Free Republic

How much is a tree worth to the environment? It might seem like an abstract, even whimsical question. But it’s one that Hawaii policymakers soon will try answer, thanks to two bills passed by the Legislature during the session that ended on Thursday. House Bills 2182 and 1986 seek to make Hawaii a “carbon neutral” state by 2045. That means Hawaii would offset more carbon dioxide than it produces, through activities like planting trees, which can essentially store carbon, the greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. In a sense, by mid-century, Hawaii aims to be fossil fuel-free and carbon neutral....

Connecticut’s legislature has passed a bill that would give the state’s Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationally. The state Senate voted 21-14 on Saturday to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which includes 10 states and the District of Columbia. The state House passed the measure last week, 77 to 73. The compact requires its members to cast their Electoral College ballots for the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. The agreement goes into effect once states representing at least 270 electoral votes — the number needed for a candidate...

Lava from the Kilauea volcano has been creeping across Hawaii’s Big Island for days now, after the Los Angeles Times reports that volcanic instability began last Monday. On its slow but destructive path, the lava has consumed more than 26 homes, affected 1,800 residents and swallowed an abandoned Ford Mustang. It’s almost surreal to watch the lava rattle a metal fence open and creep all the way across an empty road, slowly approaching the doomed objects ahead of it. The speed makes it seem like there’s all the time in the world for the Mustang to get away, but nobody...

Big one

A pretty large earthquake has just accompanied the recent volcanic emissions from the Big Island's most interesting dynamic natural display. Stay tuned and alert for more developments.

High-tax states face a choice: reduce taxes or lose taxpayers. Stephen Moore and Art Laffer forecast in the Wall Street Journal the loss of 800,000 California and New York residents over the next three years. The exodus, the economics experts say, comes because of the tax bill, which limits the state and local tax (SALT) deduction to $10,000, passed in December. Previously, the feds forced no monetary limit on filers. California taxes individuals earning $1 million or more at a rate of 13.3 percent. New York levies an 8.8 percent rate upon individuals making a similar amount of money annually....

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted Thursday, releasing lava into a residential neighborhood and prompting mandatory evacuation orders for nearby homes. Hawaii County said steam and lava poured out of a crack in Leilani Estates, which is near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island. Footage shown on local television showed lava spurting into the sky from a crack in a road. County, state and federal officials had been warning residents all week that they should be prepared to evacuate, as an eruption would give little warning. The county has ordered evacuations for all of Leilani Estates, which according to the...

Hawaii is set to become the first state to ban the sale of sunscreens containing chemicals believed to be harmful to the environment. State lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that prohibits the sale and distribution of over-the-counter sunscreens containing oxybenzone or octinoxate, two chemicals that have been found to "cause genetic damage to coral and other marine organisms." "These chemicals have also been shown to degrade corals' resiliency and ability to adjust to climate change factors and inhibit recruitment of new corals," the bill reads. The contamination is "constantly refreshed and renewed everyday" by swimmers and beachgoers, according to the...

HONOLULU — Dozens of earthquakes were rattling Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano on Wednesday as underground magma moved into a new area east of the Puu Oo vent. Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the increased activity is associated with the collapse of the crater floor at Puu Oo, which is an open vent below Kilauea's summit crater and lava lake. There were about 50 small quakes detected in the area on Wednesday morning alone. Scientists say the activity could trigger a new eruption and people are being told to stay away. USGS is sending two ground crews...

Residents and businesses are still cleaning up from flooding that deluged parts of Kauai, but community leaders are urging tourists to keep coming so residents don’t suffer an economic calamity on top of record-breaking rains that smothered a normally green landscape in reddish-brown water. Some travelers are canceling their reservations after getting the wrong impression the mid-April flooding damaged the entire Hawaiian island. Although landslides blocked roads and floods tore apart homes and uprooted trees, most of the island is unscathed. Nearly 50 inches of rain fell in one 24-hour period. Some tourists are avoiding the island’s north shore where...

A slew of candidates are running in the 2018 elections as in-the-open socialists, in the latest sign that the Bernie Sanders wing is looking to expand its political footprint -- as mainstream Democrats, in turn, embrace their big-government policies. Those running under the socialist banner this year include nearly two-dozen candidates, for offices at all levels. One, Texas attorney Franklin Bynum, this week proclaimed he's running on a “far-left” agenda as he touted his Democratic Socialists of America “comrades.” Texas, which has voted for a Republican in the past 10 presidential races, has emerged as an unlikely hotbed for socialist...

POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA — “Take it to outer space,” exclaimed 7-year-old Reggie Shropshire as an unmanned aerial vehicle took to the sky Friday morning in the Saddle between Mauna Loa and Maunakea. Using the UAV, Jason Dzurisin, an ecological data specialist with Colorado State University, showing dozens of excited keiki attending Pohakuloa Training Area’s annual Earth Day event how the U.S. Army’s Natural and Cultural Resource Program uses technology to map the area. (snip) The annual free event is PTA’s “premiere community engagement event,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Marquez, the training area’s commanding officer. All students from all schools, as...

Full title: Researchers report that chemical weapons dumped at sea are corroding but have not yet released toxic contents KyleJuly 28, 2010DMZ Hawaii http://www.dmzhawaii.org/dmz-legacy-site-two/?p=7485  University of Hawai'i researchers have concluded a three year research project to determine whether chemical munitions dumped at sea off O'ahu pose a threat to the health of humans or the environment. Documents disclosed by the Army in 2007 reported that approximately 16,000 munitions containing 2,558 tons of chemical agents were dumped at three deep-water sites off Oahu.   The chemical agent included lewisite, mustard, cyanogen chloride and cyanide. According to the Honolulu Star Advertiser article: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/99399389.html...

“Democrats praise Trump nominee for 9th Circuit,” The Washington Times reported Wednesday. “Republicans raise critical questions on his gun rights, Citizens United views.” “Republicans brought the tough questions for Mark Jeremy Bennett over his defense of gun control laws and free speech rights,” the report elaborates. “Mr. Bennett, a former Hawaii attorney general now nominated to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had backed a limited interpretation of Second Amendment rights that was overturned by the Supreme Court.” Just being a highly-placed Hawaiian political nominee ought to raise red flags. The state is a “leader” in citizen disarmament. If...

<p>WALNUT RIDGE, Ark. – An Arkansas sailor who died during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor will be honored after his remains are brought home this summer.</p> <p>Glenn Tipton was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma, a battleship that capsized in the attack by Japanese aircraft.</p>

A state Senate committee on Tuesday called for a statue of former President Barack Obama to be erected in the state where he was born. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously for a resolution requesting that the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts commission the statue. Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961 and graduated from Punahou School on Oahu. The resolution will be referred to the state Senate’s Ways and Means committee for consideration. The resolution called for an art advisory committee to be formed that would select a location for the statue, review design proposals and...

A state Senate committee in Hawaii on Tuesday called for a statue of former President Barack Obama to be erected in the state where he was born. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously for a resolution requesting that the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts commission the statue. The resolution called for an art advisory committee to be formed that would select a location for the statue, review design proposals and select an artist. It did not specify how the statue would be funded.

The Department of Justice has alleged that nine hackers with ties to the Iranian government engaged in a massive cybertheft scheme to steal scientific data and intellectual property from hundreds of U.S. and foreign universities, private companies and government agencies.

A former congressman from Hawaii said Monday he’s leaving the Republican Party because of President Donald Trump and the failure of fellow party members to stand up to him. Charles Djou, who represented Honolulu in the U.S. House from 2010 to 2011, wrote in an opinion piece published in Civil Beat on Monday he’s disturbed that the Republican Party under Trump has become hostile to immigration.

Former U.S. Rep. Charles Djou says he is leaving the Republican Party. Djou, in a column written for the online news site Civil Beat today, cited the party’s leadership under President Donald Trump as the main reason that led to his decision. Djou wrote,“Today after much consideration, I abandon my party because I am unwilling to abandon my principles. I can no longer stand with a Republican Party that is led by a man I firmly believe is taking the party of Lincoln in a direction I fundamentally disagree with, and a party that is unwilling to stand up to...