Hawaiʻi Attorney General

A judge is forcing the Hawaiʻi attorney general’s office to turn over documents, interviews and data on last summer's Maui wildfires to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over the disaster.

The statement released by Maui County provided clarifications on various details including when Mayor Richard Bissen issued a county emergency proclamation. The county says it produced hundreds of pages of documents to investigators. State Attorney General Anne Lopez says she welcomes the county supplementing the facts.

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court says the state attorney general's office must pay attorney fees for using last year's Maui wildfire tragedy to file a petition in “bad faith” that blamed a state court judge for a lack of water for firefighting.

A new report released by Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez includes a minute-by-minute analysis of the actions taken by emergency organizations and first responders, as well as an assessment of the environmental conditions that exacerbated the Lahaina fire in August 2023. It does not, however, determine the cause of the fire. HPR's Ashley Mizuo and Savannah Harriman-Pote have more.

The report indicates that environmental and geographic factors combined with preparedness and response conditions enabled the Lahaina fire to rapidly intensify in August 2023. In the coming days, the HPR news team will bring you stories about how the report impacts local government, Hawaiʻi's main electric utility, and the community.

The state Legislature is still working on measures addressing marijuana this session — not legalization, but increasing the amount covered by decriminalization. The attention to the regulation of the substance has raised questions about clearing criminal records for marijuana convictions under old laws. HPR's Ashley Mizuo reports.

Some lawmakers say it's crucial that the Public Utilities Commission open a public docket to protect the independence of the fire investigation. HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote has more.

Investigators have needed to issue eight additional subpoenas for documents and 53 additional subpoenas for interviews about the Aug. 8 fire that killed at least 101 people. The first phase of the report had been expected this month, but will now come out on April 17.

There is a push this legislative session to improve the criminal record expungement process. HPR's Ashley Mizuo explains the details of two proposals facing lawmakers.

It's been about a month since the city and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement announced a plan to bring back a free hula show at the Waikiki Shell Amphitheater. But the Kapiolani Park Preservation Society has raised concerns that the event is a prelude to a commercial lūʻau show.