Linda Lingle News

Hawaii, known as the islands of Aloha, is looking to China's growing outbound tourism market as a much-needed new gold mine with its travel industry struggling out of a slump.

Acting Governor James R. "Duke" Aiona, Jr. today ordered all state flags to fly at half-staff until sunset Tuesday in honor of the men and women killed at Fort Hood, Texas yesterday.

An idea pitched by the governor to reduce or eliminate teacher furlough days by swapping them with a 5 percent pay cut for teachers has generated little interest among key union and education officials and lawmakers.

The governor and some legislative leaders and parents are searching for other solutions including urging teachers to reopen their contract negotiations to come up with something less stressful on students.

In what was billed as a "State of the Rail" address, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann recapped the 40-year history of trying to bring rail to fruition for Honolulu commuters.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wrote governors a letter last April explaining the purpose of $48.6 billion in federal stimulus money meant to stabilize public education during the recession.

It's quiet, quick, and always on time . . . and traveling above traffic. Wow, look at this fantastic view! Okay, here's our stop.

Gov. Linda Lingle is promoting Hawaii as a tourism destination during her two-week trip to China, but a Democratic leader said she should have stayed home.

Amid apprehension, anger, and confusion, "Furlough Fridays" have begun in Hawaii.

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle will lead a delegation to China to promote clean-energy partnerships and economic development.

Gov. Linda Lingle will leave on Friday for a two-week excursion to China where she intends to sell Hawaii as a tourism destination and to bolster opportunities for the state's products to be sold there.

Gov. Linda Lingle will leave on Friday for a two-week trip to China to promote tourism, trade and clean-energy projects.

With public anger rising over teacher furloughs in Hawaii, two of the four expected candidates for governor next year offered ways on Tuesday that the controversial moneysaving program could be halted or reduced.

Governor Linda Lingle nominated District Court Judge Edwin C. Nacino to serve as a Circuit Court judge of the First Circuit on Tuesday.

There are just two ways to deal with a sharp decrease in state revenues: Cut programs and find new sources of income.

Linda Lingle's idea to furlough public school teachers as a budget-balancing tool and that she shouldn't be trying to pass the blame.

Hawaii is in recession. Our economy has been contracting for at least a year. Businesses large and small are seeing their bank accounts shrink monthly, and now public employees are feeling the pain, too.

At Noelani Elementary, the small school near Honolulu where President Obama learned to read and write, the next generation of Hawaii's leaders learned a new word this week: "furlough." The Noelani students joined nearly 170,000 other children across Hawaii whose teachers on Friday began an unprecedented state furlough program that will close ...

Some schools are trying to soften the impact of Furlough Fridays by switching teacher training and collaboration days to instructional time, but most can restore just a few classroom days at this point in the year.

The labor savings from collective bargaining will not be enough to close the state's budget deficit, Gov.