Hawaii Daily News Read

Thursday, October 1, 2026

October 1, 2026 News Read

By Andrew Walden @ 10:22 AM :: 227 Views

Former US Rep Pat Saiki Dead at 96

BIA: Permitting Delays Remain a Major Concern Despite DPP Modernization

WESPAC Advances Sea Turtle Actions, Finalizes Fishing Recommendations

August Tourist Spending Down 9.7%

Recycling: City Begins Mixing Rotten Food into Greenwaste

DBEDT Releases 2025 Hawaiʻi Data Book

Hawaii 2nd-Highest Credit Card Debt in USA

Conservation groups sue NOAA over Pacific deep-sea mining application

HECO: EV Charging Doubles

Kiddie Porn: Moanalua won four state titles. Who paid?

ASD: … In 2012, a parent accused a Roosevelt coach of kissing a 13-year-old wrestler. The next year, Moanalua hired him and he won four state titles. ASD columnist Sterling Higa on idolatry, mandated reporting, and the trophy case nobody wants to look inside….

SA: Ex-Moanalua coach facing child porn charge accused of exploiting girl | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Moanalua won four state titles: Who paid?

The Hawaiʻi GOP’s real problem isn’t its platform

ASD: … Today, a party that runs on “faith, family, freedom” has a lieutenant governor candidate who traces mankind to the kalo plant. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why civic renewal in Hawaiʻi starts with what we worship ….

Sept 23, 2026: Conspiracy in Common: How Cordery Brings Sovereignty Activists into Hawaii Republican Party

read … The Hawaiʻi GOP’s real problem isn’t its platform

Bringing liquefied natural gas to Hawaii

HNN: … Governor Josh Green and project supporters have said that something needs to be done to help lower energy costs for Hawaii residents.

JERA says it intends to submit its formal application in the first quarter of 2027. With regulatory approvals, the company hopes to begin generating energy by 2030….

read … Covering the Cost: The cost of bringing liquefied natural gas to Hawaii

Looters Target Empty Kalaupapa Homes

HNN: … The Hawaii Department of Health said patients and staff were expected to begin returning Sept. 25 after the water system was repaired and cleared for use.

However, their return was delayed because of Hurricane Nolo.

On Sunday, Sept. 27, hurricane-force winds damaged a power line along the Kalaupapa Pali, leaving the settlement without electricity.

Kalaupapa resident Mikiala Pescaia said the outage has also made it harder for residents to monitor their homes while they are away.

“My cameras are down. I can’t monitor my property,” Pescaia said. “As a couple of the church, you know, I am worried. I’m (going to) put that out there. We have a tithing box, you know, like people do leave us donations and you just trust that nobody would steal from the church. But unfortunately. Unfortunately, I don’t know at this point.”

Pescaia said residents have also reported people entering vacant homes and taking belongings.

“Some people have remote cameras so they could check surveillance. And sure enough, we have bus people trespassing in our homes and going through our things, stealing,” she said in a video posted to Instagram.

The department confirmed it is aware of reports of theft and said law enforcement agencies are investigating….

According to DOH, crews had linemen and a helicopter available Monday, but access to the line has been complicated by the need to obtain permission from the property owner who controls the right-of-way at the top of the Kalaupapa Trail. Hunting activities also must be suspended.

DOH said preparations are underway for repairs Friday….

Friday will mark three weeks since patients and staff were relocated from Kalaupapa.

Pescaia said the prolonged absence has taken a toll on the community.

“The level of violation in this quaint, beautiful little community is robbing the sense of security from our kupuna,” she said.

In a statement, DOH said, in part, it is aware of the theft reports from Kalaupapa residents while the settlement has been largely unoccupied….

CB: Kalaupapa Evacuated With No Return Date After Crucial Infrastructure Fails - Honolulu Civil Beat

read … Kalaupapa residents ‘worried’ after 4-day power outage, reported burglaries | Hawaii News Now

How Many Will We Steal? Maui Council refers another 32 shoreline condo complexes’ hotel-rezoning to unfavorable Maui Planning Commission

MN: … The Maui County Council voted 5-4 on Tuesday to ask the Maui Planning Commission to consider rezoning 32 vacation rental condominium complexes in Māʻalaea, Kīhei and West Maui from apartment to hotel use. The vote came a week after the commission recommended against most of an earlier batch of properties.

The action on Resolution 26-129, Committee Draft 1, does not rezone anything. It refers two proposed bills to the commission, which must hold hearings and make a recommendation before the Council takes final action. One bill would amend the Kīhei-Mākena and West Maui community plans. The other would change the zoning of 19 A-1 Apartment District properties to the H-3 Hotel District and 13 A-2 Apartment District properties to the H-4 Hotel District, allowing transient vacation rentals to continue….

The Council’s vote margin matters. If the Planning Commission recommends against the bills, the Council would need six of its nine members to pass them, one more than the five who voted for the referral Tuesday.

The Council created the H-3 and H-4 districts through Bill 88 (Ordinance 6008), which took effect June 22. Bill 9 (Ordinance 5909) is phasing vacation rentals out of apartment districts….

The debate centered on how the volunteer Maui Planning Commission would receive the list. Uʻu-Hodgins said the commission rejected much of what the Council sent it earlier, and Lee said the commission approved only five of 48 properties in that referral. She called that “just astounding.”

“It’s like all of our work was for nothing,” Lee said, adding that she hopes the outcome will be different this time.

Now, with the second group of properties, “I hope the outcome will be different, but it doesn’t seem that it stands much of a chance if it’s going to go through some kind of scrutiny that none of us are aware of,” she said….

MN: Hotel or housing? Battle drags on over which Maui properties should have short-term rentals banned : Maui Now

read … Maui Council refers 32 shoreline condo complexes’ hotel-rezoning to Maui Planning Commission : Maui Now

The standard Hawaii vacation is over

SFG: … “This has probably been the worst year business-wise,” Andre Cooper, an Oahu store owner, told SFGATE. At his Haleiwa shop at the North Shore Marketplace, sales have been down and business has been slow since the kona low storms hit in March.

“It’s just been a lot less tourists, whether that’s financial reasons ’cause Hawaii has gone up and gotten more expensive. Or I think a lot of it just has to be like people canceling trips because of the weather patterns,” he said. …

Cooper said the main tourist area of Haleiwa didn’t have much damage during the kona lows, but his sales are down around 10% to 25%. “I could open my store at 10 a.m. in the morning, and within 20 minutes, you have 20, 30 people in one of my shops,” Cooper said. “Now, you’re lucky if you get a trickle of people here and there.”…

fewer people weren’t necessarily coming to Hawaii — more visitors arrived in July than the year before. The difference is that they’re not staying as long. In July alone, visitors spent about 1 million fewer days in Hawaii than they did in July 2025….

The widening gap between visitor arrivals and the number of days visitors are staying is highly unusual, according to a September report by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. Outside of the “post-Covid reopening period,” UHERO found nothing comparable in the previous 35 years of Hawaii tourism data….

“Since late spring, Hawaii has seen a 15% drop in visitor days,” Dee told SFGATE in an email. “Travelers are consolidating their itineraries, often visiting only one island instead of the traditional two-island stays.”

“This matters because shorter stays translate directly to fewer room nights and reduced ancillary spending,” he said. “It also impacts overall hotel occupancy across the islands, which creates competitive pressure on rate and availability.”

Cost could be another factor. Bruce Fisher, a Hawaii-based travel advisor and the owner of Hawaii Aloha Travel, said the high price of a Hawaii vacation may be causing some travelers to cut days.

“Hawaii has become increasingly expensive, particularly when visitors add up airfare, accommodations, resort fees, rental cars, meals and activities,” Fisher told SFGATE in an email. “Some travelers are shortening their vacations to keep the total cost manageable.”…

international air travel from key Asia-Pacific markets also remained well below previous levels…

There are signs the slowdown could continue beyond this year. Hu said statewide hotel bookings for the next 12 months were running 4.6% behind last year and that A|T Collective’s summer room-night bookings are “tracking below last year across nearly every island.” …

ASD: Hamada: Tourism on the rocks

read … The standard Hawaii vacation is over

'Devastated' Kauaʻi Harbor May Take 5 Years To Fix—mostly for paperwork

CB: … It could take up to five years — and roughly $19 million — to fully repair Port Allen Harbor on Kaua‘i’s Westside, which was home to dozens of boats used for commercial fishing and tours before Hurricane Lowell ripped through its breakwater.

Much of that timeline comes down to securing funding from the Legislature and obtaining permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to repair the breakwater that surrounds the harbor, rebuild the road and parking areas, and replace the floating docks.

In the meantime, the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation is trying to get some boats back in the water by clearing any underwater debris near the harbor’s ramp. Options for moving boats to other facilities are limited. …

read … 'Devastated' Kauaʻi Harbor May Take 5 Years To Fix, State Says - Honolulu Civil Beat

HPD May Have Shared Your License Plate Data With The IRS

CB: … Honolulu motorists had their license plate information and driving locations accessed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service more than 2,000 times this year through a data-sharing agreement with the Honolulu Police Department.

The vehicle detection reports were generated by dozens of HPD cameras that record plate numbers, images of the motor vehicle and the date, time and location when it was photographed — enabling users to precisely track the movement of the car and its driver.

The federal tax agency reviewed 2,036 files recorded between May and September on 10 fixed cameras in Waikīkī and 60 mobile HPD cameras around the island. It was able to access the HPD data through an agreement signed last September by then-interim Police Chief Rade Vanic, and co-signed by the IRS in December. But David Lazar, who took over as HPD chief on July 2, has ended the agreement.

“We’re shutting off their access and I’m making it abundantly clear that we’re not sharing data with anyone,” including federal law enforcement, Lazar told Civil Beat last week. The chief, who came to Hawaiʻi from San Francisco, said the agreement didn’t “fit his vision” for HPD….

The IRS did not respond to emailed questions about its use of the vehicle information. Lazar said the agency’s criminal investigation division would possibly use it for cases involving tax evasion, suspected money laundering and other offenses. But in a recent instance, the IRS shared addresses with immigration authorities under another interagency agreement….

read … HPD May Have Shared Your License Plate Data With The IRS - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaii DMV has been giving out non-TSA compliant Licenses Since at least July—no fix in sight

SA: … Officials have said they don’t know exactly when a solution will be announced, but we anticipate more progress now that extensive testing of Hawaii’s newly redesigned REAL ID driver’s licenses and state IDs is planned at the Transportation Security Administration’s main evaluation facility in Virginia. The testing, expected to occur this week, follows testing at the Honolulu airport last week that confirmed TSA scanners could not properly read some of Hawaii’s newly redesigned REAL ID credentials, as Kokua Line first reported Sept. 20.

Thales, the company that produces Hawaii’s federally compliant driver’s licenses and state IDs under a contract administered by Honolulu’s Department of Customer Services, has been working on this problem since July, when it first learned of it from the city, Tony Lo Brutto, Thales’ vice president for North America, said by telephone Wednesday….

read … Kokua Line: When will problem with Hawaii’s REAL ID clear up? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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