The state Legislature set a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. But weʻre currently the most fossil fuel dependent state in the nation, with billions of dollars of the State’s economy being spent each year on imported fuel.

Efforts to deal with Oahu’s homeless population, such as moving them out of parks and off sidewalks, have only shifted them away from businesses, leading to more sidewalk tents in Kaka‘ako and Kapalama.

Federal and state mandates have compelled public schools to focus more time and resources on academic standards and less on the fine arts.

The last week of the 2015 legislative session included a flurry of final votes on many of the session’s biggest bills, including a $26 billion budget, a commitment to 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, a five-year extension on the rail tax for Honolulu residents, the creation of a statewide medical marijuana dispensary system, […]

Kaho‘olawe, an island that many Hawaiians hold as sacred, has been a cultural and political touchstone since the 1970s. When the U.S. military handed over control of Kaho‘olawe to the state of Hawai‘i, unexploded bombs and erosion left a barren landscape that many to this day are working to replant and restore.

Construction of a Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea has been brought to a temporary halt as protests over building the 18-story high telescope stretch across the globe. Plans to build the $1.

Hawai‘i reportedly placed 41% of its inmates in Arizona prisons last year. Now the State says it’s getting ready to send away 250 more prisoners while it replaces push-button technology in its electronic locking system at the Halawa Correctional Facility.

Hawai‘i’s roughly 117,000 veterans are entitled to an array of benefits, including heath care, social services and educational assistance. In 2014, an audit of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pointed to delays in claims processing nationwide, but the Veterans Affairs office in Honolulu has already started taking steps to remedy the situation.

Since Hawai‘i approved marijuana for medical treatment 15 years ago, other states have surged ahead with dispensaries, and in some cases, marijuana decriminalization. Advocates are hoping for a statewide dispensary system, and concerned parents and law enforcement fear that medical marijuana could be abused.

There seems to be no end to the rising cost of living in Hawai‘i. The high prices of housing, groceries, gas and other necessities make it more and more difficult for us to live in today’s paradise.