Tag: hawaii

Appeals Court Blocks Hawaii’s Climate Change Tourist Tax on Cruise Ships

A federal appeals court on New Year’s Eve blocked Hawaii from enforcing a new tax on cruise ship passengers, one day before it was set to go into effect.

Two judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit imposed an injunction on the law, reversing a lower court ruling.

The injunction against Hawaii’s tax is in place pending resolution of appeals, Circuit Judges Andrew Hurwitz and Daniel Bress stated in an order.

Cruise Lines International Association, which challenged the tax, did not respond to a request for comment.

“We remain confident that Act 96 is lawful and will be vindicated when the expedited appeal is heard on the merits,” a spokesperson for Hawaii’s attorney general told The Epoch Times via email.

Hawaii had taxed short-term accommodations such as hotels. With Act 96, scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, the state increased the tax to 14 percent and extended it to cruise ships.

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Everytown’s Defense of ‘Vampire Rule’ Renders the Second Amendment Meaningless

In less than a month from now, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Wolford v. Lopez, the challenge to Hawaii’s default ban on concealed carry on all private property (also known as the “vampire rule”, thanks to FPC’s Rob Romano) unless property owners specifically allow it. Amicus briefs in support of both the plaintiffs and defendants have now been filed with the Court, and over the next couple of days we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the arguments raised in defense of the gun control law… starting with the amicus brief filed by Everytown for Gun Safety. 

What makes this brief noteworthy is the audacity of the gun control group’s arguments, which fly in the face of the Court’s decisions in Heller, McDonald, and Bruen and would essentially turn the Second Amendment into a dead letter if adopted by the justices. 

The first argument raised by Everytown is that laws that are specifically designed to frustrate Second Amendment rights are presumptively constitutional, and that an “improper purpose” for a gun control statute is not reason enough for the courts to strike it down. 

This Court’s decisions in Bruen and Rahimi set forth the operative analytical framework for Second Amendment challenges. When a contemporary law regulates conduct that falls within the Amendment’s text, this framework points courts to historical evidence to determine whether the law is consistent with tradition. The United States and petitioners now ask the Court to distort that methodology by arguing for per se invalidation of any regulations that “restrict[] firearms simply to frustrate the exercise of Second Amendment rights”—a description they incorrectly ascribe to Hawai‘i’s statutory scheme. And they incorrectly claim that their freefloating improper-purpose test is grounded in the textual and historical understanding of the Second Amendment. Because neither precedent, text, nor history supports that novel test, the Court should reject it.

Now, it’s true that the Supreme Court has said that courts need to look to the text of the Second Amendment as well as the national tradition of gun ownership to determine if a modern gun control law is 2A-compliant, but there’s a good reason why the justices have never explicitly said that laws meant to chill the exercise of our right to keep and bear arms are unconstitutional: it’s self-evident. 

Rights exist for a reason, and any laws that are put in place with an eye towards curtailing that right are, by their very nature, constitutionally unsound. And despite Everytown’s claim to the contrary, Hawaii’s “vampire rule” is absolutely meant to stop people from exercising their right to bear arms. If it’s illegal to carry a gun in the vast majority of publicly accessible places, even with a concealed carry permit, then most people aren’t going to bother getting one… and those that do will be unable to carry except in a very limited number of locations. 

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No criminal charges for Hawaii Island police officer in the death of K-9 police dog

There will be no criminal charges filed against Hawaii Police Department Officer Sidra Brown, the handler of K-9 Archer, the narcotics detection dog that died Sept. 4 after being left unattended in a police vehicle in Kona.

Archer was a 6-year-old narcotics detection dog.

The Dept. of the Attorney General said, “After careful consideration of the evidence associated with this case, examination of the scene, and possible applicable law, our office has declined to prosecute this matter due to insufficient evidence of a crime.”

Hawaii has both misdemeanor and felony charges for animal cruelty. First- degree animal cruelty is a Class C felony punishable by five years imprisonment.

Officer Brown was reassigned to another position while the police department continues its own administrative investigation.

The police department told the paper that it will now have heat detectors in patrol cars with K-9’s as well as collars that will be connected to the officer’s cellphone to monitor the dogs’ health at all times.

Warnings from the collar would be sent to its handler if it’s in distress.

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Hawaii Has The Highest Homelessness Rate In America, Mississippi The Lowest

There are around 772,000 homeless Americans (nearly 230 for ever 100,000 Americans), according to the last time a point-in-count assessment was done in 2024.

In this visualization, Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao, take a look at the highest homelessness rates by state, measured per 100,000 residents.

The data for this visualization comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, paired with 2024 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

⚠️ Caveats: Point-in-time counts were conducted in January, 2024 by local Continuums of Care (CoCs), with latitude in methodology. They risk undercounting unsheltered populations, people couch‑surfing, or those avoiding contact.

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US Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Hawaii’s Gun Law

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Oct. 3 to take up a new Second Amendment case related to a Hawaii law that bars the carrying of handguns on private property open to the public, such as restaurants, malls, and many businesses.

The nine justices took up an appeal by three Hawaii residents who have concealed carry licenses, and a state-based gun rights advocacy group challenging Hawaii’s law while seeking to reverse a lower court’s determination that the state law complies with the Second Amendment.

Hawaii’s gun law bans firearms on private property unless the owner has specifically allowed them on the premises. It also blocks firearms in places such as beaches, parks, bars, and restaurants that serve alcohol.

Hawaii’s measure was challenged by state residents Jason Wolford, Alison Wolford, and Atom Kasprzycki—who own firearms and have concealed carry licenses—along with the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, a gun rights organization. The defendant is listed as Hawaii Attorney General Anne E. Lopez.

In a petition to the high court submitted earlier this year, the plaintiffs ask whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which upheld the state law, “erred in holding … that Hawaii may presumptively prohibit the carry of handguns by licensed concealed carry permit holders on private property open to the public.”

A judge blocked the Hawaii law after it was challenged in court by the gun rights group and the three Maui residents. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, largely reversed that decision and allowed Hawaii to enforce the law.

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‘Handsome’ Hawaiian police dog dies after being left in hot car by handler

A Hawaiian police dog died in a hot car when its handler abandoned her animal partner “for an unacceptable period of time.”

Archer, a 6-year-old Belgian Malinois-German Shepherd mix, died in a police vehicle on last Thursday after his handler Sidra Brown forgot about the drug sniffing pup in the car, the Hawaii Police Department announced in a press release.

“Archer was not just a police dog, he was a partner, protector, and a member of our police family,” Interim Police Chief Reed Mahuna wrote in the release. “This was a preventable tragedy.”

The crime-fighting canine worked alongside handler Officer Brown in “numerous operations,” according to the department’s website.

The department is conducting a comprehensive review of its K9 policies and procedures.

A profile on the department’s website said Archer enjoyed “being handsome and eating mangoes.”

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PLANDEMIC 2.0: Is BILL GATES behind the latest outbreak of ‘Break-Bone’ Dengue Fever with his GMO mosquitoes?

Sound the Dengue alarms! Panic at the plandemic, part two. But wait, don’t “break your bones” rushing to get an mRNA blood clot, turbo cancer shot or the Dengvaxia jab. The last round of scamdemic madness is killing off millions of people. Let’s take a look at what’s really happening. Oh dang, here come the dangvaxia mandates.

Health officials across the United States are raising alarms as dengue fever, often called “break-bone fever” due to its severe joint and muscle pain, continues to surge nationwide. Hawaii has reported 12 cases so far in 2025, bringing it close to surpassing the state’s 16 cases recorded throughout 2024. The most recent infection involved a resident of Oahu who contracted the virus during international travel to a dengue-endemic region.

  • Hawaii outbreak and national surge: Hawaii has reported 12 dengue fever cases in 2025—nearly matching last year’s total—while the CDC has documented 2,725 cases nationwide across 46 states and territories, with Puerto Rico, Florida, and California hardest hit.
  • Source and spread: The most recent Hawaii case involved an Oahu resident infected during international travel. Dengue is primarily spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which thrives in tropical and subtropical regions.
  • Health risks and treatment: Symptoms include high fever, severe joint pain, rash, and in severe cases, internal bleeding or shock. While supportive care like fluid replacement reduces mortality to below 1%, untreated cases can be fatal.
  • Vaccine and prevention challenges: A WHO-approved vaccine exists but production has been halted by Sanofi Pasteur due to low demand, with remaining doses expected to run out by 2026. Health officials stress mosquito control, repellents, protective clothing, and screened housing as key preventive measures.

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Kristi Noem claims 1 in 6 survivors of Lahaina wildfires were forced to trade sexual favors for supplies

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has claimed one in six survivors of the Lahaina wildfires in Hawaii had to trade sexual and other favors to get basic supplies.

The comments were seemingly in reference to a report on female Filipino survivors, which one of the authors called a “gross manipulation” of the report, according to Politico.

At a review meeting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday, Noem said, ​​“After the wildfires in Maui, residents voiced concerns that every FEMA employee that they spoke with had different answers.”

“None of them had conversations that resulted in getting assistance that was helpful or any clarity in their situations,” she added. “The situation in Lahaina was so bad that one in six survivors were forced to trade sexual favors, other favors for just basic supplies.”

The study on Filipino female survivors was conducted by Tagnawa, which states that it is a “Filipino feminist disaster response organization” in Hawaii. The review included responses from 70 female Filipino fire survivors and found that 16 percent had engaged in “survival sex in exchange for basic necessities post-disaster,” with “a landlord, an employer, family members, friends and acquaintances.”

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Hawaii Governor Signs Law Requiring Hemp Retailers to Register With State, Sets Age Restriction on Tinctures

The law, HB 1482, was signed on July 2 and will take effect January 1, 2026. It restricts sales of hemp-derived tinctures to those 21 and older, aligning the product category with rules for adult-use substances.

In addition to the registration requirement, the law grants health officials the authority to inspect facilities involved in hemp sales and distribution and to confiscate noncompliant products. It also makes clear that violations may be prosecuted under the state’s laws on unfair or deceptive practices, unfair competition, and nuisance abatement.

Oversight of hemp processing will fall to the Office of Medical Cannabis Control and Regulation, which will administer a new program specifically for hemp processors. Registration fees and other costs tied to implementation will be funded through Hawaii’s Hemp Processing Special Fund.

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Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill, After Calling One Of Its Provisions ‘A Grave Violation Of Privacy,’

On the heels of signaling a possible veto of a bill meant to expand access to medical marijuana in Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green (D) instead signed the measure into law over the weekend, regardless of a provision he recently described as “a grave violation of privacy.”

HB 302 will make two main reforms around patient access. First, it allows a patient’s primary treating medical provider to recommend marijuana for any malady they see fit, regardless of whether it’s a specified qualifying condition in Hawaii. It also allows patients to receive medical cannabis recommendations through telehealth visits rather than having to establish an in-person relationship with a provider.

Before lawmakers sent the bill to Green, a conference committee revised the plan, inserting a provision to allow the state Department of Health to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason whatsoever.

The revised bill authorizes the Department of Health to “inspect a qualifying patient’s medical records held by the physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or hospice provider who issued a written certification for the qualifying patient.” Providers who don’t comply with a department request for a patient’s records could see their ability to issue medical cannabis revoked.

Advocates initially supported HB 302 as a means to expand access to patients with conditions beyond those specified under state law. But many withdrew support following the conference committee’s changes.

An additional provision establishes a new Class C felony for unlicensed operation of a dispensary, adding another major charge on top of the state’s existing laws against illegal distribution of marijuana.

In early June, Green himself put the cannabis measure on a list of bills he intended to veto—an indication, though not a commitment, that he was leaning towards rejecting it.

“Although this bill’s authorization of medical cannabis certifications via telehealth expands access to medical cannabis,” his office wrote at the time, “provisions authorizing the inspection of patients’ medical records without warrant constitute a grave violation of privacy.”

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