In the News

Federal lawmakers have committed to a record funding appropriation for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. U.S. senators gave final approval Friday to a bill that would allocate $22.3 million to DHHL, sending the measure to President Joe Biden for his anticipated signature. The impending contribution, announced by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, would be the most money delivered at once to DHHL by the federal government ever, and compares with a $2 million appropriation in 2021. The...

Money has been secured for a new community center and affordable senior housing at the Lima Ola Community, an affordable-housing development in ‘Ele‘ele that will house more than 500 families. U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz announced the $8.5 million in congressionally directed spending, also known as an earmark, in this year’s appropriations bill. “On behalf of the people of Kaua‘i, we extend a heartfelt mahalo to Sen. Schatz and our congressional team for securing this...

The Justice Department is directing prosecutors to stop limiting defendants' ability to seek compassionate release in most federal plea agreements, after advocates criticized the practice as cruel and against the intent of Congress.DOJ officials handed down the order a month after an NPR story detailed the practice, which curtailed peoples' ability to petition for release from prison because of severe illness or other extraordinary circumstances. That story drew the attention of Attorney...

Hawaii will receive $263 million in congressionally directed spending this year, including more than $240 million in earmarks, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz announced on Wednesday. “Earmarks are back and that means more federal money for agencies and worthy nonprofits that serve local communities,” said Schatz, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We did very well this year and are bringing home millions in new federal funding — and all of that will go...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz on Wednesday announced that an additional $150 million in federal funding has been allocated to defuel and permanently shut down the Red Hill facility. The money is in addition to the $100 million from last month, which was included in a larger government spending bill. Schatz worked with top leaders in the Biden administration and Senate Appropriations Committee for the funding. “We still have more work to do to make sure Red Hill is closed safely, but we now...

Hawaiʻi's congressional delegation and local leaders praised the Defense Department's decision Monday to permanently shut down the Navy Red Hill fuel tank facility that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor's tap water. Some officials and activists voiced cautious optimism, warning there is a lot of work ahead. The facility, built into the side of a mountain during World War II to protect the fuel tanks from enemy attack, leaked into a drinking water well and contaminated water at...

The Defense Department will permanently shut down the Navy’s massive fuel tank facility in Hawaii that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor’s tap water, and will remove all the fuel, the Pentagon said Monday. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the decision by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is based on a new Pentagon assessment, but also is in line with an order from Hawaii’s Department of Health to drain fuel from the tanks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage...

Across America, justice is not being served because of long-standing laws and rulings that weakened tribal courts. If a Native woman in Indian Country is sexually assaulted by a non-Indian perpetrator, tribal courts are unable to prosecute the crime. The lack of jurisdiction has effectively allowed non-Native offenders to act with immunity, leaving Native women especially vulnerable to violence. “The [United States] government that colonized them has told these local governments...

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a short-term funding bill that includes a provision that pushes the Department of Defense to abide by a state emergency order to drain the tanks at the Navy’s underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and provides $100 mil­lion in funding for the process. The Navy has resisted the order, issued in December by the state Department of Health, after fuel from the facility tainted the serv­ice’s water system that serves 93,000 people in...

Five Big Island agricultural businesses will receive federal funding to help create new products and better advertise their goods and services to multiple markets. Island Harvest, a macadamia nut farm located in North Kohala, will receive $214,379 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Value Added Producer Grant Program. “It was a rigorous application that required a feasibility study along with it,” said owner Andrew Britton. “It’s one of those things you think...

Makaʻalae Farms on Maui is set to receive $250,000 in funding from the US Department of agriculture to help create new products and better advertise goods and services. According to a post on the Living Local 365 website, Maka’alae Farms is a family-owned and operated farm dedicated to bringing authentic kombucha brewed with organically grown ingredients in Hawaiʻi. The product was available at many retailers through 2020 including: Tamura’s Fine Wines and Liquors on...

Hawaii is set to receive more than $10.7 million in federal funding to support sustainable fishing and hunting and wildlife conservation in the isles, according to U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz. The funding is from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program that received a record $1.5 billion this year, according to a news release from the U.S. Interior Department. The USFWS Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program will support scientific research, educational programs, and habitat restoration and...

United States Sen. Brian Schatz introduced legislation to shut down the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility permanently. “Together we will work to secure federal funding to defuel, conduct congressional oversight and push for legislation. Our bicameral bill will help us in our fight to protect our water and shut down Red Hill,” said Sen. Schatz in a statement. Schatz’s legislation followed a “companion legislation” introduced by Hawaii Congressmen...

Hawaii is set to receive more than $2.6 million in new funding to expand its network of electric vehicle charging stations, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz. It is the first round of nearly $18 million total, based on estimated formula funding, available to Hawaii over the next five years to help install EV charging, Schatz said. “People want to purchase EVs, but they worry about where and when they’ll be able to charge their...

US Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) was part of a coalition of senators who sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to step up efforts to demilitarize the police. The letter urged limiting the transfer or purchase of certain military equipment for federal, state, tribal, territorial and local law enforcement agencies. “Militarized law enforcement increases the prevalence of police violence without making our communities safer,” the letter said. “Now is the moment to make these...

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz said on Monday, Feb. 7, that $100 million in federal funds were secured in Washington to cover the cost of defueling the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and directs the Department of Defense (DoD) to comply with the State of Hawai’i’s emergency public health order. To avoid a government shutdown, Schatz has been working with other Bipartisan leaders to include the funding provision in a spending bill that will need to be approved in Congress. “This...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz announced Monday that he has secured $100 million in new federal funding to help cover the costs of emptying the Red Hill fuel tanks. The funds are part of more than $400 million included in a federal spending bill for the Red Hill crisis. The bill is expected pass the House and Senate before heading to the President’s desk next week. In an interview Monday, Schatz told HNN that the Red Hill tank system can’t be safely run. “I think we should shut it...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz secured $100 million in new federal funding to pay for the defueling of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in compliance with a Hawaii health department order, his office said on Monday. Schatz, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, worked with Republicans and Democrats to include the provision in a federal spending bill, according to his office. The legislation needs to pass to avoid a government shutdown. “This bill funds defueling, and it...

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz announced today that his office had secured $100 million in new federal funding to cover the cost of defueling the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and direct the Department of Defense to comply with the state’s emergency public health order issued in December. “This bill funds defueling, and it establishes Congress’s position on Red Hill: the DoD must defuel and follow the state’s order immediately,” Schatz said in a news release....

Hawaii members of Congress said Monday a spending bill that must pass to avoid a government shutdown includes $403 million to address the crisis caused by the leaking of petroleum from a Navy fuel storage tank facility into Pearl Harbor drinking water. The money incorporates $100 million to drain fuel from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. It also directs the Defense Department to comply with an emergency order from the state of Hawaii to defuel the tanks. The military last week appealed...