May 29, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Friday, May 29, 2026

May 29, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 10:47 AM :: 109 Views

Monopoly Gatekeepers: HMSA, Kaiser Sneak Back onto Prepaid Health Care Advisory Council

OHA Trustees Reject Plan to Buy KITV

Vassilis Syrmos recommended as UH Mānoa chancellor

April 2026 Visitor Spending Increased Despite Fewer Visitor Arrivals

Belatti Drops Bid For Congress To Run For Lieutenant Governor

CB: … Democratic state Rep. Della Au Belatti announced Thursday that she’s giving up her bid for Congress to run for lieutenant governor, an abrupt change of heart she attributes at least in part to the race being flipped upside down by an ongoing criminal investigation into Hawaiʻi public officials.…

READ … Belatti Drops Bid For Congress To Run For Lieutenant Governor - Honolulu Civil Beat

Puna Murders Raise Questions About Restraining Order Process

CB: … After Jacob Baker was caught following a more than 24-hour manhunt, questions still swirled about why he may have brutally murdered three people in the Puna area and what could have been done to stop him.

Three days before the first body was found, two women who said they’d been threatened by Baker applied for temporary restraining orders in the Third Circuit District Court in Hilo. Their applications were denied by a judge.

Whether or not a restraining order would have made a difference in this case is speculation. But the fact that the women’s TRO petitions were delayed over the weekend only to be rejected raises questions about the process and what recourse people have when they believe they are in danger….

Retired Judge Robert Mark Browning, who served for more than a decade in Oʻahu’s Family Court, said TRO petitions are unlike any other court proceeding because a judge has to decide based on only one side.

“You’re issuing an order against someone, if there’s enough there, without them present, and so that makes it different, extraordinary,” he said. “The constitutional safeguard is that a hearing is immediately set to review that order so that both sides can present their cases.”

Browning said he approved the vast majority of TRO petitions that came before him in Family Court, particularly if the person said they were directly threatened by someone — and recently.

“If somebody says, ‘I was threatened by this person,’ that’s enough to bring it to a hearing,” he said. …

Both of the TRO petitions filed by the women in Puna said Baker had threatened them.

“Jacob Baker has threatened my life,” wrote petitioner Janelle Honer.

A second petitioner, Angelia Romero-Hanson, wrote that Baker had threatened to kill other women living on the farm where she was staying.

But the judge, Michelle Kanani Laubach, denied both due to “insufficient evidence.” …

Read … Puna Murders Raise Questions About Restraining Order Process - Honolulu Civil Beat

Druggies Denied Gun Permits Over Medical Marijuana In Hawaii

MM: … More than a quarter of the gun permit applications that Hawaii officials denied last year were due to the applicants’ status as medical marijuana patients, the state attorney general’s office says.

The annual “Firearms Registration in Hawai’i” report, published last month, shows that of the 163 firearms permit applications that were rejected in 2025, 47 (28.8 percent) were denied due to medical cannabis.

Medical marijuana was the leading cause of denials, ahead of mental health issues, domestic violence or other criminal offenses. Another 13 gun permit applications, or 8 percent of all rejections, were due to drug offenses.

The applicants that were rejected for medical cannabis includes current as well as some former patients, as “police departments allow former patients to apply for firearm permits no less than one year after the expiration of their medical marijuana card,” the report says….

Read … More People Are Denied Gun Permits Over Medical Marijuana In Hawaii Than For Any Other Reason, Attorney General's Report Shows - Marijuana Moment

End to Solar Tax Credits Makes Solar Lobby Scream

CB: … More than 260 of Hawaiʻi’s commercial and industrial projects are at risk after Legislature cuts credits in 2026 ….

Officially called the Renewable Energy Technologies Income Tax Credit, the solar tax credit lets taxpayers subtract 35% of the cost of a solar system from their income tax bills. It includes large solar systems for commercial and industrial facilities, like shopping centers and warehouses that produce the electricity, but not the so-called utility-scale solar farms that produce electricity and sell it to Hawaiian Electric Co.

Credits for rooftop residential properties are capped at $5,000 per property.

While the credit is just one of nine the Legislature established to encourage certain industries or economic activities, the solar credit is by far the largest. The state has awarded $1.36 billion in credits since 2006, according to the Hawaiʻi Department of Taxation, including more than $100 million in 2023, according to the department’s most recent data. That compares to $43.5 million in credits to support film and television production.

So when lawmakers were looking for ways to avoid raising income taxes this past session, they capped the solar tax credit at $40 million per year through 2030, after which it will be eliminated entirely. …

“We’re definitely working on it,” said Mark Glick, director of the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office. But, he added, “It’s too early to share details.”…

Read … Sudden Slashes To Solar Incentives Make It Harder To Go Green - Honolulu Civil Beat

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