September 26, 2025 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, September 26, 2025

September 26, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:34 PM :: 1256 Views

Hawaiʻi faces mild recession as tourism falls, inflation rises in new UHERO forecast

More Kai Kahele Chaos: OHA's Chief Executive Has Abruptly Been Put On Paid Leave

CB: … Stacy Ferreira, the chief executive officer of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, was quietly placed on paid leave Tuesday by the OHA Board of Trustees.

The circumstances surrounding Ferreira’s exit are unclear – the vote to put her on paid leave happened during a closed-door session of the board and staff haven’t been told of the reasons for her sudden departure. In a memo to staff on Tuesday, Ferreira said that she was taking personal leave for an indefinite period.

On Wednesday, OHA Board Chair Kai Kahele sent another message to staff and called an all-staff meeting to say that the trustees decided to place Ferreira on paid administrative leave and that Summer Sylva, the board’s chief of staff, would be interim CEO until further notice, according to people with knowledge of the memo….

OHA spokesman Bill Brennan confirmed that Ferreira sent an email to OHA employees after the board voted to approve her paid leave on Tuesday, but that her message didn’t say when she would be back….

Ferreira and Kahele have butted heads in recent months – first over the office’s budget which passed just hours before the fiscal year ended in June and then over a staff reorganization in the office….

OHA, which has long faced issues with staff turnover, has seen several key departures in recent months.

Kēhaulania Puʻu, OHA’s former chief operating officer, left just a year into her tenure for a job as deputy parks director with the City and County of Honolulu. K. Sean Kekina was named COO a few weeks ago.

OHA’s finance Chief Ramona Hink also retired this year. The CFO position has yet to be filled.

At a Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 18, Ferreira said that the office had a 20% vacancy rate. Of the 166 positions in OHA, 34 are currently unfilled. …

VIDEO: Sept 23, 2025 BoT reconvenes from Exec Session – Kahele makes a vague reference to ‘a member of OHA’ being approved for leave and a ‘10% pay differential.’ No other announcement.

Sept 23, 2025 BoT: Agenda, Board Packet -- “Legal Matters – Governance and Administrative Oversight. The Board anticipates convening in an executive meeting pursuant to HRS §§ 92-5(a)(2) and (4) to consult with its legal counsel and take any necessary action regarding the Board’s powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities in connection with internal matters involving risk management and the Board’s governance and administrative oversight responsibilities, including matters involving alleged noncompliance with governance policies and administrative authorities.”

July 2025: After Much Gnashing of Teeth, OHA Trustees Approve Amended Budget

Nov 2022: US House Ethics Committee continuing investigation into Kahele campaign finances

Oct 2022: House Ethics Committee Investigating Kai Kahele

Apr 2022: Attorney: Kahele threatened to kill ex-wife -- In court records obtained by Hawaii News Now, his ex-wife’s attorney alleged that she was in “fear of her safety” due to his “volatile nature and temper.”

LINK: CH-07-1991 - CHRISTIANE JEAN PINDAT V KAIALII KAHELE

read … OHA's Chief Executive Has Abruptly Been Put On Paid Leave

HD26 Open Seat: Hawaii Rep. Della Au Belatti announces plans to run against Case for for Congress Dist 1

KITV: … The veteran lawmaker was first elected in 2006 and she is currently serving her 10th term as the Representative of State House District 26 (Makiki, Tantalus, Punchbowl and Papakōlea) ….

PH: Echoes of 2006: The Generational Question in Hawaii’s CD1 Race – Politics Hawaii

CB: The Sunshine Blog: A Political Pot-Boiler Unfolds At The Hawaiʻi Senate - Honolulu Civil Beat -- Ed Case is smiling right now. Wouldn’t progressives Belatti and Keohokalole draw from the same voters, allowing the moderate Case a path through the middle?

SA: Another state lawmaker launches challenge to Ed Case in Congress | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Hawaii Rep. Della Au Belatti announces plans to run for Congress | Politics | kitv.com

Soft on Crime: Suspect in Waikiki brick attack was on probation, had left drug treatment facility

SA: … A 32-year-old man was on probation and left a drug treatment facility before he was arrested for allegedly beating a 65-year-old man with a brick, taking his belongings and leaving him bleeding on a mattress in Waikiki on Tuesday.

Cody Allen Lucas was on probation for assaulting a Hawaii Police Department officer in September 2024 when it was revoked March 18 after he broke into a car, according to state court records.

He was arrested in Kaneohe on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of attempted murder and robbery in connection with the Tuesday attack in Waikiki. A probation officer with the Kona Adult Client Services Branch office filed a motion Thursday to revoke Lucas’ probation….

Lucas was locked up at the Halawa Correctional Facility until bed space opened up at the Habilitat alcohol and drug treatment center in Kaneohe on Aug. 29.

On Sept. 15, the Habilitat staff notified Lucas’ probation officer that he was terminated from the program.

“I want to leave the program before I do something stupid,” Lucas allegedly wrote, according to state court records.

Lucas became incoherent and it became “apparent that he did not want to be at the program. He was discharged from the program and taken to Castle Hospital,” according to state court records.

It is not immediately clear how Lucas got out of Adventist Health Castle hospital….

read … Suspect in Waikiki brick attack had left drug treatment facility | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Former Red Hill fuel director believes her whistleblower reports led to criminal case

HNN: … “Something didn’t smell quite right. I had to just document,” said Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Bencs, who was Red Hill’s fuel director in 2021.

She filed hundreds of whistleblower reports and told HNN Investigates even though she was interviewed by federal investigators, she was not called to testify before the grand jury.

“I had to either become a whistleblower or potentially go to jail if I didn’t report it, because I would be part of the crime because I saw something and didn’t do anything about it,” said Bencs.

“At that same time, by doing the right thing, I knew my career was over,” she added.

Bencs said she spent many hours, sleepless nights, documenting and submitting reports to authorities.

“I think if I didn’t do that, then they wouldn’t have the evidence that they have now or that the Navy would have destroyed it,” said Bencs.

On May 7, 2021, a day after the spill, a Navy Region Hawaii press release said “approximately 1,000 gallons of fuel was released.”

“Our containment system functioned as designed to keep the fuel contained within our facility, with no indication that fuel was released to the environment,” said Capt. Gordie Meyer, commanding officer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Hawaii.

“That was absurd. It was absolutely a gross miscalculation, and I had known that they had already doctored the records because they had doctored the control room record reports,” said Bencs.

“John had went to the commanding officer and the executive officer and basically ousted me,” she added.

Many are questioning if accountability will go beyond the two civilians….

read … Former Red Hill fuel director believes her whistleblower reports led to criminal case

Honolulu mayor blasts council member over permit system overhaul criticism

HNN: … Honolulu’s building and permitting director Thursday detailed big problems with the rollout of the highly anticipated online building permit system, but promised to smooth out the issues that have delayed permits for key projects.

The $5.4 million project, paid for by federal money, to replace the obsolete, 27-year-old POSSE system, was a major goal of the Blangiardi administration.

On Thursday, the mayor complained about criticism from council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam.

“It deserves people not just jumping on us, any time that they feel like they’ve got a good story to print, because we’re failing maybe, perhaps while we’re trying really hard to succeed,” Blangiardi told Dos Santos-Tam, who chairs the council’s Government Efficiency Committee….

Apuna said Speridian is helping to fix data and do more training of staff and customers, but also had to bring in new staff when a key Speridian employee, for some reason, left the project after being there from the beginning until the go-live.

“It would have been smoother if that person was still around,” Apuna said.

But Apuna also reported progress since the last update with 3,524 permits and 3,495 customer accounts registered in the system, and reassurance of help from the vendor….

“They are going to extend until all of the bugs and everything else is worked out,” she said.

Apuna said they don’t plan to pay the vendor any more money, despite its extra efforts, because the city was relying on the company to make things go smoothly….

CB: Honolulu Mayor Defends Bumpy Rollout Of New Building Permit System - Honolulu Civil Beat

read … Honolulu mayor blasts council member over permit system overhaul criticism

Investigation suggests Maui brush fire intentionally set

HNN: … An investigation by a County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety fire investigator revealed two separate suspected areas of origin.

Each area of origin is estimated at 20 feet by 20 feet, and the two locations are roughly 300 feet apart, officials said.

Both the suspected areas of origin were along the upper portion of Holomua Road, about a mile below the Baldwin Avenue intersection….

“This conclusion is further supported by the elimination of competent accidental ignition sources within the areas of origin and the absence of evidence suggesting natural or accidental causes,” the report said.

According to the report, “a separate brush fire was reported in the same general vicinity the previous night. The close temporal and geographic proximity of these events suggests a potential link between the incidents and strengthens the hypothesis that the fires were intentionally set by the same person or under similar circumstances.”…

(And dozens of other fires in the same area this year.)

MN: MFD: Evidence suggests Holomua Fire was set intentionally | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News

SA: MFD: Paia wildfire that led to evacuations was intentionally set | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Investigation suggests Maui brush fire intentionally set

City agencies address July tsunami warning response

KHON: … Councilmember Andria Tupola says leaving tens of thousands stranded for hours on clogged freeways can’t happen again.

“The road was closed for three hours, just turn them around. If a tsunami did hit, how are we going to reverse all those cars out of there?” Tupola asked regarding her district of West Oahu, where cars were stuck on H1 West, unable to get onto Farrington Highway, which is in an inundation zone….

“We have plans for any number of scenarios,” explained HPD Maj. Clifford Ramson, Commander of the Major Events Division. “But in town, the traffic was so unmanageable, these plans could not be implemented.”…

read … City agencies address July tsunami warning response

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