Waimanalo Gym Closure Leaves A Town Feeling Sidelined
For more than two years, Sandra Clark, a recreation assistant at Waimanalo District Park, noticed pieces of rusted bolts falling from the ceiling of the park’s gymnasium. When city officials inspected...
View ArticleIan Lind: Union Says Suspensions Shouldn’t Stop Prison Guard Promotions
This little item left me sputtering and trying to keep my coffee from spewing across the computer keyboard. It seems the United Public Workers, the union which represents some 13,000 state and county...
View ArticleHawaii Legislators Make Headway On State Budget
The Legislature’s critical conference committee period kicked off Tuesday at the Capitol with Hawaii lawmakers making earnest statements about how they have found a lot to agree on when it comes to the...
View ArticleHonolulu Closer To Outfitting Officers With Body Cameras
A handful of Honolulu Police Department officers should be outfitted with body-worn cameras by the end of the year as part of a pilot program. On Wednesday, Acting Police Chief Cary Okimoto told the...
View ArticleSix New Rat Lungworm Cases Reported In Hawaii
The Hawaii Department of Health announced Wednesday that as many as six more people may have been infected with rat lungworm disease on the Big Island, bringing the year-to-date total of the parasitic...
View ArticleCoast Guard Budget Cuts Could Mean Fewer Rescues In Hawaii
The U.S. Coast Guard, the federal agency that protects the state’s shores and ports, is the Eddie Aikau of the Hawaiian Islands. Week after week, Coast Guard teams pluck distressed mariners from danger...
View ArticleCompeting Airbnb Bills Set Off Lobbying Battle
The Legislature is on the cusp of passing two bills that will allow online accommodation brokers such as Airbnb to serve as tax collectors for the state. Although both bills could enable the state to...
View ArticlePolice Commission May Be Short-Changing Cops In Need Of Attorneys
Honolulu police officers accused of crimes or named in lawsuits may not be getting the legal representation they deserve under state law. And the problem may go back years. If true, the problem could...
View ArticleTad Bartimus: Museum Exhibit Honors Renowned Maui Poet And Gardener
HAIKU, Maui — To read William S. Merwin’s poetry and prose is to be versed in his passions – his wife, Zen Buddhism, Native Hawaiian culture, his French farmhouse, dogs, and especially the scrub...
View ArticleAttorney General Sessions’ Criticism Of Hawaii Judge Draws Fire
U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz are expressing outrage over U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ dismissive view of the 50th state and a federal judge in Honolulu. Politico is among several...
View ArticleHawaii Senate To Propose 10-Year Extension On Rail Tax
The Hawaii Senate is expected to offer the House compromise legislation that would provide continued funding for Honolulu’s troubled rail project. The proposed amendment will call for extending the 0.5...
View Article5 Reasons Jeff Sessions Might Be Right About Hawaii
Correction: An earlier version of this story said Hawaii was the only U.S. battlefield in World War II. In fact, in 1942 Japanese forces occupied two islands in Alaska’s Aleutian chain and hundreds of...
View ArticleJudge Blocks Access To AG Investigation Of Hawaii Auditor
A state Circuit Court judge ruled Wednesday that the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General can keep secret its year-long investigation of the state auditor’s office. The ruling came as part of a...
View ArticleHirono Has $1 Million On Hand For Likely Senate Re-election Bid
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono raised nearly $300,000 in the first three months of the year, bringing her cash-on-hand total to more than $1 million. The Democrat, who is expected to seek re-election next...
View ArticleHealth Beat: Why We All Need Health Savings Accounts
The Legislature just passed a measure that allows for the sale of high-deductible health insurance plans accompanied by health savings accounts that allow for pretax dollars to be saved to pay for...
View ArticleCayetano To Trump: Cut Honolulu Rail Funds
In a full-page ad running in Friday’s Washington Post, former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano is urging President Donald Trump to stop more federal dollars from going to Honolulu’s rail transit project. Some...
View ArticleCommittee Rejects Governor’s Choice For Utilities Commission
Updated 6:45 p.m., 4/21/2017 Gov. David Ige’s nomination of Tom Gorak to the three-member Public Utilities Commission — an agency with broad responsibilities that range from shaping the state’s energy...
View ArticleBattle Lines Are Reforming In Hawaii Over Papahanaumokuakea
Defenders and opponents of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are moving back into their familiar battle stations as Republican President Trump reopens the...
View ArticleDenby Fawcett: Restoring Oahu’s Nearly Vanished Native Forests
Oahu was once covered with koa and sandalwood trees in lush mountain forests. Nowadays, you have to hike long and hard to find any endemic trees, and when you finally come across the trees they often...
View ArticleCritics: Water Bill Could Hurt Customers And The Environment
The Hawaii chapter of the Sierra Club is trying to persuade lawmakers to amend a bill that the organization fears would remove governmental oversight of private companies that distribute non-potable...
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