Jury begins deliberating in Kealoha corruption case
HONOLULU — A corruption case alleging a former Honolulu police chief and his former city prosecutor wife conspired to frame a man is now in the hands of a jury.
A jury of seven men and five women began deliberating Wednesday.
Now-retired Louis Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, are accused of conspiring with officers to frame her uncle. Prosecutors say the Kealohas framed Gerard Puana for stealing their home mailbox to keep him from revealing fraud that financed their lavish lifestyle and to discredit him in a family, financial dispute.
The Kealohas and the current and formers officers charged with them deny there was a conspiracy.
Jurors listened to witnesses testify throughout about 16 days in what’s been described as Hawaii’s biggest corruption case.
Honolulu mayor signs new law to regulate vacation rentals
HONOLULU — Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Tuesday signed a bill giving the city stronger tools to regulate vacation rentals and their operators.
Caldwell, a Democrat, signed the bill to allow permits for about 1,700 hosted bed-and-breakfast establishments beginning in October 2020.
The Honolulu City Council voted 9-0 to pass the bill June 17.
The new law does not offer additional permits for more prevalent and profitable whole home transient vacation units.
Caldwell vetoed a separate measure to crack down on thousands of illegal vacation rentals without offering a path for them to become legal.
Honolulu stopped issuing new permits for vacation rentals in 1989, leaving 816 legal rentals outside resort zones.
The city planning and permitting department estimates there are 6,000-8,000 illegal vacation rentals on Oahu.
The law requires operators to include a permit number or address in advertisements, including those on Airbnb, Expedia and other vacation rental hosting platforms.
The rule will make it easier to target illegal rentals by enabling planning and permitting staff to study websites instead of physically visiting locations, officials said.
Fines for operating illegal rentals could reach $10,000, officials said.
Board proposes removal of ‘Haiku’ hiking stairs
HONOLULU — A Honolulu city agency proposes removing the popular Haiku Stairs hiking staircase that spans Oahu’s Koolau Mountains.
The Honolulu Board of Water Supply said it could cost about $1 million to remove the staircase, which has 3,922 steps and attracts 4,000 people yearly. While it is extremely popular, the access that the staircase allows has been a cause of injuries and costly rescues of hikers, officials said.
Work to remove the stairs could begin next year and finish in mid-2022, officials said.
The water board owns most of the property where the stairs are located and said it spends $250,000 a year trying to deter trespassers from using them.
The agency cited safety and potential liability concerns because of the poor condition of the staircase’s lower half.
The city spent $875,000 refurbishing the staircase in 2002 in anticipation of a land transfer from the Coast Guard, which ended public stair use in 1987. But the exchange was not completed and the climb remains an illegal adventure.
Honolulu’s Democratic Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he would like the parks and recreation department to take possession, while also noting the need to “ensure the experience is made safer for hikers and first responders.”