National News

The U.S. Department of Education said Friday it would keep Hawaii on "high risk" status for failing to carry out education reforms it promised in return for a $75 million grant from the federal government....

...today's jobs report shows, the U.S. economy only added 115,000 jobs in April -- well below expectations and far, far below what is necessary to drive the economy back to full employment....

... supported by Delegate Gregorio “Kilili” Camacho Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands), the top Democrat on the Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs ....

their aggregate impact on the environmental is completely accounted for, they may be more harmful than their gasoline-only predecessors....

However, new research finds that wind farms actually warm up the surface of the land underneath them during the night....

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$25 billion in losses over the last five years, $20 billion in annual losses projected in the coming years, and 80 percent of its locations losing money....

In a statement to a local reporter, Hirono's spokesperson said that her campaign travel itinerary took precedence over her duty as a Congresswoman to vote ....

Government interference in the sugar market hurts consumers and food manufacturers by driving up the price of sugar, threatening competitive farmers and ranchers by jeopardizing export growth, and weakening the U.S. economy by diverting resources from more competitive uses...

In 2009, the shift to biotech crops reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 17.6 billion kilograms, equal to the removal of 7.8 million cars from the road for a year....

Unfortunately, under this Administration, the military is facing significant cuts that severely undermine America's ability to defend itself and stand ready to combat the threats that lie around the corner.

As the nation’s hospitals rush to adopt new health information technologies such as computerized medication prescribing systems, the potential for such advances to inadvertently result in harm to patients remains a major challenge ....

If it ever was a secret, it's not a secret any longer: The Obama Administration is on a vindictive campaign to injure America's oil and gas industry....

• Senate: 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012
• Senate: Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011
• House: Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act
• House: Interest Rate Reduction Act

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Robert Thomas, a Director with Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert in Honolulu, concentrates his practice on property and land use issues including eminent domain, regulatory takings, water rights, and voting rights....

"I will support Congressional investigation efforts into the TSA policies and guidelines and will advocate for practices that maintain security while not sacrificing the personal dignity of our residents and visitors." -- Gov. Lingle

...in some regions of the country, the well-to-wheel emissions level for all-electric vehicles may be higher than the best hybrid and all-gasoline competitors, says the New York Times....

Savage is the creator of the two-year-old It Gets Better Project which encourages teens struggling with same-sex attractions to embrace homosexuality....

To Leftists and black activists, it was an “uprising”; white liberals prefer to call it “civil unrest”; many others call them the L.A. Riots. But Koreans simply call it Sa-i-gu, or April 29....

You know a politician is looking for applause when he speaks in front of a crowd of college students and says he's there to help them pay back their student loans.... 

Abercrombie jumps the gun to claim credit for something that wasn't his doing ....

The top five states ranked by per capita in 2011 were: California, Hawaii, Florida, Nevada, and the District of Columbia ....

Private clinics and pharmacies have whispered among themselves for months about suspending services due to non-payment of millions....

...today Congress has the opportunity to do something about it....

April 29 marks the third year in which the U.S. Senate has not passed a budget -- a staggering dereliction of duty, particularly given the country's near-$16 trillion debt. But that's not the Senate's only blockbuster failure ....

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They died April 19, in southwestern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when the UH-60 Black Hawk they were in crashed.

The proposal, which is known as the "People's Rights Amendment," would amend the Constitution and hold that constitutional rights are only for "natural persons," meaning that corporations and legal entities would no longer enjoy the freedoms the Constitution guarantees....

• Senate: Cloture Motion; Paying a Fair Share Act of 2012
• House: Sportsmen's Heritage Act of 2012
• House: Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, Part II
• House: Small Business Tax Cut Act

The latest example came last week when Democratic leadership in the Senate again passed the buck on enacting a budget -- on April 29, it will have been three years since the Senate last passed a budget resolution....

To turn out their vote this fall, Hawaii Democrats are claiming that Hawaii will decide the balance of power in the US Senate. But in reality Hawaii's Senate election will determine whether the Aloha State will have a voice on the majority side of the aisle or will suffer decades of obscurity with low-seniority Senators of the minority party .... 

The Hawaii harassment statute, which Fisher had violated ... includes not just violent touching but “any slight touching of another person in a manner which is known to be offensive to that person.”

"If there is an issue under water, you literally have to pull the whole cable up, and that's very expensive."

the true cause of what burst America's housing bubble is still debated, two of the culprits -- housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are still going strong ....

...many of the protections put in place to help shield our nation’s heroes—specifically the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)— have been violated in a disturbing number of cases within the past several years....

The case arose from allegations of theft and fraud at a now-defunct nonprofit legal services corporation in American Samoa called the U’una’i Legal Services Corporation (ULSC). ULSC was the only nonprofit organization in American Samoa that was dedicated to providing free legal services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual abuse.

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"I'm glad to see this small business bill pass the House, with the support of 18 Democrats, and disappointed that Congresswoman Hanabusa voted against it," stated Former Congressman Charles K. Djou....

...government waste, fraud and abuse isn't limited to just one agency. Look no further than the Department of Energy (DOE) whose inspector general said yesterday that he's overseeing 250 to 300 open criminal investigations....

U.S. and British officials were deeply suspicious of this outfit, observing that the AASF – though backed by singer (ands Communist Party member) Harry Belafonte and actor Sidney Poitier – had links to a Kenyan nationalist leader….

High gas prices are not a president's friend, especially in an election year, so it's not surprising that President Barack Obama is trying his darndest to shift the blame for record-high fuel prices onto something other than his failed energy policies....

American households can expect to face an average tax increase of $3,800 ... 70 percent of Taxmageddon's impact will fall directly on low-income and middle-income families, leaving them with $346 billion less to spend.

Bishops from California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah began their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican with prayers for courage in defending religious freedom and in sharing faith in the risen Lord.

Tibet's spiritual leader says China's 'totalitarian' policies sparked Tibetan self-immolations....

Forty-eight years after President Johnson declared war on poverty, the number of poor people in the United States remains stubbornly high....

The U.S. Senate could vote today on the gimmicky distraction known as the Buffett Rule ....

I will advocate for meaningful, comprehensive tax reform that brings down the rate for all taxpayers while retaining the most important deductions such as the mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Through these reforms, we will actually collect more revenue with a much broader tax base ....

In the same week that Gov. Linda Lingle hosted Sen. Susan Collins, one of the nation’s most bipartisan leaders, Mazie Hirono has opted to campaign with Congressman Barney Frank - the poster child for the hyper-partisanship in Washington, D.C....