Lawmakers trained their sights on an assault weapon ban throughout the 2025 regular session, but an 11th hour amendment sparked dissent on the floor Wednesday, pushing a once-promising shot far off target. Read more
The Legislature has completed another rushed round of lawmaking, but there’s a lingering lack of certainty that the job is done. Read more
With a study in hand showing that it is feasible to stand up an empty homes tax in Honolulu — and that it could manifest tens of millions of dollars annually for city programs, including affordable housing — the City Council must do the right thing and implement Bill 46, which gives the tax a green light. Read more
Pity the students who have jumped — wholeheartedly and with their bank accounts — into the promise that a college education will pay off financially in the long run. Read more
In the works for years, a milestone in the effort to connect and make accessible to the public the cultural treasure that is Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail has been reached: the unveiling of a stewardship plan for conservation land encompassing 3.3 miles of the Ka‘u (southeastern) coastline on Hawaii island. Read more
The less-pleasant facts of island life include this one: If you live in a coastal community with a single major access route, evacuating that home in times of emergency, or even making the daily commute, could be at least frustrating, if not an outright danger. Read more
A nautical Pandora’s box has been flung agape. On April 17, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will, among other fishery-related actions, lift commercial fishing restrictions within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. Read more
Hawaii has been subjected to a series of earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting challenges in this century — a Great Recession, COVID-19, the Lahaina wildfire, federal turmoil. Read more
An appropriation of $30 million to move forward on additional planning and design work to replace the Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) has properly been included in the draft budget agreed on by House and Senate leaders. Read more
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The beauty of colleges is seen, quite literally, in a stroll through campuses: in the eclectic mix of students of varied colors and creeds, of varying intellectual and emotional abilities. Read more
Does Hawaii need housing that’s affordable for people earning what the bulk of people in Hawaii earn? Yes, and it’s a matter of growing urgency that this housing is by and large unavailable, concerning to the state and Hawaii’s employers. Read more
It’s Earth Day, a time for reflection on how Hawaii is meeting its longstanding commitments to the environment, which is in increasingly fragile condition. Read more
Hawaii is slowly tightening the leash on firearm ownership. Multiple legislative bills moving through the state House and Senate this session take aim at low-hanging fruit, but are welcome nonetheless. Read more
A homeschool reporting requirement is welcome, but it would resolve just one flaw in an inadequate system. Read more
The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) is at a crossroads, with its future in the hands of the state Legislature — a body that has progressively lost confidence in the agency’s execution of its mandate to manage tourism for the public’s benefit. Read more
In December 2021, public outrage over the Navy’s contamination of a major aquifer spewed as vehemently as the jet fuel that gushed out of the Red Hill bulk storage facility. Read more
Developing geothermal energy became a state priority in January, when Gov. Josh Green issued an executive order aimed at speeding up Hawaii’s transition to renewable sources. Read more
The city administration has resolved, as it should, to enforce Honolulu laws regulating short-term rentals in a major way that counts: by seeing that the scofflaws pay the fines. Read more
Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaii’s brain drain has accelerated from eroding the edges of island life to striking at its heart, pushing would-be health professionals, high-tech workers, business owners and other vital contributors to greener mainland pastures. Read more
Valuing our state workers shouldn’t result in public spending that favors these employees at the expense of private-sector workers Read more
A clash between two power players — Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) and the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters — is heading to a showdown at the state Legislature. Read more
