This Is Now (July 30, 2026)

Aloha Warrior fans, the news is out. UH games are coming home to K5. All the games, UH shows, athlete profiles, and throwbacks to your favorites are all in one place. Hawaii News Now. Celebrate the home team with us and let's go Bose. This podcast is sponsored by Long's Drugs. Download the CVS app today and make Longs a part of your day. First at noon, four of the five defendants in the state's biggest bribery case made their first court appearance today. They're all charged with conspiracy to help a local businessman get taxpayer money to fund COVID testing. Darrell Huff joins us now with the latest details. Darrell. Ash, Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke was the most prominent of the four current defendants, but all have held important positions in state government. Luke entered court today with her attorney and her official security detail. She's accused of taking a $10,000 donation from businessman Toby Soledom, who was engineering statewide COVID testing for the Kidney Foundation. He apparently pocketed millions of dollars before moving to the Philippines. Leo Ascension was Luke's campaign treasurer. He's accused of hiding the donations and interfering with the investigation. Former state lawmaker and director of human services, Ryan Yamani, allegedly took cash from Soledom, and State Airport's administrator, Ford Fuchigami, is accused of taking a bribe while working for the state Senate. All four entered not guilty pleas and were scheduled for a trial September 28th. One of the attorneys predicted the case will not go well for the attorney general. I've been doing conspiracy cases for close to 60 years. And they're almost impossible to prove. And I was involved in all the big conspiracy cases, or most of them in the late 60s and 70s. The government never got convictions in any of those cases because they're virtually impossible to prove. And why this Attorney General thinks that she can do something that many, many more experienced prosecutors have not been able to successfully do. I just don't know. Do you think it's just political? Yes, I do. Attorney General Ann Lopez has denied any political motive for the investigation, which was handled by the Special Investigative Unit and top deputy David Van Acker, who Lopez said made his own decisions about the case. Most experts say that trial date, two months away, is unrealistic, especially since the defendants are likely to ask for separate trials and dismissal of the charges. We will have much more on our newscast coming up and online. Daryl Huff, Hawaii News Now. Thank you, Daryl. Honolulu Police have charged 24-year-old Austin Otto Smith after a stabbing inside the Wahiwa McDonald's on Monday. The counts include first-degree assaults, assault on a law enforcement officer, and resisting arrest. The victim, a 66-year-old man, was last said to be in critical condition. Smith's bail is set at $100,000.

And Honolulu fire investigators have determined a blaze that was intentionally set in the basement of an Aleva Heights home. The fire broke out just after 4 a.m. Wednesday morning at a home on Eleva Drive. Now, firefighters were thankfully able to extinguish the fire within minutes. The home belonged to a 63-year-old woman who was not home at the time. The investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made at this time. The Maui Police Department is searching for 45-year-old Nina Sophia Moore of Texas. Now, the MPD... helicopter will be conducting aerial search operations in the Haiku area today. Moore was reported missing by a concerned family member. She was last seen on the evening of Saturday, July 18th, at a friend's home, and she is said to be five feet four inches tall, weighs about 150 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black shirt and tan shorts. Anyone with information is asked to call MPD. Back here on Oahu, A. La'ie woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for beating to death her 11-year-old adopted daughter. Sina Pili, who once taught college classes on social work, broke down into tears as she asked for forgiveness. Aali Duklo has more. Emotions ran high here at Honolulu Circuit Court, both in and outside of the courtroom. Please forgive me. For what I've done. Unimpassioned apology from Sina Pili to her community, her family, and to her victim, her adopted daughter, 11-year-old Aza Leah Pili Ayu. Azalea, I am sorry, baby, for everything. Azalea was found at the family's La I home in 2023, unconscious and injured from head to toe.

Authorities say Peeley, who adopted five children total, forced Azalea to run outside knowing she was sick with COVID, the flu, and pneumonia, and then beat her for about 30 minutes. In this case, a community grieved, a family grieved, and there will never be any winners in the situation. Hoping to bring closure to the 11-year-old surviving siblings. the state made a plea deal with her adoptive mother, with a circuit court judge deciding on 10 years in prison with credit for time served instead of probation for Pili. I've never had to sentence a mother who caused serious bodily injury to her child. The sentence angered loved ones, leading to this altercation outside the courtroom between Anzalia's biological and adoptive family. Both families also leveled insults at each other. That whole commotion, they're the ones that actually left her behind. So, you know, it's kind of a sticky situation where you have family who, you know, who kind of just drops off a child. you know, with people that don't even know anything about her, you know, and then they kind of just dug out. Neither side was satisfied with the sentence. Peely's relatives feel 10 years is too long, and Azalea's birth family argues it's too lenient. It's bull that's borgie. Everybody knows it. I see the news posting articles and even the comment sections on social media. Everybody knows it. This is like telling somebody. that you can beat your sick child until they die. The court should have sentenced her to probation. It was deserved. It was warranted under the circumstances. Pili's attorney says they plan to appeal. Aali Iduklo, Hawaii News now. Thank you, A'a. Speeding up the hiring process is a top priority for Honolulu's new police chief. Lynn Coano shows us how HPD is losing applicants to other departments and how technology is being used to fix it. It can sometimes take up to 12 months. The new chief and the police union hope technology will help slash that to 90 days. HPD is losing qualified applicants simply because it takes too long to get into the academy. Chief David Lazar said on Spotlight Now, there is a faster way to hire without lowering standards. How can we use technology, for example, taking the written exam? online and then having an interview via Zoom and then participating in the physical agility exam where you're being recorded by a proctor and it's being sent in. And this all happens in three or four days. Several close friends of mine, those that got into the department and those that went somewhere else, all have said the same thing. If the process was quicker, way more efficient.

I would be an officer here with Honolulu PD today. San Jose, San Diego, San Fran. Seattle called me up first, much quicker, much more efficient. Police officer shortages continue to rise at HPD. The most recent report from July 1 shows 463 vacancies. That's up to two from last month. But recently implemented hiring bonuses are helping. There are currently 76 recruits at the academy. One class of 37 graduates Friday, HPD's largest in... 12 years, while a new class of 66 just started. Recruitment is only half the battle. HPD also has to stop the bleeding of veteran officers. There are more than 300 eligible to retire with full benefits. The police union says there has to be financial rewards for officers who stay past the 25-year mark. Something very similar to our recruits where they're given like 5,000 a year. I would say a little bit more than that. maybe 7,500, and after every year, it increases up 1 or 2,000. Keep them here. Whether we're talking about a retention bonus, whether we're talking about a housing stipend, I know we have been having discussions about child care. We have to do everything we can to retain our employees. Lazar hopes to have the modern 90-day hiring process up and running within a year. I'm Lynquoano. Hawaii News now.

We're starting to get the trade winds back. By afternoon, they could be blowing in at 16 miles per hour. Still going to be a little bit warm and humid, however. 90 degrees are forecast high. A couple of clouds to start off the day, and we're looking at a bit more sunshine by afternoon. Returning trades means a small craft advisory for the usual windier waters around Maui County and the island of Hawaii, 15 to 25 knots. And in your surf, we are looking at the waves on the way up for south-facing shores that new swell is peaking. East shores also at 4 to 6 feet. Thank you, Ben. A law firm is fighting a judge's ruling on how much attorneys should get paid from the multi-billion dollar Maui wildfire settlement. Chelsea Davis has more. I wish that everyone involved would stop making promises they can't keep. Marina Starleaf Riker and her husband were forced to evacuate their cooler home and flee from the fast moving fire on August 8th. 2003. Now nearly three years later, she says the process for receiving settlement money has been frustrating and re-traumatizing. Promise after promise after promise that survivors are going to see payments when we don't actually know when we're going to see them. Under contracts with their clients, attorneys expected to receive up to 25% of the awards. Last month, Maui judge Peter Cahill set an 8% limit for cases filed before the settlement was announced and 3% for clients who came in after the settlement was announced. Plus order that $222 million be set aside for attorneys who did the most work. But long time Maui law firm Rankin and Schneider is appealing, saying that process is unfair and believes attorneys should be paid based on their contracts and object to a fund for attorneys they say most survivors never met and never hired. Their argument says no victim of this disaster should be made whole at the expense of another. They also say this misguided approach would make it harder to find counsel and hold responsible parties accountable in the future. Those attorneys were not at Wednesday's hearing where Mike Kehoe said the survivors deserve an apology. It would be nice between now and next Saturday for somebody to come forward and to just say. in a public proceeding, Chelsea Davidson would be happy to go and record it and put it on the news. We made mistakes and we caused tremendous amount of harm. I don't understand why that's just so difficult. It's just, it's just, just say it. I think it might relieve some people. I've been waiting for a long time. The decision is now in the hands of the Hawaii State Supreme Court, which will likely mean more delayed payments. The next hearing in Mike Kehoe's courtroom is scheduled for next month. Chelsea Davis, Hawaii News Now. Windward Oahu lawmakers are pushing back against Mayor Blangiarty's latest proposal to build a new landfill at Kappa Quarry. To make it happen, the law would need to be changed. Mahalani Richardson has the latest.

With the current landfill in Nanakuli scheduled to close in 2008, Mayor Rick Blangiarty said on H&N Spotlight Now, he's looking at Kappa Aquari on Windward Oahu for the next proposed site. He says it's not above an aquifer, and he's determined not to build on the west side. We have our eyesight on Kapa Aquari. There's a lot to that. It's been a landfill twice before, but on this island, not over an aquifer, that is the best place to put it. And I realize that there's going to be, you know, I'll blowback on that. Blanghiardi got pushed back after the city floated Makaiva hills above Coelina for a possible landfill site. But now he's dismissing it as a rumor. Mayor Blangiarity's statements caught a lot of people off guard, especially Winward lawmakers. I was very surprised. I did not think that Kappaakwari was still on the table. Building a landfill at Kappaakwari would require the legislature to repeal Act 73, requiring new or expanding landfills to have a half-mile buffer. zone from home, schools, and hospitals, and banning them from conservation districts. Like this amazing wetland, the largest wetland in our state. Cultural artifacts hit Eao in this area as well. The city says the proposed landfill site is not at its Kappa'a transfer station, but had few other locations specifics. It's not going to be cheap to build a landfill, especially in the quarry. But I think we would actually keep AC. these ongoing gravel business alive too while we're doing it. This is a long-term play. The Department of Environmental Services says the technical evaluation of the Kappaakwari site hasn't been finalized yet and does plan to release more details through the environmental review and permitting process. A joint statement of windward lawmakers say they want the city to look at other areas, including Eva. Mahailani Richardson, Hawaii News now. The father of a teenage school shooter is sentenced for his role in the tragedy. Details on the historic case ahead on this is now. Plus this. President Trump is threatening to pull his nomination for Attorney General for now. And then let's be a bone suit at the White House with the Republican senators who are holding up the president's nomination. Hey, everybody. Look who we've got here. We're going to talk story coming up at 1230 after this is now. This is going to be on Billy V. Live on the live stream. And once again, that's coming up at 1230 on the H&N app on Roku, Amazon Fire, and Apple TV. Check it out.

Aloha Warrior fans, the news is out. UH games are coming home to K5. All the games, UH shows, athlete profiles, and throwbacks to your favorites are all in one place. Hawaii News Now, celebrate the home team with us, and let's go Bose. Now, first alert weather with Ben Guterres. More typical trade wind conditions are slowly moving in as the remnants of what was Fausto depart off to the west. You can still see some southeastly showers coming in, but more easily as we head toward the island of Hawaii. Here's what's left to Fausto. It is continuing on a track off to the west-northwest, and as it does, once again, tradewind should move back in. First alert, Futurecast is showing a little band of moisture that's going to be moving westward, and as it does, it will bring a few more showers by Saturday. because we're looking at some breezier trade winds, could get locally windy, and we might need a wind advisory for some downslope areas. Most of places will get 20 to 25 mile per east, northeast lease. And you can see we're selling into a more typical tradewind pattern, although as we head into the coming week, we could see a few more windward and malchus showers, and maybe a few more clouds as we head into next week Thursday. But for today, we're looking at sunrise 604, a couple clouds starting off the day, maybe some stray showers here in this. We're also looking at more sunshine by the afternoon. Still going to be a little bit muggy. We're looking at a high of 90 degrees, so stay hydrated. But the trades by afternoon should be coming back at around 16 miles per hour. Also, the returning trades have already triggered a small craft advisory for the usual windier waters right around Maui County and the island of Hawaii. We're looking at winds from the east at 15 to 25 knots. Service also starting to return back to normal, more or less. South shores have a swell that's... peaking at four to six feet today. North shores will be mostly flat, heading down to flat to two conditions. Two to four, that's a little bit of a south swell route. And east shores holding at four to six right now. It's going to be rising as we head into tomorrow because of a combination of stronger trade winds and also a swell being generated by Hurricane Genevieve far off to the east. And so for Thursday, again, expect those morning clouds, warm and humid conditions with a high of 90 degrees. Then the winds start picking up. Friday. 15 to 25, 20 to 25 as we had in the Saturday. But we should be cooling down. Chance of showers a little bit lower for Friday and Saturday. 30% chance of showers for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Again, looking at a more typical tradewind pattern where most of these showers will be windward and Malka. And also during the morning hours, we'll also have scattered showers. A bit more clouds for Tuesday as the trades back off just a tad. And then Wednesday, we're looking at trades returning at 10 to 15 miles per hour. Temperatures during the day, upper 8. 80s, nighttime lows in the mid-70s. Aloha Warrior fans, the news is out. UH games are coming home to K-5. All the games, U-H shows, athlete profiles, and throwbacks to your favorites are all in one place. Hawaii News Now. Celebrate the home team with us, and let's go Bose.

Tiny kitten with mobility issues got a special DIY wheelchair. Jeremy Roth shows us. A shelter kitten in Ohio is going viral after workers crafted a tiny device from rulers and hot wheels to help the little guy get back on the go. The Cincinnati Animal Care Shelter says the kitten, named Gelato, was unable to stand or walk on his own when he arrived. Gelato was too small for their available devices, so VetTech Mallory Smith got crafty, cobbling together rulers, zip ties, and a pair of Hot Wheels toy ambulances. Shelter med. in and of itself is kind of working with what you have the shelter shared gelato's dinky DIY ride and to no one's surprise the internet fell in love with him with likes and comments pouring in from all over gelato has also since been upgraded from hot wheels to custom wheels now sporting a better fitting 3d printed ride

Thanks for watching. This is now more news first at four right here on K-Channel. This podcast is sponsored by Long's Drugs. Download the CVS app today and make Longs a part of your day. Aloha Warrior fans, the news is out. UH games are coming home to K5. All the games, UH shows, athlete profiles, and throwbacks to your favorites are all in one place. Hawaii News Now. Celebrate the home team with us and let's go Bose.