Property tax relief could be extended for Lahaina homeowners and businesses

Grassroot Institute of Hawaii Recognized for Lahaina Rebuild Advocacy

Ethics: DeCoite, HECO Busted

Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted November 21, 2025

Independent workers in Hawaii brace for 30% Jump in health premiums

SA: … At the start of this year, her rates went up to $1,200 a month from $900 a month and are set to rise again next year….

an estimated 23,000 to 24,000 Hawaii residents…. Many are self-employed or contract workers, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy think tank, which estimated about half of U.S. adults under age 65 are affiliated with small businesses. They include real estate agents, freelancers, nonprofit contractors, gig workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers, farmers and artists, who are bracing for a spike in premiums….

KFF says ACA premiums are rising an average of 30% in 2026, regardless, for states such as Hawaii that use the federal healthcare.gov  platform. This is due to an increase in hospital costs, Trump administration tariff policies and the rising popularity of expensive drugs like Ozempic….

read … Independent workers in Hawaii brace for skyrocketing health premiums | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Green Fee Defenders Want you to See Only The Bad Orange Man 

CB: … Richard Wallsgrove, co-director of the William S. Richardson School of Law’s Environmental Law Program, characterized the DOJ’s motion to join the case as ideologically motivated overreach by an administration that has called climate change a hoax. 

(Translation: I don’t really have an argument so I point to the Bad Orange Man.)

Scores of plaintiffs around the country regularly allege in court that the U.S. Constitution is being violated, Wallsgrove said, and the DOJ doesn’t intervene. 

(TOUGHER THAN AVERAGE IQ TEST: How insulted are you by his choice to make that argument?)

“You have to ask the question: Why this lawsuit and why now?” he said. “It’s because of this notion the federal government needs to protect U.S. citizens from a climate change hoax, which, you know, couldn’t be a bigger bowl of nonsense.”

(CLUE:  That sentence is correctly punctuated.)

The Trump administration also sued Hawaiʻi earlier this year to try and stop the state from holding fossil fuel companies responsible in court for climate change impacts.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi heads the DOJ, and under her leadership that department has pursued in court Trump’s rollback of climate initiatives. Her brother, Bradley Bondi, is the lead attorney representing Cruise Lines International in the lawsuit against the state. 

Typically, Wallsgrove said, such a familial connection to a case doesn’t raise any ethical red flags. But…(TrumpTrumpTrumpTrump….)

read … Hawaiʻi's Green Fee Is Latest Climate Change Effort Challenged By Trump - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hu Honua Bioenergy Still Alive and Kicking on 6,439th Day

IM: … Hu Honua received approval from the Public Utilities Commission but then suffered numerous labor, land, and contractual setbacks. HECO cancelled the contract in 2016. Hu Honua filed a federal lawsuit.

Hu Honua and HELCO filed a second power purchase agreement with the Public Utilities Commission. The Commission approved the contract. Life of the Land appealed. Four Hawaii Supreme Court appeals resulted in the second contract dead in the water.

But the challenge on the first contract remains alive. …

read … Hu Honua Bioenergy Still Alive and Kicking on 6,439th Day | Ililani Media

Former Lifeguard Chief Who Sparred With Mayor Is Finalist For His Old Job

CB: … Four men met in the Honolulu mayor’s office to discuss what should have been a mundane topic: turning oversight of ocean safety into its own department. 

Then, one of them — ocean safety chief John Titchen — challenged Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s plans, calling his handling of the situation “8th grade level politics at best.”

Pointing at Titchen, the mayor responded, “Who the fuck are you to come talk to me like that,” according to an internal city investigation into the April 2024 incident.

“Rick admitted that he yelled at me and swore at me,” Titchen told Civil Beat, referencing the investigator’s report, “which is really not a great way to treat civil service employees.”

(CLUE: One-sided story.)

But after the meeting last year, Titchen would be the one to pay, losing his job three months later. The investigator had concluded he demonstrated insubordination and violated the city’s Respectful Workplace Policy. 

Now Titchen is a finalist to lead the newly reconfigured Department of Ocean Safety, which is no longer under the direct thumb of the mayor. If he gets the job, Titchen would report to the new Ocean Safety Commission — whose members are appointed by the mayor. …

read … Former Lifeguard Chief Who Sparred With Mayor Is Finalist For His Old Job - Honolulu Civil Beat

Trial set for suspect in shooting death of Jonnaven Monalim

SA: … Police said the 55-year-old Monalim was shot twice in the torso trying to collect a football gambling debt from Luke, his sister’s boyfriend….

(One in box below ground.  One in box above ground.)

read … Trial set for suspect in shooting death of Jonnaven Monalim

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