Stories related to: Hawaii

It's here. Alaska has the painful distinction of becoming the first state where gas is selling for an average of $4 a gallon, Reuters reports. The average for the rest of the US is hovering at $3.76, but Connecticut, California, New York, and Illinois could all join Alaska in the $4-a-gallon club after Memorial Day weekend. More »

Domestic tourism is slowing down in the US as economic worries mount, but Hawaii appears to be surfing a wave of diversification through the downturn, the Wall Street Journal reports. Numbers of visitors from Canada, Europe, and some East Asian countries are picking up and offsetting a drop in tourists from Japan and the eastern US. More »

A group of native Hawaiian activists seized the grounds of the state's old royal palace in Honolulu yesterday and vowed to take over, CNN reports. They locked the gates and announced they would rule the government from there. The group, one of several which rejects Hawaii's statehood and seeks to restore the constitutional monarchy deposed in 1893 with the help of the US, vowed to return each day. More »

Officials ordered the evacuation of Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park yesterday due to potentially poisonous fumes seeping from two craters. Voluntary evacuations of nearby towns were also announced, but few people have left, reports the Honolulu Advertiser . "We still remain on alert and we're going to monitor 24/7 to make sure people are safe," says the Big Island's mayor. More »

Barack Obama wasn’t the first in his family to defy convention: His grandmother bucked prejudices in Hawaii against women and whites in the 1960s and '70s, USA Today reports. Madelyn Dunham, now 85, fought to become one of the Bank of Hawaii’s first female vice presidents. “Was she ambitious? She had to be,” said a former colleague. “It was a tough world.” More »

A particle smasher in Switzerland could suck up Earth and possibly the whole universe, a US lawsuit claims. The suit warns that the $8 billion Large Hadron Collider near Geneva could spark a matter-sucking black hole or a "strangelet" that turns our planet into "strange matter." But one Princeton scientist dismisses the claim, saying the Collider is as likely to "make dragons that might eat us up," the New York Times reports. More »

Halemaumau Crater on Hawaii's Big Island is acting up—venting gas and the occasional gobbet of lava. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is classifying the activity as the crater's first eruption since 1982, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports; scientists are unsure whether the trickle could turn into a larger, more dangerous convulsion. "It might," the Observatory's head said yesterday. More »

A Hawaii hospital ejected the relative of a man recovering from surgery after he tried to bring the patient’s favorite pet—a full-grown horse—to visit, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports. Security staff stopped the visitors before they could get to the patient's room; the man was intoxicated, and the horse turned out not to belong to the patient at all. More »

The price of gas in the US hit another record this morning of $3.28 a gallon, CNN reports, but at least one part of the nation thinks that would be a great bargain. On Maui, $4 gas has already arrived in many places, and the island is on the verge of becoming the first part of the country to average that price, the AP notes. More »

Americans need a vacation—badly—with fewer than two-thirds of workers using their allotted time last year, reports Forbes . But not everyone's idea of fun is vegging out . Here are top-notch US getaways for those who like active travel: Kapalua Resort, Maui, Hawaii: Golf, bird-watching and a marine-life preserves. Golden Door Resort, Escondido, California: Feel revived at the nation's top stand-alone spa. Walden Country Inn and Stables, Aurora, Ohio: Ride horseback on 32 acres of trails. More »

Barack Obama's low support among Asian-Americans is sparking cries of racism, Time reports. "On a gut level my reaction is that at least some Asian-Americans are uncomfortable voting for a black candidate," one analyst said. But some Asians resent the charge: A recent CNN show on the topic was blasted by an Asian PAC, which backs Clinton, and Asian bloggers, who seem to prefer Obama. More »

Barack Obama made it a clean sweep yesterday when he nailed a big victory in Hawaii on top of Wisconsin, tallying ten wins in a row, AP reports. Voters turned out in record numbers for the state's Democratic caucuses and early returns show that more than three-quarters of them favored native son Obama. The victories deal fresh blows to Hillary Clinton's White House hopes. More »

Barack Obama won the Wisconsin primary tonight to continue his impressive streak over Hillary Clinton, NBC reports. Obama has now won nine consecutive political contests, and early results suggest he's going to win his native Hawaii too. In Wisconsin, he led 56% to 43% with nearly all results in, and he made big inroads into Clinton's base of white voters, women, and blue-collar workers. More »

It's caucus day in the Aloha state, and Hawaiian election officials are expecting a record turnout, writes the Honolulu Advertiser —due in part to interest in native son Barack Obama, as well as the competitiveness of the race for the nomination. Neither candidate left wintry Wisconsin, which also votes today, but Obama's sister and Chelsea Clinton made the rounds in their steads. More »

Tomorrow's primary in Wisconsin won’t decide the Democratic nomination, but Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are fighting tooth and nail anyway, Politico reports, airing their first negative ads of the campaign and taking shots at each other through aides. At stake is momentum: Obama doesn’t want to break his winning streak, and Clinton wants to prevent another Potomac-level blowout. More »

In his memoir Barack Obama makes a rare admission—for a politician—of  “some bad decisions” as a teenager, of indulging in drinking and drugs before political activism led him out of apathy. But friends remember an already-focused Obama: an eloquent, poised young intellectual, active against South African apartheid and moderate in his lifestyle. "He was not even close to being a party animal," a college friend tells the New York Times . More »

A record downpour of 11 inches in 24 hours has damaged dozens of homes and sparked a flash-flood alert in Hawaii, MSNBC reports. No injuries have been reported, but many residents are voluntarily fleeing their homes in Hilo, the state's second-biggest city. "The situation in Hilo is critical and a life-threatening situation now," said Big Island mayor Harry Kim. More »

Mike Weir put in a nearly perfect day in yesterday's PGA action at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii, hitting a five-under 68 to keep one stroke ahead of Nick Watney. The whole field seemed inspired by a sunny turn in the Hawaiian weather, as the average score dropped by a whole stroke—further tightening the race, reports the New York Times . More »

Whatever preconceptions you have about the surfer lifestyle, they're probably right, bro. ESPN's Jim Caple braved waves of "dude!" and "whoa!" to get the lowdown on the crests and troughs of the professional surfing scene, which includes huge sponsorships but also hidden dangers that lurk just below the impossibly blue surface of balmy tropical waters. More »

A Japanese warship off Hawaii has shot down a US-made mock ballistic missile in flight over the Pacific Ocean, the BBC reports. The test, using a US-developed intercept missile, was the first of its kind by an American ally. Japan and the US stepped up their missile defense cooperation after North Korea test-fired a long-range missile over Japan in 1998. More »