Lee Cataluna: Remote Maui town mourns loss of historic Kaupo School

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 22, 2020
• 15

Kaupo Community Association leaders are trying to find ways to heal their group after the painful loss of a beloved landmark, Kaupo School. Read more

Lee Cataluna: For some, closing school also has risks

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 20, 2020
• 5

As Gov. David Ige put it, there are “many cascading impacts” of closing Hawaii’s public schools. Read more

Lee Cataluna: An example for dealing with the inevitable

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 18, 2020
• 4

There is no use in trying to rank disappointment. So many plans and events have been canceled, just about everyone has a personal story of dashed expectations, be it an eagerly anticipated prom night that will never happen or long-held plans for a dream vacation that had to be called off. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Coronavirus outbreak was just a matter of time

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 15, 2020
• 100

The reality is that we’ve been living with the danger of serious outbreaks for years. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Gabbard not done with race, but it’s done with her

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 13, 2020
• 32

After Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the race, after the brutal reality check of both Super Tuesday and Super Tuesday II, after Elizabeth Warren decided to end her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination and after major news outlets weren’t even bothering to include her in reporting about presidential primary results anymore, Tulsi Gabbard has refused to drop out of the race that has already dropped her. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Weren’t we going to diversify our economy?

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 11, 2020
• 32

Whew! It’s a good thing that Hawaii diversified its local economy so that we’re not so wholly dependent on tourism, huh? Read more

Lee Cataluna: Mayor Kirk Caldwell dodges many issues but never misses a photo op

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 8, 2020
• 81

It’s hard to run for governor when your term as mayor ends two long years before the election. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Hawaii has long history of hoarding toilet paper

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 6, 2020
• 70

Hawaii is not the only place where toilet paper has become scarce on store shelves. Around America and in countries around the world, people are doing just what the folks at the Hawaii Kai Costco have done: buying up toilet paper in reaction to the threat of the coronavirus and the fear of what quarantine might entail. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Hawaii lawmakers propose new state agency for getting around state laws

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 4, 2020
• 26

So now the state is trying to figure out a way to get around state bureaucracy. Read more

Lee Cataluna: High-profile trouble casts harsh light on Kauai

• By Lee Cataluna
• March 1, 2020
• 22

When Lori Vallow Daybell washed up on Kauai, people started to wonder why a lady who was running from questions came running to their island. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Petty politics playing into COVID-19 readiness?

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 28, 2020
• 19

Gov. David Ige has a plan to deal with the COVID-19 virus in Hawaii. But where’s Josh Green? Read more

Lee Cataluna: New election means being vigilant for old tricks

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 26, 2020
• 12

There used to be a kind of cachet about voting by absentee ballot. Read more

Lee Cataluna: No solutions offered for Hawaii Kai bus stop of horrors

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 23, 2020
• 121

The City’s “Kiss and Ride” bus stop on Keahole street in Hawaii Kai across City Mill has been beset by problems for years. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Courting more tourists like it’s 1985

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 21, 2020
• 9

Gov. David Ige came back from (another) trip to Japan and held a news conference to talk about everything he did and all the important people he saw. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Legislature losing focus on fixing problems

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 19, 2020
• 12

What is the purpose of Hawaii’s Legislature? To solve problems, right? Other, more high-minded things, too, of course, like envisioning a brighter future for the keiki, expanding economic opportunity and innovation for the state, preserving the aina and culture and all that. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Messaging on rail project changing

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 16, 2020
• 73

Recently the messaging about the rail project has changed, and that is disconcerting. It is one thing to not know how much the dang thing is going to cost. It’s another to not know if anybody is going to ride it. Read more

Lee Cataluna: State makes an attempt to get control of Mauna Kea

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 14, 2020
• 43

Some Hawaii legislators, with the full support of Gov. David Ige, are trying to form a commission to address issues of reconciliation with Native Hawaiians, but really, folks, it’s not all about a last-ditch effort to get TMT built on Mauna Kea. Read more

Lee Cataluna: ‘Cold’ weather isn’t all that cold, and that’s funny

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 12, 2020
• 8

The weather gets rainy, the wind carries a distinct chill, the temperature dips into the upper 60s at night and people in Hawaii don’t just get cold, they get funny. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Killing the nene that laid the golden egg

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 9, 2020
• 54

Discussions of Hawaii’s outsized tourism numbers often shape up into complaints from Hawaii residents on one side and defensive arguments from those who make their money off tourism on the other. Read more

Lee Cataluna: The term ‘world class’ has lost its meaning

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 7, 2020
• 19

What is it with the term “world class”? Hawaii political and business leaders have been throwing around that term for the past two decades now, maybe longer, often to justify developing some weedy stretch of land into a big complex with an even bigger parking structure or re-developing a lowly cluster of un-fancy but serviceable buildings into a gleaming shopping experience. Read more

Lee Cataluna: Mayor Kirk Caldwell is renovating something, but not Blaisdell

• By Lee Cataluna
• Feb. 5, 2020
• 33

You know when you get to that point in a relationship where you analyze everything that comes out of the other person’s mouth because you just don’t trust them anymore? Read more