Entries for December 2023

1. Restaurants Getting Cooked
2. Bissen Picks New Administrator for Maui Emergency Management Agency
3. It might be called Hawaiian, but it isn’t Hawaii-owned
4. VIDEO: Tulsi Gabbard Slams Maine’s ‘Dangerous’ Removal of Trump from Ballot
5. Plea Deal By Miske’s Ex-Business Partner Leaves Only 3 Defendants In Upcoming Trial
6. Customers could feel impacts of minimum wage increase
7. 100% renewable for Oahu is bad law
8. Here’s The Forecast For Legislative Reform in ’24
9. Hawaii’s COVID-19 death toll surpassed 2,100 in 2023

1. Keeping Honolulu Jammed: 2023 Complete Streets Progress Report
2. Pinata: Legislature opens GIA application processes
3. Mobile Homes for Lahaina?  “We could have them set up within 48 hours”
4. Law enforcement makes third big bust of illegal fireworks in two weeks
5. Tentative Settlement Reached In Lawsuit Over Fatal Shooting By Honolulu Police

1. HPD: No Gun Permits for Next 40 Days
2. Minimum wage jumps to $14 January 1st
3. DBEDT: Tourist Count Up--Spending Down
4. Task Force makes another large seizure of illegal fireworks
5. No Water-No Build: Kaleo Manuel finally figures out he is ‘an obstacle’
6. Climate Change not cause of Lahaina Fire
7. Maui Arrival Requirements Revealed for Visitors In 2024
8. Attorney Michael Green sued for alleged sexual harassment
9. 5 years and 13 delays: Mother of infant who died in babysitter’s care desperately awaits trial’s start
10. 4 Oahu Inmates Face Manslaughter Charge In Fellow Prisoner's Death

1. FBI Illegal Disruption of Hawaii Republicans?
2. Bearing brunt of housing crisis, Hawaii’s youth are speaking up for the future: ‘I don’t want to leave’
3. Food insecurity rises in Hawaii amid increasing costs
4. DoE Names new Person to Screw up CIP Projects
5. Public Safety Department Changes Name

1. State Senate Announces Leadership, Committee Assignments
2. Hawaiʻi State Legislature Announces 2024 Legislative Timetables
3. Kaleo Manuel to depart the Commission on Water Resource Management
4. ‘Makes me angry’: Lahaina family marks bittersweet holiday as they prepare to leave Hawaii
5. This Lahaina senior complex used to be a refuge. Now it’s a ‘cemetery’
6. Businesses In Lahaina May Face Significant Barriers To Reopening

1. EMS lost $33M after failing to bill patients?
2. Hawaii slowest to recover pandemic job losses
3. High School Teams to Compete in the 2024 Hawaiʻi LifeSmarts State Competition
4. Maui County diverts UIPA requests to 'online portal'
5. Maui: Unemployment drops to 6.5%
6. “I lost it all”--Small Businesses Survive Lahaina Fires--but not aftermath
7. Conflict Of Interest Has Clouded This Big Island Judge's Family Court Cases
8. CD5: Will Calvin Say Run for Reelection?
9. It’s Time To Take Meaningful Action Against Cockfighting
10. New Database Tracks Millions In Donations And Government Funds For Maui
11. State Hospital Workers are totally at the mercy of criminal insane ‘patients’
12. The Insane Die on Hawaii Streets because They Are Not Forced into Treatment

1. How Christmas Came to Hawaii
2. Find common ground to foster holiday cheer
3. Public Corruption In The Land Of Aloha
4. Hawai‘i County leading state in tackling housing shortage
5. X-Mas Surprise: 27% raises for county execs
6. Seven years since the fatal shooting at Ala Moana Center
7. Trial in missing girl’s murder delayed
8. Military fuel supplies could be targets in a Pacific conflict

1. How Christmas Came to Hawaii
2. Find common ground to foster holiday cheer
3. Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted December 23, 2023
4. Merry Wet Christmas for Honolulu BWS
5. Hawaii's outward migration confirmed in U.S Census Bureau's report
6. Debt: Hawaii Ranks #1
7. The More Green Talks About Homelessness, the Less He Does
8. Hawaii lags in preparing kids for kindergarten, state DOE report shows

1. State Pays Down Student Debt for 492 Medics 
2. Telescope Removed from Mauna Kea--Will be Shipped to Chile where Science is Appreciated
3. Soft on Crime: Kidnapper twice not arrested, he then kills victim
4. Lahaina: Home Ownership is Key to Success

1. Existing short-term Hawaii rentals may remain in operation, judge rules
2. Help Maui fire victims, but not by abusing STR owners
3. Could fixing our housing crisis really be so simple?
4. Air Tours to be Restricted over Volcanoes National Park
5. Ways to make it easier for private homebuilders to build more homes
6. Long-term rental tax relief should include mixed-use properties
7. Judge denies ex-city prosecutor’s last ditch effort to have public corruption case thrown out after lawyer indicted as co-conspirator
8. Lawyers have a lot of work before the Miske trial starts
9. Hannemann: “We have an opportunity to use this crisis”
10. Maui Starts Building Temporary Landfill For Wildfire Ash And Debris
11. With $2B in unspent construction money, schools superintendent pretends to pledge to overhaul process
12. Fuel found in some homes on Navy water system, new EPA report finds

1. Mizuno Quits House to Become Homeless Czar--who will the Carpenters Union Appoint Next?
2. Lahaina Tourism Industry Factions Fight: ILWU, UNITE HERE Demand Their Competitors be Shut Down
3. DoE Non-Spender to Work for Senate WAM this Session
4. Senators Grill DOE Officials For Failure To Spend Project Money Before Deadline
5. No House Investigation into Alcos
6. Fear: Applying The Smell Test To CWS
7. As Lahaina burned, resort safety officer’s satellite phone proved a critical connection to outside world
8. Mauna Kea lands on Hawaii Register of Historic Places
9. UH Regents on Track to Pick Next Dobelle
10. $0.329/kwh not enough?  Solar Industry Appeals
11. HPD investigating bizarre break-in at Oahu judge's home
12. Should Oahu Have Armed Police Officers Inside Its Schools?
13. Large shipment of illegal fireworks seized in Honolulu
14. Mililani Shooting Another Joseph Family Hit
15. Convicted Child Predator Gets Manini Sentence After Long Delay In Standing Trial

1. Hawaii Teacher Certification Wins Praise from Heritage Foundation
2. Army and HDOT Set to Negotiate 50-Year Lease for Dillingham Airfield
3. Displaced Lahaina residents will be placed in Short-Term Rentals for Years and Years to Come
4. Hawaiian Airlines Open To Other Merger Offers
5. Legislative Agenda: GE Tax Hike, TAT Hike, State-Run Bank
6. Honolulu Fireworks Cases Almost Always Get Dismissed
7. Court document: HPD brass ignored sex harassment, retaliation complaints against embattled major
8. Police and Courts Find Way to Get DUI case dismissed against former UH football coach June Jones
9. One Homeless Alcoholic May Move Back to Mainland

1. Green 2025 Budget Adds $1.2B New Spending
2. Chinese Illegals: CNMI DMV Chief Convicted of License Fraud
3. DCCA Makes It Hard To Find Information On Political Insiders
4. Governor looks again to climate impact fee — this time aimed at vacation rentals
5. HPD chief says he’s ‘not aware of all the facts’ in alleged mishandling of crash involving officer
6. Sue and Settle: Hawaii Governor Proposes Additional Funds to Pretend to Fight Youth Climate Lawsuit
7. Hawaii Federal Court Denies Motion To Certify Covid-19 Vaccination Class Action
8. Benioffs donate 282 acres for Self-Help Affordable Housing to Hawaii Island nonprofit
9. FBI Busts Hilo Satanist-Anarchist on Kiddie Porn

1. Cost-free ways Hawaii can increase its housing stock
2. Voluntary tax incentives could encourage landlords to house displaced Lahaina residents
3. Public asked to participate in survey on next UH President
4. Drugs Behind 50% of Traffic Fatalities
5. Lahaina: “Impatient to move back onto the property”
6. Lahaina: ‘We want to return to work’
7. Hawaii State Hospital Workers Were Assaulted More Than 1,700 Times Over The Past 11 Years
8. Another Day in the DoE: Autistic student beaten at Kailua-Kona high school, mother speaks out
9. Corrections Panel Crumbling
10. Is Miske somehow behind recent shooting deaths?
11. State firework drop off doesn’t spark much interest
12. EMS staffing shortage leaves one-third of Oahu’s rigs out of service for 12-hour period

1. Loss of $192M? Honolulu EMS forgot to bill ambulance patients for over a year 
2. Green announces plan to use short-term rentals to help with Maui housing
3. Hearing Set for Honolulu PD Concealed Carry Rules
4. Big Island: Gun License Denial Leads to Lawsuit
5. School Non-Spending
6. Another Sher-Edling Scam: Hawaii Ag Sues Makers of Firefighting Foam
7. Hawaii AG Fights to Get 'transsexual' Males into Bathroom with your Daughter
8. More moving away as Hawaii dream gets costlier
9. Millions for Fake ‘Toxic’ Cleanups but County Noncommittal as Maui developers seek subsidies to alter projects and help fire evacuees
10. Homeless Drug News: Hepatitis epidemic hits Hawaii harder than other states
11. ACLU Suits Could Help Expand Gigantic Festering Homeless Tent Cities

1. Green Picks Miyake for HD10 Vacancy
2. Lahaina Fires: Legislative Working Groups Publish Final Report
3. Hawaiian Environmental Activists and Greenpeace USA Protest Deep Sea Mining Ship
4. EIS to Cover Navy Training Exercises off Hawaii, California
5. Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted December 16, 2023
6. We’re #1: Hawaii has highest rates of chronic homelessness, youth without shelter
7. Total Fail: After Closing Sole ‘Kauhale’, Green’s Homeless Coordinator Is Leaving Post
8. More Bluster: Gov. Green again threatens moratorium on short-term rentals
9. City measures pave way for transit, stadium development
10. BLNR grants protesters right to occupy Coco Palms leased-land parcel--Squatters to buy land?
11. Military concludes ‘gravity defueling’ at Red Hill -- 60,000 gallons remain

1. RFP-LOL: Aloha Stadium will be Built by 2028
2. Hawai‘i State Capitol gets metal detectors
3. Lahaina Recovery: Convicted Felon Wants Another $50M
4. Renters Fear Unintended Consequences Of Cash Incentives To Help House Maui Fire Survivors
5. Only 3,200 People Ride Rail on Average Weekday
6. HART Reaches Nearly $60 Million Settlement With Rail Contractor STG--but don’t worry, it won’t impact overall price of project, LOL!
7. Driver falsely arrested at DUI checkpoint claims statistics — not drunk drivers — motivate arrests
8. New law enforcement department is a ‘force multiplier’ with new ‘Training Center’ in its Crosshairs
9. Erosion: State Prohibits Homeowners from Saving Their Homes--State may get land ‘donated’
10. As deep-sea mining ship arrives in Honolulu, Hawaiians and environmentalists speak out
11. ACLU Helps Maui Meth-heads Stay on Beach

1. Hawaii Democrats New Interim Chairman Supported Primary Candidate Against Speaker Saiki
2. Kauai: Eco Lawyers Block Green Energy Project
3. Hawaii Traffic Fatalities Down from 2022
4. Mafia News: Miske’s Lawyer Takes over Law Practice of New Supreme Court Justice
5. CNHA News: HTA Gets Hannemann After Grifters Rampage Leaves them Without Budget
6. For Maui wildfire survivors seeking long-term housing, a new concern: Scammers
7. Sheriff’s Top Training Officer with fake Credentials arrested for DUI late Tuesday night
8. Maui County moves towards settlement in lawsuit alleging ‘kidnapping’ of officer under former MPD chief
9. Gun safety, concealed carry permits highlighted in West Oahu town hall
10. Nurses Union: Healthcare Shortage helps us get Better Contract
11. Ambulance services --new RFP Coming Soon
12. Nearly 600 EBT cardholders in Hawaii victimized by fraud
13. Hawaiian Airlines Workers Denied Class Status in Covid Vax Suit
14. Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Top-Secret Hawaii Compound

1. Coast Guard Orders Port of Hilo Shut Down -- Then Reopened
2. City to send 2024 Real Property Notice of Assessments
3. HECO 'Clean' Energy: Biodiesel and Batteries
4. Oahu Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking and Weapons Possession
5. Former Correctional Officer Receives 42 Months in Prison for Smuggling Drugs into Oahu Community Correctional Center
6. Four Months Later: Final Group of Homeowners Allowed to Reenter Burn Zone
7. $1B Ala Wai flood mitigation plan faces harsh criticism
8. Military Land Leases: OHA Insiders Smell the Money
9. Maui Fire Victims Fight To Keep Lawsuits On Maui
10. Hotel metrics a mixed bag after tourism reopened in West Maui
11. Mayor: Credibility of HPD ‘on the line’ as officers are being investigated for mishandling crash probe
12. Spike in violent crime involving youth triggers after-hours security concerns for school campuses
13. Hawaii’s first homeless ‘medical respite’ site closing, never to be rebuilt

1. DBEDT Projects 'Low' Economic Growth for 2024
2. Another DOT Mess: Coast Guard Orders Port of Hilo Shut Down
3. Swastikas Cover 10 Miles of H1 Freeway--Eleven Hawaii Jewish Sites Targeted with Bomb Threat
4. Fire Destroyed This California Town's Water System. But That Didn't Slow The Effort To Rebuild
5. Law enforcement: Illegal fireworks sales are fueling organized crime
6. Puna standoff suspect out on bail, under indictment
7. Prosecutors In Keith Kaneshiro Case Did Not Step Over The Line, Judge Rules
8. Honolulu Homeowners: Property Assessments Are Coming Soon
9. City Ends Contract With Private Security Company Hired To Help HPD Make Waikiki Safer 

1. WaPo: China’s cyber army is invading Hawaii, Guam  -- Target BWS?
2. Green Questions Water Rate Hikes After They are Approved
3. The Adults are the Cheaters: Hawaii Teachers Learning how to use AI to Fake Student Success
4. Wildfires: Sonoma County Achieves 98% rebuild-- What About Lahaina?
5. Water Rate Hikes: Why didn’t Green Speak up BEFORE they were approved?
6. Lahaina school replacement 2-3 months away
7. Scare Tactics: Toxic elements found in collected ash last month from Lahaina fire
8. Maui looking at up to $100K for ohana unit construction
9. Ordinary Citizens Can Get Laws Passed In Hawaii. Here's How

1. Anti-Semitic Hawaii ‘Peace’ Activists tied to Hamas, Iran, China
2. The Two Gorillas Still Menace the Budget
3. Why Hawaii costs so much — and what we can do about it
4. More craziness caused by 1886 maritime law
5. Support Victims of Condo Board Retaliation
6. Empowering Food Entrepreneurs: Education, Policy Changes Needed
7. The easiest way to increase tax revenues
8. Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted December 9, 2023
9. 18 Years and Still not fixed: Reflecting Pool is DAGS Aloha Stadium Preview
10. More Housing?  Gov. Green’s 1st year ends with less
11. Thousands are leaving Hawaii. 7th Year in a Row.
12. Will Maui wildfire litigation overwhelm courts?
13. Vacancies In State Child Welfare Services Jobs Reach Their Highest Point In Over A Decade
14. Miske: The evidence keeps piling up
15. Email Threat To Jewish Temples In Hawaii Heightens Security Fears

Support Victims of Condo Board Retaliation

1. ‘Not everyone wants to move to Hawaii’
2. Fixation on short-term rentals called distraction from 'true culprit'
3. How times have changed
4. Bums Invade Army Base, MPs Respond
5. $83M Short: CNHA Program to convert vacation rentals to fire evacuee housing leads to high costs, profiteering
6. With claims that elderly residents were abandoned, fire survivors prepare to file lawsuit
7. Maui mayor’s enhanced security detail could be paid for using federal, wildfire fund
8. Judge Refuses to Consider DNA evidence in 1978 Murder-Rape
9. New Maui water diversion permit approved

1. Toxins? What Toxins? Maui Air Monitoring and Sampling Shows Good Air Quality
2. There's No Going Back To Lahaina For This Family
3. Lease Expiration is Opportunity to Grift Money from DoD
4. Drunk Cop lied after crash that seriously injured motorcyclist
5. 2 HPD Officers Disciplined For Working An Unauthorized Side Job On The Clock
6. School facilities executive departs after half-billion dollar in projects due to lapse
7. DOE: 15 schools fire alarm non-functional--wants $41M
8. Mitchel Miyashiro, charged in teen's hit-and-run death, turns himself in
9. New law streamlines building permit process 
10. Hawaii Lobbyist Pleads Guilty To Illegal Drug Possession At Vet Clinic

1. Forgotten Honouliuli: Jack Burns, Police Spy
2. Bribe-Payers OK to keep Working: DPP building permits bill advances without criminal punishment parts
3. DHHL in no Hurry to Build Lahaina Burn Zone Project
4. Possible Scenarios For Hawaii's Republican Presidential Caucus
5. Pay raise, expanded evaluation proposed for state schools chief
6. Hawaiian Electric seeks federal trial amid dozens of Maui wildfire lawsuits
7. Hawaiian Electric RFP Winners Are Currently Secret
8. Despite previous settlement, city tries to deny liability in near-fatal crash involving 4 officers
9. Hawaii Co PD detective pleads not guilty
10. HPD: West Side down to only 14 Illegal Game Rooms--but they’ll be back

1. Hilo Police Detective Arrested for Perjury and Tampering With a Government Record
2. Trump Campaign Bulks up Hawaii Operations
3. Green Speech Marks First year in Office
4. Honolulu’s Building Permit Delays: A ‘Nightmare’ Decades In The Making
5. Search for next UH president becoming a battle for control
6. The DOE Is Giving Up $465M In School Construction Funds. What Happened?
7. Man with 164 citations charged in hit-and-run death of McKinley student
8. Maui’s mayor pitches tax incentive bill aimed at getting evacuees into vacation rentals, but not everyone is on board
9. HOOSER: Hawaii Dems 2nd in USA to pass ‘cease-fire’ resolution

1. DHS Offers $11K/Month for TVRs to House Lahaina Victims
2. PBS Wokesters Look Out for Hawaii’s ‘Local Menstruators’
3. Miske properties targeted for forfeiture by the government
4. No Joke: 2043 is new Target date for Completion of New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District
5. Tax Hikes Coming: Green, Legislators Vaporize $3.5B--want more
6. Lahaina: “It’s gonna take six months to a year to remove the debris”
7. State, feds offer $75M to reopen Halawa Shaft
8. Hawaii BoE to Evaluate Hayashi Secretly?
9. From Bad To Worse: Honolulu Airport Woes To Be Prolonged
10. Study: Hilo had 20.2% decline in brick-and-mortar retailers from 2011 to 2021
11. How A Hawaii Kai Community Ended Up Owing $38,000 In Delinquent Property Taxes

1. Alaska Airlines Buys Hawaiian Air for $1.9B
2. Two types of corruption fuel cronyism in Hawaii — illegal and legal
3. Hawaii to join more medical licensure compacts?
4. Kaneohe: Navy Floats P8 Poseidon, Plans to Restore it to Service
5. Hawaii governor’s emergency housing panel resumes work
6. Our Insurance Crisis Is About To Get Much Worse
7. Hawaii Charter Schools Say Test Scores Don’t Tell The Whole Story

1. Eight Candidates on Ballot for Hawaii Republican Presidential Caucus
2. Population: Still Losing
3. Use carrots, not sticks, to help Maui fire victims
4. Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted December 2, 2023
5. Notice of Anticipated Judicial Vacancy – Chief Judge, Intermediate Court of Appeals
6. Hawaii has the highest electricity prices in the U.S.
7. Accounts in Distress? Hawaii Ranks 5th in USA
8. A New Day for Hawaiian Homelands: Collaboration Between OHA and DHHL
9. Lawsuit Targets Lawyer: Navatek Looted to buy Condo, House
10. Honolulu City Council anti-bribery bill fades in committee
11. Bill 131: Tax Incentives to Convert STR to House Lahaina fire Victims
12. Japanese Travelers Are Steering Clear Of Hawaii
13. Maui Is Still Searching For Someone To Lead Its Emergency Management Agency
14. Volunteer firefighter sues Hawaii County

1. Maui Democrats Nominate Three for HD10 Vacancy
2. Green: We will only build 800 Affordable Units Next Year--but we will Pretend to Rebuild Mayor Wright (again)
3. Message to Tourists: ”The blood is on your hands”
4. Local parents express vaccine support amidst recent Hawaii kindergartner exemption increases
5. Following council vote, Maui’s former emergency head may have to pay his own legal fees
6. Restaurants Go Cashless as Thieves hit multiple Moanalua Shopping Center businesses
7. Joseph News -- Feds Bust Another: Man allegedly bought 100 pounds of drugs from undercover agents

1. Kauai: 8% Electric Rate Hike for KIUC
2. Up in Smoke? AG's Plan to turn Illegal Drug Dealers into Legal Tax-Paying Entrepreneurs
3. Vivek Ramaswamy on Ballot for Hawaii Republican Presidential Caucus
4. EPA Completes Removal of Hazardous Materials Following Wildfires on Maui
5. HTA: Input Invited on Tourism’s Role in Supporting Maui’s Recovery
6. After Four Months of ‘Toxic’ Hysteria--the Rains come to Lahaina and … nothing happens
7. Lahaina Fire: 72 Lawsuits Against Hawaiian Electric
8. Several Maui hotel contracts with Red Cross ending this week, aid agency says
9. In win for activists, military says it will permanently end live-fire training at Makua Valley
10. Surf schools granted restraining order on lottery
11. Incomplete police report, differing accounts: ‘Red flags’ questioned in crash involving HPD officer
12. Pilgrims yearn to visit an isolated peninsula where Catholic saints cared for Hawaii's leprosy patients
13. Homeless Outreach Team Gets One Person off streets every two weeks