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.

More Housing Without Kicking Anyone Out? It’s Possible, Apparently Craig Fujii/Civil Beat/2026

More Housing Without Kicking Anyone Out? It’s Possible, Apparently

New owner of Honolulu building is making unusual plan to upgrade building but stabilize rents for occupied units.

‘Kick In The Face’: Hawaiʻi’s $2M Business Registration System Slammed Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022

‘Kick In The Face’: Hawaiʻi’s $2M Business Registration System Slammed

The Commerce Department has brought on additional staff and is working to find and fix bugs in the system.

Hawaiʻi’s Pain At The Pump Is Oil Giant’s Gain Cory Lum/Civil Beat

Hawaiʻi’s Pain At The Pump Is Oil Giant’s Gain

High gas prices created a recent windfall for the state’s only oil refiner.

6 In 10 Lost Power During Lala. It May Take A State Inquiry To Learn Why Craig Fujii/Civil Beat/2026

6 In 10 Lost Power During Lala. It May Take A State Inquiry To Learn Why

HECO has spent millions of dollars to strengthen its electric grid in recent years. Lala still wiped out power for most of the state.

Hawaiʻi’s Intoxicating Hemp Market Has Gone Up In Smoke Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024

Hawaiʻi’s Intoxicating Hemp Market Has Gone Up In Smoke

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health has snuffed out sales of mood-altering smokes and gummies derived from hemp.

High Oil Prices Hammer HECO Customers. Here’s Why Flickr

High Oil Prices Hammer HECO Customers. Here’s Why

Average Oʻahu home electric bills are up $60 since June 2025.

He Lanakila No Nā Kānaka: Ua Kaupalena Ka Luna Kānāwai I Nā Uku Hoʻokolokolo No Ke Ahi Hōlapu Ma Maui Screenshot/Hawaii News Now/2024

He Lanakila No Nā Kānaka: Ua Kaupalena Ka Luna Kānāwai I Nā Uku Hoʻokolokolo No Ke Ahi Hōlapu Ma Maui

Ua ʻimi akula nā loio he $1 biliona kālā, e loaʻa nō naʻe he māhele wale nō o ia huinanui.

Why Isn’t Hawaiʻi’s ‘Affordable Housing’ More Affordable? Cory Lum/Civil Beat

Why Isn’t Hawaiʻi’s ‘Affordable Housing’ More Affordable?

A complicated formula results in a price-setting benchmark that’s higher than if it measured only income. The result: More people qualify, but rents are out of reach for many.

HECO Is At War With Governor’s Energy Partner Over Creating New Utility Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022

HECO Is At War With Governor’s Energy Partner Over Creating New Utility

A Japanese rival wants build a new liquefied natural gas power plant and start a new regulated utility for Oʻahu, ending HECO’s 135-year monopoly.