July 6, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, July 6, 2026

July 6, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:40 AM :: 150 Views

Open the Books: Transsexual Agenda Being Forced out of DoD Schools

Half of Oahu residents say transportation costs hurt their access to daily life

Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted July 2, 2026

Maui Tomorrow Sues to Block Lahaina Front Street Rebuild

SA: … A nonprofit community group sued the Maui County Planning Commission in an effort to stop a new law that allows for exemptions for development in coastal areas from taking effect.

Maui Tomorrow Foundation, Inc., an environmental advocacy nonprofit with a history of fighting against private development, filed the lawsuit last month, alleging Act 070, signed into law by Gov. Josh Green on June 3, violated Hawaii’s Constitution. The law, which stems from House Bill 1873, redefined what “development” means to coastal areas only for counties with a population between 150,000 and 200,000 people, adding several explicit exemptions and deregulation.

Maui County is the only county in the state that falls within that population range…

(TRANSLATION: Maui Tomorrow is suing to block the Lahaina Front Street rebuild.)

Rep. Mark Hashem (D-Waialae-Aina Haina-Hawaii Kai), who introduced and championed the bill, told the Star- Advertiser the bill was always meant to be Maui County specific as it was given to him by the county to specifically address a judgment in a separate lawsuit filed by Maui Tomorrow against the Planning Commission in 2024….

(TRANSLATION: Maui Tomorrow, in 2024, successfully sued to block the Lahaina Front Street rebuild.)

The bill explicitly states its purpose is to “apply a definition of ‘development,’ as it pertains to Special Management Areas, in certain counties of the state to exempt from Special Management Area use permit requirements all activities that are not included in that definition.” The new definition will be able to “streamline the delivery of public infrastructure.”

(TRANSLATION: Rebuild Front Street.)

Many of the listed exemptions do include maintenance and repairs for public infrastructure, like roads, highways, streams, walkways, bike paths and underground utility lines. New infrastructure projects that are exempt from environmental assessments or have been found to have no significant impact on the environment also will be exempt from Special Management Area permits.

(TRANSLATION: Rebuild Front Street.)

But other listed exemptions appear to apply to private properties or developments.This includes construction or reconstruction of single-family homes less than 7,500 square feet that is not directly on the shoreline, removal of structures that are not on historic sites, fence installations, agriculture, Hawaiian traditional and customary practices and reconstruction of any lawfully constructed structure that was damaged or destroyed in a disaster that is not directly on the shoreline.

(TRANSLATION: Rebuild Front Street commercial and residential structures lost in fire.)

“These are important coastal areas where government review is required to protect beaches, public access, cultural practices, natural resources and the environment,” the news release said. “Under Act 70, certain projects in Maui County’s SMA could avoid the same permit review that applies in all other counties.”…

(TRANSLATION: Tie them up in endless red tape.)

REALITY: Enviros win 90% in Hawaii Supreme Court

Read … Maui nonprofit argues new coastal deregulation law unconstitional | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Court Clears The Way For $81M Affordable Rental Project In Kona

CB: … The convoluted history of the Honuaʻula project began in 2020, in the early days of the pandemic. The developer struck a deal with a company called West View Development that year to lease 6 acres near Kealakehe Elementary School for the Honuaʻula project and set about securing financing.

In the summer of 2022 a former Hawaiʻi County housing specialist named Alan Rudo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. He admitted to seeking or accepting $1.8 million in bribes and kickbacks during his time with the county.

His partners — Hilo lawyers Gary Zamber and Paul Sulla Jr. and businessman Rajesh Budhabhatti — were indicted a week later. Rudo testified at their trial last year, and a jury found Sulla, Zamber and Budhabhatti guilty of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and nine counts of honest services wire fraud. Sulla was also convicted of money laundering.

Rudo’s partners were sentenced earlier this year. and Rudo was finally sentenced to four years in prison in May. The Honuaʻula developer was never accused of wrongdoing in that investigation, but the corruption case created major problems for the project.

Rudo turned out to be a secret partner in West View Development, and after the federal indictments, authorities seized money and property involved in several real estate deals engineered by Rudo and his partners. That included the 6 acres Honuaʻula leased from West View for its project.

In the end, federal authorities honored Honuaʻula’s leasehold interest in the property, and in fall 2024, the federal government finally sold the fee interest for the 6 acres to buyers who included Mireles’ company, Mirein Development Holdings. It took two years to untangle that mess.

And there was another major complication that grew out of Honuaʻula’s deadlings with West View. West View had sold 7 acres just mauka of the Honuaʻula property to a buyer called PMJ Kona in 2021, and as part of that deal agreed to record a restrictive covenant imposing a height limit on the Honua’ula property.

That was done without Honuaʻula’s knowledge or consent, according to court documents, and was intended to provide unobstructed ocean views from the PMJ property. The height limit would have made it impossible for Honua’ula to build the four-story apartment complex it had planned for its property, and Honuaʻula sued to have the covenant lifted.

Big Island Judge Kauanoe Jackson finally declared in April the covenant is void and cannot be enforced, but Mireles said by then the federal property seizure and the court case over the covenant had delayed the project by a total of four years.

“The community is suffering,” he said, “and at the end of the day if there wasn’t a federal case, and there wasn’t this screwy civil case, we would actually have people living in those apartments right now.”…

Read … Court Clears The Way For $81M Affordable Rental Project In Kona - Honolulu Civil Beat

Wespac Again Blocks Enviros from Stacking Board

CB: … As the Trump administration works to open commercial fishing to U.S. fleets across the Pacific, some of its strongest allies in that push will soon fill open seats on the influential council that oversees fishing grounds around Hawaiʻi and the Western Pacific.

Last week, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, known as Wespac, announced Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawaiʻi Longline Association, has been appointed to one of its at-large seats.

Roger Dang, a Hawai‘i Longline Association director, was re-appointed to the council’s other open at-large seat. Dang owns a stake in multiple longline boats, part of a fleet that sees some $125 million in annual landings sold fresh at auction. Both men officially join Aug. 11.

(CLUE: Neither has green hair. Nor noserings.)

Gov. Josh Green, who submitted Kingma and Dang for consideration along with two other candidates, and Kitty Simonds, Wespac’s longtime executive director, each pointed to the men’s combined, extensive experience in the seafood business, plus fishery management and policy. …

Read … Wespac Stacks Seats With Fishing Industry Players As Marine Protections Erode - Honolulu Civil Beat

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