Entries for 'Selected News Articles'

“This report and one TSA fiasco after another have demonstrated that this isn’t the problem of a few bad apples. There are system-wide problems...."

The Tax Foundation’s 2013 edition of the State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. 

Some of these governors are schizophrenic on taxes: They jack up overall business tax rates, then give breaks to favored businesses....

Big banks have been able to write off millions in taxes by over reporting the cost of financed solar PV projects in what may be the country’s next banking scandal....

...otherwise UH will be condemned to be the punch line of a joke, a place for cronies to pad their retirement (high three), or a pit stop to collect fat paychecks and loud Aloha shirts....

GOP Challenger Viewed as Candidate with New Ideas....

Many have asked how come none of the regular environmental and public interest watch-dog groups sounded the alarm earlier? How did such a law get passed?

One of the first items on the PLDC agenda was to seek control over the state land under the Olomana golf course....

...due to the presence of Asian citrus psyllid, a vector of the bacterial pathogen that causes citrus greening....

This morning the City Council will have the first reading of Bill 65 to accept a revision of the Ewa Development Plan.

Unfortunately for locavores, the same fundamental economic realities that shaped the development of our globalized food supply chain are still very much with us.

...they would be compensated for legal costs if layoffs occur due to contract cancellations under sequestration — but only if the contractors follow the Labor guidance....

Note to Greenwood: Hey MRC, this report is nice and all, but you’re in Hawaii now....

Though 10 states have shirked their duties under national air quality standards for lead, environmental regulators have not cracked down, activists claim in federal court.

...the five-member commission, in absence of any objective criteria, is given authority to decide who is not a “qualified” Hawaiian....

...Robert Katz, whose law firm got a $25,000 contract to redact UH documents, sanitizing them of information his firm felt needed to be protected from public view....

... the state Department of Health violated the federal Clean Air Act in granting a permit to operate to Hu Honua ....

... the tax credits have other, indirect effects: Increased sales of electric vehicles allow automakers to sell more low-fuel-economy vehicles ....

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...the goal was not only to improve efficiency and patient safety, but also to reduce health care costs.  But, in reality, the move to electronic health records may be contributing to billions of dollars in higher costs....

The Washington Post said the film "plays squarely to folks who feel that Christians today are persecuted."

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...producer Dinesh D'Souza asks viewers whether we will pursue the American dream or Barack Obama's dream....

Agriculture provides employment for a very small number of people and the people who work in agriculture earn less than workers in any other sector....

About 47 percent of the designated habitat is located on land belonging to the state, 11 percent is on federal lands, 9 percent is on city and county lands, while 33 percent on of the land privately owned.

...islanders, many of whom have persistent and serious health conditions, filed a class action against the state, alleging that the cut in benefits violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution....

Governor Linda Lingle signed, SB 665 SDI HD2 CD1 which prohibits "a person representing a health maintenance organization under chapter 4320, a mutual benefit society issuing individual and group hospital or medical service plans under chapter 432, or any other health care organization" from membership on the Council....

 Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and his Chinese counterpart, Defense Minister Gen. Liang Guanglie, told reporters here today they see progress and room for growth in the two nations’ military relationship....

OHA chairman Clayton Hee and Van Dyke's wife, Sherry Broder, met in August (1996) with the Washington lobbying firm of Patton Boggs, L.L.P., to seek assistance in passing federal legislation to recognize OHA as the Native Hawaiian government as well as to "quietly" explore casino gambling....

Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, considered the most senior military political commissar, said Friday that military forces should be “prepared for any possible military combat,” state run Xinhua news agency reported....

Adult Obesity Rate in Hawaii Could Reach 51.8 Percent by 2030, According to New Study -- Related Health Care Costs Could Climb by 12.3 Percent....

...this updated CBO estimate represents the first time that the Medicare payment reductions are accounted for in the full 10‐year budget window....

Savings promised by the government and vendors of information technology are little more than hype....

Democratic FEC commissioners argued that UPW did in fact coerce “employees to participate in the union’s political activities” in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971....

$5.23 trillion in new debt vs. $1.68 trillion to the economy

Issuing additional currency ... does little to raise the real GDP of the US, but does reduce the value of the dollar, and in turn increase the cost of commodities (which) will pressure profitability of businesses, and increase the costs of consumers....

Fitch views maintenance of the system's strong financial margins as necessary at this rating level, given the size of the CIP and increasing debt burden. Any deterioration could result in rating pressure....

 ... federal civilian workforce, where staffing levels and salaries would be docked more than 8 percent .... 

Partisan Average includes 2004, 2006, and 2010 senate and 2006 and 2010 governor....

The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Thursday approved an amendment to a Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill to reflect the Hawaii state law creating the latest version of the Akaka Tribe 'roll'....

Stop lying to the public!  And please, feel free to forward this to your brother....

...in Afghanistan, Charles saw the best and worst in humanity. He saw the selfless sacrifice of our American soldiers but also utter human depravity in Taliban insurgents....

Hawaiian Airlines recently revised its expected 3Q2012 revenue per revenue passenger mile from up 1.5% to down 1.5% to a decrease of 1% to 4%.

Cooper and Daws’ thesis in Land and Power in Hawaii, namely that land means power, is being played out by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs ....

Republicans will win back the Senate in the fall picking up seats in Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana and Nebraska, the party's National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus predicts to Newmax.TV.

The problem was that she was a nearly 50 point underdog in the polls, and the conventional wisdom in D.C. was that she had no shot....

The 9th Circuit chastised the parent of a Honolulu hotel on Thursday for a decade of union-busting and defiance of federal labor laws.

"For Democrats, there is no God in 2012 — at least as far as the party’s platform is concerned. Nor is there a Jerusalem." -- ABC News Sept 4

This began a long march to transform the Democratic Party from the party of Truman and JFK to the party of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama....

For the third consecutive year, State Budget Solutions examined state debt and calculated the total amount of debt that each state faces....