Pope Francis may have been 5,000 miles away on the East Coast, preaching to the powers-that-be in Washington and New York, but his message of peace and caring resonated everywhere, including here in Hawaii. The pontiff’s clarion call to care for the poor, the weak, the families in distress, finds practical application on our sidewalks and streets, where the homeless struggle to live with dignity. His message warning against inaction on climate change reaches our rising shorelines and warming waters. But most of all, Pope Francis urged us to live in peace and to love one another — what we would call the spirit of aloha.

Hawaii lawyers get caught in the middle

What’s the good of a law without lawyers?

The people who lobbied long and hard for the new state law enabling the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries are wondering that right now. And we hope the Hawaii Supreme Court thinks better of its opinion barring attorneys here from representing those who want to start them. Of course, it would be better still if the federal government makes medical marijuana legal, which would clear everything right up.