STEWART YERTON/Honolulu Civil Beat

Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii lawmakers wrangle HECO rescue bills as session deadline looms
HECO and its parent company, which were found to have started the Lahaina fire, have made enormous progress since the August 2023 catastrophe. Most notably HECO settled lawsuits brought by more than 2,000 fire victims as part of a global settlement brokered by Gov. Josh Green and blessed by the Hawa
 
Hawaii spent $21,000 a month to power a village of 20 tiny homes
For example, monthly energy bills for one 100-square-foot off-the-grid home can be four to five times the average cost of powering a full-size house on Oʻahu. The total monthly bill for another 20-home village in Honolulu came out to more than $21,000, and overall monthly costs topped $8,600 per mon
 
Hawaiian Electric Company’s shaky credit prompts proposal for help from state
Rebecca Dayhuff Matsushima, HECO’s vice president for resource procurement, said the company hasn’t finished revising proposed legislation for lawmakers to introduce. But she acknowledged the company has been briefing key lawmakers on its proposal ahead of the legislative session that starts in Janu
 
The University of Hawaii is about to get hundreds of millions of dollars to do military research
Of particular concern is the laboratory’s sponsor, the U.S. Navy, which has been embroiled in controversy after back-to-back spills of jet fuel into the Pearl Harbor drinking water system, which serves some 93,000 people, in 2021.
 
Lawmaker posts rare win for injured workers — and pushes for more
As chairman of the House Labor and Government Operations Committee, Rep.
 
Condos’ high-rising insurance premiums are a top issue in these legislative races
Jillian Anderson was planning to make fighting crime in Waikiki the top issue in her campaign for a seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives.
 
An Oahu teacher’s futile apartment hunt shows how bad the rental market is
Helen Lau’s life was recently upended by a note on her door.

“I regret to inform you that I will not be extending your rental agreement,” wrote Suzi Rim, the owner of the condo that Lau’s been living in since October 2020.