Hawai‘i Farmers Union United, HB 667 / Local farmers met with Governor Abercrombie at his office last week to talk about food safety and the future of small farms. While recent federal reform of food safety regulations has made exceptions for some farmers, many here in Hawaii say that a bill passed out of the Hawaii legislature last month–HB 667–advantages big agribusiness over small farms and will put some families out of business.
HI-5, Eating in Public / Eating In Public–the organization that’s taken on the public HI-5 recycling challenge on Oahu–provides cheap and efficient handmade, wire mesh recycling cages throughout the Island. Their signs are familiar to most of us: HI-5.
Hawai'i Housekeepers / On June 16, 2011, a Kihei man received a life sentence for the March 12 unprovoked multiple stabbing of a 62-year-old hotel housekeeper who was cleaning his room at the WorldMark Resort in Kihei, Maui. According to MauiTime, the victim was left paralyzed and has had to re-learn how to speak, how to walk and how to sit up.
Rev. Roger Christie / With a new attorney and a delayed trial date, Hilo’s marijuana minister plans to challenge the basis of the government’s case by calling into question the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) current, allegedly disingenuous, classification of marijuana. Facing anywhere from five to 40 years in federal prison for crimes relating to the distribution of marijuana, Rev.
International Surf Day / Even when campaigns fail and change seems impossible, activists like those with the Surfrider Foundation stay optimistic enough to eventually overcome the hurdles. With about 300 chapters worldwide–from Oahu to Japan–and four chapters in Hawaii alone, the group is celebrating International Surf Day on June 20th, an event started in 2002 by Matt McClain, the marketing and communications director of the Surfrider Foundation Headquarters in California.
Opinion / Childhood obesity statistics have caught the attention of every aspect of our nation. Currently, between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese.
Mauka to Makai / Imagine: It’s Saturday morning. You take the kids and head down to your local farmers market to pick up your weekly box of fruits, vegetables, taro and sweet potatoes from your ahupuaa co-op.
On a rainy January morning in downtown Honolulu, a small group of dejected homeowners met in a coffeehouse to commiserate with each other about the impending foreclosures on their family homes. Each blamed large, deceptive Mainland mortgage lenders for a variety of dishonest actions–and in some cases outright fraud–for the “wrongful” loss of their homes.
German filmmaker Werner Herzog once described auctioneering as “the last poetry possible, the poetry of capitalism.” Now and throughout the month of June, non-profit organization Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) and sister non-profit organization Hawaiian Way Fund (HWF) will host the Hawaiian Way Fund Benefit Native Arts Auction. But this auction won’t necessarily be the auction Herzog was harkening back to.
It is an especially rewarding time of transition for the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law, where 15 law students graduated at this year’s annual Spring commencement ceremony on May 15 with the Native Hawaiian Law Certificate.
Located in the historic Edwin Thomas Home at 41 South Beretania is a building that many people in Chinatown know well. Despite popular belief, it’s not a soup kitchen.
Chefs and Farmers Facing the Future / Perhaps the greatest conceit of the recent Chefs and Farmers Facing the Future food forum was assuming that all the participating chefs would care about food security. The premise of the forum was that they would “join the cause for a sustainable local food system,” said co-organizer Dan Nakasone.
KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance / A 26-story condo/hotel proposed by Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts for the lot between the old Moana Hotel and Kuhio Beach Park will be the target of a grassroots protest organized by KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance. The public is invited.
Politics / After last week’s cover story on “Foreclosure Fraud,” distressed home loan borrowers are anxiously awaiting the reaction to Sen. Roz Baker’s 95-page legislative bill on mortgage foreclosures to be shared with the House committee on Wednesday.
Ethics / Senate Bill 249 proposes the state takeover of Oahu’s last remaining slaughterhouse in the face of its impending closure and lack of alternative private investors. Like many of the bills considered during this legislative session, SB249 will weigh heavily upon Hawaii’s local food system and determine the extent to which Hawaii will either remain dependent upon the Mainland for its food or increase its local food security through the development of a sustainable local food system infrastructure.
Rep. Derek Kawakami / Rep. Derek Kawakami was appointed by Governor Abercrombie earlier this month to serve as the replacement for former Rep.
Roz Savage / In mid-April, British eco-adventurer Roz Savage is set to row her canoe from Fremantle, Australia, to Mumbai, India–that’s 5,000 nautical miles across the Indian Ocean. Her sleek metal canoe looks like a modern space capsule outfitted with solar panels, a computer, a GPS, a satellite phone and enough food for up to five months.
Education / How did a professor at UH-Manoa manage to help more than 1,000 kids from mostly low-income families in Hawaii save more than $115,000? In her new book, The Money Class, financial guru and TV host Suze Orman says the key to teaching children how to save money is how the information is presented.
Environment / While sailing from Hawaii to California in 1997, Capt. Charlie Moore discovered what would come to be called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” In the doldrums and swirling currents of the North Pacific Gyre, Moore found a toxic soup of floating plastic debris everywhere he looked for hundreds of miles.
Health / The half-gram bottle of bath salts promises an “invigorating” and “energizing” experience. But the new designer drug, called MDPV (or “legal cocaine”) is sending an alarming number of curious teenagers and seasoned drug users to emergency rooms and mental hospitals throughout the country, according to the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, the poison control center for Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Nevada.
Governemnt / The State Capitol is a mystery to many of us. Sure, the public has the ability to sit in during committee hearings, but other than that, the whole building–and what goes on behind those closed doors–is a big black hole.
Health / Millions of cigarette butts find their way onto our state’s beaches and nature trails, into city parks and on sidewalks and school playgrounds every day. Cigarette butts–the most littered item in the nation and the world–are more than an eyesore.
Community / It’s 7:30am on a Saturday morning and Juanita Kawamoto is frying dough at the YMCA in Kailua. Using locally bought ingredients, she molds dozens of malasadas for the World Wetland Day fundraiser that will be held later that day.
Gambling / In the early 1800s they were run by private individuals. One was even used to raise funds for George Washington’s army.
Community / There’s much confusion about whether or not fireworks are legal in the city of Honolulu. Will we see anymore epic displays like we did this past New Year’s Eve?
After retiring from public service in 2002, Ben Cayetano seemed to be taking it easy on the political scene–until 2005, that is, when then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann revived the long-lapsed idea of a Honolulu heavy rail project. Needless to say, Cayetano did not concur.
Last Thursday, the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection had a busy session hearing several controversial bills relating to geothermal energy. Chairman Denny Coffman introduced HB2689, which seeks to exempt slim-hole, or exploratory, geothermal test wells from any sort of environmental review as is currently required under Chapter 343 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
On Feb. 1, the Hawaii State House Agriculture Committee heard testimony on HB2703, dubbed the Food Self-Sufficiency Bill.
Mega-developer Castle & Cooke has re-filed an application with the Land Use Commission (LUC) seeking to convert approximately 768 acres of Ag land–currently in cultivation–into a “master-planned community” entitled Koa Ridge. If successful, the project will consist of two parcels–Koa Ridge Makai and Castle & Cooke Waiawa.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs holds a second round of community meetings to discuss the latest updates on the Kakaako land settlement. Stevenson Middle School, 1202 Prospect St., Wed., 2/8, 6:30pm; Waimanalo Community Center, 41-253 Ilauhole St., Thu., 2/9, 6:30pm City Council committees on Zoning and Planningand Transportation will take public testimony on agenda items.
[Feb. 1: “Kinda Kona”] The trade secret argument would fall to the wayside if it would read “10 percent Kona Coffee 90 percent Foreign Coffee,” or something to that effect.
If they are choosing the cheapest coffee from anywhere, then the “trade secret” is that they are adding crap and not a sp
[Feb. 1: “Rail Boss Wanted”] $300,000?
[Jan. 4: “Boss GMO] Dean Okimoto is a sell out and a criminal.
Monsanto is a major component of the NWO drive to reduce the world’s population in a global genocide program that includes the poisoning of the water, air and food. This criminal activity must be stopped.
Lets be real here, Dean Okimoto is not interested in anything other then keeping the status quo of industrial Ag. He is merely a puppet, playing it safe, a small game of following the money and corrupt political trail.
[Jan. 25: “Weaving the Future on Molokai”] Good luck to all those who possess the ability to balance long-term vision with short term opportunity.
[Dec. 21: “Underground Railroad”] This is, indeed, a “lunatic project,” as pointed out by a professor at the University of Hawaii.
This is such a bad idea for the overall architecture of Oahu. I visit here because my family is here and part of the charm is taking the bus or driving.
I cannot imagine how anyone can think this is a smart idea. I’ve lived in places with rail, but this Honolulu Rail Transit is stupid, plain stupid.
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