By an 18-6 vote, the full Senate defeated a motion to pull the bill from the Senate Judiciary and Government Affairs Committee, where it had stalled after members deadlocked 3-3 on advancing the bill.

The next step will be to get the Chair of the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee, Brian Taniguchi, to hear the bill.  This will be the toughest committee to get Karen’s Law through as there is opposition to the bill with its committee members.

More than 1,000 high school students from Mexico, Philippines and four states, including Hawai‘i, will compete in the tournament that challenges teams of young people to solve a common engineering problem, using a standard kit of parts that includes motors, batteries and a control system – but no instructions.

Of the 34 teams in the tournament, 24 represent the state. The winning teams will advance to the FIRST Championships – called the “Super Bowl of Smarts” in Atlanta, Georgia, April 15-18. Honoka‘a High School was one of six teams to represent Hawai‘i last year in Atlanta.

But now, when collaboration and continued support is most needed to get us over the hump, some politicians have taken it upon themselves to propagate misinformation and distort a very clear record of accomplishment.

For those politicians and cynics, I have a message: Hawai‘i will be a world leader in clean energy, with or without you....

Polling research finds that a substantial minority of Palestinians, about 20 percent, is ready to live side-by-side with a sovereign Jewish state. Although this minority has never been in charge and its voice has always been buried under rejectionist bluster, Hillel Cohen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has uncovered its surprisingly crucial role in history.

Hawaii County Republicans, meeting Saturday at Waimea have proposed changes to the way that State Republicans select their candidates.  The proposals are contained in two resolutions adopted unanimously by the 50 delegates present after extensive discussion.  One calls for a shift to a Presidential Caucus System for Hawaii Republicans who now select their Presidential delegates at the State Party convention.  The other resolution urges the State Convention vote to shift Republicans from an Open Primary system to a Modified-Closed Primary System and then file a federal suit against the State to overturn provisions of the Hawaii State Constitution which require the open primary system.

This background file includes news articles, and letters to the editor by leading Democrats, regarding a possible shift to a closed primary system.  Also included US Supreme Court rulings on two relevant cases.

Omidyar worries that a pandemic could cut Hawai'i's lifelines and leave it with an 11-day supply of food (or is that 12?).  To that end, he has made pivotal donations to local nonprofits dedicated to building sustainable local food supplies.  At the same time, he has stockpiled several months of food for his personal use at storage facilities on O'ahu....

34 teams representing 24 Hawai‘i high schools from O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i and the Big Island, eight teams from the mainland (California, Louisiana and Wisconsin) and two international teams from Mexico and the Philippines who will converge on the UH Mānoa campus to compete in what is called the “varsity sport of the mind.” The winning teams will advance to the FIRST Championships – called the “Super Bowl of Smarts” – in Atlanta, Georgia, April 15 -18.

In a stunning development, Sen. Christopher Dodd said that Obama administration officials asked him to add language to last month's federal stimulus bill to make sure the controversial AIG bonuses remained in place. 

Although the Senate Judiciary Committee ended with a tie vote (3-3), there is still ongoing discussions happening at the capitol in regards to a potential pull of the bill from committee for a vote on the Senate floor.

If the Supreme Court refuses to reconsider its SuperFerry decision, Councilmember Djou’s legal affairs committee will examine voiding all state laws that apply to just the City and County of Honolulu. 

What of last year's legislative attempts to smooth the way for Aloha Airlines as it lurched into insolvency? Under the court's equal protection analysis propounded in the Superferry decision, any such legislation could well be contrary to the court's new reading of constitutional restraints on the legislature's power to act.

The decision today by Hawaiian Telcom to ask the bankruptcy court to approve $6 million in bonuses for its employees is unconscionable, and we will oppose it in court.

Karen’s Law is now in the Senate, referred to Chair of Human Services, Suzanne Chun Oakland and Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Brian Taniguchi. It will be hard to get a hearing for Karen’s Law hearings without ample public support.

We are going to have to go out and find other employment for Alakai, for now.

Environmental and community-action groups such as the Sierra Club and Maui Tomorrow now find themselves in the crosshairs of many residents frustrated by recent developments with the Hawaii Superferry.

ACORN, which claims to be a non-partisan grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people, came under fire in 2007 when Washington State filed felony charges against several paid ACORN employees and supervisors for more than 1,700 fraudulent voter registrations. In March 2008, an ACORN worker in Pennsylvania was sentenced for making 29 phony voter registration forms. The group's activities were frequently questioned in the 2008 presidential election.

The estimated impact on disposable household income due to rising energy prices would then reach anywhere between $4,022 and $6,752. And because an energy tax is regressive, it will fall heaviest on poor and lower middle class folks who spend more of their income on energy.

Obama:  "Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket... whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."

Statehood was achieved through the dedication and perseverance of these great leaders, along with the people of Hawai‘i – who in 1959 voted 17 to one in support of statehood.

They voted for basic rights and privileges of American citizenship. 

They voted to have a voice in Washington.

And, as Governor Ariyoshi said so well in his 50 Voices of Statehood piece, they voted for “control over our own destiny.”