Under Trump, The Private Prison Industry Will Likely Grow
The year 2016 was a wild one for the private prison industry. During the presidential election campaign, the Democratic challengers both called for an end to private prisons. The leader in the industry...
View ArticleLawmakers Urge Medical Help For Micronesian Veterans
Citizens of three Micronesian nations have been serving in the U.S. military since World War II. And yet, because Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia are not part of the...
View ArticleWhy So-Called Illegal Care Homes Are Not Illegal
I am a Registered Nurse in Hawaii and owner of Maile Case Management, LLC. I have been in business for 8 years now and have worked as a nurse in Hawaii for approximately 20 years. Additionally, my...
View ArticleHealth Beat: Defunding Planned Parenthood Could Cost Us Dearly
The latest Trump administration proposal slashes the budget of several key governmental agencies — the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the...
View ArticleHonolulu Rail: City Needs To Get It Together Or Give It Up
In 2010, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unilaterally pulled the plug on one of the nation’s largest public infrastructure projects. The Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project — an $8.7 billion rail...
View ArticleHawaii Judge Refuses To Back Down, Extends Ruling Against Travel Ban
The Hawaii judge who blocked President Donald Trump’s revised executive order on immigration two weeks ago extended his nationwide stay Wednesday, brushing aside the administration’s argument that the...
View ArticleSenate Committee Unveils A Streamlined State Budget
Just before announcing highlights from the latest draft of the state budget, Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda remarked to a packed committee room at the Capitol, “Everyone’s so quiet in here.” The...
View ArticleHere’s How Hawaiians Could Get Much-Needed Rental Housing
As Michelle Kauhane drives along a quiet Kapolei road, she points out the brown single-story homes that sit between two-story houses on Hawaiian homelands. “You see the difference between these two...
View ArticleExtend Rail Tax, But Demand A More Transformative Vision
Over the last few years the costs for Honolulu’s rail system have ballooned, forcing the city to go to the Legislature and ask for an extension of the rail tax to allow them to complete the project....
View ArticleNeal Milner: We Long Ago Stopped Trusting Anything About Honolulu Rail
Even if the Legislature gives Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell the rail funds he wants, even if somehow, somewhere, the city gets enough money to complete rail, the damage is done. And this hurt will...
View ArticleBret Yager: Scientists Race To Help Hawaii Corals Survive
Her time in the underwater wasteland has gotten easier these days for coral research diver Lindsey Kramer. Stationed in Kailua-Kona — ground zero for the worst recorded coral bleaching in state history...
View ArticleHawaii Inches Closer To Becoming A Vote-By-Mail State
Worried about the state’s anemic voter turnout, two Senate committees unanimously approved legislation Thursday to implement voting by mail for all Hawaii counties by 2020. That pleased two major...
View ArticleTrump Appeals Hawaii Judge’s Ruling That Stopped Travel Ban
The Trump administration filed a notice Thursday to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson’s nationwide stay against the president’s revised executive order on immigration. The appeal follows...
View ArticleProposed Increases In Honolulu Taxes And Fees Will Be ‘A Tough Sell’
Oahu residents could see substantial tax hikes and fee increases if the Honolulu City Council approves proposals requested by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Council members are considering nine...
View ArticleVote-By-Mail Could Boost Election Turnout
If representative democracy works best when we participate in the evaluation and election of our representatives, then we have a serious problem in Hawaii. Voter turnout in the Aloha State was dead...
View ArticleCan Silicon Valley’s Autocrats Save Democracy?
In late February, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg published an essay that laid out the social network’s vision for the coming years. The 5,700-word document, immediately dubbed a “manifesto,”...
View ArticleHow The Hawaii Police Union Is Helping Keep Bad Cops On The Job
Former Honolulu police officer Teddy Van Lerberghe, who was indicted this month on suspicion of repeatedly sexually assaulting a minor, is fighting for more than his freedom. He’s also trying to keep...
View ArticlePassing Aid-In-Dying Bill Would Be An Act Of Courage
The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the right of mentally competent individuals to end their life but has also acknowledged that the states have the right to put some controls on how individuals end...
View ArticleTrump’s FCC Redefines The Public Interest As Business Interests
The U.S. Senate voted last week to allow internet service providers to sell data about their customers’ online activities to advertisers. The House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday; President Trump...
View ArticleReader Rep: Focus On Where You Went To High School Is Misleading
No state embraces private K-12 education more than Hawaii, often at great personal sacrifice for parents, children and the community. Intertwined in this pervasive private school narrative is the idea...
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