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.
AP
Whistleblower Alleges Medical Giant Bribed Hawaiʻi Provider
Lawsuit claims Abbott Laboratories defrauded federal health insurance programs.
Courtesy: Blue Planet Foundation
Gov. Green Saves Option To Go Green With Solar Credits In 2026
Executive order preserves the solar energy tax credit for commercial and industrial uses that lawmakers had capped.
Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2024
$4 Billion Could Soon Begin Flowing To Maui Fire Victims
It remains to be seen how much each victim will receive and whether there will even be enough to go around.
David Croxford/Civil Beat/2025
HMSA Delays The Change Threatening Patient Access After Governor Steps In
Change of heart extends insurance reimbursement shift for six months.
Sean Hower/Civil Beat/2026
A Win For Survivors: Judge Caps Maui Fire Legal Fees
Lawyers had sought $1 billion but will instead be getting a fraction of that.
Courtesy: RevoluSun.
Sudden Slashes To Solar Incentives Make It Harder To Go Green
More than 260 of Hawaiʻi’s commercial and industrial projects are at risk after Legislature cuts credits in 2026, undermining renewable resource goals.
Getty Images
HMSA’s Latest Move Could Worsen Doctor Shortage
The insurer denied that an upcoming change in its payment model should come as a surprise to doctors, but many say the action will imperil small primary care practices.
Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024
State Homeless Housing Contractor Failed To Report Insider Payments
HomeAid Hawaiʻi did not fully disclose payments made to the CEO’s spouse in federal tax returns.
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.