In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joni Ernst cited a criminal investigation of Christopher Dawson, accused of hijacking small business funding intended to help Native Hawaiians.

When Supreme Court justices weigh the arguments, they will focus on the meaning of the first sentence of the 14th Amendment, known as the citizenship clause.

A small business program allowed Christopher Dawson to win big contracts if he promised to uplift Native Hawaiians. Instead, federal prosecutors allege, he used the money to line his own pockets.

None of the 44 workers detained that day ended up seeking asylum. Their employer, a local janitorial contractor, has faced federal scrutiny before.

Scientists say the problem is the president and his health secretary are often doing just the opposite by relying on preliminary studies, fringe science or just hunches to make claims, cast doubt on proven treatments or even set policy. 

State lawmakers distributed more than $49 million to alleviate federal funding cuts. About a third of the nonprofits selected were not directly impacted by those cuts, but served people who were.

The report was produced at a time when food security was bad in Hawaiʻi. But now, advocates say, it’s even worse.

Newly public court documents accuse Christopher Dawson and other executives not only of stealing from their federal contracting business but shortchanging Native Hawaiians in the process.

The state and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are stepping up beginning today but the fight over SNAP continues during the federal shutdown.

Hawaiʻi was one of two dozen states that filed suit over the administration’s plans to freeze food assistance payments.