The recent influx of visitors to the islands brings to mind a tag line from the old “Poltergeist” films. We need tourists, but their outsize presence after a year’s absence is also a little unnerving.

The Hawaii House Speaker wants public officials to get substantial salary increases even as the state continues to struggle through a pandemic-induced economic crisis.

If Rip Van Winkle fell asleep in Honolulu in 2006 when the rail cost was $3 billion, imagine his reaction upon waking 15 years later.

Top Democrats in Hawaii are hailing the $1.6 billion in federal pandemic relief money to help the state budget. While fiscal challenges remain, the big bucks mean there will be no furloughs or layoffs of state workers.

Gov. David Ige is banking on President Joe Biden sending more stimulus money Hawaii’s way.

Natalie Iwasa has long attended Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board meetings to raise questions about rail. Now the Legislature has made her a non-voting member of the board.

State lawmakers in 2021 (get it? Twenty-One!) will again consider legalizing gambling, this time for a casino in Kapolei for Hawaiian Home Lands.