Hawaii Daily News Read

Saturday, October 31, 2026

October 31, 2026 News Read

By Andrew Walden @ 10:31 AM :: 469 Views

Election 2026: Hawaii Office of Elections Reports 28.7% of Votes Cast to Date

Former Army Official Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy, Bribery, and Major Fraud Related to Hawaii Defense Contracts

Applicants Needed for Law Enforcement Standards Board

Decade Later: Mayor Sends Robot to Demolish Former Brothel Site

'Reusable Foodware Program' Launches in Hilo

Office of Elections Rule Set (again): How to Choose Candidates 'By Lot'

‘Godfather’ Still Out There as Second man charged in $37M Hawaii-based Air Force contract-rigging scheme

SA : … Robert Manning, 66, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, bribery, and conspiracy to rig bids. Federal prosecutors are also seeking the forfeiture of $521,920 “derived from proceeds traceable to the violations,” according to federal court records. He is scheduled to plead guilty Dec. 4….

On April 1, Alan Hayward James, 51, of Devine, Texas, pleaded guilty to leading the conspiracy. He is facing decades in prison after weaving a web of co-conspirators and collusive companies who stole money from contracts at U.S. Air Force installations in Hawaii, Japan, Korea and elsewhere by making up invoices, quotes, materials, labor and other fake deliverables.

James, a former U.S. Air Force master sergeant, will be sentenced April 6.

James directed at least five companies and eight people from April 2016 to April 2025 to bribe a “federal public official in PACAF,” whom they nicknamed the “Godfather,” according to the 38-page plea agreement that James signed with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Manning allegedly made more than $500,000 off the conspiracy between 2018 and 2022.

The names of the federal public official who was bribed by James and Manning, the companies and co-conspirators who helped James and Manning are not yet public.

James bought the “Godfather” and other co-conspirators a stay at a luxury resort on the North Shore of Oahu in October 2023. The federal public official, his family and friends golfed, rode horses, got massages and racked up a $234,025 bill paid for with money stolen from taxpayers, according to federal court records.

James and his crew paid off the public official, his “romantic partner,” brother, sister, brother-in-law and others with annual payments that ranged from $10,000 to $200,000.

James listed the family members of the public official he paid off as “Godfather M,” “Godfather B,” “Godfather D,” “Godmother M,” and “Al Capone.”…

James and his criminal network allegedly distributed the money they stole among themselves. They also paid off their friends and family by disguising them as employees on paper but who did no actual work.

James and his fellow fraudsters falsely inflated contracts related to a refresh of the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, Cyber Resiliency Experienced Workforce, Data Center Sustainment, End User Computer Modernization, Enhanced Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Expansion, and at least five other major military IT initiatives.

None of the companies allegedly did any of the work they were paid for….

April 2026: Pacific Air Force: $37M Fraud Scheme Paid 'Godfather'

Read … Second man charged in $37M Air Force contract-rigging scheme | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Keep Fuel Expensive: Hawaii lawmakers, Sierra Club decry Lawyers’ Lost ‘Big Oil’ Looting Opportunity

SA: … The demonstration, “No Immunity for Big Oil,” was organized by the Sierra Club of Hawaii to urge the state’s congressional delegation to reject the “Stop Climate Shakedown” bill proposed by Republican lawmakers Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The bill would prohibit liability against any entities in the fossil fuel supply chain, effectively granting private fossil fuel companies legal immunity related to climate harms…

If passed, the deceptive ~~marketing~~ lawsuits filed by the state, Honolulu and Maui counties and elsewhere would be dismissed and no new lawsuits could be filed. Polluter pay laws — called “energy penalty laws” in the bill, also would be overturned….

(Thus reducing fuel costs nationwide.)

That’s when Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action development manager Adele Balderston, dressed as an oil-stained bird, came to the podium, and presented U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda with a letter urging the delegation to reject the immunity bills. The letter was signed by 55 local community organizations, including the Hawaiian Council, the Environmental Law Society at the University of Manoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law, the Democratic Party of Hawaii’s Environmental Caucus and the Hawaii Public Health Association.

“This really is no joke when we think about what’s at stake right now,” Tokuda said after she accepted the letter. “The last 10 months here in Hawaii, let’s be really clear, have not been normal. You don’t have to tell us the climate is changing. We see it, literally on our shores … Wildfires and floods have devastated communities across our state. This is not a hypothetical for us in the Pacific.” …

(It’s troooo. Donald J Trump and a gang of Texas oilmen lit Lahaina on fire, not HECO, KSBE, and bumbling County officials. Thank God Jill Tokuda is here to tell us the troooth!)

State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D-Kaneohe- Kailua), who also attended the demonstration, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that taxpayers cannot and should not be solely responsible for cleaning up and mitigating climate impacts….

(TRANSLATION: We want to steal the Republicans’ oil money and use it to pay for our own malfeasance in Hawaii.)

Hawaii state Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto (D-Ala Moana-Kakaako-Downtown), who also spoke at the demonstration, told the Star-Advertiser that the money collected from these kinds of lawsuits can have a huge impact locally, because Hawaii could use the funds to ~~address impacts from climate change~~ (pay for juvenile sex-change operations) ….

Iwamoto also ‘cautioned’ Gov. Josh Green and the Attorney General’s Office that the push for liquefied natural gas, a fossil fuel, could undermine the argument that if Hawaii knew about the harms of fossil fuels it wouldn’t have invested in it. (Ooops!)

Read … Hawaii lawmakers, Sierra Club decry Big Oil immunity bill | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Supreme Court Orders Hawaiʻi Elections Commission Back To Work

CB: … The court rejected arguments from the Office of Elections, which the commission oversees, that only a chair or a majority of commissioners could convene a meeting.

Writing for the unanimous opinion in Cushnie and McKay v. Nago, Associate Justice Todd Eddins wrote, “The statute could not be plainer. The Office’s job here is support. The Office ‘shall provide staff support to the elections commission, as requested by the elections commission.'”

Commissioners Ralph Cushnie and Tamara McKay had pushed the Elections Office for months to allow the commission to meet. But they say they were repeatedly met with resistance by the office. The commissioners lacked each other’s phone numbers and email addresses and so had to relay messages to other commissioners through the office.In its opinion, the court pointed to what it described as the underlying problem that prevented a meeting from happening — that “the very agency the Commission oversees decides whether the Commission may meet.”

“Each condition the Office sets on a meeting foils the public business the legislature entrusted to the Commission,” Eddins wrote. “A Commission kept from meeting shuts the public out as surely as one that meets secretly. Either way, the people see nothing.”

The ruling described the commission’s duties as significant and “wide-ranging. It investigates and holds hearings on election violations and complaints. After each general election, it evaluates the chief election officer’s performance.”

That officer, Scott Nago, was the Nago named in the lawsuit….

PDF: Decision In Cushnie and McKay v. Nago Oct. 30, 2026 | DocumentCloud

FLASHBACK: State Supreme Court to Hear Trumpster Election Commission Dispute

MEANWHILE: Long Lines Suppress Votes on Election Day: Election Officials Plan to do it Again in 2026

Read … Supreme Court Orders Hawaiʻi Elections Commission Back To Work - Honolulu Civil Beat

Lawsuit: Honolulu Officials Protected Firefighter Accused Of Rape

CB: … On the evening of Valentine’s Day 2025, Takahashi asked Doe to stop by his office to discuss work matters, according to the complaint, and he encouraged her to drink alcohol with him while they talked.

He then made sexual advances, the lawsuit says. She alleges she pulled away and told him “no.”

He locked the door to his office, physically restrained her and forcibly raped her “while she cried tears of pain and fear,” the lawsuit says.

Takahashi was put on paid leave after he was arrested in connection with the sexual assault in February 2025. (Honolulu Fire Department photo)

Afterwards, he told Doe not to tell anyone and threatened to rape her again “whenever and wherever he wanted to do it,” the complaint says.

Doe served as a facilities project coordinator for the department and Takahashi was her superior. As battalion chief, Takahashi ranked just below the level of assistant chief.

Takahashi turned himself in to the Honolulu Police Department six days after the alleged rape, according to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser article from the time. Police released him later that day pending investigation, and the fire department placed him on paid leave pending an investigation.

Doe filed an application for a temporary restraining order with the Honolulu First Circuit court on Feb. 21, 2025. In the application, she said she reported the rape to the Honolulu Police Department.

“I am scared that he will do it again or physically harm me,” she wrote.

A judge granted the temporary restraining order.

Takahashi was never charged with a crime and the HFD did not respond a question about whether he is still on paid leave or has returned to duty.

Doe’s lawsuit accuses the prosecutor’s office of declining to charge Takahashi to “protect its own management and insulate itself from liability.” Both Takahashi and Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm work for the City and County of Honolulu.

The prosecutor’s office also chose not to pass the case on to the Attorney General’s Office, the lawsuit says..….

PDF: Doe v Honolulu Complaint

KITV: Lawsuit accuses Honolulu fire battalion chief of sexual assault | News | kitv.com

Read … Lawsuit: Honolulu Officials Protected Firefighter Accused Of Rape - Honolulu Civil Beat

Over 800 Hawaiian homestead leases given on Kauai

SA: … The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is offering beneficiaries 832 leases for homesteads on Kauai largely slated for development in the coming years.

DHHL’s offering scheduled for today at the Royal Sonesta Kaua‘i Resort Lihue represents its biggest in recent decades for “project leases,” and follows similar events for future house lots on Oahu and Hawaii island offered earlier this year and last year.

Of the 832 leases, 750 are for single-family house lots in Lihue. The other 82 are for a second phase of an existing homestead community in Hanapepe where some of the offered leases are for lots with rental homes reserved for low-income beneficiaries who will have an option to purchase the homes after 15 years….

Read … Over 800 Hawaiian homestead leases given on Kauai | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

‘Frustrating’: Seven months after Kona low storms, flooded band room awaits repairs

HNN: … “Instruments got soaked, and the room got kind of moldy,” Strain said.

To avoid health risks, the band has been moved around the campus.

“We’ve been moved around so much and we’ve been pushed around that it’s difficult for us to stick together as an ensemble,” Strain said.

The ensemble has also been incomplete.

“We’ve been put in temporary rooms that aren’t meant for playing instruments and we’ve lost access to a lot of our instruments,” Strain explained.

Without all their instruments and a proper practice space, Strain fears the group will not sound the same during performances and athletic matches.

read … ‘Frustrating’: Seven months after Kona low storms, flooded band room awaits repairs | Hawaii News Now

License plate reader helps Kauaʻi Police recover stolen truck

KITV: … Kauaʻi police recovered a stolen truck in Līhuʻe with help from automated license plate reader technology.

The truck was reported stolen on October 15. Detectives later learned its original license plates had been replaced with fake novelty plates.

On October 29, the department’s license plate reader system detected the altered plate and alerted officers to the vehicle’s possible location. Detectives and patrol officers then worked together to find and recover the truck without incident….

Palmeira was arrested on suspicion of first-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and an outstanding bench warrant.

Officers also seized a second vehicle as evidence after suspected narcotics were found.

read … License plate reader helps Kauaʻi Police recover stolen truck | Crime & Courts | kitv.com

Alaska Air lays off 200 workers as fuel costs continue to climb

SA: … Facing a potential $700 million loss driven by record fuel costs, Alaska Air Group will cut 200 management jobs, including 48 in Hawaii, as it seeks to reduce overhead and streamline operations.

Affected employees received 60-day Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices Friday. While the layoffs take effect Nov. 13, impacted employees will continue to receive pay through Dec. 31, and will receive severance and transition support, the company said. Some 125 employees also were laid off in Washington state, where Alaska is headquartered.

The cuts affect less than 1% of Alaska Air Group’s 32,500 employees and are not tied to its $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings in 2024. Executives said the reductions instead reflect rising operating costs, growing overhead and broader efforts to streamline the combined airline’s operations…

HNN: Alaska Air cuts Hawaii jobs amid rising fuel costs

read … Alaska Air lays off 200 workers as fuel costs continue to climb | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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