April 24, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, April 24, 2026

April 24, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:01 PM :: 230 Views

Luke Out: Green Names Keith Regan as Acting Lt Governor

Hawaii court weighs whether banana workers proved pesticide exposure

Hawaii Attorney General targets at least 3 in state bribery investigation

SA: … The state Department of the Attorney General emailed target letters last week not only to Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and a lobbyist whom she dined with on Jan. 20, 2022, but also to a volunteer with her 2022 campaign for lieutenant governor.

Luke, businessman and lobbyist Tobi J. Solidum, 66, and one of Luke’s volunteer campaign treasurers, Leo Asuncion Jr., were notified by Attorney General Anne E. Lopez that state investigators found evidence that may support bribery charges, sources told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser….

In response to Star-Advertiser questions about the letters emailed to Luke, Solidum and Asuncion Jr., and if anyone else may have received one last week, department officials said, “this investigation is ongoing.” …

Lopez’s office also did not respond to a question about whether evidence from at least 18 interviews and thousands of pages of documents reviewed by the AG’s Special Investigations and Prosecution Division has been presented to a grand jury….

Solidum, meanwhile, is under federal investigation for his role in an alleged $7 million COVID-19 funding fraud and is believed to have left the U.S. for the Philippines. The U.S. Attorney’s Office had no comment Thursday on its investigation.

On Jan. 16, the U.S. Department of Justice gave Lopez “evidence concerning an alleged incident involving an unnamed ‘influential state legislator’ who is alleged to have accepted approximately $35,000 in funds,” according to a news release from Lopez’s office….

During that dinner, Luke, Solidum, Solidum’s daughter Kristen Pae, and Cullen allegedly discussed $35,000 in contributions to support Luke’s campaign for lieutenant governor, according to sources.

Solidum was a close friend and associate of the late Milton J. Choy, the wastewater executive who bribed Cullen and English. Luke accepted $4,500 from Solidum between 2010 and 2020.

Solidum and Pae each gave Luke a $5,000 check during the dinner on Jan. 20, 2022. Luke has said she does not remember what, if anything, she discussed with Solidum during that dinner or in previous meetings.

After Cullen and English pleaded guilty in February 2022 to taking bribes from 2014 to 2021 from Choy, Luke said she and her campaign team identified donations from Choy and his people that were received between 2014 and 2019. Luke’s campaign gave $25,100 in donations from Choy and 16 family members, friends, and business associates to the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission in February 2022….

In March 2022, Luke said she gave back the $10,000 she got from Solidum and Pae…

Read … Hawaii Attorney General targets at least 3 in state bribery investigation | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

The Real Choice is Between LNG and Oil

CB: … LNG has been shown to lower costs, improve grid flexibility and reduce emissions compared to the oil we currently burn. Dismissing it outright limits our ability to make informed, responsible decisions. Good public policy requires discipline, honesty and weighing trade-offs.

If we reject LNG, we are not choosing between LNG and renewable energy. We are choosing between LNG and continued reliance on oil, with all the costs and impacts that come with it.

Read … Hawaiʻi Can’t Afford To Wait For A Perfect Energy Solution - Honolulu Civil Beat

What Will Happen to Preschool Program Without Luke?

CB: … Luke had been working on a number of initiatives as lieutenant governor, including her signature Ready Keiki program which sets out an ambitious plan to provide preschool access to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032. In 2022, she successfully led lawmakers in making a historic $200 million investment to build preschools across the state.

Since then, lawmakers have set aside an additional $120 million to renovate and build more preschool classrooms on public school campuses. But the future of the program is now unclear.

Some advocates are concerned that the push for universal preschool could lose momentum as Luke steps away from office, said Malia Tsuchiya, early childhood policy and advocacy coordinator at Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network. Luke was a key advocate for early learning, she said, and made significant progress on an issue that lawmakers had debated for decades.

But Tsuchiya said she’s hopeful lawmakers will continue to support early learning programs, since the state already faces a legislative mandate to provide universal access to preschool in the next six years.

“We hope that this was truly something that our legislators valued internally and were not just on board because it was popular,” she said.

The School Facilities Authority, which is tasked with building public preschools, will continue to construct new classrooms regardless of what happens to Luke, said executive director Riki Fujitani. But it’s unclear how much lawmakers will continue to invest in the initiative, he said.

Since 2023, the authority has renovated and constructed 81 preschool classrooms and plans on opening another 26 classrooms this summer. The authority recently requested $31 million in state funding for the construction of more preschools, although the current version of the budget only sets aside $4.9 million. …

Read … Hawaiʻi Lt. Gov. Luke Taking Leave Of Absence - Honolulu Civil Beat

Stopping Maui Resort's Plastic Barrier is Best chance Ever to make Hotel Fall into the Ocean

CB: … Plans to install a 360-foot long plastic “erosion protection skirt” on Kāʻanapali Beach are in limbo following pushback from community members and environmental advocates who say (stopping) the barrier could accelerate erosion and (make the Hyatt fall into the ocean) ….

Read … Maui Resort's Plastic Barrier To Save Beach Faces Public Pushback - Honolulu Civil Beat

As Obesity Threatens the Poor, The Usual Useless Activists Push Honolulu's ‘Right To Food’

CB: … County lawyers are advising the Honolulu Charter Commission to scrap a ballot initiative that would enshrine ~~food~~ (French fries) as a human right for local residents.

The concept, which is intended to shore up the island’s (fast-)food system and address island food security, would ensure the county considers (eating way too much) food ~~as part of its every~~ (until it can’t) move. The Department of Corporation Counsel says the county’s existing food security programs are (filling) enough (and Medicaid is having trouble paying for the Wegovy).

Advocates for the charter amendment are mobilizing to urge the commission to reject the recommendation at its meeting Monday and keep the ~~proposal on track~~ (large fries) to go before voters for approval Nov. 3. They point at the broader context as cuts to federal feeding programs continue, ~~global agricultural and food supply chains~~ (clothes that once fit) tighten and studies show a quarter of the island’s population struggles to (waddle to the car to make it to the drive-thru and) feed itself….

IDEA: Right to Wegovy and Ozempic.

Read … Honolulu's Right To Food, A Trailblazing Proposal, Faces The Axe - Honolulu Civil Beat

Sign waving in Kapolei in opposition of landfill expansion on the West Side

KITV: … "What is disturbing to me is that the promise that was made by the mayor a while back to my face, saying that he will never make a landfill on the Leeward Coast, especially the West Side,” said Senator Kurt Fevella of District 20….

“The mayor told me straight to my face at the last town hall meeting that he will not put another landfill in the Leeward Coast,” said James Cowles from the Nanakuli Neighborhood Board….

“If we have to go lie down in front of that landfill every single day to stop the trucks, we are going to do that,” said Sabrina Grace, a Waianae resident….

Read … Sign waving in Kapolei in opposition of landfill expansion on the West Side | News | kitv.com

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