Hawaii
Competing bills seek to define power of Mauna Kea Authority – The Garden Island
Hawaii lawmakers will battle it out this session with competing bills dictating the powers of the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority.
Hilo Sen. Lorraine Inouye has reintroduced this year a measure she acknowledged would neuter the power of the state authority, which will take over management of the Mauna Kea Science Reserve from the University of Hawaii in 2028, by making it subservient to the state Board of Natural Resources.
That measure, Senate Bill 6, follows up on a similar one she introduced in 2023, which failed to pass. The 2023 bill would have added minimal language to state laws clarifying that all powers and jurisdiction over state conservation district land, which includes all of the science reserve, will remain with the BLNR.
While SB 6 goes into more detail than the 2023 bill, it serves a similar purpose.
It states that the MKSOA will be “the principal authority for the management of state-managed lands within the Mauna Kea lands; provided that the natural resource management enforcement and emergency response over these lands shall remain the responsibility of … the Department of Land and Natural Resources.”
“Conservation land should remain in the control of the BLNR,” Inouye said Thursday, explaining she considers the matter a public land trust issue.
Inouye noted she was “the only naysayer” when the Legislature passed a measure in 2022 to form the MKSOA in the first place. At the time, she expressed concerns about the ability of the Mauna Kea Observatories to renew their leases with the state between the transition of power in 2028 and the expiration of UH’s master lease in 2033.
In 2023, Inouye also was concerned about what she saw as ambiguity in MKSOA’s jurisdiction. The wording of its powers, she said in 2023, could suggest that the MKSOA has authority over nearly 56,000 acres across Mauna Kea instead of just the 11,000-acre science reserve.
Inouye said Thursday she believes there was no problem with UH’s land management before 2022, and that the bill forming the MKSOA was railroaded into passage for political reasons and without consultation with UH’s Center for Maunakea Stewardship.
But while Inouye said she hopes some of her colleagues in the Legislature have come around to her way of thinking since 2023, she has opponents this time around.
Two bills, House Bill 143 and Senate Bill 769, would clarify the MKSOA’s powers following the 2028 transition, allowing it to approve or deny conservation district use permits and ensure lessees’ compliance with permit requirements.
Kohala Rep. David Tarnas, who introduced HB 143, called his bill “an important refinement” of Act 255, the 2022 law that established the MKSOA. He said Inouye’s bill is an attempt to fundamentally change the purpose of the MKSOA beyond the terms of Act 255, and that he would prefer to keep moving forward with the authority instead of going backward.
HB 143 and SB 769 also specify that the current conservation district use permits for every one of the summit telescopes will not be transferred from UH to the MKSOA in 2028. Hamakua and Kohala Sen. Tim Richards, co-introducer of SB 769, said where those permits would go is yet to be determined by the MKSOA.
John De Fries, MKSOA board member, said that question is still a hotly debated one.
“But I’m confident we can resolve the issue,” De Fries said. “We’ve got experts in the field working on it and talking about it.”
De Fries said he met with Inouye on Thursday and has “agreed to disagree” about her measure. He said Act 255 has as its central tenet the concept of “mutual stewardship,” whereby representatives of diverse groups including UH, the Mauna Kea Observatories and the Hawaiian community can make decisions about the mountain, which would be undermined by SB 6.
“Sen. Inouye would like the return decision-making power back to BLNR … which would reduce the authority to only an advisory capacity,” De Fries said.
Ultimately, De Fries said, the mutual stewardship concept is what drew him to join the MKSOA board, and he hopes the board can continue to operate as intended.
“What attracted me to this board was this new way of resolving issues this complex and critical to Hawaii’s future,” De Fries said.
Richards said he was not wedded to the specific solutions of SB 769 and that there may well be better solutions for the authority yet to be developed. But, he added, “we’ve got to get something in the pipeline now because we’re running out of time. We have three years, and if we can’t get something started now, we’ll be a year behind.”
Hawaii
Historic Hawaiian Kukui Tree Cut Down After Nearly 30 Years at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort – WDWNT
A notable piece of living history has been removed from Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort after reportedly dying from recent cold weather.
Walt Disney World’s One-of-a-Kind Hawaiian Tree
The Polynesian Resort’s one-of-a-kind kukui nut tree was cut down in late June after Disney horticulturalists determined the tree could no longer survive in the wake of a uniquely difficult Florida winter.
The large tropical tree was located to the rear of the Great Ceremonial House, just off a guest footpath. According to a 2020 Forestry Journal feature, it was believed to be the only tree of its kind in mainland North America.
The tree, Aleurites moluccana, was donated to Disney by the people of Hawaiʻi and planted at the resort on April 5, 1997, the 25th anniversary of the opening of Magic Kingdom.
The kukui tree carried particular significance as the state tree of Hawaiʻi from 1959 forward, and it is still regarded as an important cultural symbol of the state. The tree at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort had been transplanted directly from Hawaiʻi, with a time capsule reportedly placed in the soil around its roots and base when it was planted.
In accordance with a traditional Hawaiian custom, according to the Forestry Journal piece, the kukui tree was planted behind the Great Ceremonial House rather than at the front, and it was deliberately planted by one lucky hotel guest, rather than a Cast Member. The article explained that this reflected a Hawaiian belief that kukui trees should be planted toward the rear, or “hale,” of a home and by a stranger to bring good luck.
In our photos, crews are seen working in the landscaped area near the resort’s longhouses and the Lava Pool. Orange cones and barricades block off portions of the walkway, with a utility vehicle and equipment nearby. The tree had been cut down, with a tall remaining trunk section visible where the kukui tree once stood.
At Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, the tree helped support the resort’s South Pacific placemaking. The tree’s distinct light green, silvery leaves, striking trunk, and small green fruits stood out against native Florida trees and even other tropical trees planted at the resort.
For much of the kikui’s tree life, a Moreton Bay fig tree grew nearby on the opposite side of an adjacent footpath, another transplant tree which itself was removed some time around 2022.
The Facebook group Tikiman’s Unofficial Polynesian Resort Pages made a post regarding the tree’s removal, detailing that the recent unusual cold weather at the resort was too much to bear.
The tree had, however, a history of surviving violent Florida weather. A Disney Resort Team member told Forestry Journal that the kukui tree had been struck by lightning twice, survived hurricanes, nearly been uprooted, and endured prior cold snaps before this latest reported decline.
It is not currently known whether Disney plans to replace the kukui tree, or whether the reported time capsule at its base was removed, returned to the ground, or preserved elsewhere. We will keep you updated
Do you have any memories or photos of the kukui tree during its time at the Polynesian? Please share your memories with us on social media.
For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Whether four-star 2028 prospect King Pitts has an offer from the Washington Huskies as an offensive lineman or an athlete, he’s firmly on Jedd Fisch and the Washington Huskies coaching staff’s radar.
The 6-foot-5, 255-pound two-way lineman is back in his native Hawaii and set to play his junior season at Kapa’a High School after playing at Cardinal Newman in California, after establishing himself as a national recruit during his sophomore year as an offensive tackle and versatile defensive lineman.
The No. 241 overall recruit—according to the 247Sports Composite—Pitts holds 43 total scholarship offers with two years still left of high school football.
As a defensive lineman, Pitts can play either defensive tackle or defensive end with his ability to be a disruptive force against the run and pass. Whichever position the Islands product ends up playing at the next level, there isn’t a question of if, but how well he’ll hold up against Big Ten and SEC-caliber talent.
UW hasn’t ventured heavily into recruiting Hawaii as much recently as the football program has in previous decades. Aside from signing tight end Kekua Aumua in the 2026 class, who began and finished his prep career at Kahuku after transferring to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, for his junior season, Fisch has only signed one other prospect from Hawaii, Mililani quarterback Treston Kini McMillan in 2025.
Over the years, the Huskies have featured several notable recruits from the Islands, including defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele in 2019 and a pair of edge rushers, Zion Tupuola-Fetui in 2018 and Hau’oli Kikaha in 2010.
If Fisch and Co. can get the coveted two-way lineman on campus for at least one, if not multiple, unofficial visits over the course of the next 12 months, UW should be a major factor in Pitts’ recruitment long-term.
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.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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