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COVID coda playing out

In quite the change of tune this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it is time for fully vaccinated folks to take off their masks and mingle. While this is a welcome benchmark that says vaccines are working, the sudden easing of guidelines reflects the scattershot approach to the pandemic the federal government has taken from the start. That Hawaii Gov. David Ige and Maui Mayor Michael Victorino are sticking to the sheet music as the CDC goes off on a COVID-19 jazz riff is no surprise. Though COVID-19 is an airborne disease that primarily spreads indoors ...

Thank you, Colt Brennan

On Tuesday morning, reading the news that Colt Brennan had passed away, the immediate reaction was “Oh no, please don’t be true.” Sadly it was. The people of Hawaii have amazing memories of Colt and the University of Hawaii football team that we will cherish for a lifetime. The 2007 season will probably never even come close to being duplicated. It started in January 2007. For weeks we waited for Colt to announce if he would return for his senior season. During countless office debates we just knew he would turn pro. Colt had just led the Warriors to a Hawaii Bowl win over ...

Opening lane for nuclear talks

President Joe Biden’s call for “stern deterrence” in response to North Korea’s nuclear program and Pyongyang’s angry reaction, accusing the Biden administration of being “hostile”, suggest that both countries are headed towards a diplomatic showdown. In his first congressional address last week, Mr. Biden said the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea posed a “serious threat to America’s security and world security” and promised to respond through “diplomacy and stern deterrence.” His administration has also completed a review of the U.S.’s North Korea ...

Sad to see senator go

It was with sorrow that we read that Hawaii State Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English was retiring due to lingering effects of COVID-19. The 55-year-old lifelong Hana resident spent 25 years in public office before stepping away from his post on May 1. Hopefuls are lining up to fill the vacancy for the District 7 seat that represents East and Upcountry Maui, Molokai and Lanai. Democratic Party officers in the district will narrow the nominees to a list of three for Gov. David Ige to choose from. Ige has 60 days to name a successor. Whoever gets the nod will have some very big ...

Get moving on gun control

For more years than it is comfortable to count, the National Rifle Association and its abettors in Washington have forestalled even the most sensible efforts to confront our national scourge of gun violence. But at the moment, the NRA is on the ropes as an institution. Its problems include a move by the New York state attorney general to dissolve the association over fraud allegations; an internal rebellion by longtime major donors; a rancorous lawsuit with its former public relations agency (amid more allegations of fraud); and a dubious bankruptcy filing in Texas. All of which has ...

Biden’s pick for ICE is right

Compassion isn’t the first word on the tip of anyone’s tongue when discussing U.S. immigration policy. But in tapping Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to head U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, President Biden has wisely selected a veteran lawman who knows when to be tough and when to be humane. After years of controversy under President Trump, ICE needs serious, pragmatic reform from a solutions-minded leader. And that’s Gonzalez’s record as sheriff here in Harris County, one of the largest, most diverse counties in America where for decades immigration has been ...