Honolulu firefighters approve $11.7M hazard pay

April 9, 2026

Summary

Honolulu firefighters ratified a $11.7 million COVID-19 hazard pay agreement, with payments of up to $7,500 based on hours worked.

Why this matters

The agreement resolved one of Honolulu’s remaining pandemic-era labor claims and affected about 1,100 firefighters. It also provided context for similar hazard pay disputes involving other city workers.

Honolulu firefighters approved a $11.7 million temporary hazard pay agreement for work performed during the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to city officials and the firefighters’ union.

Members of Hawaii Fire Fighters Association Local 1463 ratified the agreement after ballots were counted last Thursday. Union President Bobby Lee said 441 firefighters voted in favor and 20 opposed. He said 939 ballots were mailed to members who worked during the period, and about half were returned.

The agreement provided up to $7,500 for each city firefighter who worked during the emergency, which ran from March 2020 to March 2022. Lee said payments will vary by hours worked, and some firefighters will receive less than $7,500.

Lee said the union expected payments before June 30, the end of the current fiscal year, though the mayor’s office said the payment date had not been finalized.

For eligible active employees, Humber said 80% of the payment will be made in cash and 20% in vacation credit that can be used or paid out later.

Lee said Honolulu was the last of Hawaii’s four major counties to reach a final hazard pay agreement with Local 1463. He said one active Local 1463 firefighter died during the pandemic after contracting COVID-19 off duty. He said no firefighter died from on-duty exposure, though some became seriously ill.

Other city workers also were under consideration for hazard pay. The Honolulu City Council’s Budget Committee on March 31 approved Resolution 74, which would provide nearly $17 million for 2,078 bus drivers and mechanics represented by Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996. The full Council was scheduled to consider final approval Wednesday.

Council member Esther Kia‘aina also raised concerns about Department of Community Services employees who said they were excluded from hazard pay. Managing Director Mike Formby said about 20 workers disputed whether they had teleworked full time, which would make them ineligible under the city’s agreement with the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

City officials said no additional hazard pay agreements were pending after the firefighter and Teamsters settlements. Since 2020, Hawaii public-sector unions have sought hazard pay from the state and counties for pandemic-era work.

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Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a package of public safety bills Friday, including measures on firearms, support for first responders, and victim protections.

“Whether you’re a first responder or a survivor seeking justice, these laws reflect a simple commitment: The Commonwealth of Virginia will always have your back,” she said in a statement.

Some of the measures had bipartisan support, and some had previously been vetoed by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican.

Among the firearm measures, House Bill 19 by Del. Adele McClure, D-Alexandria, and Senate Bill 160 by Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, barred intimate partners convicted of domestic violence from obtaining or possessing firearms. HB93 by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, and SB38 by Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, set age and residence requirements for people who may receive firearms transferred from people under protective orders or convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes.

Spanberger also signed “ghost gun” bills by Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, banning the manufacture, sale, and possession of untraceable firearms without serial numbers. HB21 by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, and SB27 by Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, allowed firearm manufacturers and dealers to face liability when negligent business practices contribute to gun violence.

Other signed bills included HB1313 by Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Charlottesville, expanding workers’ compensation for law enforcement officers and firefighters with post-traumatic stress disorder, and HB248 by Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax, and SB317 by Perry, allowing professionals from multiple agencies to jointly respond to behavioral health calls.

Spanberger also signed SB100 by Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin, protecting volunteer emergency responders from workplace retaliation, and HB1300 by Del. Mitchell Cornett, R-Grayson, and SB86 by Stanley, allowing an immediate survivor of a State Police officer to buy the officer’s service handgun for $1.

She also approved bills strengthening cyberstalking penalties, revoking teaching licenses for convicted sex offenders, restricting sex offenders’ access to children in certain settings, updating driver education to emphasize speeding and reckless driving, expanding extortion and nonconsensual-image offenses, increasing penalties for showing obscene material to young children, funding prosecution and victim services in sexual and domestic violence cases, adding human trafficking information to interstate rest area signs, and requiring localities to have automated external defibrillators at sporting events and facilities.
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IBM reached a settlement with the federal government Friday, agreeing to pay about $17 million to resolve allegations tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

The Justice Department alleged that the New York-based technology company “knowingly” made “false claims” about its hiring and employment practices in federal contracts, according to the settlement. IBM allegedly identified “diverse” candidates for hiring or promotion while developing race- and sex-based demographic goals.

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The Justice Department said in May 2025 that it began using the False Claims Act to challenge diversity initiatives at colleges and alleged that IBM, as a contractor, violated the law by maintaining “practices that the United States contends were discriminatory employment practices,” according to Friday’s announcement.

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The False Claims Act dates to the Civil War era and allows the government to recover up to three times its damages, plus penalties, according to the Justice Department. The law also allows private citizens to sue on the government’s behalf and keep a share of any recovery.
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Israel rules out Hezbollah ceasefire in Lebanon talks

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Israel said it would not discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah when Israeli and Lebanese officials meet at the State Department on Tuesday, even as Israeli strikes in Lebanon continued.

Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors held late-night talks Friday to finalize arrangements for the meeting in Washington.

Israel’s ambassador, Yechiel Leiter, said the session would begin formal negotiations with the Lebanese government despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the countries.

“Israel agreed to begin formal peace negotiations” with Lebanon, he said.

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Trump said he had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back the bombardment, warning that continued strikes could undermine the ceasefire between the United States and Iran. Talks between U.S. and Iranian representatives were set to begin in Pakistan on Saturday.

Tehran said the two-week pause in hostilities agreed earlier in the week with Washington included an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel rejected that interpretation and continued its military campaign, including a large assault Wednesday that killed and wounded more than 1,000 people.
Africa

Djibouti’s Guelleh wins sixth term with 97.81%

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Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh won a sixth consecutive term, taking 97.81% of votes cast in Friday’s election, according to official results published by the state-run news agency.

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Science

Artemis II crew splashes down, all in good condition

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NASA’s Artemis II crew splashed down in the Pacific on Friday, completing the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years.

Officials said the Orion capsule splashed down at 8:07:27 p.m., ending a mission that lasted about nine days, one hour, 32 minutes, and 15 seconds. All four astronauts were “in good condition.”

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Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian mission specialist Jeremy Hansen were taken from the capsule to the USS John P. Murtha for medical checks. Hansen was the first to go to the ship’s medical bay, followed by Koch.

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NASA said the mission surpassed Apollo 13’s distance record, reaching 252,756 miles from Earth.

During the mission, the crew photographed the moon’s far side and viewed a total solar eclipse, which Glover said “just blew all of us away.”

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The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, sought punitive damages and filed for a temporary restraining order Friday. She asked the court to require OpenAI to block the man’s account, prevent new accounts, notify her if he tried to access ChatGPT, and preserve his chat logs for discovery. According to her lawyers, OpenAI agreed to suspend the account but declined the other requests.

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A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Defense Department violated his earlier order to restore Pentagon access for reporters, rejecting revised rules that require journalists to be escorted in the building.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman sided again with The New York Times, which sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December. Friedman had ruled March 20 that the Pentagon’s credential policy violated journalists’ First Amendment and due process rights. On Thursday, he said Hegseth’s team tried to evade that order with a new policy.

“The department simply cannot reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the court to look the other way,” Friedman wrote.

Friedman had ordered Pentagon officials to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times reporters and said his decision applied to “all regulated parties.” He wrote Thursday that the access now available to permit holders “is not even close to as meaningful as the broad access” they previously had.

Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said the department disagreed with the ruling and would appeal.

Reporters from several mainstream outlets left the Pentagon in October rather than agree to the new rules. Journalists from outlets that did not accept the policy, including The Associated Press, continued covering the military from outside the building, while the current Pentagon press corps is made up mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the rules.

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A federal judge on Friday temporarily barred Arizona from enforcing its gambling laws against prediction market operators and paused a criminal wagering case the state filed against Kalshi.

U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi’s ruling canceled Kalshi’s arraignment, which had been scheduled for Monday. Arizona prosecutors have charged the company with 20 misdemeanor counts of wagering, alleging it accepted bets on political outcomes, college sports, and individual player performance.

The order came in a lawsuit filed by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission against Arizona after state gambling regulators sent cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi and prosecutors brought charges. The commission argued that Arizona was intruding on its exclusive authority to regulate national swaps markets.

Liburdi wrote that the commission had sufficiently shown that “event contracts” fall within the Commodity Exchange Act’s definition of “swaps,” and that it had shown a reasonable chance of success in arguing that federal law preempts Arizona law.

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Arizona, the first state to file criminal charges against Kalshi, prohibits operating an unlicensed wagering business and betting on elections.

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U.S., Iran delegations meet in Pakistan for talks

Separately, a senior Iranian source told Reuters that the United States had agreed to release frozen Iranian assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks.

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U.S. and Iranian delegations arrived in Islamabad on Saturday for talks aimed at reinforcing a ceasefire and seeking a longer-term end to fighting in the Middle East.

The U.S. delegation was led by Vice President JD Vance. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed hope that both sides would “engage constructively” and said Pakistan wanted to keep facilitating efforts toward “a lasting and durable solution to the conflict.”

An Iranian delegation met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ahead of the talks, according to Iranian state television, which said “arrangements for the Iran-US will be defined at the conclusion of this meeting.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted from the trip that “Children from Minab are accompanying the delegation on its trip to Islamabad,” alongside images showing portraits and belongings of four children believed to have been killed in the U.S. strike on a school in Minab, southern Iran, on Feb. 28.

Separately, a senior Iranian source told Reuters that the United States had agreed to release frozen Iranian assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks. The source, who was not named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the move was “directly linked to ensuring safe passage through Strait of Hormuz,” an issue expected to be central in the Islamabad talks. Washington has not commented publicly on the matter.

Reuters also reported, citing three people close to Iran’s leadership, that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was recovering from facial and leg injuries suffered in the strike that killed his father at the start of the war. The sources said he remained involved in major decisions, including negotiations with Washington.