English is an experienced legislator who currently serves as senate majority leader. It’s significant that Maui retains an experienced politician at the legislature in a leadership position who has a strong understanding of the culture of the district he represents. His legislative record is solid, showing continued efforts to address kupuna care, education, and climate […]
Primary Election Endorsements: Our guide to voting in the 2018 Primary Election on August 11
Primary elections are fun. They give voters choices and are a relief from having to pick between the lesser of two evils. Who knows who will show up in the open field for an attempt to take a crack at public service? A “water peace pipe” builder, community organizers, and nonprofit and business executives all […]
Hawaii Gov. David Ige signs pregnancy center protection bill
And now for some good news for anyone who values women’s health. Earlier this week Hawaii Governor David Ige signed SB 501 into law. Now known as the Act 200, the new law now requires so-called “limited service pregnancy centers (LSPCs)” to offer complete information about reproductive health services to any women who come in seeking help […]
Hawaii and Maui County officials sign historic environmental legislation
The Trump Administration may not give a damn that we’re trashing the planet, but it’s nice to see officials in Hawaii and Maui County certainly do. On Tuesday, June 6, Hawaii Governor David Ige signed two bills that commit the state to work ever harder to combat climate change–an imperative given the substantial dangers that […]
MauiTime 2016 Year In Review
Even without the election of Republican Donald Trump to be President of the United States, this was a monstrous year. We’ve had to deal with job losses, outrageous giveaways to big business and just a general slide away from democratic protections and open government assurances. We like to think of Hawaii (and Maui especially) as […]
Hawaii Legislature passes HB 2501 ‘water rights’ bill that helps Alexander and Baldwin
Well, they did it. Yesterday, the Hawaii state Senate voted to approve House Bill 2501, which permits Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) to keep diverting East Maui streams for another three years. “The most important thing to understand about HB 2501 is that the Legislature is circumventing a January state court ruling that found A&B has […]
State of Hawaii announces medical marijuana dispensary license selections
Officials with the state of Hawaii Department of Health announced that Maui Wellness Group and Pono Life Sciences Maui are their choices to run medical marijuana dispensaries in Maui County, Health Department Director Virginia Pressler announced today at a news conference (which I got to watch live thanks to a livestream from Honolulu Civil Beat, […]
Don Shearer has been a drug warrior on Maui for 30 years. Now he wants to open a medical marijuana dispensary
For the last 30 years, Don Shearer’s Windward Aviation has carried out a wide variety of contracts for local, state and federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency’s marijuana eradication flights. He’s a committed anti-drug warrior. But recently he decided to start a new company: Grateful Meds. That’s right: Don Shearer applied to open a […]
Will the Hawaii Legislature finally allow the public to see the names of bad cops?
Watch out, because the state Legislature is actually on track to doing the right thing in regards to making public the names of bad cops. There have been so many fruitless attempts to undo the disaster that was the 1995 state law exempting police officers from the state’s Uniform Information Practices Act that I’m hesitant to write […]
Hawaii state Legislature toys with mandating a new inter-island ferry
And now friends, to paraphrase William Shakespeare, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of superferries. Not sure if you noticed–it didn’t get a lot of play–but Gov. David Ige mentioned the old Hawaii Superferry in his Jan. 25 State of the State Address. It was part of a section labeled “Truthfulness.” […]
Maui Liquor Commission finally schedules dancing rule hearing 6 days after state deadline
So this Thursday, Oct. 1 is the ostensible deadline for the County of Maui to get its act together in regards to Act 136, the new state law that requires county Liquor Commissions to define dancing (since they’re so insistent on enforcing dancing restrictions). “No later than October 1, 2015, each county liquor commission that […]
Will Hawaii Gov. David Ige force county Liquor Control departments to define ‘dancing?’
After something like a decade of earnest testimony and moneyless lobbying, it looks like the Maui Dance Advocates may finally–FINALLY!–win their fight to force the Maui County Department of Liquor Control to do something they’ve steadfastly refused to do: define “dancing.” For many years, the LC has forced liquor licensees to regulate where and when […]
Quizunderstood: How well do you know Hawaii Gov. Ige’s reasons for delaying Thirty Meter Telescope construction?
1. Starting this week, conferees from the state House and Senate got together to start talking about this year’s proposed budget. Of the 25 conferees, three are from Maui. Representative Kyle Yamashita and Senator J. Kalani English (both Democrats) are two of them. Who is the third? A. Senator Gil Keith-Agaran B. Senator Roz Baker […]
Hawaii state Legislature taking up Maui LC dancing regulations yet again
Here’s a story you’ve heard many, many times before: the Hawaii state Legislature is considering a bill that would force all the county Liquor Control departments to define “dancing.” Known as SB 868, the bill was introduced by 14 state Senators including Maui’s own J. Kalani English, Roz Baker and Gil Keith-Agaran. “As the co-founder […]
What’s being done about state and county government employee parking in Wailuku Town?
We’ve received a couple letters to the editor from residents lately in response on our recent coverage of the Wailuku Town parking enforcement and proposed parking meters. The writers asked us what was up with state and county government seeing to their own employees’ parking needs–especially considering that commercial businesses in Wailuku Town are under […]
UPDATED: Maui Representative Mele Carroll Passes Away
[Ed. note: We updated this post on Feb. 19 to include more tributes to Carroll from various public officials] State Representative Diana “Mele” Carroll has passed away. The Democrat who’s represented East Maui, Lanai, Kaho’olawe and Molokai had recently been elected to her sixth term. Citing unspecified health issues, Carroll resigned her seat in January. […]