June 29, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, June 29, 2026

June 29, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:17 AM :: 152 Views

The dangerous influence of ‘woke’ post-modernism in science

On The Ballot: Hawaii Authorize Resilient Infrastructure for Shelter and Equity (RISE) Bonds Amendment

State CWS Kidnapping Taking Of Girl Leads To $950,000 Payout

CB: … The state of Hawaiʻi and Kauaʻi County have paid almost $1 million to settle a case in which government officials took a fifth grade girl from her Big Island classroom without telling her mother, then flew her to Kauaʻi to live with a biological father she barely knew.

The six-year case highlighted the state’s practice of removing children from their parents without a court order despite a constitutional requirement to get approval from a judge unless the child is in immediate danger.

“This was a horrible experience for the child and the mother to have to go through, and there’s absolutely no excuse for the conduct,” said Eric Seitz, attorney for the mother, Hannah Wine….

A Civil Beat series, Hawaiʻi vs. Parental Rights, found that 85% of removals in the 2021 fiscal year were done without approval by a judge. That made Hawaiʻi an outlier among the nine states and two territories under the purview of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which in several opinions has found that children can only be removed without a court order if they are in imminent danger.

A law passed in 2024 aimed to reduce the number of child removals done without a court order.

Asked how often that still happens, DHS Director Joseph Campos said in a prepared statement that the department “does not have the specific data that you are requesting in a format that is readily retrievable.” …

2022: Federal Court Ruling Outlines Hawaii CWS Kidnapping, Conspiracy

Read … Officials' 'Grab And Go' Taking Of Girl Leads To $950,000 Payout - Honolulu Civil Beat

Child Molester Benefits from State Supreme Court Legalisms

HLN: … Alden Bunag was a substitute teacher for thirteen months. In that time, he sexually assaulted a child, recorded it, and shared it in an online chatroom. FBI agents investigated. The victim confirmed three instances of penetration. Agents also found child pornography on his phone and evidence of distribution. Bunag was prosecuted by the United States and ultimately was sentenced to a federal prison for 210 months.

The State also prosecuted Bunag. The State indicted Bunag with one count of continuous sexual assault of a minor, promoting child abuse in the first degree, promoting child abuse in the second degree, and promoting child abuse in the third degree. Prosecutors dismissed count 2 and Bunag pleaded guilty to the other three without a plea agreement.

At sentencing, the prosecution orally moved for consecutive terms of imprisonment. The motion was granted. Count one was 20 years and was consecutive with count 2, which is a ten-year maximum. Count 4 was five years and ran concurrently with the other two. The total came to 30 years. It also ran concurrently with the federal sentence….

BACKGROUND: Gay Socialist Teacher sentenced to 30 years for sexual assault of a minor

Read … Another botched attempt to impose consecutive sentences.

WSJ: Hawaii Tries to Redefine ‘Corporation’

WSJ: … The law has drawn a challenge in federal court from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, represented by the Institute for Free Speech. Citizens have the right to associate and “pool their resources” as corporations to make their speech more effective, the lawsuit says. The First Amendment “guarantees that lawmakers cannot pick and choose who gets to speak. Nor can lawmakers condition access to any legal benefit on forfeiting the fundamental right of free political speech.”

Progressives hope the Hawaii law will be a blueprint to silence political speech they don’t like, one state at a time. Proponents of a corporate speech ban are hoping to get an initiative on the November ballot in Montana, with other states to follow. The sooner Hawaii’s law is struck down, the better….

Read … Hawaii Tries to Redefine ‘Corporation’ - WSJ

‘Maritime Prosperity Zone’ for Hawaii?

CB: … Under the Trump administration’s Maritime Action Plan, which seeks to revitalize America’s maritime sector through investments in shipbuilding, ship repair, ports, workforce development, maritime education, and commercial shipping, there’s a unique opportunity for Hawaiʻi.

The plan proposes the creation of Maritime Prosperity Zones, which are special investment districts designed to attract private capital, strengthen maritime industries, and accelerate workforce opportunities while building the economic ecosystem to support strong communities surrounding it.

Hawaiʻi is identified as an eligible location by the federal government, and this investment, in conjunction with the opportunity zones identified by the state of Hawaiʻi, can offer an influx of capital for the state.

Across the country, states are already positioning themselves to capture maritime investment. Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas are expanding shipyards, workforce training programs, and maritime industrial infrastructure. The Maritime Action Plan specifically identifies workforce development, shipyard modernization, and industrial capacity as national priorities.

The question now is whether Hawaiʻi will build an ecosystem around these investments….

Read … Why Hawaiʻi Should Take Advantage Of This Maritime Moment - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaiʻi Is Losing Therapists Before They Even Start. A New Law Could Help

CB: … aspiring therapists in Hawaiʻi often underestimate the financial and bureaucratic obstacles that await them after graduation.

Under the current system, depending on the therapy license, post-graduate therapists have to accrue 1,000 to 3,000 hours of supervised experience — the equivalent of 25 to 75 40-hour weeks — over a minimum of two years before getting fully licensed.

The problem is that the new therapists cannot get paid for their work. Since there is no mechanism to bill insurance, in most cases, private practices and community clinics have to pay the fledgling therapists out of their own pockets, which many cash-strapped practices can’t afford.

Graduates are left with the choice of working those hours for little to no pay, taking on a second or third job, getting licensed in a state with associate licensing pathways or switching professions altogether, said John Souza, an assistant professor specializing in marriage and family therapy at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa.

Data collected by Souza illustrates this systemic toll. According to his preliminary findings, pre-licensed postgraduate therapists named licensing and bureaucratic barriers as top obstacles to practicing in Hawaiʻi. During grad school, 75% of students identified as local, compared to 33% percent of people surveyed who had graduated from their programs in Hawaiʻi. The research found that around 44% of therapists working toward licensure were paying for supervision in addition to working for free, at an average cost of roughly $8,400.

“These students are kind of walking into this fog,” Souza said. “It’s like they’re going into this blindly and not aware of just how much it’s going to cost for them to enter this career.”

Read … Hawaiʻi Is Losing Therapists Before They Even Start. A New Law Could Help - Honolulu Civil Beat

Sec 8 Landlord out $30K After Welfare Bum Trashes Apartment

CB: … Mindful of a previous tenant who had damaged the apartment, Yamamoto pressed Koshiba for assurances that Catholic Charities would compensate him if that happened again. The agency added language — in a handwritten sentence — to a letter about the rental agreement, saying it would “support landlord by paying full or partial repair cost to rental unit.”…

Ultimately, the HOA acted, evicting Pimental in August 2024. That’s when Yamamoto said his problems came into full focus: Inside, he found the apartment trashed.

He said Pimental’s dog had scratched a hole in a bedroom floor that extended to the downstairs neighbor’s ceiling, and Pimental acknowledged in an email to Civil Beat that her dog damaged the floor.

Photographs provided by Yamamoto show ripped up carpets and flooring, water damage in the bathroom, missing closet doors, a hole in a wall — conditions far removed from the apartment’s appearance in photographs Yamamoto emailed to Koshiba and Pimental in March 2022, before she moved in. In that email, Yamamoto noted that Pimental’s father would be doing final touch-ups with some minor painting.

While insurance covered the water damage and carpeting, a contractor estimated the remaining repairs would cost just shy of $17,000, according to a scope of work order. Completing the repairs took two months, during which Yamamoto lost two months of rent, he said, nearly $4,000. The HOA fines reached about $9,000, with Yamamoto liable for them because he owns the unit….

Months of negotiations over what he said was a total loss of about $30,000 followed. …

Read … Charity Program for Housing Homeless People Broke Promises, Landlord Says - Honolulu Civil Beat

State obstructs anti-erosion efforts on Kahala beachfront properties

SA: … Oceanfront residential property owners along ritzy Kahala Avenue are facing increased state enforcement efforts over chronic public beach use issues.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources earlier this year warned at least eight beachfront property owners in the neighborhood that they have obstructions encroaching onto the beach needing removal.

And several more adjacent owners, some of whom are based in Singapore, Japan and California, have obvious obstructions as well….

Read … State decries erosion at Kahala beachfront properties | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Council 3-2 takes small tortured step towards one ‘affordable’ housing project in Haleiwa

SA: … Bill 37 has drawn widespread opposition, particularly from North Shore residents seeking to preserve the area’s rural character.

Last year, the measure generated more than an hour of public testimony from residents against the bill and the accompanying housing project. The Council received more than 850 written testimonies in opposition, compared with just five in support.

For Thursday’s zoning hearing, more than 180 written testimonies were submitted to oppose Bill 37, while nine backed it.

The Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters supported the measure….

Read … Council progresses bill tied to paused housing project | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

ELECTION NEWS:

QUICK HITS: