Civil Beat Staff

Stewart Yerton

Stewart Yerton reports on business and the economy for Honolulu Civil Beat. Those are subjects he spent more than a decade reporting on — at publications in New York, New Orleans and Honolulu.

He’s written about the U.S. treasury bond market, the business of big law firms, controversies surrounding the world’s largest gold mine on the island of New Guinea and corruption in the Louisiana casino industry. His reporting on the human cadaver trade, published in The Times-Picayune newspaper, won the Society of American Business Editors & Writers 2005 Best in Business Award for Enterprise Reporting in the large newspaper category.

Stewart’s first big newspaper story, for The Birmingham (Ala.) News, was about a political battle between a small-town mayor and the volunteer firefighters who were trying to oust him from office because of the mayor’s 30-year-old conviction for making moonshine whiskey. The story briefly thrust the tiny town of Brookside, Ala., into the national spotlight when The Washington Post came to write about the comic-gothic brouhaha.

A member of the Hawaii State Bar Association since January 2012, Stewart graduated cum laude from University of Hawaiʻi’s William S. Richardson School of Law, where he earned the environmental law certificate. His paper “Procedural Standing and the Hawaii Superferry Decision: How a Surfer, a Paddler, and an Orchid Farmer Aligned Hawaiʻi’s Standing Doctrine with Federal Principles” was published in the Asian Pacific Law & Policy Journal in 2011. In law school, Stewart externed for U.S. District Court Judge David Alan Ezra and served as the law school’s first Jarman Environmental Law Fellow. Stewart also has worked as an analyst with the Hawaiʻi State Auditor’s office.

When not working, Stewart can often be found practicing yoga and Argentine tango, attempting to play guitar, and chauffeuring his two daughters around Oʻahu.

‘Vendetta’: Gov. Blasts Auditor Report On Key Homeless Program Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024

‘Vendetta’: Gov. Blasts Auditor Report On Key Homeless Program

In his first public response to the critical report, Gov. Josh Green said the homeless program has been an extraordinary success and that the state auditor had taken an “unconscionable approach” in evaluating the effort.

Maui Fire Lawsuit Payouts Are Near. Few Survivors Will Break Even Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2023

Maui Fire Lawsuit Payouts Are Near. Few Survivors Will Break Even

Money could start flowing to victims by June, nearly two years after the settlement was finalized.

Confusing Donation Drops Run By For-Profits Targeted By Hawaiʻi Lawmakers David Croxford/Civil Beat/2025

Confusing Donation Drops Run By For-Profits Targeted By Hawaiʻi Lawmakers

Advocates say the measure will protect people from mistakenly thinking they’re donating to charities.

HECO ‘May Be Screwed’: $1 Billion Power Project Is In A Flood Zone Craig Fujii/Civil Beat/2026

HECO ‘May Be Screwed’: $1 Billion Power Project Is In A Flood Zone

The electric company says the site is located several stories above sea level and has never experienced a flood in almost 90 years.

Governor Nominates Former Labor Lawyer To Be Hawaiʻi’s Next Chief Justice David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024

Governor Nominates Former Labor Lawyer To Be Hawaiʻi’s Next Chief Justice

Vladimir Devens, a former police officer and labor lawyer, has served as an associate justice of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court for the past two years.

Low-Income Hawaiʻi Patients And Their Doctors Face A Financial Cliff Associate Press/2026

Low-Income Hawaiʻi Patients And Their Doctors Face A Financial Cliff

A senior Hawaiʻi health care leader says issues with government reimbursements are leading to “a state of non-viability” for the state’s entire health care system.

Competing Energy Proposals Debate Which Will Limit Costs For Consumers Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2015

Competing Energy Proposals Debate Which Will Limit Costs For Consumers

HECO says the cost to upgrade the old power plant exceeds what state utility regulators have allowed.

Japanese Firm Unveils Proposal To Import Liquefied Natural Gas To Hawaiʻi File Photo

Japanese Firm Unveils Proposal To Import Liquefied Natural Gas To Hawaiʻi

The announcement comes days after a renewable energy expert challenged findings of a state study finding LNG to be cost-effective.

Controversy Engulfs HECO’s Proposed $1 Billion Power Plant Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2016

Controversy Engulfs HECO’s Proposed $1 Billion Power Plant

The state energy office and Hawaiʻi’s largest utility are at odds over upgrades to a major Oʻahu power plant that have been in the works for years.