Military

Pacific Forum President and CEO David Santoro and former director, now Board Chair Ralph Cossa dropped by The Conversation to discuss foreign policy under the Trump administration, and how the think tank came to the surface.

Work on Kolekole Pass as an emergency evacuation route is on track and under budget, according to the director of the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation.

Members of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency paid a visit this weekend to the offices of the Peace Corps in Washington D.C. There are fears DOGE will try to shut down the agency. The Conversation talked to Returned Peace Corps Volunteers organizer Caroline Mackenzie.

Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were both in Hawaiʻi recently. The Conversation talked to Healani Sonoda-Pale with the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative, and Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi Director Wayne Tanaka about the visits.

Many eyes will be watching to see about U.S. relations with the Pacific amid threats of tariffs, most recently on foreign-made cars. HPR talked to Glen S. Fukushima, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, about expectations in Japan and the region during Pete Hegseth's first visit as defense secretary.

Dean Uchida with the state Department of Education discusses how USDA funding cuts may impact Hawaiʻi's school lunch program; Biologist Simon Scarpetta offers a theory on how iguanas got from North America to Fiji

The U.S. Air Force issued a notice this month proposing the construction of two landing pads on Johnston Atoll to test the viability of using rockets to deliver military cargo loads. HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote has more.

The Pentagon says internet pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were mistakenly taken down. But it is staunchly defending its overall campaign to strip out content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.”

Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaiʻi, provides a snapshot of the retail industry amid growing economic uncertainty; Voice actors Sally Amaki and Kana Ichinose arrive in Honolulu for a fan meet-and-greet event

Across the country, there was a call to stand up for veterans and rally at state capitols on Friday. It was just getting underway as a Honolulu Civil Beat column flagged that the U.S. Army website had scrubbed a page detailing the story of the 442nd Infantry Regiment — the most decorated unit of World War ll composed of Japanese Americans.