In a joint committee hearing on House Bill 2421–the barrel tax bill–Monday afternoon, Hawaii senators seemed poised to pass the measure. The bill has won wide support from mainstream environmental organizations for its $5 per barrel levy on oil, which would likely generate… [»Read]
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. If the measure makes it all the way to becoming law, you’ll be looking at what amounts to a traffic ticket… [»Read]
You probably know bottled water is a no-no in environmental terms, but the consequences of the water industry–one that barely existed 20 years ago–spread far beyond pollution. On Sunday, in connection with World Water Week, Kokua Hawaii Foundation and the University… [»Read]
As local emergency-response planners assess how Oahu residents got information and instructions during last month’s tsunami warning, Hawaii State Civil Defense is moving forward with an opt-in warning system that would send emergency alerts via text message to Oahu… [»Read]
House lawmakers passed a bill aimed at stopping private landowners from planting vegetation that encroaches onto public beaches. While supporters applaud the bill’s intent, they question how it will be enforced and whether the definition of shoreline, which now favors… [»Read]
Publishing a work that ends up becoming required reading for budding minds is an academic’s dream. For Lucie Cheng, who passed away Jan. 27 in Taipei at the age of 70, the book Labor Immigration Under Capitalism, co-authored with Edna Bonacich, along with several… [»Read]
Among the many human endeavors either expressly prohibited or requiring a special permit in Honolulu city parks: fixing a surfboard, having a meeting, throwing a golf ball, washing a car, sailing a model boat and playing “musical instruments which are limited to two octaves… [»Read]
With the state facing a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, Maui Sen. J. Kalani English figured the timing could be right this session to ease up on marijuana. After all, his bill to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is expected to save the state about… [»Read]
This is the first regular five-day school week for Hawaii public school students since the week of September 28, 2009. [»Read]
At first, Hawaii folks were incredulous. How could the Islands possibly be excluded from a presidential initiative aimed at saving the oceans? “Have you forgotten that Hawaii is one big fishery?” wrote Marjorie Bonar of the Maui Coastal Land Trust on a Web site… [»Read]
This week, the Nature Conservancy’s Nuuanu Street headquarters were certified as having meet the “green” standard established by the U.S. Green Building Council, making the Wing Wo Tai building the first exsiting building in the Islands to win the coveted LEED–it… [»Read]
Why are supermarkets filled with avocados from California and mangoes from Mexico when these fruits are literally falling, uneaten, from our island’s trees? Why is it so hard to find local beef when Parker Ranch on Big Island is one of the largest cattle ranches in the… [»Read]
Hawaii Clean Energy Day came to life last Saturday at the University of Hawaii –Manoa’s Kennedy Theatre. The event was the work of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI), a partnership of the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of Energy. HCEI promotes… [»Read]
For the second year in a row, proponents and opponents of genetically modified crops have fought their way to no action in the Hawaii State Legislature. Last year, a bill to ban genetically modified taro and coffee died after GMO proponents attached a “preemptive”… [»Read]
Wayfinding Through the Storm Gavan Daws and Na Leo o Kamehameha, Watermark Publishing, 384 pages, $24.95 Ten years ago last week, a Honolulu judge ordered the removal of Bishop Estate trustees Dickie Wong, Henry Peters, Gerard Jervis and Lokelani Lindsey and accepted… [»Read]
