Hawaiʻi was not part of the sweeping Democratic trend in the 2026 midterms. Really, the state bucked the trend. If, as many have said, the 2026 election nationally was a “tsunami” and a “hundred-year flood,” then by comparison Hawaiʻi’s was a combination of the regularity of mauka showers and the listlessness of summer Kona winds. […]
Column
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Jeta: Saving Hawaiʻi’s Hongwanji – And Bon Dances – Isn’t A Quick Fix
When Lydia Morikawa and her 10-year-old son Ronin joined a video call with me to discuss traditional Japanese music and bon dancing in Hawai‘i, Ronin – like any other boy his age – made a series of silly faces and hand gestures. “It’s not shave ice and andagi. Those are perks,” Morikawa reminded Ronin when […]
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Makana Eyre: Rapa Nui’s Ruin Wasn’t ‘Ecocide.’ Stop Blaming The Victims
This is probably a familiar story to you: the people of Rapa Nui, famous for carving the great moai, caused their own demise. If you grew up between the 1990s and 2010s, you probably heard some version of it in the classroom about the remote isle that Europeans called Easter Island. As the theory went, […]
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Beth Fukumoto: Hawaiʻi Voters Wanting Change Didn’t Get It Tuesday
Across the country, election night produced an inspirational list of firsts: the first Native American woman elected governor, the first Black woman elected governor, and Texas’ first Latina governor. In Hawaiʻi, it produced mostly business as usual. The national firsts came as Democrats won control of the U.S. House and the Senate and flipped at […]
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The Public Could Gain Free Access To These Government Records
A few years ago, state prison officials kept getting sued because they were holding inmates past their scheduled release dates, sometimes for many months. It was a continuing problem not only in Hawaiʻi but throughout the country. One local reporter asked the corrections department to run a computer search of its offender tracking database and […]
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Jeta: This Tongan NFL Star Pivoted To Opera, Then Found His Voice
Polynesians account for less than half a percent of the U.S. population, yet make up an estimated 5% of NFL players. In Hawaiʻi, this overrepresentation is a source of local pride, with some celebrating football as a modern expression of Polynesian warrior heritage. For some families, this so-called “Polynesian pipeline” is their ticket out of […]
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Olin Lagon: David And Goliath On A Hawaiʻi Basketball Court
Underdog stories show us how Davids win. We need more about how Goliaths lose with aloha.
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Makana Eyre: France Stalls Return Of Hawaiian Ancestral Remains
“So offensive,” said a senior cultural officer from Hawaiʻi, describing the Musée de l’Homme negotiations. Others say the story is more nuanced.
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Neal Milner: Hawaiʻi’s Riot Prevention Plan – Crummy Public Spaces
What a local stadium, playground and convention center say about deferred maintenance.