Hawaii

University of Hawaii Budget Request Faces Backlash From Senators

Published

2 years ago

January 11, 2024

University of Hawaii Budget Request Faces Backlash From Senators

Senators and University of Hawaii leaders clashed over funding for student housing during a budget hearing Wednesday, even as both groups recognized an urgent need to address a years-long facilities problem.

Although the UH board of regents requested $120 million to renovate and repair student housing at UH Manoa, the governor’s proposed budget did not include those funds for the upcoming fiscal year. So the university is turning to the Legislature, which is holding hearings before it convenes on Jan. 17.

Currently, housing at the university’s flagship campus consists of over 20 residential buildings, many built in the 1960s and ’70s, housing nearly 3,500 students.

UH President David Lassner, who plans to retire at the end of this year, emphasized that student housing was one of the university’s top priorities. But senators criticized and questioned the timing of UH’s funding request.

Sen. Donna Mercado Kim repeatedly questioned why UH previously didn’t prioritize the repair and maintainance of student housing previously. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)

Senate Higher Education Committee Chair Donna Mercado Kim pointed to what she called the continued neglect of Hale Noelani, a university apartment complex that was built in 1978 and stopped housing students in 2017 due to structural and safety concerns.

“That’s very troubling,” Kim said, adding that she feels UH has not prioritized student needs in recent years.

She and Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair Donovan Dela Cruz — frequent critics of UH leadership — challenged the university’s insistence that it had limited options if the state failed to fund the student housing repairs.

The university has a $25 million “rainy day fund” that could go toward housing maintenance and repairs, but that money is to support all facilities, said Jan Gouveia, UH vice president for administration. She said repairs to the Hale Noelani apartment complex would cost $80 million alone. The building previously housed 530 students, making up 13% of UH’s housing supply.

Kim and Dela Cruz repeatedly argued that the university neglected its housing supply in the past, leading to a backlog of repairs and an accumulation of major maintenance problems.

Of the ten residence halls at UH Manoa, six have not received renovations since they were first constructed, according to a November board of regents meeting. The most recent set of renovations took place in 2012 at Gateway House, a residence hall constructed in 1963.

After the hearing, vice president for budget and finance Kalbert Young blamed the buildup of problems on limited investment and funding for university housing maintenance, compounded with a lack of attention to UH’s housing program. He called the vacant Hale Noelani complex the “poster project.”

“Even though they’re open, they are showing their age,” Young said about the remaining housing complexes.

Vice president for budget and finance Kalbert Young, left, and President David Lassner, right, both said the university should have placed a greater focus on repairing its student housing in the past. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)

Young said UH did not request or receive any funding for student housing last year, adding that he is unsure why UH Manoa did not put in a request to the board of regents.

When pressed why the university didn’t address the closure of Hale Noelani back in 2014, Lassner said he was unaware of the problem until it was recently brought to his attention. While maintaining housing may not have been a priority for the university in the past, Lassner said, it is now.

“We’re moving forward,” Lassner said. “If you want to go back and blame me, that’s fine.”

The senators also insisted that UH could find the funding for repairs on its own. Kim pointed to the university’s decision to fund the expansion of seating at Ching Field amid delays in building a new Aloha Stadium after the closure of the old one, which previously hosted UH football games.

“The field was an expediency?” Kim asked. “What about the students?”

If the university found the money to cover the athletic complex’s expansion, Dela Cruz added, it should also be capable of finding a way to cover the costs of the housing repairs that should have been brought to the Legislature’s attention years ago.

While UH did not receive state funding for the $30 million expansion of the athletic complex, it got $50 million in federal Covid-19 relief funds that offset the costs to the university’s budget.

UH Manoa Football field. — Senators said UH wrongly prioritized the expansion of the Ching Field over repairs to student housing in recent years. (Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2021)

Kim also criticized the university’s recent focus on pursuing new housing projects while failing to maintain its current buildings.

The Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs opened at the start of the 2023-24 school year, and a facility housing graduate students is set to open in fall 2025. In total, the two projects will add roughly 900 beds to UH’s housing stock.

UH did not receive state funding for either housing development, said spokesman Dan Meisenzahl. As public private partnerships, the two projects have come at no cost to the public, Meisenzahl added.

Young said the university can’t afford to lose any more housing units to disrepair and the university will continue to seek funds to address the entirety of its repair and maintenance needs.

“Even with all of that, I still don’t think it will meet the full demand,” Young said.

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Hawaii

Hawaii senator introduces bill to reunite, protect immigrant families

Published

3 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Hawaii senator introduces bill to reunite, protect immigrant families

WASHINGTON, D.C. (HawaiiNewsNow) – U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) reintroduced a piece of legislation on Thursday to strengthen protections for immigrant families and address long-standing problems in the family immigration system.

The Reuniting Families Act aims to reduce visa backlogs, boost efficiency across the immigration process, and ensure a fairer, more humane process for immigrant families.

“Immigrant families currently experience unnecessary obstacles and delays due to our country’s broken immigration system, keeping families separated for potentially long periods of time,” Hirono said. “By reducing family-based immigration backlogs and making common sense updates to how we treat families, the Reuniting Families Act will help take the first step in the right direction to keeping families together as they navigate our immigration system.”

According to the senators behind this bill, nearly four million people with approved visa applications are currently trapped in a massive immigration backlog, with many waiting more than a decade to reunite with their loved ones.

“As Donald Trump’s inhumane mass deportation campaign rips apart families and communities across the country, it’s paramount we address the unnecessary barriers in our immigration system that have created backlogs and kept families apart for years,” Duckworth said. “Our legislation would implement commonsense reforms to help end family-based backlogs, which keep too many with approved green card applications stuck in bureaucratic limbo, and help get more families where they belong—together.”

The Reuniting Families Act would shorten delays by recapturing unused visas, rolling them into future years, expanding who qualifies as a family member to include permanent partners, and increasing both the total number of available family preference visas and per-country limits.

The bill would also put a time limit on visa processing, so no applicant has to wait more than 10 years for a visa if they have an approved application.

Click here to read the full bill.

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Hawaii

Rouhliadeff scores 16, Hawaii beats D-II Hawaii Hilo 98-46

Published

15 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Rouhliadeff scores 16, Hawaii beats D-II Hawaii Hilo 98-46

HONOLULU (AP) — Henry Rouhliadeff scored 16 points to lead six Hawaii players in double figures and the Rainbow Warriors beat Division-II Hawaii Hilo 98-46 on Wednesday night.

Rouhliadeff made 6 of 9 from the field and finished with nine rebounds and five assists. Dre Bullock scored 12 points for Hawaii (9-2) and Hunter Erickson, Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, Gytis Nemeiksa and Isaac Finlinson added 11 points apiece.

Jamal Entezami led Hawaii Hilo with 11 points and Jessiya Villa scored 10.

Hawaii shot 51% overall and made 13 3-pointers. The Rainbow Warriors, who went into the game averaging 13.4 assists per game, had a season-high 25 assists on 35 made field goals.

The 52-point margin of victory was Hawaii’s largest since a 106-49 win over Redlands on Jan. 28, 1972, and the third largest in program history. The Rainbow Warriors beat BYU Hawaii by 67 (106-49) in the 1962-63 season.

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Hawaii

Chef Sam Choy: America’s best poke not from Hawaii is a ‘slap in the face’

Published

1 day ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Chef Sam Choy: America’s best poke not from Hawaii is a ‘slap in the face’

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Poke is a dish created by Native Hawaiians and perfected by local immigrants. But according to online reviews, the best poke in the country is not from Hawaii. And one world-renowned chef who’s credited with poke’s popularity calls it a “slap in the face.”

People are willing to stand in long lines every day for poke. So to say the best in the country is not in Hawaii – that’s fighting words for some.

“So for you to say that, yeah, I kinda like scrap kine,” said Branden Machado, poke connoisseur.

“Nah, I laugh, I laugh,” said Mike Sablay, poke connoisseur.

The restaurant in Big Bear, California, is called Tropicali and was recently reported to have America’s best poke, based on Yelp.

“When I heard that, I was very upset, because I well know, and as you well know, and our millions of listeners and watchers of our station, they well know that the best poke is in Hawaii,” said Sam Choy, world-renowned celebrity chef/restaurateur.

“When I read that, I felt a little slighted,” said Chris Kam, Alicia’s Market. “Understandable, people from the mainland don’t really know what Hawaiian poke is about.”

With a large shark’s head as the front entrance, the decor – just like the menu – is said to be based on Hawaiian culture, but not to emulate it. So poke there – and elsewhere on the continent – looks much different from the poke bowls we’re used to seeing in Hawaii.

“It came with cucumbers, it came with won ton strips, I ordered the spicy one, so it came with the spicy sauce, and then I ordered unagi sauce on the side, and it tasted so good,” said one anonymous local who tried Tropicali and liked it. “It tasted so fresh, I was so surprised it was crazy.”

“That’s not poke, that’s like a salad,” said Kam.

“Nah, nothing can beat back home,” said Sablay. “Everything over here is like the best. Everything’s all local, everything’s all fresh.”

“Like on Oahu, we have the freshest fish, we have the best recipes, like and it’s not only us,” said Justin Tanioka, Tanioka’s Seafood & Catering. “It’s other companies around the island that have mastered poke.”

Since this is a Yelp award, having great Yelp reviews does help. Tropicali currently has more than 4,000 reviews and maintains a 4.9 Star rating. However, locals say to declare themselves the best in the country for a food that’s not only born in Hawaii, but beloved in Hawaii, is extremely bold.

“It’s definitely a slap in the face for all the poke makers in Hawaii who work unbelievably hard to create their magical dishes,” said Choy. “Two things. One, we use fresh fish. And the other one is tender loving care, TLC is in there. We’re putting our heart and soul in that. We’re representing our history, we’re representing our aina, we’re representing all the people in the past that made poke.”

“It’s all preference, and you know where you are,” said Tanioka. “But to me, the best poke in the world, honestly, is in Oahu.”

“Cuz check that out, Big Bear ain’t got nothing on this, my cuz,” said Machado. “We get the best poke in the world. Bumbye, we teach you.”

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