It’s disappointing to hear so much discussion about the proposed Green New Deal in Congress degenerate to cheap cracks about seahorse travel and regulating bovine flatulence. Read more
University of Hawaii President David Lassner’s success in fighting off severe budget cuts from the Legislature was a refreshing show of rational conflict resolution in these contentious times. Read more
We so seldom see fresh ideas from local government that it’s a shame when a good one goes to waste. Yet that seems the case with Rep. Gregg Takayama’s bill to explore state purchase of the underused Federal Detention Center near the airport to replace the decrepit Oahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi. Read more
Ballard offered no comment on the settlement, and we’ve heard little from the Police Commission, which knew of the lawsuit when it appointed Ballard chief. Read more
As often happens in politics, Democrats and other interest groups jumping on the recreational marijuana bandwagon were confusing a shiny new thing with a priority. Read more
The federal criminal investigation of Honolulu rail has put on painful display the defining flaw that’s driven this $9.2 billion fiasco: denial of reality. Read more
Most welcome here is seeing state law enforcers finally show up to help confront the sewer of improbity swirling around us, after sitting on the sideline far too long and leaving it to the feds to clean up local corruption. Read more
As U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard struggles to right her faltering campaign for president, deafening in their silence are fellow Hawaii Democratic politicians who have been slow to back the hometown candidate. Read more
If adversity reveals character, what it’s showing us about former City Councilman Trevor Ozawa isn’t pretty. Read more
If top state legislators are good to their word, 2019 could be a year of badly needed election reform in Hawaii. Read more
Gabbard built her prominence on a twist to the old political adage that you pick your fights carefully: She carefully picks fights with her own Democratic Party. Read more
In that spirit, I start the new year with inspirational quotations from great minds to carry our leaders into 2019. Read more
It’s the last Sunday of 2018 and time to “flASHback” on the year’s news that amused and confused. Read more
It’s too close to Christmas to be serious, so I’ll wish you a merry one and start the party with some of my favorite holiday quotations. Read more
It’s a sign of our cruel times that some 4,500 Oahuans will spend the holidays out in the cold, but heartening to see so many meaningful and caring efforts to bring them in. Read more
One constant in our city is that money always seems to excuse absurdity. Read more
When I moved from Hilo to Washington, D.C., in 1978 to cover the Hawaii congressional delegation for the Honolulu Star- Bulletin, I called the Gannett News Service office I’d be working from to tell them I’d landed safely. Read more
Hawaii LGs have struggled to find meaningful roles since statehood. They come into office with grand plans, only to find themselves toiling at the governor’s whim with assignments that are often menial. Read more
Mayor Kirk Caldwell stood before microphones last week to announce he’ll float a $44 million short-term loan to meet federal demands to get that much more to the $9 billion rail project by Nov. 20. Read more
I mailed in my ballot out of hope it still matters, but find it more difficult to fault the majority who don’t consider voting worth their time. Read more
The first rule of a functioning democracy is that nobody gets to have everything their own way. Unable to square this with our self-righteousness, we’ve broken down into angry and entitled tribes. Read more
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