150 lbs of Meth: Kauai Woman first of eleven to be Sentenced

Oahu residents urged to check new flood zone maps ahead of major FEMA changes

HART Getting Only 11,000 Daily Riders—Half of Mayor’s Projection

HPR: … In total, ridership numbers are in the mid-11,000s, with the trajectory expected to grow. Transit connections on TheBus are also picking up, servicing about 9,000 people a day….

(CLUE:  Just last year, Blangiardi was projecting 20,000 daily riders.)

Nouchi added that the Lelepaua Station, which serves the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, has the highest ridership of all stations….

REALITY: Remember 313,000?  A look at HART's shifty ridership projections

read … Skyline's ridership has grown since expanding its services to the airport | Hawai'i Public Radio

Reimagining Public Safety: ‘Habitual Criminal’ Supports ACLU Plot to Block Oahu Jail Project

CNS: … CCC first opened in 1916, with further portions built in the 1970s. Designed with a capacity for 628 prisoners, it now regularly houses more than 1,000.

Water leaks, inadequate ventilation, and crumbling infrastructure create what many call inhumane conditions.

Corrections officers don’t want to work there. As of Nov. 30, 2024, 434 of the prison’s 1,535 positions were unfilled — a 28% vacancy rate. Mandatory overtime has become routine, with officers working double shifts in facilities they describe as dangerous and deteriorating.

Even so, (Because OCCC is so bad) groups like Reimagining Public Safety (sense an opportunity to provoke a crisis by) question(ing) whether a new facility is truly necessary. …

(TRANSLATION:  They are trying to make things bad enough that a federal consent decree will be imposed.)

Clint Lefcourt, a handyman (felon, convicted of ‘habitual property crime’ with six criminal cases currently being heard according to ecourtkokua) and former inmate at Oahu Community Correctional Center, (released in May, 2025, to drug treatment,) speaks at a community forum hosted by the Reimagining Public Safety Hawai‘i Coalition, sharing his belief in rehabilitation and alternatives to incarceration…. (He likes being out of jail, and Hawaii keeps him out of jail a lot, but he wants even less.)….

(IDEA:  All ACLU lawyers should hire this ‘handyman’ to work on their opulent Manoa homes, LOL!)

read … Hawaii wants a $1 billion superjail. Is it worth the price tag? | Courthouse News Service

Hawaii Labor Unions Ranked by Membership

PBN: … HGEA is still #1 with 35,320 members ….

read … Hawaii Labor Unions Ranked by Membership - Pacific Business News

Kids wait, and wait, for skate park in Ocean View that has been mired in government red tape for Nine Years

BIN: … For nearly nine years, Laura Roberts and Travis Aucoin have been fundraising, planning and working together to build a skatepark for their community in Ocean View on the Big Island.

Two years ago, they had raised enough money to pay the Hawaiʻi County Planning Department for a necessary environmental assessment of the proposed site of the skatepark on a portion of Kahuku Park, 92-8607 Paradise Circle.

The environmental assessment officially began in December 2023 and was due in spring 2024. But it has not been completed, and Roberts and Aucoin say they have not been able to get an answer why or when it will be done….

read … Kids wait, and wait, for skate park in Ocean View that has been mired in government red tape : Big Island Now

Hawaii board votes to change name of Hawaii Island

KHON: … At its Dec. 10 meeting, the Hawaii Board on Geographic Names voted to change the official name of the “Island of Hawaii” to simply “Hawaii,” bringing it in line with every other island in the state….

read … Hawaii board votes to change name of Hawaii Island

QUICK HITS:

1. Ko Olina Resort getting new amphitheater, cultural sanctuary - Pacific Business News

2. Demolition of former Dee Lite Bakery to start Monday

3. Former Bank of Hawaii teller indicted for theft, computer fraud - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

4. District of Hawaii | California Man Sentenced to 6 Years for Drug Trafficking | United States Department of Justice

5. District of Hawaii | Convicted Felon Sentenced to 40 Months for Possessing Explosive Powder | United States Department of Justice

6. Former Miss Hawaii awaits first visit with detained husband

7. WATCH: California co-leads suit over $100,000 H-1B visa fee | California | thecentersquare.com

8. State AGs sue Trump admin over new $100k visa fee | Courthouse News Service

9. States, unions sue Trump administration over loan forgiveness rule | Arizona | thecentersquare.com

10. Safe and Sound West Side program a growing success, opening the door for more community events

11. Hawaii Travel Shifts For 2026 As Soft Demand Creates Rare Openings

12. News Flash • County reminds residents to submit Circuit Brea

13. Governor Josh Green, M.D. | DAB News Release on Biosecurity Dashboard

14. Episode 137: Mayor Blangiardi on the holidays, HNL 311, and illegal fireworks | Office of the Mayor

15. City selects Kobayashi Group for transit-oriented affordable housing redevelopment in Kapolei | Department of Housing and Land Management

16. What scientists found when a deep sea mining company invited them in - The Garden Island

17. ISLAND HISTORY: Kauai helicopter pilot Tom Mishler and the ghost of Aubrey Robinson - The Garden Island

18. Judge orders life sentence in unprovoked attack at Kapolei restaurant | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

19. Hawaii Wildlife Center reports record seabird fallout | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News

20. Nearly 1,000 acres of Kāneʻohe Pali land saved for conservation | Hawai'i Public Radio