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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Jan. 23, 2021
Members of Hawaii’s Board of Land and Natural Resources expressed growing concern Friday about the loss of Hawaii’s beaches to homeowners erecting illegal seawalls as they ordered several structures to be removed along beaches on Oahu and Molokai and fined the property owners.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Jan. 22, 2021
Homeowners along Sunset Beach, Punaluu and Portlock on Oahu, as well as a property owner on Molokai, are facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines for allegedly constructing illegal seawalls and boulder revetments along Hawaii’s beaches.
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- By Sophie Cocke and Dan Nakaso scocke@staradvertiser.com
dnakaso@staradvertiser.com
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Jan. 21, 2021
In normal times, protesters, lobbyists, government officials and students flood the Hawaii Capitol in downtown Honolulu for opening-day festivities of the Legislature.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Jan. 20, 2021
Island burial council leaders are accusing the state of “systemic and chronic mismanagement” of a program developed three decades ago to handle the discovery of Native Hawaiian burials and are calling on the Legislature, which convenes today, to establish a working group to implement reforms.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Jan. 19, 2021
Laura Acasio was among three Democrats whose names were submitted to the governor to complete the remaining two years of Kahele’s four-year term in the state senate. Kahele was sworn in to Congress earlier this month.
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- By Mindy Pennybacker and Sophie Cocke
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Dec. 31, 2020
Seawalls erode Hawaii’s beaches, but the state has been lax about approving them and disorganized about enforcing the law. Officials now pledge action, after a Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica investigation.
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- By Sophie Cocke
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Dec. 31, 2020
Everybody knows that seawalls cause beach loss, and Hawaii law forbids building them. But Honolulu County officials have granted exemptions to 46 homeowners over the past two decades even as a quarter of Oahu’s beaches have disappeared.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Dec. 29, 2020
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica have developed an interactive, web-based app that compiles 20 years of shoreline exemptions in a searchable map of properties that got permits to keep existing shoreline structures or build new ones.
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- By Sophie Cocke
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Dec. 5, 2020
Hawaii’s beaches are public land, which officials are obligated to protect and preserve. But a state agency has repeatedly allowed homeowners, including surfer Kelly Slater, to use tactics that protect property while speeding up the loss of beaches.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Nov. 18, 2020
Honolulu officials have granted an exception to the state’s beach protections, clearing the way for a controversial multimillion dollar renovation of a century-old seawall at a property owned by the chair of the Obama Foundation.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Oct. 3, 2020
Plans to overhaul a seawall to protect a Waimanalo property with ties to former President Barack Obama ran into public opposition on Friday, with the Oahu chapter of the Surfrider Foundation going so far as to advocate for the complete removal of the wall so that the beach could be restored.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Aug. 15, 2020
Although Hawaii has laws meant to preserve disappearing shorelines, beachfront property owners have been able to bypass them. That’s what happened at an expansive coastal estate officials say the Obamas will live in.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Aug. 15, 2020
After Native Hawaiian remains were found on the multimillion-dollar oceanfront lot being developed by the chair of the Obama Foundation, a state official decided to relocate the remains. Kamuela Kala‘i is speaking up for her ancestors
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Jan. 2, 2020
Hawaii residents and visitors caught with small quantities of marijuana can rest assured they won’t be charged with criminal offenses under a new law that takes effect this year.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Jan. 1, 2020
Two men have been charged with sexual assault on Hawaii island following a statewide effort to test hundreds of rape kits that for years sat unprocessed in county storage facilities.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Dec. 25, 2019
More than 150 doctors left the state this year, while another 91 retired and 123 decreased their work hours, contributing to the ongoing physician shortage throughout Hawaii, according to a report from the Hawaii Physician Workforce Assessment Project that was recently submitted to the state Legislature.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Dec. 24, 2019
The former governor says Gabbard’s missed votes and absence from her district are “unacceptable.”
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Dec. 23, 2019
The former governor says Gabbard’s missed votes and absence from her district are “unacceptable.”
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Dec. 19, 2019
Hawaii’s two members of the U.S. House of Representatives diverged in Wednesday’s historic vote to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Dec. 18, 2019
If her censure resolution fails, which is expected, it’s not clear how Gabbard will vote on impeachment.
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- By Sophie Cocke scocke@staradvertiser.com
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Dec. 17, 2019
If her censure resolution fails, which is expected, it’s not clear how Gabbard will vote on impeachment.
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