February 25, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026

February 25, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:09 PM :: 211 Views

Honolulu Deputy Prosecutor Indicted for Witness Tampering

Emergency Powers Legislation: Hawaii Should be Terrified

Army Corps of Engineers announces “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” initiative

Recycled Wastewater for Kapalua Irrigation?

Turning Point USA at UH Manoa

Fourth Year of Pretending to do Something About Bribery

SA: … The Senate committee passed three bribery bills, SB2249, SB2737 and SB2494, and more legislation aimed at “clean government” will be heard in the coming days as the House and Senate prepare to move bills to the opposite chamber….

(CLUE: These bills accomplish nearly nothing and won’t likely survive conference committee anyway.)

One of the bribery bills, SB 2249, would upgrade bribery of $50,000 or more from a class C felony to a class A felony.

SB 2494 would extend the statute of limitations for bribery prosecutions to nine years, a move supported by the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, which wrote in testimony that it would “ensure that investigations are complete and thorough before charging.”

The third measure passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday would establish a new misdemeanor offense for failing to report bribery and would require state or county officials who know of or witness bribery to report to the state attorney general within 60 days. But the Prosecutor’s Office raised concern about potential violations of Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, and about whether criminalizing failure to report a bribe could discourage people from coming forward….

On Thursday, the House Finance Committee also will hear campaign contribution reform measures:

>>HB 1519 would bar state and county contractors and their immediate family members from making campaign donations over the life of their contracts.

>>HB 2050 would expand partial public campaign financing by raising spending limits and increasing the amount of public matching funds. Proponents argue that publicly financed campaigns lessen the temptation on candidates to favor donors’ wishes over other constituents….

This year marks the fourth legislative session since the federal guilty pleas of former Senate majority leader J. Kalani English and Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen, the then-vice chair of the House Finance Committee, on bribery charges during the 2022 legislative session….

(TRANSLATION: Fake it ‘til you make it.)

KITV: Big money in Hawaii politics sparks election reform calls | News | kitv.com

read … Senate bribery bills progress as corruption allegations linger | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Double Cross: Maui Planning Commission denies new hotel districts for short-term rentals

HNN: … The Maui Planning Commission voted to deny the creation of two new hotel zoning districts on Tuesday that would have allowed thousands of ‘Minatoya List’ short-term rentals to continue operating.

The commission rejected a proposal to establish H-3 and H-4 hotel districts, which had been requested through a council resolution asking the Maui, Molokai and Lanai Planning Commissions to consider the new designations….

Linda Mitchell, who supports the new hotel districts, urged commissioners to pass the resolution. “I encourage the passing of this resolution for H-3 and H-4 and it would be wonderful if that’s done and we can count on it and not have to go through the somewhat agony that we’ve been through of wondering if our business of over 30 years would be taken away from us basically,” Mitchell said….

The recommendation still must go before the Molokai and Lanai Planning Commissions. The commissions’ decisions are recommendations only — the Maui County Council holds the final vote….

read … Maui Planning Commission denies new hotel districts for short-term rentals

Hawaii Hotels And Governor Want 30,000 Vacation Rentals Gone

BH: … Hawaii’s hotel industry already charges the highest room rates in America, with luxury properties nearing $900 a night and a statewide average of $364. Now its national lobby is pushing to eliminate more than 30,000 vacation rentals statewide, backed by a funded study, an invitation-only ballroom event with the governor and mayors, and an enforcement agenda that is already becoming law on Maui. …

What just happened at an invitation-only event.

Last week, Oxford Economics released a study commissioned by the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) and the Hawaii Hotel Alliance that makes the economic case for Hawaii’s hotel sector. On the same day, hotel executives gathered with Governor Josh Green, island mayors, and state legislators at The Hospitality Show: Honolulu, following the study’s release. We covered the study and its claims separately….

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser was granted exclusive access to the gathering tied to the study’s rollout. It was a tightly focused meeting of industry leadership and policymakers.

The paper’s parent company, Oahu Publications, publishes custom in-room magazines for major Hawaii hotel chains, runs an events division that co-produces the Hawaii Hotel and Restaurant Show with the hotel lobby, and publishes HILuxury, a magazine targeting luxury hospitality advertising. That is the outlet providing the public account of what took place….

Hawaii hotels ~~estimate~~ (pretend to believe there are) more than 30,000 illegal vacation rentals.

That number gets repeated in enforcement discussions, legislative testimony, and industry-funded research. UHERO’s Hawaii Housing Factbook puts the total number of Hawaii vacation rentals at roughly the same figure, about 5.5% of Hawaii’s 557,000 housing units. That count includes every vacation rental in the state, permitted and unpermitted. No comprehensive statewide audit has sorted legal from illegal. The state’s own vacation rental performance reports say explicitly that they do not differentiate between permitted and unpermitted units. The industry’s decision to label all 30,000 as illegal is their policy position, rather than any verified count….

UHERO’s modeling of Maui’s Bill 9 projected that implementation could lead to roughly $900 million in annual visitor spending losses and about $75 million in annual tax revenue losses on Maui. …

REALITY: Meet the Meth Gang Behind ‘Lahaina Strong’

read … Hawaii Hotels And Governor Want Your Cheapest Options Gone

Visitors On the Hook for Hawaii’s New $100 Million Rental Car Tax

BH: … You’re already paying a lot more than the base rate for a car rental in Hawaii. At Honolulu recently, our rental total came to $176.86 for two days. The base rate was $115.56. Taxes and fees added another $61.30, roughly 35% of the total before any add-ons or upgrades….

That’s before Hawaii considers piling on $100 million more per year by changing the taxes it assesses on fleet vehicles and adding new daily surcharges.

A bill under debate would add a 4% increase for fleet purchases….

read … Visitors On the Hook for Hawaii’s New $100 Million Rental Car Tax

NIMBY Fail: 148 ‘Gap’ Units Approved in Koloa

CB: … A controversial 148-unit Kōloa housing project got the green light from Kaua‘i’s Planning Commission with the conditions that the units never be turned into vacation rentals and that at least 45% of them go to existing county residents.

The unanimous decision was made after eight and a half hours of testimony, an unsuccessful petition to intervene in the proceeding, an executive session and discussions among the planning commission, planning department and developer.

Roughly 60 community members attended the meeting, with dozens forced to watch from a TV screen outside. This was the second time the planning commission reviewed the project, which was seeking two zoning permits to build multifamily housing targeting residents who make too much to qualify for affordable rentals but not enough to purchase market-rate homes….

“This project will allow my workers to actually afford something because every one of them is living with their parents.” -- David Jay Ledee, owner of the Mura Izakaya restaurant in Kōloa Village

read … Controversial Kōloa Housing Project Gets Green Light In Unanimous Vote - Honolulu Civil Beat

How am I Gonna Get My Top Three? Principals Freak out over Proposal to Reduce District Superintendent Positions

CB: … The current version of the bill proposes replacing the 15 complex area superintendents with district and deputy district superintendents. While the bill doesn’t specify how many districts would replace the current complex area structure, in the early 2000s, DOE had seven districts managed by 14 superintendents.

(TRANSLATION: Fewer positions for Principals to move up into.)

If the bill returned the department to its original leadership structure, there would be few changes in the total number of top officials, but each superintendent would be in charge of more schools, Hayashi said. For example, the Leeward District superintendent could be in charge of more than 40 schools stretching from Kapolei to Waipahu to Waiʻanae…

The bill drew opposition from roughly 200 principals, education department administrators and union leaders earlier this month, who argued that cutting top superintendent positions would reduce support for schools and destabilize the department. Debate on the bill was punctuated by yells and boos outside the hearing room, which Kim later blamed on principals and described as “mob-like tactics”.

(TRANSLATION: We wanna retire with a fat juicy pension.)

The head of the Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association — the union representing 1,200 school workers, including principals — has called the bill a political ploy allowing lawmakers to settle grudges with principals in their districts and push out school leaders with whom they disagree.

(TRANSLATION: We wanna retire with a fat juicy pension.)

Kim, meanwhile, acknowledges the bill may not pass in its current form. But she says the proposal comes from high community demand for educational reform and frustrations with DOE’s leadership system, which has grown in size even as student enrollment shrinks. …

Lawmakers have become increasingly critical of the DOE since Sen. Donna Kim took charge of the education committee this session. At the January hearing, lawmakers berated the school leaders for millions in school construction funding that remained unspent. In recent months, senators have grilled the department on poor student literacy rates and failure to properly report millions in travel expenses.

The rising animosity between lawmakers and school leaders has drawn criticism from union leaders and taken some political observers by surprise. But lawmakers’ belief that schools aren’t meeting students’ needs seems to be striking a chord with their communities. An Instagram post by DeCorte asking “Is DOE failing?” sparked thousands of comments and gained more than 20,000 likes from frustrated teachers, parents and the general public. …

SB3334: Text, Status

read … Is Now The Time For Reforming Hawaiʻi Schools? - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaii businesses hit by tariffs; 86% report impact

PBN: … A joint survey of 155 businesses found 91% reporting higher costs and nearly half expecting profit drops exceeding 10% ....

SA: New 10% U.S. tariffs take effect despite Trump’s 15% vow | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Hawaii businesses hit by tariffs; 86% report impact - Pacific Business News

Golf course owner offers to upgrade West Maui water systems

HNN: … The owner of the Kapalua Golf courses is offering to spend more than $40 million to improve West Maui’s water system.

The proposal was made during a state water commission hearing Tuesday over complaints that the courses were allowed to use drinking water during a recent drought.

TY Management, owned by billionaire Tadashi Yanai, said it would buy the Maui Land and Pineapple’s Honokohau water system, improve reservoirs, and build a pipeline from Lahaina to supply recycled water to Kapalua.

The company said it would then turn the system over to the government at no charge….

read … Golf course owner offers to upgrade West Maui water systems

AstraZeneca Drug Price Challenge Falls Short In Hawaii

WCA: …AstraZeneca's challenge to the 340B contract pharmacy access laws in Hawaii has been dismissed. The company filed a series of federal lawsuits against the state, but the challenges have not been successful. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that AstraZeneca did not have a protected property interest in selling its drugs at a market rate, and the court dismissed the constitutional and regulatory challenges to the Negotiation Program. The court also rejected AstraZeneca's Administrative Procedures Act (APA) claims, stating that the company did not demonstrate a concrete and particularized injury….

PDF: AstraZenica-v-Attorney-General-of-Hawaii-25-cv-00369-WRP-NONE-Complaint.pdf

read … AstraZeneca Drug Price Challenge Falls Short In Hawaii - Law360

Fentanyl Kills Two Per Week in Hawaii

HNN: … the fact that it’s really jumped drastically over the last five years is alarming and many of those deaths are impacting families in West Oahu,” State Rep. Diamond Garcia said. The number of people who died from fentanyl across the islands dipped from 107 in 2023 to 103 in 2024, which is still far up from 9 in 2018. “It’s a problem, and I think that most people kind of are unaware that it’s happening,” Ewa Beach resident Larry Partida said. …

read … Lawmakers renew warnings on fentanyl, cite ‘alarming’ death counts

Soft-on-Crime: Woman accused of stabbing 2 men in Honolulu was released on cashless bail

SA: … A 30-year-old woman who was arrested Monday in the stabbing of two men at a bus stop and inside a city bus had been wanted on a $10,000 bench warrant issued Feb. 6 in a burglary case.

Fineone Prescott had been placed in custody in July at the Oahu Community Correctional Center on charges of first-degree burglary, a Class B felony, and second-degree unauthorized entry into a dwelling, a misdemeanor, unable to post a reduced bail of $10,000.

She also was on a no-contact order issued by Circuit Judge Ronald Johnson to stay away from three witnesses…

On Nov. 17, Onishi asked the trial judge to allow Prescott to be released to the supervision of The Salvation Army — Family Treatment Services, Women’s Way residential program. On Dec. 2, trial Judge James Kawashima granted Prescott’s motion to be released.

But on Feb. 6, Kawashima issued a $10,000 bench warrant for her arrest for failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the supervised release, and revoked the supervised release. He also granted the pretrial officer’s motion to temporarily seal her declaration because it contains confidential information regarding substance abuse treatment.

On Feb. 13, Onishi in a motion to recall the bench warrant said Prescott is willing and able to voluntarily appear at future court dates. He said Prescott was nonclinically discharged from the Women’s Way program on Feb. 4. He said she was applying to other treatment providers and requested the bench warrant be recalled.

His motion had been scheduled for Thursday….

read … Woman accused of stabbing 2 men in Honolulu was wanted on bench warrant | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Soft-on-Crime: Judge releases two men charged in relation to a series of burglaries at Hilo businesses

BIN: … According to police reports, both Kanawaliwali Santos and Santos are charged in relation to a Feb. 18 burglary at Pono’s Used Cars, where an electric motor scooter and tools were stolen.

Kanawaliwali Santos is also facing charges for two Feb. 19 burglaries—one at Prince Kūhiō Plaza, where a cash register was stolen from the Body Art kiosk, and the other at Longs Drugs, where an ATM and safe were damaged and numerous keys were stolen.

Both men made their initial appearances in Hilo District Court on Monday afternoon. Over prosecutors’ objections, the court released both Kanawaliwali Santos, who was held on $131,000 bail, and Santos, held on $20,000 bail, on supervised release. Both were ordered to appear for preliminary hearings on March 9, 2026.

(REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION: Did the Judge order the return of their burglar tools?)

read … Judge releases two men charged in relation to a series of burglaries at Hilo businesses : Big Island Now

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