Hawaii Economy

After more than a year of talks about diversifying Hawaii's tourism-dependent economy, little progress has been made as island tourism thrives again. "We have learned nothing from our troubled year," said Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the…

As Hawaii looks for ways to rebuild an economy devastated by the global pandemic, military spending takes on a more prominent role as other income streams dry up. Tourism has collapsed, but defense spending in Hawaii has remained…

Hawaii's economy is recovering faster than previously expected, according to the latest forecast from University of Hawaii economists, as accumulated savings, pent-up wanderlust and widespread immunizations in Hawaii and the US…

As recently as early 2020, before COVID-19 wrecked the state's economy, Hawaii was grappling with a problem very different from today's economic challenges. The question arose as to what to do against the ever-increasing masses of…

If you were expecting dramatic results in the 2021 legislature, you may be a little disappointed because the session largely failed to address the critical economic issues facing our state, particularly diversifying our economy and…

Gov. David Ige wants Hawaii to develop a more resilient digital economy -- "a linchpin for Hawaii 2.0" that would expand broadband connectivity to rural communities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has choked tourism. COVID-19…

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR PRESS RELEASE: HAWAII VACCINATED INTER-COUNTY TRAVELERS CAN BYPASS PRE-TRAVEL TESTING, QUARANTINE STARTING MAY 11 Posted on April 20, 2021 in COVID-19, COVID-19 News Releases, Latest Department News, Newsroom,…

The Hawaiian economy needs a restart, and COVID-19 has provided the opportunity to do so. Almost everyone agrees that the state needs to diversify and be less dependent on tourism. There's also a growing sense that tourism is out of…

Gov. David Ige said Tuesday he expects public schools to fully reopen for in-person learning this fall. "That's definitely the goal, and I don't see any situation where we can't achieve that," Ige said during a multi-issue phone interview…

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) -- Hawaii has seen a significant increase in visitor numbers over the past two weekends. They're not pre-pandemic tourism numbers, but experts say they bode well."You can see when you go to Waikiki, you can…

Remote work has become the new reality for many in the US, but some work-from-home environments are more desirable than others. As the winter months creep in, Hawaii offers a new opportunity to escape the cold weather for telecommuters…

When Hawaii finally opens up to tourism, it will likely be years before the visitor base is anywhere near what it was before the COVID-19 crisis shut down the state's travel industry, experts in the business say. Meanwhile,…

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Japanese visitors will be able to take advantage of Hawaii's pre-trip testing program starting next month, the governor announced Tuesday.Officials said they don't expect an "avalanche" of Japanese…

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Experts say Hawaii's economy is doing better than expected.The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization's latest report, released Friday, estimates there will be thousands more visitors and tens…

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Following the Centers for Disease Control's announcement, there was a quick and resounding response from Hawaii's visitor industry, urging the governor to open travel. Hawaiian Airlines even says it will help…

Public discussions on important issues should always be based on facts. It is therefore disappointing that misleading information and innuendos about real estate mutual funds in Hawaii continue to be disseminated. A recent…

New York state has used electronic COVID-19 "vaccination cards" to open New York Rangers games to fans at Madison Square Garden. People in Israel can circumvent restrictions at businesses like gyms by showing a paper or electronic…

Like most local businesses, The Pizza Press has had to muddle, adapt and improvise to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pearl City facility drastically reduced hours for its 25 employees and relied on a "skeletal crew"…

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) -- After a months-long delay, a much-vaunted pre-travel testing program will begin on Oct. 15, which authorities say is a key step in restarting the tourism industry, allowing transpacific visitors to forego…

The state of Hawaii is billions of dollars in debt, so what is the state doing? It sends out $500 credit cards to unemployed people who spend them in restaurants, pretending to boost the economy. Sure, restaurants might see a small bump in…

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) -- Hawaii reopened to Japanese visitors on Friday as part of the state's pre-travel testing program.Out-of-country travelers can now waive a two-week quarantine if they provide evidence of a negative…

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- Kauai has extended its Resort Bubble program through Spring 2021. The Garden Isle currently requires visitors to participate in the state's Safe Travels program and take a pre-test 72 hours before their flight.…

As throngs of tourists have returned to Hawaii and hotel, restaurant and bar workers have been brought to the front row for COVID-19 vaccinations, Tina Yamaki, President of Retail Merchants of Hawaii, heard a common question from…

Visitors are increasingly returning to Hawaii as the light beckons at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, but the influx has been met with an unwelcome side effect of the pandemic -- a shortage of rental cars. If those arriving on the…

HONOLULU (AP) -- Line-Noue Memea Kruse lives on Oahu's famed North Shore, where admiring sea turtles, epic waves and sunsets that turn the sky orange and purple are must-sees for many Hawaii tourists.After the islands required a two-week…

Critical University of Hawaii Economic Research Institute (UHERO) research to help Hawaii received $1.2 million in private support on its path to economic recovery. AH president David Lassner said: “We…

HONOLULU (KHON2) - Fully vaccinated travelers are one step closer to being able to skip quarantine. Gov. David Ige on Friday, April 9, gave the green light to a vaccination exemption program that could begin as early as May. on…

In 2018, the US Supreme Court dealt a deathblow to public worker unions, some have said. However, recent events show that predictions of the unions' demise have been greatly exaggerated. Last month, after Governor David Ige…

Governor David Ige delivers his State of the State address Monday in the Governor's Ceremony Room. Ige said he is focused on the digital economy to boost Hawaii financially,…

OluKai is supporting The Chef Hui Group in providing meals for Hawaii residents during Covid-19 ... Pandemic. OluKai Hawaii's economy relies heavily on tourism. As a result, the state has been hit harder…

Hawaii plans to move forward with a plan to reopen to tourists on October 15, Gov. David Ige said Wednesday, ending days of uncertainty over the governor's plan amid a storm of objections from mayors of the neighboring island and…

Signs that tourists are returning to Hawaii are hard to miss: crowded beaches, queues at tourist eateries, increasing foot traffic along Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. The return is hardly an illusion: Data shows that there were…

Due in large part to the state's economy's reliance on tourism, an industry that's been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, Hawaii's unemployment…

New tax proposals are brought to the legislature every year, and in this session tax policy deserves closer scrutiny than ever before. In the last 12 months, COVID-19 has transformed work, school, home and our entire economy.…

Photo: Hale O Meleana Facebook page LEGISLATION REPORT What would Jesus do? In this summary report at the conclusion of the Hawaii State Legislature, there are not enough words to describe the impact Hawaii's faith community has had over…

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) -- In a bid to boost Hawaii's travel industry and ease some restrictions, the state is reportedly moving closer to a system that would allow vaccinated individuals to travel to and within Hawaii without…

California is poised to ditch its mask mandate for a vaccine-filled summer of lust — but when it comes to protection, Angelenos like Jahkara Smith won't rely solely on antibodies. "A lot of my friends have been getting IUDs lately," said…

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be out of date. Please check the history timestamp to see when it was last updated. Gov. David Ige signed legislation Monday that would make Hawaii the…

India nears 300,000 Covid deaths and battles deadly fungal infections Mucormycosis, usually rare, is suddenly a growing problem in India.…

NASHVILLE-Dr. Michael Cackovic has covered his share of pregnant women. When Republican lawmakers in the US began enacting abortion bans at what they call "the first detectable fetal heartbeat," he was angered.…

Washington, DC — This week, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) will introduce the Equal Access to Health Insurance Abortion Coverage Act (EACH) in the US House and Senate. Jamille Fields AllsbrookDirector of Women's…

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Biden administration on Wednesday began reversing a Trump-era ban on clinics referring women for abortions, a policy that pushed Planned Parenthood out of the federal family planning program and…

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Patients seeking an abortion pill do not need to visit a doctor's office or clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. health officials said Tuesday in the latest reversal in an ongoing lawsuit over…

PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a sweeping anti-abortion law Tuesday into law, outlawing the procedure if the woman only wants it because a fetus has a genetic abnormality like Down syndrome. Doctors who…

By AUDREY McAVOY, Associated PressHONOLULU (AP) -- Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed legislation Tuesday temporarily lowering the rate of unemployment insurance that employers must pay for their workers.The surge in the number of unemployed…

Kai Kahele had one ambition growing up in Hawaii and that was to fly airplanes. He achieved this goal at the age of 19 and was happy working as a military and commercial pilot when a family tragedy propelled him into the world of…

Gavin Jackson: Well, it was definitely a unique day in the Chamber.But first I want to start with how we got here, John. And that was now six weeks into our legislature. This bill was zoomed through the General…

A university of Hawaii at Mānoa virtual series for the reopening of Hawaii's Tourism Industry kicked off on September 29 with a discussion attended by five community leaders. The Goal of the Free Series…

Governments need to take a feminist approach to policy making, resource that agenda, and hold each other accountable. Tanzania, August 2018. (UN Women / Flickr) 25 years ago, the Beijing Declaration set an example for gender…

Washington, DC — In recent years, states have increasingly signed hundreds of abortion bans and restrictions that undermine abortion rights and exacerbate inequalities in access to abortion care. But a new…

Hawaii legislators are considering legislation to ban sunscreens that contain harmful chemicals that harm the environment. "Effective January 1, 2023, it will be unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale in the state any…

About 40% of all abortions in the US are now performed through drugs — rather than surgery — and this option has become even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abortion rights advocates say the pandemic has demonstrated the value…

Click here for updates on this story Hawaii, USA (KITV) - More than 3,000 island businesses remain closed due to the flagging economy. Hawaii's state economist believes it will be years before the negative financial…

Since the coronavirus hit the US, about 40% of US employees are now working from home. If you're one of them, you might dream of swapping your boring apartment walls and humble desk for tropical air and sandy beaches. A new program…

Natalie Gochnour, executive director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, was one of the speakers on the afternoon keynote at the 2021 Health Policy Conference in the state of Utah last week. The veteran economist…

TThe UK will start donating vaccines to countries in need within weeks, with at least 100 million surplus doses being distributed over the next year, Boris Johnson announced as G7 leaders gathered in Cornwall.The group of seven leading…

HONOLULU (AP) -- Hawaii's statewide moratorium on home evictions is expected to be extended by another two months in a coronavirus emergency declaration the state's governor plans to issue.Democratic Gov. David Ige also said the federal…

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) -- A federal judge Monday agreed to stay a rule that requires women to visit a hospital, clinic or doctor's office to receive an abortion pill during the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge…

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Biological fathers in Utah will be required by law to pay half of a woman's pregnancy expenses out of pocket, under a new law unique to the state that critics say isn't enough does to adequately…

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) - Requiring patients to go to a hospital, clinic or doctor's office to obtain an abortion pill unnecessarily risks their health during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of doctors alleges in a…

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Crowds of protesters across Poland vented their anger on Friday at a ruling by a top court that ruled abortion of fetuses with congenital defects unconstitutional, effectively curtailing one of…

Thanks to its geographic isolation, a stay-at-home order and a mandatory 14-day quarantine on all arrivals, Hawaii has had some of the lowest Covid-19 rates in the US.But the quarantine has essentially halted tourism in Hawaii, which…

WARSAW — Poland's top human rights official on Thursday condemned a top court ruling that amounts to a near-total ban on abortion, saying it severely restricts women's rights and "condemns them to torture".The ruling by the Constitutional…

Container ships stretch far out into the Pacific, waiting for days for their turn to unload goods in California ports. Automakers shut down production because they can't get enough of the computer chips that make a modern car run.…

Nine months after the coronavirus pandemic seriously hit the US, California is facing a new order and shutdown similar to the first, threatening to shut down businesses like bars and personal care services that may have only recently…

For America, this appears to be a year of reckoning on the abortion issue.In recent months, a number of states have enacted restrictive abortion laws with the express intention of having them challenged in the Supreme Court. With Neil…

NEW YORK (AP) - The number and rate of abortion in the United States has fallen to its lowest level since the procedure became legal nationwide in 1973, according to new figures released Wednesday. The report by the…

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland's prime minister on Monday called for talks with leaders of massive protests sparked by last month's tightening of the country's tough abortion law, which are continuing despite a resurgence…

The Supreme Court today ruled unconstitutional a Louisiana law that would give doctors performing abortions access to nearby…

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - People across Poland stayed away from work and crowds gathered in street protests for the seventh straight day on Wednesday to express anger at a Supreme Court ruling banning abortions for fetal…

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be out of date. Please check the history timestamp to see when it was last updated. LONDON (AP) - One of Britain's leading family planning organizations is…

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Just last month, when the US was still fully operational and the coronavirus crisis had not shut down the Supreme Court, progressive and conservative activists flooded the sidewalks and crowded the court's steps to chant for or against…

"COVID-19 is deepening fault lines in our economic system and perpetuating pre-existing gender inequalities," Dolan writes. "Now we are at a crossroads: we can go back to the status quo or recover to something more equitable." (World…

The Hawaii state legislature passed legislation Tuesday to enforce automatic voter registration. The bill, if signed by Gov. David Ige (D), will require all ID card and driver's license applications to include a voter registration…

Local manufacturing businesses and jobs have seen a surge in recent years that must continue for the livelihood of our state and connection to the global economy. Before the pandemic, manufacturing employed 11.6 million workers in the…

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett served as a "handmaid," the term then used for senior female leaders in the "People of Praise" religious community, like an ancient directory of the group's…

Tulsi Gabbard is a four-year congresswoman, a soldier who served in Iraq, a former US Senate assistant, and a native Pacific Islander. Her resume is a stack of firsts: she is the youngest person ever elected to the…

TheBus should hire a graphic artist to create posters for the interior of the bus to inform passengers that wearing a mask on your chin or over your mouth, but not over your nose, is unhelpful and could harm others. The bus has become…

Michigan's employment picture has remained bleak for more than six months since the novel coronavirus began to plague the economy. Last week, 18,040 people in the state filed new jobless claims, up slightly from the revised 17,402 the week…

According to Josh Neff, the loss of vulnerable rural healthcare providers could result in Colorado losing 137,000 community jobs, 99,000 healthcare jobs and 11.7 million patient contacts within a year. Centura's…

Joe Biden's proposed tax plan would result in California having the highest combined top state and local tax rates (SALT) in the US, according to a leading free market think tank.An analysis by the Tax Foundation found that the next highest…

And if you're tempted to brush them aside as unimportant, know this: Recent history tells us that electoral policies give us a sense of where the country's politics are headed. In 1994, California's Prop 187 foreshadowed a future in which…

MILILANI, Hawaii (AP) -- Val Okimoto, a mother of two, may be the Republican Party's best hope in Democratic-dominated Hawaii.The former special education teacher spends long days knocking on doors in the Honolulu suburb of Mililani and…

NEW YORK (AP) -- The coronavirus outbreak has fueled attempts in some states to ban abortion, but providers where the procedure is still available report increased demand, often from women concerned about economic stress and health…

Sydney Curle | 01/18/2021 | Hawaii Hawaiian economy experts discussed their ideas for a five-point plan to help the Hawaiian economy recover and how vaccine rollout is critical to…

HONOLULU (AP) -- Hawaii bankruptcies fell to their lowest level in May in 15 years as the economy scrapes out of a slowdown caused by a coronavirus pandemic.Data from the US bankruptcy court shows there were 100 cases in May, down 10.7%…

Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star Advertiser. Have fun with this free story! The state's top economists seem to agree: Billions of dollars in federal aid have bailed out Hawaii's economy, and while some…

HANAPEPE, Hawaii — Homeless people here on Hawaii's North Island received an unusual invitation last year: come and set up camp on a spectacular beach, with showers, toilets and electricity, and meals supplied by the local food bank.The…

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- Experts say the rapidly improving economy is bringing with it a new challenge: Can Hawaii's workforce keep up with pent-up demand?The head of the University of Hawaii's economic research organization said it was…