Honolulu will likely join most other U.S. cities with only one daily newspaper after the owners of the smaller Honolulu Star-Bulletin agreed to buy its longtime rival The Honolulu Advertiser.
The agreement for Oahu Publications Inc., which owns the Star-Bulletin and MidWeek, to acquire the Advertiser was announced yesterday in simultaneous meetings in both newsrooms.
"We're going to go from two papers to one, most likely," Star-Bulletin majority owner David Black said.
The sale must still be approved by the Department of Justice, which has asked Oahu Publications owner David Black to put the Star-Bulletin up for sale to see whether a buyer will come forward.
It is the same condition required of Advertiser owner Gannett Co. nine years ago when Gannett attempted to end the joint operating agreement to publish both papers and tried to shut down the Star-Bulletin.
At that time Black stepped forward to buy the Star-Bulletin for $10,000 and, in a separate deal, also purchased MidWeek and its presses.
Both daily papers have struggled since then with the decline in newspaper advertising and the recent recession.
Black said he believes it is unlikely that a buyer will purchase the Star-Bulletin and agree to keep publishing the paper.
"It's just too expensive," Black said. "We are a long way from breaking even."
If a qualified buyer is not found, then the papers will be merged after the sale is completed in the second quarter of 2010.
"It's a sad day when we can't keep two good papers running in a city of this size," Black said.
***
Q&A with David Black
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
government taking over health care anyway
For all the hue and cry over a government takeover of health care, it's happening anyway.
Federal and state programs will pay slightly more than half the tab for health care purchased in the United States by 2012, says a report by Medicare number crunchers released Thursday.
That's even if President Barack Obama's health care overhaul wastes away in congressional limbo. Long in coming, the shift to a health care sector dominated by government is being speeded up by the deep economic recession and the aging of the Baby Boomers, millions of whom will soon start signing up for Medicare.
Federal and state programs will pay slightly more than half the tab for health care purchased in the United States by 2012, says a report by Medicare number crunchers released Thursday.
That's even if President Barack Obama's health care overhaul wastes away in congressional limbo. Long in coming, the shift to a health care sector dominated by government is being speeded up by the deep economic recession and the aging of the Baby Boomers, millions of whom will soon start signing up for Medicare.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Hungry Lion closes
Longtime and famed local diner the Hungry Lion Coffee Shop is being booted out of its den.
Yesterday brought an abrupt end to about 27 years in business in the Nuuanu area.
About 20 employees were given a one-day notice. Customers had even less. Some of the waitresses called many of the regulars to come in and squeeze in one more meal, whether it was the diner's oxtail saimin or garden burger.
The closing comes after months of legal wrangling between property owner Walgreen Co., a national chain that bought the property in May 2008, and Hungry Lion's Kazuyuki Goto, the restaurant's owner since 2007.
The company has publicly stated its desire to raze the property and construct a new building for a Walgreens store and possibility other retail units.
The company has not presented a time line for the project.
The Hungry Lion is the second high-profile business to close at the plaza. In October Huckleberry Farms, a natural health food store that had been in business for 24 years, closed its doors after it agreed to terminate its lease with Walgreen.
The building started out as Chun Hoon Pharmacy in 1949, a combined drive-in, candy and nut shop and pet supplies store built around a large banyan tree. The Hungry Lion opened in 1983 and had been a staple of the Nuuanu area ever since.
Yesterday brought an abrupt end to about 27 years in business in the Nuuanu area.
About 20 employees were given a one-day notice. Customers had even less. Some of the waitresses called many of the regulars to come in and squeeze in one more meal, whether it was the diner's oxtail saimin or garden burger.
The closing comes after months of legal wrangling between property owner Walgreen Co., a national chain that bought the property in May 2008, and Hungry Lion's Kazuyuki Goto, the restaurant's owner since 2007.
The company has publicly stated its desire to raze the property and construct a new building for a Walgreens store and possibility other retail units.
The company has not presented a time line for the project.
The Hungry Lion is the second high-profile business to close at the plaza. In October Huckleberry Farms, a natural health food store that had been in business for 24 years, closed its doors after it agreed to terminate its lease with Walgreen.
The building started out as Chun Hoon Pharmacy in 1949, a combined drive-in, candy and nut shop and pet supplies store built around a large banyan tree. The Hungry Lion opened in 1983 and had been a staple of the Nuuanu area ever since.
HSTA proposes tax increase
The Hawaii State Teachers Association is proposing to increase taxes on upper-income residents to eliminate Furlough Fridays and provide support for public education.
The teachers union planned to introduce legislation yesterday to create two new higher tax brackets for Hawaii residents making more than $200,000 a year. Combined with other proposals that would increase capital gains and corporate taxes, the state would see more than $500 million in additional revenue each year, the HSTA estimates.
"There's no good solution to furloughs, either this year or next year, without additional funding for the Department of Education. And the only way to do that is to increase revenues," said Jim Williams, executive director of the HSTA, which represents about 13,000 public school teachers and librarians.
***
The teachers now propose that the rates be increased to 10.55 percent for those making $200,000 to $400,0000, and 12.85 percent for those earning more than that. Legislators should reject the proposal for the same reasons Lingle gave for vetoing last year's tax increases. The reasons are even more valid today.
"Although there is the misconception that only wealthy people will be affected," Lingle explained in her veto message, "this bill will adversely impact almost 37,000 persons, of which about 27,000 are sole proprietors, partnerships or subchapter 'S' corporations whose owners report their business income through personal income tax returns. ... This could mean more business closures, layoffs and fewer job opportunities."
Lowell Kalapa, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, said a further income tax hike on the wealthy today would "drive them out of the state ... When we lose all of the people who have the money to start our businesses, what are they (teachers) going to say to their students when there are no jobs?"
***
With regard to the tax question, the Star-Bulletin may be on the side of the well-to-do, but it is on the wrong side from an economic perspective. While the Tax Foundation of Hawaii provides a useful service, we expect Lowell Kalapa (its president) to oppose most tax proposals. That's his mission. That's why the Tax Foundation membership funding comes almost exclusively from businesses and affluent individuals.
If you want to get an economic analysis, ask an economist, not Mr. Kalapa. Carl Bonham, a member of the State Council on Revenues and an economist with the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, recently noted that we are not going to cut our way out of the state's budget deficit.
We believe the HSTA proposal can make a significant difference in generating revenue needed to address Hawaii's shortfalls and thereby enable our state to maintain vital services.
The proposal by the HSTA seeks to do this in the most responsible and effective way, not by making the wealthy bear a heavier burden than others, but by asking them to do their fair share. After all, Hawaii tax laws and government incentives are largely designed to support and encourage these individuals and the businesses they own. Consequently, they have the smallest tax burden of any income group at present.
-- Wil Okabe, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
The teachers union planned to introduce legislation yesterday to create two new higher tax brackets for Hawaii residents making more than $200,000 a year. Combined with other proposals that would increase capital gains and corporate taxes, the state would see more than $500 million in additional revenue each year, the HSTA estimates.
"There's no good solution to furloughs, either this year or next year, without additional funding for the Department of Education. And the only way to do that is to increase revenues," said Jim Williams, executive director of the HSTA, which represents about 13,000 public school teachers and librarians.
***
The teachers now propose that the rates be increased to 10.55 percent for those making $200,000 to $400,0000, and 12.85 percent for those earning more than that. Legislators should reject the proposal for the same reasons Lingle gave for vetoing last year's tax increases. The reasons are even more valid today.
"Although there is the misconception that only wealthy people will be affected," Lingle explained in her veto message, "this bill will adversely impact almost 37,000 persons, of which about 27,000 are sole proprietors, partnerships or subchapter 'S' corporations whose owners report their business income through personal income tax returns. ... This could mean more business closures, layoffs and fewer job opportunities."
Lowell Kalapa, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, said a further income tax hike on the wealthy today would "drive them out of the state ... When we lose all of the people who have the money to start our businesses, what are they (teachers) going to say to their students when there are no jobs?"
***
With regard to the tax question, the Star-Bulletin may be on the side of the well-to-do, but it is on the wrong side from an economic perspective. While the Tax Foundation of Hawaii provides a useful service, we expect Lowell Kalapa (its president) to oppose most tax proposals. That's his mission. That's why the Tax Foundation membership funding comes almost exclusively from businesses and affluent individuals.
If you want to get an economic analysis, ask an economist, not Mr. Kalapa. Carl Bonham, a member of the State Council on Revenues and an economist with the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, recently noted that we are not going to cut our way out of the state's budget deficit.
We believe the HSTA proposal can make a significant difference in generating revenue needed to address Hawaii's shortfalls and thereby enable our state to maintain vital services.
The proposal by the HSTA seeks to do this in the most responsible and effective way, not by making the wealthy bear a heavier burden than others, but by asking them to do their fair share. After all, Hawaii tax laws and government incentives are largely designed to support and encourage these individuals and the businesses they own. Consequently, they have the smallest tax burden of any income group at present.
-- Wil Okabe, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Malcolm Kirkpatrick on Furlough Fridays
The governor's critics indict the wrong party. State law requires that the governor balance the state budget. The Hawaii Constitution gives the governor no role in setting priorities for the DOE. The governor acted responsibly in mandating cuts to the DOE budget, given that inflation-adjusted (2008 dollars) per pupil revenues have gone from $8,943 in 1991 to $17,626 in 2006 (the last year for which the U.S. DOE has complete figures) and inflation-adjusted (2007 dollars) per pupil current expenditures have gone from $7,152 in 1990 to $11,024 in 2006, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Dilapidated buildings and obsolete textbooks are not due to insufficient taxpayer generosity. The DOE administration has created numerous out-of-classroom positions that raise costs and add nothing to student performance. Past legislatures approved DOE budget requests and mandated numerous wasteful programs within the DOE.
Despite substantial budget increases over the years, student performance, as measured by standardized tests, has barely budged. While the DOE spends more per pupil than the U.S. average (and more than every country on the planet), DOE performance remains in the national cellar. By some measures we are dead last.
Dilapidated buildings and obsolete textbooks are not due to insufficient taxpayer generosity. The DOE administration has created numerous out-of-classroom positions that raise costs and add nothing to student performance. Past legislatures approved DOE budget requests and mandated numerous wasteful programs within the DOE.
Despite substantial budget increases over the years, student performance, as measured by standardized tests, has barely budged. While the DOE spends more per pupil than the U.S. average (and more than every country on the planet), DOE performance remains in the national cellar. By some measures we are dead last.
Monday, February 08, 2010
raise taxes or cut programs?
Unless there’s a miracle economic recovery - and there won’t be - the choices are to cut back on services and programs or raise the excise and/or income taxes.
If we slash services we also put more government and outsource employees out of work and on the strained unemployment insurance rolls. We also lose their share of the tax base. If we cut programs, we hurt the people they serve - people the most in need of help.
So, as Walter Takeuchi of Aiea recently wrote to the Star-Bulletin, why not raise the general excise tax rather than “resorting to the many senseless solutions being proposed to cut costs?”
Well, businesses answer that. On Oahu, a retailer already pays $4.71 on every $100 of sales because of our 4.5 percent-tax-on-the-4.5 percent-tax system. And if you’re making more than $150,000 a year you’re already paying an 11 percent income tax - one of the highest in America.
So what would I vote for as a lawmaker? More tax or fewer services and programs and likely more layoffs?
I don’t know, and wouldn’t want to have to make that choice.
If we slash services we also put more government and outsource employees out of work and on the strained unemployment insurance rolls. We also lose their share of the tax base. If we cut programs, we hurt the people they serve - people the most in need of help.
So, as Walter Takeuchi of Aiea recently wrote to the Star-Bulletin, why not raise the general excise tax rather than “resorting to the many senseless solutions being proposed to cut costs?”
Well, businesses answer that. On Oahu, a retailer already pays $4.71 on every $100 of sales because of our 4.5 percent-tax-on-the-4.5 percent-tax system. And if you’re making more than $150,000 a year you’re already paying an 11 percent income tax - one of the highest in America.
So what would I vote for as a lawmaker? More tax or fewer services and programs and likely more layoffs?
I don’t know, and wouldn’t want to have to make that choice.
Susan Page on health care reform
Healthcare reform is another crisis that can only be fixed by politicians, according to them, creating another huge government bureaucracy and taking away something from one group of people who are happy with their healthcare and giving it to other people, once again spending billions of taxpayer money.
In a few years, I will be forced to give up my insurance I like and go on Medicare, which some doctors aren’t even accepting now and which will be degraded to pay for government healthcare for all. Once again, Washington is forcing Americans to do something they shouldn’t have to do if they don’t want to: change health insurance or buy health insurance at all. The majority of Americans don’t like the reform bills in Congress, but this legislation is being forced though with bribes and special deals regardless.
In a few years, I will be forced to give up my insurance I like and go on Medicare, which some doctors aren’t even accepting now and which will be degraded to pay for government healthcare for all. Once again, Washington is forcing Americans to do something they shouldn’t have to do if they don’t want to: change health insurance or buy health insurance at all. The majority of Americans don’t like the reform bills in Congress, but this legislation is being forced though with bribes and special deals regardless.
Observing Obama
Turns out Barack Obama is the bill of goods America thought it was buying.
Little about Obama in his first year as president has come as a shock. The cautious, cerebral, enigmatic man who sought the White House is largely the same one who occupies it. For all the history-changing wonder of the election of the country's first black president, most of the surprises have come from events, not his approach to them.
From the beginning, with its inaugural excitement, friendlier majorities in Congress than any chief executive since Lyndon Johnson, two wars, a warming planet and economic challenges unrivaled since the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and to the end, with fractious partisan sniping, a dramatically fallen approval rating and his first major victory still to come — Obama then is basically Obama now, only grayer and more tired.
But 12 months' worth of watching the president put his signature style to work governing, instead of campaigning, provides a crisper picture. So, what have we learned? For one thing, that he's a master of nuance with a “but” in his approach to nearly everything.
Ten observations:
Little about Obama in his first year as president has come as a shock. The cautious, cerebral, enigmatic man who sought the White House is largely the same one who occupies it. For all the history-changing wonder of the election of the country's first black president, most of the surprises have come from events, not his approach to them.
From the beginning, with its inaugural excitement, friendlier majorities in Congress than any chief executive since Lyndon Johnson, two wars, a warming planet and economic challenges unrivaled since the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and to the end, with fractious partisan sniping, a dramatically fallen approval rating and his first major victory still to come — Obama then is basically Obama now, only grayer and more tired.
But 12 months' worth of watching the president put his signature style to work governing, instead of campaigning, provides a crisper picture. So, what have we learned? For one thing, that he's a master of nuance with a “but” in his approach to nearly everything.
Ten observations:
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Obama's promises
President Barack Obama ends his first year in office with his to-do list still long and his unfulfilled campaign promises stacked high.
From winding down the war in Iraq to limiting lobbyists, Obama has made some progress. But the president has faced political reality and accepted - sometimes grudgingly - compromises that leave him exposed to criticism. Promises that have proven difficult include pledges not to raise taxes, to curb earmarks and to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba by the end of his first year.
"We are moving systematically to bring about change, but change is hard," Obama told a town hall crowd in California. "Change doesn't happen overnight."
A look at some of the promises:
From winding down the war in Iraq to limiting lobbyists, Obama has made some progress. But the president has faced political reality and accepted - sometimes grudgingly - compromises that leave him exposed to criticism. Promises that have proven difficult include pledges not to raise taxes, to curb earmarks and to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba by the end of his first year.
"We are moving systematically to bring about change, but change is hard," Obama told a town hall crowd in California. "Change doesn't happen overnight."
A look at some of the promises:
Frank Fasi
One of Hawaii's most well known and accomplished politicians has died.
Former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi died Wednesday night at his Makiki home of natural causes, according to his son David Fasi.
Frank Fasi was 89 years old.
He first served in the Territorial Senate in 1958 and was elected mayor seven years later. He served a total of 22 years as mayor and also ran for Congress and governor as a Democrat, Republican, Independent and in his own Best Party. He lost his last four attempts to take office.
Fasi has been described as a maverick, firebrand and a trailblazer, while others say he often rubbed people the wrong way.
He is credited with establishing the bus, satellite city hall and neighborhood board systems.
In an e-mail released Thursday, his son David wrote:
"Frank F. Fasi, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle, died peacefully of natural causes late last night at his home in Makiki surrounded by his adoring wife and children. The man affectionately known by many in Hawaii simply as 'the Mayor' truly loved this city of Honolulu and devoted much of his life in trying to improve it. A tireless champion for the “little guy,” he was particularly interested in helping those who could not help themselves. He will be dearly missed."
***
Star Bulletin Special
'Hizzoner' was one of a kind
Fasi served Honolulu well
Frank Fasi: Through The Years (photos)
Corky on Fasi
Former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi died Wednesday night at his Makiki home of natural causes, according to his son David Fasi.
Frank Fasi was 89 years old.
He first served in the Territorial Senate in 1958 and was elected mayor seven years later. He served a total of 22 years as mayor and also ran for Congress and governor as a Democrat, Republican, Independent and in his own Best Party. He lost his last four attempts to take office.
Fasi has been described as a maverick, firebrand and a trailblazer, while others say he often rubbed people the wrong way.
He is credited with establishing the bus, satellite city hall and neighborhood board systems.
In an e-mail released Thursday, his son David wrote:
"Frank F. Fasi, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle, died peacefully of natural causes late last night at his home in Makiki surrounded by his adoring wife and children. The man affectionately known by many in Hawaii simply as 'the Mayor' truly loved this city of Honolulu and devoted much of his life in trying to improve it. A tireless champion for the “little guy,” he was particularly interested in helping those who could not help themselves. He will be dearly missed."
***
Star Bulletin Special
'Hizzoner' was one of a kind
Fasi served Honolulu well
Frank Fasi: Through The Years (photos)
Corky on Fasi
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Pat Buchanan on Al-Qaida
Why is al-Qaeda at war with us? What is its motivation?
It was Osama bin Laden himself, in his declaration of war in 1998, published in London, who gave al-Qaeda’s reasons for war:
First, the U.S. military presence on the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia. Second, U.S. sanctions causing terrible suffering among the Iraqi people. Third, U.S. support for Israel’s dispossession of the Palestinians. “All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his Messenger, and Muslims,” said Osama.
To Osama, we started the war. Muslims, the ulema, must fight because America, with her “brutal crusade occupation of the [Arabian] Peninsula” and support for “the Jews’ petty state” and “occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there” was waging war upon the Islamic world.
Terrorism, the direct killing of civilians for political ends, is al-Qaeda’s unconventional tactic, but its war aims are quite conventional.
Al-Qaeda is fighting a religious war against apostates and pagans in their midst, a civil war against collaborators of the Crusaders and an anti-colonial war to drive us out of the Dar al-Islam. On Sept. 11, they were over here – because we are over there.
Nothing justifies the massacre of Sept. 11. But these are the political goals behind the 9/11 attack, and this is why Islamists fare well in elections in the Middle East. Tens of millions of Muslims, who may despise terrorism, identify with the causes for which Osama declared war – liberation of Muslim peoples from pro-American autocrats and Israeli occupiers.
Americans are being killed for the reasons Osama said we should be killed – not because of who we are, but because of where we are and what we do.
It was Osama bin Laden himself, in his declaration of war in 1998, published in London, who gave al-Qaeda’s reasons for war:
First, the U.S. military presence on the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia. Second, U.S. sanctions causing terrible suffering among the Iraqi people. Third, U.S. support for Israel’s dispossession of the Palestinians. “All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his Messenger, and Muslims,” said Osama.
To Osama, we started the war. Muslims, the ulema, must fight because America, with her “brutal crusade occupation of the [Arabian] Peninsula” and support for “the Jews’ petty state” and “occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there” was waging war upon the Islamic world.
Terrorism, the direct killing of civilians for political ends, is al-Qaeda’s unconventional tactic, but its war aims are quite conventional.
Al-Qaeda is fighting a religious war against apostates and pagans in their midst, a civil war against collaborators of the Crusaders and an anti-colonial war to drive us out of the Dar al-Islam. On Sept. 11, they were over here – because we are over there.
Nothing justifies the massacre of Sept. 11. But these are the political goals behind the 9/11 attack, and this is why Islamists fare well in elections in the Middle East. Tens of millions of Muslims, who may despise terrorism, identify with the causes for which Osama declared war – liberation of Muslim peoples from pro-American autocrats and Israeli occupiers.
Americans are being killed for the reasons Osama said we should be killed – not because of who we are, but because of where we are and what we do.
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