January 27, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

January 27, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:42 PM :: 155 Views

FULL TEXT: Green State of the State Speech

How Media Spins Green’s Proposal for Massive Tax Hikes

Green’s SOTS proposal for a so-called ‘pause’ in tax cuts is actually a massive income tax hike on the people who can afford to live in Hawaii. Look at how the media is spinning it for him:

SA: Gov. Green proposes suspension of historic tax breaks in 2027 | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
SA: Editorial: Gov eyes housing, health, fiscal cuts | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
CB: Hawaiʻi Governor Pledges To Build On Tax Cuts, Homelessness, Cost Of Living - Honolulu Civil Beat
BT: Hawaii Budget Gap Requires Income Tax Cut Pause, Governor Says
L360: Hawaii Gov. Urges Tax Cut Pause Amid Funding Freeze
PBN: Gov. Josh Green outlines housing, affordability plans for 2026 - Pacific Business News
MN: Governor praises Maui leadership in annual address | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
HNN: Political analyst explains why governor played it safe in annual address

Offshore Wind Project Still Planned Near Ka’iwi Channel

IM: … Hawaiian Electric Company is looking at what should be built on and off the islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Hawaii in the early 2030s.

The Hawai`i Public Utilities Commission opened a proceeding to examine HECO`s panning process and invited entities to file motions to intervene by January 22, 2026.

Aukahi Energy, envisioning a floating offshore wind project, filed a motion to intervene.

Aukahi Energy is a partnership between Progression Energy and EDF Renewables North America. Their web site states that an offshore wind energy project located offshore of windward Oahu is currently under development that will be operational in 2035 ….

read … Offshore Wind Project Still Planned Near Ka`iwi Channel | Ililani Media

'The lesson plans, they suck,' Says Hawaii Teacher Ready to Quit Job, Citing Children Struggling a Big Challenge

NS: … TikToker Jens_teacher_journey, Ms. Jen, starts her TikTok video by admitting she can’t do teaching anymore. “I guess for the first time I’m just beat. I feel defeated.” She says she’s been substituting a sixth-grade elementary school classroom since the beginning of January. She says she’s scheduled for tomorrow but continues on to say, “I’m not showing up tomorrow.” Why? According to her, “These kids are a challenge. The lesson plans, they suck.”

Jen claims several teachers, the principal, and a counselor had to come in to talk with the kids because they’re misbehaving. All these parties have worked together to try to reign in the kids but, as Jen says, “They just refuse.” She wasn’t getting very far trying to get the children to finish lesson plans to the best of their abilities.

Instead, she says they roam around the room and try to spend extra time on their computers playing games. It sounds like she’s definitely lost all control of the classroom and she’s at wit’s end over it. The phrase ‘iPad kid’ didn’t spawn out of the ether.

On this particular day of recording, Jen said the classroom was chaotic. Some teachers came into the room to help her reign in the kids and told her, “You shouldn’t even show up tomorrow.”

Other teachers shared with Jen in solidarity that they’ve dealt with the same things. One teacher stated, “I had a 7th grade class like that last year. I have no idea how I didn’t walk out. They were ridiculously disrespectful, refused to do work. My goal each day was to ‘go through the motions’ of teaching the lesson.”

Another person shared, “These kids don’t care. They know there is no real consequences for misbehavior and how limited the teacher is to do anything about it.” ….

read … 'The lesson plans, they suck,' Says Hawaii Teacher Ready to Quit Job, Citing Children Struggling a Big Challenge | The Nerd Stash

‘Point-in-Time’ Homeless count begins today

SA: … For the first time since 2024, Oahu on Monday resumed its unsheltered Point in Time count of people living on the streets. Outreach teams, service providers and city officials fanned out across Honolulu — including Chinatown, one of the island’s most visible areas of homelessness….

…a broken mental health and judicial pipeline that repeatedly cycles people from the streets to jail, to the hospital and back again — without consistent and/or extensive treatment….

…those who remain tend to have the most complex challenges, including serious mental health or substance use issues, or a reluctance to accept services….

According to Institute for Human Services Community Relations Manager Angie Knight, when police arrest someone for a low-level offense, that person may be taken to the Hawaii State Hospital for a mental health evaluation. If they are found unfit to proceed in criminal court, charges are often dismissed — and the individual is released back onto the streets without treatment.

“They’re arrested or cited, sent for assessment, deemed unfit, and then dismissed,” Knight said. “And then they’re right back where they started.”

The result, she said, is a small but highly vulnerable population of chronically homeless individuals with untreated mental illness who consume disproportionate public resources — including emergency services, hospital beds and police time — without ever receiving sustained care.

“It’s a small group of people,” Knight said. “But it costs millions of dollars.”…

At intake, one in three men at the Sumner Men’s Emergency Shelter self-reported a known chronic health condition. Among women at the Ka‘ahihi Women’s and Family Emergency Shelter, one in five reported a chronic condition.

The outreach numbers reveal even higher needs: In FY25, 41% of individuals contacted by IHS outreach teams were over age 55, and more than half — 53% — self-reported a known mental illness.

Across IHS emergency shelters, 31% of men and 36% of women were 55 or older, underscoring the growing number of homeless kupuna….

59-year-old Jesse Revera, who said he has been homeless on and off for about 15 years, and more consistently over the past three years since his release from Halawa Correctional Facility on a drug paraphernalia charge….

(IQ Test: Halawa for drug paraphernalia? Is this a lie? Y/N)

(CLUE: 123 hits on ECourtKokua. 1PC121001924 drug dealing 10 yrs of Hope Probation 2012-2022 yo-yo being violated again and again.)

As he approaches 60, Revera said he is ...uhhhh… ‘seeking a case manager’ and believes age-specific housing options may soon become available to him….

(MORE LIKELY: Next criminal conviction will again provide stable housing at OCCC.)

HNN: Point in Time Count gives snapshot of unhoused Oahu communities

REALITY: Thielen: Homelessness is a Money-Spinner, Creates Thousands of ‘Positions’ in Hawaii

read … Homeless count shows gaps in the system | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

After Wasting $33.5M to ‘Perpetuate Homelessness Industry,’ Council members seek audit

HTH: … we’ve had some concerns about double-dipping and other things that were mentioned by other colleagues…. but there has to be accountability and assurance that it is making a difference and the monies aren’t being utilized to perpetuate — for lack of a better term — an industry in and of itself.”… there’s been concern from both the public and council members “about favoritism in granting some of these grants.”…

The County Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs on Thursday voted to send to the full council a resolution requesting the county auditor conduct a performance audit of the Office of Housing and Community Development’s Homeless and Housing Fund, a five-year program established by the council in 2022 to combat homelessness.

The vote on Resolution 445-26, introduced by Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball and Council Chairman Holeka Inaba, was 8-0, with Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder excused.

Since its inception, the program, funded by county real property tax revenue, has awarded a little over $33.5 million in grants to numerous nonprofit organizations.

So far, the homeless services provider HOPE Services Hawaii Inc. has received the most money — 12 grants totaling more than $9.845 million. Others receiving grants ranging from about $90,000 into seven figures include Big Island Substance Abuse Council, Neighborhood Place of Puna, West Hawaii Community Health Center, the Salvation Army, Mental Health Kokua, Bridge House Inc., Going Home Hawaii, Habitat for Humanity Hawaii Island, Lokahi Treatment Centers, Child and Family Services Hawaii, 808 Homeless Task Force, Project Vision Hawaii, Hawaii Community Lending Inc., Hawaii Island Home for Recovery Inc. and Men of PA‘A.

The program is authorized until 2027, and council members want to quantify what has been done to help alleviate homeless with the grants — most of which are six-figure amounts — already awarded….

REALITY: Thielen: Homelessness is a Money-Spinner, Creates Thousands of ‘Positions’ in Hawaii

read … Council members seek audit of county homeless funding - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Dela Cruz Pork Hangs in the balance as State Bumbles its way thru Lake Wilson Acquisitions

CB: … after years of neglect, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has classified Wahiawā Dam as a “high hazard dam,” with the risk of catastrophic failure putting 2,500 lives at risk….

Lawmakers and state officials see the historic infrastructure as an important part of the agricultural renaissance they envision for Hawaiʻi. As a network of state agencies, including the Department of Land and Natural Resources and state-run Agribusiness Development Corp, work to increase food production and resurrect the state’s agricultural economy, and hopes of restoring the irrigation system to its former glory are running high. Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz of Wahiawā, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, has long been a key advocate for the cause….

(TRANSLATION: “Pork”)

The state is close to closing on its purchase of a 143-acre portion of Lake Wilson from Sustainable Hawaiʻi for $4.9 million. But the state agriculture department, which is overseeing the purchases and upgrades, will now need more than twice what lawmakers budgeted for the purchase in 2023.

(TRANSLATION: “Pork”)

The state set aside $26 million in 2023, including $6 million for Sustainable Hawaiʻi’s portion, which includes the spillway. The remaining funds were to go to Dole for the rest of the system. Now the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity estimates it will need an additional $31.5 million. That money is needed to bring the dam and spillway into compliance with current safety standards, based on the agriculture department’s assessments.

(TRANSLATION: “Pork”)

The initial $20 million estimate was probably not the result of an in-depth scoping process, says Brian Kau, chief engineer of the state Agricultural Resource Management Division. “It would have been based on a ~~super-duper preliminary~~ guess ~~of what has to be done~~,” he told Civil Beat. …

(TRANSLATION: “Pork”)

read … Oʻahu’s Sugar Canals Decay As State Acquisition Lags - Honolulu Civil Beat

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