January 7, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

January 7, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:47 PM :: 436 Views

DoH Using AI to Manage 3,600 Developmentally Disabled People

Big Island Felon Pleads Guilty to Illegally Possessing Firearms and Ammunition

‘We will extract Billions’--HMSA agrees to join with Hawaii Pacific Health hospitals

HNN: … Insurance giant HMSA and Hawaii Pacific Health, which owns four major hospitals, have agreed to merge in what could be one of the most significant healthcare consolidations in Hawaii history. …

…Vara said the company would create an entity similar to Kaiser, eliminating duplicate administrative costs and establishing a model of care so HPH doctors wouldn’t need to get preauthorization for care from HMSA….

“Every single health system is losing money now,” said Ray Vara, CEO of Hawaii Pacific Health, during a Hawaii Medical Association forum.

HPH includes Pali Momi, Kapiolani, Straub, and Wilcox hospitals, as well as affiliated clinics and specialists. Vara said teaming up with HMSA, which experts say is also losing money, would create huge savings.

“We will extract billions of dollars over the next decade that will create value that can be reinvested in the community,” Vara said….

Queens isn’t ready to support the merger.

“We have been one of the largest outwardly spoken opponents of the merger, just fundamental, right? That’s fair,” said Jason Chang, Queens Health Systems CEO.

Chang said the merged HPH-HMSA system might attract more healthier and better insured patients, leaving Queens and other providers to deal with more low-income, elderly and chronically ill people….

The merger needs approval by multiple state and federal agencies, which will study the impact on the healthcare system and on competition in the medical and insurance industries….

COVERAGE:

SA: HMSA, Hawai‘i Pacific Health propose new health care affiliation amid affordability concerns | Honolulu Star-Advertiser -- “At HMSA, we pay one-third of our dollars to Queen’s, one-third of our dollars to independent providers, and one-third of our dollars to Hawai‘i Pacific Health,” Mugiishi said.
HNN: HMSA-Hawaii Pacific Health address planned partnership | Full press conference
HNN: HMSA, Hawaii Pacific Health CEOs detail partnership aimed at improving patient care -- One of the first things they said was this is not a merger. They made it clear the two companies will remain independent of each other, although working together to share costs and a model of care.
KHON: HMSA, HPA announce new details of proposed partnership
KHON: Healthcare partnership questioned by Queens, nurses' union
KITV: Hawaii Pacific Health, HMSA propose new parent organization 'One Health Hawaii' | News | kitv.com

BACKGROUND:

read … HMSA plans merger with Hawaii Pacific Health hospitals

Hawaiian Electric to Pay $100M for Lying About Wildfire Prevention Efforts

SA: … The parent of Hawaiian Electric expects to use $100 million in insurance proceeds to settle eight lawsuits filed by shareholders who allege company leaders didn’t properly disclose wildfire risks before the 2023 Maui wildfire disaster.

One of the tentative settlement arrangements calls for Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. to pay $47.8 million to settle one class-action shareholder case filed in federal court in California about two weeks after the Aug. 8, 2023, disaster, which killed 102 people and destroyed most of Lahaina.

Plaintiffs in the case accused Hawaii’s biggest utility ‌operator of misleading them about its wildfire prevention and safety protocols before high winds toppled utility poles blamed for starting the blaze….

(CLUE: The state made HECO spend on integrating useless intermittent wind and solar electricity instead of fire safety.)

read … HEI settling wildfire-related litigation with shareholders | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Legislative Agenda: Global Warming is Excuse for $6B of Pork Projects

SA: … Hawaii has plans on the drawing board for $6 billion in climate adaptation projects that state officials believe necessary to compensate for sea level rise. These include port renovations, dredging of harbors and waterways, and wetland restoration….

Security analysts warn that droughts, sea level rise and other climate-related changes may cause the displacement of entire communities — and in fact, this has already happened in Hawaii, with the devastation of Lahaina by fire in 2023. …

(IQ Test: Do you believe this?)

read … Editorial: Buck fed, brace for big climate impact | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Legislative Agenda: After Sue-n-Settle, $Billions to pretend to ‘Decarbonize’

E&E: … Eighteen months after Gov. Josh Green signed a historic legal settlement with a group of young climate activists, Hawaii state lawmakers will attempt something few if any legislative bodies have managed in the United States: codify a real-world plan to decarbonize the state’s transportation system by 2045.

As part of the climate suit settlement, the Hawaii Department of Transportation last year published a plan that serves a road map for cutting the state’s pollution. The state Legislature will take up the crucial questions of cost and funding when it meets later this month.

The outcome isn’t guaranteed, but environmentalists said they’re optimistic the state will take decisive action….

(REALITY: The only part of this that is real is the money vacuumed out of your pocket to pay for it. The rest is 100% pretend.)

read … Hawaii to develop plan to zero out transportation emissions - E&E News by POLITICO

Move to Vegas: Oahu Single Family Home Prices Set new Record High

SA: … Changes in Oahu’s housing market were pretty muted in 2025, but included a new annual median sale price peak for single-family houses at $1,139,000.

The record, according to Honolulu Board of Realtors data released Tuesday, resulted from a 3.5% rise over 2024’s median sale price of $1,100,000. The prior high was $1,105,000 in 2022….

read … Oahu home sale price record notched in 2025 amid year of small market changes | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

State Supreme Court throws out Maui condo property tax lawsuit

ASD: … The Hawai‘i Supreme Court has rejected a class-action lawsuit by a group of Maui property owners over county taxes.

In 2020, the Maui County Council passed Ordinance 5160, updating the county’s zoning designations. In particular, it changed the county’s classification of “non-owner-occupied” condominiums, prohibiting that designation in zoning districts where transient vacation rentals were permitted.

The upshot of this is that some 1,400 condo units on Maui were, overnight, reclassified as short-term rentals, accruing taxes at short-term rental rates, regardless of whether they were actually being used as short-term rentals.

A letter by Scott Teruya — then the Finance Director for the county — projected in 2020 that the new ordinance would impact 1,428 properties, increasing their annual tax burden by an average of $6,300 each, for an aggregate of about $9.1 million in additional tax revenue….

read … Supreme Court throws out Maui condo owner class-action suit

After 800 Deaths, Drowning Commission May Have a Meeting

CB: …About 800 people have drowned in the waters off Hawaiʻi’s roughly 1,000-mile coastline in the last decade, with an increasing number of people frequenting remote stretches of coastline with little to warn them of risks. Yet the state has not called for a single new warning sign to be put up on a beach in more than 13 years. ..

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is planning to revive a task force charged with putting up warning signs at dangerous beaches. The group has not met since 2012.

“It’s a huge win,” said Kirsten Hermstad, executive director of the lifeguards’ association, which pushed for the change. “They’re listening, they think it’s important too, and they’re letting us do our work. And that’s huge.” …

read … Hawaiʻi To Step Up Anti-Drowning Efforts - Honolulu Civil Beat

Avg Daily Skyline ridership DROPS 4% in December

KHON: … December had a total of 281,281 riders throughout the month, which is 10,666 more riders than November’s 270,615 total riders…. (BUT)

(The figures don't lie but liars sure can figure.)

For the entire month of December, the average weekday ridership was 10,165 — a slight drop from November’s 10,552. Neither figure includes holidays.....

(TRANSLATION: Daily ridership dropped 4%!)

read … An article titled: "Skyline ridership grew almost 11K in December"

DPS Legislative Agenda: This Year’s Pitch for More Money

CB: … The gap in pay between state sheriffs and county police officers has widened in recent years, making it difficult for the Department of Law Enforcement to recruit and retain sheriffs for its short-staffed agency, department director Mike Lambert told the Legislature’s Finance Committee on Tuesday.

During the hearing, Lambert outlined the progress his department has made over the past year, especially in the realm of fireworks enforcement, and described some of the new initiatives he plans to implement this year, such as the installation of gunshot-sensing devices called ShotSpotters in areas of Oʻahu with higher rates of gun violence. …

County police department officers across the state received their largest raise in 17 years last year. Most members of the state police union will get a salary increase of 27% over four years. That means Honolulu police officers with seven years on the job will see their salaries rise from $89,736 last July to $108,036 by July 2028.

An experienced deputy sheriff, by contrast, makes between $60,000 and $89,000, according to Civil Beat’s salary database. Sheriffs are represented by the Hawaiʻi Government Employee Association while county police officers across the state are all represented by the State of Hawaiʻi Organization of Police Officers….

(IDEA: Decertify HGEA, join SHOPO. Learn from Maui Hospital nurses.)

read … ‘We Really Are Hurting’: Hawaiʻi Deputy Pay Lags $20K Behind Cops - Honolulu Civil Beat

Kamehameha Schools seeks tuition waiver with minimal financial impact

HNN: … Kamehameha Schools released new numbers showing a small financial impact if the state probate court approves a full tuition waiver for its students.

The announcement came after a lawsuit challenging the school’s admissions policy. The $15.2 billion trust filed a court petition asking the state probate court for changes to its educational spending.

Kamehameha Schools wants to eliminate tuition starting in the upcoming school year for its 5,400 students. Current tuition ranges from roughly $3,000 for modified-day preschool to more than $12,000 for boarding….

Court documents show the trust spent $522,662,000 on education in fiscal year 2024. The proposed tuition waiver would result in approximately $10-15 million in lost tuition revenue.

“The proposed impact of approximately $10 - 15 million in tuition revenue to the Trust’s Spending is expected to increase the annual spend rate from the endowment by only 0.1%. For example, spending is expected to increase from approximately 4.0% to 4.1%,” the documents said.

“That’s still a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of an organization that is a $16 billion dollar trust, $15 to $16 million isn’t a whole lot,” Aki said….

Aki noted that upwards of 70 percent of students already receive their full tuition waived or almost all of it waived….

read … Kamehameha Schools seeks tuition waiver with minimal financial impact

New rules, fees for Hawaiʻi Island vacation rentals to take effect this year

HPR: … The ordinance sets registration fees at $250 for hosted and $500 for unhosted rentals. Failing to register could result in a fine of up to $10,000….

read … New rules, fees for Hawaiʻi Island vacation rentals to take effect this year | Hawai'i Public Radio

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