Hawaii Daily News Read

Tuesday, November 3, 2026

November 3, 2026 News Read

By Andrew Walden @ 11:57 AM :: 445 Views

On Election Eve, OHA Trustees Spiral Out of Control

Complete Statewide List of General Election Voter Service Centers and Ballot Drop Boxes

Microplastics as a blueprint for health scares: How the “panic pipeline” of activists and academics partners with tort lawyers to manufacture chemical crises

How Wolford v. Lopez Refines Second Amendment Doctrine

Reports: Romance, Money and Militant Dictatorial Dysfunction--Retaliation At Office Of Hawaiian Affairs Implicates AG and Governor’s Office

CB: … A pair of investigative reports released by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on Monday into OHA’s two leaders, Board Chair Kai Kahele and former CEO Stacy Ferreira, reveals dysfunction in an organization that has struggled to achieve its mission due in part to differing views those two leaders had of their own roles and of each other…

The report addresses one mystery, which was how Kahele became aware of Ferreira’s complaint to the AG. It indicates he told Ichinose that he learned about Ferreira’s complaint to the AG’s office from Gov. Josh Green’s communications director.

“The Attorney General found it problematic that the CEO would solicit an investigation of OHA; so much so that she contacted the Governor’s Office and the Governor’s Office contacted me,” Kahele is quoted as saying….

(CLUE: Gov and AG involved, just like HTA retaliation against Isaac Choy, which was handled via Gov’s Chief of Staff Brooke Wilson. LINK)

One of the reports regarding Ferreira also found a potential conflict of interest in her failure to disclose a romantic relationship with the founder of a nonprofit that could have been a likely candidate for grant funding during last year’s budget cycle. It also found that she obstructed passage of the office’s budget in 2025, although that issue has also figured heavily in a lawsuit she filed against the office last year alleging that Kahele hijacked the process and put undue pressure on staff.

While Kahele may have a heavy hand — comments on his leadership style in one report described him as militant and dictatorial — an investigation prompted by a complaint from Ferreira did not substantiate claims that he created a hostile or toxic work environment and overstepped his duties as chairman.

In yet another example of dysfunction among OHA trustees this year, the board failed to come to an agreement Monday on who should lead the office as its next CEO. That decision is being pushed forward until at least early December.….

During her interview with Ichinose, Ferreira said that she had had a romantic relationship with the founder of the nonprofit Kinai ‘Eha sometime in 2020. ‘Kinai Eha is affiliated with a restorative justice program that was set to receive $425,000 from the office under a draft budget last year. Kahele’s draft of the budget cut some of that funding.

The report additionally found that Ferreira failed to disclose a friendship with Denise Yamaguchi, the wife of celebrity chef Roy Yamaguchi, whom Ferreira met while working for Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz. Proposed funding for the Culinary Institute of the Pacific also amounted to a conflict, according to the report.

The investigation also found that Ferreira unilaterally made salary changes and approved a $160,000 contract amendment without board approval….

BIN: OHA releases investigation documents in an attempt to move forward from scrutiny : Big Island Now

Read … Investigative Reports Expose Deep Dysfunction At Office Of Hawaiian Affairs

Iwi Repatriation: How to get TWO Paid Vacations in France

CB: … Last month, on a raw autumn day in Paris, a delegation from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the repatriation organization Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo, arrived at the Musée de l’Homme, France’s premier museum of anthropology, ethnology and human history.

(CLUE: This is an old sovereignty movement trick. But cos-play sovereignty activists usually go on vacation at the UN and The Hague to pretend to ‘get recognition’.)

Even before they entered the Art Deco building that morning, they had suffered a setback. Just a few days before they departed on the 7,500 mile trip from Hawaiʻi to the French capital, museum staff told them they’d decided not to make available the iwi kūpuna – ancestral remains of Native Hawaiians – they’d come so far to see.

(QUESTION: Have you ever wondered what people in Hawaii do for vacation? Now you know….)

It was a bewildering turn of events. OHA ~~said~~ (claimed) it had given the French Ministry of Culture, the body handling the repatriation request, six months’ notice of their visit. (Translation: We sent them an email six months ago. Or maybe it got lost in the server.)

Scrambling to salvage the trip, two members of the delegation from the Department of the Interior appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Paris to intervene. Eventually, the embassy brokered a concession: The delegation could be in the same building as the iwi….

In a statement, a representative from the museum said that it had not received sufficient advance notice of the visit and could not arrange a suitable space to present the remains. The representative added that the meeting was positive and constructive and the process toward repatriation was now underway.

(TRANSLATION: We had no idea these guys were coming. Now they have an excuse to come to France again, on OHA’s dime. France needs the tourism income, too.)

FLASHBACK 2022 The Mission: Bringing Home Native Hawaiian Remains – “So when I meet him one morning over breakfast at Zippy’s and find out he’s heading on another repatriation trip later that week to California and Ohio, I ask if I can come. He says no. We continue to talk, and he tells me that on the same trip, he’ll be attending Pearl Jam concerts in Dana Point in Orange County. That Pearl Jam’s keyboardist, Boom Gaspar, is a friend who also grew up on Hawaiian homestead land in Moloka‘i and gives him passes to concerts.

“Wait, do you plan your repatriation trips around Pearl Jam concerts?” I ask.

“You’ve figured out the method to my madness,” he says. I ask if I can go to the Pearl Jam concerts then. He laughs, like it’s a joke. I say I’m serious. The next day, he emails to say that if I really am serious, I can come on the trip, all of it, the concerts and the repatriations. Later, he tells me he’s impressed with my persistence, that “history favors the bold.”

Three days later, we are at a rooftop bar at a West Hollywood hotel, where Ayau’s friend works and invited him to stay….” -- The Mission: Bringing Home Native Hawaiian Remains

Read … Makana Eyre: France Stalls Return Of Hawaiian Ancestral Remains - Honolulu Civil Beat

Mizuno: Hawaiʻi Ditched The One Efficient Kauhale to Hide ‘Home Aid’ Grifting

CB: … The housing units installed on the grounds of Kalihi’s Cedar Church in August 2024 were to be a key part of Gov. Josh Green’s kauhale program, his signature effort to address homelessness.

But the project veered wildly off course: Following some interpersonal clashes and concerns about sloppy record-keeping, on-site electrical work, and liability issues, the state rushed to get the homes off its hands. Initially demanding the church pay $400,000 for 20 units, the state later gave them to the church for almost nothing.

While the church has taken on the liability and upkeep of the units, the paying residents don’t receive the same wraparound health and social services that are a marquee feature of Green’s kauhale initiative. …

(CLUE: The residents are probably better off in the hands of Korean Christians.)

Mizuno and others say the state’s decision to cut ties with the project was an attempt to draw attention away from the relatively low cost of the Cedar Church project compared to other kauhale projects completed by the nonprofit HomeAid Hawaiʻi. HomeAid has done the bulk of the building for the governor’s initiative under no-bid contracts. …

The cost of HomeAid’s kauhale projects, the audit found, included $1.2 million for 20 units at Ho’okaho Leo at Middle Street, and $2 million for 20 units at Weinberg Village — an average of $80,000 per unit, compared to around $30,000 at Cedar Church.

The audit of the state homeless office’s management of the kauhale initiative identified $13.7 million in unauthorized or questionable payments. …

Listings on a Korean language website in Honolulu show the church is offering long-term rentals for between $450 and $850 per month on church property….

(TRANSLATION: The residents are not homeless drug addicts. They are low-income seniors.)

Read … Taxpayers Spent $700K On These Tiny Homes. Hawaiʻi Ditched Them For $1 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Negotiating Position: Army proposes ending leases on state lands ahead of expiration

SA: … The Army has proposed officially terminating its leases on several parcels of state land, including in Makua Valley and parts of Pohakuloa.

The Honolulu Star- Advertiser obtained a copy of a letter written by Army Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy and Environment Jordan Gillis to state Board of Natural Resources Chair Ryan Kanaka‘ole stating that “based on our commitment to return lands that are no longer required for military use, the Army would like to begin the lease termination process.”

The letter, dated Friday, said that the Army would like to terminate its leases on 4,390 acres at the Kawailoa-Poamoho Training Area and 782 acres at the Makua Military Reservation. It also said that it would like to “partially terminate” leases for 700 acres at the Kahuku Training Area and 3,000 acres at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on Hawaii island.

The letter noted that while several of the parcels involved little ground-level training — Poamoho, for instance, was used primarily as a flight range — that Makua in particular “will require a robust lease close-out process, in coordination with your staff, to determine roles and responsibilities, proposed land use, schedule, oversight authority, and rights of access during the cleanup process.”…

(TRANSLATION: Big Payday for 8a corps doing UXO removal work.)

Read … Army proposes ending leases on state lands ahead of expiration | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Will Republicans make more gains in Hawaiʻi? 6 things to watch on Election Day

HPR: …Key Senate contests: Mililani, Waipahu and ʻEwa Beach

Key House contests: Hawaiʻi Kai, Moanalua and Oʻahu's North Shore…

Read … Will Republicans make more gains in Hawaiʻi? 6 things to watch on Election Day | Hawai'i Public Radio

Hawaiʻi 2026 election: What will change after Election Day?

ASD: … At the top of the state, our congressional delegation and governor will stay the same. Derek Kawakami should slide into the lieutenant governor’s office. But he is a moderate. He offers continuity for his party rather than change.

The counties present little drama.

Honolulu’s most exciting race ended in court, as a judge barred City Council Chair Tommy Waters from seeking reelection. Trevor Ozawa should fill his seat. The council will select a new chair, but one can be forgiven for yawning.

Maui has the state’s most exciting race. Council Member Yuki Lei Sugimura is challenging incumbent Mayor Richard Bissen. A Sugimura win would be a real change. She has signaled more support for housing and short-term rentals than Bissen has shown in his first term. The Maui council might also swing back from moderate to radical….

Read … Hawaiʻi 2026 election: What will change after Election Day?

Election commissioners plan meeting for Nov 12 after prevailing in Supreme Court

ASD: … Eddins also wrote that, once the Commission does finally convene, its first item of business will be to name a new temporary chair. And although the state argued that the chief justice of the Supreme Court must fill the vacant seat after such a long vacancy, Eddins ruled that “the chair is the Commission’s to fill.”…

despite the Supreme Court’s verdict, Cushnie told Aloha State Daily on Monday that the state election process remains anything but transparent.

“There is nothing verifiable about our elections,” Cushnie said, adding that he already has concerns about the ballot-counting processes at work for this year’s general election.

Furthermore, Cushnie said that, in light of the Supreme Court verdict, he has requested correspondence from the Office of Elections that he said had been withheld since 2024, including all emails sent to or from the official Commission email address, which the Office of Elections administers. Cushnie claimed that the Office of Elections had been filtering out complaints to the Commission that might otherwise have been discussed at future Commission meetings.

As of Monday, he said, that correspondence had not been delivered.

However, Cushnie said the Office of Elections has begun scheduling an Elections Commission meeting that may take place Nov. 12….

Read … Election commissioners prevail in state Supreme Court dispute

‘LGBTQ+ Liaison’ Now Manages City

ASD: … Blangiardi selected Jayaram to serve as the city’s first LGBTQ+ liaison in November 2023 to serve as a bridge between the mayor’s office and the LGBTQ+ community after the city received a score of 60 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign annual Municipal Equality Index, which evaluates how cities across the nation support the LGBTQ+ people who live and work there, in 2021.

Jayaram said that connections have strengthened over the last three years, and city earned a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign in 2025.

“Now, I might be a bridge but I’m one bridge of many,” he said.

Jayaram said that it never crossed his mind that he would work as the managing director of a city. He grew up in Long Island, New York, and worked for a corporate law firm in New York City after graduating law school in 2000.

He went on to work as an attorney for the New York City Law Department and the San Diego Office of the City Attorney before moving to Hawaiʻi to be closer to family in Japan in 2010. Since then, he’s worked for the city in the Department of the Corporation Counsel and the state in the Department of the Attorney General before moving to the managing director’s office in 2022 to serve as Formby’s deputy.

Jayaram said that he has no ambitions of running for mayor.

Read … Managing director wants Honolulu to be 'well-run machine'

Kamehameha Schools seeks new trustee to replace Mills

PBN: … A seven-person committee of Hawaii leaders appointed by the state probate court commenced its search for a new Kamehameha Schools⁠ trustee to replace current trustee Elliot Mills, whose second term on the board ends on June 30.

Mills began his first five-year term for the seat in October 2017, replacing Janeen-Ann Olds, who served for five years. At the time, Mills was vice president of hotel operations for Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa. Last year, he co-founded Hawaii Hospitality Group alongside Jerry Gibson and has since stepped away from Aulani….

Read … Kamehameha Schools seeks new trustee to replace Mills - Pacific Business News

Mortgage Payments Soar, Locking Many Out Of Housing Market

CB: … Hawaiʻi’s current housing market is inhospitable to both would-be homebuyers and sellers looking to offload a house, according to recent data from real estate platforms Zillow and Redfin.

Mortgage rates have roughly doubled in some cities, homes are spending as much as twice as long on the market and the vast majority of houses are selling for under the asking price.

Urban Honolulu was already the 4th least affordable metro area in the U.S. in 2024, with a house price-to-income ratio only surpassed by three California cities, according to the Pew Research Center. High housing prices also meant that mortgage debt per capita was 54% higher in Hawaiʻi than the rest of the country that year, according to the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism….

Read … Mortgage Payments Soar, Locking Many Out Of Housing Market - Honolulu Civil Beat

What could be coming for Hawaiʻi’s rental housing providers?

HRHPA: … Several ideas that are gaining traction across the country have already surfaced at the Hawaii Legislature, including rent stabilization, just-cause eviction, reusable tenant screening reports, expanded tenant notices, stronger source-of-income enforcement, and increased regulation of the rental process.

None of these issues should be viewed in isolation. Together, they point to a larger trend: lawmakers are increasingly regulating the entire rental relationship, from how an applicant is screened to how rent is increased, how disputes are handled, and when a tenancy can end.

HRHPA has created a 2027 Legislative Risk Radar highlighting the issues most likely to return, where they have already appeared in Hawaii, and what they could mean for small rental housing providers. If you own even one rental property, this is worth watching now, not after the bills are introduced.

Read the full 2027 Legislative Risk Radar.

See HRHPA’s 2027 Legislative Priorities.

Read … What could be coming for Hawaiʻi’s rental housing providers?

Hawaii residential vacancy rate drops to 0.6% in Q4

PBN: … The residential vacancy rate in Hawaii dropped by more than half over the past year, with 2,880 total vacant properties across the state in the fourth quarter of this year, compared to 5,747 total vacant properties in the fourth quarter of last year.

Statewide, the vacancy rate for the fourth quarter is 0.6%, down from 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to a report by property data provider ATTOM, which analyzed county tax assessor data for residential properties.

The total number of residential properties in the state remained flat at just over 450,000, but the total number of investment non-owner-occupied residential properties increased slightly to 212,879 in the fourth quarter compared to 181,451 in the same quarter in 2025. Still, investment property vacancy rate followed the statewide trend of decreasing by more than 50% over the past year.

Hawaii’s had one of the lowest vacancy rates in the nation for investor-owned properties at 1% compared to 2.3% last year, with the nation’s lowest rate in New Hampshire at 0.6% and highest rate in Indiana at 6.5%....

(CLUE: A market with few vacancies is a market with high rents.)

SA: Off the news: Isle costs hurt domestic violence victims | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Read … Hawaii residential vacancy rate drops to 0.6% in Q4 - Pacific Business News

Why Hawaiʻi Needs A Geological Survey

CB: … Red Hill is a case study about the failure of critical infrastructure. It also demonstrates the importance of our underground resource knowledge, without which we are blind. After the fuel leak in 2014, the Navy’s consultant wrote that “a detailed geologic model of Red Hill is needed” to understand how fuel moves through the layered rock….

The report flagged clinker, the rubbly rock between lava flows, as a highly permeable path. It also found that existing groundwater data did “not provide a basis for delineating the extent of contamination.” This type of knowledge is also critical whenever we drill for water, manage aquifers, or investigate contamination events….

SA: Off the news: DHHL seeks to study geothermal energy | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Read … Why Hawaiʻi Needs A Geological Survey - Honolulu Civil Beat

Changes planned following fracas at UH Hilo

HTH: … Officials at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and the state Department of Education have reviewed an affray that occurred Oct. 17 on the university campus at a conference intended to inspire Pacific Islander teens to succeed in college, careers and community service.

The fracas — which happened at the end of the 13th Annual Pacific Youth Empowerment for Success (PacYES) Conference — resulted in the arrest of a 17-year-old boy, who was charged with harassment, and prompted police to initiate a second-degree assault investigation because multiple students are alleged to have pulled the hair of a teacher who’s described as a 50-year-old woman….

Read … Changes planned following fracas at UH Hilo | Hawaii Tribune-Herald

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