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Not so hard after all: Well, folks, after much handwringing and teeth-gnashing but as it turns out not nearly as much time as first claimed, the FBI has finally finished going through all the investigative files in the bribery sting cases of former Hawaii lawmakers Ty Cullen and J. Kalani English.

Getting kicked in the okole by a federal judge will do that to you.

Now, let the next round of obfuscation begin as the feds try to justify why they can’t release the records that they have finally finished reviewing.

To recap: Civil Beat is in the midst of a lawsuit versus the FBI in which we are trying to get the investigative files in the Cullen and English cases so we can finally see what those two political scoundrels actually did and how the corruption transpired.

We know generally that they took tens of thousands of dollars in bribes over many years to sway sewage and wastewater legislation in favor of the late Hawaii businessman Milton Choy, who owned a disposal company. But since all of them pleaded guilty rather than go to trial there has been no public airing of the details and certainly no scrutiny of how our friends in the FBI actually handled the investigations.

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Civil Beat filed a lawsuit seeking release of the records in May 2023. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office said sorry, no can, and claimed making the case files public would interfere with ongoing investigations.

They also argued it would take them possibly 48 months to go through the files just to decide what exemptions to the federal Freedom of Information Act they could try to claim. They insisted they were only able to review 500 pages a month and that there were possibly as many as 30,000 pages to review.

Worse, they admitted they had done nothing to even begin reviewing the records because they didn’t know what kind of review to do.

The Blog, who sometimes goes through 500 pages on deadline for a story, believed this all to be a total stall. Fortunately, so did U.S. District Court Judge Susan Oki Mollway who spanked them (judicially speaking) and told them to get it together or else.

That was in July. Now, less than three months later, in a status update filed last week with the federal court, the FBI says it has completed its review.

It came out to 2,329 documents, 38,597 pages and 28 minutes of media (we’re hoping that’s the hidden dash cam video of English trying to stash an envelope of cash under the floor mat as the FBI moved in to arrest him.) (Sorry, an earlier version of this Blog included different numbers.)

Next up: We all will argue over whether the records can actually be withheld and for what reason, the first motion is due Nov. 4 and The Blog will be eagerly watching for more of those.

Good news: For 15 years, has been a labor of love for Big Island journalist Nancy Cook Lauer who dutifully hand-curated a collection of the day’s top news stories — every day — and published summaries with links on the website. She did this on her own time, her own dime and in addition to her day job as a longtime reporter for West Hawaii Today.

That’s resulted in more than 80,000 entries that, as Cook Lauer says in a recent email to The Blog and other media friends, “provide a valuable history of daily news items as they occurred and a great starting point for those researching the state’s recent history.”

Now All Hawaii News has become a registered charity and is seeking donations to make sure the online news library can grow and remain free and searchable.

“This body of work needs to be solidified, updated and shared. It’s currently housed on its original Blogger site (), where search functions are rudimentary at best. A nonprofit domain, , has been secured for expansion to the news library,” she said via email.

“Funds received would be used to contract a professional web designer who could design an interactive site and migrate the archive. Other funds would go for website hosting and maintenance.”

Cook Lauer, who is president of the nonprofit, also holds a master’s degree in library and information science from Florida State University.

Viva Las Vegas: The Democratic Party of Hawaii sent a team of delegates to Nevada this past weekend to canvass for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

The Silver State is one of the seven swing states that could determine the presidential election. As an added bonus for Hawaii residents, gambling is also legal there.

A press release says the HI Dems faced down “102 degree heat, the unfamiliar territory, and barking dogs.”

The group was joined by Christine Pelosi, national political strategist, DNC Elections committee vice chair and daughter of the (so far) most politically powerful woman in the history of the republic.

Electoral guidance: Just in time for the Nov. 5 general election, the Hawaii Office of Elections has posted its .

It’s available in English, Chinese, Hawaiian, Ilocano and Tagalog and, while not super detailed, it includes photos of and blurbs about most of the candidates.

Not every candidate cooperated, sadly, including state House Reps. Kyle Yamashita and Greggor Illagan, state Sen. Brenton Awa and Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Dan Ahuna. Maybe they think reelection’s in the bag?

Other highlights of the guide: a decent breakdown of the two constitutional amendments — including an explanation of why votes left blank count as no votes — and the charter amendments for the four counties.

There is also a photo of U.S. Senate candidate Shelby Pikachu Billionaire, whose image appears to sparkle. And yes, that is his official name.