Phase two: When the noise fades but the questions remain
After the initial burst of attention, the Sylvia Luke story now feels a bit like a room where the oxygen has been pulled back to calm a fire. Media coverage has slowed, and expressions of support from key figures are beginning to surface. What was once loud and fast-moving is now notably quieter. One could be forgiven for thinking, “Well, that didn’t take long to quiet down.” However, in Hawai‘i ...
Phase one: How the Sylvia Luke story is already reshaping Hawaiʻi politics
The story of campaign donations to Hawaiʻi Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke is in the “phase 1” –the allegation phase. But even at this early stage, several observations and questions stand out — not necessarily about guilt or innocence, but about what this moment is already doing to Hawaiʻi’s political landscape. Here are some of those observations. First Observation – Hindsight by the Legislature? Hawaiʻi State Capitol, home to the Legislature, ...
Hawaiʻi sells paradise — But look at what happened at Kona airport
A recent SFGate story described a travel nightmare at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA) — one that reveals more than just an unlucky delay. The article recounts how an early January delay forced passengers on a flight to Anchorage to spend the night sleeping where they could on airport grounds after losing their takeoff window. A bit of a backstory here – KOA has been managing runway cracking issues ...
When federal chaos reaches the islands
Driving into the office on Wednesday, January 14, it looked like it would be one of those rare idle days — the kind where you finally clear out the backlog, return a few calls, maybe get ahead of something for once. No fires. No emergencies. No “drop everything” emails waiting in the inbox. Just another quiet workday. It wasn’t. The day started with an email from a program officer at ...
Goodbyes and hellos: Who explains Hawaiʻi politics now?
Hawaii State Capitol, Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI PC: "Hawaii State Capitol, Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI - 52221001099" by w_lemay is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Over the past several weeks, a series of articles in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Honolulu Civil Beat marked a quiet but consequential shift in who is interpreting Hawaiʻi politics for the public. Two farewells and one arrival point to a change not simply in political ...
