Free Republic

At least one person was killed in a storm-related car crash on Hawaii’s Big Island as Hurricane Lala struck late Saturday night. Gov. Josh Green confirmed the death, along with 19 roofs ripped off buildings after what he described as an “enormous storm.” Powerful waves pounded the Big Island’s coast as Lala slowly passed by. Howling winds whipped palm trees and waterways swelled with fast-moving runoff from relentless rain that blew nearly sideways. Lala was downgraded to a tropical storm as of Sunday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. More than 130,000 households were without power Sunday morning across...

A Hawaii Democratic congressional candidate was knocked unconscious during a profanity-laced beach confrontation captured on video days before he appeared in court on two felony terroristic threatening charges. The video opens with Hawaii Democratic congressional candidate and U.S. House candidate Kirill Basin approaching a group of beachgoers and telling one man, "Put your bag away, bro. Put your bag away." A woman then approached Basin as music by the Pixies played from a nearby speaker. Basin told the group, "I told him if he wants to go to the hospital, come here." The confrontation briefly appeared to cool when Basin...

The fighter who knocked out a Hawaii Democrat has revealed the brawl was caused by the wannabe politician pulling out a knife and claimed he had a gun. Kama Homan claimed Kirill Basin, 40, threatened to shoot the wife of a 61-year-old man after he complained Basin was playing music too loud on the Maui beach on Saturday. Viral footage showed Homan battering Basin before leaning over his limp body and branding him a “Haole,” a pejorative term Polynesian islanders call white people. Homan told Hawaii News Now: “I’m like, maybe I should intervene, and then as I got closer...

The former president of Taylor Farms’ Tennessee division has been accused of stealing $32 million from the company through multiple schemes that included funneling money to a sham company and keeping his wife and other family members on the payroll. Taylor Farms, the major U.S. produce supplier at the center of a lettuce recall and diarrheal illness outbreak, made the allegations in a federal lawsuit filed in Tennessee. According to the lawsuit, Brian Thure served as president of Taylor Farms Tennessee from 2012 through March of this year. In the roughly 14 years he was head of the Tennessee division,...

Police arrested a Hawaii Democratic congressional candidate Aug. 1 after a violent altercation with another beachgoer at Keawakapu Beach in South Kihei, Hawaii. Authorities charged 40-year-old Kirill Basin with two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening after the altercation with a 61-year-old man, according to Hawaii News Now. Basin is running to unseat incumbent Democratic Rep. Jill Tokuda. Police said the incident began when Basin threatened the bystander, who had asked him to turn down his music, according to the outlet. Basin allegedly suggested he had a firearm and threatened to shoot the man’s wife. A physical altercation ensued, during which...

Police arrested a trio of teen boys as part of a vicious attack on a California family at a luxury Maui resort that the victims say was motivated by race. The violent brawl broke out around 10 p.m. on July 17 at the Kaanapali Alii resort in West Maui, where local officers responded to a disturbance involving roughly 30 people near the property’s pool that left at least one victim with a bloody head wound. Seven visitors from California, ranging in age from 17 to 62, told police they were assaulted after a group of young people allegedly threw chairs...

A California man who went missing in the Pacific Ocean for over a month has been found alive drifting off Hawaii. Kai Sato, 39, left Catalina Island on June 7 but two weeks later the mast on his sailboat snapped, he ran out of gas and his phone died, leaving him floating helplessly outside of shipping lanes. He said he was left crying for days as he gave up and felt “like a sitting duck” as the waves pushed him further from any chance of being rescued. He told Hawaii News Now: “I cried for a whole week, just drifting...

A California family’s Hawaiian getaway turned to horror when its members were targeted as “haole boys” and viciously beaten by a mob at a luxury Maui resort, leaving one with a huge head wound. The violent brawl broke out around 10 p.m. on July 17 at the Kaanapali Alii resort in West Maui, where local officers responded to a disturbance involving roughly 30 people near the property’s pool. Seven visitors from California, ranging in age from 17 to 62, told police they were assaulted after a group of young people allegedly threw chairs and attacked members of their family. At...

Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke (D) was indicted on bribery charges on Friday following a monthslong state investigation into a campaign finance scandal. Luke was accused of accepting campaign finance contributions in 2022 while she was a state lawmaker in exchange for securing funding for COVID-19 testing sites. A Hawaii grand jury returned a 12-count indictment charging Luke with criminal conspiracy to commit bribery and falsifying candidate committee reports among other charges, according to the state’s Department of the Attorney General. The Hill has reached out to Luke’s office for comment. The charges stem from allegations that Luke accepted at...

Democratic Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke was indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery and falsifying candidate committee reports stemming from a bribe she allegedly took as a state lawmaker in 2022. The indictment alleges that local businessman and lobbyist Tobi Solidum offered Luke a $35,000 bribe connected to a COVID-19 testing contract a company he recommended had with the state. Solidum was also indicted as part of the state attorney general’s probe, along with former state representative Ryan Yamane, Hawaii’s Transportation Department official Ford Fuchigami, and Leo Asunción, a former official for...

Tulsi Gabbard's older brother was arrested after he allegedly tried to lure children into his Hawaii hotel room using cash and gum. Bhakti 'Batarti' Gabbard, 55, is accused of approaching several children, including a nine-year-old boy, near the pool at a hotel in Waikīkī on July 12, according to Honolulu police.

The attorney who helped persuade the Supreme Court to strike down Hawaii’s private-property concealed-carry restriction on Thursday criticized the state’s reliance on a Reconstruction-era Black Code to defend the law. In a 6-3 decision in Wolford v. Lopez, the Court held that Hawaii cannot require licensed gun owners to obtain express permission before carrying firearms onto private property open to the public. Gun-rights challengers dubbed the policy the "vampire rule" because lawful gun owners had to be "invited in" before entering businesses while armed. "It is disgraceful that any state would rely on a law specifically aimed at taking away...

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Hawaii gun restriction that limits when people can carry firearms on certain private properties open to the public, saying it infringes on the right to bear arms. On a 6-3 vote, the court invalidated the measure that requires people with concealed carry permits to seek permission from a property owner before entering. It has been dubbed the "vampire rule" because, as in the classic novel "Dracula" and related tales, vampires can only enter someone's home if they are invited in. The court, often supportive of gun rights, concluded that the provision violates...

Police, fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to a 5:20 p.m. crash today involving multiple vehicles and injuring several including children, on the eastbound lanes of the H-1 freeway in Pearl City. EMS responded with multiple units to the crash. EMS personnel administered advanced life support to six patients, and transported them to hospital emergency rooms for further treatment. They included an infant girl in stable condition, a 7-year-old girl in serious condition and a 10-year-old girl in stable condition. Also taken to the hospital were a woman, 34, who was in serious condition; a man, 33 in stable condition,...

A veteran has sparked fierce controversy after publicly blaming Donald Trump for the deaths of school children in Minab, alleging that Tomahawk missile strikes caused catastrophic destruction. The explosive accusation has reignited debate over military accountability, civilian casualties and the human cost of conflict. The remarks are drawing intense scrutiny as questions grow over command responsibility, rules of engagement and the wider fallout from US military actions in the region. The claims have fuelled sharp political reactions, renewed outrage over civilian harm and fresh demands for transparency surrounding the deadly Minab incident.

The Legislature was jubilant as it passed SB2471 on Friday, seeking to overturn the effects of the Citizens United decision in Hawai‘i and get big money and outside influences out of our elections. The irony is, Mainland power players were pulling our strings the whole time. The rhetoric on Friday when the Legislature passed SB2471, was triumphant. All but one of the legislators voted for this attempt to nullify the Citizen’s United decision for Hawai‘i, and did so with bold claims. We’re standing up for Hawai‘i! We’re standing against dark money! We’re making history! We’re protecting democracy! These people are...

2007—Year of the Lapita? Volume 61 Number 1, January/February 2008 by Mark Rose Polynesian Breakthroughs A Polynesian chicken (Anita Gould) and a Chilean chicken bone (Courtesy Alice Storey) There was no doubt about including in our 2007 Top Ten the discovery that chicken bones from ancient Polynesian sites in Tonga and Samoa and El Arenal, a Chilean site occupied between A.D. 700 and 1390, had identical DNA. The chicken was domesticated in Southeast Asia, but how it arrived in the New World before Europeans arrived was a mystery. Now it seems that Polynesian seafarers brought them, adding to the evidence...

Elena Branson, a dual Russian and U.S. citizen, has been charged with acting and conspiring to act in the United States illegally as an agent of the Russian government, willfully failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”), as well as conspiring to commit visa fraud and making false statements to the FBI. As alleged, beginning in at least 2011, Branson worked on behalf of the Russian government and Russian officials to advance Russian interests in the United States, including by coordinating meetings for Russian officials to lobby U.S. political officials and businesspersons, and by operating organizations in...

An accused Russian spy who worked as a merchant banker in New York City called convicted spy Maria Butina after 30 FBI agents showed up at her apartment with a battering ram. Elena Branson, 61, who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, was accused of running a 'Russian propaganda center' in New York and communicating directly with President Vladimir Putin. She shared details of her encounter with the law during a cozy chat with Butina broadcast on Russian state broadcaster RT, and recalled how Butina had been one of the first people she'd contacted.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, intended to hit President Donald Trump amid nationwide "no kings" protests, but instead Republicans argued her comment admits the flimsy case being made. "Donald Trump is not, never will be, and has never been a king. #NoKings," Hirono's Saturday morning X post read as left-wing protesters marched in various anti-Trump demonstrations. The remarks landed with rare agreement from figures on the right, though. "So you agree – you think your 'no kings' rallies are stupid…," replied Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who once backed Trump's 2024 Republican primary opposition from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "Roger that!" Sen....