May 19, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

May 19, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 9:19 AM :: 139 Views

Sentry Tourney News: Free Private Jet to Green Bay for Bissen Admin Official?

Maui County to Allow Some factory-built housing in Lahaina Burn Zone

County to Buy West Maui Water System from ML&P

‘Criminal Organization’ vs ‘Gross Mismanagement’: Honolulu City Council OKs $350K to defend HART against Hitachi litigation

SA: … The Honolulu City Council last week adopted Resolution 104, retaining Starn O’Toole Marcus &Fisher as the “special deputy corporation counsel” to represent the city in lawsuits involving Hitachi Rail Honolulu JV, operator of the city’s fully automated, driverless railway system.

Under the resolution, the Bishop Street law firm will be paid up to $350,000 unless the Council later approves a higher amount….

(IDEA: “Let the games begin!”)

FLASHBACK: Hitachi Sues HART: $320M of 'Gross Mismanagement'

FLASHBACK: Rail: HART Alleges ‘Core Systems Contractor’ is Criminal Organization

Read … Honolulu City Council OKs $350K to defend against Hitachi litigation | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaii governor considers pausing gas taxes

KHON: … Green says he’s considering pausing state and county gas taxes for part of summer. The state gas tax is 16 cents a gallon. The county’s tax ranges from 16 to 24 cents. Depending on your vehicle, that could mean a savings of $4-to-6 every time you fill up….

KHON: Gov. Green proposes gas tax suspension, pushes back against VP Vance

Read … Hawaii governor considers pausing gas taxes

Crisis teams use new law to force 60 mentally ill homeless into treatment on Oahu

HNN: … Crisis teams backed by law enforcement are removing mentally ill homeless individuals from Oahu streets and taking them to health facilities for evaluation rather than jail.

The pilot program, MH-3, started in January.

About 60 people from across the island have been taken to hospitals or mental health crisis centers. Of those, six would not go willingly and had to be handcuffed and driven in patrol cars to the treatment facility.

(GOOD WORK. BUT JUST SCRATCHING THE SURFACE.)

None had to be wrestled to the ground or physically forced….

“The folks who are willing to accept help, they’ve gotten help. They’ve gotten those social services. They’ve gotten the support they need. The ones that remain out on the street are the really difficult cases. And those are the ones that need these kinds of interventions,” Dos Santos-Tam said.

Nakamatsu said the program addresses a humanitarian need.

“When you see the conditions that they’re living in, I think it becomes pretty apparent that the humane thing to do is to get them help,” she said….

Read … Crisis teams use new law to get mentally ill homeless into treatment on Oahu | Hawaii News Now

Tour of problems at Oahu Community Correctional Center

KITV: … The tour began and ended at the maximum holding unit. That is because the locks stopped working on ones of the gates to get through - which workers say is typical at OCCC.

"We know that lock was working five minutes before that, it wasn't like they just ignored it. But this is how stuff breaks around here. It just goes a part on us all the time," said Warden John Schell

He took us into various modules - some with leaky roofs, others with damaged cells, and rusting bars while highlighting the need for a new, modern jail….

… At OCCC detainees spend most of their time locked up in their cells.

"We go through excessive lockdown periods, where we're unable to take a shower, get our out of cell time. Some of us have to use the phones to call our families or public defenders," stated Meafou.

The reason for those lockdowns: OCCC is short staffed by about 100 workers. That means the 300 employees end up working many 16 hour days each week to cover positions. Even then, many times there is not enough staff to accommodate out of cell activities like rec time, visitation or programs. While all the mandatory overtime has many employees tired of working or working while tired….

Read … Tour of problems at Oahu Community Correctional Center | Local | kitv.com

Failing Upwards: BoE Nominates Fired Principal for Charter School Commission

CB: … In an unusual move, one current and one former leader of Ryan Mandado’s former school, DreamHouse ʻEwa Beach, spoke out against his nomination at a Board of Education meeting last Thursday, arguing that he failed to address the campus’s academic and financial needs while running the school. …

The same day Mandado said he planned to leave DreamHouse, he purchased a flight to Florida and registered for a charter school conference in Orlando using school funds, Seder said. The $2,265 trip ran from the end of June to early July – a few days after Mandado ended his contract with DreamHouse. He later paid the school back for his travel expenses.

Mandado also approved a July professional development trip to Indonesia for another administrator who ended her employment with DreamHouse at the end of June, Seder said. The board intervened before the employee went on the trip, he said, but some school funds went toward her travel expenses….

“I shudder at the thought that somebody who has exercised such poor judgment in leading a school, whether financially, operationally or academically, would then be in a position to either authorize a new charter school or make decisions on whether a charter school has their charter renewed or not,” former governing board member Richard Seder said in an interview.

The state education board is responsible for vetting and selecting applicants to serve on the commission, which has the power to open new charter schools and close failing ones. But members of the education board did not interview Mandado or reach out to his former employer – DreamHouse’s governing board – before recommending him to serve on the charter school commission. Had they done so, they may have gotten an earful.

DreamHouse’s governing board unanimously voted last spring not to renew Mandado’s contract as head of school after he failed to address repeated concerns about the school’s finances and ability to pay off a $26 million campus building, Seder said. Mandado has refuted these claims, arguing that he left DreamHouse on good terms when his position was cut during leadership restructuring.

The debate around Mandado’s nomination highlights potential gaps in how the state education board vets candidates to serve on the charter school commission….

In total, six applicants applied for three positions this year. Along with Mandado, the committee is recommending that Brandon Bunag and Lehua Veincent, both current commissioners, continue to serve on the charter school commission for another three years. The new terms start in July.

The board won’t vote on the nominees until its June 18 meeting. At the meeting, board members can publicly question the finalists and discuss the nominations.

The board is scheduled to vote on the nominees the same day. …

PDF: 20260514_GBM_HSPCSCnominations.pdf Maldonado was “Senior Diversity Specialist at Google, where I led diversity and development initiatives for North America”

Read … Candidate Faced Little Vetting For Charter School Board - Honolulu Civil Beat

Consolidated Water: $204M Kalaeloa Desal Project Delays Have Crushed Sentiment

Alpha: … Consolidated Water's stock price has dropped 22% due to permitting delays in the Hawaii desalination project, the key near-term growth catalyst….

(TRANSLATION: These geniuses actually thought a big scheme in Hawaii was for real. LOL!)

2023: Water Bills Going Up: BWS Signs $204M Kalaeloa Desalination Contract

2025: BWS Approves Kalaeloa Desalination Plant

2025: Next Boondoggle: Useless $204M Kalaeloa Desalination Plant

Read … Consolidated Water: Hawaii Delays Have Crushed Sentiment, But The Thesis Is Still Intact | Seeking Alpha

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