February 4, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

February 4, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 11:36 AM :: 91 Views

UHERO: Adjusted for local prices, Hawaiʻi’s economy among worst in nation

Stop Taxing Food — Support Families and Food Security

Hawaii dreaming that it can fend off federal fossil fuels lawsuit

SA: … A lawsuit the federal government filed against Michigan over fossil fuels has been thrown out (by a Democrat judge) — prompting Hawaii to use that case to bolster its own of efforts to hold private companies accountable for their role in climate change.

(TRANSLATION: They finally found one judge biased enough to let this junk litigation continue.)

The federal government filed a lawsuit against Hawaii on April 30 after Gov. Josh Green announced he planned to sue private fossil fuel companies for deceptive marketing that contributed to climate change harms. The federal government’s lawsuit came just one day before the state filed its lawsuit.

The state’s lawsuit against fossil fuel companies — Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and others — was filed May 1. It claims fossil fuel companies knew the “catastrophic consequences for the planet and its people” of fossil fuel pollution, but rather than inform consumers of the danger the companies “mounted a decades- long campaign of deception to discredit the scientific consensus on climate change;” created doubt in consumers; and delayed the energy economy’s transition to a lower-carbon future “while maximizing their own profits. (location of a big pot-o-gold and Hawaii wants some).”

MNS: Trump Admin's Lawsuit to Block Mich. Climate Case Rejected – “State and federal judges in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, California, Maryland, New Jersey and Puerto Rico have thrown out climate cases seeking money from oil companies” ….

read … Hawaii looks to fend off federal fossil fuels lawsuit | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Lawmakers hear DHHL proposal to study 12 potential geothermal sites

HNN: … The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has looked at geothermal energy within a Maori tribe in Aotearoa (New Zealand). It wants to study 12 potential geothermal sites across the state.

Potential sites span four islands.

Hawaiʻi: Humuʻula/Upper Piʻihonua, Puʻukapu, Kawaihae, and Kamā’oa/Puʻuʻeo (South Point)
Maui: Kahikinui and Wākiu/Hāna
Molokaʻi: Hoʻolehua/Nā’iwa
Oʻahu: Lualualei/Waiʻanae Valley, Waimānalo, Ha’ikū Valley, Waiāhole
Kauaʻi: Upper Wailua

(Skip multiple paragraphs of anti-geothermal activist rhetoric.)

Another testifier, Alice Kim, said in written testimony that a geothermal resource could provide DHHL with a revenue stream, lower electricity costs for beneficiaries, and help pay for home construction.

Lawmakers forwarded bills, including House Bill 1982, for further discussion….

REALITY: The-Unity-House-Scandal-Never-Really-Ended-decades-later-it-might-bankrupt-Hawaiian-Electric

HPR: Lawmakers advance bill to study geothermal energy in DHHL areas | Hawai'i Public Radio

HB1982: Text, Status

read … Lawmakers hear passionate testimony on DHHL proposal to study 12 potential geothermal sites

Bills advance to force HPD to refuse to back up ICE agents

SA: … The first of several bills that would (not really) unmask federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was met with concerns Tuesday from the Honolulu Police Department and state Department of Law Enforcement that backup officers from their departments also could be identified while supporting local undercover operations.

(CLUE: Blocking local PDs from backing up ICE is the purpose of this bill.)

No representatives for ICE or any federal agency testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee or submitted written testimony regarding SB 2203.

(Because the state has no authority over them.)

But HPD and DLE representatives testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that they’re concerned that their backup officers who support their undercover operations — by maintaining a police perimeter, for example — could be identified and would make it difficult for them to serve in future undercover operations.

(CLUE: Blocking local PDs from backing up ICE is the purpose of this bill.)

“The bill already exempts officers undercover,” Judiciary Chair Karl Rhoads (D, Nuuanu-Downtown-Iwilei) told HPD Maj. Manuel Hernandez and DLE Deputy Director Jared Redulla. “But then your argument is that there are, like, a category of people who aren’t yet undercover?”

(CLUE: Blocking local PDs from backing up ICE is the purpose of this bill.)

Rhoads called a possible exemption for backup officers “a huge loophole.”

(TRANSLATION: Rhoads admits that blocking local PDs from backing up ICE is the purpose of this bill.)

The Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office would be responsible for prosecuting any new state laws banning officers from covering their faces on Oahu, (not) including ICE agents (who are federal and not subject to local prosecutor jurisdiction).

(CLUE: Blocking local PDs from backing up ICE is the purpose of this bill.)

CB: The Sunshine Blog: A Face Mask Ban For Cops Picks Up Early Momentum - Honolulu Civil Beat

read … Bills advance to identify ICE agents | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Council home bills counterproductive

SA: … Bill 17, most objectionable of all, would essentially end existing affordable rental housing incentives under the so-called “Bill 7,” adopted in 2019. Bill 7 relaxed some standards for qualifying redevelopment infill rental projects in exchange for incentives such as property tax exemption for 10 years, and waived fees for the city application process.

After a slow start, Bill 7 is making progress, with numerous projects now in the works. Instead of allowing Bill 7 to foster more affordable rentals, Bill 17 would prematurely end those incentives by July 1, 2027. This contradicts hard-fought state legislation that limits counties’ ability to roadblock projects, and will deter housing redevelopment. It should be rejected….

read … Editorial: Council home bills counterproductive | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Used Car dealers on Oahu complain about delays in getting vehicles registered

HNN: … For dealerships with higher sales, meeting those limits can create real frustration….

read … Used Car dealers on Oahu complain about delays in getting vehicles registered

Shakedown: Environmentalists claim Hawaii Ritz-Carlton development threatens endangered species

CNS: … The endangered Hawaiian yellow-faced bees documented at Kuilima on Oahu’s North Shore weren’t there when Honolulu approved an environmental review for a new Ritz-Carlton resort in 2013.

Neither was the breeding colony of Laysan albatross at nearby Kahuku Point, or the increasing numbers of Hawaiian monk seals using the beaches to birth and rear their pups.

But they’re there now, according to environmental and community groups challenging the county’s approval of the luxury hotel project.

(TRANSLATION: The environment is getting better and the greenies are using these improvements to grift for money.)

SA: Lawsuit is filed against city over approval of new Turtle Bay hotel | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Environmentalists say Hawaii Ritz-Carlton development threatens endangered species | Courthouse News Service

Hawaii mental patient dies after 9 yrs in coma, family sues

HNN: … Curtis Panoke was sent to the Columbia Regional Care Center from the state hospital in 2010 after multiple assaults. In 2016, other patients there beat him into a coma and he died last year.

His family is suing the facility and the state.

Hawaii News Now learned of Panoke’s death while investigating the suicide of a Kauai man named Payton Hough at that same facility….

HNN: Expert says Hawaii should halt export of mental patients

read … Family recalls ‘worst nightmare’ as second death tied to mainland facility caring for Hawaii mental patients.

Sheriff Drones May Be Watching You In Waikīkī

CB: … Drones are already used by law enforcement for special operations, but the program coming to Waikīkī marks a major increase in police surveillance and will be the first time Hawaiʻi uses drones as first responders….

read … Smile, You're On Camera: Sheriff Drones May Be Watching You In Waikīkī - Honolulu Civil Beat

Tulsi Gabbard running solo 2020 election inquiry separate from FBI investigation

G: … Gabbard has continued the ODNI review even as the justice department has proceeded with its criminal investigation. The specific lines of inquiry the ODNI is pursuing could not be learned, but it was not looking at Fulton county machines until the FBI raid occurred, the person said.

The ODNI review remains within Gabbard’s statutory authority, officials said, citing executive orders extended by Biden in 2022 and Trump in 2025, which task the director of national intelligence (DNI) with assessing foreign interference in federal elections.

In a statement, Olivia Coleman, a spokesperson for the DNI, said the office “knows through intelligence and public reporting that electronic voting systems have been and are vulnerable to exploitation.”

“President Trump’s directive to secure our elections was clear,” she added. “DNI Gabbard has and will continue to take actions within her authorities, alongside our interagency partners, to support ensuring the integrity of our elections.”….

Gabbard has spent outsized time on political projects for Trump. Most recently, she has been involved in a separate effort promoting claims that Barack Obama and senior officials sought to create a false narrative that Russia had attempted to help Trump’s 2016 campaign….

read … Tulsi Gabbard running solo 2020 election inquiry separate from FBI investigation | Trump administration | The Guardian

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