Several right-wing columnsts have written columns based on this Hawaiian ACLU story, so they think it’s true. E.g. see http://www.andrewsullivan.com/
It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a Weekly, but yeah, it’s a good paper. They’re the biggest indie paper here. The writers (particularly Robert Rees) are fairly critical of local government. IIRC, a few local politicians refuse to talk to them.
I’m not too surprised that the HW is the only source for this story. I’ve never taken the time to contrast the HW versus the dailies, but it seems that the HW publishes articles the dailies let slide… or ignore… Or at least that’s the impression I get.
I think it’s also the only Hawaii publication that runs the Straight Dope column.
Here’s another link about the story.