Charter schools top 5% of public school enrollment

As the new school year opens, enrollment in charter schools tops 5% of the student body population, with more than 10,000 students. It's an important milestone for a movement that has seen its share of growing pains over the last 18 years.

Gas Company changes its name – and focus

Kakaako bio lab closed

UH officials never mentioned the Kakaako lab was closed for repairs at a contentious public informational meeting about the new proposed lab earlier this month. The UH closed its bio-safety lab at the medical school in Kakaako for "planned maintenance" when the lab's certification expired on June 17 to install new sprinklers and make other improvements. It's a level three lab, capable of dealing with diseases like dengue fever and tuberculosis.

Honolulu ranks 174th in US foreclosures

Here's a good sign: Honolulu ranks low on foreclosures.

Honolulu was ranked No. 174 on the list of 212 metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, which was topped by the California metro areas Stockton, Modesto, Riverside-San Berardino-Ontario, Vallejo-Fairfield and Merced.

Green-washing war, sinking ships, and drones from submarines

While a battalion of U.S. Marines from Hawaii were sent recently to Okinawa and a smaller detachment sent to Australia, those remaining in Hawaii are in hot water. Increasing administration emphasis on Asia and the Pacific has emboldened the Marines to attempt to increase the number of MV-22-tilt-rotor Osprey, Cobra and Huey attack-utility helicopter training helicopter flights in the Hawaiian Islands

Stevie Wonder concert promoter bankrupt, in foreclosure

Hawaii sues online travel firms $500 mil. in back taxes

In recent filings in state Tax Court, the state Attorney General's office said the online firms collected tens of millions of dollars in state hotel room and general excise taxes for more than a decade. But none of that money ever went into Hawaii's tax coffers, the state said.

At the top of the list: $302 million from Expedia, $72 million from Travelocity, and $48 million from Orbitz.

How our corrections systems prevents prisoners from marrying

As it happens, Hawaii's Department of Public Safety (DPS), which oversees its prison population, has been refusing to allow prisoners to marry for years, seemingly on the basis that they just don't believe prison marriage is a good idea or has much chance of working out.

Cox Media to sell six Hawaii radio stations

Cox, a national media group with interests in television, radio, newspapers, and the Web, is selling six Hawaii stations – Krater 96, KCCN FM 100, Hawaiian 105 KINE, Power 104.3, AM 940, and 650 AM.