February 13, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Friday, February 13, 2026

February 13, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:20 PM :: 145 Views

Bribery News: Green Cancels DC Trip--Prevents Luke from Become Acting Governor

Federal Civil Rights Complaint Challenges Hawaii DoE Transsexual Policies

Hawaii Enters Propaganda War

JSC Presents Nominees for Three District Judgeships

With military land leases expiring, Hawaii moves into unique negotiating position

Will Luke Resign before being Impeached?

CB: … Green has been pushing his attorney general to wrap up her investigation of the $35,000 money exchange by spring. Some insiders think the whole situation could come to a head in just a few weeks.

(TRANSLATION: Green wants her gone and has directed the AG to ‘investigate’ accordingly. Of course, the AG’s report will be engineered to ensure minimal collateral damage.)

Many members of the public have started calling on Luke to resign and that’s a likely outcome just based on the apparent campaign spending violations. If she’s tied to the bribery suspect who the FBI recorded while at a meeting with convicted former Rep. Ty Cullen handing over $35,000 to the unidentified legislator, things would get worse for her. The attorney general by now should know the identity of the legislator since the AG’s office has been getting files on the case from the FBI.

(CLUE: The only purpose here is to keep collateral damage down to a minimum.)

If she doesn’t resign, the Hawaiʻi Constitution sets out the rules to remove an elected official from office through impeachment. The House would need a majority of members to vote to impeach and then the trial would move to the Senate, which would need two-thirds of its members to vote to impeach.

Under Hawaiʻi law, the order of succession beneath the lieutenant governor begins with the Senate president, followed by the speaker of the House and the state attorney general. If all three of them decline the office, the law says, the job opportunity passes to “the director of finance, the comptroller, the director of taxation, and the director of human resources development in the order named.”

(Luke replaced by Kouchi to fight corruption. LOL!)

Handing off the LG job to a top state official isn’t unprecedented and that’s happened fairly recently. In 2018, as Gov. David Ige was facing a tough reelection bid, Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui stepped down to join a political strategy firm. Attorney General Doug Chin took the post after both the Senate president and House speaker declined….

Big Q: Is Gov. Josh Green correct to cancel travel plans amid an investigation potentially involving Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … What Happens When The Governor Can't Trust His Lieutenant Governor? - Honolulu Civil Beat

Donations scandal puts shadow over city COVID testing program

HNN: … But Dr. Scott Miscovich, who led many other testing programs, said by the time the portable lab was delivered, there was plenty of testing available at lower costs.

The city program, which would eventually cost taxpayers and customers over $100 million, was a boondoggle, he said.

“It was just greed and the whole concept of easy money was being floated around, and everybody just said, ‘I’ll stick out my hand and just put in as much into my hand as you can as you go,’ and grab the big amount,” Miscovich said…

The Kidney Foundation later produced a video that described the testing program as heroic and featured reviews from politicians and former adjutant general Kenneth Hara. “They organized, and they resourced themselves, and they brought this capability to Hawaii,” Hara said in the video. Foundation attorneys offered a link to the video when asked for comment.

Miscovich said the effort was a tremendous waste compared to how local companies like his performed.

“I lost $1.2 million doing testing in the state of Hawaii. I did not make money in the state of Hawaii doing testing. We just put ourselves out there to help, and we relied on the insurances to pay,” Miscovich said.

Milton Choy died in prison. Attempts to reach Tobi Solidum through a company he may have set up in the Philippines were unsuccessful….

read … Donations scandal puts shadow over city COVID testing program

$35K Bribe: Solidum and Mitsunaga both Tied To Taxpayer-Funded Kidney Center That Was Never Built

CB: … The groundbreaking ceremony for the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi’s new building in Kapolei was a major affair.

Local dignitaries showed up, including State Rep. Ty Cullen, Honolulu Councilwoman Kym Pine, state Sen. Mike Gabbard, and retired U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka — for whom the $20 million Oʻahu project would be named.

TV cameras rolled as they smiled and stuck ceremonial ‘ō‘ō sticks in the dirt on that day in 2016 to mark the kick-off of a planned 20,000-square-foot kidney health resource center, which was to include a teaching kitchen for patients with kidney disease.

Nearly a decade later, the lot is still vacant….

The Kidney Foundation’s IRS filings show it in turn paid out about $1.75 million to firms associated with Dennis Mitsunaga, a politically connected contractor who was tried and acquitted of public corruption in a high-profile 2024 trial.

The firm he founded, Mitsunaga & Associates, Inc., received approximately $750,000 for architecture services between 2022 and 2024, according to the foundation’s IRS disclosures. And Lincoln Builders — a company headed by Mitsunaga’s late son, Bert Mitsunaga — got an even $1 million for “Kapolei construction” between 2021 and 2022, the disclosures state.

There is little to show for it beyond a retaining wall.

County permitting records show the wall was estimated to cost $250,000. What exactly it is retaining is unclear, as it seems to simply divide the foundation’s vacant lot from the property next to it, which is also a vacant lot.

The plans for the $20 million building itself weren’t submitted to the Department of Planning and Permitting until September 2023 and public records show they are still pending. A separate permit application for $1 million in “sitework” was submitted in November 2023. That permit remains under review.

The long-delayed project is attracting renewed attention amid a flurry of scrutiny of the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi and one of its former consultants, Tobi Solidum. …

read … Lobbyist Under Fire Tied To Taxpayer-Funded Kidney Center That Was Never Built - Honolulu Civil Beat

Star-Adv: Time to cut vacant civil service jobs

SA: … ‘Stagnant.” That’s what the state’s human resources department calls civil service jobs that are budgeted for, yet vacant. For hundreds of these vacant positions, the state Legislature allots money year after year after year, tying up tens of millions of dollars — and undermining public trust that the budget, or government, does what it says it will do.

(TRANSLATION: Slush fund.)

It’s time to clean up the state’s accounting and shore up public trust by clearing out these long-vacant positions and reforming accounting procedures that allow them to exist. In this exceedingly uncertain budgetary environment, “We’ve always done it this way” is not an acceptable argument.

Setting a limit on the length of time that vacant positions can remain on the books may require department and agency heads to make a more transparent and detailed pitch for their budgets, and to come back to the Legislature more often to make staffing changes. Good; that should be the practice.

(TRANSLATION: Slush fund.)

Transparency and results-based budgeting assures the public that state government is efficient and effective — deploying taxpayer dollars only where needed. …

(TRANSLATION: Slush fund.)

read … Editorial: Time to cut vacant civil service jobs | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

$33 million well spent? Resolution seeking audit of county homeless fund spending passes

HTH: … The Hawaii County Council on Feb. 4 voted 8-0 to approve 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….

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 homelessness with the grants already awarded….

“I’ve had a number of people reach out to ask me to clarify whether or not the audit will include not just OHCD, but the actual organizations that have received the funding, and what the depth and level of auditing will entail when it comes to how the funds have been spent by the organizations,” Villegas said.

In response, Kimball read from the “be it resolved” section of the resolution, which calls for a “comprehensive review of OHCD and nonprofit use of housing and homeless funds.”

Separate from the resolution itself, Regina Weller, executive director of the 808 Homeless Task Force in Captain Cook, told the Tribune-Herald in a Feb. 2 email that her organization was denied a grant in 2023. And, despite her organization returning 178 unsheltered individuals to their families out-of-state in 2024 using $279,519 of a $292,000 grant from the fund, its grant applications were again denied by OHCD in 2025 and 2026….

“There is no credible reason for denial, since our performance stats and metrics are excellent,” Weller wrote. “… We are a smaller organization, and along with other small organizations who have submitted applications and were denied funding in the past, we all believe our denial was based on OHCD’s continued favoritism or cronyism toward the larger organizations, who already have millions of dollars from state and federal funds. We also believe OHCD’s created scoring process is skewed toward their favorites.

“We had complained to the County Council for a few years now because they have backed OHCD’s selection of the same organizations whose track record for decreasing homelessness is dismal.” ….

read … $33 million well spent? Resolution seeking audit of county homeless fund spending passes - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

The Incredible Shrinking Voter of Honolulu

ASD: … The voting power of the average O‘ahu resident has declined over the past century, to where each of the nine city council members now represent more than 112,000 people across multiple neighborhoods. That's twice as many people as a Hawai‘i state senator represents. There are some efforts underway to change that….

At least one official history of the Honolulu City Council outlines the history of the Council’s evolution, dating back to its early formation just a few years less than a decade after Hawai‘i’s annexation into the U.S….

Proposal 53, for example, entertains increasing the size of the Council, albeit without a clear eye towards an ideal number of members.

Under Proposal 101, Trevor Nagamine wants to increase the size of the City Council to 81 members. …

Milton Arakawa through Proposal 126, and Camron Hurt through Proposal 196, want to make each member of the Council a county-wide representative. …

read … The Incredible Shrinking Voter of Honolulu

DHHL: 40 affordable rental units for Native Hawaiians coming to Leeward coast

HNN: … The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands conducted a ceremonial blessing on 40 affordable rental units that will soon house Native Hawaiian families in Maili.

Hale Makana O Uluwehi will provide homes for beneficiaries earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income.

For instance, a family of three must earn no more than $109,440 per year to qualify….

Hale Makana o Uluwehi leaders say construction is expected to be completed in Fall 2026. Residents may be able to move in shortly after.

DHHL also opened its first transitional housing project in 2025.

View a list of current projects by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands....

read … 40 affordable rental units for Native Hawaiians coming to Leeward coast

Failed Duckbills behind Mapunapuna Flooding

HNN: … “We know it’s absolutely beyond a nuisance at this point and something that’s affecting people’s daily lives and business. We’re taking that seriously,” said city Chief Resilience Officer Kealoha Fox.

One of the solutions was put in 15 years ago in the form of duckbill valves, which are supposed to only let water out of the storm drain system, but not let water in during high tides.

“You buys put that in, it worked for eight months. Not one drip of water in the streets. Not one. So that valve system works,” Yomes told the city during the meeting. “But the problem with the government -- they don’t get maintenance contracts.”

(And, even worse, Mapunapuna then became overcrowded with global warmers taking pictures of fake 'sea-level rise.')

The city said it’s trying to do better and is looking at more frequent maintenance of the valves. There’s a proposal for diving services to clean them out sometime later this year.

“We have another contract coming out soon to check out those duckbill valves again,” said Bryan Gallagher, city Deputy Planning and Permitting director. “So is this going to be a yearly maintenance thing, how do we use technology, because there’s things you can send into the pipes -- cameras and rovers.”

Officials are also looking at much longer-term solutions, including raising the roadway at the infamous intersection of Kilihau and Ahua, which sits only two and-a-half feet to four feet above mean sea level….

read … Frustrations aired over long-standing Mapunapuna tidal flooding

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