By Blaze Lovell & Kevin Dayton, Honolulu Civil Beat, 5 May 2022

Lawmakers gaveled out of the 2022 session having tucked away billions of dollars for Native Hawaiian causes, housing projects and other initiatives.

The Legislature just ended what may be one of the most significant sessions in state history that saw billions of dollars allocated to Native Hawaiian causes, housing projects and a slew of other initiatives that could put some money back in the pockets of taxpayers.

If the session had to get a letter grade, Senate President Ron Kouchi said his fellow lawmakers deserve an “A.”

“I’ve never achieved every single bill I’ve talked about before,” Kouchi said, adding that almost every session lawmakers lose priority measures as problems crop up.

By Rob Perez, Star-Advertiser, 6 May 2022

The Hawaii Legislature on Thursday unanimously passed landmark legislation appropriating $600 million for the state’s Native Hawaiian homesteading program, a chronically underfunded initiative that has long fallen short of its promise to return Native people to their ancestral land.

The amount represents the largest one-time infusion of money in the program’s 101-year history, and it’s more than seven times the record amount that state lawmakers approved in 2021. The majority of the funds will go toward the development of nearly 3,000 lots, most of them residential, on Hawaii’s main islands.

By Kristy Tamashiro & Gina Mangieri, KHON2, 26 Apr. 2022

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A monumental settlement in a decades-long fight will give native Hawaiians hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Kalima case, a lawsuit filed 23 years ago, took the state to court for failing to award homestead from the Hawaiian Homelands waitlist in a timely manner.

“After a mom is fatally beaten in the street, a community comes together to mourn — and heal,” Jolanie Martinez, HNN, 25 Apr. 2022

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Makaha residents gathered Monday night for a vigil to remember the mother who was fatally beaten to death in the middle of a roadway — allegedly by her son.

The vigil for 38-year-old Michelle McPeek began on the ocean side of Farrington Highway near Upena Street in Makaha.

By Sunshine Kuhia Smith, KITV4, 23 Apr. 2022

A memorial is planned for a 38-year-old Makaha mother who was beaten to death by her 19-year-old son.