81
David Shapiro: Do you hear what I hear? You must be a Grinch, too
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 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
If the teachers’ union wants to amend the state Constitution to facilitate pay raises, it could support a constitutional convention and let its proposal be properly considered alongside all the other priority needs of public education. Read more
For those having trouble understanding the city’s scheme to finish the grossly over-budget rail project with a public-private partnership, perhaps it would help to think of it by another name: Kick the Can Down the Road. Read more
The only way America returns to achieving great things is if principled people across the divide shelve the antagonism and find a way to work together again. Maybe we all need to shut up once in awhile and just listen. Read more
It’s hard to decide what’s worse, the persistent bad news about Oahu’s $9 billion rail project or the city’s unrelenting efforts to put a happy face on the problems. Read more
Twice in six years, state Rep. Romy Cachola has been accused of effectively stealing elections by intimidating elderly immigrants in his Kalihi district to vote for him via mail-in ballots. Read more
The four counties make a fair point in their lawsuit trying to stop a poorly written constitutional amendment that would allow the state to raid real property taxes purportedly to finance public education. Read more
The primary election is finally over, and it’s time to “flASHback” on August’s news that amused and confused. Read more
The fight between Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the City Council over SamKoo Hawaii’s 513-unit condominium near the Ala Moana Center rail terminus again points up the the chaos that bedevils rail. Read more
House Speaker Scott Saiki and Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke are out of line in their political bullying of Big Island officials trying to recover from an ongoing volcanic disaster that has crippled a major quadrant of the island. Read more
Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s effort to stick U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa for skyrocketing rail costs is shameless even for him. Read more
For the first time since the infamous smear against Ben Cayetano’s 2012 mayoral campaign by Pacific Resource Partnership, a well-funded super PAC is investing heavily in a Hawaii election. Read more
U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is campaigning for governor on her abilities as a leader, but she is failing the first obligation of political leadership: telling voters exactly where she intends to lead us. Read more
Hawaii News Now deserves kudos for hosting debates that try to energize local elections, but made a couple of bad journalistic calls in the latest round by shutting out potentially the most interesting GOP candidate for governor and again letting U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard run and hide to deny opponents a chance to be heard. Read more