Hawaii

Alleged Trump Gunman Was My Hawaii Pickleball Partner

Published

2 years ago

September 16, 2024

Before Ryan Wesley Routh allegedly became the second man to try and kill Donald Trump in as many months, he was something else entirely: A fiend on the pickleball court.

“He was a reasonably good player. He played really hard,” Bryant Schultz told The Daily Beast in a phone interview. “He was the only one out at the courts who would dive for the ball. Most pickleball players do not dive to make a shot.”

Schultz, 62, of Kaneohe, Oahu, played frequently with Routh, 58, over a period of several years as part of a loose coalition of residents who showed up at Swanzy Beach Park three mornings a week to get their pickleball on.

Both on and off the court, Routh was “always personable and good-natured,” Schultz said, as well as chatty, on friendly terms with many of the park’s regulars. Hard on himself when he made mistakes, he never chastised his partners. “Except for his own errors, he was the most mild-mannered player out there.”

Routh first appeared at the park after the worst of the pandemic had passed, Schultz recalled. “He never appeared to have a bunch of money,” he said. “He was often borrowing paddles. For quite a while, he played with a really chewed-up wooden paddle—because of his dive, you know.”

During a federal court appearance on Monday, Routh was charged with two firearm possession counts. He told the court that he had “zero funds” in savings and had no assets beyond two trucks in Hawaii, according to CNN.

It wasn’t totally clear to his teammates what Routh did for a living. Schultz heard that he “worked on building tiny houses” and would do odd-job repairs around the community, including on a local pier. “He wasn’t paid or contracted,” as far as Schultz knew, he said. “He just went out and made the surface safe for people to walk on.”

On his LinkedIn page, which remained live on Monday, Routh advertised his work with a company called Camp Box Honolulu, which he wrote builds storage units and “very simple housing structures for the less fortunate.” In 2019, a year after Routh moved to Oahu, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that he’d pledged to build tiny homes for Kalaeloa’s homeless community.

One thing Routh didn’t appear to be—at least on the pickleball court—was political.

“I can’t recall him ever talking politics,” Schultz said. He’d had no idea Routh had self-published a 291-page book last year in which he called for Trump’s assassination, criticizing the former president for his 2018 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. (Authorities have not yet laid out a possible motive in Sunday’s assassination attempt.)

In a section apparently directed at Iran’s government, Routh wrote, “You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal,” according to The Wall Street Journal. “No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection.”

Routh has a scattered political history tracing back to his time in his native North Carolina, where he registered as an “unaffiliated” voter in 2012. In his book, he groused that he was “so tired of people asking me if I am a Democrat or Republican as I refuse to be put in a category and I must always answer independent.”

On social media, he had professed support for Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, President Joe Biden, and Trump, whom he disavowed in mid-2020.

“I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving…” he tweeted that June. “I will be glad when you gone.”

Schultz and his fellow picklers were aware, however, that Routh left Hawaii for Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion, intent on fighting for Kyiv.

With no military experience and a lengthy criminal record, however, Routh was rebuffed by the Ukrainian defense ministry, he told Newsweek Romania in an article recently unearthed by CBS News.

“My initial goal was to come fight… but I’m 56, so initially they were like, I have no military experience, so they were like, you’re not an ideal candidate,” he told the magazine. “So they said, not right this minute. So plan B was to come here to Kyiv and promote getting more people here.”

Routh spent some time in the city trying to act as an informal recruiter for Ukraine’s International Legion, and spoke to both The New York Times and Semafor last year about his efforts. But several foreign soldiers involved with the legion told Slate on Sunday night that Routh “was not associated with them, recruited nobody to the cause, and did little during his time in Ukraine aside from garner publicity for himself.”

In a statement to NBC News, a spokesperson for the legion said, “We would like to clarify that Ryan Wesley Routh has never been part of, associated with, or linked to the International Legion in any capacity. Any claims or suggestions indicating otherwise are entirely inaccurate.”

After failing in his recruitment efforts, Routh eventually made his way back to Hawaii, where he took up pickleball again. The last time Schultz saw him was around four or five weeks before the assassination attempt, he said. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary; it was just another day on the court.

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Hawaii

Suspect sought in Kailua drive-by shooting

Published

5 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Press Room

Suspect sought in Kailua drive-by shooting

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A drive-by shooting road rage incident in Kailua has prompted an attempted murder police investigation.

According to the Honolulu Police Department, at around noon Sunday, an unknown man driving a white Ford van was involved in an alleged road rage incident with a 25-year-old man and his 24-year-old female passenger while they were inside their vehicle.

Police said the suspect allegedly displayed his handgun and then fired, hitting the vehicle.

No one was hurt.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call 911 or CrimeStoppers at (808) 955-8300.

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Hawaii

Journey adds second show to final performance in Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2026

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Journey adds second show to final performance in Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

COURTESY MIKE SAVOIA

Journey lead guitarist Neal Schon, an original member of the band that launched in 1973 in San Francisco.

The popular rock band Journey will perform a second show at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena after tickets for its Sept. 8 concert were quickly snatched up when the Hawaii-only presale began Friday.

The newly added Sept. 6 show will give Hawaii fans one more opportunity to experience Journey’s Final Frontier Tour. Concert promoter Rick Bartalini said the Sept. 8 show “will remain Journey’s last-ever performance” in the islands.

“Journey’s relationship with Hawaiʻi is unlike anything we have seen with a mainland-based artist or group,” Bartalini said in a news release. “These songs have been part of people’s lives here for generations, and the response to this final Hawaiʻi return has been incredible. The added September 6 show gives local fans another chance to be part of this historic final chapter before Journey’s last-ever Hawaiʻi performance on September 8.”

Tickets for both concerts are available at Ticketmaster.com through an exclusive presale for Hawaii residents. The Hawaii presale, which is online only, with no code required, gives local residents the chance to purchase tickets through 9 a.m. Friday before mainland access and general ticket sales begins an hour later.

Bartalini “strongly urged” fans to purchase tickets only through Ticketmaster, the official ticketing provider, and “to avoid inflated or speculative listings on resale sites.”

A dollar from every ticket sold will support the Hawaiian Council’s local flood recovery efforts for families and communities impacted by the recent Kona-low storms.

Journey has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. The band’s music spans more than five decades and includes chart-topping hits and rock anthems, including “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Faithfully,” “Wheel in the Sky,” “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” “Open Arms” and “Lights.”

The band’s last Hawaii shows were Oct. 5 and 6, 2022, at Blaisdell Arena.

“Fans in Hawai‘i hold a special place in Journey’s heart,” Bartalini said, noting that after the band’s first public show at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve 1973, the group flew to Hawaii the very next day, Jan. 1, 1974, to perform at the Sixth Annual Sunshine Festival, commonly referred to as the Diamond Head Crater Festival, for an audience of over 100,000.

From there, Journey became a recurring part of Hawaii’s concert history, performing live 34 times across the islands, including 30 confirmed appearances on Oahu and 26 shows at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, as well as performances at UH, the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, and the Queen’s Marketplace Amphitheatre in Waikoloa on the Big Island.

“Journey’s relationship with Hawai‘i is unlike anything we have seen with a mainland-based artist or group,” Bartalini said. “For more than 50 years, they have returned to these islands again and again, from Diamond Head Crater to this final stop at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, creating memories that span generations of local fans.

“Journey’s music has been woven into so many of our lives for generations. These are the songs people grew up with, fell in love to, drove around the island listening to, sang with their families, and carried through some of the most meaningful moments of their lives. That is what makes this Final Frontier Tour so powerful,” he added.

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Hawaii

Volcano Watch: A hui hou to a giant of volcanology – West Hawaii Today

Published

1 day ago

June 28, 2026

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Volcano Watch: A hui hou to a giant of volcanology – West Hawaii Today

In 2025, professor Bruce Houghton retired from the University of Hawaii at Manoa after 25 years as the Gordon A. Macdonald chair of volcanology. He was only the second person to hold the position in the past half century. With his retirement, let’s reflect on a career that helped shape how scientists understand explosive eruptions, volcanic hazards, and how communities live with active volcanoes.

Born and educated in New Zealand, Houghton established himself as a leading volcanologist at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences New Zealand before joining the University of Hawaii in 2000. In Hawaii, he became not only a researcher and professor, but also the state volcanologist.

Much of Houghton’s scientific work focused on a deceptively simple question: what can volcanic deposits tell us about the processes that created them? His answer is that the details matter. The textures and densities of erupted volcanic particles, their organization in volcanic deposits, and how they travel in the atmosphere are not just measurements. They are clues to how magma rises, releases gas, interacts with the vent environment, and ultimately erupts.

Houghton also pioneered the application of high-speed, high-resolution imaging of active volcanoes to quantify eruption processes with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. The impact of this work is reflected in a research record that includes more than $8 million in research funding since 2000, 291 journal publications, and nearly 20,000 references to his work.

His research challenged the common perception that basaltic volcanoes such as Kilauea and Mauna Loa are relatively simple compared with explosive volcanoes elsewhere in the world. Houghton showed that basaltic eruptions can display a remarkable range of explosive behavior, from exceptionally weak bubble bursts to powerful explosive activity. Basaltic eruptions can shift rapidly and reversibly through a spectrum of styles in a single event, from pulsating gas emission and episodic bursts to Hawaiian fountaining and more explosive eruptions. His work demonstrated that these changes often depend on shallow conduit processes and the vent environment, not just magma composition.

Houghton remained deeply connected to Hawaii’s volcanoes and communities. He worked closely with scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and participated in the scientific response to both the 2008-2018 summit lava lake eruption and the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption of Kilauea.

His influence extended far beyond his own research through the generations of students he mentored — 17 doctoral students at the University of Hawaii, four in New Zealand, and two in Iceland — many of whom now work in universities, geological surveys, volcano observatories, and emergency management organizations around the world. During the 2018 eruption, many former and current University of Hawaii students who trained under Houghton played important roles in the response, demonstrating the lasting impact of his commitment to education, mentorship, and public service.

Houghton also refused to separate volcano science from the human world around it. He championed the idea that volcanic crises are not purely scientific events; decisions by residents, emergency managers, planners, and elected officials can strongly influence how communities experience volcanic hazards.

Throughout his career, he advocated for closer collaboration between volcanologists, social scientists, emergency managers, and educators. As science director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii, he helped develop training programs connecting volcanic science with emergency preparedness and public safety.

The scientific community recognized Houghton’s contributions through numerous honors. In 2017, he received the Thorarinsson Medal, the highest award in international volcanology. He was also elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the Royal Society of New Zealand.

In 2025, he was named the world’s second-highest-ranked physical volcanologist based on publications, citations, awards, and impact. He was president of the Geological Society of New Zealand (at age 28!) and deputy secretary-general of the International Association of Volcanology.

Although Houghton has retired from his roles in Hawaii and returned to New Zealand, his connections to volcanology here remain strong. His continuing collaborations, including studies of Kilauea’s ongoing episodic lava-fountaining eruption, ensure that his influence extends well beyond his years at the University of Hawaii. As volcanic activity continues in Hawaii, many of the scientists, ideas, and approaches that guide our understanding of eruptions will continue to reflect the lasting influence of Bruce Houghton.

Volcano Activity Updates

Kilauea has been erupting episodically within the summit caldera since Dec. 23, 2024. Its USGS Volcano Alert level is ADVISORY.

Episode 49 of summit lava fountaining happened for 7.5 hours on June 14. Summit region inflation since the end of episode 49 indicates that another fountaining episode is possible. Models currently indicate that episode 50 is most likely to occur between June 25-27. No unusual activity has been noted along Kilauea’s East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

Mauna Loa is not erupting. Its USGS Volcano Alert Level is at NORMAL.

Eight earthquakes were reported felt in the Hawaiian Islands during the past week. Those above magnitude-3 are: a M3.6 earthquake 14 km (8 mi) S of Volcano at 7 km (4 mi) depth on June 24 at 8:29 a.m., a M3.2 earthquake 13 km (8 mi) SSE of Fern Forest at 6 km (3 mi) depth on June 23 at 9 a.m. HST, a M3.8 earthquake 21 km (13 mi) S of Honaunau-Napoopoo at 5 km (3 mi) depth on June 22 at 6:20 a.m., and a M3.1 earthquake 12 km (7 mi) SSE of Volcano at 6 km (3 mi) depth on June 20 at 7:55 p.m.

Please visit HVO’s website for past Volcano Watch articles, Kilauea and Mauna Loa updates, volcano photos, maps, recent earthquake information, and more. Email questions to askHVO@usgs.gov.

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