Opinion
Community Voices: Are you ready for another boondoggle?
Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has a history of rightfully targeting Honolulu’s rail project for its wasteful spending. Which brings us to the planned Aloha Stadium project...
Keliʻi AkinaAugust 26, 2025
Community Voices: Classroom heat
The Department of Education spent $100 million on classroom air conditioners. Now the Hawai‘i State Auditor finds that the DOE has no idea where the money went.
Tom YamachikaAugust 25, 2025
Community Voices: ‘New’ HTA board taking off with same old baggage
A government entity tasked with both promoting and limiting tourism is always going to be compromised.
Keliʻi AkinaAugust 22, 2025
Community Voices: Remembering a life steeped in peace
Dr. Genshitsu Sen, a former WWII kamikaze pilot trainee who turned to the Way of Tea, practicing harmony, respect, purity and more, died last week at age 102. Since the early 1950s, he had deep ties to Hawai'i, including spending time with University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's faculty and students.
Justin PetersonAugust 21, 2025
Ali‘i are ever-present at Mauna ‘Ala
In October 1865, a solemn procession of ali‘i moved 21 sets of royal remains from the grounds of ‘Iolani Palace to a then-new final resting place in Nu‘uanu Valley, Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiAugust 20, 2025
Pipikaula Corner: Making elections elections again
President Donald Trump is talking about an Executive Order to end mail-in voting nationwide. Hawai‘i's Legislature voted to adopt mail-in voting in 2019, starting with the 2020 election. Arguably, we have not had a real election since then.
A. Kam NapierAugust 19, 2025
Community Voices: No tax on overtime
Here's what the "no tax on overtime" provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will mean for your pocketbook.
Tom YamachikaAugust 18, 2025
Beneath the moon at Alakoko
Historians say that on certain nights, the Kauaʻi fishpond is not so still, and the riverbank not so empty.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiAugust 13, 2025
Two years later, too little rebuilding in Lahaina
Hereʻs how federal, state and county policymakers could go about speeding up the process for displaced residents and business owners.
Keliʻi AkinaAugust 12, 2025
Community Voices: Encumbrance for the stadium
Under the State of Hawai‘i's constitution and accounting rules, the $350 million budgeted for a new stadium has lapsed, and yet authorities are proceeding as if it hadn't.
Tom YamachikaAugust 11, 2025
Community Voices: Grassroot views on housing reform going mainstream
You might be surprised which U.S. Senator is taking the YIMBY approach — yes, in my backyard.
Keliʻi AkinaAugust 08, 2025
Heap of Misfortune in Mō‘ili‘ili Cemetery
Nearly a century ago, the Islands were stunned by the case of Myles Fukunaga, who kidnapped and murdered 10-year-old George Gill Jamieson, and was executed for his crimes. Does his guilty spirit haunt his gravesite?
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiAugust 06, 2025
Pipikaula Corner: Government got lucky last week
The tsunami traffic jam can't be a surprise when local government has made driving more and more difficult since the last time a tsunami warning put Honolulu in gridlock.
A. Kam NapierAugust 05, 2025
Hawai‘i’s lurking nuclear dilemma
Hawai‘i pushes to decarbonize, but also pushes away nuclear energy. But maybe that's starting to change as state officials move to open a nuclear energy conversation.
Perry ArrasmithAugust 04, 2025
Community Voices: Constitutional expenditure controls
Over the past 50 years, the Hawai‘i state Legislature has steadily whittled away at constitutional controls over its spending.
Tom YamachikaAugust 04, 2025
Community Voices: New cottage food rules can unleash innovation in Hawai‘i
The state Department of Health is about to release new rules to make it easier for cottage food entrepreneurs to sell their products.
Keliʻi AkinaAugust 01, 2025
Echoes of the Past at Poli‘ahu
The remains of this keiau on Kaua‘i carry a heavy burden of the past.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiJuly 30, 2025
Community Voices: Career Connections launches Hawai‘i high school students into the trades
Interns make $15 an hour while learning essential skills to become carpenters.
Andrew PereiraJuly 28, 2025
Community Voices: Pay for no work
In Hawai‘i's broken civil service system, hundreds of state workers are getting paid to do nothing while investigations into their job performance linger.
Tom YamachikaJuly 28, 2025
Vanishing lights in the Tunnel of Trees
This week's ghost tale comes from Kaua‘i, where the Tunnel of Trees near Kōloa, while beautiful by day, is home to eerie experiences by night.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiJuly 23, 2025
Community Voices: Hawai‘i climate policy going overboard on cruise ships
The new climate roadmap from the state Department of Transportation calls for reducing cruise ship visitors to Hawai‘i by 2030 and possibly eliminating them completely by 2040.
Keliʻi AkinaJuly 21, 2025
Community Voices: Nonprofit Blankety Blank bill
In a rush to help nonprofits that are losing federal funding, the Hawai‘i state Legislature pulled together Senate Bill 933, now Act 310 of 2025, putting $50 million in the hands of a four-person committee that will meet in secret. And the Legislature could not have known what it was voting for — this was yet another Blankety Blank bill devoid of financial details.
Tom YamachikaJuly 21, 2025
Community Voices: Permitting progress prevails
Starting in 2026, new laws signed by Gov. Josh Green go into place to expedite home construction throughout the Islands.
Keliʻi AkinaJuly 16, 2025
These gates can’t keep the ghosts out
The gates of ʻIolani Palace, each with its own name and purpose, are decorated with gold painted finials and adorned with the Hawaiian Kingdom Coat of Arms. While accounts of mysterious disturbances related to the gates have been shared, it is evident they still hold mana.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiJuly 16, 2025