Cap and Trade Scam Makes West Coast Gasoline Almost as Expensive as Hawaii--but not quite
Hawaii's new act redefining parenthood has disturbing implications
Governor proposes massive tax increase on middle class Hawaii
HNN: … Green said the state will likely pause tax breaks at higher brackets (increase taxes) for 2027, 2028, and 2029.
The breaks would affect individuals making more than $200,000 or $250,000, who he pointed out have received additional tax breaks from the federal government.
(TRANSLATION: Anyone who can afford to live here will be hit by Green’s tax hike.)
“We’re balancing the 3 billion dollars of (imaginary) losses that we suffered from the federal government, having a turbulent time for us,” Green said (hallucinating) ….
read … Governor proposes pause on tax breaks to offset federal cuts
Steal them All: After Bill 9--Proposal for new hotel zoning for vacation rentals deferred in Housing and Land Use Committee (AGAIN)
MN: … The Maui County Council’s Housing and Land Use Committee on Monday deferred action on the creation of new hotel zoning districts following an executive session that lasted over an hour.
The committee met to discuss Resolution 25-230, which proposes establishing H-3 and H-4 zoning districts. These districts are intended to allow transient vacation rentals to continue as a permitted use for certain properties currently in A-1 and A-2 apartment zones following the enactment of Bill 9. The proposal has been to “cut and paste” apartment zoning provisions into the new H-3 and H-4 zoning, except that vacation rentals would be permitted outright.
Before voting whether to send a bill to the Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi planning commissions, the committee heard proposed amendments from Council Members Tamara Paltin and Keani Rawlins-Fernandez….
Committee Chair Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins, who took over the chairmanship Monday following a Council committee reorganization, deferred the matter without further comment after the committee spent more than an hour in executive session. The closed meeting was called to consult with legal counsel on the powers, duties, and liabilities of the county concerning proposed amendments to new hotel districts….
Citing a May 22, 2025, memorandum from the Maui County Department of Planning, Nishiki said 43 properties on the so-called Minatoya List of grandfathered vacation rental properties — with a total of 2,440 units — appear to be affected by the 3.2-foot sea level rise exposure area….
(CLUE: Sea level rise at HNL over the last 100 years is 6 inches. Sea level will not be rising 3.2 feet. It is a lie which has become official policy for the purpose of stealing shoreline properties. Source: NOAA <<< Click it if you dare.)
MN: Kauanoe Batangan officially sworn in as Maui County Council member; Committee memberships assigned : Maui Now
MN: Batangan takes seat on Maui County Council | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
read … Proposal for new hotel zoning for vacation rentals deferred in Housing and Land Use Committee : Maui Now
Petition demands probe into $35,000 cash exchange by ‘influential’ lawmaker
HNN: … A petition calling for public hearings was filed with the Hawaii State Legislature Monday morning with nearly 1,000 signatures supporting legislative action.
The petition seeks to learn more about a $35,000 cash exchange by a person the FBI described as an “influential state legislator” in 2022.
There were 884 electronically signatures from the online request and an additional 45 people provided physical signatures in support of the petition….
Retired federal public defender Alexander Silvert started the petition in October. He mailed hard copies and electronic copies to lawmakers Monday.
“What I’m hoping for is, at best, that they immediately appoint and convene an investigatory committee or send it, for example, to the judiciary committees, which the heads of those committees could run the investigation,” Silvert said.
“If they are unwilling to do it at this point, I would hope at least there’d be a floor debate so we can see where people stand and what their reasoning and logic is,” he said.
The issue has divided those at the Capitol. Senate leaders have not acknowledged the petition in the nearly three months it was online, while some representatives have expressed strong support for it….
Hawaii News Now reached out for comment from Senate president Ron Kouchi but did not get a response.
A spokesperson for the House said in a statement, “The House has received the petition and will review it.”
The petition will be addressed after the legislative session starts later this month ….
CB: $35K Mystery Payment: Petition Calls For Hawaiʻi Legislature To Investigate - Honolulu Civil Beat
SA: Petition calls for inquiry on unnamed Hawaii lawmaker in corruption case | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
BACKGROUND: Did Expose save Kouchi from $35,000 Bribe Prosecution? Behind weird flip-flop on leaving Senate?
read … Petition demands probe into $35,000 cash exchange by ‘influential’ lawmaker
Trump Gives Hawaii nearly $190 million for rural health care – Green claims credit
SA: … Hawaii has been awarded nearly $190 million in federal funding to augment rural health care under President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” through a plan co-written by Democratic Gov. Josh Green.
Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Monday that the amount of funding means Hawaii now ranks sixth in the country per capita in federal rural health care funding. He said it’s the result of working with fellow Pennsylvania native and physician Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services….
(See? Told you.)
read … Hawaii gets nearly $190 million for rural health care | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Federal authorities say crimes against kids up 150% since 2021
SA: … Federal prosecutions of pedophilia and crimes against children in Hawaii increased by 50% between 2024 and last year, and by 150% since 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Officials declined to disclose raw numbers but noted that last year prosecutions initiated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii related to crimes against children — including for production, distribution, possession, and receipt of child pornography — were up 50% from 2024 and up 150% from 2021, U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser….
read … Federal authorities say crimes against kids up 150% since 2021 | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaiʻi ICE Arrests And Detentions In 2025 Spiked From Year Before
CB: … Arrests and removals by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Hawaiʻi through October were quadruple those in all of 2024, based on ICE operations data.
The exact numbers for the full calendar year won’t be available until mid-March due to delays in data releases by the Department of Homeland Security. But the data available for 2025 show ICE agents in Hawaiʻi conducted 194 arrests between Jan. 8 and Oct. 15, up from 52 arrests the year before under the Biden administration.
Those numbers are certain to rise. They do not include dozens of arrests made on Kauaʻi in early November at six properties in Kapahi and Kalāheo used as workforce housing by a cleaning contractor, Hawaii Care and Cleaning Inc.
Citizens of Mexico made up nearly a quarter of all those detained by ICE in Hawaiʻi so far in 2025, followed by Chinese nationals, and citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia. But more than 100 other nationalities were represented….
read … Hawaiʻi ICE Arrests And Detentions In 2025 Spiked From Year Before
Fireworks calls double
CB: … While there were far fewer fireworks-related injuries and incidents this New Year’s Eve, Honolulu police responded to nearly 50% more calls for fireworks violations as they did the previous year.
Between 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 and 6 a.m. on Jan. 1, police responded to 592 calls for fireworks violations compared to 395 during the same time period the year before. More than half of the calls occurred after 10 p.m.
It’s unclear if there were more violators overall or if people were more likely to report their neighbors because of a growing intolerance for illegal fireworks use.
Police issued 29 fireworks citations on New Year’s Eve and arrested two people, police spokesman Kerry Yoshida said in a statement on Monday. One person was arrested for setting off an aerial firework and another for lighting firecrackers without a permit. Charges have not yet been filed in either case. …
ASD: Four arrested statewide over fireworks incidents
SA: Crackdown nets 61 tons of illegal fireworks | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Hawaiʻi Law Enforcement Leader Calls For 5-Year Ban On All Fireworks - Honolulu Civil Beat
No Surprise: Hawaii State Court Denies Oil Company Bids to Quash Climate Suit
BL: … A Hawaii state judge dismissed a series of motions from oil and gas companies seeking to toss Honolulu’s climate tort lawsuit before it can proceed to trial.
Judge Lisa Cataldo of Hawaii’s First Circuit Court handed down multiple rulings on Jan. 2, each one denying a bid to have Honolulu’s case scrapped over issues raised in the complaint related to out-of-state conduct, the statute of limitations, and personal jurisdiction.
Sunoco LP, Aloha Petroleum Ltd., and all other defendants pushed for summary judgment, while Exxon Mobil and BP also filed personal jurisdiction motions….
read … Hawaii Trial Court Denies Oil Company Bids to Quash Climate Suit
Hawaiian Electric reaches $47.75 million shareholder settlement over Maui wildfires
R: … Shareholders said Hawaiian Electric falsely claimed it was taking appropriate action to reduce the risk that its utility poles could trigger wildfires, especially in western Maui where the spread of dry grass effectively created "highly flammable haystacks all around a populated area."
Hawaiian Electric denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, court papers show. It set aside money for the settlement in last year's third quarter, and said it expected insurers would provide funding, a regulatory filing shows. Hawaiian Electric did not immediately respond to a request for comment….
SA: Hawaiian Electric reaches $47.75M shareholder settlement over wildfires (NYSE:HE) | Seeking Alpha
read … Hawaiian Electric reaches $47.75 million shareholder settlement over Maui wildfires | Reuters
Could Hawaii Become a Major Exporter of Energy Products?
IM: … The initial Renewable Portfolio Standard law passed in 2001. The law required that the amount of fossil fuel used to make bioenergy resources had to be removed from the amount of bioenergy that could be counted as renewable energy.
Then came wacko investment advocates.
What if Hawaii in general, and Maui in particular, could become global centers for producing ethanol? What if Hawaii could become a major global ethanol exporter?
The problem is that outside of Brazil, three-to-five units of fossil fuel are needed for every four units of ethanol produced. The existing 2001 law would mean that the ethanol produced could not count as renewable energy.
Almost 20 years ago, the State Legislature modified the definition of renewable energy that benefits not only the non-existent ethanol production industry, but also all bioenergy production schemes. Regardless of whether biofuels are made from recycled waste oil and grease, or from fossil fuels, any product produced is 100% renewable energy.
The Hawaii law remains. Use extensive amounts of fossil fuels to clearcut virgin rainforests, pulverize the material into wood chips, burn the wood chips, and the result is clean, green, renewable energy.
Another destructive Hawaii law is that a new power plant exceeding five megawatts requires an environmental impact statement if it burns fossil fuels but not if it burns bioenergy products that extensively needed fossil fuels to make the biofuels.
The one saving grace is that the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that if an intervenor in a Hawaii Public Utilities Commission proceeding details destructive environmental impacts, then the Commission must justify why the proposal is reasonable and in the public interest….
read … Could Hawaii Become a Major Exporter of Energy Products | Ililani Media
Maui To Settle Landfill Legal Battle After Scrapping Plan To Seize Property
CB: … After months of negotiations, Maui County is expected to settle a nearly two-year legal battle with the owner of property it had once hoped to use as the final dump site of ash and debris from the 2023 Lahaina wildfire.
The county gave up on plans to seize the property near the Central Maui Landfill through eminent domain after finding another site. But the landowner, Komar Maui Properties, sued to recoup the legal fees it incurred fending off the county in federal court.
While an agreement has been reached, the settlement has not been finalized and county officials have so far refused to disclose its cost to taxpayers….
The county ended its efforts to take possession of Komar’s property in late 2024, when the Maui County Council authorized officials to pay $4 million to a subsidiary of the Honolulu-based construction company Nan, Inc. for nearly 80 acres of nearby land to expand the Central Maui Landfill and dispose of wildfire debris.
County workers have since built a permanent wildfire debris dump site on that property — 49 acres of a former quarry plus 30 acres still being quarried — and contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers transported thousands of truckloads of debris from a temporary holding pit in Olowalu to the new location in Central Maui. The Army Corps finished that job in October….
read … Maui To Settle Landfill Legal Battle After Scrapping Plan To Seize Property - Honolulu Civil Beat
Maui synagogue threat in Kihei determined a hoax by police
HNN: … According to police, on Dec. 30, 2025, at around 6 a.m., a synagogue in Kihei received an email threat that claimed a bomb was on the property….
X: "The Jewish Congregation of Maui, Hawaii was targeted with a bomb threat. Police responded swiftly and, thankfully, no explosive device was found.”
read … Maui synagogue threat in Kihei determined a hoax by police
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