Lowell to Hit Kauai

Liquor Commission Secrets: Has Kamehameha Schools entered the marijuana business?

Eight Years in a Row: Hawaiʻi Schools Continue to Lose Students as Young Families Flee State

CB: … Hawaiʻi schools have fewer students for the eighth year in a row as lawmakers push for campus closures and consolidations by the end of the decade, according to recent data from the state education department. 

This fall marks the first time in at least a decade that student enrollment in the Department Education dipped below 150,000. Public schools enrolled a total of 147,656 kids this year, nearly a 2% drop from last fall. 

A decade ago, public schools enrolled nearly 170,000 students. The education department has attributed the drop in students to declining birth rates and families with young children leaving the state. …

Read … Hawaiʻi Schools Continue To Lose Students - Honolulu Civil Beat

Courtyards at Waipouli Lawsuit, ‘a narrow challenge’ to DHHL evictions only

CB: … The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands had purchased the 82-unit Courtyards at Waipouli in Kapaʻa housing complex for $44 million in October 2025 as part of a plan to provide rent-to-own apartments to beneficiaries who can prove they are at least 50% Native Hawaiian by blood quantum. For Kalahiki, who is only a quarter Hawaiian, it meant he would have to go.

“I felt offended because I’m part Hawaiian and Hawaiian Home Lands is kicking me out,” Kalahiki said while sitting on donated furniture inside his cramped apartment. “It’s not our fault we don’t have enough housing here.”

Kalahiki teamed up with another resident, Linda Twitchell, a 68-year-old artist and former software engineer who was also facing eviction in one of the country’s most expensive housing markets. Desperate to avoid homelessness, Kalahiki and Twitchell, who is white, turned to the California-based Pacific Legal Foundation, a right-leaning law firm that agreed to represent them for free.

Since then they’ve become public faces in a national campaign targeting one of the country’s core Native Hawaiian programs. Though they welcome help with their individual predicaments, both say they are uncomfortable being seen as flag bearers for a larger political movement.

For its part, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit in July seeking to block Kalahiki and Twitchell’s evictions, arguing that it’s unconstitutional to remove someone from their home based on ancestry alone.

But while the firm’s attorneys have portrayed the suit as a narrow challenge framed around eviction and bloodlines, they’re also pursuing a companion case, filed in June, that aims to upend the homestead program altogether by abolishing its Native Hawaiian blood quantum requirements…

CB: Native Hawaiian Benefits Face Sweeping Legal Attacks - Honolulu Civil Beat

Read … This Hawaiian Man Became The Face Of An Anti-Homelands Campaign - Honolulu Civil Beat

Judge finds conflict of interest involving Ford Fuchigami’s counsel in public corruption case

KITV: … A judge found an actual conflict of interest involving attorney Eric Seitz, who represents former state transportation official Ford Fuchigami, during a hearing on Friday in the public corruption case involving Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and three other defendants.

Fuchigami and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty on July 31 to bribery and other charges stemming from an investigation into alleged public corruption. Prosecutors previously alleged that Luke illegally accepted $10,000 in campaign contributions from a lobbyist and businessman and agreed to accept a total of $70,000 in exchange for using her influence to secure additional COVID-19 contract money.

The court minutes from a hearing on Sept. 4 show Circuit Court Judge Paul B.K. Wong found there was an “actual” conflict of interest. He came to this conclusion after reviewing arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys and case law from other jurisdictions.

Wong then questioned Fuchigami about whether he wanted Seitz to continue representing him and explained that the conflict could be waived. After an extensive discussion with Fuchigami, the judge found that he had “intentionally, knowingly, voluntarily waived” his right to conflict-free counsel.

The state’s motion to determine whether a conflict of interest exists was continued to Sept. 9. The court also granted a motion to continue the trial, however, a new trial week has not yet been scheduled….

RELATED: The Curious Career of Ford Fuchigami

Read … Judge finds conflict of interest involving Ford Fuchigami’s counsel in public corruption case | Crime & Courts | kitv.com

Hawaiʻi Should Remember The Injustice Of Forced Unionism

CB: …  Hawaiʻi is one of the minority of states that lacks a Right to Work law. Right to Work laws ensure union membership and financial support are fully voluntary, meaning workers are free to join and pay dues to a union if they choose, but it cannot be mandatory.

In contrast, an employee in Hawaiʻi may oppose unionization, but still can be fired if they refuse to fund the union.

If you think this sounds unjust, you’re in good company. For years polls have consistently shown that 8 in 10 Americans believe union membership and dues payment should be strictly voluntary….

Read … Hawaiʻi Should Remember The Injustice Of Forced Unionism - Honolulu Civil Beat

Trump administration renews Supreme Court bid to limit mail-in voting

SA: … Lawyers for the Trump administration filed an emergency application to the nation’s highest court to allow the U.S. Postal Service to implement a rule restricting mail-in voting, even as some U.S. states have already started sending out postal ballots ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

On Friday, Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani extended a ban preventing the new rule from taking effect.

The final decision on whether the administration’s mail-in voting restrictions can proceed likely now rests with the Supreme Court.

Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the Trump administration, urged the Supreme Court to allow the rule to immediately go into effect, warning that each day the lower court’s injunction remains in place “risks sowing confusion and chaos” as more states issue mail ballots.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set a deadline of Wednesday for responses to the Trump administration’s request….

Read … Trump administration renews Supreme Court bid to limit mail-in voting | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Green light for Keaau Health Center: Commissioners OK $90M project

HTH: … The Windward Planning Commission on Thursday cleared the way for Hilo Benioff Medical Center to build an outpatient medical clinic in Keaau.

The votes were 5-0 to approve a use permit for Keaau Benioff Health Center, a one-story 40,000-square-foot facility on 20 acres of agricultural-zoned land and a special permit for a 1.5-mile paved driveway to the facility on a 3.27-acre corridor, 2.65 acres of which is zoned agricultural and 0.62 acres zoned urban….

Read … Green light for Keaau Health Center: Commissioners OK $90M project - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

HURRICANE NEWS:

1. Hurricane warning issued for Kauai, Niihau as Lowell approaches | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

2. Kauai County residents told to expect hurricane conditions as Lowell nears | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

3. Kamehameha Highway in Windward Oahu reopens after severe flooding | Hawaii News Now

4. Inside the NOAA flight collecting data from Hurricane Lowell | Video | kitv.com

5. Lala caused devastation on remote atolls of monument | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

6. Why Hurricane Lowell Could Produce Rare Tornadoes Across Hawaii - The New York Times

7. HDOT: Airlines may cancel flights as Hurricane Lowell approaches Hawaii

8. On the Disaster of Disaster Recovery – HAWAIʻI FIRST

QUICK HITS:

1. Big Q: Do you feel that Hawaii is a good place to work? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

2. Kauai event highlights the history of the Filipino labor movement in Hawaii | Hawaii News Now

3. It really was a small town back in the ’50s | i L i n d

4. K9 Trina helps Hawaiʻi Island police find missing juvenile in Waikōloa : Big Island Now

5. Diaspora & Cinema: Darny Chau, a Khmer face in Hawaii's backdrop

6. Off the news: Monk seal deaths offset promising growth | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

7. Editorial: Seed and feed Hawaii healthcare system | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

8. Column: Make plastic pollution a top priority | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

9. Ala Moana project developer seeks more time | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

10. Volunteers battle coqui frog infestation in Pālolo Valley

11. Navy, NASA get more time for environmental review | Honolulu Star-Advertiser