Things had gone quiet in the nasty war of words between state Auditor Les Kondo and certain state legislators, only to go nuclear again this week as Kondo called out a House Investigative Committee report on his office as a “hit job.” If you’ve forgotten what they’re arguing about after five months of yammering, you’re not alone. It started as an examination of a couple of Kondo’s audits and devolved into hints of wrongdoing in his office. At this point we’d all just like it to be over.

Breyer’s decision on Maui wastewater

Hawaii environmental advocates have a special lei of appreciation to give to Stephen Breyer. The soon-to-retire U.S. Supreme Court justice wrote the County of Maui v. Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund decision in 2020.

The court decided that the federal Clean Water Act protections applied to a Maui wastewater treatment facility, despite the fact it discharged into the ocean indirectly, through groundwater that ultimately reaches the sea and the coral reef at Kahekili. Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who argued the case, called it “a huge victory for clean water.”