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Editorial

One of the good guys

The announcement that Los Angeles Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki plans to retire at the end of this year’s Major League Baseball season has us casting back to Game Two of the 2019 World Series. The game was tied 2-2 in the seventh inning and locked in a pitchers’ duel when Wailuku-born Suzuki stepped to the plate for the Washington Nationals. Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander had been mowing down Nationals batters for five-straight scoreless innings, but Suzuki was about to put a dramatic end to his dominance. Verlander delivered a high pitch and Suzuki smacked it over the left ...

Is pandemic really over?

President Biden finally dared to say it on Sunday, declaring in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the “pandemic is over.” Various public-health eminences are saying he’s wrong, but his comments recognize the reality of the disease at this stage and the public mood. The trouble is that his Administration still hasn’t lifted its official finding of a COVID public-health emergency. Eric Topol, the Scripps Research Translational Institute director who is one of America’s leading COVID scolds, tweeted “Wish this was true. What’s over is @POTUS’s and our ...

Future of the fair

If not for three-straight cancellations due to the pandemic, this island would likely be in the midst of preparations for the landmark 100th Maui Fair. Tents and food booths would be up by now at War Memorial Complex in Wailuku. E.K. Fernandez workers would be setting up rides and games in the Joy Zone. Club, church and nonprofit members would be busy nailing down four-day volunteer schedules for their booths. Some would already be shopping and cooking to prepare for their organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Ranchers, farmers, orchid growers, photographers, student artists ...

Marriage Act common sense

The American public overwhelmingly supports marriage equality. More than 70 percent believe same-sex marriage should be legal, according to Gallup, and a bipartisan bill codifying these protections easily passed the House, with support from 47 Republicans. So it’s disappointing the Respect for Marriage Act is facing inexplicable pushback in the Senate. We urge conscientious Republican senators to work across the aisle to pass a measure that is popular, common-sense and, above all, moral. In July, after nearly one-quarter of the House GOP caucus joined with Democrats to pass the act, ...

Clean water a luxury for some

Millions of people in this world struggle to access adequate food, shelter and potable water. These are necessities that many of us living in the developed world are fortunate enough to take for granted — until systems fail and they are suddenly unavailable, as millions of Texans experienced in 2021 during Winter Storm Uri when the power went out and the pipes broke. We’ve also witnessed, with horror, how Flint, Mich., in 2014 became synonymous with a contaminated water system caused by neglect and mismanagement, not only because of the turbid water flowing from faucets but also ...

Unanswered questions

After reviewing investigations of three employee complaints that alleged a hostile work environment, the nine-member Maui Police Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to not initiate disciplinary proceedings against Police Chief John Pelletier. For the good of Maui County, we wish that was that. Put the drama swirling around the chief and commission to bed and move forward to make MPD the best force in the land. The hearing was a chance to answer all the questions, clear the air and start anew. Instead, there are still five more complaints pending against the chief and members of ...