As reported in the Star-Advertiser, Castle & Cooke Hawaii Inc. can continue with its controversial Koa Ridge project (“High court allows project to proceed,” Star-Advertiser, April 7).

I choose to focus my attention on more positive developments recently reported, such as the Turtle Bay Resort recording an easement to allow for 468 acres to be used for farming (“468 acres to remain farmland,” Star-Advertiser, April 5).

This is the second easement sold by the resort. The first was for 629 acres for public use protected in perpetuity.

And finally, state lawmakers want the state to buy about 8,000 acres from Dole Foods to help reduce the state’s dependence on imported food, increase the number of jobs in agriculture and make agriculture a living-wage profession (“Senators keen to buy Dole land,” Star-Advertiser, April 8). That land, if not protected as farmland, could be subdivided and sold as “gentleman farms.”

Chris Jansen

Mililani

Maybe HMSA should quit being an insurer

Regarding Sunday’s article on Hawaii Medical Service Association’s proposed changes to physician reimbursement policies (“Doctors blast new HMSA payment plan,” Star-Advertiser, April 10), Dr. Christopher Flanders nailed it: “Essentially, what that’s doing is passing the risk of insurance from insurance companies to the physicians.”

Exactly! The physician’s role is to be the care provider. The insurance company’s role is supposed to be that of the insurer.

The economic model for the insurance industry requires a very large number of subscribers to make it work. Everyone pays a fixed share, and you reap the benefit when you have the need. Individual physicians have nowhere near the number of patients to cover the risk of insurance. That’s the whole reason for having health insurers.

If HMSA is trying to get out from being the insurer, then it needs to be removed from the role altogether.

Charles Hill

Kailua

Sanders critics overlook nuance

Regarding U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ ostensibly insufficient understanding of breaking up too-big-to-fail banks, as supposedly revealed by the New York Daily News, many seem persuaded, including Martin Schram (“Media generally giving politicos a pass,” Star-Advertiser, April 10).

Schram asserted that journalists had previously failed to do this sort of “in-depth” interviewing of presidential candidates. Perhaps it seems “in-depth” relative to superficial food fight and horserace campaign reporting, but it might be a better example of group-think pack journalism.

A possibly more objective in-depth analysis by Max Ehrenfreund appeared in the April 7 Washington Post. Paraphrased excerpts:

>> The transcript shows more nuance than some criticism might suggest.

>> When the discussion became technical, Sanders and his interviewer didn’t completely understand each other.

>> Aspects of banking reform — a responsibility shared by corporations, judges and federal agencies — remain uncertain due to complexity.

Tom Brandt

Downtown Honolulu

Libertarian Party might be best option

It looks like Bernie Sanders has a good chance to be our next president.

Hillary Clinton has a good chance to crash and burn, because she has many skeletons in her closet and is perceived as untrustworthy.

Sanders’ push for free college is a bad joke. Colleges would become an extension of high school. With no skin in the game, millions of free riders — our young adults — would waste a year or more in college when they’d be much better off learning a trade.

People fearful of what the U.S. could become under a President Sanders or President Donald Trump should not boycott the election but instead vote for the likely Libertarian Party candidate, Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico.

The Libertarian Party today doesn’t have a chance of winning, but momentum is building and America may gradually have more individual liberty, less government and more personal responsibility.

Alan Matsuda

Hawaii Kai

Courts not doing enough to protect us

Here we go again with a news report that a young man was stabbed to death and the alleged culprit reportedly had multiple prior arrests and was on probation (“Teenage boy stabbed to death near Kuhio Park Terrace,” Star-Advertiser, April 14).

Now is the time to have elections for judges who care about the safety of our citizens, and not for those who keep the revolving door open.

Each month we hear about another person with numerous arrests doing harm to citizens while on probation. Put them in jail and throw away the key.

Is there not one elected person in this state who is willing to stand up and start legislation to correct this injustice?

Mike Eberle

Waikiki

Tax Freedom Day keeps being put off

When are Hawaii residents done paying taxes? It’s not April 18, when taxes this year are due.

You finish paying them on April 19. That’s when you earn enough to pay your 2016 taxes. The Tax Foundation calls this “Tax Freedom Day,” but this holiday is 11 days later than it was four years ago. That’s because Washington, D.C., keeps overspending. It will take in a record $3.36 trillion in taxes this year, but still run a $534 billion deficit.

What can lawmakers do to stop this? The obvious answer is to cut federal spending. But just as important is tax reform.

We need tax reform that simplifies the code and eliminates special-interest loopholes. We also need to lower both individual and business tax rates so that everyone can benefit from more money, more jobs and faster economic growth.

The other option is to let Tax Freedom Day keep getting later.

Andy Koenig

Senior policy adviser, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce Arlington, Va.