Diary

Blowing in the wind

Last month at the State Capitol, Gov. Linda Lingle helped announce the signing of a new private agreement between Hawaiian Electric Industries, Massachusetts-based wind developer First Wind and landowner Castle & Cooke. Dubbed the “Big Wind” agreement, the compact… [»Read]


The joke’s on you

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With perfect weather, lush greenery and a pride in the ‘aina seen few other places, how could one not think of Hawaii as an ideal place to cultivate the freshest fish, grow the most abundant flowers and produce the best-fed and treated farm animals?… [»Read]


Where’s the Pink?

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“Where’s the Surf Room?” “Where are the chandeliers?” “What happened to the old coconut trees?” “Where’s the pink?!” Bewildered and disappointed might safely characterize local reaction to the much-ballyhooed unveiling… [»Read]


Two sides of Chinatown

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A conveniently vague way to describe Chinatown is to say that it has character. It is colorful, filled with diverse people and alive—for better or worse—at all hours of the night. Chinatown is buzzing with energy, brimming with creativity, seedy after nightfall… [»Read]


Conservation lands face steep shortfall

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Conservationists say Hawaii will lose millions of dollars in federal and private matching money for important agricultural, conservation and cultural heritage protection projects if House Bill 1741 becomes law. The bill, introduced by Speaker Calvin Say, would dramatically… [»Read]


Aole pono

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Students at Makaha Elementary School made a solemn pilgrimage to Hoa ‘Aina O Makaha (Land Shared In Friendship) to view the remains of the center’s traditional Hawaiian hale charred by what officials are calling a category-four premeditated… [»Read]


2009 Hawai‘i Legislature

Leg 2.0

2009 Hawai‘i Legislature
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2009 Hawaii Legislature / If you were using the social networking site Twitter last Thursday and following a user named georgettedeemer, your computer screen, from bottom to top, looked something like this. • On the House floor. Rep Ward: Civil Unions is really an end-run for same-sex marriage…. [»Read]


Bishop keeping Falls of Clyde’s endowment cash

Falls of Clyde
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Falls of Clyde / At the Bishop Museum’s Honolulu Maritime Center subsidiary on Pier 7, a back-lit picture of a smiling, lei-clad Robert J. Pfeiffer seems to look through the building’s bay windows at the 19th-century square-rigger Falls of Clyde moored just outside. Pfeiffer had… [»Read]


Legislature

Renaissance Fare?

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Recreational Renaissance / Last Thursday, Gov. Linda Lingle announced a proposal that addresses many outstanding issues regarding the Hawaii state park system. This plan, which the governor and her allies have coined a “recreational renaissance,” would encompass renovations to 54 state parks,… [»Read]


The supremes

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Hawaii Supreme Court / Judicial decisions, on first read, can seem dry, even boring. And, sure, some of them are a little inaccessible. But they can also be salacious, rife with conflict, dramatic and, frankly, beautiful. They reflect who we are as a society and determine where we are going. So… [»Read]


No rubber stamp

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program / Feeding the needy—and using federal money to do it—is but one piece of this legislative session’s Senate Majority Package, which emphasizes social services, health care, education and renewable energy. “In these economic times, we have a responsibility… [»Read]


So long, and thanks for all the fish

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Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument / Since August, environmentalists had been waiting to hear just how serious President George W. Bush was going to be about his so-called Blue Legacy. There was an expectation that he would top his designation two years ago of the 140,000-square-mile Papahanaumokuakea Marine… [»Read]


Paint the town red

Red Mass
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Red Mass / Thursday morning marked the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu’s annual Red Mass, a church service in which prayers are made and blessings asked on behalf of the public servants of Hawaii. The mass dates back 700 years in European culture, and started expanding in the U.S…. [»Read]


Quilts for Obama

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When she got the telephone call, Charlene Hughes thought someone was playing a trick on her. The master quilter didn’t think she would really be singled out to participate in a Washington D.C., exhibit of quilts honoring President-elect Barack Obama. “They called me… [»Read]


Playing in the band

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Long-printed on bumper stickers, T-shirts, key chains and more, the countdown to January 20, 2009 has been years in the making. Among those making the pilgrimage to Washington D.C. for inauguration day are members of Punahou School’s marching band, who will perform for… [»Read]