Moszkowicz will not seek Honolulu Chief Position
OHA Withdraws Maunakea Litigation
Lahaina Maui HI - DRONE Update - June 2025 - Is there ANY Progress ???
Lahaina Meth Gang Behind ‘Out of Control’ Debate over Vacation Rentals
CB: … Verbal attacks, nasty text messages, misinformation campaigns and fistfights.
(CLUE: Meet the Meth Gang behind Lahaina Strong.)
“This item has been one of passionate discussion,” Committee Chair Tasha Kama said ahead of the first day of public testimony on June 9. “Unfortunately, it has created division to the point of bullying, intimidation and fear of retribution within our community.”
(CLUE: Meet the Meth Gang behind Lahaina Strong.)
The committee ended up scheduling four more hours-long listening sessions as local activists and residents (meth dealers) faced off against property owners, lawyers, real estate agents and others from the Valley Isle and other states.
Debate surrounding the topic has been so heated that some testifiers insisted on remaining anonymous out of concern for their safety.
The committee also received thousands of pages of submitted testimony, much of it including insults, profanity and misinformation. Some was sent under fake names like “Haole Killa.”
(CLUE: Meet the Meth Gang behind Lahaina Strong.)
Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who represents Molokaʻi, acknowledged during the public hearing on June 18 that submitted testimony had “gotten out of control on both sides,” …
(IQ TEST: When meth dealers face off with TVR owners, who is responsible for the debate ‘getting out of hand’?)
… and it was evident that some appeared to be generated by artificial intelligence or submitted under fake names. …
(TRANSLATION: Lahaina Strong doesn’t really have that much support, so they have to use robots.)
Paele Kiakona, a co-founder of the advocacy group Lahaina Strong — a community organization that supports the measure — said he and other members of the group had been attacked publicly and ridiculed, received “crazy, slandering, text messages” and had been the subject of online misinformation campaigns. At times, he said, he feared for his safety and that of his family.
(IQ Test: Do you see Lahaina Strong as victims in any way?)
“But it comes with the territory,” he told Civil Beat. “It’s because people feel very passionately about it. It’s controversial. It’s why nobody’s ever taken it up.”
(REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION: Moses Kiakona convicted meth kingpin—why has nobody talked about that except Hawai’i Free Press?)
Lahaina Strong also has been accused of stoking tensions in person and with social media posts mocking the other side. Some opponents of the mayor’s plan testified that they had been harassed or threatened because they shared their views on the matter.
(CLUE: Meet the Meth Gang behind Lahaina Strong.)
Kiakona chalked that up to “seeing the opposing side experiencing just some of the stuff that we’ve been experiencing,” ….
(TRANSLATION: “Seeing the opposing side experiencing just some of the stuff that meth gangsters have been dishing out to our own community for years.”)
Aaron Kelling, who said he owns six short-term rentals and a local property management company, testified on June 9 that he had been threatened while at a local restaurant after he spoke against the mayor’s plan during a 2024 planning commission meeting.
“Someone came up to me and said that they saw my testimony, they disagreed with what I was saying and they were going to burn my house down,” he said. “It’s very upsetting and very concerning. The rhetoric is just too much.”…
(TRANSLATION: It’s working.)
Other property owners were unwilling to testify out of “fear of retaliation,” he said.
(TRANSLATION: It’s working.)
Aug 2024: Meet the Meth Gang behind Lahaina Strong
Feb 2025: PHOTOS: 'Lahaina Strong' Leaders Show Off Luxe European and Asian Vacations
May 2025: Missing Meth Money a Conflict of Interest for Bissen Appointee?
Read … Inside The ‘Out-Of-Control’ Debate Over Axing Maui Vacation Rentals
Maui Council set to begin deliberations on short-term rental phase-out bill
MN: … Maui County Council members are set to begin deliberations next week on Bill 9, a proposed measure to phase out short-term vacation rentals that could significantly impact housing, tourism, jobs, tax revenue, and the island’s economy.
The Housing and Land Use Committee, chaired by Council Member Tasha Kama, closed public testimony Wednesday after hearing from more than 300 people in person and online during five days of hearings. The committee will reconvene for deliberations at 9 a.m. July 2 in Council Chambers.
Preliminary discussions among council members revealed lingering questions about the bill, with Council Members Yuki Lei Sugimura and Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins indicating a desire to discuss legal issues with county attorneys, likely in closed executive session. The committee also will review the bill with the County Department of Planning and others called as resources for the committee’s consideration of the landmark measure.
If enacted, Bill 9 is expected to face legal challenges from vacation rental owners who argue the short-term rental phase-out would violate their constitutional property rights….
Read … Maui Council set to begin deliberations on short-term rental phase-out bill : Maui Now
DPP sorts through thousands of illegal rental notices, collecting only 2% of $90M in vacation rental fines
KITV: ... Since the passage of Bill 41 in 2022, which limits most short-term rentals to a minimum 30-day stay, the Department of Planning and Permitting has issued more than $90 million in fines.
However, only an approximately 2% of those fines have been collected.
"In general, a lot of these illegal, short term operators, they're very savvy. They find ways to elude requirements and laws. So there are always a few steps ahead, but we're catching up with them," said Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, DPP Director.
Currently, DPP is working through more than 3,000 complaints and over 2,000 notices of violation. Officials said they still need more staff but are increasing enforcement procedures and improving accountability….
Read … DPP sorts through thousands of illegal rental notices, more than $90M in fines | News | kitv.com
FEMA housing units bring wildfire survivors back to Lahaina
KITV: … On June 26, 2025, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officially began moving temporary housing units to private sites in Lahaina….
A total of six temporary housing units will be installed at private sites over the next several weeks. Additionally, 40 temporary housing units will be placed at three secondary sites….
Movement will take place periodically over several weeks. It is targeted to finish before the new school year starts to accommodate families with school-aged children.
For the latest information on the Maui wildfire recovery efforts, visit mauicounty.gov, mauirecovers.org and fema.gov/disaster/4724….
MN: Temporary housing units to be moved onto private and secondary sites in West Maui : Maui Now
Read … FEMA housing units bring wildfire survivors back to Lahaina | Devastation in Lahaina | kitv.com
Tragically, Stadium project funding won’t be lost over delay
SA: … The Legislature’s funding of $350 million to private developers to build a new Aloha Stadium will not be forfeited back to the state because a contract with preferred offeror Aloha Halawa Development Partners will not be signed by Monday, officials said at Thursday’s monthly Stadium Authority meeting.
Stakeholders were assured at the meeting that the state funding for the stadium project by the Legislature would not be lost despite the lack of a signed contract by what was also previously the deadline for the money to be used.
The original deadline for the funds to be used was extended a year to June 30, 2026, by state comptroller Keith Regan on Jan. 30, according to incoming Stadium Authority chair Eric Fujimoto and state special projects manager Chris Kinimaka.
State lawmakers voted for the funding in 2022….
Read … Stadium project funding won’t be lost despite delay | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Astronomers concerned by federal cuts
SA: … Hawaii risks losing its global astronomy edge and hundreds of employees if the Trump administration’s funding cuts are approved, said John O’Meara, deputy director and chief scientist of the W. M. Keck Observatory.
Major funding cuts to NASA and the National Science Foundation would affect projects like the Thirty Meter Telescope and significantly reduce funding for students at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy and their research.
The Trump administration released its proposed fiscal 2026 budget on May 30, calling for a 47% budget cut from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and 55% from the NSF, according to Maunakea Observatories….
UH News: Hilo: MEDIA ADVISORY: UH Telescope on Maunakea to earn global honor | University of Hawaii News
Read … Astronomers concerned by federal cuts | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Government Schools: Sen. Mazie Hirono teaches us a lesson—but not the one she intended
ASD: … In our early days of ASD, way back in February, I wrote an article comparing the cost and quality of Hawaiʻi's Department of Education from 1972 to 2022.
"Bottom line: In constant dollars, education costs nearly twice as much as it did a half-century ago to educate fewer students. Little of that increase has gone to teachers," I found, based on publicly available statistics.
And the results? According the DOE's own assessments, less than two-thirds of Hawai‘i's students today are deemed proficient in English language arts, and just a fourth of them are deemed to be proficient in math.
These are facts to keep in mind as I reference an account of Sen. Mazie Hirono attacking a nationwide school voucher program that Republicans put into the "One Big Beautiful Bill," per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
She said the voucher program poses a "serious threat" to public education, the article states. Hirono goes on, "The school voucher provisions in the budget reconciliation bill would divert crucial resources as much as $20 billion or more in perpetuity … for programs that benefit wealthy families who already send their children to private schools, rather than investing these resources in public schools, making sure we can feed our kids.”
"Public education is a great equalizer,” Hirono is quoted as saying. “It gives people the opportunity to succeed in school and in life no matter where they come from. That is why Republicans are so hell bent on undermining it.”
OK. I've been confronting arguments like these against any and all forms of school choice reform going all the way back to my 2001 cover story for Honolulu Magazine, "The Death of Public School."
It doesn't matter if it's the Republican proposal Hirono is addressing this time or Hawai‘i's own constrained charter school program back when pioneers tried to get it started, the arguments are always the same. Nothing can be allowed to compete with the public school system as it is. The purposes of these arguments become clearer when you substitute a feel-good word with a more technically correct term.
Government, not public. …
Read … Pipikaula Corner: Sen. Mazie Hirono teaches us a lesson
Teachers say retaliation reason for job nonrenewal at Laupāhoehoe Community Public Charter School
BIN: … Kindergarten teacher Jamie Harden was not surprised when her contract was not renewed for the next school year at Laupāhoehoe Community Public Charter School on the Big Island.
Throughout this past school year, Harden and several other teachers expressed concerns about the actions of Interim Director Kualana Smith to the school’s Governing Board; and they filed grievances with the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association.
At least two other teachers at the public charter school also received nonrenewal letters for this fall, Harden said.
“Our director resigned last year, and an administration member, who was planning to retire, was ‘forced’ to serve as interim director while the Governing Board sought a permanent candidate,” Harden said. “During our first meeting, she informed us she did not want to be at the school and wanted to retire. It felt like she was taking her frustration out on us, setting a somber tone for the year.”
Harden said she felt particularly targeted by Smith because she was the school representative for the teachers’ union. In that role she facilitated filing complaints and grievances from teachers throughout the year….
Read … Teachers say retaliation reason for job nonrenewal at Laupāhoehoe Community Public Charter School : Big Island Now
Hawai'i 'Blue' Fee: What does it take to actually get the State to do its job?
CB: … The user fee special fund will allow DLNR to contract companies with long track records, like Mālama Kai, to boost their efforts.
Despite the fund’s potential, some operators had doubts the program would deliver on its promises. As a fail-safe, they lobbied to build in the 2031 sunset date to guard against potential mismanagement.
It was “the only tool in our toolkit,” according to Coon. The sunset date gave them some leverage to ensure that the government kept its word. If things go well, the operators could return to the Legislature and advocate for extending or removing the sunset date altogether.
Even with that fail-safe in place, operators continued to voice concerns and frustrations at public hearings in 2023. Their testimony included distrust in the aquatic division’s management of the funds, where the funds will be spent and why they need to pay more money on top of their commercial use permits.
“The biggest sticking point other programs have had is the lack of transparency and mismanagement of funds,” Sakoda said, “We recognized that we needed to be accountable with this project.”
How It’s Going
So far, the Aloha i ke Kai website has offered some public transparency. The site provides information about the program and it’s where operators go to pay the fee. As of April, an interactive dashboard of funds collected breaks down revenue by activity and location.
The program in its first year raised $2 million, with 55% to 60% compliance. The goal is to get closer to the high estimate of $5 million per year cited in the program’s plan.
Some of the money collected so far has gone to operational costs, but in its early stages the program has not yet dispersed money to any actual projects. According to the timeline provided on the website, those payouts should begin this year.
The site also offers a breakdown of where the money will go, with the highest percentage — 25% — going to the day-use mooring buoy program. …
Read … Hawai'i Has A 'Blue' Fee. What Can It Tell Us About The New Green Fee? - Honolulu Civil Beat
HPD officer vacancies at 461 with twice as many retirement eligible than incoming
HNN: … According to the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO), it’s not a recruitment problem; it’s a retention problem.
There are 461 open uniform positions, which represent 21.2% of the 2,177 positions budgeted.
Another concern, there are 110 recruits spread out over multiple classes at the department. Even if all of them make it through training, it will barely make a dent in the deficit because there are 228 officers who are eligible to retire. They could leave at any time ….
Read … HPD officer vacancies at 461 with twice as many retirement eligible than incoming
Makaha Police Shooting Caused by use of probation instead of incarceration
HNN: … They were working with law enforcement to give him the tough love he needed, whether that was mental health resources, or time behind bars. But they say their efforts were met with inaction.
“Bad on us for allowing him to fall through the cracks when the family did everything they could to give him the help that he needed. And the response that they got was, ‘Oh well we did everything we could do.’ There’s nothing left to do and excuse after excuse,” said State Sen. Samantha DeCorte, who represents portions of West Oahu.
“I’m not condoning his actions, or I’m not anything that, you know, he did over the past several weeks, but I think we need to better look at how, not really HPD, but really how our community is going in and out, that’s a revolving door with the probation office,” Pieper said….
Read … Loved ones reveal details about man shot by police in Makaha
Hawaii County Police Bust Rare Meth Lab
HTH: … According to Hawaii Island police, the searches by the department’s Vice section and Homeland Security Investigations turned up possible explosive devices and bomb-making materials, plus 289 grams of methamphetamine, 459 grams of cocaine and more than than 1,700 grams of methamphetamine oil.
In addition, seven firearms, more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition and more than $14,000 in cash were seized.
Police say bomb technicians from the FBI, as well as the Maui and Kauai police departments, secured and removed two partially constructed pipe bombs, as well as black powder, flash powder, and other explosive materials.
A meth lab was also located on the property….
(CLUE: Amongst other things, ‘Defend Hawaii’ means the local police are expected to shut down meth labs quickly so that the Hawaiian Mafia can maintain control of the meth trade via importation from the Mainland. For this reason, even though meth is everywhere, meth labs are extremely rare in Hawaii. Last one: Makakilo, April, 2023.)
REALITY: Mehau in Majuro – How the US Meth Epidemic Began > Hawaii Free Press
HPD: Hawaiʻi Police Department | Multi-Agency Operation Leads to Major Drug and Weapons Seizure in Pāhoa
Read … Police: Pahoa man made bombs, ran meth lab - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Court for homeless meth-heads now permanent
SA: … After eight years as a pilot project, Oahu’s Community Outreach Court became permanent on Thursday after helping 703 homeless people clear non-violent criminal cases against them and, more importantly, providing them with social service help to get off the street and turn their lives around….
At the same time, 10,676 cases have been successfully resolved, and 7,681 driver’s license stop orders were lifted.
And, also as of this week, 7,458 community service work hours had been completed out of 7,461 that had been ordered.
During the first Community Court session held at the Waianae Public Library, District Court Judge Darolyn Lendio purposely sat at a plastic folding table at eye level with the court’s two homeless participants — a former crystal meth-addicted married couple with four boys who had been living illegally in Maili Beach Park beginning in 2014….
Deputy Prosecutor Mark Tom then turned to the couple he was about to prosecute — Roy Rogers and Charisse Siaosi — and said, “We are so happy to have you guys here. … We’re going to be there with you every step.”
To which Roy Rogers Siaosi shouted from a plastic chair, “thank you!”…
At a bill signing ceremony at the state Capitol Thursday, Recktenwald said that Community Outreach Court and the Mohala Wahine program — or Women’s Court — “actually make a difference in tangible ways in our community. … It makes no sense to incarcerate these folks.”
At Wednesday’s inaugural Women’s Court graduation ceremony held in state Supreme Court, Recktenwald Thursday said that the six graduates all accomplished their original goals that included reuniting with their children, getting clean and sober and finding housing.
All of the Women’s Court participants also were cited for non-violent offenses and requirements include substance abuse treatment, parenting classes, payment of fines, stable housing, consistent employment or educational training, and staying sober….
Read … Court for homeless defendants now permanent | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Tulsi Gabbard in Trump’s ‘Line of Fire’
DM: Tulsi Gabbard is rumored to be in Donald Trump's 'line of fire' as she has been sidelined ahead of a much-anticipated intelligence briefing to Congress to detail Trump's recent strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Gabbard, Trump's Director of National Intelligence, was forced to make a dramatic U-turn last week after the president said she was 'wrong' when she testified Tehran was not close to getting a nuclear weapon.
Now, the spy chief will be absent on Thursday as Trump officials offer Congress evidence of how successful the strikes were. Trump has angrily insisted CNN and The New York Times were wrong in saying they had minimal effect….
DB: How Trump Will Torture Tulsi Gabbard for Iran Leak | The Daily Beast Podcast
Read … Trump official in 'line of fire' for leaked Iran bombing intel as they're left out of major security briefing | Daily Mail Online
TRUMP NEWS:
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA:
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