Palolo Valley: ‘Overshadowed By Its Past,’ But Making Progress
If you had taken a stroll through the lower Palolo Valley 75 years ago, you’d have seen plum and guava trees lining the streets, ripe for picking. Kids would have been playing in quiet neighborhood and...
View ArticleAmendment Would Help Fund Honolulu Zoo With Property Taxes
Three months ago, the Honolulu Zoo lost its accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, hindering its reputation and ability to bring in exotic animals. Part of the reason was that the...
View Article69 Percent Of Voters Want Feral Cats Removed From Hawaii
Nearly 70 percent of Oahu voters want feral cats removed from Hawaii, according to The Civil Beat Poll conducted earlier this month by Merriman River Group. Just 13 percent want to leave the cats...
View ArticleLet The Voting Begin!
Got your absentee ballot yet? I did. Hawaii voters now have the chance to have their say in the 2016 elections. In addition the the absentee ballots, which went out last week, early walk-in voting...
View ArticleGov. Ige Off To Asia, Again
Hawaii Gov. David Ige is traveling in Okinawa and Tokyo from Monday through Nov. 2. According to a press release, in Okinawa the focus will be renewable energy and utilizing deep seawater. In Tokyo,...
View ArticleCaldwell Approves Ewa Lagoon
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has signed two bills that make way for developer Haseko to build a recreational lagoon rather than a marina in Ewa, a change that has angered homeowners and sparked a...
View Article3 Billy Kenoi Charges Tossed
A judge threw out three lesser charges against Big Island Mayor Billy Kenoi on Monday, the same day prosecutors rested in the ongoing criminal trial over the mayor’s use of public money for personal...
View ArticleHawaii Must Move On Oral Health Programs For Keiki
There is no doubt that fluoridated water would dramatically decrease tooth decay among children in Hawaii. Evidence-based studies from other states that have adopted fluoridation support this claim....
View ArticleTodd Simmons: ‘Who Is Our Hawaiian Superman?’
Disney’s upcoming animated feature “Moana” promises to be a hit when it goes up on screens across the country Thanksgiving week, but it’s sparked a small tsunami of controversy here among the...
View ArticleTV Spots — And One Big Print Ad — Spice Up Mayor’s Race
As print advertising goes, it’s an impressive spot. The two-page spread in Sunday’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser promoting Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s re-election includes two former governors and the current...
View ArticleDenby Fawcett: Hawaii State Senate May Soon Be All Democrats
The self-described “Lone Ranger,” state Sen. Sam Slom, may be making his last ride. He is the only Republican in Hawaii’s 25 member state Senate. The outcome of Slom’s re-election bid will have...
View ArticleDefining Downtown Honolulu Isn’t As Easy As You’d Think
Where’s downtown Honolulu? It depends on who you ask. City Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga considers downtown to stretch from the mountains to the sea, between South and Alakea streets to the east and Pali...
View ArticlePilot Error, Lack Of Training Blamed For Deadly Marine Helicopter Crash
Editor’s Note: This story, exclusive to Civil Beat and HuffPost Hawaii, is being published with permission from the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. A Marine...
View ArticleBalloons Cause Power Outages
First it was scary clowns. Now we have to worry about balloons. Metallic balloons, to be specific. Hawaiian Electric issued a warning Tuesday, saying that the number of power outages caused by metallic...
View ArticleHanabusa Win A ‘Sure Thing’
The election is still two weeks away, but a Washington, D.C., political news outlet says Colleen Hanabusa will definitely be returned to Congress. “Hanabusa, who gave up the seat for an unsuccessful...
View ArticleA Future Letter To The President: Can Love Be A Foreign Policy?
Dear President Clinton: Now that your first hundred days in office are about to arrive, I’m writing to you now to urge that you fundamentally rethink our country’s foreign policy. I’ve seen 10,000...
View ArticlePoll Shows Public Consensus Is Still Possible — At Least On Oahu
One prominent narrative this election season has been how deeply divided America is, an idea often validated through the example of the presidential race or other political contests where a left vs....
View ArticleHawaii Teacher: We Can Fix Schools Without Gazing Beyond The Islands
It feels like every time I open my news page or social media feed, there is another article about how great the Finnish school system is. To be honest, it does sound pretty great: students going to...
View ArticleThis Clear Water Has Been Flowing Under Kakaako Since The 1920s
About three feet below a paved parking lot behind Marukai Market Place lies a shallow stream of continuously running, clear water encased in a concrete culvert. But this isn’t just a stream – it’s an...
View ArticleDo We Need New Agencies For Climate Change And Public Lands?
Honolulu voters are being asked to establish an agency dedicated to managing thousands of acres of city land and another charged with handling climate change and sustainability. The proposals are among...
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