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Future Of Hawaii's Lands Is On The Agenda For Native Hawaiian Convention

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Future Of Hawaii's Lands Is On The Agenda For Native Hawaiian Convention


Speakers stressed the need to play a bigger role in land stewardship and driving social change.

Lively discussions on land use and finding ways to insert Hawaiians and cultural practices into public policy decisions punctuated the first day of the 2024 Native Hawaiian Convention.

It’s the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s largest conference yet and the first on the Big Island, with approximately 2,000 registered attendees cramming the hallways and convention rooms at the Hilton Waikoloa.

Improving engagement with government entities was another major theme of the opening sessions on Tuesday. The impact of a Hawaii Supreme Court decision protecting Hawaiian cultural practices drew a standing-room only audience. Another on the future of the military’s land leases with the state was also well attended.

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The 2024 Native Hawaiian Convention drew an estimated 2,000 attendees to the Hilton Waikoloa on the Big Island. (Blaze Lovell/Civil Beat/2024)

Attendees also heard from lawyers working on Indigenous intellectual property rights, Big Island ranchers trying to preserve the paniolo tradition, and cultural practitioners including Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele, daughter of legendary kumu hula and composer Edith Kanaka‘ole.

The conference comes as Native Hawaiians prepare to take a larger role in tourism management and negotiating the use of culturally significant areas like Mauna Kea and other parts of the islands used by the military for training.

Entrepreneur Mahina Paishon-Duarte said everyone has a role to play in land stewardship and driving social change.

“If we get in the way of each other and become each other’s enemies, we will not advance our lahui (nation),” she said.

Paishon-Duarte said it’s necessary for people to be “at the tip of the spear,” those who stir the pot and create discomfort until there’s a critical mass in the broader population calling for change.

From left to right, Kali Watson, Mahina Paishon-Duarte, John De Fries and Summer Sylva discuss land management. (Blaze Lovell/Civil Beat/2024)

She and other panelists pointed to the 2019 protests on Mauna Kea over construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope as one example. The protests eventually led to the creation of a new authority that will assume governance and management responsibility over Mauna Kea in 2028, replacing the University of Hawaii and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The authority’s board includes members of the astronomy community as well as those who lead the protest movement in 2019. The executive director, John De Fries, anticipates some struggles ahead.

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“That diversity will be tested as we move forward in shifting the kuleana over from the university,” he said.

Kali Watson, chairman of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, focused on the need to build relationships. He said that Native Hawaiian-serving organizations like DHHL, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Native Hawaiian trusts, commonly referred to as the alii trusts, need to work more closely together to combine their vast resources.

“We need you to step up and be a part of the process,” Watson told the audience.

A Seat At The Table

In his opening remarks, CNHA CEO Kuhio Lewis reflected on how the organization grew from a small nonprofit to a major player in the state involved in disaster recovery on Maui and other assistance programs.

CNHA experienced tremendous growth since Lewis took office, with annual revenues now totaling more than $70 million, up from $1 million in 2018, according to the organization’s tax filings.

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CNHA is also involved in tourism management. After a controversial procurement process, the CNHA won a portion of the coveted destination management contract for the U.S. West Coast. It was the first time a Native Hawaiian-led organization won the contract to manage the state’s most populous tourism market.

“We’re going to take back Waikiki,” Lewis said to applause from the crowd.

Kuhio Lewis said that CNHA needs to do a better job of supporting Hawaii island. (Blaze Lovell/Civil Beat/2024)

Panelists in a session on the military’s land leases echoed that sentiment and advocated for a return of more than 40,000 acres leased to defense agencies. Activists hope that the return of those lands is paired with cleaning and remediation programs by federal authorities.

Those lands include the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, the U.S. military’s largest live-fire training area in the Pacific. They also include Makua valley on Oahu, the former site of live-fire training exercises.

Many expect federal authorities to put up a fight over Pohakuloa, which the U.S. Army considers critical for preparation against potential foes with long-range artillery. UH professor Kyle Kajihiro anticipates agencies will use other lands as bargaining chips to hold on to areas they want, such as Pohakuloa.

While much of that process is being handled by state and federal agencies, Camille Kalama, a staff attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said it was important for Hawaiians to get involved.

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It can be hard to keep track of leases coming before the Board of Land and Natural Resources or proposals cropping up at the Legislature, in part because bureaucratic processes are often hard to sift through, she said. But consistently engaging with the process is critical.

“If we don’t push, if we don’t try, we’ll get the same as we always got,” she said.

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Hawaii island also will be a major focus during the conference, with at least two panels discussing Mauna Kea and federal funding for the Thirty Meter Telescope. There’s been no movement on TMT-reltaed construction since 2019. The project is currently awaiting funding from the National Science Foundation.

Other discussions will focus on food sovereignty, resource management, endangered bird species, the culture of canoe paddling and Hawaiian leadership.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs will host a discussion on the stewardship of Mauna Ala, the burial place of many of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s monarchs.

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U.S. Treasurer Marilynn Malerba, the first Native American to serve in the post, is scheduled to address the convention on Thursday. Featured speakers on the final day of the conference include Kamehameha Schools CEO Jack Wong, Gov. Josh Green and First Lady Jaime Green.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Native Hawaiian issues and initiatives is supported by a grant from the Abigail Kawananakoa Foundation.



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Family of Hawaii photographer Hannah Kobayashi, who vanished on ‘bucket list’ NYC trip, didn’t hear from detectives for 10 days

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Family of Hawaii photographer Hannah Kobayashi, who vanished on ‘bucket list’ NYC trip, didn’t hear from detectives for 10 days


The family of Hannah Kobayashi — the Hawaiian photographer who vanished while heading on a “bucket list” vacation to New York — say they did not hear from detectives for 10 days, and only after holding a rally demanding action.

Kobayashi missed a connecting flight to New York and was left stranded in Los Angeles after leaving the confines of LAX on Nov. 8, with her family last hearing from her three days later when she sent a series of alarming text messages.

The 30-year-old’s family filed a missing persons report the next day — but say they hadn’t heard anything from officials until they held a rally in the streets of LA on Thursday.

Hannah Kobayashi has been missing since flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles on Nov. 8, 2024. Facebook

“As of today the police have reached out to family members who last spoke with Hannah,” Kobayashi’s aunt Larie Pidgeon told the Daily Mail during the gathering. “We want them to take it a bit more seriously.

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“We think they realize we’re not going away and we’re going to be really loud. We’re going to do something until they do something,” she added. “I think now they are beginning the process of what we began six days ago.”

The Thursday rally was held in downtown LA, a block from Kobayashi’s last known location, the outlet reported.

Pidgeon said the family wasn’t giving up their search for Kobayashi.

Her father shared the same sentiment after his daughter went on a trip that was a “bucket list dream that became reality.”

“We will do everything we can until we have found her,” Ryan Kobayashi told the outlet. “We just need to get the word out there about her.”

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Volunteers put up missing person flyers for Kobayashi in Los Angeles on Nov. 21, 2024. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Volunteers hand out the flyers near Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

“She’s a wonderful person who brings joy to so many people,” he added

Kobayashi, of Haiku, flew from Maui to Los Angeles on Nov. 8, and was meant to make a connecting flight to New York, where she would be staying with another aunt.

Surveillance footage shows her arriving in LA, but she missed her connecting flight 42 minutes later.

After missing her flight, Kobyashi sent odd texts to her family and friends before she vanished, including messaging a friend that she “got tricked into pretty much giving away all my funds.”

A missing person poster for Kobayashi shared by family members on Facebook. Facebook / Sydni Kobayashi

In another message, she claimed she was supposedly fooled by “someone I thought I loved.”

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“Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f–k since Friday,” another message read.

Family previously said the texts supposedly from Kobayashi are not like her.

Kobayashi was seen arriving at LAX on Nov. 8, 2024. Missing People In America/Facebook

Other footage showed Kobayashi at the Grove shopping center in the Fairfax District of LA on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, as well as video of her returning to LAX, but not getting on a flight on Nov. 11 before she was seen near the metro station, USA Today reported.

Her phone has been off since Nov. 11, the family previously said.

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Family of missing Hawaii woman Hannah Kobayashi reveal shocking police detail after she mysteriously vanished on trip of a lifetime

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Family of missing Hawaii woman Hannah Kobayashi reveal shocking police detail after she mysteriously vanished on trip of a lifetime


Detectives waited ten days from when she was last heard from to interview the family of missing Hannah Kobayashi, her worried family has revealed.

The 30-year-old aspiring photographer disappeared from the streets of downtown Los Angeles after missing a connecting flight from her native Maui in Hawaii en-route to New York City.

It remains unclear why she left LA’s LAX airport and ventured out into the city 15 miles away but she sent a text to a friend saying she had had a ‘spiritual awakening’, and was later seen in the company of a mystery man.

On Thursday, frantic friends and family gathered in downtown LA, a block from where she was last seen, to spread the message and encourage the public to report any sightings and information they may have.

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‘As of today the police have reached out to family members who last spoke with Hannah,’ her aunt Larie Pidgeon told DailyMail.com on Thursday.

‘We want them to take it a bit more seriously.

‘We think they realize we’re not going away and we’re going to be really loud. We’re going to do something until they do something.

‘I think now they are beginning the process of what we began six days ago.

Hannah Kobayashi, 30, disappeared from the streets of downtown Los Angeles after missing a connecting flight from her native Maui in Hawaii en route to New York City

On Thursday, frantic friends and family, including her devastated dad Ryan Kobayashi (pictured) gathered in downtown LA, a block from where she was last seen, to spread the message and encourage the public to report any sightings and information they may have

On Thursday, frantic friends and family, including her devastated dad Ryan Kobayashi (pictured) gathered in downtown LA, a block from where she was last seen, to spread the message and encourage the public to report any sightings and information they may have

Hannah had been flying to meet another aunt in New York when she missed her connecting flight in Los Angeles

Hannah had been flying to meet another aunt in New York when she missed her connecting flight in Los Angeles 

‘The entire world is looking for you (Hannah) because that’s how special you are.

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‘We are not going to stop until we find you. We love you.’

Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, was handing out missing person flyers to passers-by and told DailyMail.com: ‘We will do everything we can until we have found her. We just need to get the word out there about her.

‘She’s a wonderful person who brings joy to so many people.’

The trip began in Maui on November 8 which she described in a hand-written itinerary as a ‘bucket list dreams become reality.’ 

Hannah had been flying to meet another aunt in New York when she missed her connecting flight in LA. 

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Family members and a friend received a series of cryptic texts from Hannah’s phone, causing them to fear she may have been abducted or trafficked. 

Another aunt, Geordan Montalvo and her husband Bob, both 51, were scheduled to see Hannah when she arrived in New York.

‘She’s really amazing,’ he tells DailyMail.com of Hannah. ‘She’s got a great spirit. She’s artistic and loving.’

The trio were scheduled to attend a DJ Scott Hansen – aka Tycho – concert at Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn on November 12. 

They had planned the trip with a former boyfriend who was on the flight from Maui with her, says her mother Brandi Yee, although the former couple would not be together in New York after landing at JFK airport.

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Bob Montalvo and Geordan Montalvo, the uncle and aunt of Hannah Kobayashi , who has been missing for 11 days gathers with the rest of the family in downtown Los Angeles to speak to the media and pass out flyers to raise awareness for their missing loved one

Bob Montalvo and Geordan Montalvo, the uncle and aunt of Hannah Kobayashi , who has been missing for 11 days gathers with the rest of the family in downtown Los Angeles to speak to the media and pass out flyers to raise awareness for their missing loved one

Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, was handing out missing person flyers to passers-by and told DailyMail.com: ‘We will do everything we can until we have found her. We just need to get the word out there about her'

Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, was handing out missing person flyers to passers-by and told DailyMail.com: ‘We will do everything we can until we have found her. We just need to get the word out there about her’ 

It remains unclear why the 30-year-old aspiring photographer left LAX airport and ventured out into the city 15 miles away

It remains unclear why the 30-year-old aspiring photographer left LAX airport and ventured out into the city 15 miles away 

She said the ex-boyfriend, who had continued on to New York, is being helpful with the hunt for Hannah.

Hannah was spotted out in Los Angeles on November 9 at the Tashen bookstore located at The Grove shopping center.

Her sister Sydni Kobayashi has previously stated that Hannah sent a Venmo payment to two people whose names the family does not recognize. A photo of the event also appeared to have been posted on her Instagram account.

That day, family and friends received ‘weird’ texts from Kobayashi, but they did not hear from her again.

However, a day later on November 11, surveillance video around a downtown Los Angeles Metro train station near the Crypto.com arena showed her with an unknown person. Her family said she “does not appear to be in good condition” in the footage.

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‘She didn’t look her normal self,’ Pigeon told DailyMail.com ‘She was with someone but we don’t know it was at this point. She didn’t look like she was safe.’

On November 11, Hannah sent a string of strange texts to a friend.

The missing Maui native vanished during a layover in Los Angeles while traveling from her home in Hawaii to New York and was spotted getting off her flight at LAX

The missing Maui native vanished during a layover in Los Angeles while traveling from her home in Hawaii to New York and was spotted getting off her flight at LAX

A series of texts have led the family to believe Kobayashi was not alone when she disappeared. They say diction in the texts indicates they were written by someone else

A series of texts have led the family to believe Kobayashi was not alone when she disappeared. They say diction in the texts indicates they were written by someone else

She wrote ‘Deep Hackers wiped my identity, stole all of my funds, & have had me on a mind f*** since Friday.’

Another text said ‘I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds, followed by one saying, ‘For someone I thought I loved.’

Pidgeon added: ‘We’re not sure if Hannah actually wrote the texts or if someone else did.’

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Lawsuit challenges Hawaii’s gun ownership ban for young adults

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Lawsuit challenges Hawaii’s gun ownership ban for young adults


The latest lawsuit to take aim at Hawaii’s gun laws challenges the state’s ban on gun ownership for young adults 18 to 20 years old, which Second Amendment advocates say is an unconstitutional restriction on the right of Americans to bear arms.

Elijah Pinales, 19, and Juda Roache, who turns 18 next month, want to own guns for self-defense, according to their lawsuit filed Wednesday night in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

Their lawyers assert that Hawaii is the only state with a complete ban on acquiring and owning firearms and ammunition by those who are 18 to 20. Some states allow 18-year-olds to purchase a long gun and some allow for private party transfer of handguns, said Alan Beck, one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit and has lodged numerous other challenges to Hawaii weapons laws.

Roache’s mother wants to give him a firearm and ammunition, the lawsuit says.

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Federal law requires a person to be 21 to purchase a handgun from a licensed firearm dealer and 18 to buy a long gun from a dealer, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. There’s an 18-year-old minimum for handgun purchases from unlicensed sellers and no minimum age for long guns, according to the group’s research.

New York and Illinois also have broad laws limiting people under 21 from possessing firearms, said David Pucino, legal director and deputy chief counsel for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

“Hawai’i has some of the strongest gun laws in the country and it has among the very lowest gun death rates,” he said in a statement Thursday. “That’s not an accident, but it hasn’t stopped extremists from attacking Hawai’i’s gun laws at every turn.”

According to Everytown, firearms are the leading cause of death for young people ages 18 to 20, the firearm suicide rate in that age group has jumped 41% in the last decade, and 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of those 21 and older.

The Hawaii attorney general’s office said it had not been served with the complaint and declined to comment.

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“There can be no real argument that adults under 21 are not part of the national community,” the lawsuit said, noting that 18-to-20-year-olds have the right to vote. “They have the right to serve in the military and are otherwise full-fledged members of society and the People.”

The quest for a preliminary injunction against enforcing a prohibition on gun ownership for young adults comes as Hawaii continues to contend with a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.

The so-called Bruen decision upended gun laws nationwide and set a new standard for interpreting gun laws, such that modern firearm laws must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.

There’s no historical tradition of prohibiting the purchase and ownership of firearms and ammunition by adults under 21, according to the lawsuit, which describes some of the nation’s founding figures such as Aaron Burr, who at 19 enlisted in the Continental Army with his own arms and ammunition, and James Monroe who did the same at 18.

Hawaii’s gun ownership ban for young adults dates to 1994, the lawsuit said. The state “doubled down” this year by prohibiting the possession of ammunition by those under 21, the lawsuit said.

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Danger Close Tactical in Honolulu and JGB Arms on Kauai are federally licensed firearms dealers who are plaintiffs in the case because they want to do business with customers who are 18 to 20 years old, the lawsuit said.

Another plaintiff is the Second Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit in Bellevue, Washington.



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