November 15, 2025 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Saturday, November 15, 2025

November 15, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:08 PM :: 117 Views

Hawaii faces constitutional showdown over climate tax on cruise ships

OHA: How much money can we get from Military Condemnation?

Cost of Living Behind Hawaiʻi’s rising child poverty

ASD: … The number of children growing up in poverty in Hawaiʻi has risen by one-third in just a few short years. Between 2019–2021 and 2022–2024, the share of keiki living in poverty climbed from 9% to 12%, according to new data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. That’s nearly 37,000 children in our islands going without basic needs like food, housing, and health care.

These numbers are more than statistics — they represent real families struggling to survive in one of the most expensive states in the nation. They also underscore a hard truth: poverty is not inevitable. It is shaped by public policy, and right now, Hawaiʻi’s policies are not keeping pace with the cost of living or the needs of its children.

The same report shows just how much difference good policy can make. Without supports such as tax credits, food assistance and housing subsidies, Hawaiʻi’s child poverty rate would have more than doubled to 28%...

While the federal official poverty measure says that Hawai‘i has a relatively low poverty rate, the fact is that once Hawaiʻi’s high living costs are factored in, 31 states have lower child poverty rates than we do. The picture is clear: even full-time working families are being left behind….

read … Community Voices: Hawaiʻi’s rising child poverty is a policy choice — and we can choose…

After Renters Evicted, Courtyards of Waipouli now offered to Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiaries on Kaua‘i

KN: … The complex features 82 units — ranging in size from 1 to 3 bedrooms — distributed throughout 10 two-story buildings.

Participants in the new rent-to-own program are allowed to move into a renovated apartment at an affordable rent with the opportunity to build credit and personal savings.

Renters can then choose to exercise a purchase option after about 11 years of renting the unit.

All program participants will receive a homestead lease from Day 1 and have the chance to name a successor….

read … Courtyards of Wai-pouli offers new program for Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiaries on Kaua‘i : Kauai Now

State land board hears conflict over East Maui water

HNN: … The Board of Land and Natural Resources has deferred a decision on who can control a large part of Maui’s water.

The board was considering holding a contested hearing over whether to give a 30-year water license to Mahi Pono for use of the system, which it rejected last year.

The (usual suspects) County of Maui, traditional farmers, and environmental groups tried to block the board from giving control of a major water system to Mahi Pono, the island’s biggest agricultural company.

BLNR received hundreds of pages of testimony on Friday….

Maui County wants to own the system as part of an island-wide public water system.

The county and the company have been negotiating for a year on how the county could take over the system while still providing Mahi Pono enough water.

Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said the board bringing up the idea of a license again would cripple those negotiations….

IGNORE THIS: Missing Meth Money a Conflict of Interest for Bissen Appointee?

read … State land board hears conflict over East Maui water

Usual Suspects Try to Push Heretical Non-Believers off BLNR

MN: … The nonprofit law firm Earthjustice is calling into question the validity of the Hawai‘i State Board of Land and Natural Resources because it currently does not have a member with a college degree in conservation and natural resources, as mandated by Hawai‘i statute.

Earthjustice sent a letter Thursday to the land board and Gov. Josh Green, saying the seven-member board is not in compliance with the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes 171-4(b).

This requirement was previously filled by former board member Aimee Barnes, who has a degree in natural resources management and experience in this field at the international and national levels.

Earthjustice states neither of the governor’s two recent appointees, Denise Iseri-Matsubara and Calvin Young, who have yet to be confirmed by the Senate, meets this requirement….

read … Legality of Hawai‘i state land board appointees called into question : Maui Now

PUC ‘suspends’ proposed Maui power plant

IM: … The Public Utilities Commission “suspends consideration of MECO’s Application … due to omissions in the Application relating to compliance with Hawaii Revised Statutes (`HRS`) Chapter 343, the “Hawaii Environmental Policy Act.”

“The Commission will un-suspend this proceeding, following MECO's filing of an amended Application … that: (1) details the Project’s compliance with the requirements of HEPA for environmental review of a new power-generating facility and addresses whether such environmental review results in any changes to the material terms of the PPA; or (2) demonstrates that environmental review for the Project will not be required by HRS § 343-5.”

LINK: ‘Ūkiu Energy | ‘Ūkiu Energy

read … PUC Suspends Application -- Requires HECO to Follow State Law | Ililani Media

Commission wants more candidates to request public funds for their campaigns

ASD: … Nearly 260 candidates ran for office in 2024, including for positions at the state, city, and county levels. But Tony Baldomero, the commission's associate director, says the last election year was a record low for public funding requests.

Baldomero says the commission has given roughly $5 million to candidates since the program began in 1980, after the 1978 Constitutional Convention.

In the 2024 election year, the commission distributed just over $52,000 to 10 candidates.

“Seven of those candidates were successful, so if you ask them if the public funding program is working, they will probably say, ‘yeah, it's working for me,’” Baldomero said.

“But you ask other people and you’ll hear that the money is too little or the expenditure limit is too low. So we're trying to fix that with our public funding bill to incentivize more users.” …

read … Commission wants more candidates to request public funds for their campaigns | Hawai'i Public Radio

Meth-Addled Firebugs Kicked out of Another Dry Brush Area

MN: … It was the latest in a series of homeless encampment sweeps that the county has said it conducted to address fire hazards and general public safety. In August, a month after clearing out Amala Place for safety and sanitation reasons, the county also removed a homeless community in Ukumehame due to fire risks in an incident that led to seven arrests. …

(CLUE: Homelessness is 100% about drugs and 0% about the high cost of housing.)

… the county, which cited increased crime complaints and 13 fires in the area this year as the reason for the cleanup….

“It’s not so much the issue with encampments,” Maui County Communications Director Laksmi Abraham said Wednesday. “The priority, as we all know, is ever since the 2023 wildfires, there’s been a heightened emphasis on public safety and mitigating potential fire threats.”

But the reappearance of people who were kicked out of other areas shows how hard it is to find a more long-term solution and get people into permanent housing.

The area where the unhoused community lived was part of about 52 county-owned acres off Wai‘ale Road where the Maui Emergency Management Agency said it is working to reduce wildfire risks that include removing overgrown kiawe and haole koa trees, dry grass and derelict vehicles.

The land also is in the vicinity of multiple housing projects, an industrial park, Pōmaikaʻi Elementary School and a Mormon church….

read … Fire hazards meet ~~housing~~ (drug) crisis as Maui County clears out another homeless encampment : Maui Now

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