Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, November 13, 2026

November 13, 2026 News Read

By Andrew Walden @ 10:50 AM :: 252 Views

UH SOEST Re-Invents Fake Three-Foot Sea Level Rise Story

HSTA Pushing LGBTQ Survey for 13-year-old kids

Hawaii #1 State for Assisted Suicide

Feather Ticklers? Big Time Fraudsters Speak Out Against Incompetence of Home Aid

CB: … The charges had no apparent connection to homelessness: office space, laptops, food and drink — including beer. An oceanview condo in Wailuku. A parking ticket. Steel-toed boots. Jeans from Nordstrom Rack.

But HomeAid, the state’s homeless contractor, billed Hawaiʻi taxpayers. And the state paid.

State lawmakers got an earful at a briefing on Thursday and were left deeply dissatisfied with the answers provided by some of the key architects of the state kauhale program, Gov. Josh Green’s signature effort to address homelessness.

“Is it fraud, or is it incompetence?” House Rep. Ikaika Olds asked the state leaders of the program, Joe Campos and Jun Yang.

(ANSWER: ‘Both.’ Competent fraudsters take large amounts of money via inflated contracts. Then they put it in their own pockets as salary, management overrides, and consulting fees. Incompetent fraudsters buy intimacy kits on the taxpayers’ dime. This is why legislators are upset. Incompetent small time grifters like HomeAid can really create problems for the competent big time grifters in the Legislature. UNSPOKEN QUOTE: “We’re trying to steal money here and then you kooks come along with your feather ticklers and mess it up for us.”)

SA: ”They’re telling us the same thing,” Kondo said. “Keep driving. Nothing to see here. Keep driving. Nothing to see here. The documents tell a really different story. I think there’s a lot to see, in fact, much, much more than what I showed you today.”

FLASHBACK: Audit: Kauhale Director Billed Taxpayers for Bondage Sex Toys TWICE

KHON: Audit flags $13.7M in questionable homeless housing funds

Read … Fraud Or Incompetence? Lawmakers Probe Homeless Housing Program - Honolulu Civil Beat

Honolulu City Council approves PRP-Connected Campaign Operative to HART board

PBN: … The Honolulu City Council has unanimously approved campaign finance consultant Anthony Baldomero to serve on the board of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which is charged with developing Oahu’s Skyline rail system.

Baldomero founded Hokupaa Strategies, a campaign finance consulting firm, in December after retiring from his role as associate director at the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, where he spent 33 years. Under his new firm, Baldomero most recently worked on Yuki Lei Sugimura's (PRP-connected) campaign against Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, who won reelection last week.…

Baldomero is the second appointment to HART’s board in recent months.

In July, Rick Keene, a former chief financial officer at Bank of Hawaii and The Queen’s Health Systems, filled a seat on the board. Five years prior, Keene had been tapped as HART’s deputy executive director and chief operating officer.

Last year, the board gained four new members within a month’s time, most of which had a background in construction (and no feather-ticklers. See?) ….

read … Honolulu City Council approves Baldomero to HART board - Pacific Business News

Higher rates approved for Hawaii health insurers

HNN: … HMSA had originally proposed a nearly 20% rate increase for the small employer plans but later reduced the request to about 15%. Reviewers determined HMSA was being too pessimistic about its financial future.

“There was an overestimate of estimated losses for the year 2027,” Insurance Commissioner Scott Saiki said.

HMSA’s final rate for employers with fewer than 50 workers came down from 14.9% to 6.3%....

Kaiser Permanente asked for and received an increase of 6%. HMAA’s increase is 16%. UHA’s is the largest at 19.5%....

Read … Higher rates approved for Hawaii health insurers | Hawaii News Now

24,000 Lose Coverage as Centene Squeezed out of Market

SA: … In an earlier statement provided to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Centene said, “between rising medical costs, reimbursement rates that have not kept pace with the high acuity needs of the populations we serve, and federal funding changes, we are no longer able to continue operating these programs in a sustainable manner while maintaining the level of service our members deserve.”

The exit of the Ohana Health Plan impacted about 24,000 members that still have Medicaid coverage, but were informed they would have to select a new plan.

Med-QUEST will choose a new plan for members who did not do so during the open enrollment period in October….

Read … Centene to lay off 69 employees early next year | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Makua Valley: 8a Corps Grab for $500M Pinata

HPR: … "We think that the community, with a sufficient amount of funds and an endowment, can play an important role in the removal of unexploded ordnance and making the valley safe once again," said William Aila, a member of Hui Mālama o Mākua, an organization that guards the area's cultural essence.

Col. Rick Luce, the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said returning the lands early "is a great step and a really good measure of faith from the Army towards the state of Hawaiʻi and the Hawaiian community."

Luce said the Army has allocated $500 million just for the Mākua cleanup.

"That's gonna be a decades-long process to do our fiscal and our fiduciary responsibility to clean it up," Luce said.

He said his command, which oversees Army installations in Hawaiʻi, was working with Army Environmental Command on the job….

read … Some community members want a role in clearing ordnance from Mākua | Hawai'i Public Radio

Failing Upwards: Pay Raise: Hawaiʻi Schools Superintendent To Make $315K

CB: … Superintendent Keith Hayashi received ‘high’ marks from the state education board (clue: shrooms) during his annual evaluation on Thursday….

Hawaiʻi school superintendent Keith Hayashi received top marks from the state education board and a 7% raise during his annual evaluation on Thursday, bringing his pay to more than $315,000.

The salary bump makes Hayashi one of Hawaiʻi’s 50 highest-paid state officials, according to Civil Beat’s salary database. He now earns nearly $100,000 more than Gov. Josh Green. Under his current contract, he qualifies for a 5% to 8% raise every year.

Board members have previously argued (without even a smirk) that compensation for the superintendent and other top school leaders haven’t kept pace with their (even more incompetent) mainland counterparts, possibly making it harder to attract and retain (empire-building) talent. On average, pay for top leaders in the education department is 20% below the national market midpoint, according to a board memo last year.

(IQ Test: Are you influenced by this argument?)

Going into Thursday’s meeting, Hayashi’s salary was $294,674 after the board approved his four-year contract and a $45,000 raise last fall.

(IDEA: Eliminate salary and make the position voluntary.)

HTH: Where it pays to be a school principal | Hawaii Tribune-Herald

HNN: Hawaii public school construction project dreams total nearly $400 million

SA: Hawaii BOE OKs 7% pay increase for schools superintendent | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Pay Raise: Hawaiʻi Schools Superintendent To Make $315K - Honolulu Civil Beat

Fee Fight: Green is the Color of Money

CB: … As Hawaiʻi’s landmark green fee program ramps up, the ~~local marine conservation projects~~ (profitable nonprofits) that benefit from those new dollars might soon be managed by a relatively obscure regional fisheries agency based outside of the islands.

(TRANSLATION: I’ve spent years greasing local palms. Then they hand it off to these guys? I feel so used.)

On Friday, the Board of Land and Natural Resources will consider whether to enlist the Portland, Oregon-based Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, a group of fishing officials and leaders from Alaska, Hawaiʻi and the West Coast, to help oversee Hawaiʻi’s future green fee projects.

Specifically, that interstate group would help aquatic officials in Hawaiʻi draft work proposals, seek out and evaluate candidates, award contracts, and monitor the projects’ progress and costs, among other duties, according to a briefing posted to the board’s website….

The proposed five-year, $5.4 million agreement includes nearly $470,000 to cover the Pacific States commission’s administrative costs, according to the briefing. The rest of the money, it says, would go toward the green fee projects.

The outsourcing move to help state officials get more than $100 million in annual green fee revenues out the door comes as the fee enters its second year and second funding round….

(It’s so hard to spend this money. We’ve got pallet-loads of it out back. Some of the dollars are getting wet and moldy and nobody wants them. There just aren’t enough people we can pay to go hiking, wade around in taro patches, and take pictures of fake ‘sea level rise’ images.)

read … Outside Fisheries Group Poised To Manage Millions Of Hawaiʻi's Green Fee - Honolulu Civil Beat

Star-Adv: Add More Election Day Polling Places to boost voter engagement

SA: ... In-person voting could also be made more frictionless. Honolulu hired additional workers and added voting booths — very good — but should consider adding more to the core in-person voter service centers that operated on Oahu Oct. 20-Nov. 3, beyond the two “pop-up” voting stations that opened Oct. 27-31. Consider more accessible pop-ups in all counties to operate throughout the same time frame as primary voting centers. Every voter attracted counts….

Read … Editorial: Find ways to boost voter engagement | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Election Commission: Worthless Trumpster Clown Show Begins Anew

SA: … The state Elections Commission is back in business after five months of inaction touched off by polarized members who couldn’t elect a new chairperson ahead of two elections.

A bare minimum of commission members needed to hold a meeting met Thursday and unanimously agreed to elect member Tamara McKay, a (chem-trail believer and) former chair of the Hawai‘i Republican Party, as chair pro tem to lead future meetings on a temporary basis and get on with commission duties that include investigating election complaints and evaluating state Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago within two months of the Nov. 3 general election.

Five members attended Thursday’s meeting, representing a quorum for the nine-member panel where one seat is vacant….

In addition to McKay and Cushnie, other commissioners at the meeting who were appointed by Republican leaders in the Legislature were Kahiolani Papalimu and Makali‘i Pratt. The lone representative appointed by a Democrat was John Sabas. The three absent members were Barbara Dalton, Liana Horovitz and Jeffrey Osterkamp….

“Scott Nago in my opinion should be arrested and removed from the island and from the state,” Michelle Melendez said.

Others advocating for Nago’s removal included Tara Malia Gregory, who unsuccessfully ran for a Honolulu City Council seat, and Rep. Kanani Souza (R, Kapolei-Makakilo), who retained her seat after a primary race rerun on Nov. 3 that followed an Aug. 8 primary election tie that was invalidated by the Hawaii Supreme Court over a mistake made by county elections officials and the lack of an administrative rule for breaking ties by some kind of random procedure required but not specified by state law.

After McKay’s selection, commissioners and members of the public offered numerous suggestions for possible things to be on the agenda for the next meeting, which McKay scheduled for Nov. 19 at 11:30 a.m….

Read … Hawaii Elections Commission restarts work after breakdown | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

‘Very insidious’: Maui bill targets contractor fraud against fire survivors

HNN: … Hoʻōla iā Mauiakama Maui Disaster Long Term Recovery Group is reviewing eight cases of faulty contractors.

Malia Harrington, a disaster case manager with the organization, said some contractors abandon projects, stop answering their phones, or keep asking for more money.

“They are definitely moving on their trauma and taking advantage of these people and many of them are kupuna,” Harrington said.

To make matters worse, Harrington said most of those contractors are from Maui.

“So there’s also a level of trust that has been broken, right, and betrayal, because these people are moving in our community, they’ve lived here, they’ve been here, we know them, they’re friends of us, so it’s very insidious,” Harrington said.

The recovery group is helping to build three homes for fraud victims using donations and grants….

Read … ‘Very insidious’: Maui bill targets contractor fraud against fire survivors | Hawaii News Now

After Maui Fire Fail, Will Congress reauthorize ‘FirstNet’?

RC: … The House bill would eliminate language in current law that established FirstNet as an “independent” authority within the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and would require the administration’s approval for most non-planning or emergency actions, though the bill was amended to include a list of actions the network can take without NTIA approval.

The changes are meant to respond to reports from the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General that found that the AT&T-run service was not sufficiently available during the Maui wildfires in 2023 and that senior officials of the FirstNet Authority attempted to interfere with audits.

The Maui report noted the small number of FirstNet subscriptions among state and local first responders in the area and in an op-ed earlier this year, Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura said his department was “not using FirstNet devices” at the time of the fires but is now adopting them. He also supported reauthorization in the op-ed….

The House bill has strong bipartisan support and the Senate’s negotiations are also bipartisan. Both Ors and Pasco expressed confidence that if time runs out this year for a reauthorization bill, a new version of the legislation would still have strong prospects under a Democratic Congress….

LINK: Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network Was Not Always Available to First Responders During the Catastrophic 2023 Maui Wildfires

Read … Deadline looms for post-9/11 FirstNet reauthorization - Roll Call

Local keiki vote in DSA-controlled survey on Hawaii student issues: Ballot results

KHON: … Results are in! More than 22,000 students across the Hawaiian Islands cast ballots in the 2026 mock election by Kid’s Voting Hawaiʻi, a ~~nonpartisan~~ (socialist-controlled) organization (led by DSA Rep Amy Perruso) aimed at getting keiki involved and empowered to vote.

From ‘free’ school meals to ‘free’ transportation, technology and environmental concerns, here’s what thousands of local students from public and private schools had to say about the (socialist-picked) issues ….

LINK: Organized by DSA Rep Amy Perruso

read … Local keiki vote on Hawaii student issues: Ballot results

Meth Dealer with Gun gets Busted Again—Civil Beat Gives Him Fluff Piece

CB: … The lights came on in the rearview mirror: red then blue then red again on a Wednesday in Kailua-Kona….

(IQ Test: Check out the interlocking triangle tatoos on his wrist.)

Under the seat was a loaded handgun and unspent rounds. In a bag was 15.7 grams of crystal, weighed and packaged the way you package something meant to be sold rather than used alone. He was 36 years old and he already had a criminal record to his name, which meant none of what happened next would be treated as a first ‘mistake’. It would be treated as confirmation.

(TRANSLATION: It was a state case, not federal, therefore he got back out quickly.)

The police searched the car on the spot. By the time the search was over, he was looking at a felony count for promoting a dangerous drug, a meth trafficking charge, possession of paraphernalia, and eighteen separate firearms offenses stacked on top of each other, the heaviest of them being a felon caught holding a gun he was never allowed to touch again. Bail came back at $593,000, a number designed to make sure he did not walk out the same day….

He never had the option of the safe road. (Yes, he did. Don’t use meth.) The rest of us like to believe there is one, a paved and reasonable route where you (don’t use meth and instead) take the steady job, (don’t use meth and instead) sign the mortgage, (don’t use meth and instead) lease the two cars because that is what qualifies as responsible now, and (don’t use meth and instead) put something small away every month for a college fund you hope your kids will use someday (as long as they don’t use meth).

(TRANSLATION: You middle class people are dead. Drug addicts are truly alive.)

It looks like safety. It is sold as safety. But watch that road long enough and you start noticing how many people on it are barely breathing, working overtime to cover payments on things that were supposed to make their lives easier, watching a marriage strain under the particular pressure of money that is always spoken for before it ever arrives. Everything that comes in has already gone back out.

(TRANSLATION: You middle class people are dead. Drug addicts are truly alive.)

That is not security. That is a hamster wheel and most people stay on it because the alternative feels like falling….

(Actually ‘most people’ leave Hawaii so they can buy their first home.)

Author is a … math teacher at Kohala High School….

(This is who is teaching your kids.)

PDF: Check out this guy’s Transcript from ECourtKokua

Just for fun: Look up his employees on ECourtKokua.

read … He Was Rebuilding His Life. Then The Unthinkable Happened - Ideas

Waianae child torture suspects denied bail in court

KHON: … The suspects were indicted on multiple Class A felony charges by a grand jury in August following their arrests.

They face up to 20 years in prison, which could extend to a life-sentence with the possibility of parole.

According to authorities, the victim ran away from the family’s Waianae home and hid under his neighbor’s house until police arrived.

“During the investigation, officers observed injuries and scarring on the victim that were consistent with the statements provided,” HPD said….

read … Waianae child torture suspects denied bail in court

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