Opinion
"The Rep from Bethlehem"
ASD columnist Sterling Higa explores how a recent exchange on the floor of the House of Representatives between House Majority Leader Sean Quinlan and Rep. Elijah Pierick went so wrong.
Sterling HigaMarch 11, 2026
The best Youtube videos on Hawai‘i’s problems
Content creators from outside the Islands have made compelling, long-form videos about conditions in Hawai‘i, observes ASD columnist Perry Arrasmith. Here are some of the best, plus a call for Hawai‘i's own filmmakers to get in the game.
Perry ArrasmithMarch 06, 2026
Hamada: Hawai‘i needs to get serious about stopping sex-trafficking
The crime should be considered a capital offense, but Hawai‘i doesn't go that for in dealing with even the most heinous crimes, writes ASD columnist Rick Hamada.
Rick HamadaMarch 04, 2026
The spirit at Plantation Hale
The Kaua‘i area now known as Waipouli was formerly known as Kololoku or Kaloloku Swamp, a former wetland where Native Hawaiians once thrived. For half a century it's been developed for modern tourism, but the spirits remain and make themselves known.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiMarch 04, 2026
More money won’t fix what’s broken in Hawai‘i’s schools
A bill before the Legislature would give the state powers it has never had to tax property, arguing it would give to money to education. The state wants us to forget that Hawai‘i's public schools already have enormous tax funding available to no other state — direct access to our income taxes and the GET we pay on every purchase we make. ASD columnist Sterling Higa has a counter proposal.
Sterling HigaMarch 03, 2026
Hamada: State of the Union — fractured
We're looking at a Congress in which one party would rather sit on its hands than stand or applaud the most basic decencies or functions of government.
Rick HamadaFebruary 26, 2026
The growth we say we want in Hawai‘i (but really don't)
Hawai‘i constantly says it wants economic growth but has been allergic to one thing necessary to make that happen: More people. We need bigger families, not smaller, and to be more welcoming to people moving to the Islands.
Sterling HigaFebruary 26, 2026
More paranormal activity at Paradise Park
Paradise Park stands suspended between memory and mystery. On one hand, the visitor center reasons open and lively, even if the majority of the park closed years ago. As for the rest of the property, what was once a place of celebration and song now rests quietly beneath a canopy of trees, overtaken by the forest. Whether the strange occurrences are echoes of the past or simply imagination, the valley has always carried a spiritual weight that demands respect.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiFebruary 25, 2026
‘Ōkolehao gets a hearing (or two)
Modern-day local distillers of ‘ōkolehao, the Hawaiian spirit distilled from ki plant roots, are before the Legislature this session, looking for the sort of legal protections afforded to such local products as Kona coffee, in competition with outside brands trying to capitalize on the name. It's the latest chapter in Hawai‘i's 200-year on-again, off-again love affair with what has been called Hawai‘i's brandy or moonshine at different times. Here's a look at its colorful past — King David Kalakaua loved it, Queen Lili‘uokalani tried to curtail it — and the present-day quest to define and preserve ‘ōkolehao as a uniquely Hawai‘i product.
Perry ArrasmithFebruary 25, 2026
Pipikaula Corner: State government is the hazard
The Legislature said it was going to tackle Hawai‘i's affordability crisis. In killing tax relief on our grocery purchases, it's doing the opposite. Meanwhile, it's commandeering hundreds of millions to pay its own workers hazard pay for the Covid years.
A. Kam NapierFebruary 21, 2026
Paranormal activity at Paradise Park
If you want to understand why Mānoa Valley is filled with spirits and strange occurrences, consider that even the beauty of its endless rainbows has a dark side in the tragic story of Kahalaopuna, the famed “Rainbow Princess” of Mānoa.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiFebruary 18, 2026
Hamada: Hawai‘i's classrooms should be politically neutral
A quality public education used to include a solid grounding in civics — a neutral understanding of how the government works and how to participate in the democratic process. Now it includes activist teachers using the classroom as a pulpit for their personal politics.
Rick HamadaFebruary 18, 2026
Uncles and Aunties: How John Rampage first got into theater and is shaping performers today
Over his 54-year career in theater, Rampage has acted in, directed and/or choreographed more than 90 different shows, including Tony Award winners “Evita,” “Cabaret,” “The Producers” and “A Chorus Line.” Since 1995, he has served as Diamond Head Theatre's artistic director.
Cheryl Chee TsutsumiFebruary 17, 2026
The Incredible Shrinking Voter of Honolulu
The voting power of the average O‘ahu resident has declined over the past century, to where each of the nine city council members now represent more than 112,000 people across multiple neighborhoods. That's twice as many people as a Hawai‘i state senator represents. There are some efforts underway to change that.
Perry ArrasmithFebruary 12, 2026
Echoes of The Willows
Generations of kama‘āina have warm memories of The Willows restaurant in Mō‘ili‘ili. Here's the real history of the location, and the reasons why people who worked there heard singing when no one was present and saw the footprints of ghostly children.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiFebruary 11, 2026
Hamada: Super Bowl shenanigans
The selection of Bad Bunny seemed calculated to provoke more than entertain. Why can't entertainment just be ... entertaining?
Rick HamadaFebruary 11, 2026
Pipikaula Corner: Economic diagnosis déjà vu
Something about the new report from UHERO about Hawai‘iʻs weak economy seemed awfully familiar ... namely, everything. Here are things you need to know about what's been going on for decades and what you can do about it.
A. Kam NapierFebruary 06, 2026
Hamada: Look after your heart for American Heart Month
Three guests on my show recently shared personal and professional stories of how heart disease impacts all of our lives in Hawai‘i.
Rick HamadaFebruary 04, 2026
Residual spirits at Morgan’s Corner
Arguably the most famous haunted place on O‘ahu is Morgan's Corner in Nu‘uanu. Do you know the real story behind it? Turns out, there's more than one possible explanation for the things seen and presences felt where life and death intersect on Nu‘uanu Pali Drive.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiFebruary 04, 2026
Pipikaula Corner: Shopping Carts II — This time, it's buy-back!
The bill to punish businesses when their shopping carts get stolen and abandoned moved forward, and got weirder.
A. Kam NapierFebruary 04, 2026
Pipikaula Corner: Hawai‘i’s proposed anti-ICE laws mimic Minneapolis in the worst ways
On Tuesday, Gov. Green and Hawai‘i lawmakers stood in front of some wild allegations about ICE, and they're about to rush legislation as if every horror story on display were true.
A. Kam NapierJanuary 31, 2026
Whispers in the holding cells
If trauma and intense emotion can lead to hauntings, it's no surprise that a former police station, once home to holding cells, would harbor lingering echoes of the past.
Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya KapanuiJanuary 28, 2026
Hamada: Something important happened at Honolulu's anti-ICE protest
No violence at all. What we see happening on the Mainland isn't the way things need to be.
Rick HamadaJanuary 28, 2026
Pipikaula Corner: Legislature to clamp down on ... shopping carts!?
House Bill 1636 wants businesses to pay $500 fines when their shopping carts are stolen and dumped. There's an entire mindset at work behind the idea that the way to solve a problem — abandoned carts — is to rob the store a second time with a fine.
A. Kam NapierJanuary 27, 2026