December 2, 2025 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

December 2, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:25 PM :: 91 Views

City now accepting resumes for Honolulu Liquor Commission Administrator

TVR Lawsuit Coming: ‘Steal ‘em all’ Version of Maui Bill 9 Passes First Read 5-3

MN: … Maui County Council members listened to hours of passionate public testimony Monday as they passed a “clean” version of Bill 9 on first reading.

(This ‘clean’ is the version least likely to withstand legal scrutiny. It will never be enforced. A Court injunction is very likely while litigation proceeds. Also, this is the most expensive version. Maui County doesn’t have any budget for eminent domain payments.)

Citing the need for housing for residents, a majority of Maui County Council members approved the bill that if enacted, would ‘phase’ thousands of transient-vacation rentals out of Maui’s apartment districts in hopes of creating more long-term housing.

(TRANSLATION: ‘Phase’ means ‘illegal taking without compensation’. Lawsuit guaranteed. Plaintiffs will win in court. Eminent domain condemnation without compensation is illegal.)

Council members Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Tamara Paltin, Gabe Johnson, Shane Sinenci and Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins voted in favor of Bill 9, while Tom Cook and Yuki Lei Sugimura joined Council Chair Alice Lee in voting against it.

(CLUE: No budget for eminent domain payments after county loses lawsuit.)

Bill 9 is scheduled for second reading Dec. 15 .….

(CLUE: Ex-Judge Bissen knows very well that Bill 9 is doomed in court. Criminals, such as meth dealer Moses Kiakona, don’t care. The idea is to erode TVRs in the marketplace by creating uncertainty and hostility. Even though TVR owners will stop this in court, Maui TVRs already are losing value. The winners are hotels and hotel unions. Affordable housing is not and will not be produced by this subterfuge.)

read … ‘Nowhere else to go’: Maui County Council passes Bill 9 on first reading

Recent Government Salary Hikes at Top Leave Many Public Workers Behind

CB: … Raises for many top bosses on July 1 — and other increases approved or in the works — are among the largest jumps for government workers since the database was launched in 2011, ranging from 15% at the state level to more than 50% at the county level for a select group of appointed and elected officials.

Boosts for most rank-and-file workers, meanwhile, hovered near the rate of inflation, estimated by the state at 3% this year in Honolulu. More than half the government workforce — 50,000 out of 94,000 employees — received increases of between about 2% and 4% this year following union negotiations.

As a result, the median salary for the top 100 highest-paid public employees is now four times that of the rest of the public workforce, an analysis of the new database found ….

CB: Civil Beat's Public Salary Database Is Updated. Here's How To Use It - Honolulu Civil Beat

read … Recent Government Salary Hikes At The Top Leave Many Public Workers Behind - Honolulu Civil Beat

SHOPO says it will ‘work with’ (do a job on) new Kauaʻi police chief

HPR: … The state’s police union said it will work with the Kauaʻi Police Department’s new chief of police, but continues to call for more transparency about the selection process.

On Nov. 21, the Kauaʻi Police Commission made a conditional offer to San Diego Police Department Deputy Chief Rudy Tai to lead the island’s beleaguered police department.

The State of Hawaiʻi Organization of Police Officers said it wants to help Tai succeed, despite its concerns about his past.

“We're committed to working with him and helping him get integrated into the police department — and then leading it out of the rut that it is in that was left by Todd Raybuck,” said SHOPO President Nicholas Schlapak….

(TRANSLATION: Doomed. Next.)

read … SHOPO says it will work with new Kauaʻi police chief amid call for transparency | Hawai'i Public Radio

Arson not suspected in Hilo fire that burned multiple buildings

HTH: … Social media is rife with speculation the fire was caused by arson. One Tik Tok video, which has gone viral, showed the 193 Kinoole St. building with fire on a hard awning above the first story and then, after an edit, the fire coming through the front windows, with a re-poster stating the video “may have proved that” the fire was “exceedingly intentional.”

“It should be noted that the interesting thing, is the beginning of the video shows the roof a couple of seconds into it, you see a window with fire pouring out the window below it,” Todd said. “If the fire had started on the roof, the second section of the video would’ve shown the second floor on fire, not the first floor.

“That’s evidence on our side that the fire was inside, probably the first floor, and the first place it shows … probably because of the loft and the roofing … was that roof, probably. I don’t have 100% on that because my investigators are looking into it, but when I looked at that video, that isn’t evidence of arson, at least to my eye. Could be other videos show a different side of the story.”

Todd said firefighters couldn’t save 140 Haili St. but focused on keeping the blaze from spreading makai to the adjacent building, 134 Haili St., which houses Haili Barber Shop and Da Shop, a vape shop.

“We worked real hard; we were able to save that building,” Todd said. “I can’t tell you there’s no damage because we poured an unbelievable amount of water on that building to keep it from catching fire, all night long. But they should eventually be able to move back into the building.”

Todd said his firefighters also tried to save the Kushi building, but the situation was “a little bit too precarious” because of a narrow alleyway.

“That back corner ended up catching fire,” he said….

There have been two fatal fires within the past month-and-a-half.

One individual died when the Wild Ginger Hotel on Puueo Street, which was built in 1920, burned down on Oct. 22. The cause of the fire is undetermined, and police reportedly are awaiting DNA testing to identify the victim.

And two people died Friday when an apartment complex in the former Puueo Poi Factory caught fire. The building just off Kekuanaoa Street was constructed in 1960. The cause of that fire is still under investigation.

Todd said the age of downtown Hilo buildings are “part of the factor in their flammability.”

“A lot of them are entirely wood construction, balloon frame,” the chief said. “And they’ve been modified and gone through multiple owners. A lot of work has been done that is not permitted, and the usage is sometimes not what it was originally designed for. And then, some of them are, literally, inches away from their neighbor. A lot of these buildings wouldn’t be allowed to be built in the way that they are built, in the current, modern code sets….

Hawai‘i County cleans wreckage after Thanksgiving weekend fires

Police Investigating Large Fire In Downtown Hilo

Hilo lose businesses, homes and loved ones in tragic fires over the weekend : Big Island Now

read … Arson not suspected in Hilo fire that burned multiple buildings - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

DHHL expects to meet deadline to spend $600M – will ask Legislature for $800M more

SA: … DHHL officials informed a state House of Representatives oversight panel on Monday that they expect to have $589 million encumbered, or obligated for use, by the end of this year followed by the remaining $11 million by March 1.

Full encumbrance of the funds by the June 30 deadline, which lawmakers previously extended by one year, would help demonstrate that the agency can put to use additional funding that it has sought from the Legislature after the historic 2022 appropriation but failed to obtain last year via proposed legislation.

During Monday’s briefing, DHHL representatives floated the idea of $800 million in additional funding spread equally over eight years to produce close to 6,000 homestead lots.

Members of the House panel expressed general support for additional state funding, and plan to produce an interim report on DHHL’s progress using the $600 million appropriation before the 2026 legislative session begins Jan. 21. A final report is planned before the start of the 2027 session.….

read … DHHL expects to meet deadline to spend $600M | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

New Hawaii property insurance program helps stabilize prices

EE: … In July, Hawaii launched a program that offers owners of condominium buildings excess coverage for hurricane wind damage at a lower price than what private insurers are charging….

The new insurance program has sold only a few dozen policies. But state officials say dozens of condo building owners are using the lower-priced state offers to force their insurers to price-match—a critical indicator that companies want to stay in the market ….

read … New Hawaii property insurance program helps stabilize prices - E&E News by POLITICO

Hawaiian Precincts: Where the Trumpsters Are

KWO: … From 2016 to 2024, votes for Trump increased in Hawaiʻi by 51% while in the legislature Republicans gained five seats in 2016 and 12 in 2024; the most since 2002.

Voter maps provide a clear picture of who supports him. While neighbor island voters voted democratic at the same rate as urban Oʻahu voters; in rural Oʻahu Trump had heavy support.

In West Oʻahu, Trump voters were the majority in Waipahu, ʻEwa Beach, Kapolei, Nānākuli, Māʻili, Waiʻanae, and Mākaha. In East Oʻahu, they were in Punaluʻu, Hauʻula, Lāʻie, and Kahuku. There’s also a small cluster in Kalihi.

As a private school, Kamehameha accepts students from every district. The system determines the number of admitted applicants based on the percentage of Native Hawaiians in each district. So, if an area has a high density of Hawaiians, it constitutes a higher percentage of Kamehameha’s student body.

With that said, the best indicator of Hawaiian population centers are Hawaiian homesteads – the approximately 200,000 acres set aside via the 1921 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, a federal law intended to restore Native Hawaiians to their lands – now managed by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL). Presumably, a large number of Kamehameha students live on homestead lands.

And here lies the irony: if you overlaid the voter and homestead maps, you’d see that, in 2024, a large percentage of Native Hawaiians voted for Donald Trump ….

read … KS Lawsuit is a Lesson for Native Hawaiians - Ka Wai Ola

Hawaii sees 16% jump in Japan visitors, spending up 15.5%

PBN: … The number of visitors from Japan rose 16% in October, compared to the same month last year….

read … Hawaii sees 16% jump in Japan visitors, spending up 15.5% - Pacific Business News

Lawsuit: $140M Hawaii Coffee Fraud

DFP: … A Lansing-based organization that manages employee retirement plans for Michigan local governments lost $100 million on a coffee-growing venture in Hawaii and fraudulently misled a lender into contributing $40 million to the project before abandoning it, according to a lawsuit filed Monday, Dec. 1.

The lawsuit, filed in Polk County, Florida, accuses the Municipal Employees' Retirement System (MERS) and other defendants of fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and conspiracy….

AUM13F: Kona Capital Partners LLC | AUM 13F

BREG: Kona Capital Partners LLC name reserved 2016 expired 2017

Law: America Lending LLC v. Kona Hills LLC | Law.com Radar

CDB: Michigan pension fund sued over Hawaii coffee investment | Crain's Detroit Business

AI Video: Hawaii Coffee Deal Gone Wrong: Michigan Retirement Fund Loses $100M in Fraudulent Scheme - YouTube

read … Municipal retirement fund manager sued over Hawaii coffee investments

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