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Saturday, March 21, 2026

March 21, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:32 PM :: 99 Views

Are People Leaving Hawaiʻi Because of High Prices, or Low Incomes?

VIDEO: Coast Guard Overflight of Flood Zone

Judge Names Yeaman Kamehameha Schools Trustee

Election 2026: 225 Candidates Pull Papers to Run

Feds Warn of more Rail Delays, Cost Overruns -- leads to HART Finger Pointing, Infighting

SA: … a Jan. 12 Federal Transit Administration consultant’s project report covering December 2025 updates for Skyline work … indicates HART issued Hitachi Rail Honolulu JV, or HRH, a notice to proceed on Segment 3 core systems design at the end of 2024….

“At this point HRH has not begun that work,” Philadelphia-based Hill International Inc. reported.

The design delay, according to the consultant who first identified the issue in November, could affect Segment 3’s $1.66 billion design- build contract with Los Angeles- based Tutor Perini Corp.

Rail’s Segment 3 project, under construction from Middle Street’s Kalihi Transit Center to the planned Civic Center Station at Halekauwila and South streets, was anticipated to be completed by 2030, with public ridership to begin the following year.

“HART has directed its in-house design consultant to provide the systems designs needed for (Tutor Perini) to proceed with the project,” the consultant’s report states. “This is a potentially significant risk being carried by HART.”

“HART noted that HRH could not catch up to the (Tutor Perini) schedule needs at this point and will have to use the HART designs as starting points for its design,” the report asserts. “HART stated that HRH has agreed to begin design in early 2026.”

Hill International advised it “will continue to monitor design progress and contractor coordination for the City Center work.”

And the consultant recommended “a thorough review of the HART construction schedule to assess the probability of whether” Skyline’s “revenue service date is still feasible.”

But Hitachi — currently embroiled in ongoing, multimillion- dollar lawsuits with HART as construction of the over-$10 billion Skyline project continues eastward — later refuted allegations it hindered Segment 3’s progress.

“Hitachi Rail Honolulu firmly rejects any claims suggesting that delays to Segment 3 are attributable to Hitachi Rail,” the company said in a statement to the Honolulu Star- Advertiser on March 3. “HRH has consistently fulfilled its project commitments, met key milestones, and delivered four new Skyline stations ahead of schedule — despite significant delays and costs beyond HRH’s control.”…

(TRANSLATION: It’s all HART’s fault.)

Hitachi asserted in its statement that any delays on Segment 3 started with actions taken by the city rail agency.

The company notes in 2021 HART issued an official “stop work” order transmittal letter to HRH “indefinitely suspending all Segment 3 activities.”

Following the “stop work” order, in August 2024, Hitachi says it “contacted HART to resume Segment 3 delivery, upon learning that civil construction had been awarded to Tutor Perini Corporation.”

“Unfortunately, despite HRH’s immediate request, HART subsequently responded in November 2024 — directing HRH to proceed with limited ‘system interface and coordination’ tasks,” Hitachi said. “Meanwhile, all other major Segment 3 work remained postponed.

Throughout 2024 and 2025, Hitachi stated it “repeatedly sought clear scope, direction, and the contractually required change order to proceed with execution of Segment 3.

“Despite the lack of guidance or compensation, HRH has continued to support the project in good faith — advancing Segment 3 interface work since early 2025, and later submitting design deliverables in January 2026,” Hitachi said. “Through these efforts and milestones achieved, HRH has demonstrated its reliability and ongoing commitment to Skyline (in) Honolulu.” ….

PDF: FTA Consultant Report (see pg 6)

read … HART refutes statements over Skyline design delays | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Usual Suspects Want to Raise Your Taxes to Fund Themselves

SA: … About 50 proponents of state tax ~~reform~~ (hikes) urged Hawaii lawmakers Thursday to pass four pieces of legislation they said would produce a ~~fairer~~ (higher) local tax system.

The (misnamed) Hawai‘i Tax Fairness Coalition is (trying to put money in their own pockets by) advocating for bills that would make major ~~changes~~ (increases) to the state’s income tax, capital gains tax, real estate sales tax and a tax on income for real estate investment trusts.

Six bills on the four issues supported by the coalition have advanced past the halfway mark of this year’s legislative session, which ends May 8….

read … Tax fairness promoted in bills would implement major changes | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Relax health care facility, service regulations to boost access

SA: … Hawaii is facing a health crisis, and we cannot regulate our way out of it. In fact, our only hope might be to reduce the regulations that make it difficult for health care to expand in our state.

One example of such regulations is the requirement that health care providers in Hawaii obtain what’s called a certificate of need from the state Department of Health before adding or making changes to facilities, equipment or services — a process that can be costly and time-consuming for providers, with no guarantee of success.

Worse, Hawaii’s CON laws are among the most restrictive in the nation, so even modest reform would be a step in the right direction….

read … Column: Relax health care facility, service regulations to boost access | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Driver pleads no contest in death of McKinley student Sara Yara

SA: … A 48-year-old pickup truck driver, who killed 16-year-old Sara Yara in a crosswalk while she was walking to McKinley High School, pleaded no contest today to first-degree negligent homicide and collisions involving death or serious bodily injury.

The driver, Mitchel Miyashiro, also pleaded no contest to collisions involving bodily injury and driving without a license.

On Feb. 15, 2023, Miyashiro drove through a red light on Kapiolani Boulevard and struck Yara and her 17-year-old friend as they walked in the crosswalk toward McKinley High….

SA: Driver in death of McKinley student will face sentencing | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Driver pleads no contest in death of McKinley student Sara Yara | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawai‘i is hypocritical about vice

ASD: … Yesterday's rally at the State Capitol against disposable vapes is an example of how lawmakers approach vices with a dazzling mix of inconsistency, hypocrisy and amnesia over the laws they've already passed ….

Yesterday, we covered a rally at the State Capitol that supported an arsenal of bills aimed at disposable vapes. There are bills to ban the devices entirely and bills that would enormously hassle businesses that sell vapes, likely intended to make so difficult to sell here that businesses just throw their hands in the air and give up on their own. Consider those latter bills passive-aggressive bans, "nudge theory" bills that hector citizens into compliance.

The arguments on disposable vapes are all over the map and I can't make any sense of the contradictory angles lawmakers in Hawai‘i bring up. It's just an all-you-can-eat buffet of sound bites that destroy rational thoughts.

Where to begin?

Let's start with the fact it is already illegal to sell vapes of any kind to anyone under the age of 21 in Hawai‘i and has been since Jan. 1, 2016.

You wouldn't know that from the photo of earnest, well-intentioned teenagers lining Beretania Street, demanding that lawmakers protect them from vaping. You certainly wouldn't know that from Dr. Gov. Josh Green standing right in the middle of these kids, holding a sign that reads "Take down tobacco."

Green can find the law here — he might be surprised to find that he already has the tool to solve just about every problem yesterday's rally was about.

Vaping is ubiquitous in high school bathrooms? Confiscate the vapes. Suspend the kids vaping. It's already contraband. Enforce the law.

Stores can't sell to anyone under 21 but somehow teenagers have vapes?

Enforce the 10-year-old law you already have. Maybe, instead of spending time on making vaping even more illegal, the Lege ought to hold some hearings on why Act 122 hasn't worked….

ASD: Governor and attorney general endorse disposable vape ban

read … Pipikaula Corner: Hawai‘i is hypocritical about vice

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