Spotlight Hawaii

Lieutenant Governor Josh Green said he has fully recovered from COVID-19 , but that one of the two members of his security detail is still battling the virus in the hospital. “One of them did great, almost no symptoms whatsoever, sailed right through. The other guy got very sick and is experiencing his recovery in the hospital. So you just don’t know. You just don’t know how it’s going to play out...

Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism director Mike McCartney and Outrigger Hotels and Resorts President & CEO, Jeff Wagoner joined Spotlight Hawaii to discuss reopening transpacific travel. Both expressed optimism in the October 15th launch of Hawaii’s pre-arrival testing program. “We’ve been working hard to operationalize it, to make sure the pieces are in place,” McCartne...

Honolulu mayoral candidates Keith Amemiya and Rick Blangiardi joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today for a livestream and took viewer questions during.

Gov. David Ige joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today and took viewer questions.

Hawaii County mayoral candidates Ikaika Marzo and Mitch Roth joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today and took viewer questions.

Honolulu prosecutor candidates Steve Alm and Megan Kau joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, today and took viewer questions.

Gov. David Ige and Denise Iseri-Matsubara, the executive director of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, joined Spotlight Hawaii today and took viewer questions. Gov. David Ige said it is unlikely that the state will open transpacific travel on October 1st, and that his office will release a timeframe of when that could happen sometime later this week. This morning on Spotlight...

Nanci Kreidman, chief executive officer of Domestic Violence Action Center, and Tina Yamaki, president of Retail Merchants Association of Hawaii, joined Spotlight Hawaii today and answered viewer questions.

Lieutenant Governor Josh Green said he is sending a memo to the City, urging leaders to change Oahu’s stay-at-home order to allow for people from the same household to take part in outdoor activities together . Green said he does not believe the restrictions liming outdoor activity to one person are based on science, and says they should be relaxed. Green shared his views in a wide-ranging intervi...

Spotlight Hawaii welcomed two guests Friday to discuss the latest in Hawaii’s public schools during the coronavirus pandemic and the new online Safe Travels application. Hawaii State Teachers Association President Corey Rosenlee gave an update on how teachers are doing now that school is back in session. Douglas Murdock, chief information officer of the State Office of the Enterprise Technology Se...

Anne Perreira-Eustaquio, acting Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR), says her office has been making steady progress to help get benefits to those who qualify as quickly as possible, but she says empathizes with the thousands who are still waiting. “I know it’s frustrating. I know they’re waiting. We’re trying our very hardest to get through the claims as fast as po...

Gov. David Ige joined Spotlight Hawaii today to discuss the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a wide-ranging interview, Ige said that people in Hawaii will need to learn to live with the virus for at least the next 12 months, and that will mean significant adjustments to every day life. “Each one of us has to recognize that everything we do, we have to differently. That really means...

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he knows the stay-at-home, work-from-home order is difficult for many Oahu residents, but he said the city is at “war” in the fight against coronavirus. Speaking this morning on Spotlight Hawaii, Caldwell said he recently visited the Queen’s Medical Center, where nurses and doctors told him that those who recover from the virus can still suffer long-term consequen...

Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Peter Ingram joined Spotlight Hawaii to talk about the impact of the coronavirus on the company. Ingram says the airline has adapted by instituting new safety protocols, but with the return of the neighbor island quarantine and the continuation of the transpacific travel quarantine, customer demand is not there. “The impact of COVID-19 has been nothing short of...

Mike McCartney, director of Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, joined the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Spotlight Hawaii to talk about the economic impact of the coronavirus on the state economy. “Hawaii is going to be one of the last states to recover according to Moody’s Analytics, that just came out yesterday,” he said. Before the pandemic, McCartney says touris...

University of Hawaii President David Lassner joined Spotlight Hawaii to discuss the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on the UH system. Student enrollment appears to be holding steady, but the number change daily. “This is the most unpredictable semester ever. Families are making decisions very late, they’re changing their minds. Right now UH Manoa is up a little bit compared to last fall,...

Sherry Menor-McNamara, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, joined the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Spotlight Hawaii to talk about the impact COVID-19 continues to have on local businesses. In short, the news is not good. “I wish I could paint a better picture, but unfortunately the outlook looks pretty grim,” she said. Menor-McNamara cited results of a recent survey conducted by...

In a lengthy and frank discussion, Green warned that new restrictions could be coming if the daily case counts continue to rise. “If we are here next week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and we’re still seeing 150 to 200 cases a day, that’s a number that’s not sustainable as far as taking care of patients three weeks later,” Green said. “My advice will have to be to the Governor to do the full shutdo...

Politics reporter Gordon Pang today joined Spotlight Hawaii, a new series from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that shines a spotlight on issues affecting our islands, and took viewer questions about the election.

Economist Paul Brewbaker of TZ Economics joined Spotlight Hawaii today to talk about the state’s economic outlook in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. With the increasing numbers of positive coronavirus cases, he says the news is not good. “It’s pretty basic, everybody. The epidemiological problem is the economic problem. You don’t solve the economic problem until the epidemiological problem i...

Gov. David Ige is troubled by the increasing numbers of coronavirus cases in Hawaii and says that the state could soon face new restrictions, including a statewide shutdown of non-essential businesses. “We do need to see the number being contained. If it continues to increase during this whole week, then I’m certain that the mayors and I would be looking at further action necessary,” he said. “We...

Spotlight Hawaii featured two guests to discuss the upcoming primary election on August 8th: Hawaii Office of Elections chief officer Scott Nago, followed by Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Gordon Pang. Nago says his office has already started to process ballots that are arriving for the state’s first all mail-in election. He reminded the public that ballots must be received, not postmarked, by...

Hawaii health officials today reported 47 new coronavirus cases as the statewide total climbed to 1,757. “We’ve doubled our number cases in the last 30 days,” Green said. “It took us five months to get to 800 and then it took us one month to get to 1,700. Let me speak as a physician, mostly. For every 100 cases, we get 10 individuals that go into the hospital. And for every 65 cases that we are ab...