A doctor has been charged with trying to murder his wife by pushing her off a Hawaii beauty spot and then bashing her in the head with a rock — allegedly just for refusing to take a photo with him, according to authorities.

Gerhardt Konig, a 46-year-old anesthesiologist from Maui, was on vacation on Oahu with his 36-year-old wife, nuclear engineer Arielle Konig, when he allegedly pushed her off a hiking trail in the Pali Lookout, a famous panoramic viewpoint, according to cops.

He allegedly flipped because his wife refused to take a picture with him, law enforcement sources told Hawaii News Now.

The doctor also repeatedly punched his wife and hit her with the rock — and at some point, even tried to poke her with two syringes, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, which did not elaborate on whether they contained drugs.

Arielle Konig was rushed to a hospital in serious condition with multiple facial and head injuries after the alleged attack early Monday, according to the Honolulu Police Department.

Konig was arrested close to Pali Highway after a brief foot chase around 6:45 p.m. Monday, roughly eight hours after the alleged attack.

Pali Lookout was closed for the rest of Monday following the shocking incident, Hawaii’s Division of State Parks said in a statement on Monday.

Konig, who was employed by an independent contractor to provide medical services as an anesthesiologist in Maui, has been suspended, Maui Health said in a statement on Monday.

“Maui Health is committed to patient safety and upholding the highest standards of care,” the statement read.

“We have been made aware of the allegations against Gerhardt Konig, MD. Dr. Konig has been suspended from the Medical Staff pending investigation. Dr. Konig is employed by an independent entity contracted to provide medical services at various medical facilities on Maui, including Maui Memorial Medical Center.

“Maui Health takes these concerns and the safety of its patients very seriously and will cooperate with authorities as appropriate,” the state continued.

Hawaii’s Big Island may be the next airline network planner battleground.

American Airlines filed plans over the weekend to relaunch service between Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole (KOA) beginning Nov. 20, as first seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson.

American’s Dallas-to-Kona route will operate seasonally through Feb. 28, 2026. Note that American will operate daily flights on this 3,724-mile route from Nov. 20, 2025, through Jan. 6, 2026, before taking a short six-week hiatus until resuming daily flights again Feb. 12, 2026.

The airline will deploy a 234-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner featuring 20 Flagship Business pods, 28 premium economy recliners, 48 extra-legroom Main Cabin Extra seats and 138 standard economy seats on the route.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier last operated this route in January 2022, according to Cirium schedules.

American’s plan to relaunch its Dallas-to-Kona service follows another major expansion on the Big Island.

Last week, Delta Air Lines announced that it, too, would add a new Kona route, this time from Salt Lake City. Delta’s service will operate using a Boeing 767-300ER.

Save money: How you can book flights to Hawaii using points and miles in 2025

The Big Island may not be as popular with tourists (or airline network planners) as Oahu and Maui, but seeing all the attention it has gotten from the airlines over the past few days is interesting.

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While there may not be a sudden uptick in demand for travel to the Big Island, carriers need to find a home for their wide-body jets during the winter season. That’s when transatlantic traffic declines and airlines have spare capacity on their biggest planes.

In recent years, Oceania has proved to be a popular spot to send twin-aisle planes during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter season, as have some hot spots in Africa, like Marrakech, Morocco.

But with its appeal to sunseekers, Hawaii has long been a popular bet for airline network planners. As such, it’ll be interesting to see how all the new service performs.

In fact, this weekend, American also added a second daily flight from DFW to Maui’s Kahului Airport (OGG) during the peak winter season. This is seemingly another play to deploy wide-body aircraft on the most appropriate routes this winter.

Ultimately, flyers will be the winners, as new airline service means more competition and, ultimately, more frequent fare wars and upgrade and award availability.

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Hawaii lawmakers have been busy this year assessing whether there should be more or fewer ways to earn state income tax credits, a year after approving historic tax cuts that ramp up through 2031.

At least two dozen bills were introduced this year to establish new tax credits, alter existing ones and abolish others.

Most bills were rather quickly ignored or rejected, though a few still pending would benefit family caregivers, help start hog farms and increase credits for film productions.

The longer list of shelved bills would have established new tax credits for things including hurricane-­resistant safe rooms in homes, aquaculture investments, cesspool replacements, telework, electric garbage truck purchases and water delivery service.

There also were rejected bills that would have given credits to residents who pay the state’s hotel room tax, to Hawaii National Guard retirees, to businesses that pay public transportation costs for employees, and to businesses with certain “food and beverage supply chain costs.”

Perhaps the most heavily contested piece of tax credit legislation this year has been House Bill 1369, introduced by Rep. Kyle Yama­shita, chair of the House Finance Committee, in an effort to explore eliminating or phasing out many existing tax credits, deductions and exemptions.

Broad review

HB 1369 aims to simplify the state tax system and enhance revenue sustainability by getting rid of close to 20 tax breaks.

Many companies and organizations oppose the bill, which received 351 pages of written testimony for a Feb. 24 hearing. The committee then advanced the measure to the 51-member House of Representatives, where a vote four days later was 40-7 to send the bill to the Senate for consideration.

Among things slated for elimination under the original version of the bill were credits for renewable energy technologies, including rooftop solar systems, and film productions.

The bill also proposed to repeal state general excise tax exemptions for industries and operations including petroleum refiners, independent sugar cane producers, business conducted in an enterprise zone and aircraft maintenance.

Yamashita (D, Pukalani-­Makawao-Ulupalakua) said at the outset of the hearing that his aim is to look at the list of tax benefits, most of which were identified by the state auditor for possible repeal, and determine whether they are achieving their intended purposes. Yamashita said he added the film and renewable energy tax credit programs — the two biggest tax credits promoting economic activity — on top of the auditor’s list for review.

“In general, where I’d like to see us move to is to use the tax code primarily to bring money in,” he said, adding that it may be better to provide grants or appropriations, subject to oversight and measurement, as incentives for certain things.

The nonprofit Tax Foundation of Hawaii for years has espoused a similar view, calling tax credits the expenditure of public money “out the back door” that can be hard to quantify before claims are submitted and approved.

“If, in fact, these dollars were subject to the appropriation process, would taxpayers be as generous about the expenditure of these funds when we need money to support victims of natural disasters like the Maui wildfires, there isn’t enough money for social service programs, or our state hospitals are on the verge of collapse?” the foundation said in written testimony on multiple tax credit bills.

Focus on film

Much of the opposing testimony on HB 1369 was concentrated on the film tax credit program, which has existed since 1997 and currently has a $50 million cap for credits after the industry claimed a record $68 million in credits in 2022. Productions, which can include movies, TV shows and commercials, are eligible for credits as a partial rebate on certain spending, and can receive payment for credits exceeding tax liability.

The film tax credit program has long been con­tentious over whether a financial incentive, or how much of an incentive, is needed to draw film productions to Hawaii, where natural attractions exist.

James Tokioka, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, which oversees the film tax credit program, said in written testimony that the program is crucial to attract more industry productions after reductions due to the coronavirus pandemic and industry strikes.

“Reducing the program’s impact would collapse the ability to attract new productions, develop our workforce and justify the demand for additional studio infrastructure investment,” he said. “If the incentive is eliminated, so too will the jobs and livelihoods of our talented crew and acting pool.”

The Motion Picture Association estimates that more than $260 million is paid annually in wages to people working on film, television and streaming produc­­- tions in Hawaii, and said in written testimony that repealing the tax credit program puts those jobs at risk.

Some supporters of the program encouraged raising the credit cap, including Sally “Kalei” Davis, who said she has worked in Hawaii’s film industry for 40 years. Davis suggested raising the cap to $100 million to avoid having shows depicting Hawaii being filmed in New Zealand or Atlanta.

“If this (bill) passes, it will be the nail in coffin for our Hawaii Film Industry!” Davis said in written testimony. “Why would anyone want that?”

The House Finance Committee amended the bill to exclude the film tax credit from being repealed.

At least a half-dozen other bills were introduced this year to alter the film tax credit program, mostly by increasing benefits, and one is still being considered for enactment.

Senate Bill 732 originally proposed to raise the $50 million annual cap to $60 million. Subsequent drafts don’t specify an increase amount. The Senate passed the bill unanimously March 4, and the measure is pending in the House.

Other additions

A few bills also still pending would provide tax credits for other things.

One of these, HB 701, would establish a tax credit for unpaid family caregivers to essentially recover up to $5,000 in annual caregiving expenses. The bill cited a 2023 AARP report that found 154,000 Hawaii residents provide unpaid caregiving services for a loved one.

The state Department of Taxation estimated that such a credit could reduce state tax collections by $397 million annually.

Another pending bill would provide tax credits on 50% of an investment to convert a dairy farm into a hog farm.

Supporters of this measure, SB 328, included DBEDT and the Hawaii Farm Bureau but no one seeking to use the proposed credit, capped at $1 million. The state Department of Agriculture suggested broadening the credit so it could apply to the transformation of farms and ranches in general.

The Tax Foundation of Hawaii was more critical in its written testimony that said, “The bill appears to be too narrow to be an industry incentive, and smells more like a benefit to a specific taxpayer. If so, the law would be unfair to other taxpayers, especially those in competition with the taxpayer seeking this benefit.”

It’s not uncommon for bills to get introduced on behalf of companies or industries. One piece of legislation introduced this year was promoted by Corteva Agriscience in an effort to undo a change lawmakers made in 2024 to a tax credit for research.

The Legislature in 2024 restricted eligibility for the research tax credit, which is limited to $5 million annually, to businesses with no more than 500 employees.

Corteva has about 22,500 employees and had $16.9 billion in sales in 2024. The company has five seed crop farms in Hawaii.

HB 92 proposed to undo the tax credit’s employee condition. Corteva said in written testimony that it proposed a “fix” to include larger companies, and that 2024’s change threatens growth and sustainability of high-paying research and development jobs and innovation in Hawaii.

The bill stalled in the House after being advanced by one committee.

Because it can be difficult to determine whether a tax credit program serves a public purpose well, Yama­shita took another tack this year by introducing a bill he said was aimed at exploring the issue by putting restraints on new or renewed tax credits.

This measure, HB 796, would impose an automatic five-year sunset on every income tax credit established or renewed after the end of this year, or phase out such credits over three years.

HB 796 was widely opposed by several stake­holders, including some organizations that feared it could affect income tax credits available to low­-income households.

During a Feb. 24 hearing on the bill, Yamashita asked whether the state Tax Review Commission, which meets every five years, would be better able to analyze merits of existing tax credits.

The commission is expected to convene later this year, and a Tax Department official told Yamashita that the department could suggest to the commission that tax credits are an area of interest for possible review.