December 10, 2025 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Wednesday, December 10, 2025

December 10, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:13 AM :: 294 Views

Hawaii Says Trump’s Medicaid Policy Is Harmful. They Can’t Prove It.

‘The Babylon Bee’ Fights Hawaii Law Censoring Political Speech

Is Red Hill a Superfund Site?

Children’s Entrepreneur Market Expands to Hawaii

He Spent Funds Meant For Native Hawaiians On Polo And Porsches. The Federal Government Failed To Stop Him

CB: … At a congressional oversight hearing in 2019, Linda McMahon, then head of the Small Business Administration, lavished praise on a Native Hawaiian defense contractor as a shining example of a federal program designed to uplift Indigenous people.

Christopher Dawson and his companies had won hundreds of millions of dollars in no-bid government contracts through the SBA based on the promise that his profits would primarily be used to help Native Hawaiians by, in part, promoting the culture, building homes and supporting orphaned children.

“Oh my goodness,” McMahon gushed to senators. “They bring so many businesses in and support so many businesses.” She added she wanted to “work more closely with them because they seem to have such a great footprint.”

Two months before the hearing, however, a former employee had met with federal investigators and filed a whistleblower lawsuit accusing Dawson and executives of cheating the SBA’s 8(a) program. That program, which dates to the 1960s, was designed to help business owners from historically disadvantaged groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, to win federal contracts. For Native American tribes, Alaska Native corporations and certain Native Hawaiian nonprofits, such as Dawson’s Hawaiian Native Corp., the opportunity comes with no cap on the size of those no-bid contracts.

Internal company records and other documents in the SBA’s possession would later show just how much Dawson had indulged. There were private jets and Porsches, luxury homes in Hawaiʻi and Florida, memberships to private social clubs, and a nearly $1 million annual salary. Dawson also funneled millions into polo, investing in a beachfront horse farm on Oʻahu’s famed North Shore and a horse breeding operation in Argentina.

Justice Department prosecutors would eventually describe Dawson’s actions as part of a “fraud scheme and embezzlement,” one that victimized the people he was supposed to be helping.

The SBA has known for years about its failures in policing its business development program. Audits and investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the SBA inspector general over the past two decades have found a lack of oversight by the agency, and in 2019, just months after McMahon’s testimony, the GAO again cited the agency for “persistent weaknesses.” McMahon did not respond to a request for comment….

Feb 2024: Skimming Nuclear Munitions Contract? Lawsuit Alleges Dawson is Fake Hawaiian Company

read … He Spent Funds Meant For Native Hawaiians On Polo And Porsches. The Federal Government Failed To Stop Him - Honolulu Civil Beat

Terrified Bissen may face challenger, HGEA Makes Early Endorsement

CB: … The state’s largest public worker union endorsed Maui Mayor Richard Bissen this week for a second four-year term.

(This is almost as big as the support Missen Bissen gets from convicted meth dealer Moses Kiakona and his front group, Lahaina Strong.)

The announcement from the Hawaii Government Employees Association came well ahead of the candidate filing deadline in June and before anyone else has declared their intent to challenge him in the non-partisan election next fall.

Political observers say the unusually early endorsement by HGEA — which represents 35,000 government employees, including 3,500 in Maui County — is likely an effort to dissuade potential competition from entering the race.

(TRANSLATION: HGEA knows Missen Bissen is toast if a real opponent emerges.)

read … Hawaiʻi's Biggest Public Worker Union Makes Early Endorsement For Maui Mayor - Honolulu Civil Beat

Feds Allowed to Join Green Fee Case: Argue Hawaii Cruise Ship Tax Violates Supremacy Clause

BL: … Hawaii’s environmental tax on cruise ships docking at the state’s ports violates the supremacy clause of the constitution, the US told a federal court.

The 11% “Green Fee” surcharge on cruise ships to fund various environmental projects infringes on the federal Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1884, which prohibits states from taxing ships navigating US waters, the government’s intervenor complaint said.

The intervenor complaint also accused Hawaii and most of its counties of violating the law’s tonnage clause, which forbids states from taxing vessels without congressional consent….

L360: US Can Join Hawaii Transient Tax Case, Court Rules - Law360 Tax Authority

read … Hawaii Cruise Ship Tax Violates Supremacy Clause, US Argues

Meth News: Six-Timer Loser gets Minimal Sentence -- stabs HPD officer

SA: … According to state court records, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney asked a judge to sentence Perry-Pruski to 10 years in prison in connection with the July 18, 2022, robbery of a 7-Eleven in the 1100 block of North King Street.

While stealing from the store, Perry-Pruski threatened a worker with a knife.

Perry-Pruski addressed the court on June 28, 2023, and noted his “minimal record” and told a judge that it would be good for him to get into a residential treatment program and “stay healthy on medication.”

(CLUE: Meth addicts must be forcibly incarcerated in treatment facilities with armed guards and concertina wire.)

Perry-Pruski was sentenced to 18 months in prison “subject to early release” once he got into the program, followed by four years of probation.

A bench warrant was issued for Perry-Pruski on Sept. 25, 2024, after he violated his probation.

Perry-Pruski tested positive for methamphetamine, failed to get drug treatment, find a job, or submit to random drug tests. He has six prior state convictions, including misdemeanor theft, trespassing, harassment and criminal property damage….

read … Man wanted on warrant for robbery allegedly stabs a HPD officer, 38 | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

City moves on major Kapolei affordable housing project

KHON: … The City and County of Honolulu has chosen the Kobayashi Group to turn about 14 acres of city-owned land in Kapolei into a large affordable rental neighborhood.

The land sits between Wākea St. and Kamokila Blvd. and is known as Kapolei Parkway Lots 2-5. The City said the area could hold around 750 affordable rental homes once planning is complete ….

SA: City selects developer for Kapolei site | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … City moves on major Kapolei affordable housing project

Honolulu apartment tenants protest at landlord’s home over power shutoff

HNN: … Organizers describe the situation as both unacceptable and dangerous, saying the shutdown stemmed from overdue utility payments that were never resolved by Waters.

They are calling on city and state officials to intervene immediately and ensure that power is restored….

read … Honolulu apartment tenants protest at landlord’s home over power shutoff

Texas attorney sentenced for illegally soliciting Hawaii wildfire victims

HNN: … A Texas attorney who illegally solicited Maui wildfire victims through mass mailings was sentenced to pay court fees but avoided jail time and will not have a criminal conviction on his record.

Houston attorney Eric Dick sent flyers to 27,000 addresses on Maui despite not being licensed to practice law in Hawaii.

Although the attorney general received multiple complaints about out-of-state lawyers soliciting wildfire victims, Dick was the only one charged with a crime….

An undercover investigator posed as a victim and recorded Dick’s pitch, leading the attorney general to charge him with four misdemeanor counts of unauthorized practice of law and attempted unauthorized practice.

Dick never signed up a Hawaii client, prompting his attorney to try to get the case dismissed in July. Judge Peter Cahill rejected that argument….

read … Texas attorney sentenced for illegally soliciting Hawaii wildfire victims

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