March 2, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, March 2, 2026

March 2, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:16 PM :: 193 Views

New Hope for Hawaiian Homelands – Keli'i Akina talks with Kali Watson

$35K Bribe: Kidney Nonprofit Charged Taxpayers 'Outrageous' Prices for COVID Tests

CB: … During the pandemic, the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaiʻi charged island taxpayers premium prices for COVID tests – up to $166 per test – as millions of public dollars flowed to the nonprofit’s consultant, a man who may now be at the center of a major political scandal.

The nonprofit was scrutinized four years ago by Hawaiʻi News Now for charging Honolulu $120 per test.

Now Hawaiʻi health department records obtained by Civil Beat show the Kidney Foundation was charging the state even more: $140 per test on Oʻahu, $156 per test on the neighbor islands and $166 per test at schools statewide. On top of that, the foundation invoiced thousands more per day in labor expenses.

“Those prices are outrageous,” said Scott Miscovich, a doctor who ran his own Covid testing operation here through Premier Medical Group and charged only $105 in 2021….

At the time, in 2021, the national median price of a PCR test was $62 for insured patients, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online tool that monitors health care data. …

The foundation’s testing program has attracted renewed public attention as Tobi Solidum, the man who orchestrated the testing program, is embroiled in another controversy.

Evidence suggests Solidum may be the man the FBI suspects of having handed $35,000 to an influential state lawmaker in January 2022. That transaction, exposed by Civil Beat last year, has ignited a political firestorm and is now being investigated by the Hawaiʻi attorney general.

During the COVID testing program, Solidum’s company, GeoPolicy Development Group collected more than $7 million in consulting fees from the Kidney Foundation’s for-profit subcontractor, Capture Diagnostics, according to court records. Solidum also received a $1 million dividend for investing in Capture Diagnostics, court records show. …

read … Kidney Nonprofit Charged Taxpayers 'Outrageous' Prices For Covid Tests - Honolulu Civil Beat

Kealoha’s Counsel Not Moral Enough to be … a Lawyer?

CB: … Seven years ago, civil attorney Kevin Sumida took to the witness stand during a high-profile criminal trial and was accused of lying to a federal prosecutor.

Now, all this time later, he could face disciplinary action from the state agency charged with investigating attorney misconduct.

Last week, Sumida appeared before the Disciplinary Board of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court to defend himself from allegations that he knowingly lied under oath while testifying in the 2019 trial. It centered on charges that Katherine Kealoha, a former city prosecutor, and her husband, Louis — Honolulu’s former police chief — had framed a family member for the theft of their mailbox. …

The motive for the frame job, according to prosecutors, was a lawsuit Katherine Kealoha’s uncle had filed against her accusing her of bilking him and his elderly mother out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sumida was Kealoha’s attorney in that previous case, and prosecutors had presented evidence showing that Kealoha relied on forged documents to help perpetuate the scheme and win the lawsuit.

During a break in the 2019 trial, Sumida was seen shuffling through documents on the witness stand, possibly even removing records from the stack of paperwork. When he was questioned about it by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat, the lead prosecutor in the case, Sumida said on three separate occasions that he wasn’t looking through the files despite video evidence that he had….

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel received complaints from at least two people, one of whom was U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright, who was presiding over the criminal trial.

During the course of the disciplinary counsel’s investigation, both Seabright and Wheat were called as witnesses. A hearings officer ultimately recommended Sumida be punished with a “private informal admonition,” the lowest form of discipline.

But last Thursday the case went to the disciplinary board. There, Dana Harada — a disciplinary counsel attorney — pushed for a public reprimand or suspension. She told the board that Sumida’s misconduct, while seemingly minor, happened in an open courtroom during a high stakes public corruption trial. Anything less than a public response from the disciplinary board, she said, “sends exactly the wrong message.” …

Harada also pointed to the fact that Sumida did not accept responsibility or admit any wrongdoing even when the statute of limitations for potential criminal prosecution for perjury had passed.

“Frankly, his behavior is not the behavior of a person of good moral character,” Harada said, “but of someone who is trying to avoid accountability after being caught doing something that he thought he could get away with.” …

The disciplinary board did not announce a decision on Sumida’s possible punishment Thursday but will issue a ruling in the coming months….

read … Hawaiʻi Attorney Accused Of Lying During Kealoha Trial Could Face Discipline - Honolulu Civil Beat

Could The Feds Help Hawaiʻi Develop Geothermal?

CB: … There is evidence that viable geothermal resources exist across the state. University of Hawaiʻi’s Play Fairway Project confirmed that all the major Hawaiian Islands, including Oʻahu, may contain the subsurface heat needed to produce geothermal energy.

Research from the 1970s through 2020 identified promising thermal potential at the Lualualei Valley and Mōkapu Peninsula, locations of key military installations: Naval Magazine Lualualei and Marine Corps Base at Mōkapu….

Alignment of federal and state interests development takes time and capital; however, once operational, geothermal would provide an almost inexhaustible source of clean baseload power with no imported fuel and no supply chain risk.

Could a collaboration with the federal government help?

In 2023, the Department of Defense launched enhanced geothermal systems pilots at four U.S. installations.
In 2024, the Navy signed a 10-year agreement providing UH up to $10 million annually for climate-resilience support at Pearl Harbor-Hickam and Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi.
The federal government requires the Department of Defense to achieve energy resilience for critical missions by 2030.

The Big Island’s PGV demonstrates the potential of geothermal. It annually displaces over 500,000 barrels of oil at its rated capacity and requires a small land footprint. No fuel imports. No price shocks. No supply chain dependence. Importantly, when more power is needed, you add new wells….

read … Could The Feds Help Hawaiʻi Develop Geothermal? - Honolulu Civil Beat

Biofuel: Hawaii Oil Refinery Becoming Complicit in Deforestation

SA: Par Hawaii proposes that part of its 151.4-acre facility at 91-325 Komohana St. in Kapolei will now produce low-carbon-emission, plant-based biofuels, including renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and renewable liquefied petroleum gas, among others….

BioFuel Background:

read … West Oahu refinery to produce plant-based biofuels | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Congress zeroes out funding for TMT in Hawaii

CB: … A recent appropriations bill passed by Congress, however, includes language that keeps the TMT project alive for now, but doesn’t allocate additional federal funding to either telescope. Federal lawmakers directed the science foundation to advance both the TMT and the Magellan observatory to final design review, one of the last steps before construction begins on a telescope.

(IQ Test: Do you think this means TMT still might come to Hawaii?)

Progressing through that stage would allow Congress to evaluate both projects before deciding which should receive funding, according to U.S. Rep. Ed Case.

“There is no reason to prematurely narrow our options,” Case said in a written statement.

Case sits on the House Appropriations Committee and requested the bill language that pushed forward the two telescope projects.

The bill has already been signed into law by President Donald Trump. However, it doesn’t include any funding for the projects to complete the design phase and specifies that stage must advance at no additional cost to the federal government….

(Instead, funding was allocated to teach astronomers Spanish.)

July, 2025: Spain Offers €400M to Bring TMT to Canary Islands > Hawaii Free Press
Nov, 2025: TMT Exploring 'Promising Path Forward' in Spain > Hawaii Free Press

read … The Thirty Meter Telescope Is Still Alive - For Now - Honolulu Civil Beat

Tech-focused charter school sees academic progress

SA: … Jack, who recently celebrated his birthday at school by training a machine-learning model to identify different species of snakes, is part of a growing experiment in Hawaii education: a longer school day, no homework and a seven-year artificial intelligence and data science pathway that starts in middle school.

On the 2024-25 Strive HI state assessments, Kulia students earned the highest proficiency rates among Hawaii middle and high schools — 75% in math and 80% in English language arts. According to school data, students averaged 2.4 grade levels of growth in math and 2.6 in English Language Arts in a single year.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers including state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim and state Rep. Justin Woodson honored the Kalihi school for posting the top statewide scores.

But administrators and parents say the bigger shift is cultural.

“Being smart is cool here,” said parent Chris Teijeiro….

read … Tech-focused charter school sees academic progress | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawai‘i County: Alleged Child Molester gets cashless bail

BIN: … On Monday, brothers Ha‘oli Kanawaliwali Santos and Hunta Santos were arrested and charged with a string of burglaries over three weeks that were concentrated within a one-square-mile area in Hilo.

Bail was set at $131,000 for Ha‘oli Kanawaliwali Santos, 29, and $20,000 for Hunta Santos, 24. But after their initial appearance in Hilo District Court on Monday, the brothers were granted supervised release over objections from prosecutors.

Hawai‘i Police Capt. Rio Amon-Wilkins also did not think the brothers should have been released back into the community. He had been part of the investigation involving about 20 to 24 burglaries in the past few weeks, of which the brothers allegedly were responsible for some of them.

“There were business owners in the courtroom,” Amon-Wilkins said. “I mean, they may not have been arrested for violent offenses, but it’s definitely a huge impact on the community.”

There is a growing frustration among law enforcement and the Hawai‘i County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office that individuals charged in serious felony cases on the Big Island continue to be granted supervised release or reduced bail after appearing before a judge.

This trend was noticeable in February, after seven people from different cases were all released from jail with a variety of conditions requiring electronic monitoring, staying away from victims, not possessing firearms and/or mandatory drug testing.

The cases filed in the Hawai‘i State Judiciary’s Ecourt Kokua system show at least four instances where these suspects are facing crimes ranging from abuse of a household member to possession of a firearm to sexual assault of a child, all of which were granted reduced bail or supervised release….

read … Hawai‘i County prosecuting attorney, police concerned about recent releases of felony-charged arrestees : Big Island Now

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