Luke drops reelection bid, Native Hawaiian health, homelands programs under attack, chief justice nominee Devens' campaign fundraising ties questioned, more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke quits reelection campaign amid controversy. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke announced Sunday that she will not seek a second term in the Aug. 8 Democratic Party primary after being under a cloud of suspicion for months that she is the subject of a state Attorney General investigation into allegations of a powerful lawmaker accepting an illegal campaign donation. Star-Advertiser. Civil Beat.  Hawaii Public Radio.  Big Island Now.  Hawaii News Now. KHON2.  KITV4. 

Justice’s Past Political Activity Is Raising Fresh Questions For Some Senators. The nomination of Vladimir Devens to be Hawaiʻi’s next Supreme Court chief justice is scheduled for a hearing this week amid new concerns over his past leadership of a political action committee that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect Gov. Josh Green. Civil Beat.

Hawaiʻi PUC Chair Appointment Advances In Senate. Governor Green’s appointment of Jon S. Itomura to serve as Chair of the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission has passed committee. Big Island Video News.

Ag department criticized over policy to import goods with 'light' pest infestations. Lawmakers are questioning whether the state Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity should still lead Hawaiʻi’s efforts to manage invasive species. Hawaii Public Radio.

Bills on ICE rules, tax relief advance as Hawaii legislative session nears end. State legislators continue to move bills toward the end of session that would further tighten election and campaign laws, impose new rules for film tax credits, limit local law enforcement involvement with federal agents and roll back some promised Hawaii income tax breaks scheduled through 2031. Star-Advertiser.

Bill to ban disposable e-cigs gains ground. Senate Bill 2175 introduced by state Sen. Tim Richards (D-Kohala), would prohibit the sale or distribution of disposable electronic smoking devices in Hawaii, starting Jan. 1, due to the environmental problems they cause. Star-Advertiser.

Federal lawsuit challenges Native Hawaiian health scholarship program. A mainland advocacy group, led by former University of Pennsylvania’s medical school dean and retired kidney doctor Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a decades-old scholarship program aimed at addressing health disparities among Native Hawaiians, marking the latest legal battle over programs that consider ancestry in eligibility. Star-Advertiser.

Trump proposes cut to Hawaiian Home Lands funding. Indigenous status of Native Hawaiians downplayed in bid to cut federal funds. In his proposed budget for the federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, Trump suggests that Native Hawaiians shouldn’t receive funding under the 1996 Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act, or NAHASDA, because Hawaiians are a racial group and not a tribal nation. Star-Advertiser. Hawaii News Now. 

Cesspools increase contamination risks for areas hit hard by Kona lows. The Department of Health has identified 43,000 of 88,000 cesspools as posing a risk to water resources, with a total of 53 million gallons of raw sewage released each day.  Star-Advertiser.

Oahu

Locked Up Too Long? Legal Tactic Challenges Hawaiʻi ICE Detentions. Big jump in “habeas corpus” petitions in Honolulu mirrors nationwide trend, a reflection of climbing ICE activity under the Trump administration. Civil Beat.

Archery range project proposed for Kaimuki park put on hold. A privately proposed $850,000 Japanese archery range and training facility at the city-owned Mau‘umae Nature Park in Kaimuki has been put on hold as city officials revisit the controversial plan following strong community feedback. Star-Advertiser.

Tangled utility lines complicate Aloha Stadium project. Developers have started demolishing parts of Aloha Stadium to make way for a new $650 million development. But now they must tackle the challenge of relocating utilities.  Hawaii Public Radio.

Waialua residents urged to boil water after E. coli discovered in source wells. The Hawaii Department of Health is warning customers of the Waialua Sugar Pump 2 water system to boil water before drinking or using it after E. coli bacteria was confirmed in the system. Star-Advertiser.

Confusing Donation Drops Run By For-Profits Targeted By Hawaiʻi Lawmakers. Drop off some old clothing, furniture or appliances at the big GreenDrop trailer at Mānoa Marketplace, and you might think you’re donating to the American Red Cross. In truth, the donation mainly supports Savers Value Village Inc., a for-profit international retailer that posted $1.7 billion in net sales in 2025. Civil Beat.

Hawaii Island

Hawaii County STVRs measure advances. A Hawaii County Council committee voted unanimously April 7 to forward a controversial vacation rental bill to the county’s planning director and two planning commissions. Tribune-Herald.

‘Renovation Aloha’ Sued For Filming Native Hawaiian Bones. HGTV is releasing a re-edited version of the episode “Bones On The Big Island” after a Hawaiʻi judge ordered the original taken down. Civil Beat.

‘We’re trying to build a resilient, sustainable food system’: The Food Basket makes progress on new Hilo campus. The Food Basket is preparing to break ground on an $86 million Agricultural Innovation Park and Food Systems Campus — called Hoolako — on a 24.5-acre plot of old sugarcane land off of Ponahawai Street. Tribune-Herald.

Visitor from Kansas charged with attempted murder after snorkel tour incident. Police arrested and charged 21-year-old Avery Nissen of Overland Park, Kansas, with attempted murder following a stabbing incident Thursday aboard a boat off the Kona coast. Tribune-Herald.

Maui

Maui AIDS Foundation At Risk Of Losing Money In Trump Budget. The president’s budget denounced the nonprofit as radical while proposing the funding cuts. Civil Beat.

Hāna farmers face years of recovery for crops lost in Kona storm. In the days after the storm, farmers woke up to another kind of nightmare — dozens of trees and plants uprooted and destroyed, undercutting their livelihood and leaving them with a long-term recovery. Maui Now.

Molokaʻi invasive species crew is 'all hands on deck' in CRB emergency response. Molokaʻi’s Lori Buchanan has been working to protect the island from invasive species for over three decades, and last week, one of her worst fears came true. The first two Coconut rhinoceros beetles were detected on Molokaʻi. Hawaii Public Radio.

Kauai

Pilot cites ‘vibration’ before fatal Kauai crash. The pilot of a tour helicopter that crashed off of Kauai’s Na Pali Coast killing three people on March 26 told federal investigators the aircraft experienced “high frequency vibration” and spun around twice before going down. Star-Advertiser. Kauai Now.