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Advocates for the poor and members of Hawaii's largest public worker unions rallied at the state Capitol on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to hike the general excise tax 1 percent.
Advocates for the poor and labor union workers rallied yesterday for an increase in Hawaii's version of the sales tax as anti-tax demonstrators urged the government to back off.
Despite two new proposals aimed at ending Furlough Fridays for public school students, the issue does not seem any closer to being settled.
Hours after education officials and Gov. Linda Lingle announced competing proposals to end teacher furloughs in Hawai'i's public schools yesterday, it was already clear that no breakthrough was at hand.
Two competing plans have been released, to end Furlough Fridays in Hawaii schools.
The Board of Education and teachers union Tuesday reached tentative agreement to end public school teacher furloughs.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said today that Kmart Corporation will pay $120,000 and furnish other relief to settle an age discrimination suit involving a 70-year-old pharmacist at a Honolulu store.
Kaua'i County and UPW officials yesterday signed a supplemental agreement on an automated refuse collection service for up to 3,200 homes in Puhi, Lihu'e and portions of Hanama'ulu starting July 1.
Kaua‘i County and United Public Workers signed an agreement Tuesday that clears the path for a “milestone” program to replace traditional three-worker trash collection teams with mechanized, side-loading trucks operated by a single employee.
The opening day of the Maui County fiscal year 2011 budget review Monday was a day of pie charts, spreadsheets and phrases like "tightening belts" and "sharing the pain."
Members of the Hawaii County Band gave perhaps the most important performance of their lives Monday, yet there was nary a musical instrument in sight.
The Hawaii County Band accounts for a scant one-tenth of 1 percent of the county's $375.3 million budget. But Monday night, it consumed 96.7 percent of a three-hour County Council hearing on the budget.
Hawai'i's population grew an estimated 0.7 percent per year from July 1, 2000, to July 1, 2009, a slight decrease from the previous decade, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released yesterday.
The 1960s show tune "Hey Big Spender" may as well be dedicated to Hawaii households because we are third in the United States, according to a new report by Bundle.com.
A West Hawaii Realtor says the real estate market has reached bottom, but a long-time appraiser thinks the market, while showing improvement, has yet to stabilize.
As an 18-month trial period allowing leashed dogs on a section of the multi-use path draws to a close, canine-lovers in favor of permitting their furry friends on the entirety of Ke Ala Hele Makalae are pushing for county action.
Self-described pragmatists, who favor looking forward instead of back, tend to be skeptical of those ever-vocal members of our community who set out to save the crumbling, peeling, faded remnants of what once vibrantly surrounded us.
State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim says her financial plans call for balancing the state budget without raising the general excise tax.
Candy and ice cream sales would be banned at Hawaii public schools under a measure that's close to passing the state Legislature.
President Barack Obama should put his future presidential library in Hawaii, where he was born and raised, according to state lawmakers.
The 174-year-old Royal Hawaiian Band is safe for now.
Barring an agreement between the state and the teachers union and funding from the state Legislature, next year's school calendar will include 17 furlough Fridays — leaving a total of 163 instructional days — under a recently approved public school calendar.
In a bid to crack down on longtime problem areas for prostitution, the Honolulu City Council is considering a bill that would target johns by impounding their cars.
Chinese and Korean visitors, two key targets for growth in the state's recovering tourism industry, find plenty to like about Waikiki but say the night life is lacking.
Honolulu police on Monday evening, caught a Hawaii State Hospital escapee with a violent record.
The federal health reform plan preserves Hawaii's pre-paid health care act of 1974 which has insured 92 percent of the state's population.
Family and friends of Nicole Scherzinger gathered in Makaha Valley to watch the premiere of season ten of "Dancing With The Stars."
Administrators are working to continue Hilo Medical Center's transformation from its humble beginnings as a small-town hospital to a major regional health care provider.
A new farmers market will open in less than two weeks, bringing aquaculture products grown at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority in North Kona to the public one Friday over the next four months.
Admittedly, the traffic mitigation plan to extend Waiale Road to Honoapiilani Highway will take a little imagination on the part of some people to envision, Maui County officials said this week.
The body of 58-year-old Kaua‘i resident Rodney Ahn found in Kalalau Valley last month prompted a state Department of Land and Natural Resources employee to raise questions about funding cutbacks, which he said are hurting the agency’s ability to perform its job.
As Hawai'i's precious recreation areas become increasingly crowded, a bill to protect shoreline access is gaining momentum in the Legislature.
The native koa and ohia trees in the Kau Forest Reserve reach 100 feet into the sky, providing a haven for critically endangered Hawaii birds to nest and forage.
The monumental health care reform bill passed by the U.S. House yesterday will have immediate results for some residents in Hawaii, supporters said.
Hawai'i's congressional delegation yesterday praised the historic restructuring of the nation's health care system as a momentous step forward.
Local supporters of the bill praised its promise to bring health coverage to millions, reduce costs of prescription drugs while extending coverage for consumers with pre-existing conditions.
As the health care reform passed through legislation, some local politicians celebrated the landmark bill.
Scores of private companies, nonprofit groups and state agencies will divvy up more than $412 million this year in earmarked federal funds that were designated by one or more of Hawaii's four members of Congress.
Well, the other shoe has dropped and it now appears that unlike the House, which was willing to look at other ways to fill the looming general fund budget gap, the state Senate seems to be more than willing to solve the fiscal crises facing the state by increasing the general excise tax.
Just weeks before hula's premier event, the hula world is mourning the loss of two of its best-known members.
The hula world, still shaken by the loss of Uncle George Na'ope late last year, is now dealing with the loss of the other pillar.
Beekeepers of all sorts know they must find a way to coexist with the destructive parasite as varroa mites continue to spread across the Big Island.
Drought has made many West Hawaii residents painfully aware of water here where catchment tanks and wells form the backbone of the water supply.
If and when it is up to Hawaii gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie to take the state's reins, he said last week, one of the first orders of business will be to tackle the challenge that has eluded his recent would-be predecessors: Fix the public school system.
The wind was cold and clouds obscured the sun, but the photovoltaic system atop the One Stop Center was producing electricity Friday at Kaua‘i Community College.
Kauai County's Important Agricultural Lands advisory committee met for the third time Friday, revealing the differences of the diverse group.
In January, 19 of our 25 state senators joined together to introduce Senate Bill 2450, a measure to decriminalize possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.
"Simply balancing the budget doesn't get Hawaii back on track," Gov. Linda Lingle told Senate lawmakers Thursday.
Gov. Linda Lingle presented an updated six-year financial plan to the Legislature yesterday that presumes another round of pay cuts for state workers and reduces benefits for people in Quest, the state's health plan for the poor and disabled.
Gov. Linda Lingle appeared before the Senate money committee on Thursday with news that her six year budget plan includes cutting government worker salaries 5.5 percent.
Gov. Linda Lingle's long-term financial plan amounts to a "shell game" that simply shifts money around and relies on more pay cuts for public workers that would have to be negotiated after she leaves office, Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim says.
State Auditor Marion Higa challenged Gov. Linda Lingle to take dueling lie detector tests yesterday, as her office released a stinging report on the Department of Budget and Finance.
The state legislative auditor blasts the Budget and Finance Department for its handling of taxpayer money and fires back at Gov. Linda Lingle administration over criticism of her report.
A feud between state auditor Marion Higa and Gov. Linda Lingle grew more heated yesterday with Higa challenging the administration to take a lie detector test.
State Auditor Marion Higa fired back Thursday afternoon, saying her reputation and credibility was attack two weeks ago when Governor Lingle called her audit draft "shoddy" and "a complete disregard for the facts." Higa said, "I think we need a affirmative response to set the record straight."
A nonbinding resolution that would call for Maui County to study the creation of a light-rail system moved forward Wednesday in the state House of Representatives.
Hawaii could see an increase in crime and other economic fallout if it legalizes medical marijuana dispensaries and softens medical marijuana laws, two Los Angeles police officers warned Wednesday.
Two prospective buyers squinted at azure skylines and tramped through fragrant, sun-warmed sugarcane Wednesday as the county showed off some of its land holdings for sale in Hamakua.
The Hawaii County Council on Wednesday paved the way for East Hawaii's only dialysis center to move into a new Hilo home.
A maximum of three officers on patrol at any given time in the Ka'u district doesn't provide enough police presence to deter crime, residents say.
The state Department of Education and Maui County have been accused of discriminating against girls' athletics.
Proposing to discharge up to 30 million gallons of wastewater effluent and treated shrimp remains into the ocean on a daily basis, Sunrise Capital has filed for a Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination permit with the state Department of Health, according to an e-mail from the DOH’s communications office Thursday.
The tsunami that hit Hilo Bay on Feb. 27 did no appreciable physical damage, but it may have released a chemical demon.
Birthers beware: Hawaii may start ignoring your repeated requests for proof that President Barack Obama was born here.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority projects 200,000 more visitors this year, and has not wasted any time making sure it happens.
If you've ever had a hankering to wheel one of those big yellow pine trucks down the highway, Tuesday is your chance. Maui Pineapple Co. is auctioning off about 16 of the behemoths, along with a practically unused, state-of-the-art cannery and lots of other stuff that was left over when Maui's last pineapple plantation closed at the end of 2009.
The head of the state Department of Human Services yesterday said the proposed budget for her agency would result in cuts that are "draconian" and would cause "significant harm" to the people who need services the most.
People attending Hawai'i's biggest new-car show will be greeted by a Hawaiian Electric Co. display in what may mark the dawn of the era of the electric car
John Johnson was playing cards at a picnic table in Kapiolani Park when he learned that the Honolulu City Council had passed a ban on tents in parks unless the user has a permit.
You may have seen it, a black flag with the silhouette of a soldier. It's called the "prisoner of war, missing in action" flag. And if a bill clears the Legislature, that flag will fly at the State Capitol, six days a year.
A University of Hawaii student could face disciplinary action for taking nude and semi-nude photos and videos of himself in U.H. Manoa classrooms and posting them on the Internet.
A bill that would outlaw smoking in any motorized vehicle occupied by a child or young adult was advanced Tuesday by a 6-3 vote of a County Council committee.
Outgoing Environmental Management Director Lono Tyson contradicted two of his employees Tuesday, claiming that the department had no intention to close the Kealakehe green waste site and move green waste collections to Puuanahulu.
A 2nd Circuit Court judge has dismissed all remaining claims in a lawsuit filed against the county by three county employees.
Manu Kai, the primary support contractor for the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility, will be notifying 14 full-time employees this week of impending lay-offs, the company’s program manager said Wednesday.
State senators yesterday moved toward a general excise tax increase to help with the state's budget deficit after finding that targeted tax hikes on businesses would likely be passed on to consumers and could undermine economic growth.
A plan to raise the general excise tax 1 percentage point is on the move, but Senate leaders are predicting it will not get far.
The Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee has scuttled a proposed tax on Hawaii health insurance premiums.
House lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stopping private landowners from planting vegetation that encroaches onto public beaches.
Authorities said drunken driving arrests are up in Honolulu, in part because police are stepping up enforcement of DUI laws
It took a lot of trying, but the lone Mānoa coqui frog has been captured.
The skipper of a Pearl Harbor-based attack submarine was fired this week after he was found guilty of drunkenness and conduct unbecoming an officer.
The city's planned route for a new $5.3 billion rail system runs too close to runways at Honolulu International Airport, and that has become a major sticking point holding up the project.
Central Pacific Bank has announced a new chief executive - and a new strategy to build its cash reserves as required by federal banking regulators. The new strategy includes downsizing, and employees have been told there may be layoffs.
Everyone Acts Small in Local Banking
Hawaii's House of Representatives wants to spend $200-plus million to build Big Island schools, roads and even a hydroelectric power plant that may never move beyond a wish-list status.
A
lthough Kaua‘i has the restrictive agricultural-land subdivision rules, people have still been able to navigate around the system and establish residences on prime agricultural lands while not necessarily being engaged in substantial farming.
The Hawaii County Council has been given the Big Island Press Club's 13th annual Lava Tube award. According to the club, the award recognizes the year's most notable offense against the public's right to know.
Mayor Billy Kenoi's administration has done an about-face on selling its coqui frog sprayers following an outcry from a community group that's been conducting its own eradication program.
The coming months will result in the most difficult Maui County budget process in memory, Mayor Charmaine Tavares said Monday as she revealed her administration's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal.
With $53 million less in the county's anticipated fiscal year 2011 budget revenues compared with last year, Mayor Charmaine Tavares on Monday proposed to increase or "adjust" the real property tax rates for several classifications.
State law- makers are con- sidering a temporary solution to the con- tinuing problem of homeless campers living in some of Hawaii's most popular parks. They want the state to designate land for homeless safe zones.
The three leading candidates in the May special election for Congress differed sharply last night on the value of the federal economic stimulus package, with former Congressman Ed Case and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa contending it was necessary to get through the recession while Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou argued it was too costly and ineffective.
Congressional candidates sought to set themselves apart from the pack last night as six of the challengers vying to replace Neil Abercrombie debated their positions on issues including health care reform, the national debt, public education and campaign finance reform.
The first debate for the six candidates running for Neil Abercrombie's congressional seat was held Monday night.
Debate video
Honolulu City Councilman Rod Tam, who will face a censure vote tomorrow, continued to use his city allowance to pay for meals with constituents and retirement party gifts even when he knew he was being investigated for possible abuses by the city Ethics Commission.
If Hawaii smokers think they are getting a deal buying cigarettes on the Internet, the state attorney general has some advice: Forget it.
Maui and Kauai plan smaller budgets in the next fiscal year, including plans for worker furloughs.
Mayor Charmaine Tavares presented her fiscal year 2011 budget Monday, and it includes increases in fees for water, wastewater, landfill tipping and auto registrations, as well as fare increases for the Maui Bus.
Following the state’s lead and attempting to keep its head above water during a weak economic climate, Kaua‘i County intends to furlough its employees two days per month.
The Kauai County Council’s annual budget deliberations, during which the heads of various county departments and agencies are grilled about their spending proposals, could once again take place with the cameras off.
A $36.7 million contract for Honolulu's planned train project failed to garner any competition.
The company that created the gay and lesbian cruise concept is commemorating its 25th birthday with a Silver Anniversary Cruise in Hawaii.
With Hawai'i's unemployment rate hovering at the highest level in three decades, Gov. Linda Lingle will offer $10 million to help businesses hire new workers by covering half of the workers' health care premiums for one year.
It was a war of words at the state capitol and Governor Linda Lingle took the first shot.
A bill moving through the Legislature would allow the Health Department to use the fees it gets from restaurants to hire more inspectors and put food violation records online.
Funding is in jeopardy for a clinic that has provided prenatal care to 200 pregnant women struggling with addictions and has delivered 82 babies with good results.
The one-woman show that is Project Prevention completed a three-day stint in Honolulu last week, generating 37 calls to the toll-free line and debate about Barbara Harris' unconventional approach to stopping substance-exposed births by paying drug addicts and alcoholics $300 to obtain long-term birth control or be sterilized.
Oahu Publications, Inc.(OPI) is selling the assets used in connection with the publication of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper, including the Star-Bulletin masthead and the URL, starbulletin.com, and related land, buildings and production assets.
Maui County's budget shortfalls have led to another cutback - television coverage of county boards and commissions.
Akaku: Maui Community Television and other public-access television stations would not have to compete for their contracts under a bill moving through the state Legislature.
The United Public Workers union announced that one of its units, which represents 9,000 blue-collar workers, overwhelmingly approved a new contract agreement with the state and counties.
Hanalei Bay might be touted as the best beach in America, but the bathroom facilities would likely be rated the worst, said Kaua‘i resident Jeff Tucker.
Plans by China's Hainan Airlines to provide service between Beijing and Honolulu appear to be running behind schedule again.
Embattled Honolulu City Councilman Rod Tam said he will introduce a resolution to eliminate the discretionary fund allowance given to council members to avoid the same problems he has encountered.
Police cited 167 Big Island drivers in the first two months of the new ban on using cell phones and hand-held electronic devices while driving.
The parking lot at Pu'u Pua'i Overlook in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will be closed Monday, March 15, through Wednesday, March 31, for repaving.
Hundreds of beer enthusiasts ascended upon Kailua-Kona Saturday, taking in the views while enjoying a few cold brews to support local nonprofits.
Aging in 22-ounce bottles at the Kona Brewing Company is a very green beer.
For 17 years, the Friends of Moku'ula have dug through red tape to unearth ruins linked to Hawaii's ancient monarchy - and what many consider to be the greatest archeological find in the entire state.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service jointly published a proposal to "up-list" North Pacific turtles to endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
The state Council on Revenues delivered mixed news yesterday: No need for any more state budget cuts to get through the fiscal year that ends in June, but the state will have to find more money to stay out of the red next year.
Hawaii's economy is showing signs of recovery, but uncertainty remains about how long it will be before the state fully emerges from recession
The momentum is shifting from negative to positive when it comes to the state general fund revenues.
The Council on Revenues Thursday forecast $48 million less in tax revenues to be collected by the state this fiscal year ending June 30, and next fiscal year.
Three marijuana bills are making their way through the Hawaii State Capitol.
Federal agents raided the downtown Hilo sanctuary of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry Wednesday morning, assisted by local police.
Flag Bill Dead For Session
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources may issue a request for proposals for a kayak concession at Kealakekua Bay, the agency's director says.
A developer who hopes to build 3,500 homes makai of the H-2 freeway says farmers working on the land have found another place to plant.
It has taken six years, but Sterling Kim has gotten his final construction approvals from Maui County for phase one of his Hale Mua affordable housing project on about 200 acres mauka of Happy Valley.
The 16th iteration of a burial treatment plan that would allow Naue landowner Joseph Brescia to move forward with construction on his single-family home atop 30 known Hawaiian burials was approved this week by the State Historic Preservation Division.
The accrediting agency that six years ago raised serious concerns about the University of Hawai'i's operations is praising UH-Manoa for a big turnaround, saying the campus has "emerged from a difficult past," benefited from "stable" leadership and shows promise on meeting its goals.
Hawaii County's two bands will play on, according to County Council members working to preserve the $347,027 budget Mayor Billy Kenoi has proposed eliminating.
Dueling ethics proposals will be presented to the Hawaii County Council at an April 6 committee meeting, thanks to action taken Wednesday by the Board of Ethics.
State spending cuts significantly have worsened the effects of the global economic downturn in the Islands, according to several Hawai'i economists who spoke to more than 150 advocates, lawmakers and others at the state Capitol yesterday.
Lawmakers appear poised by the end of the legislative session in April to approve a bill to increase the "facility charge" all customers have to pay on their car rental bills from the current $1 a day to $4.50 a day.
Nearly one out of every six Hawai'i workers was either unemployed or underemployed last year
The state's resort real estate market is not out of the woods yet, but Honolulu analyst Ricky Cassiday said he believes he has detected signs that it finally touched bottom in the last quarter of 2009.
Maui's hotel occupancy rate jumped to 67.5 percent in January from 59.8 percent in the same month last year. For the state as a whole, occupancy rose from 63.1 to 66.5 percent.
As a Child Welfare Services specialist on the Big Island, Patrice Bell has seen spending restrictions and budget cuts reduce her office size by about one-third.
For more than 15 years, medical hope for House Clerk Pat Mau-Shimizu was sitting next to her on the House floor — C.J. Leong, House assistant clerk.
The federal government added 48 species found only on Kauai to the endangered species list yesterday, boosting the number of species classified as such by the Obama administration from two to 50.
Native flora and fauna on the verge of extinction for more than a decade have officially been added to the federal list of threatened and endangered species, according to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wednesday
Mitsuo "Mits" Shito, a strong public housing advocate at the state Legislature, died of natural causes last month. He was 79.
Fire rescue crews say tiger sharks are hampering their search for a missing surfer on Oahu's North Shore.
State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa formally filed nomination papers Wednesday morning to run for the First Congressional District in a special election.
Hawaii County's cost to prepare for the recent tsunami threat: $274,067.
In stark contrast to last year, only one Hawaii County Council member is attending the National Association of Counties convention in Washington this week
Reacting to a study saying Kona coffee farmers lose $14.4 million to blenders each year, some processors and sellers claim changing state law to ban the practice of blending Kona coffee or require more Kona coffee in blends would negatively impact farmers, jobs and profits.
The $39 million project will take two years to complete and there will be construction delays, but the end result should be shorter commute times for those driving between Puhi and Lihu‘e, state officials said.
Starting May 11, Hawaii Island builders will have to observe a newly enacted county code that demands higher energy efficiency in newly constructed houses and, in some cases, in older houses undergoing renovation.
A 4.5 magnitude earthquake shook Big Island residents at 6:30 p.m. Monday. It was felt by island residents, but no tsunami was generated.
Big Island residents experienced a good shaking from an earthquake yesterday, but no tsunami was generated from it.
An earthquake on the Big Island triggered an alert over the airwaves. It said the quake did not generate a tsunami, but the alert did cause a little bit of a mix-up.
Coral reef-loving advocacy groups and government agencies are collaborating to simplify ocean monitoring programs in an effort to increase the participation of Maui's "citizen scientists."
Costs are going up and state services are going down, as the fallout from layoffs and furloughs continues to settle across government agencies responsible for everything from food and rabies inspections to issuance of birth and death certificates.
Efforts to limit or halt shark-viewing tours in the Islands through legislation have stalled in the Legislature, but the proposed bills are not dead and may resurface in the weeks to come.
Detective Paul Nagata Jr.'s father played a cop on the original "Hawaii Five-0."
Project Prevention, a national organization that pays drug addicts and alcoholics $300 cash to get sterilized or use long-term birth control, will be in Honolulu for the first time today, tomorrow and Thursday in an ongoing effort to eradicate substance-exposed births.
Fish have mysteriously returned to the ponds at the Hawaii state Capitol.
Big Island conservatives want to make it harder for the county government to take away their rights or raise taxes.
The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for leeward sections of Maui County.
Someone may have set the fire that destroyed a multimillion-dollar home Saturday evening in a gated Kapalua community.
Former Princeville resident Linda Grover, whose daughter, son-in-law and seven grandchildren live in Anahola, is being remembered both as a patient peace advocate and tireless worker bent on getting a national and international holiday dedicated to world peace.
Adding another staff attorney or two to the county’s in-house law firm could actually save taxpayers money if it means fewer cases are assigned to costly special outside counsel, Kauai County Attorney Al Castillo told the Cost Control Commission on Monday.
State tax breaks helped finance a bank commercial, a Merrie Monarch Festival television special and music videos produced by a Honolulu Symphony Orchestra affiliate.
A study of plastic debris floating in the Pacific between Hawaii and California shows researchers have been sharply understating the amount of trash there.
Hawai'i public schools have begun testing a new online version of the state's annual assessment exam, which officials say will be a better gauge of student progress than the current paper-pencil test, once it is rolled out next school year.
A state senator wants to ban shark fins in Hawaii, not just for conservation reasons, but because the animal is considered a native Hawaiian deity.
Norman and Jennifer Shishido, of Kaimukī, readily acknowledge that mopeds are a convenient, relatively inexpensive means of transportation for many people
Hundreds of employees at Hawaii's two largest newspapers gathered for what was described as a "somber" meeting Sunday night
Hundreds of Star-Bulletin and Advertiser employees met at Washington Middle School for several hours Sunday afternoon to talk over their uncertain futures.
Getting called to put out a fire. That's what a former Honolulu fire captain is used to doing.
Fire crews on the Big Island were working Saturday night to contain a stubborn brush fire in Waikoloa.
More than 300 acres of fountain grass and open land had been consumed,
An 86-year-old Puna man is desperately seeking justice for his murdered son and closure for himself.
Less than eight hours after another two lives were lost in separate accidents on Queen Kaahumanu Highway, Kealakehe High School students took a stand against drunken driving on Saturday.
Kula Hospital has received $5 million in state funding to add 15 long-term beds - a long-awaited development that would relieve Maui Memorial Medical Center of some patients occupying acute-care beds.
Koloa School is one of the few schools that does not have a school garden, Suzanne Kashiwaeda said Friday.
The Kauai County Charter Review Commission last week advanced a proposal that, if approved by voters, would simultaneously broaden and weaken the scope of the Code of Ethics, specifically its rules governing contracts.
A long-term plan that hopes to transform downtown Lihu‘e into a pedestrian paradise replete with sidewalk cafes, outdoor shopping areas, landscaping and streetscapes took another step toward becoming reality when the Kaua‘i County Council unanimously passed it Wednesday.
Hawaii's cruise market, which declined 18.9 percent last year, could become more buoyant thanks to increased demand, especially from its home-ported sector.
Passport fees are going up, so the time to renew is now.
If you put a police station, firehouse, parking lot, rest rooms, emergency access and passive park on it, can it still be considered open space?
The House Finance Committee has cut Gov. Linda Lingle's state budget by $41 million.
Officials knew all along that Hawai'i stood only a slim chance of being among the first round of finalists in the competition for a huge pool of federal education money, but word yesterday that the state didn't make the cut still came as a blow to a public school system that could use some good news.
The state House Finance Committee yesterday approved a state budget draft that would add $50 million to reduce teacher furloughs next school year but would also make cuts to public education that could increase class size.
Honolulu City Councilman Rod Tam will pay the city $13,700 for improperly using his official allowance to pay for meals not related to council business and giving false accounts of his meals, according to an agreement he reached with the city Ethics Commission.
Honolulu councilman Rod Tam has been stripped of his committee chair titles for using taxpayer money for personal meals.
Dry weather sparked by an ongoing El Nino event has intensified drought conditions in many areas of Hawaii
A troubled real estate developer on the Big Island may be liquidating its assets, after it was discovered that it would be unable to reorganize in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
At least four of Hawaii Island's 71 warning sirens failed Monday's monthly test, county Civil Defense Administrator Quince Mento said Wednesday.
Testimony before the state Land Use Commission was front-loaded with supporters of the Ooma Beachside Village's request to convert conservation land to an urban designation for a development project, but support waned as the first day of a two-day hearing wrapped up.
A resolution asking the state for county authority to temporarily restrict fireworks during emergencies squeaked through the Hawaii County Council on Wednesday.
The Maui County Council Budget and Finance Committee on Tuesday voted to recommend that projects receive $1.8 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds.
Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School and Ke Kula Ni‘ihau O Kekaha are two of 50 schools in Hawai‘i taking part in “Hiki No,” or “Can Do,” the nation’s first statewide student news network airing on PBS from February through April 2011.
Citing concerns about traditional Hawaiian use and beach access and calling the state’s approval of a controversial proposed cattle fence overlooking Larsen’s Beach “arbitrary, capricious and erroneous,” two appeals were filed earlier this week on behalf of North Shore community members.
As it dismantles the last vestiges of its coqui control program, Hawaii County plans to sell off the equipment some community groups say is essential to their voluntary eradication efforts.
Councilwoman Brenda Ford wants to get the ball rolling on approving baking soda as a pesticide for use against coqui frogs.
Long after the dignitaries had left the Honolulu Hale courtyard, the "little guys" that Frank Fasi often spoke so fondly of were still streaming in to see the man they called Mister Mayor.
Frank F. Fasi's life and love affair with Honolulu were celebrated yesterday as friends paid final respects to the late mayor.
A six-man U.S. Marine Corps honor guard carried Frank Fasi's flag-draped casket into City Hall, the building where he worked as Honolulu's longest-serving mayor.
A hurried legislative effort to reduce an almost 12-fold increase in unemployment taxes concluded yesterday with a measure passing the state Senate and being sent to Gov. Linda Lingle for consideration.
The filing deadline for anyone who wants to run in the special election to fill former Congressman Neil Abercrombie's seat is two weeks from Wednesday.
In its second decision in five months questioning police and prosecution methods in speeding cases, the Hawai'i Supreme Court has dismissed the "excessive speeding" conviction of a motorcyclist clocked at 70 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Hawai'i taxpayers aren't done yet paying for the failed Superferry project.
Students give generally low marks to the campus and academic environment at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, according to the National Survey of Student Engagement.
A Puna resident is suing Malama O Puna and several government agencies, accusing them of illegally poisoning red mangroves on the Big Island coastline.
Councilman Kelly Greenwell's novel proposal to have the ultra-rich donate money to the island's hospitals failed to get off the ground.
State senators Tuesday sent to the House of Representatives a bill that would take about $86 million from the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund to pay for the end of school furloughs.
A Maui jury awarded 3,800 Tennessee real estate buyers $54 million Wednesday against Chicago banker and part-time Maui resident Clyde Engle. Engle's wife, Siobhan, had earlier had a default judgment entered against her in the same case.
The manslaughter trail for retired Honolulu auto dealer James Pflueger won’t begin next month as previously scheduled.
Maui County hopes to cover an immediate $13.9 million budget deficit by postponing a bond sale, reducing self-insurance coverage and taking other steps that wouldn't impact public services, the finance director said Tuesday.
In an attempt to help rare native seabird populations recover on Kaua‘i, the same conservationist and cultural practitioners who threatened legal action against Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative in January are now targeting the St. Regis Princeville Resort for their alleged “failure to prevent ... ongoing deaths,”
Furlough Fridays would be gone, marijuana for medical purposes would be taxed $30 an ounce and gas-powered leaf blowers would be outlawed in Hawaii as the Legislature moves to the halfway point.
Showing Gov. Linda Lingle and educators that options are available, state lawmakers yesterday moved bills that would dedicate money from the state's hurricane relief fund and rainy-day fund to reduce teacher furloughs.
Unsatisfied with the federal government’s penalties that have failed to deter the harassment and killing of Hawai‘i’s endangered species, state lawmakers are taking matters into their own hands.
Legislative Auditor Marion Higa could damage the state's good credit rating and cost taxpayers millions of dollars with a not-yet-published audit of the state Department of Budget and Finance, Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday.
Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann on Tuesday laid out his $1.827 billion budget plan that includes cuts and furloughs.
Mayor Mufi Hannemann presented an operating budget yesterday that increases spending by 1.2 percent to $1.83 billion without major tax increases.
Mayor Billy Kenoi's preliminary budget abolishes or unfunds 111 positions, furloughs most county employees two days a month except those in public safety and silences the county bands.
Hawaii County must raise property tax rates, cut positions and furlough workers to make ends meet, Mayor Billy Kenoi told lawmakers Monday in presenting his annual budget proposal.
With a cigar smoldering and the smoke wafting throughout, O'Toole's Irish Pub doesn't hide the fact it serves smokers.
Stand-up paddle boarding's rapid rise in popularity has left state boating officials unsure how to regulate the activity at Hilo's Wailoa Small Boat Harbor.
The city's emergency response to Saturday's tsunami warning cost $330,000, but Mayor Mufi Hannemann said the expense was "fully justified."
Although Maui's Department of Wastewater Reclamation shut down several pump stations to prevent saltwater damage Saturday, the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Environmental Services did not.
In light of the recent tsunami warning, county officials are urging residents and businesses who have not yet signed up for Connect CTY, Kauai County’s free mass notification service, to do so.
Tourists lined the lanais of high-rise hotels and sightseers clustered along Hawaii's cliffside highways to take in the spectacle of a potentially destructive tsunami that turned out to be more like an undulating tide.
Dozens of ships headed to open water, 40,000 to 50,000 locals and tourists scrambled to safety and high ground, and communities from Hilo to Waikīkī transformed into instant ghost towns yesterday as the Islands braced for a tsunami that rolled in as merely an odd ocean surge.
In two months, federal, state, county and other emergency first responders hold an annual weeklong hurricane disaster exercise and drills. This year, they will add several problems stemming from yesterday's tsunami response
All over this coastal town yesterday, people gathered at hillside vantage points — their ears to portable radios, their hands gripping binoculars — to watch a tsunami come in that some feared would rival the 1960 waves that killed 61 people in Hilo, toppled buildings and homes and swept away cars.
State Civil Defense leaders kept busy on Saturday, working around the clock trying to keep everyone safe.
The state House Finance Committee agreed last night to defer a bill that would have allowed a casino on O'ahu, as lawmakers discarded gambling as an option to help with the state's budget deficit.
State House Finance Chairman Marcus Oshiro said a move to legalize casino gambling is dead at the Hawaii Legislature this session.
The state's four county mayors applauded the move by House lawmakers to leave in place most of the money they receive from the hotel room tax.
Each year the state forgoes about $835 million in revenue by giving companies and individuals a break on the general excise tax, exempting everything from aircraft engines to shipbuilding.
The State House Housing Committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bill to force planned communities to allow residents to fly Hawaiian and American flags without restrictions.
Room 325 at the State Capitol was full of military veterans. One held an American flag. Others wore red, white and blue. All of them had the same mission.
Responding to a request from lawmakers to cut another 5 percent from its budget, the state Board of Education worked into the night identifying programs that could be trimmed.
The election to fill U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's 1st Congressional District seat will be held May 22, according to state elections officials.
Hawaii County has launched its first high-tech effort to sell real estate, with a Web site that went live late last week advertising 738 acres in Hamakua.
A Hilo pharmacist foiled an armed robbery Tuesday morning, with a little help from his friends.
Hawaii Island residents and doctors keep coming back to the issue of access to care -- or lack thereof.
He didn’t give himself a specific letter grade for his first full year as Kaua‘i’s mayor, but Bernard Carvalho Jr. made it clear that he is happy with the results thus far.
When Towne Development of Hawaii started selling affordably priced homes in its 2,000-home Kehalani subdivision in Central Maui in the 1990s, customers would wait in line for hours to get on the buyers' list.
Crew members of SubAviator were packing up to leave Mala Ramp on Tuesday, but they may well come back.
A proposed reduction in force affecting state Department of Human Services workers on Kaua‘i will be discussed Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in Lihu‘e.
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