School Chief Search Resumes After Candidate Withdraws
The Hawaii Board of Education is starting up its search for a superintendent again now that former board member Darrel Galera has decided not to apply. The board suspended its search Friday after the...
View ArticleBattle Lines Drawn In Hawaii’s Case Against Trump
The Trump administration on Monday asked the U.S. District Court in Honolulu to deny Hawaii’s request for an immediate injunction against the newly revised travel ban, arguing that the state “lacks any...
View ArticleDenby Fawcett: Park Bench Donations Are Surprisingly Controversial
A friend and I were walking through Kapiolani Park the other day when we noticed a new park bench by the tennis courts memorializing a person named Robert W. Dunn. We wondered how the park bench...
View ArticleDemocratic Attorneys General Are Banding Together Against Trump
WASHINGTON — Until this year, Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin had never sued the federal government. Now, as the Trump administration embarks on a string of policies that Hawaii’s Democratic...
View ArticleWhy Bitcoin Access Has Been Shut Down In Hawaii
In 2009, a computer programmer created a new kind of money, a digital currency called bitcoin. It lets a user store bitcoins on a computer or phone and send them anywhere in the world with only minimal...
View ArticleHawaii Delegates: ‘Trumpcare’ A Bad Deal For Americans
Members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation are seizing on the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act to say how much they hate the proposed...
View ArticleHelp Wanted: Panels On Ethics, Campaigns Need Volunteers
Two high-profile state agencies are having difficulty attracting viable candidates to serve on their boards. The state Judicial Council first advertised for vacancies on the Hawaii State Ethics...
View ArticleTravel Ban Challenged In 3 Cities Wednesday — Including Honolulu
President Donald Trump’s new executive order on immigration faces a day of reckoning Wednesday, when federal lawsuits in three cities could keep the travel ban from taking effect. Three judges,...
View ArticleWill House Allow Payday Lenders To Keep Charging 459 Percent Interest?
The Hawaii Senate voted last week to limit payday loan annual interest rates to 36 percent, down from the current allowable annual rate of 459 percent. Senate Bill 286 is supported by the state Office...
View ArticleWhy Federal Budget Cuts Are Likely To Hit Hawaii Hard
WASHINGTON — Major federal budget cuts are going to hit Hawaii soon. Education, consumer protection, housing, environmental regulation, health care and public broadcasting are all on the chopping...
View ArticleWhat Senators Should Ask Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee Neil Gorsuch are fast approaching. It’s time to consider some key questions about First Amendment speech rights the senators...
View ArticleIan Lind: Hawaiian Activist Was Right All Along, Supreme Court Rules
The Hawaii Supreme Court handed Hawaiian activist, cultural practitioner, peacemaker and musician Laulani Teale a significant victory last month by unanimously overturning her arrest and conviction for...
View ArticleHawaii Judge Halts Trump’s Travel Ban Nationwide
In a case of legal deja vu, President Donald Trump’s new executive order on immigration suffered a major setback Wednesday, when a federal judge in Honolulu issued a temporary restraining order to keep...
View ArticleHawaii House Sends ‘Prudent’ State Budget To Senate
Using words like “prudent,” “cautious” and “conservative,” the Hawaii House on Wednesday unanimously passed the state’s operating budget, sending it over to the Senate for its review. It totals $28...
View ArticleGOP Could Reverse Protection Of Papahanaumokuakea
WASHINGTON — The Republican who chairs the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources has teamed up with a congresswoman from American Samoa to lobby President Donald Trump to open all marine monuments,...
View ArticleCounties To Track Equipment Used In Snorkeling Deaths
Lifeguards in Maui have begun tracking equipment worn by snorkelers who drown in their jurisdiction and other counties appear poised to do the same. A state water safety committee on Wednesday heard...
View ArticleAloha Spirit Alive And Well In Hilo
Two years ago, I moved back to Hilo, back to my parents’ home, where I had lived from childhood through my graduation from Hilo High School as the salutatorian in a class of 730 students. The wise,...
View ArticleNeal Milner: How Hawaii Lawmakers Magically Make Bills Disappear
Thanks to state Rep. John Mizuno’s strange and unusual candor, we now have a much better understanding of how the Legislature does its magic. And magic it is. In fact Civil Beat referred to Mizuno’s...
View ArticleHow To Save Money And Salvage The Rail
Now is not the time to bury our heads in the sand, embarrassed and dismayed by the worsening fiasco of HART. We can see this train coming from many miles away; and there is still time to avert the...
View ArticleTrump Supporters Want To #BoycottHawaii
After a federal judge in Hawaii blocked President Trump’s revised travel ban Wednesday, Trump supporters took to Twitter to call for a boycott of all things Hawaii. The #BoycottHawaii hashtag...
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