September 4, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, September 4, 2026

September 4, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 10:18 AM :: 105 Views

Hawaii AG Joins Suit to force Medicaid to pay for Juvenile Sex Change Surgery

Trump Administration Aims To Strip Tax Status Of Private Schools With DEI Policies

CB: … The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that would strip private schools and colleges of their tax-exempt status if they provide targeted help to students based on their race, a significant escalation in the White House’s campaign to eradicate diversity programs directed at Black, Hispanic and other minority students.

The Treasury Department proposed the change Thursday in a new regulation that, if made final, would kick in after May 2027. The rule is broadly aimed at ending any policies or programs that help students because of their race, and it specifically says such benefits in admissions, scholarships and facilities “would be incompatible” with the rule.

Deanna D’Olier, executive director of the Hawaiʻi Association of Independent Schools, said the organization is tracking the changes and encouraging schools to review their admission policies and scholarships to see how they could be impacted by the proposed regulation. The association doesn’t track school-specific policies or scholarships, she said.

“We’re very much in a wait-and-monitor approach,” D’Olier said.

Last year, the association had 95 member schools enrolling more than 32,000 students from preschool through 12th grade. All members of the association are nonprofits and tax-exempt, D’Olier said.

A spokesperson for Kamehameha Schools, which is currently being sued over its admission policies giving preference to Native Hawaiians, said the school is aware of the proposed regulation and is currently reviewing it….

BACKGROUND: Kamehameha Admissions: Without Affirmative Action Defense, Who Needs Victimology?

Read … Trump Administration Aims To Strip Tax Status Of Private Schools With DEI Policies - Honolulu Civil Beat

Federal Native Hawaiian education funding awarded

SA: … The extension comes after months of uncertainty over the future of the federal program, which had raised concerns among Hawaii organizations that rely on the funding to provide early childhood education, family support and other services….

Read … Federal Native Hawaiian education funding awarded | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

OHA, city begin talks on future use of Kakaako Makai site

HNN: … While no decisions have been made for the city-owned Look Lab site, two possibilities are on the table.

“Of course, a Native Hawaiian cultural center, and the City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety headquarters,” said Souza.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi agreed….

“One of the talks that the board has approved is to enter in conversations with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and Kali Watson and his team, to put up housing for 50% or greater Native Hawaiians,” he said.

“Right now there is very little infrastructure and they have to do a lot more cleaning up the brown fields -- that’s all of the toxic landfill that they’re thinking of building on,” said Moriwaki.

Any decisions on what will happen to the Look Lab site are still far off and would have to be approved by the OHA board, the city and other agencies….

Read … OHA, city begin talks on future use of Kakaako Makai site

World Turned Upside Down: Maui Council panel votes 5-4 to adopt sea-level-rise criteria to un-steal some TVRs located in new hotel districts

MN: … The Maui County Council’s Housing and Land Use Committee voted 5-4 last week to adopt criteria for which apartment-zoned vacation rental properties can be recommended to the Maui Planning Commission for hotel-district rezoning, tying eligibility to how deeply a property sits within the county’s Sea Level Rise Exposure Area.

The vote came after the close of public testimony that saw more vacation rental owners testify in support of hotel rezoning or for having specific properties added while a majority of testifiers on Thursday opposed resolutions advancing apartment rezoning before Bill 9‘s vacation rental phase-out takes effect and its benefits can be evaluated.

(After a lifetime of using Global Warming to justify everything and anything,) Kai Nishiki, executive director of Nā Papa‘i Wawae ‘Ula’ula and co-executive director of the Maui Nui Resiliency Hui, told council members she’s (suddenly) deeply concerned that sea-level rise and coastal erosion are being used to justify removing housing intended for residents and retaining properties for vacation rental use….

(IQ Test: How hard are you laughing?)

Read … Maui Council panel votes 5-4 to adopt sea-level-rise criteria for apartment rezoning in new hotel districts : Maui Now

Neighborhood capital: Unlocking Hawai'i's hidden housing resource

ASD: … After World War II, Japan faced many of the same challenges Hawai'i faces today: Fragmented ownership, inherited property, and competing interests that complicated redevelopment. Contrary to widely held belief, Japanese landowners were not automatically cooperative simply because of a tradition of consensus. One recent academic study makes exactly that point, concluding that Japanese landowners can be just as demanding as anyone else about what Japanese call “land readjustment” (Tochi Kukaku Seiri, 土地区画整理). That conclusion deserves careful consideration in Hawai‘i.

The lesson is not that Japan's culture is different. The lesson is that Japan built institutions that helped landowners make difficult collective decisions.

Hawai'i visitors to Tokyo are awed by new mixed-use districts in the middle of the city. Roppongi Hills — a landmark Mori Building development anchored by the Grand Hyatt Tokyo Hotel — took 17 years from concept to completion, with 80 percent of 400 rights holders choosing to participate rather than accept cash buyouts. When I arrived in Tokyo in 1991, the same site was a patchwork of aging buildings and narrow streets. Getting there required, in the words of one study, time, money, patience, and, most importantly, a committed local government….

Read … Neighborhood capital: Unlocking Hawai'i's hidden housing resource

Where Hawaii's Climate Math Actually Stands

IM: … Hawaii has one of the most ambitious climate laws in the country: a legal requirement to reach a "net-negative" greenhouse gas economy by 2045 (HRS §225P-5).

Getting there depends on three things moving together: cleaning up the electric grid, cleaning up transportation, and using trees and land to soak up whatever pollution is left over. Recent research into each of these threads turns up a mixed picture — real progress in some places, and structural problems that current plans don't fully solve….

Read … Three Roads to 2045: Where Hawaii's Climate Math Actually Stands | Ililani Media

Homeless dude refuses shelter for 20 years and counting

HNN: … After 20 years living at Lualualei Beach Park, Chan says another city sweep of the area has become overwhelming.

Chan is among 65 people living near the beach park, commonly known as Sewers, who faced another stored property ordinance enforcement operation.

“Back in July, we were told if we clean up the beach park that we would be all right. That they weren’t gonna bother us,” Chan said.

The sweep had been planned for months, and residents were notified weeks in advance. But the enforcement still exposed differing understandings of an agreement involving residents, a nonprofit supporting them, and lawmakers….

Meanwhile: 2 suffer burn injuries after tent fire in Nanakuli | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Read … Tensions rise over beach park sweep despite cleanup deal with homeless encampment | Hawaii News Now

How ‘Fat Leonard’ Corrupted The Navy.

CB: … In the three decades between 1992 and 2012, Francis was alleged to have bribed hundreds of U.S. Navy officers, including dozens of admirals, plying them with fine wines, exotic delicacies, lavish parties, posh hotel rooms and sex with comely prostitutes in exchange for lucrative, bloated defense contracts throughout Southeast Asia….

Read … Kirstin Downey: ‘Fat Leonard’ Corrupted The Navy. Will Trump Pardon Him? - Honolulu Civil Beat

ELECTION NEWS:

DISASTER NEWS:

QUICK HITS: