By Ferd Lewis If the University of Hawaii comes back from its Oct. 12 football game at Nevada-Las Vegas with a victory, it will be a good sign.
By June Watanabe In January, the architect designing my new home submitted the plans to the city Department of Planning and Permitting. The plans were approved. There is an old home, built in 1938, on the same lot, adjacent to where the new home is to be built. It is scheduled to be renovated, but is not part of the new home.
By Cynthia Oi Earlier this month, the proprietors of Tsukenjo Lunch House folded battered wooden doors over the entrance and slid down a buss-up plank to cover the takeout window for good.
By June Watanabe Is there any law that prohibits posting signs on utility poles? In Aiea and Pearl City, I counted four signs that say "We buy and sell houses."
By Dave Reardon When the USC football team comes to play against the University of Hawaii at Aloha Stadium in August, several thousand Trojans fans will accompany it.

By Erika Engle Hosts of the NBC "Today" show were decked out in custom-designed aloha shirts made and given to them by Reyn Spooner when they hit the national airwaves from Waikiki Beach at 1 a.m. Monday.
By David Shapiro It's always welcome news when local officials manage to solve a problem, and University of Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay appears to have done so on the weighty matter of naming UH sports teams.
By Nadine Kam Some people crave the food they grew up eating. Not me. Familiarity doesn't breed contempt, but it does breed a certain amount of indifference.
By Betty Shimabukuro I wonder how many banana bread recipes there are in the world. Thousands? Tens of thousands? A bazillion? I guess there's no such thing as too many, as long as the world gives us bananas.
By Hawaiian Electric Co. More than 5,000 candlelit lanterns will be set afloat in honor of loved ones who have died at the 15th annual Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at Ala Moana Beach Park.
By June Watanabe What’s the difference between “scattered showers” and “isolated showers?” I see both terms used on the National Weather Service website and repeated by local media, but it seems to be a distinction without a difference. As far as I can tell, both mean it may rain once in a while in some places.
By Michael Tsai Donna Fouts insists she’s the nicest person ever you’ll want to meet. Just not on the soccer field.
By Ferd Lewis With the No. 1 pick in the 2014 Pro Bowl “draft” Peyton Manning selects …
By Beau Monday On May 1, the Department of Homeland Security issued an alert warning of a pending cyberattack targeting high-profile U.S. government agencies and financial institutions. The initiative was dubbed "OpUSA" by its instigators,
By Richard Borreca Mark down Jan. 4 as the date when the state House Democrats, in coalition with House Republicans, put Rep. Sylvia Luke in charge of the House Finance Committee.
By Dave Reardon When the Wahine contributed so mightily to UH's run to the College World Series in 2010 as freshmen, the possibilities seemed endless for a team that would have Kelly Majam, Jessica Iwata and Kaia Parnaby around for three more years.
By June Watanabe Question: Do you know if there are any state regulations regarding hospices being in residential areas?
By Susan Scott KAUEHI, Tuamoto Archipelago » With laundry done, the galley loaded with mangoes and a crew change (my husband, Craig, replaced friends John and Alex), it was time for my 37-foot boat Honu to sail on.
By Erika Engle June Mulhall was a shoe addict who turned her passion into a business and has enabled untold numbers of other shoe addicts for 33 years.
By Heidi Bornhorst What do Hawaii gardeners love to grow the most? Based on my interactions with plant lovers, landscape clients, farmers and keiki, the top answers are fragrant flowers, native Hawaiian and medicinal plants and food crops.
By Dave Reardon As our ohana celebrates a milestone birthday today of my aunt and godmother Sandra Lee, much of the conversation will be about and include her grandchildren (she has quite a few), in particular Kanoa Hironaka and Taylor Suwa since they just competed in state championships last week.
By Wayne Harada Two prominent Hawaii entertainers — Cha Thompson and Loretta Ables Sayre — are in the midst of filming separate movies on two islands. Thompson is portraying a Hawaiian soothsayer in "Behind the Rainbow," a German movie directed by Judith Kennel being filmed on Maui.
By Mike Gordon When Vincent Kartheiser sheds the Brooks Brothers suit that belongs to Pete Campbell, his uptight character on the AMC series "Mad Men," he turns into a pretty simple guy.
By Jeff Chung This week's synopses of Korean TV dramas includes: "That Winter, the Wind Blows"; "Jang Ok Jung, Living by Love"; "All About My Romance"; and "Incarnation of Money"
By John Berger Tony Conjugacion's performance credits stretch from Broadway (where he performed as Tony C. Avanti in "Miss Saigon") to "TC2000," an avant-garde pairing of Hawaiian chant with mainstream electronic dance music. • Also: "Take 2" by Herb Ohta Jr. and Jon Yamasato
By David Shapiro Academics, athletics and politics collided in Manoa as we "flASHback" on the week's news that amused and confused:
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi When Marilyn Jansen Lopes and her husband, Ricky, bought a used eight-passenger van at an auction in 2009, they intended to use it as an RV for camping and cruising. Little did they know it would inspire a business that draws people from all over the world.
By Anthony Curtis The Las Vegas pool season officially kicks off Memorial Day weekend, but most of the party pools are already in full swing. Once you had to be a hotel guest to get into a casino pool, but now 29 are open to the public.
By John Berger
By Richard Borreca Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui came to Gov. Neil Abercrombie's administration by way of the state Constitution, not a desire to join the team or the wish of the voters.
By Andrew Gomes “Akamai Money” seeks out local experts to answer questions about business in Hawaii. If you have an issue you would like us to tackle, please email it to business@star-advertiser.com and put “Akamai Money” in the subject line.
Amid all the fanfare over the forgiving of the $13 million accumulated deficit and other financial aid for the University of Hawaii athletic departments, another significant change has largely been overlooked.
By Ira Zunin The Affordable Care Act is the primary manifesto of health care reform. While its primary focus is to facilitate increased access to the underserved, it is also designed to reduce the cost of health care and improve delivery.
By June Watanabe On Young Street, between Isenberg Street and Kalakaua Avenue, there recently was a graphic painted on the road: a bicycle with double upward-pointed arrows above it. I have never seen this before but assumed that it meant that a bicycle lane was beginning ahead.
By Richard Brill When cave dwellers hunkered around the fire pit, fire was a source of heat as well as light and there was nothing to read so the low luminous efficiency did not matter.
By Dave Reardon So the UH athletic department no longer owes $13M to upper campus. Balanced budget, the easy way. Some look at it as a family member forgiving a loan. Some look at it as a charge-off of a bad debt. Some look at it as $13M of public money being taken from UH's academic mission.
Last week, I talked to Linda Coble about how her television news career began. This week, we'll look at her time at KGMB, where she worked with some of Hawaii's finest journalists.
By Erika Engle In addition to invention, necessity also can be the mother of reinvention, as was the case for Andrea Gall-Krasnick.
By Ben Wood This is a tribute to you," Gov. Neil Abercrombie said to Jimmy Borges Monday night at The Pacific Club as a crowd of 140 stood and cheered. Jimmy was honored by the Hawaii chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters, which assists promising young artists.
By Ferd Lewis Lake Washington sparkles just beyond the outfield fence and, on a clear day, there is snow-tinged Mount Ranier rising in the distance.
By June Watanabe On my recent water bill, I noticed I paid the exact same amount for water for two billing cycles. To the penny. What are the chances of that happening, right? I called and found out the Board of Water Supply bills only by the 1,000 gallons used.
By Cynthia Oi To be blunt, the apartment was a dump. The tilted floor was gritty, furry balls scurried from corners, dust filmed furniture surfaces.
By Dave Reardon Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay will be at Pearl Ridge Elementary on Thursday. So show up with your signs and your petition and your speeches, fans of the nickname Warriors, all by its lonesome.
By David Shapiro This week marked 21⁄2 years since I started my granddaughters Sloane and Nakaylee in music classes with Ilisa Peralta at Island Guitar.
By Erika Engle Employees of Foodland Super Market Ltd. got special treats from the company as the kama­aina grocery store chain marked its 65th anniversary May 6, kicking off its anniversary celebration that will extend to the end of the year.
As we rush about our daily lives, we rarely notice details in the scenery, and when something suddenly changes — an empty lot appears, or a skeleton of a building starts taking shape — we struggle to remember what was there before.
By Steven Mark Korean restaurants have a reputation for not serving dessert, so if you happen to be dining in the “Korea­moku” vicinity and need a bit of post-meal refreshment, just walk over to Cafe Cooland.
By Betty Shimabukuro Marc Vogel is a travelin' man with a travelin' pan — a 45-inch paella pan that has seen the world. Vogel is a San Francisco-based chef with a varied resume.
By Hawaiian Electric Co. With graduation season in full swing, consider a handmade lei filled with delicious homemade goodies. Each lei can be customized to your grad's favorite flavors.