October 24, 2025 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, October 24, 2025

October 24, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 4:29 PM :: 326 Views

VIDEO: Building common ground: Expanding housing in Hawaii

New report shows how outdated parking mandates inflate Hawaiʻi housing costs

Japanese Archery Range Coming to Honolulu

Hawaii needs help with its social worker shortage

Red Flag Could Lead to Blackouts

Too Many Blackouts? HECO will buy you a Generator

Pohoiki Boat Ramp Opens--Blocked by Shifting Shoreline within week

Contracts: How Much Money is in Honolulu's Sewers?

UH study: 19-year life expectancy gap among Hawaiʻi groups

Latest Maui Council Trick: Steal 6,700 TVRs but ‘promise’ to return 4,200 of them

MN: …The committee’s 30-minute session Wednesday focused on the Temporary Investigative Group report, which proposes a dual-track legislative strategy: proceeding with Bill 9 while simultaneously creating new H-3 and H-4 hotel zoning categories. These new zoning designations are intended as a “lateral move” for a select list of properties on what’s referred to in the TIG report as Exhibit 2 — allowing them to avoid the phase-out and continue short-term rental use. The discussion also centered on the financial impact of the bill and the administration’s timeline for creating the new zoning designations….

(TRANSLATION: Pass Bill 9 un-amended, stealing 6,700 legal TVRs in Maui condotels. Then ‘promise’ to pass H-3 and H-4 restoring 4,200 of the stolen units to legality as TVR condotel units. The other 2,500 units are sacrificed to the ‘Lahaina Strong’ meth gang.)

… A central tension emerged over the sequence of legislation. Bill 9 has already passed out of committee and is scheduled for a first reading on Nov. 12. Committee Vice Chair Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Chair Tasha Kama, outlined plans to work with the Planning Department on the new H-3 and H-4 zoning categories….

Council Chair Alice Lee questioned the logistics of passing Bill 9 first, before establishing the new hotel zoning, asking whether it was a “huge leap of faith” to rely on H-3 and H-4 passing later, especially given potential turnover in the Council and administration.

Pfost estimated that the process to create the new H-3/H-4 ordinance, which requires review by the three Maui County planning commissions and then the Council, would take “probably four to six months.” …

Opponents argued the TIG report and the bill’s sequencing were flawed. Kathy Fleming called the TIG a “fake compromise,” arguing that the proposal prioritized oceanfront properties while leaving behind owners of more modest properties.

Thom Rogers, an apartment complex general manager, asked that Bill 9 be tabled until the H-3 and H-4 hotel districts are created and safeguards are in place for the exempted properties. “Advancing this bill now without those safeguards in place would cause irreparable harm to long-standing lawful properties like ours and to the local residents whose livelihoods depend on them,” he said….

Tomorrow’s meeting can be viewed beginning at 11 a.m. on Akakū: Maui Community Media, cable Channel 53; on Microsoft Teams at http://tinyurl.com/HLU-Committee; or on the Maui County Council’s YouTube channel. Public testimony has been completed and closed.

A video recording of Wednesday’s meeting can be seen on YouTube by clicking here ...

REALITY: Meet the Meth Gang Behind ‘Lahaina Strong’

read … Maui Council panel eyes allowing thousands of vacation rentals to operate in new hotel zoning : Maui Now

‘Weak Leisure Travel’ behind Hawaiian $42M Loss

SA: … Pre-tax expenses to operate Hawaiian exceeded revenue by $42 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, and contributed to reduced income for Alaska Air Group, which reported a $73 million net profit in the quarter that compared with a year-earlier profit of $236 million.

Ryan St. John, Alaska Air Group’s vice president of finance, planning and investor relations, said in an interview Thursday that Hawaiian’s operating loss, which excludes integration expenses, stemmed from weak leisure travel in September that followed profitable months in July and August….

In the second quarter of this year, Hawaiian achieved a $1 million pre-tax operating profit that represented the carrier’s first quarterly profit since 2019….

PBN: FAA nears key approval as Alaska Air, Hawaiian look to combine operations - Puget Sound Business Journal

read … Alaska Air profits sag as integration with Hawaiian Airlines progresses | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Kapalua Golf’s Plantation Course to reopen on Nov. 10 after two month closure

MN: … Kapalua Golf’s Plantation Course will reopen for play on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. The golf course has been closed since Sept. 2, 2025 to allow Kapalua Golf’s agronomy team to restore turf health following prolonged irrigation restrictions.

As the PGA TOUR announced on Sept. 16, The Sentry tournament will not be contested at the Plantation Course in January 2026. Turf health and course conditions have improved to levels to allow for public play but are still not to PGA TOUR standards.

Kapalua Golf’s Bay Course will remain closed until further notice….

REALITY: Missing Meth Money a Conflict of Interest for Bissen Water Appointee?

read … Kapalua Golf’s Plantation Course to reopen on Nov. 10 after two month closure : Maui Now

Methamphetamines News: ‘Lāhainā Rising’ so-called Documentary features Lahaina Stong

KITV: … ‘Community leaders and activists’ say the film gives Hawai‘i and the world a closer look at what ~~rebuilding~~ (meth dealing) truly means.

Pa‘ele Kiakona of Lahaina Strong said, “A reminder is important sometimes. It reignites the fire in some of us to keep going and make sure that never happens again.”

Courtney Lazo of Lahaina Strong added, “In some way this has also been healing for us, to sit down and be like, we did experience that, but we have hope for the future.”…

Producer is De Andre Makakoa…

REALITY: Meet the Meth Gang Behind ‘Lahaina Strong’

MN: New documentary chronicles the resilience of Lahaina

read … ‘Lāhainā Rising’ Documentary Premieres at Hawai‘i International Film Festival | News | kitv.com

Skyline rail system sees 10,000 daily ridership in first week of extended service

HNN: … Until segment two opened, the system averaged about 4,200 rides on weekdays. The weekday average was over 10,000 since last Thursday.

(DO THE MATH: 25,000-10,000=15,000 per day short of Blangiardi’s projections.)

The happiest new customers may be University of Hawaii at Manoa students. New express buses are getting them from west side of Oahu to campus reliably in under an hour.

“I love the U line because it just goes on the freeway now, and it’s a lot faster,” said Vanessa Rabilas, a UH student from Ewa Beach. “Because of all the traffic and stuff like that, it’s just, I get to avoid most of that.” …

read … Skyline rail system sees ridership surge in first week of extended service

Tax Hike Coming: $350M for Bikeways to satisfy global warming teenagers

ASD: … DOT Director Ed Sniffen told Aloha State Daily that reducing fuel demand will also will entail spending $350 million over the next 10 years into improving the state’s pedestrian and bike networks, identifying gaps in existing routes and closing them so bike users aren’t placed in dangerous situations alongside vehicles.

That specific cost — $350 million, or about $150-200 million over the next five years, Sniffen said — is not made explicit within the document. Rather, it says that future annual updates to the plan will assess potential costs for upcoming strategies.

But even as the plan is vague about costs, Sniffen told ASD that “if we don’t know what the cost is going to be, we can’t commit” to any proposed strategy…

read … Fuel reduction plans coming as state moves toward net zero emissions

New Kauai County law mandates wildfire resistant homes

KN: … The new county code MANDATES THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES for new or substantially remodeled buildings within plantation-camp districts:

Home hardening requirements to mitigate ember intrusion.
Incorporate a 5-foot noncombustible zone around homes.
Defensible space up to 30 feet around homes.
Maintain low vegetation out to 100 feet.

read … WATCH: Landmark new county law strengthens wildfire resilience on Kaua‘i : Kauai Now

Hawaiʻi County: 2,200 families on Section 8

BIN: … The federally funded Housing Choice Voucher programs, also known as Section 8, provide monthly rental assistance to very low- and low-income families.

The program provided more than $28 million in rental assistance, helping more than 2,200 households each month meet their housing needs in fiscal year 2024-25….

read … Federal housing officials honor Hawaiʻi County as ‘High Performer’ in Housing Choice Voucher programs : Big Island Now

State land board to consider reopening Hawaii reefs for aquarium fish collecting

HNN: … On Friday, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources will once again consider new rules that could reopen Hawaii’s reefs to commercial aquarium fish collecting.

The practice has been one of Hawaii’s most debated reef issues for years.

Now, the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) is seeking the board’s approval to hold public hearings on proposed rules it says are based on data that suggest sustainable collection levels.

Fisheries program manager David Sakoda said, “The recommendations that we’re making are based on our review of the data, and nothing that we’ve seen shows that allowing the levels of collection we’re proposing would decimate fish populations.” …

CB: Aquarium Fishing Could Return To Hawaiʻi Under Proposed New Rules - Honolulu Civil Beat

read … State land board to consider reopening Hawaii reefs for aquarium fish collecting

Maui convict brings decades-old rape conviction to Supreme Court

ASD: … On Jan. 24, 1991, Daniel Granillo was convicted of kidnapping, two counts of first-degree sexual assault and another count of attempted first-degree sexual assault.

The charges arose from an incident on Maui on May 26, 1989. According to a woman who would later file charges against Granillo, she had been waiting in a parking lot when Granillo arrived in the lot, struck the woman, dragged her into his car, drove to a beach and held her at knifepoint while telling her he would kill her if she did not stop crying.

He then reportedly sexually assaulted the woman and repeatedly struck her before she escaped Granillo’s vehicle.

During Granillo’s trial, an FBI special agent named Wayne Oakes testified as an expert witness. Citing his expertise in hair and fiber analysis, Oakes confirmed that a hair found in Granillo’s car belonged to the woman and had been torn out at the roots, and that fiber samples taken from the car seat matched fibers from the woman’s underwear.

On the strength of that evidence, along with other witness testimony, a jury found Granillo guilty, leading the Maui Circuit Court to sentence him to two consecutive 20-year sentences in prison.

But 26 years later, … Oct. 2017, U.S. Department of Justice informed the Maui County Prosecuting Attorney’s office that Oakes’ testimony “included statements that exceeded the limits of science.”…

(TRANSLATION: The fibers and hairs are real, the witness statements are real, but ‘we’ are second-guessing some statements on the stand.)

read … Maui convict brings decades-old rape conviction to Supreme Court

QUICK HITS: