November 26, 2025 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

November 26, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 4:16 PM :: 159 Views

Precisely as predicted: Split Maui Council Can’t Agree On New Member. Now The Mayor Will Decide

MN: … The Maui County Council failed to reach a majority decision Tuesday afternoon in appointing a successor to the late Council Member Natalie “Tasha” Kama, effectively handing the selection authority to Mayor Richard Bissen. He will vet candidates for the position.

In response to a request for comment, Maui County spokesperson Laksmi Abraham said: “In light of recent events, and consistent with Section 3-4 of the Maui County Charter, the Mayor shall appoint a person to fill this vacancy without a special election. With the Council’s appointment window closing at midnight tonight, Mayor Bissen will move forward with vetting candidates to fill the Kahului seat for the remainder of the term.”….

Lee, Sugimura, Uʻu-Hodgins and Cook indicated they would only support Batangan….

CB: Split Maui Council Can’t Agree On New Member. Now The Mayor Will Decide - Honolulu Civil Beat

MN: Deadlocked on nominees, Maui County Council fails to meet deadline to fill open seat | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News

read … Council deadlocks on Kama successor; decision moves to Mayor Bissen : Maui Now

Miske forfeiture proceeding delayed again

ILind: … The government’s forfeiture lawsuit against the estate of the late crime boss, Michael J. Miske, Jr., has been delayed again by mutual agreement of attorneys representing the government, the Miske trust, and several lenders. The parties agreed earlier this month on an additional three-month delay to allow settlement negotiations to continue through the holidays. This is on top of an earlier 5-month continuance that expired on November 9.

The agreement puts off a scheduling conference in the case until March 1, 2025. This is a hearing that will establish a timeline for the case, including deadlines for discovery, pre-trial motions, and setting future trial dates….

read … Miske forfeiture proceeding delayed again | i L i n d

Hawaiʻi's condo insurance crisis: Rising premiums explained

KHON: … The fallout for condominiums was swift and severe. Hawaiʻi has more than 1,000 residential condo buildings, and many could not afford the new, dramatically higher premiums. “Buildings became underinsured,” Saiki said, creating a domino effect. Underinsured condos fail to meet federal lending requirements, meaning units within those buildings suddenly became ineligible for mortgages or refinancing. At the same time, unit owners were required to purchase HO6 policies with higher deductibles, adding even more financial burden….

While the challenges have been significant, Saiki offered reason for optimism. Reinsurance rates have recently begun to stabilize — not returning to pre-2023 levels, but no longer spiking. Combined with new initiatives from the Hawaiʻi Legislature and state agencies, this trend may help reduce future premiums and provide support for buildings needing major repair or maintenance. Saiki noted that hurricane insurance represents only half the cost equation; the other half comes from non-hurricane insurance, both of which condos are required to maintain….

VIDEO: Living Akamai: Why Condominium Insurance Costs Surged in Hawaiʻi — and What Comes Next - YouTube

read … Hawaiʻi's condo insurance crisis: Rising premiums explained

Honolulu Permit Counter Closing Next Week To Catch Up With Backlog

CB: … Honolulu’s troubled permitting department will close its front counter services next week and won’t be accepting phone calls from the public as it tries to climb its way out of a six-week backlog of applications.

In an email to staff, Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna said the agency is experiencing a “substantial backlog” in the prescreen process, which is a first, cursory review for formatting issues. Limiting customer service functions is an effort to eliminate that backlog, she wrote.

DPP declined an interview request. In an email, department spokesman Davis Pitner said the department has 830 projects in the prescreen stage, applications that started to pile up with the August introduction of new multimillion-dollar permitting software called HNL Build…

read … Honolulu Permit Counter Closing Next Week To Catch Up With Backlog - Honolulu Civil Beat

With Subsidies About to Expire, Last Minute Hawaii solar installations soar

SA: … Hawaii overall now has the highest per capita rate of rooftop solar installations at 45%, Hawaiian Electric said, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

Sales of solar systems increased this year — especially over the past several months — as the Dec. 31 deadline approaches for 30% federal tax credits to expire, said Rocky Mould, executive director of the Hawaii Solar Energy Association….

For the upcoming legislative session that begins Jan. 21, Mould said the Hawaii Solar Energy Association hopes to have bills introduced on its behalf that include reducing costs by streamlining the permitting and interconnectivity processes….

read … Hawaii solar installations soar but industry faces ‘disruption’ | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Family of disabled woman loses thousands in forged deed scam

HNN: … A Waianae family lost their disabled relative’s one-acre property to alleged title theft despite working with attorneys to gain legal guardianship and sell the home to pay for her care.

Betsy and her husband lived together on the Waianae property until he died and she became disabled from Alzheimer’s and dementia. The family rushed to sell the property to generate money for her care, but alleged title thieves acted first.

“The entire situation was tragic,” said attorney Summer Shelverton, who was helping the family members get guardianship in 2022 so they could sell the property and four-bedroom house….

read … Family of disabled woman loses thousands in forged deed scam

Doomed: Kauaʻi's Next Top Cop Says He's A Relationship-Builder

CB: … Jonathan Frye, vice president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, said Tai’s pending appointment is a step toward building a stronger and healthier KPD.

“He has quite the task ahead of him,” Frye said. “There’s a lot that he’s going to have to try to overcome after what happened under Todd Raybuck and the wounds that are there are still going to need healing. I think he’s up to the challenge and he’s going to do the best he can to do right by KPD.”…

(TRANSLATION: SHOPO is already gunning for him.)

Tai is the San Diego Police Department’s second-highest-ranking member. He currently runs daily operations and serves as a volunteer community liaison between the department and the city’s Asian and Pacific Islander community. He has been a San Diego cop since 1990.

The San Diego Police Department is about 10 times the size of KPD, which has a $41.5 million annual budget and 236 full-time staff members, including 135 sworn officers. Another 30 officer positions are unfilled.

Tai, who was born on Oʻahu and graduated from Pearl City High School, moved to San Diego for college and, after graduating, became a police officer there. It’s always been his dream, he wrote in his job application, to return to Hawaiʻi.

(TRANSLATION: This is as close as they can come to a local cop.)

Last week SHOPO President Nicholas Schlapak raised concerns about Tai’s judgment….

(TRANSLATION: SHOPO will only accept a local cop.)

read … Kauaʻi's Next Top Cop Says He's A Relationship-Builder - Honolulu Civil Beat

The end of the middle-class traveler in Hawaii is near

SFG: … Resort fees are climbing, and hotel rates are soaring, with lodging prices doubling in some areas since 2019, pushing lower earners to the side. At the same time, Hawaii’s tourism agency is focusing its efforts on attracting fewer, higher-spending visitors, furthering the divide. In September, visitors were spending an average of $270 per person per day on lodging, food, entertainment and shopping, up from the $196 they were spending per day in 2019.

The data speaks volumes when looking at hotel rates just six years prior. In August 2025, the average daily hotel rate rose to $361, up from $290 in 2019, a 25% difference. The Island of Hawaii saw the largest jump, with a 59% increase. In August 2025, Island of Hawaii visitors paid $444, while in 2019, it was $280. Kauai is right behind, with hotel prices averaging $430 a night, a 52% increase compared with 2019, when visitors were paying $283 on average. …

read … The end of the middle-class traveler in Hawaii is near

‘Gas Station Heroin’ selling fast in Hawaii -- addiction cases to this legal drug rise

HNN: … Products containing kratom and a related substance called 7-hydroxymitragynine are readily available in Hawaii stores despite growing concerns about addiction and calls for regulation.

An HNN investigation found kratom products in drinks, pills, powder and gummies sold at vape and neighborhood stores across the islands. The substance, sometimes called “gas station heroin,” is now banned in seven states, but remains widely available in Hawaii..

Gary Yabuta, executive director of the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program said kratom “acts on the same receptors of the brain as does opioid, which is fentanyl or heroin.”

Yabuta said psychiatrists at the Queen’s Medical Center’s Department of Behavioral Science report that “there is a definite kratom abuse and addiction problem,7-OH problem here.”

The federal government attempted but failed to ban kratom products years ago. Since then, individual states have taken action….

The Hawaii State Legislature would need to pass a bill to make kratom and 7-OH illegal.

They are sold in vape and neighborhood stores. HNN Investigates purchased kratom gummies for about $24 and store clerks reported they often sell out….

read … Concerns grow in Hawaii as addiction cases to this legal drug rise

Legislative Agenda: Make 996 Career Criminals Eligible for Early Release

CB: … As of mid-September, the Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was holding 996 men and women age 50 or older, including more than 80 inmates who are at least 70, according to the draft bill….

read … When Do Hawaiʻi's Dying Inmates Deserve 'Compassionate Release'? - Honolulu Civil Beat

How Tonga Owes China $112M

SA: … Tonga (population 108,000) is heavily indebted to China’s EXIM bank, still paying off construction loans taken out two decades ago. World Bank data shows it owes Beijing $112 million.

Tonga has sought Australia’s help for a restructuring from Beijing and has looked to Canberra and Washington for aid to build resilience to climate disasters and fund infrastructure.

Its loan repayments to China’s EXIM Bank, accounting for 48% of total external debt, have become a key political issue central to the 2025 budget, the budget documents show.

Debt repayments to China spiked last year on a loan used to rebuild its central business district after riots in 2006, which now accounts for two-thirds of debt repayments.

(CLUE: Opposition politicians lead 2006 riot against pro-Taiwan monarch. Once in power, opposition politicians saddle Tonga with gigantic Chinese loan—to pay for the damage their riot caused. See how that works?)

Beijing is looking for countries it can showcase as model members of Xi’s flagship ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure initiative, to which Tonga signed up in 2018….

Wiki: 2006 Nukuʻalofa riots

2013: Akilisi Pohiva suggests China could ask Tonga to allow it to establish a naval base in the Kingdom.

2018: Mr Pohiva said Tonga would keep on asking China to divert the loan into a grant.

read … China pledges fresh Tonga investment as debt repayment looms | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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