Pressure mounts to bring Hawaii National Guard back from Washington, Green vetoes one bill and wraps up enactments, mail ballots to arrive next week, more news from all the Hawaiian Islands

Calls grow for Green to recall Hawaii National Guard from DC. A growing chorus of local and national organizations is calling on Gov. Josh Green to recall Hawaii National Guardsmen dispatched to Washington, D.C. Twenty-seven members of the Hawaii Army National Guards 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team arrived in D.C. on July 6.  Star-Advertiser. Civil Beat.

Ballots for Hawaii primaries expected to arrive by Tuesday. Voters across the state should expect their primary election ballots to arrive in the mail by Tuesday ahead of election day on Aug. 8. County clerks must have voters’ ballots returned and in hand by 7 p.m. Aug. 8 in order for them to be counted. Ballots that are postmarked by Aug. 8 but arrive after 7 p.m. will not be counted, according to the state Office of Elections. Star-Advertiser. Kauai Now. 

Gov. Green vetoes BOE executive director bill. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed his final bills of the year Wednesday, wrapping up the legislative session with 266 measures signed and just one veto. The governor vetoed Senate Bill 3262, which required the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to submit three nominees for its executive director to the Board of Education. The board would then appoint an executive director from the nominee list, subject to advice and consent of the Senate. Hawaii News Now. KITV4.

Green signs bill tackling dementia. Green signed House Bill 1853 into law Tuesday. It creates the Hanai Memory Network Program within the Executive Office of Aging. Hawaii Public Radio.

State e-bike law enacted to curb injuries, deaths. The new law, Act 259, establishes minimum age requirements for riders depending on e-bike class, increases the age for mandatory helmet use, and makes sellers disclose rules. Act 259 also classifies two- and three-wheelers capable of going over 28 mph on electric power as e-motorcycles that are subject to licensing, registration and insurance similar to regular motorcycles. Star-Advertiser. Big Island Video News. Hawaii News Now.  KHON2. 

New laws to modernize transportation system, enhance clean energy economy. Gov. Josh Green signed four bills to enhance efforts in building a clean energy economy, ensuring that Hawaiʻi’s laws keep up with emerging technologies. Big Island Now.

Oahu

Public Begins To Weigh In On Offshore LNG Proposal. The public comment period is the first step in the pre-review of JERA Co.’s proposal, pitched as a fossil-fuel bridge to a future of all-renewable resources. The first public commenters on a $2 billion liquefied natural gas power project proposed for Oʻahu are asking federal regulators to look beyond simply the environmental impacts related to the offshore infrastructure that makes up a relatively small part of the project. Civil Beat.

HART previews Kakaako rail construction, but some want more specific details. Traffic disruptions have been an unavoidable part of the city’s Skyline construction. And those disruptions are about to come to Halekauwila Street, at the tail end of the rail project’s third phase. Hawaii News Now. KHON2.

Honolulu lawmakers want to ensure residents have proper shelter during disasters. The City and County of Honolulu budget this year includes $18 million for resilience hubs to shelter residents during natural disasters, and city lawmakers want to make sure it’s properly built and equipped to handle severe weather. Hawaii Public Radio.

‘Nobody Did Anything’: Flood Control Long Went Ignored On Oʻahu’s Westside. Māʻili residents were stuck after an emergency evacuation road was inundated during Kona lows. Civil Beat.

About 3K Hawaii soldiers remain without air conditioning. Roughly 3,000 soldiers remain without air conditioning in their barracks after a water system malfunction. The AC units haven’t been working since Friday, July 10, impacting soldiers at Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Airfield and Helemano Military Reservation. Hawaii News Now.

Youth Skills, Crime And Sustainability: State House District 30 Candidate Q&As. Two-year incumbent is facing two opponents in the primary. Civil Beat.

Security, Working Families And Infrastructure: State House District 32 Candidate Q&As. The same opponents face each other for the third general election in a row. Civil Beat.

Income Tax, Climate Change And Culture: State House District 33 Candidate Q&A. Incumbent Democrat is running unopposed in the primary election. Civil Beat.

Hawaii Island

Waikoloa evacuation study questioned at meeting. Fears of mass wildfire fatalities in Waikoloa Village boiled over on Tuesday during a community meeting held to discuss evacuation routes after a 200-acre blaze sparked at the edge of the community last week caused partial evacuations and left residents on-edge. Tribune-Herald. Big Island Video News.

Records were set for June rainfall. Halfway into the dry season for most of Hawaii, 11 Big Island sites experienced their wettest June on record, according to the National Weather Service. Tribune-Herald.

Concerns rise about invasive beetle. A Kona community development group on Tuesday heard warnings about the highly destructive Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle from an invasive species biologist — alerts that have taken on a new sense of urgency after one of the bugs was found July 6 at Hilo International Airport. Tribune-Herald.

Kīlauea Episode 51 Ends After 8 Hour Eruption. Tephra fall was restricted to the closed area of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park to the southwest of the active summit vents.  Big Island Video News.

Maui

Former Maui County mayors unite behind Bissen’s re-election. Former Governor and former Maui County Mayor Linda Lingle, along with former Maui County Mayors Alan Arakawa and Charmaine Tavares, have united behind Mayor Richard Bissen’s nonpartisan re-election campaign. Maui Now.

Kahului Airport remained resilient with passenger increase, despite TSA funding lapse this past spring. Kahului Airport screening volumes held steady even as a nationwide TSA funding lapse this spring triggered steep staffing shortages and sharp declines in passenger throughput at major mainland hubs, according to a new analysis from the travel research firm Upgraded Points. Maui Now.

Kimo’s to return to Lahaina. A restaurant that was established on Maui nearly 50 years ago and grew into a chain of 13 establishments across Hawaii and California is returning to Lahaina. Maui News.

Kauai

New Kaua‘i Council Candidates Are Raising The Most Campaign Cash. The 26 candidates racing for the seven council seats have raked in a combined $108,000 so far this election. Civil Beat.

Special community meeting to feature candidate for Hawai‘i lieutenant governor Kaua‘i County Mayor Kawakami. The Indivisible Kaua‘i hybrid meeting, which can be attended in-person or online via Zoom, also includes Deirdre Romney, who will present information about understanding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreements, what they are and why communities are reconsidering them. Kauai Now.

DOW announces tap water sampling for some customers. In compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lead and Copper Rule, the Department of Water, in partnership with the Hawaii State Department of Health, is conducting a complimentary household tap water sampling program in Kilauea, Haena-Wainiha and Hanalei. Garden Island.