September 23, 2026 News Read

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Wednesday, September 23, 2026

September 23, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:44 AM :: 286 Views

Navatek, the Untold Story: The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way

$65M to Restore Kula Hospital

Ninth Circuit affirms conviction of man who stole identity of dead child

Did Honolulu notify landowners before asking state to designate properties as “Important Agricultural Lands”?

Conspiracy in Common: How Cordery Campaign Brings Sovereignty Activists into Hawaii Republican Party

CB: … Daniel Anthony, 48…initially pulled papers to run for governor as a Green Party candidate this year, but said Cordery encouraged him to jump into the Republican primary for lieutenant governor instead. Anthony raised little money for this year’s campaign and spent even less, but won the statewide, four-way GOP primary on Aug. 8 with 16,982 votes….

(CLUE: Marijuana causes paranoia.)

Earlier this month he opined on Facebook that Hurricane Lowell’s abrupt turn to the north before it clobbered Niʻihau and Kauaʻi has “gotta be weather manipulation.” He re-posted another Facebook item in January asserting that “Rigged elections in Hawaiʻi has been a thing since 1893,” adding his own one-word agreement: “Yup.”

Another example was a post in 2022 referring to Hawaiʻi as a “fake state” on the social media platform then known as Twitter. The “fake state” label is commonplace among Hawaiian sovereignty advocates, but is curious coming from a candidate for the state’s second-highest office.

Anthony did not disavow those posts during an interview with Civil Beat. He said people must decide for themselves “what level of corruption” is involved in Hawaiʻi’s elections, and said the state “needs to take a very strong look at its legal standing in regards to the independent kingdom of Hawaiʻi.”

“This is like the emperor-has-no-clothes kind of story,” he said of Hawaiʻi statehood. “If we do not deal with the issue of Native Hawaiian independence, it’s not going to go away. It’s not, and there’s going to be a bigger rift in our community. If we’re trying to bring our people together, we cannot continue to lie to them about our standing. And if we are not in good standing, how do we fix it?” …

Years ago he joined the effort to impose a moratorium on genetically modified taro farming and breeding, he said, and was also was a primary organizer of the annual Kuʻi at the Capitol. Those events were festival-like gatherings held on opening days of the Legislature to ensure policymakers heard the voices of Hawaiians.

In 2021, Anthony said he teamed up with Cordery and the Aloha Freedom Coalition for a July 4 land rights demonstration, during which protesters in a car caravan clogged traffic at Honolulu’s airport….

On some hot-button social issues, Anthony said he believes people “should have body autonomy for vaccinations” — meaning the right to make their own medical choices. “I also believe that people should have body autonomy in deciding whether or not they want to have an abortion,” he added.

“I’m coming to the Republican Party as me,” he remarked during a recent radio appearance. “The party isn’t going to change me, I’m going to help change the party to participate more heavily in proper stewardship of our land.”…

Anthony said he has been farming and helping other farmers for the past 20 years, and also … has a nonprofit (marijuana) fertilizer operation called Aloha Organic (which provides lots of info on how to grow marijuana better.)

Aloha Organic: Aloha-Organic-Application-Chart-Cannabis.jpg (2000×2588)

ECOURTKOKUA: Daniel Anthony, Divorce, Deadbeat, Scofflaw Driver, OUVII (drugs), etc, etc going back to 1997

CB: Hawaiʻi Election Integrity: Conspiracies And A Little Anxiety - Honolulu Civil Beat

CONSPIRACY FLASHBACK:

March, 2024: Hawaii Republican leaders secretly met with Miske Hitman Lindsey Kinney
Jan, 2024: 'FBI' Chain Letter Scheme Entraps Hawaii Republicans and Libertarians
Dec, 2023: FBI Illegal Disruption of Hawaii Republicans?
Nov, 2023: Laughed out of Court: Libertarians Asked Federal Judge to ‘Disband Hawaii Republican Party’
Sept, 2023: Can Hawaii Republicans Stop Vexatious Litigants?
Sept, 2023: Lawsuit: Libertarians Ask Federal Court to ‘Disband Hawaii Republican Party’
July, 2023: Real Estate Sharks Circle Hawaii Republican HQ as Party Loses ANOTHER Chairman
May, 2023: VIDEO: Meet the 21 Trumpsters and Antivaxxers Running for State Republican Leadership
May, 2023: Another Crackpot Election Lawsuit Thrown out of Court
April, 2023: Trumpsters Fight Antivaxxers for Control of Maui GOP--Preview for Republican State Convention
Feb, 2023: Hawaii Republicans lose challenge of 2022 election audit process
Feb, 2023: Hawaii GOP Chair, Vice-Chair Suddenly Resign
2021: Anti-Vaxxers Set 'F*ck Ige' Rally for Capitol
2009 How This All Started: 9/11 Truthers Meet the Birth Certificate Brigade

read … This Farmer-Artist Questions Hawaiʻi's Statehood. He Wants To Be LG - Honolulu Civil Beat

Another BOE member resigns, citing lack of transparency

HTH: … Hawaii County’s representative on the state Board of Education, Sylvia Lee, recently resigned. Her departure was announced briefly during a Sept. 10 meeting of the board.

Lee provided a copy of her resignation letter to the Tribune-Herald which cited concerns about lack of transparency and oversight among the board’s leadership as the reasons for her decision….

“My 17 months working with the two people who lead this Board, one over its staff and one over its members, were marked by a lack of openness and shared accountability,” she wrote, referring to BOE Chairperson Roy Takumi and Executive Director Capsun Poe. “I am not aware if that pattern was felt by other Board members; I did not see it openly. After that time in service, however, remaining in that established routine would serve neither the Department, the Board members, nor me.”

Lee was appointed to the BOE by Gov. Josh Green in 2025 to serve a term that was meant to last three years. She has over 40 years of experience working in education in the state, including administrative roles at schools across the Big Island, from Honokaa to Hilo, Keaau and Mountain View….

“What I did not anticipate was that the greatest obstacle to my vision would come from within, not without.”

Lee told the Tribune-Herald that her questions and concerns about BOE operations often went unanswered and unacknowledged. She said she received “substantive” responses to only 29 out of 45 written questions and comments she submitted regarding policies and procedures, authority and governance during her time on the board.

“I experienced a documented pattern of resisting any effort to formalize, explain, or put in writing how that authority is actually exercised: no historical document, no current protocol, and no consistency in answers to basic questions like remote attendance or how to propose an item for the BOE agenda,” she said in a written response to questions about her decision.

At an Aug. 13 special BOE meeting, she was the lone vote against changes to the BOE bylaws that extended powers of the board chair to include “the sole authority to set the agenda of all meetings of the full Board.”

“Agenda-setting is the single most consequential authority a board holds — it determines what even gets examined — and that authority moved from the full membership to one person. It is worth asking why the Chairperson needed this authority at all,” Lee said.

Lee’s resignation comes following previous concerns about transparency and accountability on the BOE. The board and its staff has a history of turnover, especially in recent years. Former chair Warren Haruki resigned from his post in March 2024, after less than a year in the position, marking the third change in leadership in two years….

“It was not made lightly,” she said. “It is common practice in many organizations to depart quietly; I considered that and chose against it. Quiet departures rarely produce real change, and challenges are swept under the rug. I shared detailed concerns with the Governor, all Board members, and the Executive Director. What they choose to do with that information remains their choice and their responsibility.”…

read … Big Isle BOE member resigns, cites a lack of transparency - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Still Planning to Steal Condotels: Maui Planning Commission rebuffs exemptions to vacation rental ban

SA: … The Maui Planning Commission heard five hours of ‘public’ testimony on a Maui County Council proposal to exclude 3,402 properties from an ordinance adopted in December that imposes a future phase-out of vacation rental use for roughly 6,100 units on the Valley Isle in an effort to ~~add the properties to the island’s housing supply~~ (save Bissen) after (he failed to notice that) a wildfire in 2023 destroyed close to 5,500 homes in Lahaina….

REALITY: Meet the Meth Gang Behind ‘Lahaina Strong’

read … Maui Planning Commission rebuffs exemptions to vacation rental ban | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Building Code Merry Go Round: Hurricane Latest Excuse to Drive up Construction costs

CB: … The Kaua‘i County Council is considering a bill that would require all new homes to follow certain construction standards and landscaping rules so they can better withstand wildfires. And while Yukimura generally supports safety measures, when climate change threats get worse by the day, it’s difficult to reconcile through adaptation alone. Mitigation is also critical, she said.

“You can’t adapt forever to an ever-warming planet,” she said.

The legislation, which the wildfire management organization helped draft, has become hotly contested as contractors clash with safety experts on costs.

It’s a common thread in discussions about building regulations. The State Building Code Council has been frozen since late 2024 as part of Gov. Josh Green’s ongoing emergency proclamations on emergency housing. The council oversees four building codes that dictate home safety, with electrical, building, energy and plumbing standards.

Emergency and building professionals have raised alarms about the state’s efforts to streamline the council’s work, after attempts by lawmakers to smooth the process. But the council, which oversees the state codes – which inform county codes – has long been handicapped by lack of funding, staff and the constant push and pull of protection, price and consistency.

Some hope the State Building Code Council will resume its work in the coming months, as the state works toward using $

350,000 budgeted this year to hire two staff members. It will be the first time the council will be staffed or receive any funding, despite that being its original intent when created 20 years ago. …

The council’s new makeup is a result of the Simplifying Permitting for Enhanced Economic Development Task Force, which was formed in 2025, a 34-member working group charged with modernizing and streamlining Hawaiʻi’s permitting system. That includes addressing shortcomings in the code development process.

“The council operated for years through the efforts of its volunteer members,” Scott Glenn, Green’s housing chief, said in an emailed statement. “We are working to fill these positions as quickly as possible so that the SBCC can resume its work on State Building Codes in a way that allows the council to hit the ground running.”

It is especially important as county codes have missed three renewal deadlines. If they’re too out of date, federal funding for disaster relief may be rescinded….

read … Painful Lessons From ʻIniki Help Kauaʻi Homes Weather Hurricane Lowell - Honolulu Civil Beat

How HCDA Chases Low Income Seniors Out of Kakaako Apartments

CB: … inside Honuakaha, things have taken a turn for the worse this year.

The building was developed and owned by the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority, whose headquarters are directly next door. It was built with federal low-income housing tax credits that came with a condition: its senior citizen apartments had to remain affordable for 30 years. That commitment expired last December, leaving the complex no longer set aside for seniors, with no limits on rents aside from what the market will bear….

Many of those increases have been part of an ongoing, halting effort to address longstanding financial problems at the development. In 2021, the authorityʻs board was informed that the project was running a $25,000 monthly deficit and owed $800,000 in unpaid maintenance fees. Rents had not been raised between 2013 and 2021 — even though federal law allowed hikes of up to 10% — numerous units were in disrepair or vacant and large repairs had not been properly budgeted for in more than a decade, a board committee found.

The authority started raising rents in January 2022 — a board committee had recommended a 5% annual increase and also that vacated units should be rented out at closer to prevailing market rate — but the actual increases have been inconsistent while the building cycled through multiple management companies and the authority tried to get the building in the black.

Authority officials have acknowledged that publicly.

“Rent increase is directly a function of the expenses,” Garet Sasaki, the authority’s chief financial officer, told the board last December. “Whatever bills we foresee haven’t been paid in the following calendar year, the rent income has to cover that amount. This year, based on the projected budget for 2026, it was 10%.”

For some, the rent hikes have been even higher.

When Derek Miyasoto — a former cook whose kitchen and hallway walls are hung with pots, pans and fishing rods — moved in four years ago, he paid $635 a month in rent, he said.

It then went up 5% to $662, then 8% to $715. Then, in January, it was hiked by 16% to $826, more than half his monthly Social Security Disability income….

Lydon received the same increase from $715 to $826. Then — like Miyasato — she was told she owes money because the previous building manager had entered her rent incorrectly in the automated payment system and she was supposed to have been paying $751 a month.

She is now fighting a bill of nearly $1,000 that she says is unjust because she was never told she was paying an inaccurate amount….

In July, the building’s new property manager, Paramount Properties, told Miyasato he owes $2,950 in back rent and other fees. He hasn’t paid any of it yet and he said that ever since being told about the debt, he has experienced extreme anxiety.

“They’re trying to get rid of us,” he said. “But I have nowhere to go.”…

The plan to rent open units for market rents — Nakamoto said $1,400 is likely to be the starting rent….

More: This Elderly Woman Was Threatened With Eviction — Over 50 Cents

SA: Editorial: Add jobs, homes to grow voucher value | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … What Happens To Your Affordable Housing When Income Rules Run Out? - Honolulu Civil Beat

Oʻahu climate planners say other residents must stop driving cars, turn off AC and eat less meat to curb emissions

HPR: … The plan identifies shifting Oʻahu residents’ behaviors around travel, electricity use and diet as key to reducing carbon emissions.

“While government and business emissions are important, the path to significant emission reductions depends largely on empowering residents to adopt lower-carbon choices in their daily lives,” it states….

PDF: Community- Draft City and County of Honolulu 2025-2030 Climate Action Plan | City and County of Honolulu

read … Updated Oʻahu climate plan says residents' choices key to curbing emissions | Hawai'i Public Radio

Hundreds of Hawaii residents could lose Obamacare health insurance benefits in fraud crackdown

HNN: … The state DCCA’s Insurance Division says more than 23,000 Hawaii residents are covered by Obamacare or Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans this year, which are sold by two carriers: HMSA and Kaiser Permanente. HMSA says it has about 18,000 enrollees….

Unlike bigger states, Hawaii’s marketplace is run entirely on the federal exchange Healthcare.gov, so the state doesn’t manage enrollment. It’s not clear how many of Hawaii’s enrollees are caught up in this national fraud sweep….

On Tuesday, Vice President J.D. Vance cancelled Obamacare coverage for 750,000 enrollees nationwide, claiming they are receiving subsidies they don’t qualify for or don’t exist at all. Another 419,000 enrollees are under review….

SA: Trump administration halts Obamacare coverage for 760,000

read … Hundreds of Hawaii residents could lose Obamacare health insurance benefits in fraud crackdown

Trial opens for Maui man accused of killing police officer

HNN: … Clembert Alii Kaneholani, 39, is accused of fatally shooting Officer Suzanne O in Paia.

Maui Prosecutor Andrew Martin opened his statement with a jailhouse phone call he says shows Kaneholani bragging that he shot and killed O.

In the call, a voice says, “I got one! Hahaha. Yeah! I got um!” …

Martin said Kaneholani wanted revenge after police served him with a temporary restraining order, took his son away from him and removed him from his Makawao home.

In another jailhouse call played by the prosecution, a voice says, “I wasn’t supposed to live through this. These cops were supposed to kill me. That’s why I did what I did. I had to take one of their lives. They were supposed to take me, but a bunch of ****, they didn’t have the heart to kill me.” ….

read … Trial opens for Maui man accused of killing police officer | Hawaii News Now

Soft on Crime: Criminal Imported from New Hampshire was out on Hawaii Bail when he allegedly assaulted 2 Big Island police officers

BIN: … A female officer suffered a left occipital hematoma and a concussion and a male officer suffered a bruise to his chest, according to court documents.

The suspect, 44-year-old Justin Santagati, was out on bail for a November case in which he is accused of beating a man with a large stick.

Santagati appeared in Hilo District Court on Monday for the assault case involving the officers. Judge M. Kanani Laubach denied the defense’s request to grant him release on his recognizance or supervised release.

Santagati’s bail was maintained at $41,000, and he is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing in the case.

Santagati has been out on bail since March in the Third Circuit Court case involving the assault against a man with the large stick, where he faced second-degree assault as well as a criminal trespassing charge. He was scheduled to enter a change of plea in the case on Nov. 12.

According to court documents relating to the Sept. 18 incident, a 47-year-old woman called police for help after she had picked up Santagati at around 4:30 p.m. from the Hilo Safeway to give him a ride. She was running errands in Hilo Town.

During those errands, the woman indicated that Santagati began making demands, stating something to the effect of “No, we’re not going there anymore; you’re going to take me here.”

According to court documents, these comments made the woman feel alarmed and afraid for her safety, so she called police when Santagati got out of her vehicle and went into Foodland Kea‘au.

When Hawai‘i Island police officers arrived and met the woman, Santagati walked up from the area near Pizza Hut and began yelling at her something to the effect of “You called the police on me?” according to court documents.

“Santagati began to posture to officers while saying things something ot the effect of, ‘I don’t need to listen to you!'” court documents read…..

New Hampshire Flashbacks:

read … 44-year-old who allegedly assaulted 2 Big Island police officers was out on bail for beating a man with a stick : Big Island Now

Taiwan to raze, redevelop troubled Chinatown Cultural Plaza

SA: … Tenants at Chinatown Cultural Plaza received notices that their leases will be terminated by March 31 as part of a planned redevelopment of the 4-acre complex….

read … Taiwan to raze, redevelop troubled Chinatown Cultural Plaza | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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