Community Health

Hawaiʻi Veterans Deserve Better Than Trump’s VA Cuts Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2020

Hawaiʻi Veterans Deserve Better Than Trump’s VA Cuts

The administration’s proposal to eliminate 80,000 VA jobs will hit Hawai‘i especially hard.

Oʻahu Social Worker Accused In Daughter’s Death Continued To Work With Kids Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025

Oʻahu Social Worker Accused In Daughter’s Death Continued To Work With Kids

It remains unclear when the North Shore school knew Sina Pili was under investigation but experts say best practice would have been to err on the safe side.

State Had Earlier Reports Of Abuse In Oʻahu Household Where Girl Starved Courtesy: Sarai's family/2025

State Had Earlier Reports Of Abuse In Oʻahu Household Where Girl Starved

The Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services reported that it had been unable to confirm maltreatment reports of another child in the household before Sarai Perez-Rivera died of starvation and dehydration in June.

Hidden Links Exposed: Hawaiʻi Fireworks Bust Tied To Mainland Suppliers David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024

Hidden Links Exposed: Hawaiʻi Fireworks Bust Tied To Mainland Suppliers

One address on shipping documents in a seizure at Honolulu Harbor is the first in a chain of clues that lead across the country and through the decades — a mysterious web of connections between the legal and illegal fireworks trade.

Honolulu Hasn’t Prosecuted A Single Ghost Gun Case Since 2020 Ban Department of Law Enforcement/2023

Honolulu Hasn’t Prosecuted A Single Ghost Gun Case Since 2020 Ban

Police are seeing an uptick in ghost guns but Hawaiʻi counties differ in how they interpret and use a state law meant to deter people from buying or manufacturing untraceable weapons.

Half Of Hawaiʻi Kids Can’t Swim. Little Is Being Done To Help Them (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)

Half Of Hawaiʻi Kids Can’t Swim. Little Is Being Done To Help Them

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children in the state, but efforts to address the problem have been mostly left up to community organizations with limited funding and uneven reach.

Proposed Bills Would Leave Few Options For Where Oʻahu Puts Its Next Dump Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024

Proposed Bills Would Leave Few Options For Where Oʻahu Puts Its Next Dump

Westside residents want the island’s trash to stop coming to their community, but potential new restrictions could make it difficult to place a city dump anywhere else.

A ‘Super-Aged’ Population Poses Major Challenges For Hawaiʻi Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2019

A ‘Super-Aged’ Population Poses Major Challenges For Hawaiʻi

The Covid-19 pandemic changed the outlook for the state’s oldest seniors from optimistic to more sobering, a recent report says.

Honolulu Mother And Her Partner Arrested In Abuse Death Of 3-Year-Old Courtesy: Family of Sarai Perez-Rivera/2025

Honolulu Mother And Her Partner Arrested In Abuse Death Of 3-Year-Old

Janae Perez and Ashleigh Utley were arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and several other charges.

State Is Scrambling To Fix SNAP Food Program Following $11M Fine For Errors Screenshot/2025

State Is Scrambling To Fix SNAP Food Program Following $11M Fine For Errors

Hawaiʻi hopes the federal government will waive half of the penalty if the state invests more than $5 million in new technology.