Friday Aug 14, 2026 is deadline to ‘cure’ your mail-in ballot
Corruption: Green’s SD18 Appointee Worked Under Both Yamane and Asuncion
Honolulu Special Funds
The Jones Act Lobby’s Waiver Panic
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted August 8, 2026
Another Hawaii Voter Roll Lawsuit Filed
How Hawai‘i's latest bribery scandal blocked healthcare access
ASD: … Rep. Ryan Yamane, recently indicted for bribery, allegedly killed a bill that would have exempted certain critical categories of health care facilities from the state's onerous Certificate of Need requirements. As a result, treatments like dialysis remain in short supply….
One of the bills Yamane allegedly killed at the behest of Solidum is HB224 (2021), which Yamane himself introduced. The bill in part proposed carving out exemptions from the state’s restrictive Certificate of Need requirements for dialysis and psychiatric services. Had it passed, new dialysis facilities would no longer need to obtain state Department of Health approval before opening, bypassing a lengthy and expensive process that has been shown to restrict healthcare access.
As I explained in a Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i policy brief about reforming Hawai‘i’s Certificate of Need laws, CON requirements are often referred to as a “competitor’s veto” because they give potential competitors the ability to stop a new service before it even begins
It’s very much like giving McDonald’s a say in whether a new Burger King can open in the same neighborhood. Naturally, McDonald’s would claim it already meets local burger needs and that another burger restaurant would threaten the area’s entire burger delivery market.
Likewise, the CON approval process allows healthcare competitors to block new facilities from opening — which is why studies on CON laws find that access to care improves after they are repealed….
Read … Community Voices: How Hawai‘i's latest bribery scandal blocked healthcare access
The State Will Never Win Public's Trust In The Bribery Case
CB: … No matter how it turns out, the public will never like how the state handles the bribery case because it can’t solve the real problem — money in politics….
Read … Neal Milner: The State Will Never Win Public's Trust In The Bribery Case - Honolulu Civil Beat
Trump extends Jones Act waiver for 90 days, sort of
SA: …“Data shows the waiver has driven a significant increase in domestic deliveries of essential products such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel,” Rogers said in a post on the social media platform X.
Under the new terms, the administration has narrowed the scope of the relief, requiring individual voyages to undergo case-by-case review rather than allowing foreign ships to receive blanket exemptions from the Jones Act, a White House official confirmed….
RELATED: The Jones Act Lobby’s Waiver Panic
Read … Trump extends Jones Act waiver for 90 days, narrows scope | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Chinatown nightclub to return to court in fight with Honolulu Liquor Commission
SA: … A Chinatown nightclub plans to return to federal court to press its claims of discrimination and violation of its First Amendment rights against the Honolulu Liquor Commission, saying a 2025 settlement with the city on the matter has fallen apart.
Scarlet Honolulu Inc., an LGBTQ+ nightclub at 80 S. Pauahi St., contends the Liquor Commission violated key terms of the January 2025 settlement by conducting retaliatory inspections, delaying action on its after-hours cabaret license application and failing to fully comply with public records request.
The original lawsuit, filed in 2021 by Scarlet and Gay Island Guide LLC, alleged anti-gay bias by liquor investigators and ended with the city agreeing to pay $670,000, dismiss pending liquor violations and implement reforms intended to improve oversight, accountability and fairness within the Liquor Commission. Those reforms included updated enforcement policies, quarterly reports to federal court and expanded LGBTQ+ diversity training….
Scarlet now argues the Liquor Commission has resumed the same conduct the settlement was intended to prevent.
One dispute centers on an April 17 inspection involving multiple liquor investigators and what Scarlet described as a large Honolulu Police Department presence following a complaint of underage drinking at the establishment. According to Scarlet, investigators found no underage drinking, confirmed employees possessed valid liquor cards and issued no citations but warned the nightclub about employee timekeeping records.
Scarlet argues the operation — what it called a “raid” — was, in fact, retaliatory….
Read … Chinatown nightclub to return to court in fight with Honolulu Liquor Commission | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Major Landlord Accused Of Discriminating Against Section 8 Renters In Hawaiʻi
CB: … Testers sent by lawyers were told by agents for Greystar, the largest owner of apartment complexes in the United States, that their vouchers would not work….
Read … Major Landlord Accused Of Discriminating Against Section 8 Renters In Hawaiʻi - Honolulu Civil Beat
Murderer Kills Transsexual at Halawa
CB: … Three sources with ties to the state correctional system claim that inmate Jason Lee McCormick, 52, entered Foster’s cell at Hālawa Correctional Facility and attacked her Tuesday. The three provided information about the incident on condition they not be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
It would be the sixth murder or suspected murder of a Hawaiʻi inmate since May of 2024.
McCormick was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2013 for the murder of visiting University of Pittsburgh Professor Robert Henderson in 1996.
He also pleaded guilty to premeditated first-degree murder in Arizona in the 2015 strangulation death of his then-cellmate Jonathan Namauleg, 21, at the Saguaro Correctional Center. That conviction carries a life sentence without parole to be served after McCormick’s life sentence for the Henderson murder.
Foster was sentenced to five years in prison on May 10, 2023 after pleading no contest to second-degree theft and unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle.
Those were the latest in a long string of convictions dating back to 1992….
Read … Another Hawaiʻi Prison Death Has Family Seeking Answers - Honolulu Civil Beat
Kaua‘i’s Only Emergency Homeless Shelter To Get Major Overhaul
CB: … With homelessness trending up on Kaua‘i, the island’s sole emergency shelter for the general population is set to get a complete renovation at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $18 million. …
This year’s Point-in-Time count found that 516 individuals were experiencing homelessness on Kaua‘i….The 26 individuals who were staying at the Mana‘olana shelter during the Point-in-Time count remained there anywhere from 53 to 508 days. Harper, who recently took the helm of KEO, said the emergency shelter sees roughly 100 people a year …
The Mana‘olana shelter currently accommodates up to 25 people, plus up to 28 in the 8 transitional apartments. …
Kaua‘i County is planning to expand the 50-year-old Mana‘olana Emergency Homeless Shelter — with dorms for men and women, plus family rooms — from 38 emergency beds to 108. The project will include construction of a community room, library and computer room, plus a new communal cafeteria and kitchen.
The facility sits on nearly two acres owned by the county. KEO has a lease for the land for the next two years and manages eight one-bedroom, transitional housing apartments next to the shelter. The renovation will increase the number of apartments to 25. …
DO THE MATH: $18M / 87 = $207K each for 17 new apartments and 70 new beds
PDF: Kaua‘i Emergency Shelter Renovation Final Concept Design (Oct. 16, 2025) Compressed | DocumentCloud
Read … Kaua‘i’s Only Emergency Homeless Shelter To Get Major Overhaul - Honolulu Civil Beat
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