Politicians have been pledging to address a shortage of housing in the islands for decades, but the root causes of the crisis run deep.

In 1922, newspapers reported extensively on the possibility of a Filipino branch of the Ku Klux Klan operating in the Hawaiian islands. There was no such group, but the real story is just as dark.

Concerns about the proliferation of cesspools and their impact on nearshore waters and our drinking water supply date back more than a century.

Proposals for an elevated rail system on Oahu date back to the 1960s. Now, at least part of a modern-day rail line is finally about to open to the public.

The term "homeless sweep" doesn't appear in Hawaii newspapers until the early 2000s, but officials have been ordering large-scale homeless enforcements since at least 1901.

Old newspaper clippings show that the same conversations that were happening in the 1860s and 1960s about the struggle to make ends meet are still relevant today.