment during their stay at the state hospital. They are frequently released in the throes of psychosis or addiction, particularly to meth, and there hasn’t been a sufficient increase in community-based services to catch them. Most are homeless and end up right back on the street.
“Is it better for them to be in state hospital than in the jail? Like, yeah, I guess,” said Kori Weinberger, a former prosecutor on the Big Island. “But … it has not eliminated the revolving door.”
The 61-year-old released by the judge on Sept. 3 has been sent to the state hospital 22 times in five years. Sometimes, he’s discharged only to be arrested again just a few days later. About a week after his Sept. 3 court appearance, that’s exactly what happened: He was arrested for another petty crime, a misdemeanor for theft and trespassing….
Within the last three years, the number of people entering the state hospital as a result of Act 26 has skyrocketed. Between June 2024 and July 2025, total admissions under the program reached 228….
read … State Hospital Overloaded By Law To Offer Mental Health Care In Lieu Of Jail - Honolulu Civil Beat
Lunatic Arrested four times, Now Gets #5
SA: … A 27-year-old man arrested four times in the last 18 months was charged with felony assault today for breaking a 69-year-old man’s nose in a bathroom ambush on Sept. 1….
When Carland was arrested Wednesday, he was waiting to make a court appearance related to a Sept. 3 misdemeanor sexual assault case in which he is accused of grabbing and squeezing a woman’s buttocks in the men’s section of the Target store in Waikiki before trying to introduce himself, according to court records.
Carland was declared unfit for trial three times in the past 18 months and was undergoing a mental health assessment for the pending fourth-degree sexual assault case stemming from the Sept. 3 incident, which occurred two days after he allegedly attacked Lindayao….
read … Man who ambushed 69-year-old in bathroom indicted for assault | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Honolulu police officer shortages lead to excessive overtime hours
HNN: … The extra hours are leading to burnout with the top overtime officers are averaging 90 hours a week, every week.
“That’s not something that we can sustain,” Vanic said.
The officer who made the most money this year was Sgt. Darren Cachola, who retired in July.
While he didn’t have the most OT hours, he made the most money because his 29 years on the force gave him a higher hourly pay.
His total for the year was $371,105.66 with $235,810.80 coming from overtime.
HPD is now looking into the computer records to see if Cachola used his captain’s login to approve some of his own overtime.
He is the only one under investigation for overtime use.
Among the extra jobs, Cachola worked for federally funded traffic programs.
He is a defendant in a class action lawsuit over wrongful DUI arrests.
He was listed as the supervising sergeant at a checkpoint in 2023 in Waipio when Ammon Fepuleai was arrested despite a breathalyzer test of 0.00.
HNN Investigates exposed that case in 2023 and found that dozens of other sober drivers were also taken to jail for DUI.
Federal grants pay for many of the enforcement programs and officers do snatch up these special duty jobs, but many other officers are forced to stay after just to meet minimum requirements….
read … Honolulu police officer shortages lead to excessive overtime hours
Aloha Stadium 44,000 seats – money will fall from sky
HNN: … Aloha Stadium is two weeks away from its demolition. Spotlight Now spoke with the project’s lead developer and the governor’s senior adviser on the project.
Once demolition begins, they said the old stadium materials will be shipped off island and to the highest bidder.
Developer Stanford Carr said the process will take about 10 months.
“We’re going to start on the west side of the stadium and work our way clockwise,” said Carr. “The materials will be salvaged and sold off in the market to be recycled.” …
Carr said that after the stadium opens, they hope to use more funding to add seats during the project’s second phase.
The goal is to install a total of 44,000 seats.
“We’re building it in a phased approach,” said Carr. “And if we’re enabled to secure more funding, it’ll just be one continuous phase to build out the seats.”
Carr and Morioka said the stadium would remain open during the second phase to protect the University of Hawaii’s football schedule.
“We’re very cognizant of that,” said Carr. “We’re making provisions now in the designs for the ultimate stadium so there would not be any disruption.”
“That’s something we worked on with Stanford’s team from the very beginning,” added Morioka. “We knew that there was going to be a need to expand future phases, and that we would have money available from external sources that would come on later on.”
It is not yet clear where that additional money is coming from.…
Carr said that up to 4,500 residential units are planned. He also said housing construction is targeted to begin between 2029 and 2030.
But first, Carr said, the team needs to relocate the infrastructure previously built.
“We have fuel lines, 32-inch forced water mains, existing sewer lines,” Carr listed. “So all of this infrastructure needs to be relocated, reconnected so that they’re operational. And then we’ve got to install the new infrastructure to actually build the community that we have planned.”…
read … Spotlight Now: With Aloha Stadium to be demolished, leaders outline next steps
Kauai: Nine Years without an Auditor
TGI: … The Charter of the County of Kauai states in Section 32.01: “There is established within the legislative branch an office of the county auditor, to be headed by a county auditor who shall be appointed by the county council …”
For the past 9 years the Kauai County Council has chosen not to comply with this requirement of the charter.
The purpose and job of the County Auditor is to ensure that financial audits are conducted regularly, AND to perform “performance audits.”
Performance auditing evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of an agency’s operations, makes recommendations for improvements AND in the process exposes waste, fraud and abuse.
The Kauai Charter specifies this position is to be independent and nonpolitical. It grants the auditor significant power stating “… the county auditor shall have full, free and unrestricted access to any county officer or employee and shall be authorized to examine and inspect any record of any agency or operation of the county, to administer oaths and subpoena witnesses and compel the production of records pertinent thereto.”
Yet the Kauai County Council has decided for the past 9 years not to fund this office, not to hire a full-time independent auditor and not to comply with the Kauai Charter.
read … HOOSER: When will the Kauai County Council start following the law? - The Garden Island
Social Climbing: Hawaii Pathways for ‘Climate Gentrification’
NA: … Hawaii reveals a clear “resilience premium” for safe properties and a “climate penalty” for vulnerable homes. While Hawaii’s policies have rightfully focused on assessing and understanding risk, these dynamics create a new pressure on the existing housing affordability crisis; California faces a near-identical problem set. There are three notable pathways for climate gentrification: (1) investors target safer areas; (2) climate impacts raise the cost of living to a point where homes are only affordable to wealthy households; and (3) upgrades make a community more resilient, leading to greater demand and more expensive housing. There are numerous means to account for these risks that state and municipal governments can take, including community-led planning, providing incentives for developers to maintain or increase available affordable housing in safer areas, and, as was done in Hawaii after the 2023 fires, developing community land trusts or nonprofits that hold and manage land and property to ensure long-term housing affordability….
read … Climate Change, Housing, and Homeowners Insurance in Hawaii: Lessons for California
Federal regulators vote in favor of President Trump’s push for commercial fishing in marine monuments
HNN: … On Tuesday, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council voted to advance President Donald Trump’s executive order to allow commercial fishing inside the Papahanaumokuakea and Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monuments….
KHON: Groups push back on attempts to roll back protections for national marine monuments - YouTube
KITV: Council weighs options on Trump’s move to open Hawaiʻi Marine Monuments to fishing | News | kitv.com
read … Federal regulators vote in favor of President Trump’s push for commercial fishing in marine monuments
BJ Penn charged with violating protective order
HNN: … Jay Dee “BJ” Penn, 46, has been arrested and charged for allegedly violating a protective order.
According to Hawaii Island police, officers were called to his family home Monday just after 4 p.m. and determined he had entered the Puueo Street property.
Police said this violated the terms of a protective order filed by Penn’s 79-year-old mother, Lorraine Shin, which was effective until next May.
Penn was later located in the area and arrested without incident….
He was charged Tuesday and released after posting $2,000 bail….
read … UFC legend charged with violating protective order
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