June 12, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, June 12, 2026

June 12, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 9:10 AM :: 131 Views

SBA Reforms 8(a) Program to End Racial Discrimination in Federal Contracting

Free Expression in American Law Schools? Exhibit A: UH Richardson, Ken Lawson

Governor, LG, AG Flee State--Don't worry, Seth Colby is in Charge

NIL: Top UH Athletic Boosters Kick in $5M

Oahu Woman Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Destroying Cellphone Evidence to Thwart Federal Firearms Investigation

Trump Restores American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific

Mystery Money: How Much Settlement Money is left for Actual Fire Victims?

CB: … “It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever experienced,” Pluta said.

… Regardless, the payments should start flowing “in a very short period,” said Jesse Creed, one of four liaison counsel guiding the litigation for the plaintiffs. “It could be tomorrow, it could be a week from tomorrow, it could be two weeks from tomorrow.”

The payments are expected to come out in waves, Creed said, with those in less complicated cases coming first.

A team of four claims administrators will determine how much each victim receives based on various factors.

The four administrators are Keith Hunter, a Honolulu-based mediator; Daniel Buckley, a retired California Superior Court judge; Louis Meisinger, also a former California Superior Court judge and former general counsel for the Walt Disney Co., and Cathy Yanni, who has served as a trustee for a California wildfire victims fund that has already paid out $13.7 billion to wildfire victims.

The money will be paid out in four tranches totaling approximately $1 billion per year over four years. For the victims, that means they’ll get their payments spread out over time.

Other than that, much remains unknown. The administrators face the daunting task of determining how to fairly allocate roughly $4 billion to some 21,750 victims. That averages out to about $190,000 per victim, or about $47,000 per victim per year.

In practice, some will receive more, presumably much more, and others much less. The administrators will award money to each victim on a pro rata basis, Creed said. That means they’ll compensate victims in proportion to their specific losses or severity of their injuries, while accounting for the finite pool of settlement money available.

The administrators have established regulations to govern how they review claims and decide who gets how much. The regulations spell out 10 claim types for which victims can be compensated: real property losses, personal property losses, living expenses incurred because of the fire, wage losses, business losses, emotional distress damages from being displaced from homes or being trapped in the fire’s “zone of danger,” and damages for physical injury and wrongful death.

The 20-page regulations required victims and their lawyers to submit rafts of documentation showing they were eligible to make claims and how much in damages they could get.

Claims for business losses, for instance, are governed by five pages of regulations and, in the case of damage to business property, required victims to submit a dozen documents, including things like purchase records or receipts, architectural or engineering drawings and arborist or landscaping documents….

IB: Hawai'i moves to free $200 million in stranded wildfire insurance money | Insurance Business

Read … $4 Billion Could Soon Begin Flowing To Maui Fire Victims - Honolulu Civil Beat

Oahu condo fees hit $800+ monthly as Hawaii ranks second-highest

PBN: … More than 60% of condominiums sold on Oahu this year have maintenance fees of $800 a month or more, up from 20% in 2019 as homeowner association fees in Hawaii continually rise — the second-highest in the nation.

High maintenance fees aren’t limited to the newly built luxury buildings with heated saltwater pools and rooftop lounges overlooking the Pacific Ocean. More than 50% of condos sold on Oahu for less than $500,000 so far this year had fees of $700 or more, according to data from the Honolulu Board of Realtors….

Aging condominiums built in the 1960s and 1970s are also subject to high maintenance fees, which have gone up between 5.5% and 8.2% each year since 2019. The reason for these high fees: overdue maintenance, insurance premiums and the cost of labor.

For condos smaller than 500 square feet, the average monthly fee was $715 in April, a 47.7% increase from $484 in January 2019. For units of 1,100 square feet or more, the average fee shot up 73.5% to $1,539 in April, from $887 in January 2019, according to data provided by the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

The high monthly fees have a direct impact on how much homebuyers, particularly first-time buyers, can afford, especially in a state where 42% of homeowners pay such fees, and when the median price of condos on Oahu tops $500,000….

New York state has the highest median HOA fee of $739, followed by Hawaii at $470, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which for the first time in 2024 included survey questions about scheduled and mandatory association fees charged to homeowners. In the U.S., 25% of homeowners in owner-occupied units pay monthly HOA fees. In Hawaii, it is 42% of homeowners.

Throughout Hawaii, Honolulu reported the highest HOA fee with a median of $526 monthly. Hawaii County reported the lowest median fee of $135….

Read … Oahu condo fees hit $800+ monthly as Hawaii ranks second-highest - Pacific Business News

Waianae Rep’s Dogs Allegedly Bite Neighbor

CB: … Xavier Staub was standing outside his car in his Waiʻanae driveway one afternoon in March when five of his neighbor’s dogs bounded toward him.

Three latched on, he said — one bit his face, one clamped onto his left leg, another tore into his left arm.

“My whole body was in a tremendous amount of pain,” he said.

The owner of the dogs and the neighboring property is a state legislator, Christopher Muraoka, who has represented Waiʻanae and Mākaha in the House since 2024. On Wednesday, Muraoka said he surrendered one of his dogs in response ….

Read … Lawmaker's Dogs Are 'Terrorizing' People, Neighbor Says After Attack - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaii #1 for Laser Attacks on Airplanes

BH: … The danger is not over the open ocean on long overwater flights. It is right around the airport. Laser strikes occur low and close to the runway during takeoff and landing, when the cockpit can least afford a blinded pilot. And Hawaii has more of them, per person, than anywhere else in the country. The FAA has said the islands top the nation in per-capita laser strikes. ….

Read … Hawaii Has One Of Nation's Highest Laser Strike Rates

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