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Tuesday, June 9, 2026

June 9, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:57 AM :: 178 Views

Honolulu Man Sentenced for Lahaina Fire Fraud

Honolulu Ethics Commission appoints Sandy Ma as new Executive Director

DAGS Audits Probate Court

City Launches Homeless 'Command Center'

DLNR Director Dawn Chang Finally Retires

Hawai'i America250 Commemoration of US Army and US Flag Birthdays

Act 11 Corporate Personhood Town Hall Meeting

Green’s Medicaid Fixer: Wonder Blunder, Trump, Maui Fire Settlement

CB: … Mike Purpura is a California-based litigator with deep ties to the islands. He’ll be part of the new “strike force” that was formed after the Trump administration announced it was cutting off millions of dollars in federal funding to the program because the state hasn’t brought enough criminal cases targeting bad actors….

Purpura is a former federal prosecutor and White House counsel (we’ve written about him before, when he was one of Team Trump’s impeachment defenders.)

He’s been involved in some of Hawaiʻi’s more high-profile legal cases, including defending the man who duped the University of Hawaiʻi into giving him $250,000 to bring Stevie Wonder to the islands for a concert that never happened. (Yes, the infamous Wonder Blunder.)

But he’s also worked closely with Green, including after the 2023 wildfires on Maui. Purpura was a key adviser to the governor when negotiating a $4 billion settlement with survivors. …

FOX: Watch Minnesota and Hawaii the latest targets in national Medicaid fraud crackdown - FNC | FOX One

2020: Meet The Former Hawaii Lawyer Who's Defending President Donald Trump - Honolulu Civil Beat

Read … The Sunshine Blog: This Trump Lawyer Just Got A Job With Gov. Josh Green - Honolulu Civil Beat

Mayor Will Not be able to Appoint Police Chief

CB: … Looks like Honolulu residents won’t get the chance to weigh in on whether the mayor should be the one to hire the police chief. The Honolulu Charter Commission on Monday fell a couple votes short of advancing the proposal and so it’s dead….

commissioners — enough to kill the proposal — argued that the goal should be to improve the police department overall, not just the chief hiring process. And that is best done, they said, through the proposal to reform the Police Commission itself that has already been tentatively approved by the Charter Commission. Proposal 232 … requires a final supermajority vote of the commission — nine of the 13 members — to get something across the finish line and onto the ballot…

Read … The Sunshine Blog: This Trump Lawyer Just Got A Job With Gov. Josh Green - Honolulu Civil Beat

90 Days: HMSA Delays Change in Physician Pay

CB: … HMSA’s decision to change course came after doctors protested the insurance giant’s announcement in May that it was giving primary care doctors 60 days to adapt to a major shift in the way HMSA reimburses them for treating patients. HMSA insures about 760,000 residents, and many doctors said the shift was so abrupt, they didn’t know how they could keep the lights on….

Read … HMSA Delays The Change Threatening Patient Access After Governor Steps In - Honolulu Civil Beat

TVR Enforcement: Will City Attempt to Steal House?

HNN: … Lee ran the house on Aulii Street as a short-term vacation rental, drawing many complaints from neighbors and multiple violations from the city threatening $10,000 a day in fines from back in 2021.

He said he did not know about the city’s notices by certified mail until he got an email from the city’s collection agency in April 2024 demanding $2.5 million, and still rising.

“The house is worth a little bit over a million, but I’m getting like $3 million in fines,” Lee said.

Lee said that is when he stopped the vacation rental business. But the city said it still got neighbor complaints and started building a foreclosure case, which was approved by the council in May 2025 as part of a get-tougher policy….

The city estimates there are more than $200 million in fines for all sorts of zoning and building violations that have not been collected.

It has been making progress. After collecting just over $500,000 in 2021, the city collected well over $2 million in 2024 and 2025, and is on pace to reach $3 million after collecting well over $1.5 million in the first third of this year….

Read … $3M in illegal rental fines uncollected a year after foreclosure threat | Hawaii News Now

One Company Now -- How the Maui Fires Restructured Hawaiian Electric From the Inside Out

IM: … On June 1, 2026, Hawaiian Electric completed one of the most significant corporate transformations in its history. There was no formal announcement ceremony. The changes — realigned executive titles, consolidated boards, restructured balance sheets — unfolded administratively, yet collectively they represent a fundamental shift in how the company is organized and governed.

The essential outcome: the holding company and the utility have been integrated into a single, unified enterprise. Nearly every element of that transformation traces back to the August 2023 Lahaina wildfires….

Read … One Company Now -- How the Maui Fires Restructured Hawaiian Electric From the Inside Out | Ililani Media

Kauai: Another Murder Suspect with TROs

KN: … Before 51-year-old William “Billy” Sinclair became the subject of an islandwide manhunt on Kauaʻi for suspected murder and another shooting, he was a threatening presence in the quiet Kīlauea neighborhood where he lived, according to three of his neighbors who petitioned and were granted 3-year restraining orders against him.

The first temporary restraining order against Sinclair was granted to Gilbert Alapai on Aug. 29. Alapai wrote in his petition that Sinclair had entered his home on Kīlauea Road in July and “pulled a knife (bigger than a forearm)” and swung it around. Sinclair also stated for Alapai to get out of his own house.

Alapai didn’t report that incident. But he said Sinclair entered his house without permission again on Aug. 16, walked though his kitchen and living room, and pointed a gun in his face. He kept repeating “get out of my house, get on the ground.” Alapai said Sinclair then drove off on a bike. This time, he reported the incident to police, he said.

Four months later, in December 2025, Cassiah Linn and Leonel Calvan, also neighbors of Sinclair, requested a temporary restraining order against him for “ongoing harassment and threats that have created a hostile and unsafe environment” for their family, which includes elderly parents and a 13-year-old. The Fifth Circuit Court approved it in January ….

May 28, 2026: TROs Denied Before Puna Killing Spree, Manhunt

Read … Wanted Kauaʻi murder suspect has 2 restraining orders against him for violent threats to his neighbors : Kauai Now

Empty Shelves: Young Brothers Misses 3 Shipments To Molokaʻi, Lana’i In 21 Days

CB: … The ice cream parlor doesn’t have ice cream, the grocer is running dangerously low on fresh produce and Moloka‘i’s 7,000 residents are digging into their freezers after the barge didn’t come in for the third time in three weeks.

Young Brothers missed shipments on Monday and Thursday, two of the island’s crucial twice-weekly line of supplies from O‘ahu, along with another miss last month. The interisland shipping monopoly blamed weather and machinery for its absences, which also included missed shipments to Lānaʻi. …

Read … Empty Shelves: Young Brothers Misses 3 Shipments To Molokaʻi In 21 Days - Honolulu Civil Beat

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