Opinion
Hawaiian History Month: A Month to Remember, A Year to Celebrate
This year’s celebration features living history performances, panel discussions, cultural demonstrations and more that bring Hawaiʻi’s history to life. See the list of remaining events this month.
Ka Wai Ola StaffSeptember 17, 2026
The Forgotten Landscape of Mapunapuna
Tides and rain, time and spirits converge in this now-industrial area mauka of the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. Here is the true history of a region shaped first by nature and then by two different cultures in two different eras, where traces remain of days and people long past.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiSeptember 16, 2026
Hollywood ponders movie remake of “Hawai‘i Five-0” directed by Ha‘ikū helmer Destin Daniel Cretton
If produced, this wouldn’t be the first time Tinseltown tried to bring the iconic CBS-TV crime series shot in the 50th State to the big screen.
Ed RampellSeptember 16, 2026
Pipikaula Corner: Hawai‘i's tourism hypocrisy
An awful lot of us think tourists do nothing here but "extract" and "exploit" the Islands and their people. But guess what we do the minute we have two weeks off?
A. Kam NapierSeptember 15, 2026
Community Voices: A Fair Tax
Legislators are already gearing for the next legislative session — including new tax policies. This week, Tom Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i, writes about how they could bring more fairness to taxes in Hawai‘i, along with insights into why "fair taxes" can be so difficult to define.
Tom YamachikaSeptember 15, 2026
Community Voices: Building a more free and prosperous Hawai‘i — together
Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i just celebrated its 25th anniversary. President and CEO Keli‘i Akina, Ph.D., reflects on the organization's successes at building consensus around positive policy changes for Hawai‘i.
Keliʻi AkinaSeptember 15, 2026
Hawaiʻi’s $300,000 transit-oriented development trip should go to Japan
Lawmakers and state staff have $300,000 to fly somewhere and study development around rail stations. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why the trip is worth taking, why Singapore and Vienna are the wrong models, and why Hawaiʻi should book Tokyo and stay long enough to make a friend.
Sterling HigaSeptember 15, 2026
Hurricanes Lala and Lowell show Neighbor Islands depend on Honolulu
A high schooler from Molokai looks down at the Honolulu lights and says, “They live like rats down there.” ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why the Neighbor Islands need the city more than they’d like to admit, and what the city owes them in return.
Sterling HigaSeptember 12, 2026
Community Voices: Hawai‘i's elections watchdog has been locked out of its own room
Two members of the Hawai‘i Elections Commission want readers to know that their office has been prevented from meeting, even as voters have endured an election marred by irregularities.
Tamara McKay & Ralph S. CushnieSeptember 11, 2026
True tales of tall trees in the Islands
We love our trees in Hawai‘i. As ASD history columnist DeSoto Brown tells it, some trees have even been main characters in dramas playing out in the streets of the Islands.
DeSoto BrownSeptember 10, 2026
Hamada: Remembering 9/11
It was about a quarter to 3 in the morning in Honolulu when the first plane hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. For many of us in the Islands, the first we heard of the attack was a strangely early morning phone call from a loved one who had seen the news. "Turn on the TV. We're at war." ASD columnist Rick Hamada describes getting such a call, then spending 30 hours on the air at KHVH as kama‘āina called in with their fears, tears and rage.
Rick HamadaSeptember 10, 2026
Why Hawaiʻi families stop speaking over a house
The wealth that most people in Hawai‘i stand to inherit is typically real estate — quite often the very homes we grew up in, which are now million-dollar assets. ASD columnist Ray Tsuchiyama has advice for how kama‘āina can avoid the pain of fighting over the house when their parents are gone.
Ray TsuchiyamaSeptember 10, 2026
Through the Eyes of a Princess
Princess Kaʻiulani spent much of her tragically brief life at her beloved Waikīkī estate, ʻĀinahau. Over time, the property changed hands and developed into the hotel we know today. But there are stories the Princess is with us still in spirit at the site.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiSeptember 09, 2026
Community Voices: Save Ala Moana!
The City & County of Honolulu received permits for beach replenishment at Ala Moana Regional Park back in 2019 but never moved forward for lack of funding. And yet, the county has $65 million accumulated in its Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund. Why isn't this money being used to replenish this beach, or Waikīkī Beach?
Tom YamachikaSeptember 09, 2026
Community Voices: Hawaiʻi's housing affordability problem
Permit reform is a supply problem. What Hawaiʻi has is a price problem.
Corey IdleburgSeptember 08, 2026
Pamela Cisneros, Lindsay Clancy, and the voice that said ‘kill’
A woman pulled two kitchen knives from a shopping bag on Seventh Avenue and used them on two strangers. By nightfall everyone knew why, and no one argued. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on the explanation for mental illness that every culture but ours took for granted.
Sterling HigaSeptember 06, 2026
Changing Kakaako: Once a residential neighborhood
More than a century ago, the modern development of Kaka‘ako started as modest, wooden single-family homes. Over time, these were displaced businesses. ASD historian DeSoto Brown takes down these streets of Kaka‘ako as they looked then, and now.
DeSoto BrownSeptember 04, 2026
Community Voices: Protecting Papahānaumokuākea
James Morioka, executive director of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project, reflects on hope, resilience, and the fight against marine debris following the organization's recent excursion to removes tons of debris from Hawai‘i's Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. To date, the group has removed 1.3 million pounds of debris in its first six years of operation.
James MoriokaSeptember 03, 2026
Hamada: A confession for Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month
When there's a month dedicated to a cause, we're suppose to talk about that cause, right? ASD opinion columnist Rick Hamada has frank thoughts about this particular month.
Rick HamadaSeptember 03, 2026
Community Voices: Education Freedom Tax Credits
Hawaiʻi is hesitant to participate in the new federal program wrought by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would give a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for individual donations to school scholarship groups.
Tom YamachikaSeptember 03, 2026
Neighborhood capital: Unlocking Hawai'i's hidden housing resource
Redevelopment in Hawai‘i has typically forced landowners into one of just two decisions — sell, or don't sell. But there is a third choice, one where current landowners, by the dozens or the hundreds, could participate in coordinate redevelopments that could renew entire neighborhoods.
Ray TsuchiyamaSeptember 03, 2026
Community Voices: Grassroot turns 25, gala tickets still available
Grassroot President Keli‘i Akina shares founder's Dick Rowland's vision for a better Hawaiʻi, and a last call to celebrate together this Friday.
Keliʻi AkinaSeptember 02, 2026
Sightings of Pele at Lē‘ahi
You might associated Pele most with the active volcanoes of Hawai‘i Island but ancient myths — and contemporary encounters — tell of her presence on Kaua‘i and O‘ahu as well.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiSeptember 02, 2026
Hawaiʻi brain drain: How discrimination kept talent in the Islands, and why it doesn’t anymore
In February 1954, Nisei veterans who bled for their country couldn’t get a loan from Hawaiʻi’s banks, so they opened one of their own. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on how the discrimination that once concentrated talent in the Islands has faded — and why Hawaiʻi must now compete for people it used to keep by default.
Sterling HigaSeptember 02, 2026