On November 28, 2011, CAlifornians for Renewable Energy (CARE) and Michael Boyd filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge more than two dozen federal loan guarantees illegally issued by the U.S. Department of Energy....

Coming under fire in the City & County of Honolulu is the plethora of real property tax exemptions from those granted to charitable organizations to those offered to homeowners who promise to preserve their historical residences to credit unions and to churches....

... Hawaii Republican Party is organizing March 13 Presidential voting sites for all 51 State House Districts as well as Molokai, Lanai, Niihau, and Hana ....

“Lee is genuinely interested in the well being of our community,” says Carol Massey, “he keeps informed of the issues facing us, and will work hard for District 6....

Cain said he would endorse a Republican candidate soon, and announced his own “plan B” for public service, a policy web site called “The Cain Solutions.”

“Most worrisome has been the steady decline in visitors from the US mainland.”

Representative George Fontaine (R-Kihei) speaks with Kim Gennaula of Aloha United Way and Major Edward Hill of the Salvation Army about opportunities for Volunteering and Giving during the Holiday Season....

 The Star-Advertiser calls this 'progress'....

NOAA's extensive and overly aggressive rulemaking effort will effectively kill ocean-based clean energy initiatives in Hawaii....

...no public events are scheduled during the trip.... (But will AG Holder survive to the New Year?)

...Democratic establishment is coalescing around Rep. Mazie Hirono in her primary against ex-Rep. Ed Case....

...today's jobs report from the Department of Labor. The report suggests the month of November saw 120,000 net new jobs created and the unemployment rate drop to 8.6 percent--driven in part by the 315,000 people who have given up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed....

MISSION MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM
6:00-8:30 P.M.
DECEMBER 6, 2011

The $1.28 billion in bonds included $800 million in new debt.... The Bond transaction now allows the State to recapitalize the Hurricane Relief and Rainy Day Funds ....

“Governor Neil Abercrombie’s willingness to implement aggressive solutions, totaling $1.32 billion, to balance the fiscal 2011-2013 biennial budget .... "

It is unfortunate that Governor Abercrombie finds it more expedient to cast blame for his failures, missteps and inability to effectively manage the state's fiscal situation in his first year in office than accept responsibility or accountability for his own failings....

Full analysis from Shared Hope International....

Marugame claims a TSA investigator (TSI) "sexually assaulted her" on Aug. 26, 2009....

We calculated suicide rates and unemployment rates. Then we tapped SimplyMap for the percentage of households that use antidepressants....

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...the mandate requires religious employers to provide coverage for birth control methods that could result in abortion....

OHA will be holding a series of public meetings to hear from the public about Abercrombie’s proposed Kakaako land deal ....

The project, called SolarStrong, aims to install these projects over five years. SolarCity has already begun installations at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii....

Honolulu (29) and San Francisco (30) are the highest-ranking US cities....  

Hawaii ranks 3rd in the nation in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, spending $10.7 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 70 percent of the $15.2 million recommended by CDC ....

Instead of 15% of peak, the limit is now 50% of noontime usage....

Total expenditures by visitors who came to Hawaii in the first 10 months of 2011 grew 14.8 percent, compared to the same period in 2010, to $10.3 billion....

Republicans have landed prominent women candidates too, with former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and former New Mexico Rep. Heather Wilson best positioned for victory next year....

This judgment is repeated so often and so forcefully that you will almost never see it questioned. And yet it may not be true....

In Hermann Hesse’s final novel, The Glass Bead Game, the reader encounters a fanciful society in which the best and brightest citizens are groomed to become masters of an exceedingly complex game....

American was forced into bankruptcy when the airline pilots union refused to budge on its demands for massive signing bonuses and wage increases.

ROME: Finmeccanica: signed a contract worth USD 1,334 million for Honolulu driverless metro.

Hawaiian Telcom announced today that, through the efforts of a federal mediator working with bargaining representatives of both the Company and the Union, the Company made an updated collective bargaining agreement offer to the Union....

The State Commission on Water Resource Management is seeking nominations for two positions on the Commission....

"... the seals are doing better in the main islands without a habitat designation .... "

Treasury and municipal bonds rallied Thursday as fears of European contagion spread ... Yields on the Hawaii bond deal were lowered as much as nine basis points, compared with levels offered earlier in the morning....

...perhaps this will mark the rise of the paleolibs?

The government says it would cost automakers $8.5 billion per year to comply, which means a spike in sticker prices of at least $2,000 to $2,800, according to official projections....

"The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1 percent of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future."

There has been an ongoing debate about the depth of anti-Semitism within the OWS movement....

...states are already responding to Obamacare’s “maintenance of effort” clause and the anticipated 2014 expansion by cutting services....

• UH Richardson Law School- Classroom 1
• Wednesday, November 30, 2011 11:45am-1:15pm
• Free Lunch & Speaker, Hon. Peter N. Kirsanow

At its December 9, 2011 conference, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to review Corboy v. Louie....

Below are the dates that the Postal Service suggests Hawaii residents mail their letters, cards and packages to give them the best chances of reaching their destinations by Christmas.... 

The problem is not the size or scope of U.S. support, the problems lay within the ways that money is structured, allocated and managed....

Matayoshi said the county has a legal obligation to deny building permits to applicants who haven't paid impact fees the Board of Education ....

... the Obama administration is approving just 35 percent of the oil drilling plans for the Gulf of Mexico so far this year ....

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WHEN: Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 11:30am until 1:00pm

WHERE: Dave & Buster's, 1030 Auahi St, Honolulu

WHEN: Friday December 2, 2011, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm HST

WHERE: Kona Vistas Community Pavilion (just mauka of Kuakini Chevron)