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Editorial

Court costs that trap the poor

Nearly a decade ago, a federal investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., police department drew widespread attention to how many municipalities rely on funding from hefty court fees and fines, often resulting from minor automobile-related violations. This encourages aggressive enforcement and leads to modern-day debtor prisons, in which poor people are incarcerated not for any underlying criminal conduct — only for lacking money to afford escalating penalties. The Obama Justice Department issued guidance aimed at limiting this pervasive and predatory practice. But the Trump ...

Blurred lines

Who benefits from a divided America? Viewed from the relative calm of Maui, the country seems to be picking sides in ways that leave little room for compromise. Was the schism there all the time or are other forces driving this split? We grew up believing that “Liberty and Justice for All” and the “American Dream,” were more than aspirational concepts. They were guidelines for our government and society. The mantras spouted over the airwaves these days lean more toward, “You’re either for or against me.” Who benefits from this abandonment of America’s ideals? It has ...

Debt ceiling bill impacts education

House Republicans narrowly passed a bill last week that would increase the federal government’s debt ceiling in exchange for $4.8 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years that show what the GOP cares about. It’s not our nation’s youth. Republicans propose slashing funding for critical education programming that would affect low-income students, students with disabilities and students who need mental health support. These plans would also shrink the Pell Grant program, which helps low-income students attend college. In addition, the bill would block President Biden’s student debt ...

EV tax credits a bit stingy

Expanded electric car subsidies were supposed to be a centerpiece of President Biden’s signature climate law, accelerating emissions reductions by allowing buyers to claim generous tax credits and save thousands of dollars on a plug-in vehicle. But in reality they’re looking pretty stingy. The Biden administration this week announced vehicle models eligible for federal tax credits, and only 11 of more than 90 electric vehicles on the market today qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit. Of those, two are not fully electric, but plug-in hybrids with a battery-only range of 21 to 32 ...

It was a miracle

Thirty-five years ago this week, Maui witnessed a miracle. Missing an 18-foot section of its fuselage and open to the sky like a convertible with its top lowered, Aloha Airlines Flt. 243 somehow touched down safely at Kahului Airport on April 28, 1988. The aged Boeing 737 named Queen Lili‘uokalani defied the odds many times that day. She could have easily snapped in half after suffering catastrophic failure midway through the flight from Hilo to Honolulu. Only floor beams, many of them broken, held the jet’s two ends together. Its left engine failed during the 13-minute emergency ...

Biden’s age and reelection

Only 47 percent of Democrats want to see Joe Biden on the ballot in 2024, according to the latest Associated Press poll. That’s not because they think he’s done a bad job in office. Democrats tend to like President Biden and continue to give him good marks on handling the economy and foreign policy. But many Democrats, particularly younger ones, are worried that he will simply be too old to be effective in a second term, which would end when he is 86. “My problem with him running in 2024 is that he’s just so old,” one Democrat told pollsters. That may be deeply unfair — ...