Before the first sunrise of 2012, as the lingering pop-pop of firecrackers announced a new year, same-sex couples gathered in living rooms and chapels around the state to be officially united in Hawaii’s first civil union ceremonies.

As the year neared its close, thousands of isle residents converged on the state Capitol, Punchbowl cemetery and neighbor island venues to pay their respects to a beloved statesman.

In between, Hawaii saw Mother Marianne Cope canonized in Rome as Hawaii’s second saint, tsunami debris from Japan reach its shores and an Election Day ballot shortage that affected hundreds of voters.

Here are the top stories of 2012:

1. Inouye DIED

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, Hawaii’s pre-eminent political figure for more than a generation, died Dec. 17 at age 88.

Inouye, the grandson of immigrants from Japan, lost his right arm in World War II fighting for the country that sent Japanese-Americans to internment camps.

Inouye was the most senior member of the Senate and was its president pro tempore, third in line to the presidency. He gave the keynote speech at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, was one of seven senators on the Watergate investigative committee, and in 1987 was chosen as chairman of the Senate select committee probing the Iran-Contra scandal.

Inouye, who controlled Senate purse strings as chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, brought untold millions to Hawaii and was credited with helping secure federal funding for such projects as the H-3 freeway, military facilities and Oahu’s rail line.

2. Fallout for UH

It began as a benefit concert for the financially struggling University of Hawaii athletics department, but what became known as the Wonder Blunder (see top sports stories on Page C1) exposed troubling issues at the very top at the flagship Manoa campus.

The concert was to have taken place on Aug. 18 but was canceled July 10 after Stevie Wonder’s agent told UH the show was planned without the star’s knowledge. That triggered intense scrutiny of the university, including Senate hearings in which lawmakers grilled witnesses, exposing inadequate financial and management policies and, among other things, a Board of Regents that lacked oversight and was in need of training on the state’s Sunshine Law.

3. Rail project

Oahu’s $5.26 billion rail transit project reached significant milestones in 2012. On April 23, construction began as workers bored 8-foot-diameter holes in an Ewa cornfield for support pillars. On Dec. 19, the U.S. Department of Transportation signed an agreement promising the federal government’s $1.55 billion share of funding for the project. While earlier rulings halted construction, on Thursday federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima cleared the way for construction to resume on all but the downtown segment.

4. Game change

For more than five decades, Hawaii’s congressional delegation was the picture of stability: Only 14 people had occupied the delegation’s four seats since statehood, and until 2010 none had lost a re-election bid.

But Inouye’s death and U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka’s retirement changed everything.

Brian Schatz, 40, went from lieutenant governor to Hawaii’s senior U.S. senator in a 20-hour span that began Wednesday afternoon when Gov. Neil Abercrombie appointed him over Inouye’s choice, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, 61. U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, 65, will be sworn in Thursday to succeed Akaka, while former Honolulu City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard, 31, succeeds Hirono.

5. Civil unions

The first civil union ceremony in Hawaii was conducted and registered with the state at 1:12 a.m. on Jan. 1, as Hawaii became the seventh state to allow civil unions without authorizing same-sex marriage itself.

More than 140 couples entered into civil unions in Hawaii this year, state Health Department records show. Still unresolved is a December 2011 lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple, Natasha and Janin Jackson-Kleid, asserting Hawaii law banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and that civil unions are no substitute for marriage.