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.

Whistleblower Alleges Medical Giant Bribed Hawaiʻi Provider AP

Whistleblower Alleges Medical Giant Bribed Hawaiʻi Provider

Lawsuit claims Abbott Laboratories defrauded federal health insurance programs.

Gov. Green Saves Option To Go Green With Solar Credits In 2026 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.

$4 Billion Could Soon Begin Flowing To Maui Fire Victims 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.

A Win For Survivors: Judge Caps Maui Fire Legal Fees 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.

Sudden Slashes To Solar Incentives Make It Harder To Go Green 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.

HMSA’s Latest Move Could Worsen Doctor Shortage 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.

State Homeless Housing Contractor Failed To Report Insider Payments 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.

‘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.